June 16, Columbus OH

Thanks to Darryl L. Wylie on RAMD for this summary!

For such an early contest, the top three corps looked remarkably polished.
Madison is going to be hot (as usual). The Colts have a very tasteful show
with some very classy guardwork. Pioneer's Emerald show is very satisfying,
with an especially nice choreography in the middle.

Americanos are fun with their Latin show. Mirage (suprisingly for a corps
from Miamisburg, OH) marched no guard tonight. Marquis is marching a
tricky twentieth century show that is pretty intriguing; can't wait to see
it cleaned up. 

Special note about Marquis: although their hornline has a ways to go,
their colorguard was very good. They are small (9, I think) and they look
really young, but their equipment work was together, and they really
seemed to work as a unit. Bravo!                

Thanks to Jay R Wise on RAMD for this summary!

Man, for this show not being advertised, someone beat me to posting scores!
We walked up to the ticket booth (no line) at 7:05 p.m. (7:30 was step off) and
sat on the 45 yard line in the top row.  That should tell you crowd size.

Darryl Wylie  wrote:
>
>Here are the results of the DCM show held tonight at Westland HS in
>Columbus, OH:
>
>Madison Scouts     70.1
>Colts              61.2
>Pioneer            50.9

IMO, very accurate separations in points

>Americanos         35.9
>Mirage Sr.         27.4
>Marquis            27.3
>Coachmen           21.3

combined, the last three should have scored a 30.3

My two pennies on the show...

#1: Marquis and Coachmen proved why it should be illegal to have a drum corps
show before July 1st.  They simply were NOT ready to go yet.  Both have some
talented kids, and I'll want to see them both in July.   There were moments
of neatness, that could be greatness when ready to go.

#1b: Americanos are selling sex.  Guard is topless (male) and red bra's
(ladies) ala BD.  Somehow, the effect doesn't work when you see 14 year old
girls in bras.  Note to the U.S. Congress regarding recently  passed
legislation: I'm not trying to pander smut on this newsgroup.  But, I really
dig Americanos with their show.  They are true performers and are running a
dialog with the audience (that communication thing).

#2: You could tell what Pioneer worked on today -- that section was great.  BIG
question with them: 6 bass drums?  At times it WAY overpowered the horn line.
And during the opener, I think the bass drums were playing last year's show.
Looks like a decently difficult show and parts look that way for June.  Very
enjoyable and the first "loud" corps.   Ensemble, ensemble, ensemble...

#3: Colts... Ho hum.  My wife sez... "The guard picked up from where they left
off last year"  Translation... they are still pretty bad, but since they are
better in June than they were last August, that's a positive.  The horn line is
good, but I wouldn't dump the praises that Kent did in his review last week.
The drill and music are simple, unimaginative and they still have no concept of
how to march in time at any tempo.  Phasing was AWFUL, which is bad since the
drill really doesn't appear demanding.  I'm still not convinced Sondheim works
in drum corps.  It made Crossmen's drill from last year look Cadet-ish...
Don't get me wrong, they were good and all, musically they were in good shape
for June 16th.  But this show is NOT (IMO) as fun as '93 nor '94.  Sondheim 
leaves you with warm fuzzies, but it doesn't make you say "damn, they should 
have beat {fill in corps here}."  I think folks in Boston and Anaheim are 
getting primed...

#4: Scouts... HOLY SHIT!  I've never seen/heard a drum corps this good on June 
16th.  I think they played as good as they did last year when I saw them in 
Huntington (first week of August).  Man, they have HIGH NOTE guys that are as
good -- maybe better -- than BD's last year.  The drum line (from a
non-drummer's view) was simply incredible and oh-my-god tight.  I didn't
believe Kent, but man, this is the best Scouts I've EVER seen live (going back
to 1984).... at least for June.  CAN they keep it up to August?  Man, that's a
big, big, big, big if... they may already be peaking.  If not... hold on for a
possible MAJOR move by Scouts in the placement department.   The only thing
that is disappointing about the entire show is the guard's Flamenco (sp?)
dance.  This is a very macho spanish stud-like dance.  I think the guard
needs to take testosterone supplements.  The dance was WAY too FEM and very
disappointing.  My wife and couldn't help chuckling.  They're good at the
dance, but it doesn't look like macho spanish studs courting chicks.

Funniest moment of the night:  Two guys yell out before Madison's show "Go 
KAREN!"  Think about it...   :)

Stupid '90s Trend:  The art people are winning!  Rather than hold flags at
right shoulder, freely admitting that guard work was unfinished, THREE of the
corps tonight did "artsy" poses with the color guard and just froze them in the
drill (including Madison).  This is the crock I see in the "art" crowd.  Is it
art, or is it a cop out from finishing work!  All the "corps" people I talked 
to at the show said the same thing... we knew guard work wasn't done.  But no 
way in hell they would admit that in critique, right?

WARNING... SOAPBOX TIME (hit "n" or whatever to skip if you want)

Overall: If DCM is trying to make shows shorter by doing the "America" thing in
retreat, it's not working.  This was a 7 corps show, and why... oh WHY!... did
there have to be a 17 minute intermission?   I waited a whole 30 seconds in the
refreshment line and had to fight three people in checking out Scouts souvies.
We waited 15 minutes, easy, for retreat to start.  They had to do raffles, and
giveaways, and judges and thank yous and ... I think I fell asleep.

This is perhaps why DCM shows may not be doing as well as they once were (IMO).
Who wants to go see only 7 corps in mid June, listen to wretched intonation,
watch people play pinball wizard in drill, have massive dead time in
intermissions and pre-retreat time, and spend $8 a ticket? The number of
members in the first four corps would still not make one full open class corps.
That's meaningless if the corps are quality -- but they were not ready to 
perform just yet!  Yes, they need exposure, but at the expense of $16 from our 
budget?  Just one more week of practice and it would be worth the money.

 Everyone rushes to hit the competitio field when they need another week to
learn the show.  I think a lot of first time show goers get turned off because
they think drum corps are not as good as billed.   We know that drum corps is
worth it, but not until late June and July.  It's a shame, because fans can be
won over.

And... BTW- "America" sucked real bad.  Stickouts in bad quality, intonation,
no discernable tempo anywhere.  Yeah, it got loud once, but it wasn't even
close to being "moving" other than it being a patriotic tune.  I came, I saw, I
won't do retreat again.   Comment of the night: "Cheesy".  And the announcer 
stating "Corps dismissed!" made me want to go to the PX or maybe the barracks.

BTW, related: Pioneer now plays a retreat tune when trooping the stands.  
Sneaky was around the America thing! If you can't play it in retreat, play when
you troop the stands after your show!

I remind ya'll that these views are mine alone and do not reflect my 
affiliation with any affiliated affiliations...

J.

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Last updated: June 23, 1995

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