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Houston Review


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Okay, this is a day late since I spent another day in Houston. . .so I have had some time to think about the show last night. Rice is a nice venue, but because of some rain earlier in the day the show started late and it seemed every corps (especially the guards) suffered a bit from this.

I had my fiancee with me at the show. She is a non musician somewhat corps newbie, so I will interject some of her thoughts throughout also.

Anyway, on to the show. . .

CROSSMEN

They were not nearly as on as they were the previous night in Dallas. You could tell the wet turf was gonna mess with the guard's right from the beginning almost. The groove was just not quite there tonight, but with that said I still love this show a great deal! I think if they continue cleaning they have a great shot at top 5. I don't see them staying behind both PR and GMen.

Fiancee says they were not as "fabulous" as the pervious night.

PHANTOM

This was my first viewing of this show. The positives are that this is one of the most improved guards of the season. The opener is totally sold with some great guard design, and I love the uniforms also. The hornline is great, also. . .but there were a few points in the show where I heard some heroes sticking out. What I did not care for is that the visual design seems a bit safe to me. It is moderately effective, but the demand is not nearly as high as Glassmen and some of the other top corps, IMO. This is definitely a step in the right direction for Phantom, but I don't see them higher than 6th unless some changes are made.

Fiancee said the guard should have done more layering. A good portion of the show the guard is all on the same equipment at the same time.

THE CADETS

They were also not quite as on as in Dallas. The guard had about 5 drops from what I noticed. Even though this was probably not their best show to date, I still think the point spread is much too big between them and Cavies. . .more on that later. This is an amazing show that has the crowd from the first downbeat to the last cutoff. Awesome!

Fiancee says "I think it rocks!"

CAVALIERS

Well, it is not quite what I expected in certain areas. I had listened to a recording of the show many times, and I especially wanted to pay attention to how the crowd reacted to the show, both to the visual and musical elements. For probably the first 2/3 of the show, the crowd around me hardly reacted at all. The pointing chord stereophonic thing got some oos and ahhs, though (very cool!). Then the crowd finally seemed to get into the show when the box/groove section began. Now, granted this is a big stadium, so I can't say what the entire crowd's reaction was, but the hundreds of people within earshot of me just did not seem to get into a lot of the show, aside from the Cavies' girlfriends about 10 rows up. Now, I will say this. . .they have an awesome hornline, they march much better than last year, are relatively clean for this time of year, and the guard compliments the show well. . .BUT why does the hornline never get above mf?. . .very reserved hornline. So, I got home today and checked the recaps and I wanna know what the GE Music judges are smokin? You can easily see why Cavies are dominating certain captions. . .it's clear cut. . .BUT if GE has anything to do with the crowd's reaction to the show, then the Cavies should be scoring in the middle of the pack in the GE Music subcaption behind corps like Crossmen, Blue Devils, and The Cadets. This is where I think there is some inflation involved and where the point spread is just too large. Unless some changes are made, I hope this show is passed up.

Fiancee says she did not like the Tron guard unis (she mentioned N'Sync video), but she liked the flag matching to the unis in one part of the show. She said she just was not excited until the box.

GLASSMEN

This show may not be the most exciting thing in the world, but it is far from boring. The soloist was very on tonight. What I like best about the Glassmen is that they are not afraid to take risks. From the music they pick to their drill design they take a lot of risks. There are about 4 or 5 points in the show where the entire corps is spread throughout the field almost to end zone, and often times with soft music going on. Its a good show by a good corps, but I did enjoy last year's show more. I think the only weakness they have right now, and it is not that bad, is their guard. The guard just seems to nt be on the same level as the rest of the corps.

BLUE DEVILS

The improvement in one night in this corps is amazing. Those who are wondering why their visual scores are rising while all the changes are being made. . .well, they deserve the scores. Not only that, this show has gone from a show everyone said had no flow to it, to a fun, exciting, total musical/visual package. Along with The Cadets, I feel the Devils have a championship show with a total package that once is cleaned should be amazingly tough to beat. I am hoping these 2 corps end up duking it out for the title.

Fiancee said their guard interprets the music better than anyone, and she enjoyed the costumes.

Sidenotes. . .

TX is hot!

We sat right in the middle of a pack of band members from Sharpstown in Houston. I always get worried when I sit down in the middle of a pack of band kids for obvious reasons, but they were well behaved and provided some interesting commentary between the corps' performances.

Dan Potter did interviews in between some of the corps performances on the field with different staff members. Jeff Fiedler was asked how many years they have been doing original stuff and he made a comment saying a lot of the Niagara show was original. Now I have heard that piece several times, and I thought most of it was taken right from the piece. Anyway else have a thought on that?

So, it was a great show and well run. Blast was a sponsor and did a lot of advertizing for its TX tour.

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Great review!

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Thanks for your fine review " TX". I saw the Blue Devils early on, and thought the Corps had talent and some nice elements in their show, but thought the show design seemed a little fragmented, and not flowing. Something was missing. But apparently, the changes they have put in recently, have improved this. Also, you have raised a legitimate question I think when you looked at the various G.E. captions, and found that Corps that are very clean and difficult, yet perhaps somewhat lacking in their connection with the audience, still are not sufficiently penalized in the G.E. captions as currently constituted. Or, looking at it another way, Corps that may be close execution wise, but infinately more enjoyed by the majority of the audience, do not seem to get the commensurate trade off with the G.E. caption. I think that it perpetuates Corps to overemphasize the Technical aspects more than should be necessary. But that's for another day and another discussion. There are a lot of talented Corps this year, and the competition is keen and it makes for an interesting year!

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Also, you have raised a legitimate question I think when you looked at the various G.E. captions, and found that Corps that are very clean and difficult, yet perhaps somewhat lacking in their connection with the audience, still are not sufficiently penalized in the G.E. captions as currently constituted. Or, looking at it another way, Corps that may be close execution wise, but infinately more enjoyed by the majority of the audience, do not seem to get the commensurate trade off with the G.E. caption. I think that it perpetuates Corps to overemphasize the Technical aspects more than should be necessary.

You know, I used to not think this was true, but unfortunately the more shows I go to the more my mind is changing. We'll see how things progress in these last few weeks.

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Jeff Fiedler was asked how many years they have been doing original stuff and he made a comment saying a lot of the Niagara show was original. Now I have heard that piece several times, and I thought most of it was taken right from the piece. Anyway else have a thought on that?

Jeff was absolutely correct. A lot of melodies and licks were taken from the original, but the tempo was juiced, and the entire setting for those melodies was different. you've listened to the two, so you know that they are practically two diffferent pieces. Also the entire ballad, and I believe the entire closer, were originals by Saucedo.

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I do not consider 'juicing' the tempo making the piece different. Yes, the ballad was original, but that's about it. The closer is somewhat in the wind ens. piece...IMO, not enough to be call 'original'.

Speaking directly about 2002. I do not see this as being any different from Cavies 2001. They sound and look better, but it's the same exact style and mood of music (unfortuneately). Take out the box in the closer, and I see Cadets, BD, and SCV all above Cavies, sorry. Do not see how Cavies are beating Cadets in GE or guard. Also do see how these 2 corps are seperated by 2+ points? Hmmm ;)^

I am just gald to see my (not really) baby blue back! :D Looks like they are breaking back into Top 12. They have really been working hard this year. I was talking to my friend and giving him the scores of shows from San Ant. tonight and they went crazy when they heard they were going to get to perform in the night show. They are really pumped now. Watch out BC! B)

Thanks!

Sean

w/Stp:

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Iam really relieved that you guys are so objective in your review of the cavaliers.Thank goodness your not judging. :D

Hmmm, I was there. . .where were you Friday night?

Also, do you really think the judging system is being objective? Now, that's funny!

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BUT why does the hornline never get above mf?. . .very reserved hornline.  So, I got home today and checked the recaps and I wanna know what the GE Music judges are smokin?  You can easily see why Cavies are dominating certain captions. . .it's clear cut. . .BUT if GE has anything to do with the crowd's reaction to the show, then the Cavies should be scoring in the middle of the pack in the GE Music subcaption behind corps like Crossmen, Blue Devils, and The Cadets.  This is where I think there is some inflation involved and where the point spread is just too large.

G.E. Music has nothing to do with fan reaction. Just to prove that, look at Madison. If they used fan reaction as a barometer for G.E., you would have brass lines just playing as loud as possible with no intonation or ensemble sound just to get the crowd going. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. It has a lot to do with the arrangements, intonation, how it is played etc.

Do you really want the fans judging a caption so that they can scream as loud as they can for their favorite corps...You really need to sit down and think about what you are saying.....

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Guest GeorgeD

I believe TXMysteaux is not implying that the fan reaction should decide the GE caption, but rather that the GE score should judge the effectiveness of the program while considering its impact on the audience as portion of that. GE seems to be becoming the "reward the design team" caption for creativeness / or "cutting edge" approach rather than effectiveness of the actual program in the real world.

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