I lost a good friend Saturday:(

[IRMO]

Folks, please remember the thread this first time poster was posting in response to. Oh how quickly we forget. I'm sure she didn't mean the fans are not important, of course they are.

This thread is DRAMA!

The original posters was talking about attending a funeral, get a grip! This is beyond crazy.

If you don't like the Cadets show don't watch, get a hot dog, scratch your ###, smoke a cigarette but please save the drama for Hollywood.

[bawker]

Folks, please remember the thread this first time poster was posting in response to. Oh how quickly we forget. I'm sure she didn't mean the fans are not important, of course they are.

This thread is DRAMA!

The original posters was talking about attending a funeral, get a grip! This is beyond crazy.

If you don't like the Cadets show don't watch, get a hot dog, scratch your ###, smoke a cigarette but please save the drama for Hollywood.

Heh.

Either that or be assimilated. ^0^ :P

[artlady]

As a relative newcomer to drum corps, having only watched on on TV in previous years, attending my first show last summer and having my son involved in a corps this year, one word that I see thrown about in describing the shows that I simply do not understand is "boring."  From my perspective and having seen approximately 10 shows this summer I have to admit that there have been parts of any number of individual corps performances that have not been to my taste but I've yet to find one that I consider boring.  I suppose those that have been in the corps channels for many years have a differnet perspective on this than I do since they have seen many more performances and know individual corps better than I do.  The one thing that I look back on when I watch each corps perfom is what it takes to put THAT show on the field.  Whether we, as spectators and self-proclaimed critics care for a given show or not or whether we feel it is up to a given corps standards is really pretty irrelavent.

I think, regardless of which corps you consider, that simple consideration of what it takes to blow the first note, march the first step or play the first paradiddle is absolutely amazing.  And we won't even go into keeping things rolling through a season as each corps travels to it's shows and deals with the variety of challenges that each faces daily.

On top of that I won't even go into what each of these young people (and staff) learns through the course of time a given years corps comes together and performs.  Personally, I look at where my son is today musically compared to December of last year and find that it makes NO difference if I cared for the show his corps performed or not.  He grew and learned and is an immensely better musician for it.  THAT is what it is all about.

Now all that said, and it, along with $.25 will not buy a cup of coffee.  My perspective is this - sit back enjoy the shows and try not to take this stuff or our opinions TOO seriously.  See you in Denver!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree with you. This is my son's first year too and I have seen him mature more this summer than I ever imagined. A few years ago (and last year too) he would have whined and complained about someone losing (he is a Cavalier) but this year he is positive and says it is all about improving and learning. He enjoys meeting and talking to all the other Corp members and congratulated the Blue Devils (pit, he is in the pit for Cavies) when they won both nights. I was in total shock that he was this cool and collected about it. They are teaching these kids respect, sportsmanship, team work, and how to get on in life. There is more to corps than just marching each week. I wish the students I teach could get this same experience. The fans complain and banter back and forth, while the corps are friends and having friendly competitions. I must admit I have grown up too because of my son's calm collected attitude. It has been hard to do, but i am getting there. They all can't wait for the Tour of Champions where they can have fun, perform and hang out with each other.

[MikeD]

1) Stay out of the programming arena, there are clearly better people to do that on my staff (Marc Sylvester, April Gilligen, Jay Bocock)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

According to Hoppy at the Memorial Brass concert, this year's show comes from Marc Sylvester. Playing Tull was his idea...from what he told the audience.

Mike

[jaylogan]

Regardless of what the detractors say about it, I love the current show by The Cadets.

The program is enjoyable and strong throughout. I've never heard Tull music before and you've brought it to the field for all to enjoy. Thank you.

Keep up the good work that you're doing, I'm sure there'll be plenty of people to replace those in supposed bereavement...

[George]

So...again, remember, it's about kids! They love doing what they're doing, if they didn't, they wouldn't be there! If you don't like a show...move on...it's really not that deep...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's a little deeper than you're giving it credit:

1. a performance acitivity needs an "audience" -- and last time I checked - we have half as many audiences this year verses 8 years ago - and tour attendance is down around 20% over just last year

2. "kids" (or what I call "young adults") don't always know what's best for them -- I know that's not a "pc" way of thinking these days - but its still accurate

3. I share the feeling of losing Cadets as a "good friend" -- I used to love the corps, volunteered, donated $$, followed it along tour, cheered, wore the shirts, etc -- but ego and weak design got in the way of all that. Cadet design got lazy along the way - what happened to "cutting edge"??? That, IMO, was a place worth living year after year. This stuff is old and getting older quickly.

[MikeD]

I've had it with this sort of viewpoint, this "holier-than-thou" look upon DCP/RAMD/anywhere that has an opinion contrary to conventional...or unconventional wisdom.

That's cute...your first and last post, eh? It's nice to see that design/production folks care so much about the paying customer. Perhaps if I and others stop funding you and your cohorts artistic masturbation all across DCI, you would care. Keep not paying attention...maybe next you can wonder where all the fans went.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I didn't read her comment the way you and some others are. She said something along the lines of it not mattering what people think...it matters what they DO.

My own guess is that she means "they" (design team, etc) go by the reaction of what the audience is doing when the corps performs, not what kind of kvetching that goes on here and in RAMD by a tiny handful of people.

Your interpretation may be right, but that's how I read her comments.

Mike

[patrickzampetti]

...and there was that time Kurt Browning did a double instead of a triple <**> . That did it for me and I haven't been to the Olympics since.

[CrossmenAlumni]

Here's what I would do if I were Hoppy:

1) Stay out of the programming arena, there are clearly better people to do that on my staff (Marc Sylvester, April Gilligen, Jay Bocock)

George didn't program this year's show. Marc Sylvester did. Oops!

2) Fire Jeff Sacktig. Not because he's doing a bad job, he's not, he's a very good drill writer. But when you have a GREAT drill (Marc) writer on staff why wouldn't you use him.

Why would you assume that Marc WANTS to write the drill? From what I can remember, he wrote the drill in 2002 more because they needed someone to do it after Jeff went to Magic and not because he really wanted to. Marc is a guy who has many things going on in his life, and is not tied down to just doing drum corps.

3) Hire a good color guard designer. April is a very effective coordinator, and cleaner, so she should do that, and nothing else. This is probably the biggest problem with the corps. They used to have the BEST color guard in the activity. It used to be BD and Cadets would win Color Guard every year. Now they finish a consistent 3rd or 4th. It because of the writing, and the concept that the guard is using. They haven't has a good guard since Jim Moore and Keith Potter left in '94 and '98 respectfully.

I'm pretty sure April does NOT write the guard book.

4) Stop worrying about trying to entertain. Entertainment comes from putting an interesting well performed product on the field.

There's a new one! Stop trying to entertain me!!! "Interesting" is very much a word that is a matter of individual taste, no? All that crowd response they've been getting surely must mean SOMEONE is being entertained, no? Just because it may not be you, doesn't mean it's not happening for a lot of people.

5) Stop trying to be something that you're not. Cadets doing Jazz has never worked. So STOP TRYING.

1984 West Side Story...some of the coolest jazz I've ever heard on the field. Hannum's cymbal ride stuff--yum! And though it may not have been my cup of tea, Moondance and Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy tore the house down everywhere it went. Some of the loudest crowd responses I've ever heard.

6) Don't think about doing something new. Don't think about being inovative. Just put out a god product. Did George Zingali think about doing something new in '84? Did Star think about being completely different from anything that had ever been seen before in '93? I don't think so, they just created what they thought would work, and it was something we had never seen before.

Don't presume to know what George Zingali was thinking. That's not wise. And again, just because you might not think it's a good product doesn't mean that it isn't. A matter of taste. You don't finish in the top 3 as long as they have with just "good" products.

If these steps, or something like them, are not taken the talent will stop coming. And that would be really bad for you organization. I'm sure that there will always be enough talent to field a good Cadets, but what's going to happen to the Crossmen? They would be the ones to end up not performing on Finals night because of The Cadets not pulling enough talent anymore.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Just so you know, the amount of kids who audition for Cadets and don't make it, and then audition for Crossmen is less than 5%. By and large, kids who audition for Crossmen only audition for Crossmen.

[Orpheus]

Boy, I hate it when corps are entertaining.

[/sarcasm]