The REAL Walnut Review

[Ryan H. Turner]

Now that I have dislodged my cranium from its recent resting place in my posterior region, here now I present the review that I MEANT to post, but was thrawted by a major case of Grumpitis Majorus. My apologies--hope this makes up for my grumpiness...

Greetings fellow drum corps enthusiasts. I come to you bearing the gift of my gab, my unadulterated, Grade A homogenized, pasteurized, protein-fortified OPINION of what transpired on the field before me at the “Corps at the Crest” show at Hilmer Lodge Stadium in Walnut, California, June 23rd, 2007. I come to you with many years of pontifications to my credit, some received well, some not so-well received, but as always, I warn people that when I put on the hat of “reviewer” I also simultaneously take OFF all of my other hats of association with any other organization and try to be as fair-minded and un-biased as I can. I write reviews because it’s a healthy way for me to get the crap out of my head! That’s the bottom-line. And I also LOVE reviews from other people from other areas of the country, so I think I’m benefiting at least one person.

I will use the standard format that I sort of developed for myself…and I’ll be giving my honest opinion on what I saw and heard. No need to rehash my years of experience in and out of the activity but to those that may not know me, don’t worry, I’m not rank amateur. But then again, I’m no highly paid professional either. Sort of somewhere in between. Just in case anyone wants to verify my level of geekiness…instead of using notes written on the edge of the margins of my program book like all my previous years, I used a Sony Digital Recorder to record my thoughts. Cool little device. I believe it’s the same exact one used by some circuits for judges now. I had it set at the highest level of quality, and I could STILL get 30 hours out of the machine. And it fit in the palm of my hand. AMAZING.

THE GOOD!

--As always, PC runs a tight ship as far as I can tell when it comes to this show. The facilities were great. The field, natural, seemed to be in good condition. Weather was also a plus. When I pulled into my parking space at 5pm, on my on-board thermometer indicated it was 80. PERFECT. And it cooled down as the night went on a nice seabreeze was enjoyed by everyone as well. I was the announcer for this show so my particular accommodations were nice too. Air conditioned booth within a booth and a very nice PA system. Centered right on the 50.

--Great crowd responses all night long. Appreciated that.

--Very cool to see Mike Collins, BD soprano extraordinare from the mid 80’s, trial judging on the field for music performance. GREAT to see him out there. He’s a freakin’ LEGEND.

--So Cal Dream presented a far more superior musical product than I expected. As well, the very talented guard was well appreciated and integrated into the show. The music from Star Trek seemed to be recognizable, and the corps moved well at times. Very solid 6-man soprano line that, if anything, almost tried TOO hard but certainly they were strong. Great contras in the beginning of the show and solid overall lowbrass performance. Dream’s mellophone section has always been a personal favorite of mine because they’re just super solid. The overall hornline was really balanced. Soprano/mellophone duet in “First Contact” leading into the company front was really cool. Just wish the soloist really hit that lip trill ala Maynard Ferguson. I keep wanting to hear that more. By the way, speaking of company front, there was a moment when the hornline got right up behind the pit and the smacked the crap out of the big chord right there. Audience loved it—GREAT moment. Overall, a VERY solid So Cal Dream, obviously the best they’ve ever been.

--Mystikal sported their normal black uniforms with a silver splash. Very solid presentation of the percussion section, who really do a GREAT job. I was very impressed. Guard seemed to be fairly well-trained as well. Music had the potential to be really cool.

--Velvet Knights—yep, they’re back. Wearing red hooded sweatshirts, black knee-length shorts, some kind of tennis shoes and baseball caps, they presented a pretty strong drum line and an enthusiastic corps with a hodge-podge of music. Some interesting body movement sections throughout showing a playful spirit. Crowd was obviously happy to hear the name “Velvet Knights” again.

--Gold WAY bigger than I anticipated—about 30 horns, 16 guard, and 6/3/5 drumline. Playing on all laquered brass instruments versus all silver. So that plays well into their image. Their uniform is new, and it is REALLY cool. Playing a “Spanish” style opener, it was VERY exciting. Guard was well-trained, and involved! Very energetic corps. LOTS of energy. I believe that Gold will actually be a lot better than we’re going to imagine, and just may shock a few people at Pasadena City College this August. As a matter of fact, I made a comment into my recorder at the conclusion of the show—I said, “I think Gold is going to be the next big thing. They may never aspire to Division I status, but they certainly can build themselves into a very solid Division II corps. They seem to be on the right track.” They marched and played their entire show. GREAT job!!

--Impulse sported the largest and certainly most talented drum line of Division III, and even giving a couple of the Division I drum lines a serious run for the money. VERY VERY talented. Can’t say enough about them. Impulse really had a nice “look” to their marching, obviously something they work on. Guard, while small (7), were staged fairly well and did their best as they continue to work on getting this show learned. Brass was well-balanced if not slightly subdued. Marching technique—good. Marching FORMS—eh. A little rough. But I think they are well on their way to being a VERY solid Division III corps.

--The Academy proved to me in no uncertain terms that they WILL BE PERFORMING ON SATURDAY NIGHT AT FINALS. Period. There is absolutely no argument over here with me that’s going to change my mind. They are in the running folks, and I can’t imagine them doing anything less than 10th. I’ll be honest with you, I heard some things out there that just absolutely blew me away. At one point in one of their songs, I heard the trumpets do a sextuplet run. It was freaking AMAZING, if not a tad dirty. But the fact that they DID it…holy cow!!! I hope they never water it and just expect of themselves to be clean by August. Guard is very talented, and staged fairly well throughout. Percussion section is very talented, but it’s obvious that the OVERALL musical element is the huge selling point of this corps. Marching technique is GREAT—really like it! I’m really a big fan of The Academy, and cross my fingers that my prediction for them isn’t a curse. But they are certainly Top 12 if not Top 10.

--Pacific Crest sure has turned up the volume quite a bit with their talented hornline. Coming off the line (did I just show my age??) with “VIVA LAS VEGAS”, I could tell the kids dug the song. Pretty cool arrangement. Color guard is again big, and does a fairly good job throughout the show. There was one point in particular that I questioned some guard staging as being too close the drum line, but that was a minor flaw. I think PC needs to clean up a lot of their visual performance stuff. The drill is nowhere near challenging, so they can really spend time to perfect their look. Knowing the strength of their visual caption head, I’m sure that will happen. Drumline—I saw you guys performing but I didn’t “notice” you that much, with the exception you were missing a couple of players. Hopefully that gets remedied soon. I know that can be particular frustrating. As a matter of fact, there was a gaggle of hornplayers standing in the endzone, so I think PC has a lot more kids to add to the show. Hopefully there were 2 tenors over there as well.

--Mandarins presented some music I’m familiar with from composer Joe Curiale. I think their strength lies in their music as well, but they aren’t close to the execution of The Academy BUT, they have VERY cool music that once really cleaned up will be quite exciting. Guard to me, as always, is a highlight. Their costumes were a metallic copper color with a beautiful design on it, and it really showed nicely in the stadium. Drill design was ok, with the typical fast ending that was exciting. And yes, I still dig the corps proper uniforms. Very cool.

--Santa Clara Vanguard for the first 75% of the show was astounding. Just AMAZING stuff out there. Drill is great, guard is fantastic (actually the best I’ve ever seen from SCV), and I think musically, SCV is WAY more exciting than their brethren from across the bay. I think their closer is going to be great. And I hope that SCV will make a run for the title this year, but then again, I’ve been hoping for that every year since I really fell in love with the corps in 1987. There are some very talented kids out there in that corps, and their aggressiveness was on display on Saturday night and I loved it!!! Thank you SCV!!

--The Blue Devils took me back alllllllllllllllllll the way to 1982 with their show. During the first part of the opener, I closed my eyes and was transported back to when I got my first DCI RECORDS and listened to BD 82 OVER and OVER and OVER again. Very cool. You know, the music is to these years rather eclectic, but wow. What a hornline. EVERY year they come out and simply blow the doors down. Drum line not quite as pizzazzy (new word—look it up) as I have heard in the past, but then again, it’s early, and they may have some tricks up their sleeves. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out for them. And yes, the stories are true. They really are amazingly clean.

THE BAD

--Does there HAVE to be bad in this review? Well…just a little.

--So, who put the Crisco on the field and made about 10 Academy members go down at separate times throughout their show? HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM????

--Do brass instructors whose horn players frack notes and guard instructors that don’t have all the work finished get beat up as much as drill designers do if they’re the LEAST little bit late??? HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM????????

--Division I drill…shouldn’t it be WAY above the standards of regular everyday drill? Yes…it should be. Last night, there were several, several instances when it wasn’t. In ALL corps…except Santa Clara.

--While it’s nice to have VK back, and while I am happy kids are having a chance to march and be part of a legend, I couldn’t help but sit back and scratch my head at both the drill design and the overall programming of the music. Very disjunctive, and it would seem to me that they would want to play it “safer” in terms of accessibility with their musical selections and a drill design that doesn’t create “Hanh?” moments. Either that, or I’m just old and grumpy and I didn’t get it. Yeah…that’s probably it. Although I did hear the Imogene Heap song that every guard and their mothers were using this past spring, and I recognized that. Sort of interesting to hear a brass treatment of it. However, out of nowhere, I heard “Magical Mystery Tour”. It didn’t match the context—or it wasn’t obvious to me—or I was oblivious. But VK has a LOT of work ahead of them technically speaking. They MUST lose the focus on the gags, and refocus on the basics. That’s the only way they’re going to get the credit they want.

--So…what was going on in the minds of the brains behind BD when all of a sudden, the show comes to a grinding halt momentum-wise, and we get to listen to what seemed like about 5 minutes of space chords? I probably have to get another read or 80 to understand that. REALLY disappointed me especially after being transported back, albeit briefly, to my beginnings in drum corps in 1982 hearing the same music. Sometimes I wonder…

--Santa Clara provided great courage coming out with their closer. Apparently they felt they needed to get a read on it. Who am I to complain? But SHOULD THEY HAVE? I would think that that probably wasn’t ready. It was a different corps for the last number, and sort of left everyone flat. When to put it out then Turner, since you know everything??? I don’t know…so I guess Saturday night was as good as anytime. But it was obvious…

--Pacific Crest…sigh…read four comments up. The Las Vegas sign outline…TWICE?

--Mandarins…did you have a talk with your baritone player from the last chord of the ballad?? You know what I’m talking about? We did in the pressbox. Those things happen but MAN—it sort of took us by surprise.

--Mystikal—KEEP GOING. But wow…six step intervals for a small hornline?? Yowza…to coin a phrase.

--Gold…I guess the brass lacquer horns make sense. But…I’m not expert, but would you sound better with silver horns? AND be able to still have the “Gold” vibe? Time to teach the kids to stop being tentative. And uhhhh…that music is freakin’ HARD. TOO HARD????

THE UGLY

--Someone emailed me today and said that the new script and timing deal with DCI was OK. Let me be clear. The TIMING (5 mins) is fine. The TIMING OF THE SCRIPT sucks. PERIOD. It does NOT lend itself to the “flow of the show”. Don’t ask me to describe what "flow of the show" means, but being a professional announcer for over 20 years, I know what it feels like. And I can “feel” audiences. Saturday night was a squirmy night, and it was KILLING me.

--About that Crisco on the field…(A “good” within an “ugly”—MAJOR props to the kids that went down and recovered so well, especially in Academy).

--Well, what happened on Saturday night with Blue Devils amp system was enough to convince me that the NEED (read that carefully)…THE NEED for amplification is WAY WAY WAY overly stated. It might be nice to have, but NEED? No. There’s no need. Blue Devils pit is quite loud without amplification as I’m sure everyone else’s pit is.

--Anytime you have narration, you better sell it. Sounding BORED transmits loud and clear to the audience. I heard with BD’s “Yowza” guy a couple of years ago, and I heard it Saturday night a couple of times. If narration is so dang gum important, than MAKE IT IMPORTANT. But trust us, the fans…sincerely…WE GET IT WITHOUT THE TALK. Trust us. And we’ll trust you. And I mean that with all my heart. I get the Las Vegas vibe. I get it.

That’s it from the Mouth of So Cal. I’m outta here.

[XxDrumCorpsFanxX]

great review ryan! i always love reading the stuff you have to say! And yah I was hearing some stuff about people falling on the field...i didn't think it was true, but i guess it was.. Was the field slightly wet at all? And since you said most of the falls were in Academy, it makes me wonder what their drill was like? Big moves or anything?

again thanks for the great review! it told me a lot of stuff about each corps!

[PeeWee]

Much longer! ^OO^ Thanks Ryan.

And so many kind words about the Vanguard. Coming from you (i.e. someone I give credibility to), that means a lot. Thanks.

btw - I fell in love with SCV when I first saw them back in 1986...standing on the sidelines....with you... and the rest of the Velvet Knights :)

[wsssb]

--As always, PC runs a tight ship as far as I can tell when it comes to this show. The facilities were great. The field, natural, seemed to be in good condition. Weather was also a plus. When I pulled into my parking space at 5pm, on my on-board thermometer indicated it was 80. PERFECT.

Why the six o'clock start time, with an almost hour-long break in the middle? Why not have a later start time coupled with a conventional break, which will still finish the show at a reasonable hour?

Here's the view from the field for the first few corps:

[84BDsop]

Why the six o'clock start time, with an almost hour-long break in the middle? Why not have a later start time coupled with a conventional break, which will still finish the show at a reasonable hour?

Here's the view from the field for the first few corps:

Kinda reminds me of the first turn to the front at 05 Long Beach...i don't think ANY of us could see when we did that oblique at the end of Twisted Nerve.

Ahhhh....for the want of 5 more minutes.....I like your idea, Wayne.

[hisop03]

So sorry Ryan, I'll try to not disappoint you next time. Maybe I should have not worked 12 hours on friday then drive to the riverside show, do the show(which i did hit the trill), leave and get 3 hours sleep then work another 12 hours then go to the walnut show, learn some drill changes and do the show. So again sorry. also our drill writer likes to keep us old folks moving alot

[acecannon]

briefs...

Dream - best season yet.

Mystikal - smaller all the time. like the helmets

Velvet Knights - most energetic show and loudest of the div iiis. Mirror in the Bathroom with Magical Mystery on the top? Sweet mix! And Bernstein? heh. very high demand - visually and musically. they're dirty. the black and white Vans show everything. if they can clean, GE will go through the roof. no gags

Gold - it's awesome to see this 3rd year corps off to such a great start. perhaps more school districts should sponsor corps.

Impulse - controlled performance. nice sound in the brass. what a drumline. seemed like they have as many people checking them out in the lot as Devs. Didn't have a closer up. Show didn't pop as much as last season's.

Academy - yep. top 12. they're jazz runs are a thing of beauty.

PC - tearing. low energy in the brass.

Mandarins - like the new unis

Vanguard - loved 'em! a visual tightness to them this season that has been missing. Wow moments all over. Very effective staging of the cymbal line. Can't wait to see them clean and push.

Devs - yep, they're the Blue Devils. What can you say. They're a big blue monster.

[Minimaster]

Ah the Mt. Sac show. Good times last year. Some of the corps went back to the housing site, but a few of us stayed through the scores and the kingsmen alumni right up to when we need to get back to the buses. That would of been fine if our buses hadn't decided to leave 5 minutes early. Probably the time I most appreciated losing 30 pounds in a month, Sprinting 200 yards isn't that bad when you're in drum corps shape. We hitched a ride with the drum bus as it was about to turn at the light away from the stadium.

[LaSqueegee]

--Anytime you have narration, you better sell it. Sounding BORED transmits loud and clear to the audience. I heard with BD’s “Yowza” guy a couple of years ago, and I heard it Saturday night a couple of times. If narration is so dang gum important, than MAKE IT IMPORTANT. But trust us, the fans…sincerely…WE GET IT WITHOUT THE TALK. Trust us. And we’ll trust you. And I mean that with all my heart. I get the Las Vegas vibe. I get it.

Who used narration at this show??

[BariEuph]

pacific crest