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The 1988 Thread


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On 5/13/2020 at 11:26 PM, jwillis35 said:

Yes, it was at Parma. SCV lit that place on fire that night. The 1988 Phantom of the Opera show was such a breath-taking show. I loved when SCV did their Russian shows in 86 and 87, but 1988 was even more theatrical. It loosely walks you through the story without trying to literally tell the story, and the sound of their brass line on the final push (what I used to refer to as a lush winter-green organ sound) put chills through my body. 

We (me, my fiancee, and my parents) were at that show as well (the field in Parma, facing directly west...in the evening...)

I distinctly remember after SCV finishing (I found where they had been practicing and saw bits and pieces) my parents turning to look at me, just speechless.  It really was that amazing.

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On 5/16/2020 at 6:14 AM, jwillis35 said:

A few other interesting stats from 1988:

  • As was often the case in the 80s, there were no shows in 1988 where all the top corps met at one time until Semi-Finals and Finals
  • Trying to keep track of scores was difficult. I am not sure 1-800-can-drum was even active yet, and you often could not get a hold of DCW magazine unless you got to a show where it was being sold. Even then it was usually 1 to 2 weeks old.
  • Despite BD's dominance over much of the season, the last time they met up with SCV was July 30. After that BD and SCV would not meet until Semi-Finals and Finals. Because of this it was tough to gauge SCV's progress to see if, and by how much, they had caught-up to BD
  • BD won their August shows leading up to Finals by an average of 1.55, but that was over Garfield 2x, Star 1x, and Cavaliers 4x. Cavaliers in that span had 2 shows in which they only lost by 1 point, and their last encounter with BD by .4 (only 5 days from Semi-Finals)
  • BD hit a regular-season high score of 95.2 on August 10 and then seemingly peaked out and scores would go down over the last week until Semis
  • SCV toured mostly with Madison and VK (and others) during the August period leading up to Finals
  • They won their avg show by 1.13 points, with the Madison Scouts coming within .4 only four days in front of Semi-Finals
  • As many may be aware, no scores were announced during or after semi-finals. Usually scores are announced throughout the day at both Quarters and Semis. It was decided to not announce scores and to not let the corps know what they scored from Semis. Not really sure of the reason for this.
  • Also, based on where you placed the corps drew straws to determine performance order for Finals. This is why Blue Devils appear first on the PBS telecast.
  • I believe this was the first year that the "defending champ" did not go on last, but it may have been 1987 (anyone know this for sure?)
  • Madison Scouts drew the straw for the final spot (of course, little did anyone know that Madison had won Semi-Finals)
  • Well, maybe Steve Rondinaro and the PBS telecast crew knew Semi scores. Steve hinted that there was a "dark horse" in Madison, and the rest, as they say, is history.

I had to revisit the shows somewhat to remind myself of what I liked about that season. Top to bottom 1988 was quality entertainment. I think my favorite shows were:

  1. SCV - simply stunning GE and program design
  2. Phantom Regiment - Romeo and Juliet is incredible
  3. Madison Scouts - the Scouts were complex and masterful in the opener (with incredible demand in the brass), and then you had the explosion of Malagena in the closer. A fantastic show with big music GE in the 2nd half
  4. Cavaliers - they were symphonic and beautiful with Firebird.
  5. Velvet Knights - while not as popular as 1992 I really enjoyed this show and the quality of VK in 88 should go without saying. 8th place
  6. Blue Devils - fun music, great solos, overall beautiful show - top notch performers all the way around, if the question was who performs the best (taking out GE and visual design) then BD wins hands down (as they often do because of their ability to perform)
  7. Bluecoats - A definite step-up from 1987 with incredible solos, fun percussion solo, better visual design
  8. Spirit of Atlanta - they actually tied VK in semis I think
  9. and pretty much everyone else - I don't recall not liking anyone

 

 

 


 

The Marching Rountable has a great pod episode about 88 Madison...definitely a great listen....with one of the Judges on the panel. 

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30 minutes ago, gak27 said:

We (me, my fiancee, and my parents) were at that show as well (the field in Parma, facing directly west...in the evening...)

I distinctly remember after SCV finishing (I found where they had been practicing and saw bits and pieces) my parents turning to look at me, just speechless.  It really was that amazing.

One of the nicest parts of Vanguard '88 was the guard.  Just so well done.

Does anyone know why they decided to go all-female in '89?  The guard writing in '89 lost a lot of the magic from '88.  

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My favorite show that year was Santa Clara...BD of course had that incredible horn line and no video of that captures that sound. To this day it's probably top three of just incredible horn lines IMO. I just didn't like the GRAY unis. I was like WHAT? Then next year in 89 was black. You're the BLUE Devils.

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2 hours ago, DFA1970 said:

  I just didn't like the GRAY unis.  

I'll never make it to the great reveal of the new clothing styles since I've always liked the gray pants that the BD wore in 88.

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Speaking of BD's horn line in 88 .... that's one of the quietest POWERFUL lines ever.  They were super in tune.  I never heard them play FFF all summer.  But they were louder than most lines out there because of the intonation and overtones.

87 by comparison .. those dudes and dudettes were loud AF ... constantly on the edge of being out of control ... but exciting.  

88 is just ...... #### good.  Still a top 10 all time horn line.

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