8/4 Massilon, OH

[BlooooContra]

Ok folks. Just came back from the BLOOOOOO home show. What a night! Here's a brief review of the show. I'm tired, so bear with me.

Kiwanis- What a hornline! Dirty at times, but they finally found a group of kids that can crank out some volume, and with tone to boot. Visual improved, but still needs tons of cleaning. Great screamer. The crowd really dug them. They still look like an army of evil midgets.

Seattle- Didn't seem to have the intensity I saw at Indy. Crowd loved the park n' blow. Welcome to the top 12. Enjoy your stay.

Crown- Ugh. I used to love this show. Enough with the spritely, leaping, skinny guys. Guard ruins this show for me. The guy with wings during the ballad needs smacked, or maybe his staff instead. Hornline much improved over last year.

Madison- Hornline can really play. Guard is lacking, though greatly improved late season. Ensemble and individual marching just isn't all that pretty. Some bad drill writing spots as well. Write them a finals show if you want them there. It seems like they have the talent. Altogether, a much better show than at Indy.

Boston- Simply put, this is my least favorite drum corps show of all time. It makes me sick. Hooray for exploiting America's current situation! Woohoo! I think what saddens me is that I really got into their 00 and 01 shows. I'm left speechless after 02.

Glassmen- Show changes make this a little less BorinBb. Still BorinBb nonetheless. Pretty clean marching, and the individual technique stood out in a very positive way- except the contras. Get some posture. It's August. Their ballad was a refreshing change from the norm. Nice flugel ending.

Blue Devils- AHHHHHHH!!!!! For me, this show (the new, rewritten version) epitomizes the corpsgasm. The crowd ate up every last bit. Congratulations to the BD members and staff on making an incredible show out of a very weak early season show. Fabulous!

Bluecoats- The crowd at the show was awesome. Before the show, 30 guys yelled out "If it ain't Bluecoats, IT'S CRAP!!!" Got everybody grinning. The show is amazing, though still fairly dirty. They have the product to smoke Glassmen and Boston, it's just a matter of reaching the others' level of cleanliness. Never heard a contra line groove quite like these guys. When viewing the Bluecoats, check out the BlueQ for a show. These 5 guys are just unreal!

Retreat was nice. It's very obvious which corps the Bluecoats fans don't like. lol Old grudges die hard for the "best feeder corps in DCI." Madison is going to be a very interesting show this year. 5-8th place is anybody's guess!

[Riflechicadee]

I was also @ this show and have a few thoughts...mostly on guards,as I do watch guard most of the show.

K.Kavaliers: They were okay...they are alot better than I remember them...I am not a fan of the capes in the beggining. But minus the few individual breakdowns they did a good job.

Seattle: I can't remember anything that really stuck out about them. I enjoyed the music selections. Both times I have seen this show the weapon line has had a few drops.

Crown: After reading all the reviews on them I was expecting to see something horrible. I didn't think it was bad at all. I actually watched the guard warming up before and they were great so I was excited to see them on the field. They were good once again. They did lots of difficult guard work in their show. I did think the guy with the dance solo should of lost the wings, I thought his dancing was fine though,I just didn't like the wings. I liked the Medusa Wigs though! I really enjoyed this show! Good Luck Crown,hope you make finals!

Madison: I saw them waaaay back in June @ the Columbus show and they have improved a ton. They are decent now nothing amazing but nothing bad. The boy with the blond ponytail still has a bunch of solo's but he handled them alot better than he did the last time I saw them.

Boston: This was my second viewing of Boston, I saw them Monday in Pittsburgh. I love this show,it was my favorite of the night in Pgh and here. Their weapon line is very talented! I think it is a really easy show to get into and the people I have gone to shows with also really enjoyed it. The flag they make at the end is cool and it seemed like the audience liked them alot as well. Good Luck BAC....top 5! ;-)

Glassmen: Both myself and the girl I went with did not think this show was boring at all. They had a good weapon line and flag line. I also think they danced pretty well.

Blue Devils: This was my 2nd time seeing BD. The guard is awesome again but I just don't like this show that much and I don't get the "hair dance".

Bluecoats: This was my first viewing of the Bluecoats this year. I really liked the opening. I can't remember much at the moment, I wish I could see it live again though. :-/

So like I warned you it was all about the colorguards. hehe.

P.S. Are the Kiwanis Kavaliers in Division 1? I could of swore they were but then the announcer asked if they were DIV 2 and a bunch of audience members told him they were and he announced them as DIV 2. So which is it?

[John Schmitt]

Yeah as far as I know Kiwanis is Div I. The announcer also said the size restriction was 128. There were a few other things that bothered me, but I think in general there should have been an exhibition performance by somebody (anybody) so he wouldn't have had to talk for so long.

[Bleedblue93]

Woody and Will, How about the announcer saying he was a friend of Art Drukenbrod's for 50 years, then proceeds to butcher his name about 5 times in a row (i.e. Drinkenbroad, Drunkenbroad, Drunkenblad......etc.). I was on the track and when he butchered Art's name for the second time I started walking toward him to tell him to get his poop together, when I decided better of it. I was around several other alums that knew Art well and they were all squirming. What a shmoe.

[BlooooContra]

Any chance of getting the HOFF board to make sure he won't ever announce again? Or maybe we could NOT get ski masks and NOT take him in the woods and NOT beat him mercilessly. Just a thought.