August 5, Allentown, PA

Thanks to ChipFrontz on RAMD for this review!

Following are my thoughts on the corps in competition:

JERSEY SURF:  The beginning was visually staged very well with the guard
hiding behind the horn and drum line members and emerging in segments. 
The mellophone section was especially strong and the drumline did some
nice work, especially some relatively clean and powerful high-sticking.  

PIONEER:  The classiness of this show helps Pioneer almost as much as
their good execution.  Some very nice moments, including a moving shamrock
in the ballad.  I'm not sure if this is intentional, but the different
shades of green between individual silks makes for contrast which is
pleasing to the eye.  The hornline had some very nice things going; the
next thing the staff should work on is releases, however.  

BOSTON CRUSADERS:  BAC went on after Velvet Knights but placed behind
them.  I thought the Crusaders had the first hornline which had some
"definition" to its playing, but what is killing Boston is that they won't
move their feet.  One week from finals, and they're still having problems
staying in step during the ballad "Cathedral in a Suitcase" and also in
"First Circle."  It's not that hard, just a straight 3/4, but it's not
happening on the field.  It almost looks like the backfield DM is
contributing to the problem by lengthening the third beat a little bit. 
The entrance into First Circle is majorly reworked from early season,
which helps.  They have some nice moments in their show and a good soprano
section.  

VELVET KNIGHTS:  This corps was the first powerful horn line of the
morning and was treated appropriately by the crowd.  The drill is very
effective from an impact perspective and I enjoyed the ethnic percussion
and overall drum book.  The hundred percussionists on the field during the
middle of the show were a treat!

MAGIC OF ORLANDO:  Magic's hornline gave me more than Carolina Crown.  The
show was well designed with a clean drill.  I liked the effect of the
guard "flying away" at the end of the show, using their flags to give a
winglike image.

CAROLINA CROWN:  The overall design of this show was excellent, excellent,
excellent.  The corps begins in two straight vertical lines on opposite
sides of the fifty, then spreads out as the beginning builds, and finally
concentrates near the center of the field for the impact point; the
overall effect is tremendous.  The build was so excellent that when the
hornline couldn't back it up with a wall of sound, I was left a little
dissapointed.  But hey, Crown is marching a great drill, and the show is
filled with neat little effects that fit in with the theme of
"Stormworks." The guard uses umbrellas very well, there are interesting
uses of percussion to simulate rain and thunder, and the guard is
well-staged and does good work.  During the drum feature, the entire corps
(again) formed two lines perpendicular to the sideline, and each section
of percussion was featured by itself along with a complementary unit of
guard.  This is a really simple concept, but I bought the effect.  Kudos
to Carolina Crown; even if they can't maintain the lead over Magic, I am
seriously impressed.

BLUE KNIGHTS:  BK had a very strong horn line and their drumline was very
tight and powerful.  Other than that, I have nothing outstanding to say
about the show.  It was clean overall.   As the corps got better, I could
pick out less about the shows that I wanted to comment on; maybe I was too
busy taking it all in or something.  Also, keep in mind, I was still
recovering from Madison during BK's show.

CROSSMEN:  I hate to say it, but they left me flat today.  They were
second to last, and really will probably be better received going on
before SCV, Madison and Cadets today.  Their guard is the most improved
section of the corps to my mind; they are really working hard, their
staging is excellent, and their work is well done.  School for Scandal
probably rates as one of the worst programming choices of the 1990's so
far.  The piece doesn't logically move forward, and when it does start to
move, the drive is interrupted and the flow breaks down.  I love Barber's
orchestral version, but it's just not a drum corps vehicle.  The musical
section does a good bit with body work and does it as well as anyone.  The
middle section is really very nice, and the brass has a full, even sound. 
Even the last piece with the ten bass drums didn't juice the crowd up one
bit.  Someone who went to finals e-mail me and tell me whether finals does
anything for the ol' Crossmen.   

SANTA CLARA VANGUARD:  Not the Nutcracker, otherwise known as Santa
Clara's favorite excerpts from our last four shows.  The air raid siren,
the helicopters, and lots of percussion licks from Miss Saigon return, as
does the "slow-sticking" section from the Walton show and the easy chairs
for the guard from the Red Poppy.  Bottom line: SCV played SO well; the
music stood completely on it's own, the hornline (especially the
mellophones) and drumline were quite excellent.  No need for stuff like
the discs from "Sliders" on the field.  The white silks at the end of the
show were beautiful, and the music for the final push was absolutely
gorgeous.  I have a feeling I'll be playing the end to the show on the
CD's quite a bit.

MADISON SCOUTS:  And to think, I was all ready to hate Madison just to
spite the fans who every year think Madison should place higher no matter
what they do.  And then they come on in that darn straight line and look
so tough and I'm standing up there yelling "Go Madison!" with the rest of
them.  And THEN they started playing.  They really are a notch above what
they have been the past two years; their drill is much cleaner, and the
hornline is playing some fiendish stuff and doing a bang-up job.  I really
don't remember much about the end of the show except that I was screaming
along with everything else in the stadium and we were going for about a
minute-and-a-half after that.  I really don't think they are in DCI
competition to win.  We're all granted different gifts, and I think
Madison is given the gift to make everyone happy.  

CADETS OF BERGEN COUNTY:  I think I enjoyed this show more the first time,
but this time I was up higher and could see more, and I was still amazed
by their bass drum thing in Swing, Swing, Swing.  What amazed me more was
how awesome their drum line was throughout the show.  WOW!
For those who don't know, their ending is now the Iwo Jima thing in front
of a company front and they keep playing till everyone is standing and
cheering.  I like it; it works very well.  

ASIDES: During Crown's show it was really annoying to hear another corps
hornline warming up very close to the stadium.  This is a common problem
at Allentown; I may as well not have seen Phantom's show last year due to
a drumline fooling around in the assembly area.  I really enjoyed mostly
every corps;  it's absolutely wonderful to see corps such as Pioneer,
Magic, Crown, etc. reaching higher levels every year.  For all the
negative things that everyone seems to throw around about the state of the
activity, it seems we could all remind ourselves that there are many corps
that are coming into their own in the mid-'90s.

Chip
Crossmen 92  



Thanks to John & Kristen Santamaria on RAMD for this review!

    I only have a couple comments about the show. First, did anyone notice
 that until Madison came on the marching technique and form control got
 progressively worse? Madison and Cadets saved the day. It seems a shame that
 Pioneer keeps their forms better than the corps in 8th through 3rd place. I
 think that as placement goes up so should form control and marching
 technique. It's easy to see what the priorities are for top six corps. I only
 hope that this does not reflect how the forms will look in Buffalo.
    Also, I was just wondering what people meant when they said that they were
 disappointed with Madison's guard. They were terrific tonight. They had some
 slow points in the show but that is not a performance problem but a design
 flaw. They were hot! I love the show.
    I am not yet sure how I feel about the changes that Boston has made. At
 first I thought that I have never seen a corps' show design go downhill so
 drastically, but maybe I just need to see it again. I felt the same about
 SCV, I need to see them a few more times which I will in Buffalo.
    I hate the America the Beautiful retreat. Whoever came up with it is an
 idiot! If you are going to do that I think it should be in addition to what
 is usually done not in replace of it. I miss May You Never Walk Alone. (And
 I'll ALWAYS miss Conquest)
    The announcer made an error. He announced that the Madison Scouts
 percussion line would play everyone on but it was the Crossmen who actually
 played. And he never corrected himself. A girl from Blue Knights sat behind
 me during Madison's performance and she pointed out that there were no
 females in their colorguard. OOPS, there are no females in the corps at all.
 Somebody better tell her.
    I have a question. Does anyone know if Bones always stands in the
 backstands at the Allentown show? I thought he only went to finals. Please
 let me know.
    That's all my comments. Enjoy the rest of the season kids!!
    Kristen A. Santamaria

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