July 19, Killeen, TX

Thanks to Eric Senzig on r.a.m.d for this review!

Quick reviews:

Southwind and Lone Star: Missed 'em.  Driving to a drum corps show with
Hooter seems to be a jinx for missing the first corps or two.  =)  In talking
to staff and corps members, though, Lone Star seemed to have a more technical
than emotional show (the opposite of the previous night in Dallas).  They are
eager to get the electric crowd reaction that their '94 show produced, but
it's not happening just yet.  The brass staff is unhappy about judging
inconsistency -- they were told in Dallas, "You have a good brass line, you
just need to work on inconsistencies," and were told in Killeen, "You can't
possibly play this book, it's too hard for you."  D'oh!  Southwind felt they
had just an "okay" show, nothing spectacular.  They are keeping pace with
Pioneer in Ensemble captions and visual, but are behind in brass and
percussion and way back in GE.

Pioneer -- this show grows on me more each time I see it.  The bottom bass
player really gets the crowd going during the bass feature.  The shifting
company fronts move near the end of "Gary Owen March" is a big crowd pleaser,
now that it is looking better each time, and another judge got caught in the
middle again but managed to extricate himself without any collisions.
 Definitely a better and more confident show than in Dallas, and scores
reflected this.  They beat Magic in GE Visual tonight by 0.4.

Magic -- Damn those trains!  The show opens with some very soft passages, but
it was reduced to a freight train solo with barely audible corps
accompaniment thanks to a passing train at just the wrong moment.  Their
marching is DIRTY and very ambitious.  There seems to be a lot of running
around, like the Colts of '93-'94.  Some difficult double-tonguing brass
licks, some of which sound very good.  This show is probably the most
demanding I've seen this summer, besides Cavies.  (IMO)
Magic beat Crown tonight in Ensemble Music, Brass, and Visual by close
margins.

Crown -- almost missed them, had to watch from the aisle entrance.  I noticed
that during their percussion feature, each individual percussion is joined by
an accompanying colorguard section feature - snares/sabres, tenors/rifles,
basses/flags.  Did I say that their guard is AWESOME???  Very, very, very
good stuff there.  Noticeably less drill and marching going on here, not to
say that what they're doing isn't difficult.  There's less of it, and like
Magic their feet are VERY dirty.  Crown was a full point ahead of Magic in GE
which kept their overall score ahead by 0.7 tonight.

Phantom -- I am convinced they won't stay ahead of Cavies long unless they
increase the difficulty of the show.  What they do is wonderful, wonderful
stuff, but it is clean because it is less difficult (most exposed sections
are performed parked).  I miss the drum major pulling the baton slowly out of
the back of his neck ... maybe it's just a guy thing.   =)  Phantom swept GE
and Ensemble but is losing in some performance captions, making things very
close right now.

Cavies -- there is lots of stuff to watch in this show.  Tonight was the
first time I've heard all of the soloists click, particularly the baritone
soloist at the very beginning.  The brass still has much work to do, but
they're still close behind Phantom even with the sometimes dirty performances
they're giving now.  Perhaps they're being given credit for the difficulty of
the book.

Major, Major, Major Pet Peeve:  Those damn high school bando girls from
Crowley High School.  EVERY SINGLE TIME I have been to a DCI show where their
band is present, the girls in that band scream their fool heads off at
anything that moves, particularly if it's male.  It gets annoying very fast
to hear that crap going on during the soft and pretty parts of a show.  I
know from experience that as a performer it is annoying and distracting to
hear that while you're marching.  (Wichita Falls '92, the Drum Corps World
writeup even mentioned these girls' crazed reaction to our male guard
soloist.)  By the time the Cavaliers took the field many in the audience were
commenting on their behavior, and you knew what was going to happen ... bring
on the all male Green Machine and those girls were worse than crazed Beatles
fanatics.  Even from the very first note (Cavies have a subdued introduction)
these girls were screaming like the world was about to end.  The show started
something like this:
(Cavies play first note)
(Crowley bando girls scream nonstop)
Eric: "SHUT UP already!"  (loud enough to be heard by several people nearby)
Hooter: "Well, it was a good attack..." (apologetically, referring to the
corps)
Eric: "Yeah, by those girls down in front!"  (general laughter ensues)
Crowley High School has a terrific band with a great reputation, but their
director MUST tell his kids how to behave at a drum corps show, because those
goddamn girls are extremely annoying and ruin many parts of corps
performances with their screaming.  YES this is a flame, I am definitely not
the only one at the show who was annoyed by this, and responses are welcome.
 This was such a problem that it will be mentioned in my Drum Corps World
show write-up and I will mention the band by name.  It just gets under my
skin when I am trying to enjoy a soft moment in the corps show and for no
reason at all there are fifty girls down in front screaming with all of the
preadolescent volume they can muster.

This was my last corps show until Orlando ... it's been fun and I hope you've
enjoyed a week's worth of reviews.  See you at Disneyworld!

Eric Senzig
Sky Ryders 1992
Brass Arranger, Texas Legion

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