Star 1993- Utter Crap or Musical Masterpiece?

[madscout96]

I still had a strong dislike for Star of Indiana, what with them being the "spoiled rich kids" of drum corps, but that show was unbelieveable. I know now that the members of that corps that year did NOT waste an entire summer doing that show. They achieved immortality. That show still blows people away, it was way ahead of its time.

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Maybe if you knew anyone that marched Star of Indiana you would know that most of us were not rich kids. actually in 88 I couldn't even pay the whole $200.00 tour fee and I gave plasma for a week to get $35 for tour money. check your info before you assume. ^0^ ^0^

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I did know people who marched Star of Indiana. Note the quotations... "spolied rich kids". It's not a knock on the marching members. But you were the rich kids of the activity in that you had access to the finest equipment, instruction, vehicles, housing, etc... You were the only corporate-sponsored drum corps back then. This is the image that Star of Indiana had in the minds of many (not all) members of other corps and fans. This is not a description of the general population of Star's members during the era.

[Cardman]

Give me a Star 1993 anyday over a Blue Devils 2003. 

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Ditto.

Glad that show wasn't used to introduce me into the activity because then I would have never gotten into drum corps.

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That would have been a big loss... :P

I absolutely hated this show! I LOVED their 1991 show...but 1993 didn't make any sense to me at all. I've only listened to this show probably 5 times (visual included) and I just gave up on trying to like it.

The music was the worst part. I remember laughing at the video because it seemed like the whole crowed was confused (me also). Nobody knew when to clap...then they play loud for a few seconds and a few people are rooting for them...but the music was too spontaneous. There was almost never a middle level volume to the show...it eas either loud or soft...and it would abruptly change. If the show were titled "Journey Into the Mind of a Psychopathic Murderer" I would have understood it...because that's what the show made me think about.

Musical Masterpiece? I think not. Worst show for its ranking....ABSOLUTELY!!! 1993 was a HUGE disappointment for me.    

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Tupid_06...Your "S" fell off... :P

Star of Indiana's 1993 show was an awesome show. I saw it live that year, and it rocked. Of course, I had to watch it a couple of times before I was familiar with the music, but I never "disliked" it. I always try to give every show a chance...and a second chance...and a third, fourth, fifth, sixth....heck, I hated SCV's 2003 program for a LONG time. I had to watch/listen to it about a bazillion times before I started to like it. Now, I like everything in that show but the opener...progress! An open mind is a beautiful thing...

Edited August 3, 2005 by Cardman

[Medeabrass]

Did Star compete at 1993 DCM I&E?  I don't recall any Star performers in the Baritone caption.  Perhaps they just didn't have any bari players enter.

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Nikk, I don't think anybody from the brass line competed at DCM I&E that year. We did have a brass ensemble that one DCI I&E with a perfect score. They played an original piece that our horn sargeant wrote on the back of the bus (I don't think they were at DCM either).

Plenty of guys from the drum line competed at DCM though. The drumline is where all of the talented virtuosos of this corps resided. The hornline didn't have any real superstars who would win such competitions. We were the "Pete Rambas's" of the drum corps.

Oh and I was one of the guys booing our drummers at DCM. I had totally forgotten about that hilarious little experience.

[Medeabrass]

I have heard this knock on the drum Corps fans from 1993 before. But I attended 3 shows that year that the Star of Indiana participated  in, and not once did I recall  the Star of Indiana  being booed. I asked those who atended with me if they recalled the booing of Star, and they told me they don't recall any booing of the Star of Indiana either. Maybe it's a midwest thing, this booing of Star, as the shows I attended were from Pennsylvania, eastward.  Whenever Star finished at the 3 shows I attended there was applause mostly for their obvious profiency, and some silence from others as this show was different to some. But " booing "  during their show, or when they finished ? I never heard it. Neither did my family, nor friends who went with me to these shows. As a matter of fact, I  can't recall any corps being booed at an East Coast Drum Corps show.  Ever.  Even those Corps that were maybe not as entertaining, or were from another region. I have heard some boos at the judges scoring announcements at retreat  over the years( who here hasn't ? ), but booing a Corps because of their show ? That's a foreign concept to this drum Corps fan who's attended more shows than he can count.

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That's funny...I was at all of their shows that year and I definitely recall them getting boooed. Maybe it was just my bad self image or something.

[Matt_S]

There is a lesson to be learned on this thread and it's this : 

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Atually, I think there's a different lesson to be learned. Look at this thread again, and notice how often people have said that they hated this show at first, and then grew to love it. Then look at how some of the shows today are treated. So many people are quick to condemn a program as being too "esoteric", or not accessible enough, the same things that got Star booed at. Cardman's example of SCV 2003 is dead on, and I would toss in shows like Cavaliers' and Blue Knights' recent offerings, as well. I wonder how many shows out there - especially in the last five years - will in time come to be appreciated in much the same way that Star is, more than ten years later.

[Schimmy]

I first saw them at DATR. Like everyone else on tour that year I heard what was going on but I wanted to see it for myself before I made jugement. I hadn't really liked any Star shows before that (didn't see '91), so was planning on being disappointed. My reacton was just the opposite, my jaw hit the floor, I was totally stunned by what I saw on the field that night as it was the second most incredible show I had ever seen, the best being '87 SCV of course.

The show was not written for everyone. People who don't like this show are the kind of people who don't read books without pictures. In order to like the show you had to have the ability to maintain focus for over a minute at a time and must be able to attain above the first level of Bloom's Learning Domains.

[Matt_S]

I always try to give every show a chance...and a second chance...and a third, fourth, fifth, sixth....heck, I hated SCV's 2003 program for a LONG time.  I had to watch/listen to it about a bazillion times before I started to like it.  Now, I like everything in that show but the opener...progress!  An open mind is a beautiful thing...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree, SCV '03 is a great show, even the opener!

It's funny that you say that, though, and yet you're so adamantly against amps (mmm, alliteration...). Perhaps you need to approach them with an open mind as well? Heh, or maybe we'll just have to wait a couple of years for you to come around. :P

[ravedodger]

I agree, SCV '03 is a great show, even the opener!

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OK, we agree finally agree on something.

I can't vote in this poll since 93 Star is neither horrible nor average. It is a show written for music majors, of course. I like the horn parts, but not the overall show. Same goes for 92. I would love to play the music myself, but how many would want to actually sit through it? Not I.

[Michael Boo]

...

I did know people who marched Star of Indiana.  Note the quotations... "spolied rich kids".  It's not a knock on the marching members.  But you were the rich kids of the activity in that you had access to the finest equipment, instruction, vehicles, housing, etc...  You were the only corporate-sponsored drum corps back then.  This is the image that Star of Indiana had in the minds of many (not all) members of other corps and fans.  This is not a description of the general population of Star's members during the era.

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Shame, shame, shame on the Star of Indiana kids for joining an organization that was being run like a business and a model for other corps to follow if they so desired.

I once attended a mini go kart grand prix (the concept started by Bluecoats) that was staged in the community to raise money for the corps. Members were working the refreshment stand and the race itself. The corps had been self-sufficient and had to raise its own money like everyone else. I found that enlightening as I was unaware the kids had to work like other kids in other corps to raise money.

The bus company set up to support the corps was a model that other corps have since adapted for their own benefit. Still, the corps had to reserve the buses when they needed them. But the corps once again provided a model for other corps to utilize and many have done just that.

As for the finest housing comment, I had visited enough corps housing sites to know that their high schools did not have Van Gogh's on the walls and were the same as anyone else's housing, with floors that were hard and showers that were sometimes cold.

As for being "rich kids" because "you had access to the finest equipment, instruction,..." they played the same bugles many other corps played and their drums were also the same as others. They weren't gold plated and they had a staff member (Eric for those who remember him) that had a set of tools to keep things working. And some corps today have some pretty good instructors. Are Cadets "rich kids" because they have Marc Sylvester and a host of great instructors or Cavaliers "rich kids" because they have a staff that has stayed together for a long time and is the envy of any corps or Blue Devils because they have Wayne Downey and other great staff members? Star's instructors weren't paid in gold boullion just to come teach the corps.

I remember the jealousy the corps experienced amidst some other corps and corps fans. One thing in particular I remember was hearing how expensive the golden chalices were that were used in the "Balshazzar's Feast" show in 1990. I found the head guard instructor and asked him about the rumor I had heard (from multiple sources). He began laughing as he explained that the chalices were two different sized styrofoam planting containers from Kmart, attached bottom-to-bottom to one another and covered in gold contact paper. Total cost - $7.00 each, making them one of the least expensive guard effects that year. But to many others, they were expensive custom-made chalices imported from Germany.

<<I did know people who marched Star of Indiana. Note the quotations... "spolied rich kids". It's not a knock on the marching members.>>

It isn't? Thanks for a good laugh, then.

<<This is the image that Star of Indiana had in the minds of many (not all) members of other corps and fans.>>

In that, you are unfortunately correct. And the image was wrong.

Unfortunately, many corps did not learn from the examples Star offered. That is too bad. But the corps' influence on how corps are run did enter the business models of many other corps. That is good.

Pardon me for coming down hard on you, but when I read anything about Star of Indiana that contradicts what I personally witnessed, I feel I must set the record straight or suffer in the silence that I could have done so, but didn't.

I miss Star, but I'm comforted in the knowledge that much of what the management, staff and kids accomplished is with us today in ways we'll never realize through the corps that observed them and learned from them.

Mike

[Geekman]

I first saw Star 93 when my HS did a rendition of Medea as our closer. I believe it was the first DCI show I ever saw. It blew my socks off then and still does now.

It still amazes me that they that on 2 valved horns!