The Best "Other" Awards - Your Top 3

[Den8uml]

Just now, Jurassic Lancer said:

Best soloist: Ryan, Keytar for Bloo. Man, he looked like he was having the time of his life! 

Dam I wasn’t thinking that! And I’m not sure how.  He was the highlight of the night. 

[CrownBariDad]

3 minutes ago, Jurassic Lancer said:

Best soloist: Ryan, Keytar for Bloo. Man, he looked like he was having the time of his life! 

Ryan and Troopers "angry" cellist -- both showing a LOT of emotion in different ways. I loved them both.

And mega kudos to Crown's trumpet soloist for pressing on with that foot injury. Every night was beautiful!

[Weaklefthand4ever]

25 minutes ago, wvu80 said:

Since I'm a dumb drummer I thought I'd take a crack at best snares, and I can tell you why.

Santa Clara Vanguard snares were just clean as a whistle all year but everybody knows that.  When seeing them up close and live about halfway through the show the snares start a drum roll while marching about mid field.  They marched this roll towards the left end zone, slowed it up, then continued marching it sideways and backwards to the far sideline, in a giant elongated "C" which lasted about 30-40 yards until they finished.  That's not difficult, THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE to keep a roll that long and to keep it so clean.  Yet there it was for all to see.

There's your best snare line.  Arguably, of course.

It's a balance, right? So SCV was p*ss clean. And they were that way from really mid-season. I would argue that they were the cleanest line out there. BUT their achievement was maybe not as high as BD or Bloo note for note. I think what Bloo did was to MAXIMIZE the caption. I thought BD fell exactly where they should have been (and P.S. I HATE the plexiglass whatever the he*& they were thingies.) 

[Jurassic Lancer]

5 hours ago, CrownBariDad said:

Ryan and Troopers "angry" cellist -- both showing a LOT of emotion in different ways. I loved them both.

And mega kudos to Crown's trumpet soloist for pressing on with that foot injury. Every night was beautiful!

Good call on the Troopers’ cellist. And how high was she on that derrick? She is my second favorite soloist of the night. 

Edited August 14, 2022 by Jurassic Lancer

[Precious Roy]

On 8/13/2022 at 8:07 AM, wvu80 said:

 

Best Opener: I forget if it was Gold, or Genesis. But one of them started their show with a horn blast -- not the typical slow build up to the first hit, but an FFFF note on the first downbeat. I wish more corps would do that.

Best Closer: Phantom Regiment. Because each kick-halt is a 1.5 multiplier.

Loudest: The single most effective loud note was in Bluecoats' show. It was an FFFFF finish of an FFF chord, in the keytar section right before the horns reposition from front and center to behind the keytarist. Listening live at the Atlanta show, it was fun to see the spectators in the front section visibly move their head back at that note, as if the power of the note was causing it.

Best Soloist: Crown's ballad soloist. There's one part where he goes up in pitch during a moving part of the ballad, and he NAILED it every time. It is so exposed, and it would be so easy to frack that note -- but it was always perfect, and so effective.

Best Snare line: I'm not a drummer, so no clue. I'll punt, and say the Bluecoats Alumni, because it was so cool to see so many of them.

Best Uniform: Troopers. I think it's the hats.

The "Babylon Horn-Snap Memorial" Moment of the Year: The release at the end of the SCV ballad. The transition from FFFF to nothing, except an echo around the stadium -- sublime.

Best Personal Moment: My 15 year-old son playing "rock-paper-scissors" from the 15th row with a Crown guard member, during their pre-show in Atlanta. And him subsequently telling me last night, "Thanks for getting me interested in drum corps." I think he really wants to march next year.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Precious Roy
typo

[CrownBariDad]

Just now, Jurassic Lancer said:

Good call on the Troopers’ cellist. And how was she on that derrick? She is my second favorite soloist of the night. 

When she wasn't playing, she was emoting and accenting the show below her. So in essence -- a color guard member with a cello vs a rifle. 

[ykw]

16 minutes ago, Jurassic Lancer said:

Best soloist: Ryan, Keytar for Bloo. Man, he looked like he was having the time of his life! 

I'll admit I didn't care for the Bluecoats' show when I first saw it June.  But this performer sold it for me; he simply exuberated joy. 

I didn't realize until late in the season that he was also marching mellophone at other parts in the show.

[Jurassic Lancer]

On 8/13/2022 at 9:07 AM, wvu80 said:

This is not a poll, just our opinions with some commentary to back up your choice.  Comment on one category or all.  Feel free to add "other" awards I missed.

+++

Best Opener:

Best Closer:

Loudest:

Best Soloist:

Best Snare line:

Best Uniform:

+++

 

Loudest: combined Bloo Alumni and current corps: Creep/Boxer. Holy #### was that ####### loud! 

[CrownBariDad]

5 minutes ago, ykw said:

I'll admit I didn't care for the Bluecoats' show when I first saw it June.  But this performer sold it for me; he simply exuberated joy. 

I didn't realize until late in the season that he was also marching mellophone at other parts in the show.

We just saw that last night. We had always assumed he played in the pit.

Awesome!

[JohnDF]

Soloist:

Let's also not forget Charles, the Mandarin's singer... He was also marching Contra when he wasn't singing. Not a one trick pony.