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Lima, Oh Review (long)


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Here's my review of Lima, Oh. {my disclaimer: I'll TRY to point out the positives, don't take things personally if my opinion doesn't agree with yours}

Weather: It was a hot sticky day up until show time when the temperature dropped about 15 degrees and it started to rain. They delayed the show 30 minutes, it stopped raining and they got on with it. Nice concrete stadium in Lima that was 2/3 full. Field was excellent.

Scenic City: I dunno about the mime in the guard. Mimes freak me out. They're evil and they're mean and they're the minions of the devil:{ They have made a huge improvement since the last time I saw them in Orrville a week ago. They are moving with a lot more confidence. They're sop soloist may be one of the best high note guys in Div 2/3. I'm sure there's an open class corps licking their chops right now over him! I'd like to see the color guard do more work. They kind of hop around and play up the whole Saturday in the Park theme, but they seem like they have some skills...use them! Keep your eyes on this group, I think they are going to do well in August.

Marion: Again, just like Scenic, tons of improvement over last week. Moving and playing with a lot more confidence. Color guard was much more integrated into the performance. They have these big wood frames that they use nicely a few times now. Even with the improvement of this show, I have to ask, why this music for this group? Mathis de Mauler is one of the greats in the orchestral repertoire but just not right for this group. Keep your heads up Marion, you're making improvements.

Capitol Regiment: This was my first viewing of them. Impressive for a corps only a couple years old. They have a long way to go (that's good....because they're improvements will be very noticeable) though. Feet are very dirty. Horns overplay a lot (baritones...yikes). It's a solid Div. 2 show that should contend for 2nd place. I would keep my eyes on these guys, when/if they ever go Div. 1, they are going to shake some people.

Troopers: It looks like they have spent a great deal of time on the beginning of their show, because it is very clean and very well done. They came out and I was like, "Wow, they look great....very clean feet with a good balanced sound." After the first two minutes of the show though, it kind of goes downhill (you can tell they haven't worked the middle and end too much). They have a good concept of what they need to do visually, but the show is only about 3/4 done (they stand, literally for the last two minutes of the show). Consequently, they're GE scores are in the dumper. Color guard work isn't done for most of the show either. I couldn't tell either what they were trying to do with their brass sound. They are a very small Div. 1 corps, and I think they may be trying to compensate for their lack of instruments by overplaying (quite frequently....contras, holy cow, take it easy!). Blend and intonation (because of the overplaying) is certainly a big concern right now. Anyone else there notice how strange their tenors were tuned? The bottom drum was so low. I haven't heard tenors tuned that low in 20 years (seriously). If they can get the rest of the show on the field and make it as clean as the beginning, you're going to see their scores jump.

Blue Knights: My first reading of them. I tried to not let previous reviews of their show influence me, but they did. (ala Dr. Evil: Fair enough, where do I begin)....I heard about these color guard uniforms being almost obscene. I was sitting with my 10 year old daughter and surrounded by a bunch of old ladies. I got the preverbial questions from my daughter (is that their underwear? I can see their thingies....) and the old women were cackling like a bunch of chickens (they were actually kind of funny...one of them said, 'I wish I had the body and the courage to get into something like that'). And then you noticed the guys and their makeup....like something out of Victor Victoria...Dustin Hoffman would be proud. Anyway on to the show, I actually like the first third of their show. They do some very nice drill, especially at the end of the first section where they actually march in and around the pit....very cool. Their playing is WAY and I mean WAY overblown. Two words: tone quality. Might want to mention that to the low brass....holy cow. Visually they are still quite dirty. The overabundance of black in their uniforms will hide a lot of that now, but not in August. I dunno if they can pull the visual end up. GE, there isn't much. It's weird and scary for the sake of being weird and scary. There aren't many moments where the crowd WANTS to applaud.....think about that, even in the worst show you see, you know as an audience member when you WANT to applaud. BK only has one or two of those moments. That's why I say there isn't much effect in this show. The tall guy in the CG, he's not seven feet tall like someone else said (I was expecting to see Manute Bol out there)....he's about 6'7" and very skinny (which makes him appear taller than he actually is). The black uniform actually blends him in quite well and they use his height in a few spots to their advantage. This is not a top 12 program yet. They will have to really clean this up to get in.

Bluecoats: This show has more depth and demand than any of the "middle of the pack" by far and should be considered as a contender for the top 5 (judges, wake up). It's still dirty, but when you see the show everyone thinks 'work in progress'. They got the final 30 seconds on the field (it's dirty, but man, it's pretty darn cool!) and I think that's really going to help them in their GE and Visual captions (it did tonight). Score went up almost two points. It seems like every time I see the 'Coats they've added more dancing too. I was not a very big fan of all the prancing around on the field that corps seem to 'have' to do now, but they do this very well. It makes sense when they dance. Everything is depicting something (check out the overriding theme of the swaying when they dance). This color guard (when everything is finalized) will be top 5....I'm not kidding and I'm not homering here (I've been known to, but not on this). Check out what they do when they move. They still have some ensemble movement concerns but this color guard has unbelieveable talent (and a great staff). The 36 rifles for the first part of the show is great (gotta catch now). Anyone else going to attempt a unison 7 with 36 guns on the field this year? That's exciting. Solo dancer during the sop solo is really good too (love the part when she smacks him on the ### right before he squeals out the high note!). Brass has always been the strong suit with the 'Coats. I can honestly say they had the best quality sound tonight. It's balanced, in tune (for June), and blended. They have yet to add the volume (They usually save that until after the horn line has demonstrated a mastery of the building blocks of good sound: balance and blend). Fear not, will be there soon enough! Most exciting part of this show and I think my favorite Drum corps moment so far of all the corps I've seen is towards the end (Traffic/Celebration). It starts off depicting a traffic jam and you see and hear things you might expect in a traffic jam....towards the end it explodes into a full out rock jam session with one of the best park and blow sections I've seen a corps do (1980s included!). You'll be humming the low brass lick all the way home. BlueQ section is smoking hot. They've got about 3 features in the show and they rip them off each time. During 'Traffic' the battery plays on tambourines and really small hand drums. It's really cool and fits that part perfectly, but sometimes it's hard to tell what they're playing (it's muddled). Coolest thing about this program is that the kids really enjoy performing this and they really communicate with the audience. THANK YOU BLUECOATS FOR GETTING INTO YOUR SHOW AND ENTERTAINING THE CRAP OUT OF THE FANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glassmen: What a drumline. They are tight and very impressive. Not just the battery though, the pit writing and playing is very good. I LOVED the split timpani and how they used them to help with depth of sound (although they overbalanced at the end of the show). The show is....well....sigh....nice. That's about all you can say for it. It's clean. They march well. It's well played with very little ensemble issues. The color guard does what they are supposed to do (spin, catch, dance). Beyond that there isn't much to the program. Flugel soloist wasn't on tonight, but I'm sure that's not the norm. From a demand standpoint, I'm not sure this horse has enough to finish the race. It'll clean up (even more), but where is the depth? How is going to stand up to programs that have more musical, visual, and effect demand? They're beating Bluecoats and Phantom right now because they're show is clean....and the Bluecoats almost caught them tonight. We'll see.

Rants: Contra players who can't handle their horn....I'm a former contra player (I wasn't the greatest player in the world but I certainly could throw around the big piece of plumbing with the best of them) and NOTHING, I mean NOTHING infuriates me more that a contra player that can't handle the horn. I must have seen 30 contras tonight that were being dominated by their instrument. Slouching, leaning, slow horns up and down. Eat some steak, drink some milk, do push ups every waking second you have free, but dog gone it, don't let that horn get in the way of your performance! Memo to CR contras, go without shakos, you look stupid with all of your lids leaning off to the right. If you are so important that you can't have your cell phone off for a few hours AND actually refrain from answering calls and #####ing at whoever it is you are talking to, you probably shouldn't be sitting on the 45 yard line 12 rows up at a drum corps show.

Pats on back: Bluecoats sop soloist and solo dancer (Alyssa Erickson)...finally an exciting and entertaining drum corps moment all wrapped up into one! Glassmen percussion....just d### good. Show sponsors...they had a party with a meal for all participants after the show.

Scenic City soloist....he's got that drum corps swagger. Parking lot attendant, who in the rain, when I asked if I could park near one of the corps (because I was taking one of the members to an airport after the show), actually moved traffic and made sure I could get a spot where I could load luggage easily.

That's all. Next show I will see is Hershey. Can't wait to see some of the seniors in action!

Darren Webb

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Blue Knights:  <snip> I heard about these color guard uniforms being almost obscene.

Why can't they ever come to this part of the world??? :D

Yeah...when is someone going to post a picture so that we can make our own judgements??!! ;)^

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Man, I made two jokes in this review and nothing......you guys are a tough crowd...

No one comments on my fear of mimes? No mention of Mathis de Mauler (instead of Mahler)? Ok, I guess I'll stick to my day job....

LE, that's the uniform but they have the legs cut off like biker shorts and they wear these funky black shoes. It's real bizarre. :lol:

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me likey the uni!!!!!!!!!! :o :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P

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