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Saturday June 24

Riverside, CA (DCI Pacific) The show was sold out (maybe 2,000?) with overflow sitting on the 50 on the opposite side. The seating wasn't particularly good, it was a shallow incline, but at least we were close to the field. Glendora was a much better stadium (wouldn't have minded being there again). Blue Devils: 80.05 There was no doubt about this one, and BD wow'd everyone from start to finish. They were definitely cleaner tonight than in Glendora, especially in the last flurry of drill. The guard is outstanding already, with very few drops for all those tosses (I can't remember seeing any actually, just small timing problems with catches). The drum line is my favorite BD line since '95, and was very effective visually. Glassmen 74.1 I like their visual program the best of all corps I saw tonight (very "Cavalier-like"). They have room for growth with this program (Concerto in F)--a very controlled program. In fact, I'd love it if they became a bit more reckless (read louder and more of an edge), and I think it would help with crowd response. Very nice visual effects (couldn't see them well here, but in Glendora...well... I've already beaten that dead horse). SCV 73.8 This program brought the favorite musical moment of the night with the brass line in a box-like formation at the front, playing extended long chords (I wish I knew the exact chord progression--it was *very* effective, and, of course, LOUD). I find their uni's this year very pleasing visually, especially with their kaleidoscopic opening drill (turning round and round in a circle)--the red with white diagonal stripe are dizzying. Overall though I will have to hear this another 10 times to really get it. Let's see, when was the last time I heard Barber and Bartok in a show?.......The infamous Star 1993 show (their last!). Oh, they still are doing the standstill for the last 2 minutes of the show. It looks like it's catching up to them as Glassmen finally passed them. Blue Knights 71.85 I love their drum line--even more than BD this year. I like the new uniforms, though not the guard's with those "hip-hugger" pants (and I agree with other postings that the guy needs a shirt of some kind). The horn line sounded louder than Glassmen, and they had several great GE moments in the show. Drill is still pretty dirty--can't wait to see it cleaned up. The last minute of drill brought back memories of Star of Indiana 1990--the whiplash form-to-form transistions. It gets better each night. OVerall, my favorite corps of the night. Troopers: 56.2 This is my 3rd time seeing this show, and it is growing on me. Their opener America the Beautiful I think is their most effective number, though Amazing Grace is also done very well (nice soprano soloist). I hope the add some "GE" improvements (octaves in upper register for example). They are marching a lot of holes (maybe 14 or 15), so the visual effects are somewhat diminished. They'll have to clean up a lot to make semis. Maybe I'll do Div II/III later, after getting some sleep. I must say I'm especially impressed by Pacific Crest. Mandarins are positioned for another Div III title as well. Finally, this show had 16 corps--amazing for CA! There are now 3 from San Diego (incl. 2 new ones this year), and 3 from LA. It has also been great having Glassmen, Troopers, and BK out west--hope they come back! dd@microsoft.com

Friday June 23

Glendora, CA (DCI Pacific) I always thought Citrus College was in Azusa - anyway, it's a hell of a drive from Irvine after work on Friday so I got there a bit late. Typical San Gabriel Valley Summer weather......hot and smoggy as hell and quite chilly in the evening. Sorry, I didn't write down the scores, but here's what I saw and heard, in performance order - SCV Cadets - 3rd in Div II/III. They were dirtier than I remember them being at the same show last year, but with some nice sounds and a very demanding drill. Mandarins - 2nd. A lukewarm start, but after that a really nice show with some very exciting drill, guard work and percussion stuff. I think they took high brass in DII/III which I fail to understand. As one would expect, still a lot of cleaning to do. Pacific Crest - 1st. Another fantastic show - great all around and finally they'll be touring the West a bit. Seeing (and hearing!) is believing.......so go out and see 'em yourself!!! Troopers - 5th. I love the corps, but this year the Americana themes don't especially appeal to me. Lots of cleaning to do, naturally for this time of the year. I have to question the choice of "Amazing Grace" in their book - one wouldn't expect "Send in the Clowns" or "You'll Never Walk Alone" to pop up in too many drum corps shows. "America" from "West Side Story" will be really nice when it's cleaned up - it reminds me of the arrangement on Dave Grusin's record. Blue Devils - 1st. They scored 79! and won every caption. Thrilling - just amazing in every way. With a horn line of this quality, obviously the switch to Bb doesn't hurt, but the rip-your-face-off power wasn't there, either. Will this be #11? If they can add make it just a tiny bit more demanding and keep up the momentum, absolutely!!! Guard's 2 sided flags - WOW!!!!!!!! Glassman - 3rd. Most of the audience thought they should have 4th, and I agree. No great weaknesses here, and certainlly following BD isn't easy. I think their show has all the good qualities they had in 99, which I thought was one of the most beautiful on the field last year. This years Gmen, however, make a greater emotional impact - something that they missed a bit last time. Very well done all around. I can't imagine anyone taking any offense at the guard's uniforms - scandalous for the 1940s, perhaps, but hardly offensive. Blue Knights 4th. As stated above, I think they should have scored above the Gmen by a tiny margin, and the audience by and large concurred. The same great qualities as last year, but a choice of music which makes a much more powerful emotional statement. Fantastic low brass, always beautiful flags, kickass drill. The lone male in the color guard goes shirtless, which I found somewhat strange. SCV - 2nd. I was standing the whole time. I mean for the entire show - I was standing since I got there since the only seats were outside the 20, so I was up above the stands on the 45. If I had a good seat, I'd still be standing for the just about the whole show! Amazing - powerful, fast, magical, emotional, LOUD. Eye-popping drill gots lots and lots of oohs and aaahs. Alas, the show, as it was at this same show last year, is incomplete. This show is packed with difficulty and will take take lots of work to clean up. Yes, "Adagio" is going to be one of the all-time great works ever done by a drum corps, but there is sooooooo much more to this show. Yes, they can win again if this show can be cleaned to it's potential. Yes, it's my fave corps but wait till you see it and you'll see they've put on another amazing show again this year. Don Davis Just some completely random thoughts from Glendora... I do not like the Bb bugles on the field, but I like them a lot in concert. To me, they just sounded muffled on the field. I was very disappointed. Over the last couple years, I've liked the Devil's shows better in stand still than on the field. This year's show, however, starts off with a bang. Great drill. It fizzles soon thereafter, IMHO. The opener is quite frenetic and fast-paced and held my attention. Too soon, though, it lapses into the same type of unimaginative, lackluster drill that has disappointed me over the last few year. This year's show IS an improvement but not as much of an improvement as I'd hoped. On the other hand, the corps performs the show with vintage BD perfection. Vanguard's show design is solid, but it lacks the magic they seemed to have the previous three years. Last year's show especially seemed to have moment after moment. Every time I saw them perform, they got multiple standing ovations. Tonite they got a half-crowd standing ovation at the end but not much more. I can't really tell much about the talent level of the corps at this point, but I will say they had huge intonation problems in Agnus Dei which were even more exposed due to the nature of the piece. The color guard seems be improved but it's too early to tell since they only performed a little over half the show. Glassmen... Liked the show more than the last few year's. Strong performance tonite. Enjoyable but not all that memorable. The biggest impression they left me with was what a mistake it was to put cut-outs in the belly's of the guards unis. It makes even the thinnest of the girls look chunky if not outright fat. Blue Knights... I usually classify BK with G-men...nice though completely forgetable shows. This year's BK show is different, however. A lot of nice moments and interesting segments. I like the new unis, but they look WAY too much like the Devils. This is a corps more in need of an identity than any other top-12 contender, IMO. They put out some nice shows, but over the years there's nothing I can really grab on to and say "oh yea! that's totally BK." Still, this year's show has a lot of personality and held my interest all the way through. The guard is as beatiful as ever, but making the one guard boy bare-chested is a bit cheesy. (And it was WAY too nippley a night for anyone to be bare-chested...that boy's gonna catch his death! SHAME!) Troopers... Well, I'll yell for Troop no matter what they do, but this was easily the most oddly collected show of the night. Other than the fact that all the music is unabashedly "proud to be an American" Trooperesque, there's really no rhyme or reason to the show. It just seems completely eclectic and disjointed. Hopefully, it'll come together as the season progresses. I'm encouraged by the fact that they have a larger corps this year and the last few. Hopefully, that's a sign of health for the Trooper organization. These are the only corps I saw tonite, but the crowd seemed pretty flat for the performances I was able to catch. No one, not even BD, got a huge crowd response. Devils got probably the most enthusiastic applause and even that wasn't impressive. I'd bet that a lot of that has to do with the fact that the closest seats at Citrus Stadium are a good 35-40 feet from the field, so the impact often just isn't there. I was disappointed for the out-of-towners though (BK, Glassmen, Troopers, etc.) that they didn't get more crowd response. We Californians whine and whine about not getting to see the east coast corps and now that they've shown up we've given them a luke-warm welcome...at least tonite. We'll see how Riverside shapes up tomorrow night... afflecktd@aol.com What a great night! I took my nephew to his first drum corps show and we had a great time. He'll hopefully join Pacific Crest next year. Somewhere around 3,000 to 4,000 drum corps fans joined us as we enjoyed the finest drum corps has to offer. I want to first thank all the corps for their performances. I especially want to The Troopers, Glassmen and Blue Knights for coming West for part of their tour. I'm not alone when I say your participation in West Coast shows is greatly appreciated. THANK YOU FOR COMING WEST! Hopefully our large appreciative crowds and our perfect weather will entice you to come back real soon. It was such a treat to go to a drum corps show and see more than two good corps. I personally invite any corps east of Hawaii or west of Hawaii or from Hawaii to take a spin in our part of the country. I promise to buy something from your souvenir booth and I'll donate $5 to your gas fund. Now I will give you my opinion of this evening's performances. I played soprano in Freelancers '83 and '84, then joined Vanguard for '85. I also have not reviewed competitive field music for awhile. If it's loud, high and fast, I like it. I missed Praise Patriots (37.65), Esperanza (58.35), Alliance of San Diego (43.25), Legend of Texas (51.35), Blue Devils B (65.6) and West Coast Sound (62.85). IMPULSE (62.1): Their drill was old style, they did not run and play at the same time. The horns have an early season sound played by young horn players, thin and a bit dirty. They have what could become a high-energy show and should dramatically improve after a few weeks of practice. They are bigger and better than they were last year. 30 horns, 15 guard, and 20 percussion SANTA CLARA VANGUARD CADETS (69.5): The beginning of the show is pretty quick and the drill moves were rather difficult and demanding. They sounded pretty good, not to many individual players stuck out during the show, and seemed under control most of the time. They play a nice ballad in the middle of their show, very entertaining and soothing. I really enjoyed the end when they park and blow. Keep up the good work on a difficult show. 35 horns, 8 pit, 16 drum line, and 18 guard MANDARINS (72.85): Horns had a full sound and considered intonation, but their music did not seem as difficult as SCV Cadets. Very few individuals stuck out during the show. They have a very nice and controlled sound. I also noticed the guard. Everyone used a rifle, saber, dance and flag at least once during the show. Nice to see they're learning how to use every piece of guard equipment. The drums were OK, but I did not really pay attention to them. Nice show overall. I think they were bigger than last year's group. 24 horns, 7 pit, 13 drum line, and 14 guard PACIFIC CREST (73.8): Definitely best Division II group by what I think should have been more than the score reflects. They were the first loud group. They have a balanced sound between the section with a very good low brass section. Drum line was fairly clean and exciting. Their guard was very impressive. Difficult work and I did not see any drops. The end of the show has a nice build progressing to a big bang. This was the first show that flowed from beginning to end, and they received the first standing ovation of the evening. I felt they were better than the one point spread and better then the Troopers this evening. Nice performance for the home crowd. Should soon move up to Division 1 and compete for a Top 12 position at finals. 48 horns, 8 pit, 22 drum line, 40 guard TROOPERS (55.15): THANK YOU FOR COMING TO CALIFORNIA. I LOVE THE TROOPERS! Their show is loaded with familiar tunes, unlike most shows these days. Unfortunately there may be an excessive number of familiar melodies. Their arrangements seemed a bit choppy, a hosh-posh of familiar phrases. It seems as if they were still learning the show because the drill, horn playing, percussion and guard work seemed a little dirty and incomplete. My favorite part of their show was the expanding Trooper circle and the American Flag!. This show should be entertaining when it's clean. THANKS FOR COMING TO CALIFORNIA! GO TROOPERS! 49 horns, 10 pit, 20 drum line, 20 guard BLUE DEVILS (79.00): My initial feeling about their show was not very positive. They switched to non-bugles and they're BD. So what-THEY'RE AWESOME!!! The opening drill is smokin'- they fly to the left and then the right, then back and forth across the field all the while marching 8 count 360 degree turns. It looks great and sounds better. The drill was interesting and difficult, the drums were tight, the guard was tops, a solid show that should contend for the title. The drums have a great feature, handing off drum licks like a hot potato with absolutely no change in tempo-very clean and exciting. The pit also had a nice feature playing a unison phrase while accelerating to light speed. Their horn line is fantastic! They sound like a perfectly tuned, crisp, clear, brass pipe organ set on full blast. DCI will need to upgrade their microphones to do justice to BD's sound. Their super fast runs were super clean. Although it was probably not very noticeable, I heard some errors from the lead sopranos. They may be having a little trouble sustaining those double Cs on the new horns while running-or maybe it's me. Whatever it is, their sound is very balanced from top to bottom. Another horn trophy in the making will be going into the trophy cabinet in August. I also think they marched better than last year. Their drill is definitely more interesting. The guard also caught my eye with a flying purple carpet segment. Put it this way-they won every caption by a bunch, but I don't think they were 5.6 points better the SCV. Although they are very good at playing the quasi-classical music, I prefer their old style of jazz. I did not count individual sections from this point forward-they're balanced. GLASSMEN (72.4): THANK YOU FOR COMING TO CALIFORNIA. YOUR PARTICIPATION IN WEST COAST SHOWS IS GREATLY APPRECIATED. I've never been a huge Glassmen fan, but I am now. I LOVE YOU and thanks for coming west. I must say it is difficult following BD, but they did a fine job. They have a mature and clean show, but needs a shot of excitement. Loved the "level 3" mark time! Other moments seemed like nothing was happening. The guard is very uniform because they all have the same hairstyle, but 4 different colors (platinum blonde, cherry red, jet black, and chocolate brunette). They're probably wigs, but what a hype if it's all real! YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE A GREAT SEASON BECAUSE YOU HAD A GREAT START HERE IN CALIFORNIA. COME BACK ANY TIME. WE THOROUGHLY ENJOYED YOUR VISIT. BLUE KNIGHTS (70.75): Great new uniforms-brighter blue tops with a white, triangular flap (ala Freelancers). Colors liven up their appearance on the field. Note to show designer: put a shirt on the guard guy. He performs the entire show in not much more than long, lycra underwear. The horn line also dances a little too much in my opinion, but they make up for it with a "level 3 " mark time. The end of the show closes with fast furious drill and some loud notes. Thank you! YOU ARE WELCOME TO COME WEST AND PERFORM ANY TIME YOU WANT. THANKS FOR COMING AND WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR RETURN! SANTA CLARA VANGUARD (73.4): Great drill, great sound, great drum line, great guard. I loved the show concept. The drill may be too complex and difficult to clean by November-and they'll be done in August? The opening move is an imploding circle into a dot while playing deep rich and loud. Another move has a small triangle, similar to the head of an arrow, shoot through some ranks and growing to a large triangle at a very fast pace. Very high energy as far as the drill is concerned. Individual marching technique was solid, but the drill was mostly dirty. They also seemed to have several holes, up to 7 this evening. Hopefully, for their sake and my enjoyment, they will have enough time to finish and clean the show. Shame on you for performing an incomplete marching show. They did not march the last 3 or 4 minutes of the show (I don't wear a watch so I don't know how long they stood there while finishing their musical book). I think it will hurt them in the end. It is politically incorrect to march an incomplete show and champions never march an incomplete show, OK-last year was an exception. They do win the award to the longest loud chord-10/15 seconds or so (once again the watch issue), and they did it while standing on the front sideline. THANK YOU. I initially thought their sound was richer and darker than BD, but the victory concert changed my mind. I did not pay attention to the drums or guard. My opinion on B flat instruments - there is no comparison. If you are a drum corps purist, you won't like them because they're not in G. If you enjoy music, they play in tune with better intonation, sound, clarity and crispness. BD seemed brighter and fuller than all the other corps because they were playing on better instruments. The best way to exemplify the difference is with a car I use to own compared to my current car. G bugles are like my 1978 Toyota Corolla. B flat horns are like my 1998 Lexus ES300. BD and Cadets will have an unfair and significant advantage over the other corps because they are using far superior equipment. BLUE DEVILS VICTORY CONCERT: We stood in the middle of the Blast Zone. They began with F-tuning, or is it C-tuning or B-flat-tuning? Either way-it was beautiful. I love standstill performances (anyone remember 1994 in Boston on Wednesday night-top 5! ?). All sections were outstanding. The lead sops did not seem as weak as their field performance, but the super high notes weren't as apparent as I remember from years in the past. The entire corps sound was awesome. The volume seemed similar to G horns, but the intonation and tone was simply better, making them sound louder and more complete. I also noticed they wear their championship rings over their gloves-the soprano soloist looked like a showcase in a jewelry store. He probably began marching when he was 9. Harrison Reed

Atlanta, GA (DCI Atlantic) Here's the 4th annual "First Show in the East" review: The Weather: Perfect. Warm, dry, almost more like California than Georgia. The show got underway a little late, or I never would have seen the first two corps thanks to Atlanta traffic. A big crowd was on hand to see this show, so I guess they got away with $15 for admission okay. :P The Stadium: Not quite as nice as Warner Robbins and only about half the size, although about an hour closer to the Atlanta area, which meant that it had better attendance figures, I'm sure. Not a bad venue, all things considered. Some general notes: When you charge $15 for a general admission seat(and ALL seats were G.A.) to the first show of the year that only has five corps in competition, you've got to have some kind of stomach to turn around and ask ANY money for parking, in my opinion. The corps mostly all had the jitters, but generally worked through them well. Scenic City (28.85): I don't want to be negative the first time I see anyone perform, so I'll say this to be positive: things can only get better. With the first show under their belt and some judges tapes to listen to, perhaps the staff can straighten out some of the (serious)kinks and make the show more accessible to the crowd. As it was, it was hard to see what they were trying to put across, but it WAS obvious they were trying. Maybe the start of the next great Div. II/III corps, who knows? Spirit of Atlanta (52.??): With the excitement of performing at their first competion combining with the excitement of performing in front of a home crowd, this corps had a SERIOUS case of nerves. Decent colorguard and drumline highlight the drill and brass well. Only problem? The brass aren't yet living up to the top billing that their show requires, musically or visually. Long way to go though, and if the brass can get some work done Semifinals will be interesting once again this year. Carolina Crown (62.??): Liked the music, and the overall visual picture was considerably clearer than the lower corps, and Crown's individual marching technique seemed improved from first-shows in past years. Some high-stress drill moves really impacted the corps sound though, and the brass doesn't yet swell to the high points of the show the way they need to for full impact. If they learn to give strength to these points of the show, this will be another one of their good ones. Crossmen (64.??): Thought this score and Spirit's were a bit low, but placement was correct. This corps has come out this year like the Scouts of the East, with all the good and bad that may imply. Brass has a harsher sound than last year at this time, but has a MUCH bigger dynamic range and lots of energy. Plenty of minor to moderate phasing in the rifles and sabers, but silks were quite good and this looks like another vintage year for this section. Percussion section held its own with only a few real ticks here and there. Really enjoyed the fun the Bones projected tonight. The Cadets (75.25): The last time I saw this corps look this good early in the season was in 1987. Their guard and percussion were very good, with the guard making up for a couple of dropped pieces with some very tight equipment work. Some cracked notes in the brass, but a step up from the other corps tonight. Newsflash: this corps marches WELL!!! I know, I know, what else is new, but though a few individuals had problems, the overall presentation was quite clear, very few interval or form problems comparatively, and crisp shifts of direction and velocity. The other big boys had better get cracking because this corps is going places, and they're NOT looking back. It's been a couple of years, but here's a Cadets show that I really like. That's how I saw it. I was there. Dave Ballard '87 - '89

St. Cloud, MN (DCM) This was the first viewing of the season for us. We started our trek up to St. Cloud fighting with traffic, but eventually ended up getting there with plenty of time to spare. The weather was beautiful, and I only killed 3 mosquitos, which is rare for a summer in Minnesota. The weather reports were saying thunderstorms, but nothing happened. We don't have any bias towards any of these corps, we did not march with them, we don't have freinds that march with any of them, and our parents didn't march in any of them. Therefore, we are just reviewing the show. In exhibtion, the host corps, and the last corps on was Chops, Inc. This senior corps from the Twin Cities has absolutely zero chance of beating anybody this season, but this was by far the most hilarious show We've ever seen. These guys by no means are out to put a good score on the field. They are all about entertaining the audience and they did just that. Think of VK times 1000, and you will have Chops, Inc. on the entertainment scale. Their show consisted of 8-10 songs that are quite common and entertaining to any audience member, including the Simpson's Theme and Hava Nagila. The drum major is worth mentioning because he goes by the name "Big Salami", and he wore a leather vest, leather pants, and a red cowboy hat. The second half of the show featured only 1 colorguard member, which literally brought us to tears. Anyway, enough about these guys. 6th Place: Govenaires Senior Corps from St. Peter, Minnesota. 38.50. The Govies put a show on the field that is almost exactly like every other one I have ever seen. They Opened with "Birdland", which I though only the Crossmen were allowed to play. We know that they are about entertainmenmt, but this song was darn bad. They did not play it well, there marching needed lots of help to put it nicely. The middle section of their show, which featured songs by local ska band 3 Minute Hero, was played pretty well, but again the marching could use some help. We know that they are not trying to win, but when it is difficult to tell which foot they should be on, it is pretty rough on the eyes. The entire show was mildly entertaining but has plenty of room to improve in all areas. 5th Place: Americanos from Menasha, Wisconsin. 44.25. We don't know, but we think they have new uniforms this weekend, and we liked them a lot. This show has a lot of problems, but is very enjoyable. The music of Bizet is a very different approach then they have taken in the past, but seemed to work really well. The first thing we noticed right away was the sound of the hornline. They had a very edgy, almost Madison-like sound. They had numerous soloists who were great. For the small amount of horns that they had, they put out a lot of sound, with great balance to the drumline, which looked like in the beginning would be a bit big with 5 snares, 2 tenors, and 5 bass drums. Intermesso had some beautiful moments in the horns. We thought the pit on the field instead of on the sidelines was a nice effect, even though it's been done numerous times in the past. The drill was reletively easy, which is a little disappointing, considering the fact that it was pretty dirty, but we realize that it is only June 23. The hornline almost broke towards the end of the closer, but they managed to pull it back together. On the positve note, the guard was the only corps in the first half of the program that had all their guard work done. Overall, we look forward to seeing this show once it gets cleaned up. 4th Place: Blue Stars from LaCrosse, Wisconsin. 45.80. Right off of the top we were very impressed with the Blue Stars from a musical standpoint playing selections from "Carmina Burana." They opened with the double tongued section from "Were diu werlt alle min" was extremely clean for any corps at this time of the year. However there was going to be an obvious problem with horn to drum balance with only 23 horns and a battery of 7/4/5 and a large pit. When you could hear the horns over the drums the difficulty of the horn book was quite evident. Once the horns are cleaned up and the balance problem is figured out, this show will really rock musically. If they can somehow come up with 20 more horns this corps can very easily make the top 21. The major problem we had with the corps was not the music, but the visual program, specifically the drill. We have come to expect a better drill design over the years. We thought that last years drill was very effective and exciting to watch. This year lacked both the difficulty and eye candy of the past few years. This show seems to have the most potential of all of them, and should produce great results for the corps come August. 3rd Place: Minnesota Brass, Inc. Senior Corps from the Twin Cities. 54.25. We've seen this corps numerous times each year for about 10 years now and certain things have come to be expected from this group. The loud, high, and abnoxious soprano solos are the first to come to mind. This show does not disappoint in that aspect. However, because we know this corps pretty well, we are in agreement that this is one of the best products they've put on the field, if not the best. This year, they have selected the music of "Chicago" which proves to be their most musical in many years. Their drill was by far the most well written of all the corps in the first half. Not only, did the horn line seem bigger than usual, but the sound was more mature, especially for a senior corps this early. The balance between drums and horns was very good, with the drumline marching 7/3/5 with 5 cymbals. The thing that we dislike most about this corps are the cut-offs the soprano soloists give to us. We can hear you are playing high. You don't need to hold on longer than the cut-off. We are very glad to see this corps be very entertaining, not to mention getting more competitive with other senior corps throughout the nation. Plenty of room for improvement, but an outstanding start for these guys. 2nd Place: Phantom Regiment. 68.90. We were very excited when I read what PR was going to be playing this year. I felt that it could really be the show to bring them back to where they used to be. After reading review for the past week on RAMD we were very excited to view this show for the first time. We have one thing to say about this show, DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!!!!!!!! We read almost nothing bad about this show and were very excited to see it and were honestly left feeling very dissapointed and unfulfilled. We realize it could have been a bad show, but it was not what was expected. Right off the bat we noticed a very un-Phantom like sound, no bottom. PR is one of two corps that year in and year out you can count on to deliver deep, rich, moving chords, and they were not there this year. We counted only 10 contras and 18 bari's which seems small for PR. It looked as though there were a number of holes in the hornline and lets hope that they are all for low brass players. The mello's on the other hand had many nice moments in the show, including one in the ballad and one at the end of the show. The drill was crazy dirty tonight and made it difficult to assess the actual difficulty and effectiveness of the drill. If the hornline can be filled out and the drill can be cleaned this show has some potential, but we don't see it as being a top 3 or 4 show. On a different note we both think the new uniforms look great. It is a nice change from the solid color scheme of the last 10+ years. 1st Place: Cavaliers. 74.65. Okay. The Cavies. WOW!!! We never thought we'd say that despite the fact that we've heard so many great things about them. If we have one bias, it is our dislike for this corps. However, this corps blew us away. It sounded, and at times looked like the Cadets were wearing Cavalier uniforms. From my (Dan) point of view, I've only like two previous Cavies shows, and they happened to be the two shows they took the title at DCI. I'm not saying, I'm just saying, but this show is outstanding. They were by far the most clean corps of the night in all aspects, but still needs to clean up the drill immensly which is to be expected. We only have good things to say about the Cavies at this show and expect them to make drastic changes to an already good show. The drill had few spectacular moments, but we know that they will add them in later in the season. All in all, this was an entertaining show. We obviously are horn guys and new at writing reviews, so disregard our lack of percussion and guard comments. Dan & Matt

La Porte, IN (DCM) Not gonna polish this too much, but here's my thoughts on the show... Bandettes - These girls have guts. By all accounts, they were very poor, but they had the chutzpah to go out there and do drum corps. For that, I thought they deserved a standing O...unfortunately myself and my wife were the only ones that thought so. Cinci Glory - Interesting little show. They have their moments, but overall the clarity suffers. Capital Regiment - I like the Prince of Egypt music, but why do they have to tack that godawful Sandi Patti tune on the end of it?!? I've never understood why drum corps likes that tune so much. GB Vagabonds - This may be the first time I've ever seen them and I was impressed. They have amazing clarity for such a small corps, both musically and visually. I really like their low end balance, too. The corps is grounded by 3 contras, 3 baris, and 5 bass drums and the high end never overpowers the low end. Clarity makes them sound much bigger than they are. Capitol Sound - I've always like Newsies, the non-animated "bastard child" musical of Menken and Ashmen. The corps seems to like the music and they have the chops to handle it. Clean it up and they will be a threat again at DCI. Bluecoats - I'm really not sure about this show. The hornline has that same deep sonority that you've grown to love (ensemblewise at least, exposed moments still need work), but the show is so different for the Bluecoats. Both musically and visually it's very modern and more esoteric than you're used to. It's far from unaccessible, but it is a stretch. It's also probably the most difficult program they have ever attempted and at this point it really shows in some places. I think they would have scored a bit higher than Southwind, but I'm not sure. Southwind - It was probably just HS stadium seating versus college stadium seating, but I didn't think they were as good as last week in Toledo. Horn Line was kind of thin (maybe that's just compared to Bluecoats, though) and there was less direction. It's still a very good show, though, with some great moments and I really hope they can make that splash into finals. Colts - Standstill due to rain (started to trickle before Bluecoats and got a bit heavier as time went by). I'll have to give this program another full showing before I make up my mind, but the music just bored me to tears. Oh where oh where are the Colts? I've loved them the past 5 years or so, but this does not seem like a Colts show. Not a big fan of the new uniforms either. The old Stark White versus Stark red with plenty of sparklies were my favorites in DCI. Madison - Performed full field show in exhibition to hundreds of soggy fans...that's entertainment. Maybe it was the week of practice or maybe it was being energized by the rain, but these guys seemed a lot better and more "on" than last week in Toledo. While the guard still isn't really selling the manly cossack concept, the horns and drums are hot. Especially the first three tunes are just dynamite. I'm looking forward to seeing them again tonight in Portage. John Weldy Bluecoats 93-94 The Ninth Annual Spectacle of Brass Show started off really well, in terms of weather. As the evening went on, thunder, lightning, rain and wind started to invade the stadium-- and the performances of some of the corps. However, the corps did their best to perform through the weather, and the crowd stayed right through the end to cheer on their favorite corps. Because of the inclement weather, there was no finale, and hence no announced scores. The show opened with the LaPorte High School Band performing the National Anthem. This band seemed a little smaller than in the past, but they did a good job of playing "The Star-Spangled Banner." The first drum corps to perform was the Bandettes from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Although this corps is really small (1 DM/ 5 CG/ 9P/ 11 H), these girls have the courage to go out on the field and perform the best they can. This corps has a long way to go. The color guard book is far from complete, the hornline has some serious intonation and timing problems they need to address, and the drumline book does not seem full yet, especially the pit and basses. They also seem to have some confidence and stamina issues- they look around a lot and they seem to run out of gas by the end of the show. Their program consisted of big band music. "Caravan" was definitely their best song. The next corps to perform was Cincinnati Glory, from Cincinnati, OH. This corps was unbelievably good, considering their small size (1 DM/ 7 CG/ 17 P/ 10 H). Their opening set does a lot to make the corps seem a lot bigger than they are by the numbers. Their color guard was especially impressive; the work, silks and uniforms are well-designed. The guard members are executing their repertoire well, although they are not yet clean. Other sections to look for include the lower brass and the bass drums. However, there does not seem to be a lot of impact points ("wow moves") written into the show. The whole show seems somewhat understated. Cincinnati Glory's show is entitled "Old American Songs" and consists of music by Aaron Copeland. The third corps to take the field was Capital Regiment, from Columbus, OH. This corps was bigger (1 DM/ 9 CG/ 18 P/ 23 B) than the previous two corps. The most notable thing about this corps performance was their strong drumline. The crowd loved their drum solo feature about half way through the program. Another high point of the show is when the brass turns around and plays to the back stands. That moment could be especially effective in a bigger stadium. The musical and visual repertoire (especially the color guard book) is pretty easy. In addition, they seem to have trouble cleanly executing some of their music, drill and guardwork, despite its lack of difficulty. Capital Regiment's 2000 program is music from Prince of Egypt. The last corps to go on before intermission was the General Butler Vagabonds, from Butler, PA. This drum corps has a great soprano soloist! Judging from their applause and shouts, the crowd really seemed to appreciate the solos. From a general effect standpoint, the corps did a good job of keeping their presence all the way through the end. The Vagabonds are presenting Carmen as their 2000 production, and as they finished their performance, they kept the imagery of sadness to the very end. After the last note, the corps mournfully walked to the 25 yardline, where they snapped to attention. The lead dancers in the guard (who provided a stunning dance performance throughout the entire program), stayed in their last pose, until the very end, and then followed their corps of the field. It was a very effective and emotional approach to ending the show. The one thing this corps needs to work on the most is drill. It seems pretty boring at some points. The horns are always in the same order and the drill doesn't really move well. After intermission, Capitol Sound, from Madison, WI, performed their show, entitle Disney's Newsies. Their entrance on the field was very Madison-like in style. The guard book is still incomplete at this point. In addition, the guard members need to work on communicating more upstairs. They were doing their best to perform, but the emotion is simply not reaching the press box yet, even in a small high school stadium. The drumline is tight and fairly accurate for this point in the season, and the hornline has some solos that prompted several people in the crowd to their feet. The hornline's drill is a concern, though. It is hard to discern whether there are holes that have not yet been filled or whether there are just major interval problems in the hornline. It is a probably a combination of both, meaning that the players are struggling to keep consistent spacing for the holes. The Bluecoats of Canton, OH entered the field next, with the color guard carrying huge, brightly colored props. These props were great, because they made the transitions in the guard a lot smoother. The hornline tended to overblow a lot, in terms of tone quality, and the runs were not clean, but they were LOUD! They have a lot of in-your-face moments, where they just wail on their instruments and remind everyone in the audience why they love drum corps so much. The color guard was really struggling at points, although this could very well have been because of the weather. Unfortunately, The wind and rain really picked up during their show. The Bluecoat's show is Threshold- The Music of Patrick Williams. Old timers rejoice! According to people who marched in the 60s and 70s, Southwind, from Lexington, KY, are performing a show that is very much like the shows of earlier days in the activity. There show does not have a theme, and consists of three unrelated pieces- one each from Gustav Holst, James Horner, and Franz Liszt. However, they seem to mesh the old and new, because there are some innovation in this show as well. Perhaps the most noticeable event in the program is the one-handed snare drum roll in the percussion feature. The crowd went absolutely wild as the snare drummers held up their left hands and played an extremely tight roll with only their right hands. Very impressive. In addition, the drill (especially for the hornline) is written really well. Although this corps does not have the volume of other Division I corps, they play and march well. The Colts, from Dubuque, IA, performed a standstill on the track. The rain was getting pretty heavy by this point, and the corps did not want to risk injury to the members, according to Chad Guess, the program coordinator. Both the hornline and drumline have issues to address concerning timing and accuracy (attacks and releases, etc). Overall, they sounded pretty good, especially considering the fact that two-thirds of the corps consists of rookies. The Colts' show this year is called Wait of the World, and it is music by Stephen Melillo. The final show of the evening was from the Madison Scouts, from Madison, WI. Despite the pouring rain, the lightning and the wind, the Scouts put on a full field performance of their program. The visual program seemed a little rough, but that can probably be chalked up to the bad weather. Musically, they were loud and in-your-face, just as they usually are. What can you say? It was pure drum corps. The color guard is pretty funny; at times it seems more like Saturday Night Live than a drum corps show. As usual, the audience loved every minute of this show, entitled The Cossack Brotherhood. peace and love, chelley

Thursday June 22

San Diego, CA (DCI Pacific) Well, my first attempt at a show review for this summer. It doesn't help that I've stayed up the whole night reading other posts & getting ready for the weekend either. I won't be able to write any reviews right away this weekend as I will be up in LA (away from home & computer in San Diego) for the 3 shows there. To be up front, I will say that I am Brass Caption Head for the San Diego Alliance and some of the following corps are our local competition. Due to scheduling problems with many of our members we were not able to perform tonight, so I got to play spectator the entire evening. Even so, I will not try to put "spin" or anything like that on this review. It's strictly my opinions & would be the same were I sitting this season out as a spectator again. Further, my concentration tends to be on the music, with visual coming a distant second. I don't know percussion or guard so reserve most of my comments in those areas. The show was the Esperanza Experience here in San Diego. The stadium & the weather could not have been better. Great looking field. Perfectly comfortable temperature, with only the slightest hint of a breeze. I was told by an Esperanza staffer who helped coordinate the show that the attendance was around 900. I would have estimated quite a bit more than that. Either way, Esperanza did a fantastic job of putting on this show. It was probably the best drum corps show in San Diego in many years. First on was Legend of TX (50.55) . White uni's with red & blue accents. This small corps (27 total by my count) was quite entertaining. About 10 horns; 3guard. Good music selections. Visual show was fun. They would have more impact if they weren't so far backfield all the time. Very respectable & entertaining job. West Coast Sound (59.00) 8sop/4mello/8bari/5contra / 11guard / 3snare/3tenor/4bass/3cym Modified uni's look less like the old Marauder tops & have a black flap that reminds me of the white flap Freelancers used to have. Seemed like a big corps after Legend. About 24 horns. Challenging show. They put out some good volume at times. Some timing problems here & there, but that's to be expected this early. This show will really come along in time. No tunes I leave humming, but entertaining. Esperanza (58.95) ~20marching band horns, including 5 tubas / 24-28guard / 4snare/2tenor/5bass. First show tonight. They sounded really good in the warm-up arc outside the stadium, but I didn't feel that translated on the field. Probably 1st day jitters & they'll be much better over the weekend. Tough show, opening with Canzona. Being familiar with this piece thanks to Cavies playing it some years back makes it easier to get into the show. The rest of the music was unrecognizable. This group had a very nice colorguard. The very large flags used at the end of the closer are a beautiful visual impact. This is the first group that I've seen on non-G instruments. I am a traditionalist, to the point of wanting only 2-valve horns in my line. Even so, based on all I had read about BD & Garfield this year, I was expecting that the Bb horns would sound just as good, & perhaps have better intonation than the bugles. WRONG. While I think Esperanza has some talented players, the marching band horns are a definite liability. Though their numbers are nearly the same as WCS, they didn't have a fraction of the sound, power, or projection. After one of their "hits" a friend leaned over & said "that should have nailed us to the wall." I would estimate that this same horn line would be 50-75% louder if they were playing real drum & bugle corps instruments. Pacific Crest (69.25) ~42 horns (est.) / 38guard / 8snare/4tenor/5bass/5cym First show of the night to part the audiences hair. (Seemed even louder following Esperanza) Forget the theme and all you've heard about it being a Joan of Arc show. Except for the occasional cross popping up here & there, you'd never know this is supposed to be a heavy themed show. Nope, it's just good (no, GREAT) solid drum corps! This group has all the elements to be top 12, just in a slightly smaller package. Visual show fits the music as well or better than anything else on the field tonight. I recorded in mono to get the most time on my minidisc, but I will record this one in stereo in the future, because the stereo imaging of the sound is so very important in this production. The sound really moves around much more than in the average show. The guard seems overwhelmingly massive. (In number, not the individual members) Good features of soloists & small ensembles. If you haven't seen Pacific Crest (& unless you've been in CA, you haven't) you would be amazed at how polished & professional this show design is, & how mature the corps is. Truly a hidden jewel of So. Cal. Though followed by 4 good Div I corps, I think this was the most entertaining show of the evening. Better than Troopers & damn near as good as Glassmen. Troopers (53.65) 15sop/7mello/14bari/10contra / ~20guard (est.) / 6 or 7snare/4tenor/5bass Unis seem plainer than I remember them, like they removed piping or buttons or something. Nice show. Good solid drum corps, but they shouldn't follow PC on. Why? They are clearly outclassed by them. Some timing issues. Soloists weren't really on or in tune much of the time. Straightforward drumcorps (the way I usually like it) but it seemed, well, unsophisticated after PC. Sunburst in closer got some applause. I haven't seen them in a few years, & understand they are rebuilding from being down to as low as ~60 members, so it's stronger now. I guess it's about what you'd expect from Troopers early season. OK, it's now nearly 6am, and my corps starts rehearsal in 1hr & 8 min. so I must go. (more importantly, after being insomniac all night, I'm suddenly ready to sleep. I guess if I can get on later I'll post the rest. If not, I will after the weekend. Hope you enjoy the amount I was able to get written thus far. Quickies on the remaining 3: Glassmen. - love the uni's, but the guard unis seem to have nothing to do with the show, & while they have all the elements that *should* make them sexy, they didn't seem sexy to me. Good arrangements of Gershwin. At this point, I'll still take the '82 Garfield or '85 Spirit shows (same tune for those of you too young to remember), but hey, it's only the 1st show of the year & it's going to get better & better & better. Easy music to "get into." (& I did) Santa Clara - I disagree with my friend Paul Rendon's assessment. I don't think this show is harder than last years. I also don't think it's even close to last years. They didn't march the last 2-3 min. They look & sound very small for a top 6 corps. Only 60 horns by my count. Had several holes (i.e.. bass 4). Drill doesn't help the situation. Makes them look even smaller. Of course it's wonderful & sophisticated & incredibly well done, but that's a given at this level. One phenomenal moment in the show - Adagio for strings. They hold out the resolution power chord for about 12 seconds... but it seems like 30 the first time you hear it. My goosebumps literally did not go away for 2 min afterwards. However, one moment does not a show make. Last year, 1st viewing, I knew SCV had a championship caliber show. I'm pretty sure this year they don't. Blue Knights - I'm not a BK fan. Usually their shows leave me cold emotionally. However, after SCV, I thought they were great. They look half again as big as SCV. Lot's of field coverage with tough exposure for the horns. Drums are featured well both musically & in the drill. Great low brass feature in middle of show, but needs to be cleaned yet. Hard to make out what they're playing. Personally, I felt they DID beat Glassmen AND SCV. I'd never have said that before (I'm a fan of both other corps.) This is my opinion both technically and as a spectator. BK clearly won the show tonight. (The judges just got it wrong.) Now see... I've written another 14 minutes. I must go get my 1/2 hr of sleep. Can't wait to see your responses when I get back. Mike Margraf San Diego Alliance Drum & Bugle Corps www.sandiegoalliance.org

Wednesday June 21

Bloomington/Normal, IL (DCM) Well, hit Drum Corps show # 3 tonight. Pretty tired after driving back to Chicago, so pls excuse the grammer, but here goes... Beautiful night for Drum Corps. Light breeze, perfect temps and packed and extremely enthusiastic crowd. (It's amazing what a bunch of young band kids can bring to the show. Maybe part of that is because they haven't become cynical like so many long time drum corps fans???) OK, once again, the order of performance was absolutely STUPID tonight. Arriving 5 minutes late due to construction traffic near Chicago on the Interstate, I was stunned to discover Cavaliers finishing their show as I entered the stadium. Why in the heck were they on first? Since I can't review Cavaliers tonight, here's the rest... Pioneer -- Ya know what? They have a heck of a show this year. Ya know what else? These guys are PERFORMING. By far the best showmanship of any corps tonight. The brass & drum lines in particular are pouring every ounce of energy they have into the show. Their hype is fantastic & the crowd ate it up. One of the most enthusiastic standing O's of the night (they actually got 2). While the enthusiasm has them a little out of control at times, that is a problem that can easily be fixed. If they are putting all that energy into rehersal as well as their shows, they can be a real force this year in Semis instead of just the last corps in. Southwind -- A little less impressed with them tonight than I was in Toledo. A very nice show, however. I wish the brass line would open their throats a little more and produce a deeper sound. Very thin sound at times, kind of like their "big brother" corps can have on a bad day or year. I thought they marched better in Toledo as well. Still, lots of potential in this show & it is fantastic to see an up and coming corps that is FULL SIZED out there. Phantom Reginment -- Boy have they cleaned over the past 5 days! The show is leaps and bounds ahead of Oswego or Toledo. Score was a little low tonight, in my opinion, for both PR & Scouts. I would have had both about a point to a point and a half higher (putting PR around a 70 or so). One strange revelation upon 3rd viewing -- Regiment's weakest brass section is thier Baritone section! They need about 4 more horns to balance out the rest of the corps, as they are almost a little top heavy. Now who in the world would ever have thought Baris would be PR's weakness? Overall, the brass line has potential to be outstanding, and I agree with the Lima, OH reviewer that indicated that PR's brass book is the fullest & most difficult of the season, so far (not having heard the West Coast corps). Not even the Cadets have as tough of brass book. The Schoenberg piece is beautiful, and both Stravinsky pieces work wonderfully. The Jeux opener is too short (maybe 30 seconds) to make any sense in the show. Percussion is stonger for PR this year than the past couple of years, and seem to be enjoying Stravinsky's more percussive music immensely. Guard is really turning it on & had some nice rifle tosses tonight. Visually, the corps members individual technique is improving rapidly -- they almost carried themselves on the field like Phantom Regiment members at times. However, there is a long, long ways to go to clean this show. Very filthy visually, and particularly in the closer. Colts -- Now that the closer is in there, this show seems SOOOO LOONGGG. (Not a good sign). The music is just not very inspiring. The new uniforms do look better under the lights in complete darkness than they do when they march earlier in the evening. Marching later makes the off white seem less "off." Horns have really cranked up the volume since the first show in Oswego -- nice job. You can tell they just put in the closer, as they almost completely broke down musically. Perhaps it was the lack of performance, but the musical choice for the closer seems to be the worst of the whole show. On the plus side, apart from the closer, this corps marches very well & does some nice things. I just wish this show was a little less cookie-cutter played to the judges sheets & more appealing like past Colts shows. Cadets -- This show is FUN!!! Especially the 2nd half of the show. The latter half is very enjoyable musically, as well. Much more lyrical than the last few Cadets shows. The first half was more typical of the last few years (dryer & more athletic than musical). The "show your stuff" sections at the end are a riot. There needs to be a break between the drum line's strut & the brass line's turn, though, as the crowd goes so wild over the drum line that the first half of the brass line's turn is covered up. The crowd goes hysterical when the trumpets finger each others' valves while playing. A true highlight. Great box into box merge/unmerge/merge at the end, too. Cadets provoked the most crowd response and excitement of any corps tonight. Nice package. That being said, here's my 2 cents on the Bb change for Cadets... YOU CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE. At least, I sure could. Now, I did start college as a music major (brass specialty), so I'm probably not your average fan from that perspective, but the sound is different. Volume wise, at least in a small stadium, they were right up there with the other corps. I don't think they will project as well to the top of a high stadium, however. Intonation is better on the Bb horns. The high voices (God, do we have to call them trumpets now?), simply do not project well. The voices all blend together very nicely -- too nicely in my opinion. The traditional Mellophone-flavor of the corps also is disappated. But not having high sopranos as part of the ensemble sound is a huge loss in my opinion. How much of this problem is just the way the book is arranged for Cadets? Won't be able to tell that until July 21st when BD hits Chicago. I will say this, hearing Madison's sopranos -- as thin and unsupported as Madison's sopranos can be at times -- was one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard after listening to Cadets. Madison -- As usual, the crowd didn't understand the placement, and as usual, the placement was deserved. Madison has one hell of a horn line. That's about it. Oh yeah, and a decent horn line drill for a change too. The brass line truly has the potential to be one of DCI's best this year. They got tired & very thin towards the end of the show tonight, however. The guard is truly struggling at this point. Seems that on every rifle toss, there was at least a full beat gap between all the different catches going on (and yes, they should have been simultaneous). Flags were no more together. And -- they still aren't finished with putting in the guard show. Well, there's my 2 cents. Next stop for me -- DCM in DeKalb. Can't wait to see everyone's improvement by then. BUD =) Since a lot of people have put scores on here, I'll leave that be. I just figured I'd give my 2 cents on tonights show. 7th..Pioneer WOW...for pioneer, these guys were really good. Played with HEART....something some *other* corps would be wise to take note of. Maybe not the best "blend" but you could tell that everyone was giving it their all. I was surrounded by the worlds largest gathering of "BANDOS" and they gave more applause to Pioneer than Cavaliers. Pretty mind boggling. Guard is the best they have had in years. I don't like the brown Uni's but, we've all heard that already. 6th....Southwind OK, I have to take a moment to display just how male I am......Their Guard looks #!@*&^# Fine!!! ok, that aside, this show is pretty tight. Very entertaining, there is one guy who plays Bari....the bell is wider than his shoulders....how he holds it up I can not begin to imagine. 5th.....Colts New Uni's........liked em....even if they do look like everyone else Pretty neat show all in all. They are really loud but tend to lose their focus at times. I watched most of this show from the tunnell, so the drill comments will have to come after I see them again. A couple of really cool guard moments. 4th........Maddisson I thought this is where they deserved to be. This show doesn't "Pack the Punch" it needs to. I'm a scouts fan, but this one didn't do it for me. I didn't even get a half of a goose bump, which has never before happened to me with regards to the Scouts. The brass line was VERY crass at times, and a couple of their lead sops need new parts (or ears). I kept waiting for the intensity nob to reach 10....but it never got much above 7.5. 3rd.......Phantom Don't like the brown uni's. They would go well with Pioneers pants, thats not saying much. They play much better than last year. One small concern, I counted 10 Contras.....and 2 holes.......Doesn't PR ALWAYS have 14 Contras?????????????? The mello section had a couple bad moments in the Ballad, but other than that, a very..VERY regiment-ish sound. The snares picking up "TOMS" is a little over the top. The drill for this show needs to be scrapped and re-written from scratch. All in all, the drill was BORING. V...e....r....y..........S.....l......o............w. Any step over 6-to-5 causes a complete breakdown in sound and upper body posture. 2nd....Cavaliers Cool show. I really don't like the prisoner outfits the guard is wearing.....WHY ALL THE BROWN??? I think a couple of their silks were practice falgs. They didn't have that usual flash...it might have been a bad day on the rehearsal field or something...The closer was VERY dirty.......The Bandos barely stood for them...like I said...more of a response for Pioneer. 1st...Cadets The thing I haven't liked about the Cadets in past years is their lack of "personality". It's hard for me to get into a show about "New York" which is possibly the least personable city in the world. This show deffinately takes care of the personality problem. The drumline rocks...(Bass Drum and Snare Holes.....is N'SYNC stealing cadets drummers again this year?) And the horn section does NOT suffer from the Bb horns. Their Mellos finally sound like mellos instead of sops with a big bell. 2 spots in the show where I was hoping to see a Z-pull or a Tidy-bowl or something cool........nothin' doin'. They do march very well. It ought to be good to see the east vs. west this year. I was a little agitated with their encore performance. It consisted of about 30 seconds worth of music. 2 big hits from the show and that was it. Over all....a good night of corps for this early in the season! thanks for reading Mike Hello, all. So yesterday after work (in Chicago) I and my girlfriend decided that a drum corps show would be a good way to cap off our Wednesday. Unfortunately, it was 6PM and we were in Hyde Park. So we got in the car and drove like that actor that you saw in the movie with those cops and those robbers. Needless to say we pulled into Normal at 8:30 after dodging much road construction on I-55. AND BOB SMITH SAID IT TOOK HIM 5 HOURS. Okay, so we got there just as Phantom was marching onto the field, and here's where the show began for me. Oh, one more thing. I should mention that I am terribly biased -- 4 years in PR will do that to you. But I don't really understand why this matters in the first place. I'm making no claims that this is some sort of scientific study. If you want to worry about bias then write articles for journals where bias matters. Phantom Regiment -- I saw them at Oswego, and I was extremely impressed with the progress that they've made in the past 10 days. It was like a new corps. I enjoyed the opener -- it wasn't Debussy, but it sure was cool. And that's really all that matters. If I wanted purity of the music, I wouldn't be in Normal, but up in Highland Park listening to the CSO. It is an effective introduction of the corps. The second piece was much cleaner marching-wise from when I saw it last. The ballad, Transfigured Night, will be wonderful. Now, I've read on here some people express worry that the Schoenberg will be untranslatable to the football field, but one must realize that this piece was the last piece he wrote before creating the 12-tone system. So it just sounds like thick Wagner. And it's AWESOME. I can't wait to hear it in August. I think the corps biggest problems occur in the second half of the show, which just isn't that clean. I'm sure that the staff would be the first to admit that. So I'll reserve judgement on that issue. I also heard from some people that the guard show wasn't their best effort. I don't really understand the big yellow pikes, but I'll wait before really getting on their case. Anyway, this will be a great show and a very difficult one. They just need to get clean and they could go anywhere with it. Colts -- What's weird is that PR and the Colts look very similar, uniform-wise. They have really similar guard uniforms (costumes?) as well. It's uncanny. I don't know what they should do, but they shouldn't stand next to each other too much. They might get confused. In my opinion, this show is the drum corps equivalent of white noise. Not a particularly memorable effort. I did enjoy some of the moments of the show, especially the company front at the end, but I've liked other Colts' shows better in other years. Cadets -- I was very excited to see and hear the Cadets' new horns. Once I began actively listening, thinking about differences, my opinions about Bb horns could have been thrown out the window. I heard differences in sound. The contras can be heard. (They're bell front, so I'm still sticking to contras.) IMO, G contras are junk. Middle tones are emphasized. I hear mellos, but they're not so screechy. Same goes for sops (trumpets?). I felt that the lead sounds were being swallowed by the rest of the corps. They'll have to compensate for that. That said, I think that PR should get Bb horns as soon as they get the money. It might emphasize their dark sound even more. Okay, now for the show. I was extremely impressed with the cleanliness of their show for this point in the season. Have they had their hell week yet? If not, some corps are in trouble. This show is relentless. Even moreso than in recent years, Cadets march fast for a long time. It showed some towards the end of their second song as some of the horns just looked tired. It looks like they have a shot to go all the way with this show. As for their drum solo, it is fun. There is a lot of great drumming to go along with some of those Cadet gimmicks that we've all come to appreciate, or in some select instances, tolerate. The band camp kids LOVED it. LOVED IT. When the drum line does their karate kick, there were some HS drum majors jumping up and down with joy. I don't know drums from anything, so that's as far as I'll go. Madison -- You know, after the warmup -- a Cossack folk song -- I was really wondering what sort of show Madison was going to put on. Would it be more reserved? Were they going highbrow? Well, I never thought Russian music could sound so much like Malaguena. It was good more of the same from Madison. No more and no less. I would like to take this time to thank all the brass arrangers and designers at the Madison Scouts for putting a CONTRA SOLO in their show. As a contra, I appreciate the need for the spotlight. I laughed out loud when I heard all the high school girls screaming for the CONTRA player. He could have been the Backstreet Boys. That's what this activtiy needs. More contra solos, and more contra groupies ; ) From what I hear, the guard wasn't so perfect, but they were entertaining. And I think that's what I like about Madison's guard the best. They will perform wonderfully every evening, regardless of the cleanliness of the show. It makes drum corps enjoyable in June. As for the scores, I thought the gap between Madison/PR and Cadets was too large. I can't say anything about Cavaliers' show -- I wasn't there. But 6 points is a really large gap. I'm sure that it'll change. Anyway, enough stalling at work. I've got to get goin' Luv, JAS PR contra '95, '96, '97, '99 Okay, this is my first review, so here goes. Cavaliers (73.7, 2nd place) Wow! this was different for Cavies. I really enjoyed the horn book. There is a lot of potential in there for some very nice moments, lots of exposed playing in parts that will help show off the group. They just need a bit more time on the jazz licks to get the timing and style down. I felt that the wind was really playing with their sound, could be why the ensemble scores were low. The visual book needs a little work, especially towards the end of the show. Nothing really new here, just same old Cavalier stuff, which is cool, but the horn book is calling for something different. I would look for the end of the show to be changed a little. The middle portion of the show is probably the best design wise. Lots of "wavy" movement indicative of the falls. Look for them to slowly add some more effects into the show, that is what the big separation between them and Cadets is right now. A side note: why the heck were they on first. I mean come on!! Pioneer (55.35, 7th) I would have hated to be Pioneer. Tough to follow up the innovative Cavaliers book with "Brigadoon". Thought the first half of the show was okay, second half not so good. The ballad is poorly arranged, they will never be able to play it as it is written now. The horn line looks bigger (35-40 horns), need to work on balance issues in the line to be top 17 again this year. Southwind (59.45, 6th) Don't quite understand why this spread was not 6-7 points between them and Pioneer. I think the highlight of this program is the middle part (the Legends of the Fall) it has a lot of potential for them. Some nice moments in there without battery, just horns. Need to work on finding more depth in the sound, don't have that finalist quality yet, but it is possible to get there. Visually, there are some nice moments, need to work on guard integration at the end. I think they could give a run at the 12th spot this year. Phantom Regiment (68.9, 3rd) I like the new look a lot. It is different, and a gutsy change on their part. Speaking of gutsy, try putting "Rite of Spring" on the field. I will get to that later. The opening is a lot like the opening of the show two years ago, spread amongst the field. That is cool, but I see two moments in the first two minutes that need a huge visual effect, and it is not there yet. I expect that to change. The Schoenburg will be beautiful if they make the progress sound wise that I expect them to make. The closer is cool (Rite of Spring), but when was the last time we saw anyone pull Stravinsky off on the field? It is so difficult to accurately portray the ending of the piece with any direction in this element. I am not saying it can't be done, but it will be very difficult. If they do pull it off, it will be VERY worth their while. Some visual changes need to be made at the end, which I think will happen soon. PHANTOM WILL BE BETTER THIS YEAR. i hope. Colts (63.3, 5th) I don't know what everyone is talking about when they say they don't really like this show. I see a lot of potential in it. The opening mixed meter thing should be pretty cool when clean, and I think it flows nicely throughout the show. They are very dirty right now, and the guard book is nowhere near complete. I will be anxious to see them in a month or so, the show has some potential to break them out of the 12th spot. Cadets (74.45, 1st) WOW. WOW. WOW. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never thought that I would like anything disney, and I never thought a corps could move me to stand 3 times in June. Cadets have done both. Let me first say this. The Bb horn is the wave of the future in corps. I can hear a full sonority of brass sounds. The change is really paying off now. The show has a huge effect every 30 seconds it seems. I feel like they are backfield a bit to long at the beginning, but it actually works pretty well to build tension... Still trying to decide if I like that. The dirll is characteristc cadets, with some new moves that I can't wait to see up high. The drum break is awesome, (reminds me a bit of '95, but better). And the end is very nice. I was waiting for the company front towards the end to start fraying from the ends (a la '87). Didn't happen. Everything is very cool. Anyone who thinks the Bb's arent loud needs to listen to them play in the encore. They played Rocky Point and oh my god. It was unbelievable. Madison Scouts (67.55, 4th) I wondered why the spread was so much between them and Phantom. I looked at the recap and saw the 1.3 penalty. What is up with that?? I really enjoyed their show, (which is unusual for me). They are still the crowd pleaser (someone said they were not going to do that with this show. They will). There are some really nice moments in there, cool visual effects already thrown in. Pretty clean too for this time of year. They will struggle to keep up with Phantom because of the content in the show. Phantom is much deeper, Madison needs to be very clean to beat them. Could be the best Madison show in a while though. Top 5 or 6. This year is going to be so cool. There are 4 to 5 corps that realistically can win it, 8-10 that could be top 6, and 13-15 that can be finallists. Can't wait to see everyone in about a month. William T Cunningham

Tuesday June 20

Lima, OH (DCM) Just got home from the Lima show. This has been a great four days of drum corps for us nuts in Ohio! Got to see the first big meeting of the big guys in the Midwest. Got to see the debut of the new Glassmen show. Got to see several hours of Madison, Glassmen, and Phantom rehearsals. And tonight got to see the debut of the Colts closer, and ..... the 2000 edition of The Cadets!!!!!! I am sad to say that now I will be relying on you guys to see how the season goes, as the corps leave Ohio, and I don't get to see another show until the Indianapolis regional (what a show that will be!) It is great to know that I was there in the beginning, and I will be there at the end! Anyway - tonights show: Great little stadium for the show, the rain held out till the end, but prevented the winning corps (you'll have to read on....) from performing an encore - which I was really bumbed about. But with all the lightening that was going on - I guess I understand - although I would have risked it ;-) CINCINNATI GLORY - 7TH (42.25) - Nice show, same as in Toledo. I think they added a horn - now up to ten. Really had some problems I thought that weren't there in Toledo, but also some parts were better. Guard was a highlight. CAPITAL REGIMENT - 6TH (42.3) - I must be missing something here. I cannot figure out why these two corps keeping scoring so closely. Either Glory needs to lose a few points, or add some to Capital, because I thought they were quite a bit better. Nice large horn line, which was SOOO much improved over Toledo - they must have been practicing!! ha. Nice to see them tone things down a bit and play with a better sound. And I think there drumline blows away Glory. Anyway, nice to see the Columbus group (my hometown) keep improving. GENERAL BUTLER VAGABONDS - 5TH (47.7) - Nice group. Not as hot as last years Les Miz show, but still a nice sound. Lost steam as show went on, but it's early. Guard in particular is not as great as I remember last years to have been. PIONEER - 4TH (55.2) - Once again - this is the best Pioneer show I have ever seen!!! Can we please start a new question on here? Are there any other non-Irish /Scotish music - musicals (but that are set on the Island so they would qualify) that they can play next year? How about Finain's Rainbow? It is so nice to hear them lose the jig - except for their traditional march off - ho-hum. Anyway, their closer rocks!! Leaves me hummin' every time. If they only had 20 more horns, I think they would be beating Colts right now. Also, I agree with another poster (RAMD-er?), it is time to lose the guard tan outfits. They are old and tired! Now would be the perfect time to add some color to the field. With the musical theme and all..... COLTS - 3RD (61.25) - Finally saw their closer. This show grew on me - but very little. It is definatley the worst show they have done in a while - excepting the biker chick show of course. It was a little better in a smaller stadium, where you can't see as many mistakes. Bluecoats may have a serious shot for finals this year (sorry Southwaind and SOA - who I haven't yet seen). PHANTOM REGIMENT - 2ND (69.4) - May I please retract me comments from the Toledo show? I don't know what was up there - but over the last few days, this show has come leeps and bounds. I think they will be hard pressed to NOT make the top 7, depending on the Blue Knights - maybe top 6. I think they have Madison topped (this is after watching several hours of both rehearse). They have really cleaned up the first 3/4th of their show. There are still some major phasing problems, but that will come. The closer is still chaotic. I know that Rite of Spring is like that, but it is pretty much indecipherable right now. But if they have cleanded up the rest so quickly, then I'm sure this will floow. I see them as high as 6th this year (which I know is not great - but it sure is better than I picked 'em). The absolute highlight of Phantom this year? Their Conductor!! I say conductor because that is what he does, not merely keep the beat. It is almost more exciting to watch him then the corps. It is not showy, it is pure passion! Bravo to him - I don't know his name. He is the new James Gulke (he had to of aged out this year? - unless he started at age 14 - ha.) But.... their show (especially visually) - is nothing compared to the last corps - who marched CIRCLES AND CIRCLES AND CIRCLES around them.... THE CADETS - 1ST (72.5) - They were absolutely amazing! I am a huge Cadets fan I will admit, but this show is great! What they have accomplished by this point in the season is amazing. This was their first competiton and it was hot. The music is not as hummable as I would have expected from a Disney thing, but it is fast, exciting and wild. I think this has the POTENTIAL to be the best show since '95 (the best drum corps show ever in my opinion). It just doesn't slow down. And the closer is great. They do a kind of "I'll out do you" thing between the sections, that is great. The color guard is the best I've seen (I've seen everyone but the 2 Cali. corps.). Although I thought there was a little too much dancing. I would have liked to see a little more guard work. The guard is in your face, flat out exciting performers (especially in the closer!). Gives the entire show a lift it doesn't even need. It is still dirty of course, but it is so difficult, it is understandable. The only corps that I think even approaches this show is Cavies. It will be interesting to see how they do tomorrow head to head. Cadets show is much more demanding visually, but about equal in the horn book I would say. Both percussions sections are awesome. The Cadets tenors in the closer - WOW!!! (Unfortuantely - at this point - I hate to say it - I would give the edge to the Cavies - a little cleaner - I hope I'm wrong!) Another good thing about this years show is that we see some new things that we haven't seen from them yet. Some of their moves were becoming to trademark. As for the Bb horns - my friend was very uptight about them, and was a tumpet major, but didn't even notice a difference. So all of you uptight about it, but only picking on the Cadets - don't forget to hate Devils as well, since everything that DCI is about just went out the window - whatever. Anyway - great show!!! Please return the favor and keep me updated about the shows. And I will let you know how the Indy regional goes!!! Go Cadets!!! Mike

Lexington, KY (DCM) Hello all....just got in from the show and thought I'd jot down a few thoughts, some good, some not so good (and yes, I realize it's the second week of the season). Anyway....let me reiterate, these are my THOUGHTS, I am in no way forcing them on you. So, that said, here goes: Americanos- I really was aniticipating seeing them! I've heard pretty great things about them and just couldn't wait to hear "Carmen". I think tonight was their first show. It was not good. It has potential, of course!!! But, it was complete chaos. I really felt that the DM was not taking control. More than once the corps and the pit were out of sync. The baritone solo (I think) was great though! The few drops of rain absolutely horrified the guard.....=( Anyway, I would really like to see them blow me away in Bowling Green! Tarheel Sun- What's up with the new uniforms!?? Wow. They are about as bland as well...I can't think of a clever analogy right now, but they are just bland as anything. The sound was better than last year. I'm glad to see them pushing forward. Cavaliers- WOW! How clean were they!? Those feet were great! As others have said, although some disagree, my opinion is that the drill isn't as "flashy" as last year, but they have their moments! I like the original "Niagara Falls" and maybe I need to take another listen to it, but I make any comments on the music. I like the new snares (they _did_ get new snares, right?)! They have a bright, crisp sound and it's great. The guard was doing great for this time of year (from what I remember). Great show with great potential! Madison- What a change! The usual in your face Madison sound wasn't there. They had their power chords and stuff, but the exciting, loud Madison wasn't there. Guard was pretty right on tonight....had some great weapon stuff!!! Can't wait for more, as usual! SouthWind- I _so_ love these guys! The opener needs to be like the ballad on and have more oomph. The ballad was spectacular and the ending was great. The opener was just lacking. As for the guard--you go girls! I'm glad to see them using sabres! I said last year that I couldn't wait for them to start using them and although the work was rough, I am SO happy to see them pushing on through and making their mark! Only bad thing about the guard that I personally don't like is the uniforms. I just feel like they are so restricted in their movements. But oh well....they should give SOA, Bluecoats, and Colts a run for their money! The night was ok. Rain threatened, it sprinkled nearly all night and lightening was in the very near distance. Stadium was not very big and the crowd was not as responsive as most shows I've been to. Alas, the season is young and I can't wait for more!!! Brandon =)

Sunday June 18

Columbus, OH (DCM) Ok I am going to try this....being a mom who knew several kids in the 5 corps who were there last night I tried to take some mental notes about the show knowing there are other parents like me who wanted to know how things are going. ( my daughter was not among the corps in Columbus altho her boyfriend was : ) ) The night was a beautiful and cool. The small stadium was packed and the grass on the field was long and looked very difficult to march on esp. since the corps had just had a show the night before in Toledo on astroturf 40.85 Cincinnati Glory Had new unis and new drums. I enjoyed their show altho they looked very unsure in their drill..(probably the grass) The guard outfits were similar to the corps unis and they had interesting guard work with ropes tied to a couple kids ankles. They will get stronger as they always do. Had around 10 horns 41.40 Capital Regiment I expected their score to be higher. They seemed sure of their drill and what they were playing. Lots of horns!! The guard had red dress- like tops with black pants. The show flags had oranges, golds, yellows, reds until the finale and they went to pastels on the flags. I thought their drum solo was cool... : ) 57.0 Southwind. I was anxious to see this corps as I was so impressed with them at Semis in Madison. The guard had long deep maroon halter dresses..looked like velvet with a slit up one side but it seemed the girls couldnt move at all. The corps had a nice loud sound but may have been trying too hard for that. I enjoyed listening to their pit. The flags went from maroon and gold to black to red to bright blue at the end. Enjoyable to watch! 65.9 Madison Scouts I loved this show as I have been listening to the music from their open house. The guard has red "Russian" pants and jackets, black fur hats and leather boots. The jackets are removed to bright yellow blousey shirts. Alot of the guard work is unfinished. Very entertaining show overall. The guys know they have lots of work ahead of them! 67.9 Phantom Regiment Sorry I spent most of their show trying to take in the uniform change. I tried really hard to like their show it will grow on me I'm sure....just personal taste. I had never seen the white Phantom of old days in person so this was quite an adjustment. The uniforms are beautiful it's just recognizing it as Phantom. Their music was challenging and they played very well. Again the drill looked rough but it may not have been their fault. I think the grass was getting slippery as the night went on. The color guard outfits are deep purple and maroon. Reminded me of Crossmen last year only sheer fabric. I know they are still working on sewing show flags because I went and visited the sewing ladies working away!! I visited the kids in Madison, Glory, and Phantom. Everyone was doing well. The Phantom kids esp. were walking around with big smiles on their faces...obviously enjoying this year so far. I delivered cookies to my daughters friends in these three corps...such great kids in this activity!! I am always so amazed and humbled by their hard work and dedication. As I am leaving to sew at Bluecoats this week....you can flame away but I wont be here to read. To everyone out there reading this post....PLEASE go volunteer at a show or with a corps!! It will be so rewarding and will keep this activity going for future years!! El Suelo

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