Jacksonville, AL 6/20

[Directorofbands]

I know that Steve did a review, but since this is my last show until Murfreesboro, what the heck!!!

First, I had 4 of my band kids who were all drum corps virgins. Not for long!!!

We arrived in Anniston around 3 to check out Magic in rehearsal. They were already into full ensemble, which was cool. The first thing I noticed was the great sound the horn line was producing. Nice stuff. We hung around until they did a full run thru. Show was fine until the last 30-45 seconds of the show. MAJOR phasing between the basses on the field and the basses in the pit. VERY close to falling completely apart. Have to wait for tonight to see if it was a fluke.

We then beat feet to JSU to try to catch the Spirit run thru. Got there just in time to see them leaving the stadium. Oy Vey!!! Went and grabbed some grub.

Complaint: We were in the souvie area when Magic rolled in. Note to souvie cats: When you arrive to the area and things aren't perfect, remember that your crude comments are heard by passerbys, especially when your windows are down on your truck. My kids now had a negative feeling towards Magic, the first corps they ever saw live.

We walked down to Teal Sound's battery warming up. Not bad folks.

We took the plunge and went in the stadium. For those who have never been there, this is a very cozy all concrete horseshoe stadium (maybe 40 rows) right on top of the sidelines. After visiting with old friends (it's amazing how many folks you know show up for one of these things!! ) we settled in for the Star Spangled Banner by Spirit's horn line. Let the games begin!!!

Teal Sound (Div III) - 6 sop, 4 mello, 6 bari, 3 contra, 5 snares, 2 tenors, 4 basses, 9 pit, 12 CG)

Show is the music of the Dave Matthews Band. This is a small unit that has some fundamental hurdles to cross (breath support in the horns, marching fundamentals, etc.) but not bad for a first run. Contras were splatty in spots (overcompensating) and the bari and sop intonation was lacking (see breath support comment). Color guard staging was good, but the guard itself is weak. The percussion was strong, the highlight for this group at this point. Visually, more integration of the percussion into the drill would go a long way towards making this corps look bigger. Last part of the show was at a standstill, still waiting to get the drill in. The show has the possibility to be a nice Div III show as the kids (and yes, these are kids) mature through the summer. Score - 47.70

Magic (Div II) - 21 sops, 11 mellos, 18 baris, 9 contras, 8 snares, 4 tenors, 5 basses, 9 pit, 20 CG)

Show is music from "The Wind and the Lion" by Jerry Goldsmith, a 1975 middle ages movie.

New unis - Works for them. Black pants, Purple jackets with black sleeves, thin red baldric with silver buckle. Clean look.

Like I mentioned earlier, the horn sound is balanced, warm and in tune. Guard at intro is strong on weapons, but that's it. Color guard is generally weak. In the ballad, sound of the feet was evidence in the sops, especially at the mf level. Percussion sounded muddy throughout. In the closer, there was phasing in the feet and the technical lick by the sops was muddy. The end of the show still had major phasing front to back, but held together better than their earlier run thru. One glaring problem throughout - intervals, or lack thereof.

The show is nice, but like Steve mentioned, it lacks something. No spark. My opinion - The demand is not going to be strong enough to propel them into the top 12, no matter how clean. It will, however, make division II quite exciting. Between them, Cap Regiment, Mandarins, and SCV Cadets, I think Div II will be tight.

Kiwanis Kavaliers (Div I) -(15 sops, 12 mellos, 18 baris, 10 contras, 10 snares, 6 tenors, 5 basses, 5 plates, 11 pit, 24 color guard)

Show is "Hall of Justice" - Music from Batman, Spiderman, Flash Gordon, etc....

First impressions - No hats....hmmmm With the guard in all black with a small gold belly chain coupled with the black corps uniforms, they're WAAAY too dark. Also......huge battery and a chick in the snare line. You go girl!!!

One word - Dirty. Upper body articulation was nonexistent. Horns all over the place. A LOT of moving around when still..... Intervals and intonation.......rough. Phasing throughout. The reprise at the end was trying to fall apart.

The contras taking a knee and playing was reminiscent of the "old days". Cool. Also, this show has a great deal of demand in the horn book. When they clean this up, this will be an enjoyable show.

15 minute intermission.....didn't dare leave our seats....Cavies were next.

Cavaliers - They have THE package. Show is Frameworks - Original music again. Music for the most part has no discernable melodic line, but it's okay stuff. Horn line is sweet. Percussion is.....wow... good stuff. We were on tour a lot with these guys last year and I can say, they're stronger than last year this time. Color Guard was not gelling yet. The jury is out on the Tron look alike unis...all gray with straight line tubular color accents. Also, silks on one tune are colored sqare panels on a lighter colored panel......silks look small. Backfield playing here was really cool. (Remember the all concrete stadium?) The building fugue section as the line disassembles from R to L as they pick up people and reassembles at the end in a block was nice. The "rap" section into the color guard frame was the highlight. The color guard, using white PVC pipe, make 2 concentric boxes on the field. Guard in the middle, horn line on the outside "framing" them then go into their dance/rap thing. To me, the movement into the box at warp speed was the big effect. Although not as hummable, this show is good. End of the show is, in Cavies form, not the final product. A strong show.

Note - Remember the DC rookies I brought with? I was surprised at their reaction. They loved Cavies. Not the corps I'd have thought they'd love. Hmmm.....

BD - Show is Jazz, Music Made in America. Maple Leaf Rag, I've Got Rhythm, House of the Rising Sun, and Channel One Suite.

The drill at the beginning and end of Maple Leaf was pretty cool. (Spinning out and spinning back in.) Rest of drill was standard Devs......nonexistent. Clean, but they really didn't have a visual program. Guard unis were a lot like last year times 10 in the loud category.

Maple Leaf was pretty tasty.... nice playing. I Got Rhythm was like a dissected frog - Fragmented to say the least..... everytime you'd start to catch the melody, BAM, it's gone. Coupled with the out there chord structure at times, this wasn't enjoyable. Same with House of the Rising Sun.......I've heard more effective high school arrangements. Channel One had enough of the original to allow me to reminisce, but was choppy. Horn line seemed to lose steam the last minute. I expected this to be a show my kids would enjoy, but it seemed to just confuse them. Yes, they play well. Yes, they march well. Yes, the percussion was good. It is just a flat show. I really hope something happens in Concord.......maybe a little infusion of Madison?

Spirit - Show is Holsinger's Easter Symphony. I already reviewed this show earlier, so I'll only hit the high spots.

Opener - still have issues with mellos in the opener. Still out of tune, but better than Tuesday night. Tone color between the mellos is just not gelling. A lot cleaner than Tuesday, but seemed a little reserved. The super glaring marching problems were not as evident. Battery still seemed to be the strongest section so far. My question was how they would stack up to Magic. Bottom line: Spirit has a much stronger show design which will sustain them. Spirit will be in the hunt for top 12. Once again, the 10-15 spots are going to be the battle this year.

The highlight of the night was Corps Vets - Thank you!!! G Bugles and being played well. Percussion was okay, but the horns did it for me. Blues In the Night was SOOOOOO SWEETT!!!! And when they played Georgia (IN G)..... wow!!! I miss G bugles. Georgia took me back over 20 years to my first ever show. Thanks Corps Vets for a breath of stale/fresh air.

Scores:

Div II/III

Teal Sound 47.70

Magic 73.50

Div I

Kiwanis 50.60

Spirit 61.05

BD 75.15

Cavies 76.85

Drum major only retreat........what's the deal? Most of these corps were heading to Dothan, so don't spout the whole "long road ahead". Cavies played the victory concert. I kinda expected Spirit to play, but guess Cavies wouldn't relinquish at Spirit's home show.

Some thoughts:

1) All of these corps have decent shows, some entertaining shows. Cleaning will bring the GE (crowd GE...... who cares about the judges sheets) up. Yes, it's early, but this is the time of the year when the learning curve is at its steepest. Chops will improve, visual will improve, guards will improve. Overall, a great opening show for most of the corps.(Cavies have been on the road a little while)

2) Glad to have Magic back on the field. Very glad.

3) Shows I'd like to see later in the season: ALL of them.

Arrived home at 3:30 am, so that's why this didn't get posted sooner. Best of luck to all the corps. And remember the rookies? All of them wanted information so they could go to a camp and maybe march themselves. You ALL made an impression.

[Sluggo]

Drum major only retreat........what's the deal? Most of these corps were heading to Dothan, so don't spout the whole "long road ahead". Cavies played the victory concert. I kinda expected Spirit to play, but guess Cavies wouldn't relinquish at Spirit's home show.

Bobby, thanks for the great review...that was awesome!!

Just remember, not at all home shows for a corps, will be played by the 'home corps'. I'm sure the Cavies would have been happy to have Spirit play to their home town folks, but it would have depended on both corps, and the crowd.

[DarronSopDude]

Thanks man. We loved playing for you.