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The 1999 Thread


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Getting my impressions in late - sorry, real life got in the way!  I missed live DCI in '99, as that was the year they cancelled the Killeen show and moved it to San Antonio.  I stayed away out of spite, but yeah, I caved in 2000.  I bought the midseason CD's, end of season CDs and 3-volume VHSs that year, so I saw and heard everyone. 

For me, 1999 had one of the stronger top-12 lineups of the decade.  It was definitely one of the most sophisticated musically.  If you want to think about the amazing progression of the activity, directly consider 1999 Vanguard vs 1989 Vanguard vs 1979 Vanguard.  Feels like three completely different activities. 

So, of course we know Blue Devils and Vanguard tied.  I did show the VHSs to a first-time watcher and had him pick, and he said BD just carried themselves like champions, and that gave them the extra oomph.  Rhythms... was a great show for the first 3/4, then the closer didn't really come together like the rest of it.  I know they kept tweaking it throughout the summer, but it felt flat against the other styles out there.  BD's last year with Yamaha too... <sniff>

Vanguard managed to cobble a diverse set of pretty dark and sophisticated stuff into a tremendous whole.  Of course, The Canyon stole the whole friggin' show.  If there's one single tune that came out of that year, that was the one.  Vanguard also leaned <ha!> into body movement in places that year, though the Dance Dance Revolution was still a ways away.  Their ballad I think was quite underrated.  

Cavaliers built their program around classical and band works, much like '98, but in a much brighter fashion.  Gotta be honest - I don't care for the music in this show at all.  It's not a bad show in the slightest - they drill is top notch and they're nailing the charts.  I just don't like the charts.  Eh, everybody's got one like that, I think.

Glassmen's 99 show was their strongest production in the corps' history.  That brassline was amazing, and that big unison fanfare in the closer always had everyone's full attention.  They sure felt like one of the Big Corps that year.  

Madison's Superstar had everything cranked up to 11.  Even when it called for a 6, they had it at 11.  That's a hell of a live show, but a bit of a mess when you look back on it objectively.  Even then, I felt the star at the end was a little cheesy.  Still quality, obviously, but I can't argue with them in 6th.  

Blue Knights found a groove in combining brass band and classical, and they used it well in '99 and '00.  Trittico is just a classic "BK" sounding tune, and they felt like a "strong" 7th.

Phantom's Tchaikovsky show was an improvement over the messy 1998 program, but it didn't really inspire. It was also pretty clear that the black-on-black was done.  It did, however, have its moments, especially in the ballad*.  (*see also: every year of Phantom's existence)

Boston made Finals finally with a pretty blah set of tunes we'd heard before.  They did them *really* well, though, and execution <and playing it safe> won the day for them.  Don't take it harshly, BAC fans - they made up for it with a vengeance 12 months later.  

Crossmen switched to the black and gray in '99, and tried to update the programming a bit to match. It was definitely more symphonic-jazz, a little bit retro, and the visual program was still very good, but overall it was a little bit... just there.  Didn't move my needle very hard.  

Carolina Crown veered again, this time into soundtracks, and I have to say, I didn't care for it at all.  Jekyll and Hyde wasn't that great of source material, and I really felt that after the opener, the show trended downhill from there.  

Finally, Colts had what I still consider their greatest show charts ever.  They worked an amazingly diverse set of tunes together, and made a good hornline sound great.  It's by far my favorite of the '90's Colts programs.  

(Also: Bluecoats fell out of Finals... I can say the programming didn't feel like it did the members any favors.)

Honorable mentions - well, a bunch of 2/3 corps (Patriots, Spartans, Lew Etoiles, Blue Stars) did a bunch of shows that quite honestly felt a bit over-dark and definitely overprogrammed.  Others (Kiwanis, Tarheel Sun, ECJ) leaned hard into jazz.  Wasn't much in between.

Next year: (2000) The Bb hammer drops!  Cavaliers decide melody is for chumps!  Cadets deliver the Greatest Tenor Feature Ever!  Phantom's camouflage uniforms look like pairs of floating legs!  Boston and Blast! coincidentally love Ravel a lot!  And other things!

Mike

 

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Just now, mfrontz said:

@MikeN, what did you think of the 1999 Cadets of Bergen County?

... ok, might have forgotten them.  Apologies.  Short version - the opener was very Classic 90's Cadets, the tenor feature was amazing, the taxi parts were useless, the tarp didn't add anything, and it felt like a swing and a ground-rule double for a clearly home run group of performers, considering they won the year before and year after.  I always had the feeling afterwards from what everyone said that Hopkins just got fixated on this particular show and had to have it a certain way.  

Mike

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On 7/20/2020 at 2:57 PM, MikeN said:

... ok, might have forgotten them.  Apologies.  Short version - the opener was very Classic 90's Cadets, the tenor feature was amazing, the taxi parts were useless, the tarp didn't add anything, and it felt like a swing and a ground-rule double for a clearly home run group of performers, considering they won the year before and year after.  I always had the feeling afterwards from what everyone said that Hopkins just got fixated on this particular show and had to have it a certain way.  

Mike

This is mostly how I felt about Cadets in 1999. Decent opener, useless props and tarps. The show had a lack of connection...hard to put my finger on just why. They had killer talent and man did they march the heck out of this show. Nice ballad! That is the tune I remember most. Their placement was correct.

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On 7/20/2020 at 2:57 PM, MikeN said:

... ok, might have forgotten them.  Apologies.  Short version - the opener was very Classic 90's Cadets, the tenor feature was amazing, the taxi parts were useless, the tarp didn't add anything, and it felt like a swing and a ground-rule double for a clearly home run group of performers, considering they won the year before and year after.  I always had the feeling afterwards from what everyone said that Hopkins just got fixated on this particular show and had to have it a certain way.  

Mike

so fixated he stood on a tarp at finals backfield to keep it from blowing around

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This is the year that Cavaliers introduced the diamond cutter, isn't it?

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10 hours ago, N.E. Brigand said:

This is the year that Cavaliers introduced the diamond cutter, isn't it?

yes!

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99 was my first year in The Cadets. To say it was a rough season would be an understatement. 

The design was a total disaster. The original opening of the show was going to be a free form with street sounds and eventually build into a giant rotating block. Several drill pages later, it would lead into what would become the ending of the show. The drill was incredible ... so much so that they felt like they couldn't do anything better so it became the ending of the show. The opener was supposed to be the second part of the show, which is why the last drill set matches the first drill set. 

The performers were frustrated. The staff was frustrated. The design was a mess and the show was very difficult. The tarps were supposed to be more elaborate (from what I remember), and they weren't implemented until the end of the season. I remember thinking "THOSE are the tarps that we've been waiting all season for?!" Disappointed was an understatement. (Oh and in case anyone was wondering- the cars were not fake- they were actual car parts that the guard members were carrying around on drum harnesses. They were not light! I recall a few times when a guard member would complain about getting cut by some of the metal.)

I'll share what are my two most memorable moments of the season:

1. Montreal. It was late in the season. Things were going wrong and we needed to turn things around. We had several different meetings with staff members and it all started with GH. When we finally got brass sectionals, we were expecting yet another chewing out from Sullivan, the brass head. Instead he told us to line up and to follow him. He brought us to a small, beautiful church. They were nice enough to give us permission to enter. We were all silent as we went inside. We formed an arc at the front and played "Almighty Father" which was one of our warm up pieces that year. When we were finished, I don't think there was a dry eye in the church. No words were said or needed to be said. 

2. Finals performance. Leading up to finals, it was incredibly rare that we had a good performance. There was always something that didn't go right or could have gone better. Generally the reaction from GH and the staff was along the lines of 'Nope, that wasn't it'. Night after night. But finals night something just clicked. I can't explain it. Perhaps it was just that things were coming to an end. Perhaps it was just a 'screw it' feeling from us. I don't know. All I know is we performed our heart out that night in Madison. I remember seeing the staff eating it up on the front sideline. I remember seeing them jumping up and down as we turned around for the big hit in the closer. Once we got back into the tunnel and allowed to break attention we all knew we had finally done it. I didn't care where we ended up, but I knew we did the best with what we were given.

I marched my age out year in 2000 and that was season was the absolute opposite of 1999 in practically every way. However, I am really thankful I got to march in 99 and it still surprises me to hear people say they liked that show!

 

 

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I would love to see an early season version of Scouts 99. The superstar fanfare was at the beginning of the closer, then went into the gospel section and closed with a big ending. We got huge ovations at the start of the close and then it fell flat. We learned the new version of the closer over a few days while still performing the old ending, which was tough. Then we switched to the finals version. All happened in June. 

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