N.E. Brigand Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 5 hours ago, mfrontz said: I remember being really impressed with Spirit. Loved the old style drums and the arrangement of American Salute. Don't think I'd ever seen that Spirit show before. In BOA two years ago, Broken Arrow H.S. did a nice job with "American Salute", which opened their show. (An Ohio band that doesn't compete in BOA was also very good with that tune the previous year.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek005 Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 This thread is cool! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfrontz Posted April 17, 2020 Author Share Posted April 17, 2020 (edited) 9 hours ago, Super Don-O said: Paul Cain - that guy was a treasure. I can still hear his voice announcing the corps... I don't know of any other announcer who so effortlessly communicated his, and our, love for those kids on the field. Not a 91 link, but a recording of an early 1992 standstill exhibition at which Paul Cain asks the audience to give us the 'YOU' Edited April 17, 2020 by mfrontz 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwillis35 Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 I saw a few shows in 1991, but it was nothing compared to my 1990 year. My first live show of that season was the Philadelphia show held at Franklin Field, University of Pennsylvania on June 29. One of my friends was still living in Philly, and 2 other buddies of mine, from music school, and I drive out to Philly to meet up and see our first show that season. Most of us were blown away by Phantom Regiment. Incredible talent in that corps that year. We also loved Crossmen who were a very HOT corps for much of the season. We were underwhelmed by Cadets, but in fairness the show was a stretch at that time, and by the end of the season they were able to polish the ballad into a nice feature. Their Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs was also a blast to see later in the season. But at this show they needed a lot of work and a lot of re-writes. Spirit of Atlanta was also one of my favorite shows of 1991. I remember Phantom Regiment's victory encore to this day. It has to be one of the best encore performances from those years...and easily one of the most powerful. They blew the roof off that stadium and my ears were sore for days after that. WOW! Scores from that show are below. -------------- Saturday, June 29 -------------- Philadelphia, PA DCE Independence Classic 1 Phantom Regiment 78.0 2 Cadets of Bergen Cty. 74.1 3 Crossmen 69.3 4 Spirit of Atlanta 63.3 5 Dutch Boy 62.6 6 Boston Crusaders 59.0 7 Ventures 53.5 8 L'Insolite 52.5 As I kept up with scores through DCW or phone (or maybe RAMD) it was nice to hear that Crossmen were winning some shows and beating some big names. Not sure what happened with them (as others have mentioned) after DCI East. Crossmen actually won the Drum Corps East championship held in Boston. Boston, MA DCE DCE Championship Finals 1 Crossmen 83.1 2 Cadets of Bergen Cty. 82.9 3 Dutch Boy 74.4 4 Spirit of Atlanta 73.6 5 Boston Crusaders 72.0 6 Magic of Orlando 67.2 7 L'Insolite 66.5 I was unable to attend the local shows in Canton that year (forget why), and 2 of my friends were serving in the National Guard and were called into duty and had to fly to Saudi for a 9-month stint during the 1st Gulf War. My next live show was on July 20 in DeKalb, IL for the DCM Championships. Star of Indiana was truly incredible. They blew me away in 1990, and their 1991 show might have been even better. The brass, percussion, guard, music arrangements by Jim Prime, Jr., the drill by George Zingali...it was like the best and most complete competitive package I'd ever seen. BD, Cadets, SCV were all amazing in the 80s, but I felt this was the next step up. I still feel this show holds its own to this day despite not being as theatrical as today's shows. Score for DCM below. DeKalb, IL DCM DCM Championships 1 Star of Indiana 84.5 2 Cavaliers 82.9 3 Phantom Regiment 82.5 4 Madison Scouts 80.8 5 Bluecoats 76.6 6 Glassmen 68.1 Keep in mind that all these corps were really good in 1991. Phantom was amazing, and the Cavaliers show was stunningly beautiful with fantastic drill and music. But none of them were a match for Star. It was clear to me after this show that the Championship went through Star of Indiana. Madison's City of Angels show was excellent, but not quite the GE monster it would become in 1992. The difference between Phantom and Cavaliers, I thought, was visual. Cavaliers just had a more thought-out and dynamic visual package that enhanced GE in a big way. I did not attend the Preview of Champions show in Madison, WI on July 27, but I heard many of the negative rumblings about how fans treat Star of Indiana at that show. Apparently there were a lot of "boos" and other mean-spirited comments made. Star's show from 91 may look more mainstream to us today, but at that time many did not like it. Felt they were too modern, felt they were cheating by playing with the arrangements in a way that "somehow" made it easier to get points. I actually overheard a conversation to this extent at the DCM Finals in Dekalb. It was like listening to two guys share "old wives tales" in order to convince themselves that somehow Star was cheating. People were adjusting. Some did not like that Star had become this good in such a short period of time. Some did not like that they were beating corps who had struggled to earn their keep in DCI over the years. Some felt they were poaching kids and staff from other corps. My read on that was that a lot of corps back in the day tried to recruit kids from various other corps. Kids to this day often want to march their age-out year in Blue Devils (if they are good enough) instead of staying with their current corps. Ultimately it's the choice of the marching member. And in Star's case a lot of the poaching stories were not accurate. If you watch one of the documentaries on how they got the 1985 corps off the ground, they had agreements with Bridgemen and Pride of Cincinnati to offer a place for their members to march since both corps were in trouble. The following is a quote from the DCI website on that first production. "Star of Indiana's first show was the lighthearted "Walt Disney Salute," entirely comprised of music written for Disney films. The corps turned to arrangers Larry Kerchner, Dennis DeLucia and Bob Dubinski, all three who had roots in the Bridgemen. Close to half the corps' first-year membership was made up of ex-Bridgemen members, with another sizeable number coming from the Pride of Cincinnati, which did not field a corps after the summer of 1984." Ultimately I felt that Star's business model was something sorely needed in the activity and would ultimately help other organizations operate more professionally. But at the time there was a lot of jealousy and a lot of misinformation. Maybe they picked up their toys and left after 1993, but what they did after that was beneficial to the marching arts (Brass Theater and Blast!), and while I was not thrilled with them leaving DCI (they were just too good) I did appreciate Bill Cook and all that he did for DCI over the years, even after 1993. Whether you like him or Star, DCI learned a lot during the Star era, and Bill continued to be very generous with his money and time. I was angered at those fans who I had heard were booing Star at the Preview of Champions show. There were points in 1993 where much the same thing happened. My next live show was in Buffalo, NY (about a 3 hour drive for me at the time). The show was not at Rich Stadium but at a AAA baseball stadium in downtown where (at that time) the Cleveland Indians played their minor league home games. It was a nice stadium but an odd setup for a DCI show. Phantom was still amazing and just needed something in the visual department to enhance that fabulous music they were playing. Cadets had come a long way and were beginning to make sense of the show, but it was still not in the ballpark with Phantom. Crossmen continued to be one of my favorite shows and I still thought they could have beat Cadets. Scores below: Buffalo, NY DCI 1 Phantom Regiment 87.0 2 Cadets of Bergen Cty. 85.4 3 Crossmen 84.9 4 Glassmen 70.2 5 L'Insolite 69.5 6 Colts 64.5 7 Ventures 60.4 8 Spartans - NH 50.2 I did not attend DCI East, but getting word of scores was shocking to see that Crossmen had beat Blue Devils and were still close to Cadets. But in reality, that Crossmen corps was GREAT! Solid in all captions and really fun music. -------------- Saturday, August 3 -------------- Allentown, PA DCI DCI East Prelims 1 Cavaliers 90.9 2 Cadets of Bergen Cty. 88.4 3 Crossmen 87.9 4 Blue Devils 87.7 5 Blue Knights 82.2 6 Spirit of Atlanta 79.4 7 Velvet Knights 78.7 8 Boston Crusaders 77.2 9 Marauders 72.8 10 Troopers 69.6 11 Colts 69.2 12 Black Gold 60.6 13 Beatrix 57.5 At DCI East Finals Crossmen and Blue Devils would tie and they pushed Cadets into 4th. Allentown, PA DCI DCI East 1 Cavaliers 91.0 2 Crossmen 87.9 ^ Blue Devils 87.9 4 Cadets of Bergen Cty. 87.8 5 Blue Knights 81.6 6 Velvet Knights 78.6 7 Spirit of Atlanta 78.1 8 Boston Crusaders 77.6 9 Marauders 71.7 10 Troopers 69.3 It was clear the Cavaliers were at a different level due to fabulous performers and a killer show design that worked magic in visual and GE. My final LIVE show of the season was on August 7 in Bloomington, IN. This was the DCI Mid-America show and it is where Star of Indiana put the final touches on the Cross-to-Cross closing drill that is now so famous for being one of the coolest and most demanding show endings in history. I drove solo to the event from Ohio and met a buddy who drove up from Atlanta. We saw an afternoon clinic with Star and were simply amazed and stunned. The evening performance left no doubt in my mind who was winning the title that year. We also loved Santa Clara. It was my first and only time to see them, and that Miss Saigon show was killer good and really well designed. This was also my only time to see Blue Devils and I love that show. From a music standpoint it is killer good. Great brass. Percussion was not quite there with the top contenders, but was still fun to watch and very good. Visual design in those days was not BD's strong point, but they always had fabulous performers. It was always a joy to see Freelancers since I rarely ever got to see them in the Midwest. I felt Dutch Boy missed the boat that year. Scores as follows: Bloomington, IN DCI DCI Mid-America 1 Star of Indiana 93.5 2 Santa Clara Vanguard 91.7 3 Madison Scouts 90.4 4 Blue Devils 90.3 5 Bluecoats 86.4 6 Freelancers 85.5 7 Dutch Boy 81.6 8 Boston Crusaders 80.7 9 Glassmen 75.3 10 L'Insolite 74.4 11 Troopers 73.9 12 Black Gold 64.6 13 Beatrix 59.4 I watched Finals on PBS and I believe this was the year where we got to see 7 corps for Finals due to a tie between Madison and Cadets or something like that. In the end, Cavaliers were the only corps to really challenge Star but I felt Star was simply unbeatable. They had one of the truly amazing shows in DCI History and I think that holds up to this day. Phantom would power their way into 3rd mostly on the strengths of their fantastic performers. SCV was 4th despite having a better designed show than PR, but PR performed their tail-ends off that night. They would do that again in 1993 to take 3rd in a performance that would light the crowd-up like a Christmas tree. PR 1993 is slightly better design, too. Not sure I want to discuss Phantom 1992, but I do have lots of thoughts on the 1992 season. 1991 however was fun but not thrilling for me, but I did enjoy many shows. Not sure what happened with Crossmen after DCI East. But Star of Indiana and Cavaliers were certainly two of the best highlights for me that summer. 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burdettsky Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 1991 was my first year seeing drum corps live. Attended Drums at the Meadowlands in late June. Fell in love with Phantom Regiment's show that year, so beautiful! They won a seven corps field over the Cadets, Crossmen, Spirit of Atlanta (one of my all time favorite shows of theirs as I love the movie Glory). Boston, L'Insolite and Dutch Boy were there also. Next show was DCI East in Allentown, the first time I got to see a full corps retreat. Boston started up Conquest (didn't know that at the time), and I couldn't imagine why the audience was going so crazy, but I liked it! I was about to be a Junior in High School, so to say these two shows were life changing would be an understatement. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFA1970 Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 All I remember is BD's horn line was freaking fantastic. Scott Chandlers guard was pretty solid. Drumline..huh. This was in the middle of the rebuilding year for the staff at Blue Devils. But seriously BD's horn line was freaking amazing. I loved Star but yeah... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeN Posted April 21, 2020 Share Posted April 21, 2020 Man, oh man, do I have thoughts about 1991. My DCI mania was in full swing at this point, but despite living down the road in Austin, my parents wouldn't let me attend Finals. (It wasn't until *2008* that I got to attend my first and only Finals contest.) I did get the audition materials for Sky Ryders that year, but again, parents said no. That was as close as I got to performing in a corps. (Still have that packet, too.) Ended up playing in a minicorps later with a guy from Sky; great dude. So Star to me was really the first "modern" style champion, where the music isn't Shiny Happy People Holding Hands. The arrangements are darker, and there's more of an emphasis on technical ability (c'mon, mello runs throughout, anyone?). Cavies in '92 went whole hog into the land of angry music, but Star helped them along the way. The drill also represented a massive jump in degree of difficulty from 1990 and caused other top corps to follow suit. Absolutely a deserving champion; I can't even fathom them losing. It kind of bothers me that because of the show title, everyone lumps the 1991 Cavaliers show design in with the 1989 and 1990 ones. The '91 production had nothing stylistically in common with what they'd done before. It was angry and growly until it gave way to light at the end, the drill flew to all corners of the field, and it had an intense energy that was fairly unique for a Christmas show. I still watch this one - it was solid across the board. For me, Phantom put on one of their all-time most entertaining shows in '91. Even today, it never feels like it takes 12 minutes to watch - it just flies by! Pagliacci brought the house down, and of course Bacchanale... Santa Clara's percussion steals the show in Miss Saigon from the very opening. The brass feel like they're playing keep-up with them at the start before everything locks in, and they've got massive drill (and flag) moves, but it's all about the drums in this one. Wish they hadn't used white shoes though - that's so '80s. We've talked about it on here a bunch of times, but I wish that BD would bring this music into the 2020's. It wouldn't require a whole lot of changes, honestly. It's unlike anything they had done before at that point, and not again really until '95. It's angry, stabby and dark... and I love it. The Cadets managed to take three uniquely *non*-similar pieces and turn them into three classics. I still compare every version of Short Ride to this one. And while Prelude, Fugue and Riffs is awesomely Cadets, I love how in Letter from Home they managed to hit the brakes on the whole production and just... take a moment to create a moment. Again, it felt like '91 was a transition year away from the '80s, where corps were actually trying new things. Madison made the broadcast that year as well, thanks to a tie in Semis, and their first attempt at City of Angels was bright, shiny and bold. Big open brass sounds and a pretty dense battery book accompanied an ok visual design, I think. One thing they did managed to nail this year though was the idea of a complete musical package that flowed from start to finish. Granted, it's because it all came from the same source material, but still - it got them away from the "let's throw two to four jazz songs together" mentality of the 80's. Crossmen really stepped up their game in '91. That was the year they debuted those gorgeous Premier drums, and they threw down massively overpowered battery charts compared to the rest of the corps (I have some of the drum sheets - they're amazing). The brass definitely brought the heat, and the overall design was a leap forward for them, but that battery is what they're remembered for. Blue Knights got kind of a bum rap in the early 90's for playing music that wasn't as in-your-face as their peers. In retrospect, they were just ahead of the game. Their symphonic stuff was really sophisticated, and I think we appreciate them more now. And they made it all sound and look so deceptively friggin' easy. Freelancers really put together an old school show of "hey, let's play stuff" while picking some really advanced stuff to play! The closer (Bells) was my favorite part of the show, just because it really had a triumphant "festival" sort of feel that showed off every section. And color-wise, they just looked great on the field! Bluecoats dropped down a bit, but Nutville is one of their great "classic" openers from the powder blue era. Whiter Shade of Pale was a bit of a head scratcher then (man, I wish they could take that on these days in a show) that kind of came off a little flat. Finally, Sky Ryders put together a solid show with the Broadway-style music they became famous for. The drumline definitely stood out with a very aggressive book, and the corps as a whole was very athletic and on-the-move. Others that stood out to me - VK's "Apollo" show strayed dangerously close to "halftime" design but didn't sacrifice drum corps quality. Spirit's "Glory" managed to turn what was their typical Southern style both symphonic and dark. And Glassmen's "After All" closer is still one of my favorite Old School ballads ever. Mike 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Continental Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 1991 Vanguard early season. The color on this video is not correct (Vanguard was not in fuscia and the guard was not green). The corps was not yet wearing their white jackets/black pants. Those who know the show will hear/see lots of differences from the final product. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Guns Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 That 91 BD horn line................omg! Talk about an out of body experience to hear them live. Greatest horn line in the history of DCI IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
year1buick Posted April 22, 2020 Share Posted April 22, 2020 5 minutes ago, Chief Guns said: That 91 BD horn line................omg! Talk about an out of body experience to hear them live. Greatest horn line in the history of DCI IMO. They were just ridiculous. I still remember seeing them for the first time on our CA tour and had a similar reaction. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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