July 11, Athens, AL

Thanks to Rob Adams for directly emailing this review to us!

It was a great night for drum corps in the South. Partly cloudy skies,
humidity was down and comfortable night time temperatures made for an easy
viewing experience. The stadium was a good facility and provided a high
perspective. The only problem was the field. It was very patchy. Dry in
some spots or downright bald and where there was grass it was very clumped. 
This probably did present some problems in execution, especially with Carolina
Crown (more later). The crowd was smaller than expected, but very appreciative
of having corps in the area.

One other note before beginning the review. This was the second show for all
the groups except for Spirit. And it really showed in some cases.

Okay, on with the show in reverse order of finish:

5. Lone Star (44.8) - Not much to say here. Sorry, but I was walking across
the parking lot as they were starting and then saw the last part of the show
from the tunnel. A very small group. They seemed to play okay, but it was
obvious when some would drop out because of some tough drill responsibilities.
The closer, a Buddy Rich tune, offered some of the more musical moments. The
guard only had about six girls and spun okay, but staging didn't seem to allow
them to contribute strongly to the overall visual. As the summer progresses,
they should be able to polish out some of the roughness and put forth a lively
jazz program.

4. Spirit of Atlanta (50.6) - Hmmm, how should this be said. The variation
on the Gershwin tunes is okay and it seems like the program is starting to fall
into place, but there just didn't seem to be any sound. I don't know if this is
because they are trying to get all the other aspects of the program in
place first and then will work on playing, but the air just wasn't getting
through those horns. They were also on last, so that placement really
seemed to hurt them, especially after following Magic (see below). But they
are trying some interesting things. The form book is moderate and they are 
doing some interesting things with characterization. The guard is great.
They had some of the more musical phrases on the field and move really well
(way to go Brian G!). Maturity seems to be the biggest problem here. They whole
corps knows when to be musical and where the impact points are, but tying it
all together from beginning to end will be the trick.

3. Southwind (54.9) - Polite Southern gospel/jazz show themed around "praise".
Musical selections allow the corps to show a range of different musical styles
illustrating worship. The corps numbers just over 100 and are young. (They were
on the starting line as I entered the stadium showing a lot of fresh faces.)
I'm not sure what they have been doing in June though. Boy there were a lot of 
rough spots....bad horn licks, some interval problems (or were they holes?), 
balance and intonation were out of control sometimes. The guard is utilized 
much more this year. One concern here is weapons technique, not a lot of stuff 
went into the air together, but the flag book has some nice moments to it. The 
biggest concern is the incomplete feel to the whole program. The closer flag 
book is not written so the visual really fell flat near the end of the show. 
And there are some tricky sections to the program, like the fugue section near 
the end. Once they get some more shows under their belt and start to tighten 
things up, this should be an enjoyable show.

2. Magic (63.1) - "12 Seconds to the Moon" is an original compositon 
illustrating the history of flight from the Wright Brothers to the moon shot. 
The opening statement is intriguing as the guard uses streamers on long
poles giving a lofty feel to compliment the broad soaring sounds. And then
the program really starts. Between here and the end, the rest of the idea never 
quite comes together. At one point the guard utilizes ladders to go
"reach for the skies", but it didn't seem fully developed. The corps is being
asked to march some difficult drill. Very open ended with a lot of difficult 
pass throughs. They definitely generate some sound too. They were the
best balanced group on the field and held their own with some difficult
passages. It just seemed that the sound never quite matched the visual. One 
thing to look for though is the rocket launch that happens near the end of the 
program.

1. Carolina Crown (63.9) - "Chess - The Art of Strategy" seemed to be a risky
concept, but the staff and kids do it very, very well. The field is set up like 
a chess board at the start of the game, complete with all the pieces.
The entire corps is hidden behind these props. From there, the idea of a
chess game begins with the pieces being moved into a position and the guard 
giving an idenity to the pieces. The entire corps stays hidden as
soloists and groups slowly develop the musical line. All of the pieces are
moved into a staggered block and suddently the corps appears on the center line 
and then spreads out and gives a wall of sound. The sheer mass
of props and corps is extremely impressive. The rest of the visual continues
to build from here. At one point the corps is racing across the field in some 
frenetic drill sets among the props. This coupled with the fact that no one
ran into these things is pretty thrilling. The middle section illustrates the
strategy part. Once again, some brilliant staging is used as the props divide 
the field into a grid. Different sections of the corps disappear and reappear 
as the advances are made. The guard is well used and very talented. Uniforms
look vaguely like Cadets from the "Kings" year but the kids know how to spin 
and move well. The only concern is that occasionally phrases seem
cut short and it is hoped that the white flags used mostly during the show
will be replaced with real show flags. The only problem is the ending which 
doesn't seem to match with the strength of the rest of the show.
Considering the depth of the program so far, this will surely be fixed to be
much stronger. Crown's definitely on the right track. Once the drill gets 
cleaned and some of the playing firms up, this will be an impressive show.

Finally some general notes. Scores seemed very, very, very low. 

Spirit dropped 13 points from their DCE tour and even though they don't play 
that well, the spread between them and Southwind seemed a little excessive.

Crown should have been breaking 70's with about a 71 or 72. They are
definitely a contender. This night, it would have been a close call though 
because Magic played much better. But Crown had some prop problems because of 
the field. They didn't roll very well on that surface, so it might have shook 
them up. Again, as Crown tightens up, the spread here will probably grow some.

Thanks to Bob Jones HS for putting on the show. Evidently there are plans for
one next year. That's great considering how much this area needs to be exposed 
to this activity. Best of luck to the Southern corps as they make their way to 
Orlando.

July Scores

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