The Blue Knights are unpopular

[Jared_mello]

I hear the Festive, but I don't hear anything special at 2:04...

Listen closely to the mellos. They're playing a melody from the second movement of Shostakovich's 10th symphony (Phantom '02 if you're unfamiliar).

That mello stuff at the end of the piece is crazy.

[Phantom&Phitch]

They should hire a PR person... i need a job anyways

[Jeff Ream]

Here's my account as a member of the corps. I'm sure there was some stuff behind closed doors that was never passed on to us, but from where I sat, this is how it played out in my memory:

Believe it or not, 2001 might have been the most talented membership top to bottom that the corps ever had.

The snare line wasn't as good as 2000, but the bassline took a few steps from an already impressive line the year before. The pit was one of the best out there, most of which were vets and/or played together in the indoor ensemble. The colorguard was full of vets and by most accounts were more talented than 2000, and then there's the hornline... wow. For my money, the best BK hornline ever. They had some excellent recruiting, especially in Texas, following the top 6 finish, and the hornline was really stacked, as you could see from the I&E results that year.

Problem was, the show wasn't very good, at least in the eyes of the judges. At the beginning of the season, the membership was completely sold on it, and we were performing our hearts out. However, once we started our tour up in the PacNW, we were further behind SCV than we anticpated.

Originally, we were re-creating Black Market Juggler for the drum solo, virtually note for note as the Bridgemen in the battery. The pit's parts were augmented from the early 80s stuff, but the fact of the matter was we were playing a 1982 drum solo, albeit a classic drum solo, in 2001. It was killing the pacing of the show, or so we thought/were told, and we were pretty confident that changing that would get us back on track. We spent our 4th of July in Modesto gutting and re-learning the drum solo to make it integrate a little bit better. Apparently something happened with Ralph Hardimon at some point during this time. I've heard about a billion different rumors on what actually happened, so I have no accurate idea on why he bailed, but something caused him to withdraw from the corps, but by most accounts I've heard, it had to do with the re-writing of this part of the show.

So, we take our show back out on the road through California, new drum solo in tow, sure that we were going to start bridging the gap between us and the SCVs and BDs of the world. Thing is, the show still wasn't being well received by the judges. The audiences were a mixed bag with their responses. Some loved it, some were pretty lukewarm, but all in all, the judges universally weren't that into it. At that point of the season, it wasn't an execution issue. I truly feel that we were as good as anyone at the time in terms of the technical performance of the show, but morale was slowly taking hits. We spent the rest of the summer tweaking the show in hopes of finding the right stuff to be competitive, but we never quite found it. We had a rewind element in late July that didn't quite connect with the audience (or judges). That got axed. There's dozens of differnet elements that were tried and subsequently removed.

The backbreaker was San Antonio. Because the corps finished top 6 the year before, we got an automatic bid into the night show, to face the other 5 from 2000, plus the top 6 from the morning show. I don't remember how the show went, either good or bad, but we took dead last. Morale was at a huge low, and we knew we were in trouble.

It was really weird- 95% of the membership picked ourselves up by the bootstraps and plugged forward, knowing full well that we probably wouldn't make finals. Unfortunately, there was a small element that accepted defeat. Rationally, I understand where they were coming from, I guess, but it was quite disappointing.

Even though with two or three weeks left in the season we pretty much knew we weren't going to qualify for the big show, it was amazing the effort that the vast majority still put out. Morale improved a little bit, obviously not because of competitive success, but because of pride in ourselves. It was kinda a foxhole mentality. Most of us kept fighting, and I'll tell you what- I'm sure that I made some connections with people that would never have been made had it been smooth sailing all summer.

The last show was semi-finals, and unfortunately the recording didn't do the talent of the corps justice. We had an off-night as a group, I think, which is too bad, because I remember quarter-finals being pretty decent.

The next summer, the corps had a huge turnover. Almost every talented person that had prioritized competitive success above the organization went to different corps (their perogative, pretty understandable). Blue Devils probably benefitted the most from the 'firesale', but the Cavies and SCV obtained some former Knights as well. The corps had to rebuild for the next couple seasons, but I believe it would have been a worse and longer process had it not been for the vets who didn't jump ship.

It was definitely a weird summer, but I wouldn't take it back for the world. Sure it would've been nice to make the video, to have been in finals, to get the medal, to stand at the finale, but sometimes them's the breaks. I learned a lot about myself that summer, more than I think I would have learned had we took 4th or 5th place with no adversity.

I also think the recovery is a testament to the organization. A season like that would've killed some groups, i think. They've seemingly recovered, and I hope that the corps never has to go through another '95 or '01.

wow. I will say, IMO, losing Ralph was a huge blow. his writing and the intenisty he brought to the line is what really made 99 and 00 my fave BK shows of all time. it bled over to all the other sections.

[Keith Laubhan]

wow. I will say, IMO, losing Ralph was a huge blow. his writing and the intenisty he brought to the line is what really made 99 and 00 my fave BK shows of all time. it bled over to all the other sections.

While I agree the Ralph was a big part of the identity of the corps, I think it's also important not to underestimate the departure of Mike Stevens after 2000. While I personally didn't work under him, I've heard nothing but amazing things about how he ran the section from people who did get to learn from him. Mike was apparently very involved with the day-to-day operations of the percussion section while he was there, and a lot of people that I know who marched in the 99-01ish area say that he was as missed as anyone.

[Jeff Ream]

i would believe that...his legend is widely known.

I also think Al was a guiding force as well.....Al liked to "play the game" so to speak, but he knew when to unleash the hounds as well.

[drumcat]

So the question then, seems to be that half of all say that BK's identity isn't strong enough, but half say that they don't like their identity.

Half think the control and musicianship is keen, half think that they don't unleash enough.

What would you do to "fix" the identity? Or if you think their identity isn't a problem, how do you enhance it for those that are unimpressed by identity? Also, is an identity necessary?

[mobrien]

Is an identity necessary? Yup.

When people think of Sinatra, they don't think of particular songs, they think of his attitude, his personna. Same thing with any other name performer. The only performers whose songs are of primary interest are one-hit wonders - and it's usually because it turned out that they didn't have a personna to work with.

BK for me has never been particularly interesting. Talented, hard-working, absolutely. Fun to watch? No, not really. Actually, the last few years, the adjective that comes to mind when I look at their shows has been 'grim' - the shows had no sense of fun or life to them.

Persona comes first, the programming choices come second. They have to figure out what their niche is, what they can do better than anyone else, and build everything around that.

[xhead]

Sure, identity is necessary. Think of all the really great corps, and they all have a clear, well established persona. It often carries them through bad years when the performance isn't really up to par. Other corps who don't have a string of championship titles use identity very succussfully to stay in the good favor of the public. The Troopers, in my opinion, are almost all "identity"; I don't mean any offense by this -- I love the Troopers and scream my head off whenever they march onto the field. Identity is a really powerful thing.

I have always loved the Crossmen. Why is that? I think it started in 1978 when the showed up in full-length capes, so you knew you were looking at something different. It went on to be about the music, and a certain attitude I can't begin to define. I never saw the dots, but they still have them on their T-shirts. That must mean something. Put them back on the uniform.

BK has never lit my fire -- I totally understood the first post in this thread -- but I live in Denver now, and am dedicated to pay close attention (I'll get my hot dog during some other corps' performance) and get into the BK identity. I love the dark music, the subtle layers, the really unique percussion sound and writing. I went to a few winter percussion shows this year, and I can guarantee, there is nothing boring about either of their two percussion groups. I think there is an awesome corps there to discover.

[Matt_S]

Listen to BK the last four years. Tell me that they don't have an identity. Tell me that you wouldn't immediately recognize them if you heard that music, as much as you would recognize any other corps. To me, they clearly have an identity, and xhead nailed it pretty well at the end of that last post. However, it's an identity seperate from the rah-rah-I-want-something-I-can-tap-my-feet-to attitude that many on this board have displayed, which is I think why some don't get as fired up for BK as I certainly do.

[bawker]

However, it's an identity seperate from the rah-rah-I-want-something-I-can-tap-my-feet-to attitude that many on this board have displayed, which is I think why some don't get as fired up for BK as I certainly do.

Yes, that's it.

We're just not aesthetically advanced enough to get the Blue Knights.

Time to head back for my performance and theory degree, I guess. :P ^0^