OrlandoMike
<font color=red>all I can say is beer hurts when i
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2008 Drum Corps Thread
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OrlandoMike
<font color=red>all I can say is beer hurts when i
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Well it looks like some corps are letting the video's fly!
I love this show! When I first read that the Bluecoats were doing a show about boxing I wanted to ask "What are you smoking?"
But it turned out great!
A character we could care about. Just enough narriation. Songs from the 50's all the way to the 90's! And the pre-show, dragging the announcer into the show, was great! Here is the intro......
(I swear life is getting back to normal.....well just a little! LOL)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4z4TKRYZpw&feature=related
I love this show! When I first read that the Bluecoats were doing a show about boxing I wanted to ask "What are you smoking?"
But it turned out great!
A character we could care about. Just enough narriation. Songs from the 50's all the way to the 90's! And the pre-show, dragging the announcer into the show, was great! Here is the intro......
(I swear life is getting back to normal.....well just a little! LOL)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4z4TKRYZpw&feature=related
OrlandoMike
<font color=red>all I can say is beer hurts when i
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Whew..
Finally, I found a video of Phantom playing Sparticus! Hope it doesn't get pulled before you get to watch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml5XjXRj9Lw
Finally, I found a video of Phantom playing Sparticus! Hope it doesn't get pulled before you get to watch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml5XjXRj9Lw
Coach Rick
DIS Veteran
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Is anyone here going to Rochester for DCA?
krhardy
karate chic-I'll beat you with my cane
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In regards to Cadet's show...I wasn't able to notice this when I saw them in Madison in June, but when I watched quarterfinals in the theatre, the cameras got very close and I was able to see....the people in the middle weren't even the ones talking. THE VOICES WERE RECORDED! That, or there was somebody on the sidelines talking. As if the whole concept of the narrators wasn't irritating enough, the people on the field were just pantomiming! The 2 people center field were DEFINITELY not the ones providing the voices during the show. 
In regards to Cadet's show...I wasn't able to notice this when I saw them in Madison in June, but when I watched quarterfinals in the theatre, the cameras got very close and I was able to see....the people in the middle weren't even the ones talking. THE VOICES WERE RECORDED! That, or there was somebody on the sidelines talking. As if the whole concept of the narrators wasn't irritating enough, the people on the field were just pantomiming! The 2 people center field were DEFINITELY not the ones providing the voices during the show.
Yep, they were "lipsyncing" The voices were provided by the 2 people that were behind the screens near the pit. It has also been reported that Hopkins advertised for "actors" to play the roles "on stage". Also, they were called "members of the corp" and had to pay full corp fees.
Now I wonder if DCI would be interested in IKEA sponsoring The Cadets?
pinnie
OrlandoMike
<font color=red>all I can say is beer hurts when i
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I lifted this from DCP, it's too good not to share....
I was trying to come up with a single, short, all-encompassing overview of what went down this week in Bloomington, but that's just not possible. There's just too much ground to cover, so I'll take it in chunks, because there were just so many positive things that different corps brought to the table, and why I think some were more successful than some of the "established" top-3ish corps. It was all about story telling: Glassmen's Carnivale; Bluestars, and their awesome use of music and movement to convey the imagery of "LeTour"; The Bluecoats and their use of archetypal imagery to tell their "Boxer" story; Carolina Crown and the sheer wit, brilliant musicianship and wonderful color guard in conveying their story of a Mad Composer. That's just a few of some of what made this week the most memorable DCI Championships that I've ever been to.
First, I want to talk about our newly-crowned World Class Champion, Phantom Regiment.
The tale of this year's Regiment is more than just a story about a great drum corps passing a number of extremely worthy competitors to win a title at great odds, although that's a hell of a story by itself. The real story is how the Regiment was able to break through the "4th Wall" and grab the audience, not so much pulling them into the story of Spartacus, but bonding with them in a way that made everyone in the audience leap willingly through that imaginary wall, that created a synergy between the performers and the audience that I don't think has ever been experienced to that degree in a drum corps competition. The whole three day experience developed into nothing short of a love affair between the Regiment and their audience coming from a spontaneous bond that was not unlike what performance artists in the '60s would call "a happening."
Just as a point of reference, my own junior corps were what is known in showbiz lingo as "Money Players" ... Our performances depended a lot (for better or worse) on the involvement of the audience. When they we were on and the audience was on there was an energy flowed between us and the crowd that amplified the experience ... It inspired us to greater heights, and gave us the energy to really lay it all out if you will.
Conversely if the audience was flat, we tended to be flat as well. It was a symbiotic relationship, a groove between the artist and the audience that made the experience something greater than the whole. I hate to get all metaphysical, but that's exactly what it was ... the connection of that energy was like a high that we thrived on. We loved our audience, and on the best of days it was reciprocal.
I've been jazzed about Phantom Regiment since I saw them at Stanford. Even knowing that Regiment ALWAYS builds on the effects and adds the bells and whistles, there was a certain coherence about the show that looked like they had the potential to take this a lot farther than might be evident on the surface.
That potential really started manifesting as they started adding to the show ... Oh, they had the musicianship from the get go. The talent was there. All the little changes, additions, costuming, props, herald trumpets, it all built on the foundation. But what really started making it happen, more than anything else in selling that show, was when they started letting loose with the magic ingredient: A complete commitment to the selling the theatrical elements of the show. Fully committing to approaching drum corps as theater. It was genius.
It was when they totally brought on the attitude. Cranking it up, getting in to character. With every level that they amped-up the attitude, and committed more deeply to their characters, the more they reached out to the audience.
And then it clicked. They connected on that deeper level with their audience and found their inner gladiators.
When the Regiment took the field in Bloomington, the sheer presence that they projected reached out to the crowd completely. They didn't just take the field ... They owned it and everybody else in the house had just been borrowing it. Now they might as well take the IU logo off the fifty and put down a double chevron. They were home.
Every bit of play acting, from the soldiers brutal treatment of the slaves, to laying the seeds of ******* between the drum majors ... It all got to the audience, quickly, and suddenly were were in it with them. Willing participants in the passion that was to come. In doing this they took theatricality in drum corps to a new level, almost creating a new type of performance art. The more over-the-top they took it, the quicker and easier it became for the audience to get involved.
Like I've said, I've been in and around drum corps almost all of my life. I've been in a top 4 corps, and I've experienced what I felt was an unbelievable connection to the audience, but nothing that ever approached the level of intensity of the connection between the Regiment and the audience in Bloomington. It was as if every bit of fire and passion that Regiment was putting into their show was coming right back at 'em from the crowd, almost willing them to take Spartacus to new heights and us along with them. It was literally about sharing the love. Pure and simple.
At some point spontaneous audience interaction just started. Happening with audience member after audience member joining in with the corps screaming an impassioned "I AM SPARTACUS!". We were there, we were with them. We were them. It was good.
This special bond only increased as the week progressed. By Saturday night the contract was sealed: They had us, we had them. We were gonna' get through this thing together and the love just flowed back and forth between the corps and the crowd. It was pure Magic.
We drum corps folk tend to be a pretty partisan lot ... I regularly honk a NorCal shade of Blue. Friends around me were into different shades of Blue, Green, Red ... The whole spectrum. On Saturday night when Regiment hit the field, it didn't matter ... Regardless of home team, we were one. We were Spartacus.
The show was sublime ... the highlight of a night of truly gifted performances by every corps that took the field. But the energy at retreat was flowing into the Regiment in a major way. It was between the audience and the Regiment. The had won our hearts, and while that was amazing, the collective consciousness wanted, no, demanded it to go further.
As the Regiment Drum Major lay on the field in between the other corps' majors covered in his death shroud (another brilliant extension of the moment) we waited.
The scores were announced as the tension built amidst a reading that included other surprises for many that night. By the time Carolina Crown's 4th place score was announced, the air was thick and quiet. 3rd place .... Cavaliers!
Spartacus was still alive.
What happened next has already been well documented. You can probably find the video on YouTube. As legendary field announcer Brandt Crocker sliced though an agonizingly long pause, awarding second place to the Blue Devils. Memorial Stadium erupted in an explosion of audience approval the likes of which were, arguably, unlike any reception received by the crowning of a new champion in DCI history.
The rest of retreat was like a blur, the bittersweet approach of end of the evening tempered with the knowledge that we would get to see our heroes take the field one more time.
They did not disappoint. Phantom Regiment honored their audience by going back, resetting, and giving us a full performance of their World Championship show as an encore ... From the very entrance of the returning Roman Army and their slaves to the inevitable conclusion of Drum Major Will Pitts untimely demise.
Again, it was magic.
As a final gift, Regiment shared with us with a performance of their most treasured music selection, and corps' hymn, Wagner's "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral".
Then it was time to let our victors have the field to themselves for reflection, celebration, and the beginning of the next step of their lives ... Wherever it may take them.
Horse from screaming, I found a couple of other "old timers" to share thoughts with. Our opinions were unanimous. We had just been witness to something unprecedented in the annals of drum corps history.
Dismiss this as the overly-sentimental musings of a life-long drum corps fan, or not, as you will. It is my belief, that the story of the 2008 Phantom Regiment, "Spartacus", and three magical nights in Bloomington, Indiana, will go on to become the stuff of drum corps legend.
I feel privileged to have been there to share the experience.
I was trying to come up with a single, short, all-encompassing overview of what went down this week in Bloomington, but that's just not possible. There's just too much ground to cover, so I'll take it in chunks, because there were just so many positive things that different corps brought to the table, and why I think some were more successful than some of the "established" top-3ish corps. It was all about story telling: Glassmen's Carnivale; Bluestars, and their awesome use of music and movement to convey the imagery of "LeTour"; The Bluecoats and their use of archetypal imagery to tell their "Boxer" story; Carolina Crown and the sheer wit, brilliant musicianship and wonderful color guard in conveying their story of a Mad Composer. That's just a few of some of what made this week the most memorable DCI Championships that I've ever been to.
First, I want to talk about our newly-crowned World Class Champion, Phantom Regiment.
The tale of this year's Regiment is more than just a story about a great drum corps passing a number of extremely worthy competitors to win a title at great odds, although that's a hell of a story by itself. The real story is how the Regiment was able to break through the "4th Wall" and grab the audience, not so much pulling them into the story of Spartacus, but bonding with them in a way that made everyone in the audience leap willingly through that imaginary wall, that created a synergy between the performers and the audience that I don't think has ever been experienced to that degree in a drum corps competition. The whole three day experience developed into nothing short of a love affair between the Regiment and their audience coming from a spontaneous bond that was not unlike what performance artists in the '60s would call "a happening."
Just as a point of reference, my own junior corps were what is known in showbiz lingo as "Money Players" ... Our performances depended a lot (for better or worse) on the involvement of the audience. When they we were on and the audience was on there was an energy flowed between us and the crowd that amplified the experience ... It inspired us to greater heights, and gave us the energy to really lay it all out if you will.
Conversely if the audience was flat, we tended to be flat as well. It was a symbiotic relationship, a groove between the artist and the audience that made the experience something greater than the whole. I hate to get all metaphysical, but that's exactly what it was ... the connection of that energy was like a high that we thrived on. We loved our audience, and on the best of days it was reciprocal.
I've been jazzed about Phantom Regiment since I saw them at Stanford. Even knowing that Regiment ALWAYS builds on the effects and adds the bells and whistles, there was a certain coherence about the show that looked like they had the potential to take this a lot farther than might be evident on the surface.
That potential really started manifesting as they started adding to the show ... Oh, they had the musicianship from the get go. The talent was there. All the little changes, additions, costuming, props, herald trumpets, it all built on the foundation. But what really started making it happen, more than anything else in selling that show, was when they started letting loose with the magic ingredient: A complete commitment to the selling the theatrical elements of the show. Fully committing to approaching drum corps as theater. It was genius.
It was when they totally brought on the attitude. Cranking it up, getting in to character. With every level that they amped-up the attitude, and committed more deeply to their characters, the more they reached out to the audience.
And then it clicked. They connected on that deeper level with their audience and found their inner gladiators.
When the Regiment took the field in Bloomington, the sheer presence that they projected reached out to the crowd completely. They didn't just take the field ... They owned it and everybody else in the house had just been borrowing it. Now they might as well take the IU logo off the fifty and put down a double chevron. They were home.
Every bit of play acting, from the soldiers brutal treatment of the slaves, to laying the seeds of ******* between the drum majors ... It all got to the audience, quickly, and suddenly were were in it with them. Willing participants in the passion that was to come. In doing this they took theatricality in drum corps to a new level, almost creating a new type of performance art. The more over-the-top they took it, the quicker and easier it became for the audience to get involved.
Like I've said, I've been in and around drum corps almost all of my life. I've been in a top 4 corps, and I've experienced what I felt was an unbelievable connection to the audience, but nothing that ever approached the level of intensity of the connection between the Regiment and the audience in Bloomington. It was as if every bit of fire and passion that Regiment was putting into their show was coming right back at 'em from the crowd, almost willing them to take Spartacus to new heights and us along with them. It was literally about sharing the love. Pure and simple.
At some point spontaneous audience interaction just started. Happening with audience member after audience member joining in with the corps screaming an impassioned "I AM SPARTACUS!". We were there, we were with them. We were them. It was good.
This special bond only increased as the week progressed. By Saturday night the contract was sealed: They had us, we had them. We were gonna' get through this thing together and the love just flowed back and forth between the corps and the crowd. It was pure Magic.
We drum corps folk tend to be a pretty partisan lot ... I regularly honk a NorCal shade of Blue. Friends around me were into different shades of Blue, Green, Red ... The whole spectrum. On Saturday night when Regiment hit the field, it didn't matter ... Regardless of home team, we were one. We were Spartacus.
The show was sublime ... the highlight of a night of truly gifted performances by every corps that took the field. But the energy at retreat was flowing into the Regiment in a major way. It was between the audience and the Regiment. The had won our hearts, and while that was amazing, the collective consciousness wanted, no, demanded it to go further.
As the Regiment Drum Major lay on the field in between the other corps' majors covered in his death shroud (another brilliant extension of the moment) we waited.
The scores were announced as the tension built amidst a reading that included other surprises for many that night. By the time Carolina Crown's 4th place score was announced, the air was thick and quiet. 3rd place .... Cavaliers!
Spartacus was still alive.
What happened next has already been well documented. You can probably find the video on YouTube. As legendary field announcer Brandt Crocker sliced though an agonizingly long pause, awarding second place to the Blue Devils. Memorial Stadium erupted in an explosion of audience approval the likes of which were, arguably, unlike any reception received by the crowning of a new champion in DCI history.
The rest of retreat was like a blur, the bittersweet approach of end of the evening tempered with the knowledge that we would get to see our heroes take the field one more time.
They did not disappoint. Phantom Regiment honored their audience by going back, resetting, and giving us a full performance of their World Championship show as an encore ... From the very entrance of the returning Roman Army and their slaves to the inevitable conclusion of Drum Major Will Pitts untimely demise.
Again, it was magic.
As a final gift, Regiment shared with us with a performance of their most treasured music selection, and corps' hymn, Wagner's "Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral".
Then it was time to let our victors have the field to themselves for reflection, celebration, and the beginning of the next step of their lives ... Wherever it may take them.
Horse from screaming, I found a couple of other "old timers" to share thoughts with. Our opinions were unanimous. We had just been witness to something unprecedented in the annals of drum corps history.
Dismiss this as the overly-sentimental musings of a life-long drum corps fan, or not, as you will. It is my belief, that the story of the 2008 Phantom Regiment, "Spartacus", and three magical nights in Bloomington, Indiana, will go on to become the stuff of drum corps legend.
I feel privileged to have been there to share the experience.
Amen!!!!
I still get goose bumps when I think of the three nights I spent in Bloomington.
pinnie
mickeyfan1
<font color=purple>Come and let me show you my tat
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Enough of that! How were the shows?
J/K. DCI would probably be the only reason I will go to Indiana on purpose.
MonorailMan
<font color=red>Relatively Cheap Date, Dewars Alw
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I've only been to Indianapolis a few times, but every time I've been downtown it's been on a weekend, and it was dead. Dead as a doornail. (What does that mean anyway?) Not many restaurants were open, with the exception of a few near the RCA Dome. The only people that seemed to be around were the ones coming from the competition at the Dome. It was actually worse than downtown COWlumbus tends to be on weekends, which is pretty bad.
I likes mah cities with people in them.
mickeyfan1
<font color=purple>Come and let me show you my tat
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I've only been to Indianapolis a few times, but every time I've been downtown it's been on a weekend, and it was dead. Dead as a doornail. (What does that mean anyway?) Not many restaurants were open, with the exception of a few near the RCA Dome. The only people that seemed to be around were the ones coming from the competition at the Dome. It was actually worse than downtown COWlumbus tends to be on weekends, which is pretty bad.
I likes mah cities with people in them.
Well, poop, I am going to Columbus on Friday. But I won't be in town, so I guess I won't miss anything anyway.
OrlandoMike
<font color=red>all I can say is beer hurts when i
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I'm sure downtown Indy will be hopping with DCI in town next year, at least I hope it is!
As far as the shows this year, some of the best ever! I hope the show designers take note of what the fans want and like, and give us more of the same next year!
As far as the shows this year, some of the best ever! I hope the show designers take note of what the fans want and like, and give us more of the same next year!
By the time the shows ended in Bloomington, we got out of that dang parking mess and drove back to Indy, we didn't get to the Embassy Suites until close to 1:00 a.m. most nights. We didn't have the energy to go anywhere. We did, however have beer and wine in our rooms (yeah fridges!) so we nightcapped with friends in the rooms.
Next year it is going to be awesome to just walk back from Lucas Oil to our hotel!
pinnie
OrlandoMike
<font color=red>all I can say is beer hurts when i
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I think we sat in the lot on Saturday night for over an hour! 
But the beer and burgers on a budget at the Bowling Alley were worth the wait!
Horay for walking back to our rooms past multiple bars next year!
But the beer and burgers on a budget at the Bowling Alley were worth the wait!
Horay for walking back to our rooms past multiple bars next year!
MonorailMan
<font color=red>Relatively Cheap Date, Dewars Alw
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Well....Fridays aren't too bad downtown, especially during the summer months. (After all....that is where a big handful of the city's 30-some-odd gay bars are located.
) The Short North--the area a few blocks north of downtown--is much more active, fun and diverse. If you want tips on where to eat or anything don't hesitate to let me know.
mickeyfan1
<font color=purple>Come and let me show you my tat
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Thanks! If I ever get there for pleasure, this is a family funeral service, I will look you up. I need to experience a gay bar one of these days.
OrlandoMike
<font color=red>all I can say is beer hurts when i
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Not sure if this is true, or just urban myth....but if it is true, these Phantom kids never cease to amaze me!
A rather amazing thing happened at the Indianapolis airport on Sunday, according to a snare drummer I marched with in the Cavaliers Anniversary Corps.
While he waiting for his plane, a Phantom Regiment snare drummer, wearing his PR jacket, walked up to him and asked if he was a drummer after seeing him with his drum case. Upon finding out he had marched in the CAC, the Phantom drummer opened his luggage, took out a pair of drumsticks, told the CAC drummer that the sticks were the ones he with which he won the DCI World Championship and the high percussion trophy, and told the CAC drummer he wanted him to have the sticks.
The CAC drummer stated, "This is an awesome honor, and I will cherish these sticks and your comments and tell my green brothers what you had to say about our reunion drumline. Thank you a million times over."
Can you say, "Wow"?
A rather amazing thing happened at the Indianapolis airport on Sunday, according to a snare drummer I marched with in the Cavaliers Anniversary Corps.
While he waiting for his plane, a Phantom Regiment snare drummer, wearing his PR jacket, walked up to him and asked if he was a drummer after seeing him with his drum case. Upon finding out he had marched in the CAC, the Phantom drummer opened his luggage, took out a pair of drumsticks, told the CAC drummer that the sticks were the ones he with which he won the DCI World Championship and the high percussion trophy, and told the CAC drummer he wanted him to have the sticks.
The CAC drummer stated, "This is an awesome honor, and I will cherish these sticks and your comments and tell my green brothers what you had to say about our reunion drumline. Thank you a million times over."
Can you say, "Wow"?
MonorailMan
<font color=red>Relatively Cheap Date, Dewars Alw
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Ohhh.....I'm very sorry to hear that.
Sorry, I haven't been keeping up with posts on the boards lately.
mickeyfan1
<font color=purple>Come and let me show you my tat
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Ohhh.....I'm very sorry to hear that.
Not to worry, my SIL passed in June, my brother put off the service until summer so everyone could make it. And he is conducting the service too, even tho he retired from being a priest (Episcpalian). The rest of the weekend will be fun, all my sisters and he will have some good times.
But I will hold you to your word on the bars. I always have had a lot of fun going out with gay men, so I expect you will show me the same!
MonorailMan
<font color=red>Relatively Cheap Date, Dewars Alw
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Hey now! What makes you think I'm a gay man?
*looks at his avatar*
.............Oh.
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