Another partial Clifton review

[MikeD]

What does one think when one thinks of attending a show at Clifton Stadium??

Where the HECK am I gong to park my car??? :o

Well, I had to deliver the rest of my band's show ideas to our arranger, John Arietano, so I figured I'd drive on up to Clifton and drop off the cut tape I made for our closer and just chat with him a bit. Also, I figured I coudl catch some DCA corps as well. So, off I went.....

I got to Clifton Stadium in time to see eveyone, just about.

However, by the time I took "le' grande tour de Cliftonne" looking for a parking spot, and wended my way over to the stadium, I missed both of the beginning exhibitions. The Hurcs were just about to start their show.

Hurcs: What a great percussion section! Very tight and some wonderful parts in both the battery and pit. A few hmmmm spots in the performance, but overall a great percussion job.

Guard: Another highlight! The guard is very good with both movement and equipment to this non-guard person. Very WGI-ish and I mean that in a good sense. In additon to technical excellence, they connect emotionally with the audience.

Brass: seemed VERY tired. Did they play a lot during the day? "Fanfare for the Common Man" was pretty decent, but after that they seemed to have problems in maintaining pitch and sonority. The sops were pinched and strident sounding, and there were some mellophone entracnes that were quite jarring intonaton-wise. The book is very well written, though. My guess is that maybe the played a lot prior to the show? Maybe a bit too much? If not, they need to build up their endurance so that the end of the show matches the opener in performance quality.

Skyliners: A lot of changes since I saw them at a rehearsal a while back, and from what I've been told, a lot more to come.

Brass: The highpoint for me of their corps. They had some overplaying at times, but the overall intonation was quite good, IMO. The had something like 27 horns, and they really should play like a very good 27, not TRY and play like 37. I like their opener, and from NY/NY through the closer the show really grabbed the crowd.

Guard: Very small, but they do a great job for their small size. I think they need to integrate them into the visual design more, but as I was told, that is on the way. They were out in the hinterlands a few times, as compared to the horns. I think the brass drill was changed (and some holes closed), and the percussion now all-pit, so the original guard spots that USED to be integrated are now outside of the forms. I know tey'll fix that i the coming weeks, from talking to their staff.

Well, after Sky I went in search of Screetch to give him out show stuff, the main reason I was there in the first place. So, I hung out with John and some of the Sky folks in the parking lot, sipping a nice G&T at the tailgate of John's car and discussed Sky, our band show, and lots of stuff. So, I missed Bush, Bucs, and the Brigs (must have somthing against corps that start with 'B').

I went back to the show in time to see the Cabs and Cabs alumni, though I saw both a ground level.

The competitive corps, doing the muchachos old show, did a pretty decent job. From my perspectie, they had some REAL performance issues in the bari line and there was some tempo fighting between the percussion and brass in a few spots of Pines.

The Cabs alumi corps closed out the show in wonderful fashion.

Started on the goal line in a company front and did a real 1971 drill to the old music. VERY nicely done. Their brass and percussion are outstanding! Not just "for an alumni corps". Just plain outstanding.

As they trooped the stands they stopped and hit us with "Cherry Pink"; a perfect end to their performance.

Then, they and the competitive corps combined with "Espiritu del Toro", stepping off from the back sideline to bring out the DM's for retreat.

Scores you can get elsewhere; I didn't hang around for them. I did hear that a best soloist award went to John Arietano, so congrats to John. It was well deserved.

VERY nice show, quite well attended.

Iwonder if Moe Knox has a picture of himself up in the attic that ages ( a la Dorian Grey), as he looks EXACTLY the same as he did 30 years ago!

Mike Davis, Garfield 70-72