This was my consecutive year 31, 150 shows, still 58 unique venues (no new venues this year), and I've still seen shows in 20 states--no new states this year. I also went to the premiere movie event.
Mr. Z may have been upset at me because I didn't mention this event to him. He texted me the next day (Aug 9)--a few hours before I started writing this--asking whether I had gone. He said he would have gone if he'd been reminded. He assumed I'd be interested, and thus I would mention it.
I texted back that it's a long answer.
Mr. Z, I'm not fussing at you. I think you've heard me mention that drum corps has some degree of a love-hate relationship with me. In addition to lots of really good stuff, there is negative emotion bundled in 31 years of experience.
Here is a policy statement: generally speaking, assume I cannot be trusted to evangelize drum corps events. Evangelizing includes reminding people.
Only for 2020, precisely 2 people can more-or-less assume I will bug them until I get a definite answer for Murfreesboro. Those would be the 2 people who went with me a few weeks ago. Only Mr. Z, who went with me to Columbia (Lexington, SC) a few weeks ago, can with somewhat less probability (versus M'boro) assume I'll bug you until I get an answer.
I first figured out how hard it is to get people to a show in 1991. Evangelism is a sub-category of love-hate.
I've only been to the qf movie event once: the first time they did it in 2004. (I'm almost certain it's been a continuous event: every year since.) I had both show tickets and plane tickets to see qf in person in '04. But my grandmother went into a nursing home that day. I felt I had to supervise that (whether I actually did need to or not). So I went to the movie. The sound quality was so-so. All the movie accomplished was to make me want to see it live. After the theater event, I talked to a mother and daughter who had also seen it. (We were in the parking lot. The daughter was very roughly 11, so the mom was probably somewhat older than me. I'm just adding what I remember to help me remember in another 15 years.) Talking to them also made me want to see it live. (This was at what I think was once called and maybe still is Hollywood 24 off of I-85 not far inside the Perimeter.) After I talked to them for a while, I got home to Marietta around 12:15am. As best I remember, it took me a little while longer to start looking up flights. I remember I was still looking or perhaps purchased at 3am. I got a one-way Delta flight for $300 to Denver. (Then I was able to use my originally booked ticket to fly home afterwards.) I may even have FedEx'ed my tickets to Ron for him to sell; I had more-or-less given up on going at all. I think he sold Thursday's ticket, but he said he thought I'd come Friday, which I did.
Back to 2019, I bought a new-to-me car 4 days before qf. I had some concern that it would be like '04--I'd leave the theater, decide to test out my new car, and start heading directly for Indie--do not go home, do not pass Go, spend much more than $200. I'm not sure this is the time for me to do that.
I didn't see the qf movie event from 2005 - 2009 because I was in-person. I was pretty angry about the domed stadium in 2009. Leading up to that, DCI had us believe that it'd be the best dome ever, but it sounded like the Georgia Dome and somewhat better than the RCA Dome, the latter of which is not saying much. I felt and still do feel betrayed by DCI. That was after the Buzz Bowl incident in 2007, a similar blunder on DCI's part. Two things went wrong in 2010. One was that I was unimpressed at M'boro. I was unimpressed versus the idea of putting up with a dome again. I went to finals for the first time in 1998. Then I went from 2000 - 2009. Then I did NOT go in 2010. Given that I decided not to go in-person, I wasn't interested in seeing shows I was unimpressed with performed in a dome, with the further distortion of a broadcast (or narrow cast or closed circuit or whatever you want to call it).
In 2011 I didn't buy advance tickets to M'boro for the first time 12 years. I almost quit dc. I went to M'boro at the last minute, alone. It renewed by "faith." After having been blown away outside, I didn't want to hear it both inside and over a "broadcast." Again, I'm STILL ticked off about finals in a dome in 2019, so I have been protesting / boycotting the movie to some degree.
My reasoning was probably similar for '12 - '14 and '16 - '18. In '15, I wasn't impressed at M'boro and almost quit again in '16.
So, one reason was that I'm concerned that I would head for Indie yesterday. Given that this is all in my head, I suppose I'll try to noodle out all my reasons. All of the past reasons apply--I'm still ticked over the dome, and after seeing its outdoor and in-person greatness, why do I want to sour my memory? My "faith" should be secure for 2020. I should get M'boro tickets in April if not a bit earlier. Why do I want to mess with that? The season has accomplished its purpose.
Also, I need to put the season to bed and emotionally detach from it. I've suffered withdrawal to some degree or another for most if not almost all of 31 years. There are specific things I need to get on with, and I don't need the distraction.
Yesterday (movie day), I got up a little after 6:30am because I had an extraordinary rare meeting--any meeting is extraordinarily rare for me. I got home and went promptly to sleep around 2pm to try to increase the chance I'd go to the movie, or at least to give myself the option. However, this threw my routine off. I decided I'd rather at least start my daily walk. I still had the option of getting to the movie for Spirit or PR, but I went through all of the above reasons and a few more. Among other reasons, I don't like being stuck inside, or even being inside too long if I'm not sleeping. That's almost certainly one of several reasons I love dc--it's usually OUTSIDE. So I'd be stuck inside at a movie theater seeing an event that should not be inside a dome.
I think that covers the bases.
Review probably to come, although who knows whether it will be in mid-August or years from now?
Review probably to come, although who knows whether it will be in mid-August or years from now?
(I'm posting this August 9 with the explanation of why I didn't go to the movie event yesterday. I'm not certain whether it's complete or not.)
God willing my season isn't over, but I can already put consecutive year 31 and show #148 in the books. It was my 4th time at River Bluff HS, so no new venue there, and certainly not an extra state. At this rate, I'm not sure when I'll add a new state to my list of 20.
I just added the title of the show, "Crownbeat," after I'd written 80% of this the evening after the show. I generally either ignore or de-emphasize show titles, but I suppose I should use them for
Yes, Chemical Bob should come to Mill Creek HS this Tuesday. Even live Phantom's show reminds me a lot of one of their shows from '90 or '93 or '94. It is probably a 5th - 6th place show from that era, but in the years I'm talking about, those were great shows. I almost shed tears both from the nostalgia of those shows and because Fire of Eternal Glory was as well-performed as when they did it I believe in '93 and not '94, even though 94 is 25 years ago (and thus an anniversary).
I should warn, however, that we may both have to contemplate seppuku on the day that Phantom Regiment loses to Spirit of Atlanta. I don't think that will happen Tuesday, but Phantom only beat Spirit by 1.25 last night. The good news is that's because Spirit had a great show and not that Phantom is any "worse" than they've been for several years. (In fact, Phantom may gain a rank or two if the competition isn't fierce--I don't have enough first-hand observations to judge the competition. Spirit may gain several ranks.) I was born and raised in Atlanta, and I graduated South Cobb HS where Spirit had been founded about 12 years earlier. When I was a freshmen, my senior class had been band mates with seniors who had been under Freddy Martin, founder of Spirit; otherwise put, Freddy Martin had last been band director 6 years before me. I continue this thought just below.
Another headline is that Crown had one of the best brass performances I've ever heard. The informed opinion from a gentleman sitting in front of me is that Crown may win high brass this year. It sounds like their competition for that is Bluecoats and not BD. Based on the theater, Crown will probably beat Coats.
So on one hand, I should be rooting for the home team. However, I don't think I will in this case. Phantom may be the most distinctive corps in that they are most consistent in their style--they emphasize classical and otherwise symphonic music. I don't want to see that style fade as drum corps evolves.
I haven't done much digging to try to determine if Spirit has ever beaten Phantom. I thought maybe in 1979, but I've mostly ruled that out. (The question is weather Spirit beat Phantom at any show, ever.) I'd have to look at a number of years until maybe 1987. I won't go digging now.
Spirit's show was neither classical nor obviously symphonic, so I don't want to see that particular show beat Phantom.
With that said, I found Spirit's show design interesting; I enjoyed both the design and the execution. It was different and interesting enough that I was happy to see something at least slightly new. The title of the show is Neon Underground, so that tells you something. It reminded me of a number of "experimental" Cadets shows over the years. Most of those experiments work. Spirit's experiment works.
While I'm reviewing Spirit and Phantom, I remember at least one very nice percussion "lick" during Phantom's show. Mr. Z. said he heard a lot of bass drum movement and was very impressed. Unfortunately, I didn't catch that. I will probably watch Phantom practice for a couple of hours on Tuesday, so I will try to catch that.
I watched Crown practice for almost 2.5 hours. It's a magical brass line--again, one of the best I've heard. They have a sound more-or-less to themselves--over the years, only BD, Phantom, Cadets, and Star of Indiana have been in the same league, some of the time. And the Crown sound is very likely distinctive enough that I could tell it apart from those others, perhaps even with "neutral" warmups.
I make a note below that I got to yell for a corps member for the first time in quite a few years. So here is the tale:
Mr. Z and I were sitting at a table at the pre-show reception / buffet. A young lady sitting near us asked us a very reasonable newbie's question, although I don't remember what the first question was. I encouraged her to join us, and I heard her tale.
It was her first drum corps show, and she had no idea what she was getting into. (I should say it was her first live viewing of one drum corps, but I'll come back to that.) She thought that only Jersey Surf was performing. She was there to see a best friend perform; she'd driven 4 hours, although in another direction from Atlanta.
She must have gotten there around 5pm for the 7:30 show. Her first encounter was someone approaching her relatively near the ticket booth to offer her a ticket. She was somewhat surprised by that for several semi-obvious reasons--one being that she had no idea that good seats would be hard to come by. She did the right thing buying one of his extra tickets in part because he gave her a $20 discount over its value. She got a perfect seat, and the ticket booth was almost certainly out of center seats by then. And, of course, she helped the guy unload his extras--I have been on both sides of that one, usually trying to get rid of extras.
She had no idea that there would be several thousand people there, or that there were VIP ticket holders who had been to zillions of shows over decades, or that there was otherwise such a following, or that drum corps was such a "big" thing. I was trying to tell her that no offense to her friend in Jersey Surf--they work very hard, too, and Surf put on a very entertaining show--but that there are a number of jumps in performance from first to go on (Surf) to last. I tried to explain that there is an addictive quality, but that doesn't come (if it comes at all) until the last 2 - 3 corps.
She smiled and nodded and actively "played along," but she was gone by intermission when I checked, and I think she left to see her friend after Surf performed. (I warned her to check the re-entry procedures.) She did not come back. That's typical--it's just no good describing, generally. Anyhow, I won't hold it against her friend--maybe she'll come next year with her friend, who is aging out this year. I got to yell for Angela last night, and I should remember to yell again Tuesday.
For the first time in quite a few years, possibly back to 2009, I got to yell for someone, "Go Angela!" It was an entertaining show and a very solid first corps. Mr. Z seemed skeptical when I told him it was a very solid first corps. Hopefully he'll see what I mean in the very near future; I'll leave it at that.
Another solid, entertaining show, but it wasn't quite as good as past MC shows. They have set a high bar for themselves because they perform just before the roughly 8th ranked corps at M'boro. They always entertain even when I'm there to see the top 8. So it's only "not quite as good" next to a very high standard I have for MC.
It was a tough call to know who would win between Surf and City (sea and land?). I thought the captions were mixed between them. Surf had a notably better horn line, for example, and I thought City's guard was notably better.
I was confused when I looked at the scores several hours after the show, but now I see that the guard judge agreed with me, although it wasn't as clear-cut as I though. The brass judges didn't agree with me. Over the years, I've found that my friends who are experts in a given field almost always go with the judges.
I think I've said enough above.
I remember several wicked bass drum runs--that was fun. Boston's guard was one of the most eye-catching and attention-getting guards I've seen in quite a few years. It took me until very roughly 2000 to learn to primarily watch the guard--that's what they are there for. It took my somewhat randomly going to a winter guard show in ~1998 to get me on the guard path and learn to appreciate them. But then I appreciated so many guards for so many years that I got picky and my attention often wanders off of them. Boston's guard kept me "on task" like few guards have in quite a few years.
Overall, it was very hard to judge Crown versus Boston. As I said, I think Crown's brass is magic, but the overall performance was tough to judge. It was tough for the judges, too. Boston won but by 0.15 points. The brass scores were what I would expect.
The sound quality was some of the best I've ever heard in the theater, at Movies 400 in Cumming. The shows look like some of the better I've seen in the last several years. '16 - '18 have all been great years. This year should match or exceed those.
There was some pre-show drama. It didn't taint anything in the end, and I don't want to taint my review, so I'll save it for the end.
I just sent this (6/21) to friends:
I was concerned that Phantom Regiment headlining on July 9 would not be good enough for newbies. Yes, they are Phantom Regiment, but poor Phantom has been floating around 7 - 9 place since their Spartacus win in '08.
I plan to see Phantom in Columbia 4 days before (July 9). Perhaps you should wait for my live assessment, but my tentative assessment is that I might cry during their show. It's a 90s-like classic Phantom show. Chemical Bob should be thrilled. And when I say 90s-like, that's from my perspective. It's probably more like a 70s - 80s-like Phantom show because their 90s shows reflected their history then, too.
Bluecoats might win it this year. I haven't seen the 800 or 400 pound gorillas, BD and SCV, respectively, but based on experience, Coats' show has a chance.
With that said, welcome to year 48 of "new and exciting ways to try to beat the Blue Devils (BD)." They are the 800 pound gorilla. SCV gets 400 pounds because they are the reigning champions.
It's a Beatles show with 19 songs woven in. Their brass sounds great--great enough to possibly beat BD, sound unheard in the case of BD. It was entertaining, but my first-viewing bias is against the Beatles. I might change my mind when I see them live (God willing) at M'boro; I might decide that it's fabulous.
To the extent that we saw the drum major, she was very focused; she had her game face on. I was curious whether she'll show more emotion by the end of the season. She may direct the last show on the field: the winner, both the last corps to take the field by this year's earned rank, and the very last encore performance.
Upon further thought, having seen no BD or SCV scores, or any other info since June 20, on July 2 I'm giving Bluecoats a 50% chance of winning finals.
I plan to see it twice live, but it has the potential to be one of my favorite Crown shows in about 10 years. Their 2016 Relentless show will be hard to beat in my mind, though. Their '17 and '18 shows both struck me as the parts being better than the sum of the parts. Or the whole not being as good as the parts. Off hand, I thought at least 60% of the show as well-integrated, and I'm very open to that percentage improving.
Their ballad is gorgeous, at least I don't think I'm confusing that with Boston's show, although confusion is possible. My legendary drum corps memory was based on my listening to recordings dozens and dozens of times, not one viewing.
There was a section from roughly 30 seconds in to the show until 90 seconds that reminded me of Cadets in the 90s--among other reminders, beautiful integration between the percussion and brass. Cadets '90, '92, and '93 are some of my favorite percussion performances in part because it was so gorgeously integrated. Even though Cadets '05 is my favorite percussion performance, I don't think it was as well-integrated.
There were a couple of drill maneuvers that even got my attention, and I'm not a drill person. For one, I'm usually not sitting high enough to see drill.
I almost plugged my ears and chanted "blah blah blah blah" during the instructor's / designers's verbal preview. Sometimes the words around the design sound so absurd that I fear they'll ruin the show. (I remember cackling at Sevierville in '05 when the announcer gave the verbal preview of Glassmen. Thankfully, Glassmen lived up to the preview.) In addition to the potentially absurd notions about math and sacred geometry, he said that Steve Rondinaro would not be disappointed with the first note, and that the first few notes would "establish intrigue." I have to say, though, that the first few notes lived up to their billing including the intrigue. The whole show may live up to the billing with 2 more viewings, too.
I actually don't remember if it was Boston or Crown that had some beautiful snare work in the first minute or so. Possible both, but I think it was Crown. It seems to connect with my above commentary, which I'm sure was Crown, but I'm not as sure about this specific section.
As I've hinted, I remember Crown's show much more clearly, and I'm probably blurring Boston's with Crown's to some degree. I remember that the first ensemble toss that really got my attention was either Boston or Crown, and very likely Boston. Boston did some "stupid" guard tricks like toss, somersault, and catch, and toss over the head of the guy (Goliath) on stills, go under the stilts, and catch.
Ah, right, their show was Goliath. It's going to be hard to beat '17 and '18 Boston in my mind. '17 might have been one of the best designed shows I've ever seen. It may not have been quite as well executed as it could have been, but it was a great show. '18 grew on me and was plenty entertaining. As I remember, this one does have a chance of competing.
I just don't remember much. I specifically remember enjoying Stars, and I' pretty sure I did Cadets as well, although I'm drawing mostly blank on Cadets' details. I do remember Stars show design because they were dressed for winter.
The corps performed in standard, precise reverse-order based on last year's rankings--best went last. Not surprisingly, last night's ranks were exactly the same as last year.
I became somewhat concerned when I couldn't buy advance tickets 8.5 hours before the show. I'd been watching that for several days. So about 2pm I went over the theater to inquire. After talking to a couple of employees, I almost left with the impression that they weren't going to show it. I looked it up on my phone, though, and pointed to it. At that point, John went "upstairs" to ask. He came back to say that they were indeed showing it. Hours later, I found out that the show had been dropped on them by corporate about 3 hours before I got there.
This struck me as yet another instance of DCI (and corps) being treated as red-headed stepchildren by all sorts of organizations. In fact, it's time for a rant! Below I'll make a list.
It seems that there is a new safety rule that restricts field judges from getting into the thick of the drill.
I found myself getting somewhat mentally / emotionally tired and a bit nervous as the show approached. Part of it was that I had hope that I would not be alone yet again. Then it looked like I would be alone. I thought that until 5 minutes before the show, when Mr. Z texted. He got there about halfway into the first show, Phantom.
33 minutes before show time, I was the only one in the theater. I got there early to have a chat with management about potential problems I've heard (or not heard) over the years. On one hand, no one there that early is not unusual. On the other hand, if drum corps friends are gathering, they're usually early. Then perhaps 15 minutes before, a couple showed up, then another just after, then 3 more. Then just at show time a group of ~8 showed up. And that was probably it--there were 17 of us, according to the manager. I thought there may have been a handful more, but perhaps not.
A number of hours after the fact, I figured out more of the angst. See "aftermath."
It turned out that the manager whom I spoke to was the husband of one of my long-time Waffle House waitresses (salesperson), years ago. He remembered me, and I think he even remembered my regaling his wife with drum corps stories, some fragment of which was apparently passed on to him.
While they were finalizing / gathering / calculating scores, they showed about the last 4 minutes of SCV '18's winning show. That reminded me of one of the ways to beat the Blue Devils. It looked good yet again.
The show was over around 10:40pm. The manager, Mr. Z, and I talked for a bit, then just Mr. Z and I. I got home around 11:20pm. I was mysteriously tired. I went to bed pretty quickly. It still took until around 1:30am to fall asleep. I had a fairly vivid dream, which usually means I slept very well. I woke up around 5:30 and had some degree of energy. I fed the chickens, released them, and fed the cats due to their mewling. I don't do these things in the morning generally because I'm not awake.
Then I went to Waffle House, and they were stunned that I was there so early. One of my responses to their confusion was something to the effect of, "I'm not kidding about this drum corps stuff!" My salesperson (waitress) asked me if I was really that excited about the season. I had to think about this a while.
The answer is sort of, in part. Yes, the beginning of the drum corps season, and sometimes even the end after a good year, can be inspiring to me. In hindsight, though, it was release from the pre-show stress. To some degree I was happy that Mr. Z came, and I wasn't alone at a drum corps show yet again. It sometimes irritates me that after all these years, I don't have a totally consistent following. Part of it was that it seems I still seek more-or-less spiritual inspiration from drum corps. I think I was concerned that I might not get it, or the sound would be lousy, or something else would go wrong. And I got it! I was relieved and thus energized.
With that said, it doesn't mean my clock will reset. I'm struggling to stay awake at 3:49pm the day after the show. We'll see.
I'll probably add other instances.