June 29, Newark, DE

Thanks to J Laning on r.a.m.d for this review!

Comments about the show.(These comments are strictly my own and do not 
                         reflect the opinion of any corps.)
Cadets - Wow. Show was better than I had anticipated. Big backdrops 
         where a little distracting. But they were still impressive. 
         I learned that they will not only be performing in the closing
         ceremonies of the olympics, but they will also be playing at   
         the NL Baseball All-Star Game and a soccer game of some sort.

Colts - Corps seems to be better than last. They maybe pushing to make  
       the top six. "Magnificat" is a very interesting piece. 

Bluecoats - Good show. Still is a little dirty. But it is also early in 
            the season. The percussion section just seems to get better 
            and better every year. 

Crossmen - Wow. They grabbed me from the first note. Classic Crossmen   
           percussion opens their show. "Birdland" sounds great. Someone 
           told me that up until one month ago they only had 19 horns   
           and suddenly picked up another 34.(I think) They still have  
           some horn openings if anyone is interested. One they clean   
           this show up they may become a contender.

Spirit of Atlanta - Classic Spirit sound is back. Sound is still a 
                    little rough but they will come around. They are 
                    still pretty small for a Division I corps.

Spartans - This corps continues to improve. Some spoits still need 
           cleaning but remember it is still early. They maybe looking 
           to take the Division II Championship and possibly make 
           Division I. 

Jersey Surf - I was impressed. There percussion is back and now they 
              have a decent horn line. Look for them to move up in 
              Division II/III once they clean, especially guard. 
              marching sets seemed real cluttered but they may open out.

Raiders - I thought "OH my gosh, what happened." Number are way down 
          from last year. Thank goodness it didn't affect them. 13 horns 
          sounded a lot louder than I expected. They really put on a    
          good show and I am sure will hold their own this season.

Tar Heel Sun - New corps from Cary, NC. This was there first show and it 
               was noticable. Members didn't seem real confident 
               however, I did see A LOT of potential for this corps.

Notes - Had a good time at the show. There were a few door prizes given 
        away. They had a problem with seating but they quikely fixed it. 
        The support staff did a wonderful job. 

If you would like to email feel free. My address is jlaning@p3.net.



Thanks to Michael Furey on r.a.m.d for this review! And now for my two cents: Tarheel Sun: Not much more can be said about this corps. They're young, I was very impressed by their numbers for a first year organization, and it was their first show. They have a long way to go from a competitive standpoint, but so what? It's nice to see a decent size group straying relatively far from home their first year out. They'll undoubtedly improve after they get a season of shows under their belt. Spartans: A friend mentioned that they found it strange watching a Greek themed corps doing a Roman show, but these guys were large for an A class corps and seemed to have their act together musically. Raiders: This was my favorite local "small corps" last year with their Chorus line show. Now they're about 1/3 to 1/2 the size. What happened?? They came out with 14G/13H/12P/1DM...and list 19 staff in the program. It shows. Their sound, especially in the hornline, rivals that of a corps twice as large. This corps is young, too, and you could sense the fatigue during certain points of the show. Here's hoping they can add a 10 more horns. Jersey Surf: The most pleasant surprise of the evening. Surf usually comes out with a good drumline and mediocre horns. Not this year. They seem larger than in the past and the "Surf, Wind, and Fire" show is a lot of fun to watch. They have a lot of cleaning to do (who doesn't) but if they can get some of the brass lines down this will be a corps to be reckoned with at Div II/III Championships. Funny, though, I seem to remember more heavy metal coming from the back of my corps' bus. Spirit of Atlanta: I was disappointed with SoA this year. They would be competitive as a Division II corps, but they seem to be in over their heads with the big dogs, both in terms of numbers and quality.. Rhapsody in Blue, as noted earlier, is a difficult book under the best of circumstances. Colts: Another pleasant surprise. I liked Colts last year, but they seem to be reaching for the next level. Very good musically, not terrible visially. I've never seen the corps early in the season before, so I couldn't say whether this is a particularly good start for them, but I was impressed. Bluecoats: In contrast to the Colts (and compared to last year's show) a disappointment. Taken on its own merits, it wasn't bad. From a visual standpoint, a better show than Colts, but the music didn't seem to have the intensity I've become accustomed to from this corps. Cadets: I'll be honest...when I heard about the Western show, I thought I'd hate it, but I was wrong. Typical Cadets. The only fault found, IMHO, was that the show started slow. The props, as usual, can be a bit overbearing but I suspect the basic blue background will be replaced as the season progresses, so they might become something nicer to look at. Crossmen: Very dirty for this early in the year, but let's face it: this is the Crossmen. They usually start slow and surge near the end of the season. This show has some serious potential. It sounded good in spots and sloppy (but very challenging) elsewhere. They won't remain near the back of this pack for much longer. Miscellaneous thoughts: Overall, a very good show for this early in the season, and it's nice to see a show in Newark again. I remember a few years ago a show was held at University of Delaware stadium. That would have been a nicer venue, though it was being used for a fireworks show. As mentioned earlier, the announcers were more than a little bit annoying. One was way too melodramatic (I expected "Let's Get Ready To Rummmmmble!" and the DM's to gather around the judges at the beginning of the show). The other, a HS band director, was ill informed (did you know some of the bigger corps have budgets as large as $300K?) Finally the ticket prices. Sure, $25 for the primo seats sends sticker shock for parents looking for family entertainment. And the dried out burger and program really didn't provide too much value-added. Still, I can't complain about the price I paid for my seats. The show was quite entertaining and, let's face it, the corps doesn't have too many dedicated funding sources. Besides, I'm addicted and after 10 months off, I needed my fix! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Michael Furey The toes you step on today may be connected to the ass you kiss furey@netaxs.com tomorrow. ------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to Chip Frontz for directly emailing this review to us! Review of DCE competition, Newark DE, 6/29/96: Kudos to the Crossmen and YEA! for getting such a great lineup for this show. My limited ability to travel has meant that I haven't seen hide nor hair of the Colts since 1992 when I marched. Colts, thank you for coming East. Disclaimer: I am a young pup and one that has never done any judging and very little teaching, so take any and all comments (especially bad ones) with a grain of salt. In order of appearance: Tarheel Sun (56.4, 4th place Class A): The crowd was good to them, it being their first show ever and all. They play Streisand music and tonight showed a lot of enthusiasm but, it being their first show, obviously had a few problems. Intonation and musicality was a lot below all other corps here tonight and drill was a mess. I think the drill demands put on the kids are way too hard. They're doing some body sculpting and free form which doesn't work because it's not clean and you can tell they're not ready for it. And some of the kids were jazz running around to their sets and it just didn't seem fair. To my mind, the Spartans and Surf did a more marchable drill and sounded a ton better. It might have been a better idea to focus on doing fundamentals really well or at least passably the first time out. Spartans (73.4, 1st place Class A): Quote from behind me: "Love the big pillows." A Roman show with three medium-sized circus tents backfield and the guard pampering the drum line on oversized pillows, hence the quote. Some very nice marching, playing, tossing, and twirling (spinning?) and excellent staging with the guard--good GE overall. Intonation very good. The smaller corps should get more press and more people. Bayonne Raiders (60.5, 3rd place Class A) and the DM got 8.2 on the balance beam. Quote from Mark: "Doesn't she need a spotter?" Great sound from just 14 horns. The one contra played his parts accurately and had some great solos. Just a thought: during Harlem Nocturne, the guard was dancing on tables and doing some really "mature" guard work. This bothered me more from a "what are we teaching the kids to do?" standpoint than say when BD did it, because BD's show is so professional-looking and sounding that you forget that the kids are ages 14 to 21. But with a Division III corps you remember that they're kids. I'm not saying the situations are any different, it's just that it struck me a lot differently. Jersey Surf (66.4, 2nd place Class A) Great improvement from last year. Very good drum line, clean, loud and complex. Horn line shows flashes of being very good but got very muddy and lacked definition throughout. The drumline seemed to overplay the horns, IMO. Staging was very good. The corps played popular music that really had us tapping our feet and wriggling in our seats. Spirit of Atlanta (57.6, 5th place Open Class) They sounded really good standing still. Otherwise, Spirit has a long way to go. The hose will be applied to the sections of Rhapsody in Blue that involve fast tonguing. Spirit's tongues were heavier than any other corps in competition except for Tarheel Sun. The drum solo was "cute"; they ran around in circles and looked frenetic. The soprano soloist was very good. To be fair, Rhapsody in Blue would be a very difficult show to do for a consistent Top 12 corps, much less a corps that is coming back from a year off. I also heard in the stands that IBM is sponsoring them. If that's true, then I hope we hear more and better things from Spirit of Atlanta. Colts (74.2, 2nd place Open Class) As mentioned before: Thank you for coming east! Thank you also for stepping to the next level. This show has power, emotion, and is a legitimate contender for the coveted seventh spot. It's not top six yet, but the brass sounds great, the guard looks wonderful and is staged excellently, and the drill is well done. "Esurientes" is played off by an absolutely gorgeous, mature sounding sop/alto duet from opposite sides of the field. Whoever said Rutter was boring earlier on RAMD wasn't listening closely enough. I also love the gold color of the tops of the guard uniforms. Christian Baughman (hasn't he been the drum major there since '93) has a fascinating conducting style which makes it look like he's slightly ahead of the corps, but Colts seem to follow him very well and there are very few phasing problems in the music. Bluecoats (69.2, 3rd place Open Class) Great horn sound, loud drumline (I can't tell if they were clean or not) and good rifle work. Nice relaxed sound to "I'll be home for Christmas." But after Colts, this show was definitely flatter emotionally. Weird dissonances in the Labor Day section of the show which I'm not sure worked. In lieu of the push to the end which obviously isn't up to the performance level yet, the tymp player played "Should auld acquaintance be forgot..." Nice "gotcha" ending. Cadets of Bergen County (79.6, 1st place Open Class) The props. The props, which I was prepared to hate. The props, which Saturday night were about ten towers backfield with "cloud" drops on them, work big time. There are three definite pluses: 1. They provide a great frame effect for the corps as a whole and provide a wonderful feeling of motion on a grand scale when they move in unison or even opposite of the corps. Rolling prairies, billowing clouds, soaring mountains...you get the idea of what motion the Cadets are trying to simulate. 2. They are so effective at hiding the corps and spotlighting individual sections. The drumline feature in which the snares, tenors, and basses, each with their own rifle platoon, emerge from behind different drops in succession and try to outdo each other, is absolutely spectacular, if only because it leads your eyes and ears so well. Add to that the Cadets monster drumline, and well, you've got yourself a drum feature. During the slow intro, if you focus on one group as I did, and then look up, you see the Cadets suddenly appear as quickly as a mirage in the Arizona desert. 3. They provide a wonderful frame effect for individual sections backfield, drawing your eye backfield to show you a six-group rifle section doing a perfect toss or some other visual/musical treat. So the debate can rage on about whether this is drum corps, but there should be no debate whether or not this is incredible. This is the best Cadets hornline I've ever heard live. The music is symphonic, wide-ranging, spacious. The drumline kicks butt everywhere and the guard is stunning as usual. The ending is the Cadets best in years. I've always thought that they have fallen short in that area in this decade. But I wonder if Cadets are not only pursuing the DCI World Championship, but also the unofficial title of "Velvet Knights of the East." Don't get me wrong, they've still got a TON of cleaning to do, and because they're playing in the Olympics too, they may never get that done, but boy oh boy do they have a heck of a program set up for us. Crossmen (66.5, 4th place Open Class) For those of you who still don't know, the word is in: SHAKOS. I really don't care about that, but the tops of the uniforms are changed. Black with a red Maltese cross which looks like it has been spray-painted with a stencil. I like the "X" which shows clearly in black inside the cross with this effect, but the overall impression to me is it looks cheap. I've never seen a show open with a full-fledged percussion feature before. Without any prelimaries, the boys and girls simply decide to groove for about thirty seconds before any horns play. The hornline shows flashes of greatness in the opener, but need to just lay back and play in tempo; it effects the cleanness of the entire corps. I don't remember the guard very well from '95, but to my untrained eye the guard has benefited most from Crossmen's new association with YEA! and Cadets staff. They are well staged, do excellent work and have a very Cadet-like quality to them. The ballad, "A Nightingale Sang in Barkley Square," needs a lot of work to make it interesting. A heck of a lot of body sculpting still with the Crossmen, and it just doesn't happen for them. I'd rather see them march. The transformation that happens as soon as "Birdland" begins is incredible. It's like flipping channels and finding the show you wanted to watch. "Birdland" is and will be absolutely fantastic. Drumline rocks your world, needs to clean, but that will come with a sense of ensemble with the hornline and another month. As always with the Crossmen, a ton of promise that will be realized fully by August. Just a note: This was the worst show announcer I've ever heard. He noted that Colts run a bus through the southern states to take kids to rehearsal, and said "Talk about your forced busing." Very questionable humor from just about any standpoint. He also, when telling the crowd that Crossmen still need a few horn players, said something like "Go on over, if you can go "left-right", they'll give you a uniform." As we were waiting for the scores, he said "I just have to ask, should I give up my day job and do this announcing at night?" In unison, everyone in my section yelled "NOOOO!" Well, I'll have to content myself with listening to the Cadets/BD CD (which is awesome, buy it) for about a month until Allentown (can't go to DCE championships.) Have fun out there and I hope to read your impressions and share vicariously in this 1996 season. Chip Frontz Crossmen 1992 Baritone

Thanks to Bob R. Gupta on r.a.m.d for this review! First show of the season for me, so these are all first reads. Since someone else posted their thoughts, I'll keep this brief. The show seemed to be well run by the Crossmen administration. Stands were not too high, but decent. One light pole right in front of the 50. Constant threat of rain all night, but we only got some sprinkles at the end. Warning! This isn't a la-la everyone was great post. Just some honest (and some brutal) reactions - so just skip if you don't want to read. Class A Tarheel Sun 56.4 ---------------- First show ever and the crowd was very supportive. Good level of show put together by the staff with recognizable music - "A Streisand Tribute". They also did a good job of recruiting since the corps was pretty large. Raiders 60.5 ------------ Great job by a 14-member horn line. The horn line had a "sweet" sound at times with their "Sidewalks of New York" show, and were sometimes all and out loud! Guard was pretty decent, but I was bothered with them trying to portray sexy dancers on tables. There are many young girls and they looked very uncomfortable trying to do that kind of thing. The crowd was very sympathetic to the drum major because it looked like she was conducting from Surf's scaffolding which is *very* narrow. You could tell she was very nervous and I'm sure was very happy when the show was over. Jersey Surf 66.4 ---------------- Surf has a cool show title - "Cool tunes from the back of the bus" - playing popular rock/pop songs, but they didn't pull it off. I was bothered mostly by the potential in this corps that seems to get wasted - Lots of kids and big name staff should be able to put together a better design. The drill was very cluttered. Horn line had their moments, but overall were uncontrolled. Drum Line was clean and is (has been) their strong point. Guard, well they were pretty much same as last year. Spartans 73.4 ------------- I don't remember their show title, but they're doing some Greek/Roman theme. The large tent, headgear on the horn line, and guard uniforms go a long way in interpreting their theme. Overall, the show is excellent! Each section has major improvements from last year. There are still parts of the show where they have guard stuff to add so they will continue to get better. This will be a very good year for them. Open Class Spirit of Atlanta 57.6 ---------------------- Spirit's doing "Rhapsody in Blue" and start out with a very nice horn statement with the guard adding on one-by-one in a WGI-like way. This sets a very nice tone for the show, but nothing develops after this point. I don't remember any high or low points - may be these are coming. Even though the music is very popular, the crowd sat on their hands the entire show. Seems like a division-II level show. Crossmen 66.5 ------------- Much to my dismay, Shakos are still here, but the corps proper uniforms have changed the "X" on the tops with lame (material used to make shiny flags) - the jury is still out on this. Returning to jazz, "Voices of Jazz" begins with a drum feature (Whoo Hoo!!) and an exciting visual opening. I only counted 42 in the horn line which was pretty week throught the show. The drum line seemed strong as usual. Guard was large (36?) and seemed well trained, but some of the work seemed a little cheesy. Some of the drill felt cluttered, but these moments were isolated and can be fixed. I feel the Crossmen show lacks fundamentals in show design. Bluecoats 69.2 -------------- Show title is "American Celebrations" and is composed of music for several holidays. This show doesn't have the flow of last year's even though the horn line has its strong moments. It just feels like 4 different songs put together with no connection. Also, there weren't enough visual images for each holiday. 4th of July needs more fireworks and Labor day? Didn't really get the audio for this - may be some sounds like a hammer hitting a steel anvil or something would add here. Drill had a lot of follow-the-leader type stuff and was rather bland. Colts 74.2 ---------- This was the biggest eye-opener of the night. After hearing colts were doing Rutter, I was prepared for cheese - what I got was caviar!! This show is very reminiscent of the early nineties - no props, dark sounding horn line, complex yet accesible music, lots of drill. Need I go on? Yes! The clarity to the drill was superb and staging the different sections of the guard was very well focused. The bando guard of previous years has been replaced with one that is very well trained in the fundamentals and is very strong in rifle, sabre, flag, and body. Guard still has much work to fill in but this will give them a lot of growth during the season. If the Colts only have modest improvements during the season (and don't make to many changes), they are going to have one of the strongest and consistent performances at Finals. Top 6 is very possible for this corps. Cadets of BC 79.6 ----------------- The first thing you notice when CBC comes on the field is the 20-foot high backdrops they roll on the field - 10 of them!!! "The American West" begins with the entire corps behind the back drops and the horn line playing some wonderful chords to set the mood (I'm sure these'll sound even better in a stadium). The backdrop movement throughout the show is not distracting and is *not* used to replace drill/visual, but rather to enhance it - although I still feel they could have been used more. The only problem I saw with the moving of the backdrops is I could see the kids moving them from time-to-time. This really detracted from the Cadets personae. Overall, the drill moves pretty well and is exciting at times, but there are no memorable moves (and how many years are we going to see the follow-the-leader snake move!). Horn line is good at times, but I felt the sopranos are really week. Drum line is good as usual and I love that all the drum features are performed while moving and some while reshaping. The guard - well (like the coffee-talk lady says) - "They're like butta'". When you see their initial flag statement in the back of the field (with the backdrops providing the perfect background), it just takes your breath away!! Weapons were good, but a lot of slippage maybe due to sprinkles during their show. All in all, a very good line-up of corps. Placements were exactly as most of us thought.Unfortunately, we didn't get a retreat because of the rain. One other point - no electronics. Next show - DCE finals in a couple of weeks!! -bob Garfield 86-87 Crossmen 83-84 Life's too short for long sigs...

Thanks to Doug Kasales on r.a.m.d for this review! Color Guard Review I realize this is late and all, but I had problems trying to post this Sunday after the show. Tonight is the first time since then that I've had time to repost it. These are my opinions of the color guards and other aspects of the Dicv. I corps at the show. I missed the Div. II & III corps b/c I was visiting with friends/instructors of Div. I corps...Sorry *Sprit of Atlanta* Great guard uniforms. Black leotards with white arms and upper chest, black palazzo pants with white stripe on bottom cuffs. Adam Sage did a great design job on these. Unfortunately, the guard had very little work completed. It's early, but have been told things are going a little slow. The work that's there is nice (need to be cleaned) and the flags are nice as well. The concept, as I've been told, is to slowly introduce color through out the show, ending with an flood of Blue (for obvious reason). The guard is small and looks young. Can't wait to see them later in the season at Allentown. *Colts* WOW!!!! This guard has come a long way since I saw them in my marching days. They've even vastly improved from the purple dress year. As someone else posted, the days of the Colts HS Marching Band are over! The movement book for these young women is great (not performed to complete perfection, but it's early). The equipment book is also very nice. The weapons, esp. the sabres, need a good cleaning, but once they get it together, look out. These ladies have a very mature look to them. Was skeptical about the uniform when I saw it on the hanger, but liked it under the lights. Goes well with the corps red jackets. Mark, Leah and Daniel should be commended for their work with these ladies. I was pleasently surprised by them. Look for this corps to improve on it's 1995 finish. (Really liked the bell section in the second number, very nice!) Can't wait to see them in DeKalb!!! *Bluecoats* Nice uniform. Grey mini-dress with individualized tops and burgandy leggings (reminds me of St. Pat's, the Holly Cole Year). Felt that something should be added to enhance the tops, to prevent a washing out against the corps. Nice work and training here, thanks to Jenifo and other Escapade members. The opener was a little too "tossy", but I've been aquised of the same :). Interesting equipment in the Labor Day section--large slinky like props covered in copperish material, copper poles and flags with larger than normal diameter poles (Some of the ladies looked a bit cumbersome with this flag, but with time, I'm sure that will improve). Have been glad to see the progress this guard has made over that last few years. They have benefited from the winter guard activity in Ohio---which is a good thing, contrary to other posts on RAMD. Like the soft ending of the show, but the impacts right before it may need some beefing up to help support the ending. Should be interesting to see 'Coats and Colts battle for the upper hand later in the season. *Cadets of BC* What to say!?!?!?!?! They are Wonderful. The uniforms are very reminicent of outfits from "Billy the Kid" Ballet. Tan tops with darker, orangish pants (tight on females, looser on males) and black belt. As a friend said, it looks as if the guard has been professionally trained in dance. Very nice movement statement in the begining of the show. Addition of Hats and "good" guy/"bad" guy bandanas adds to the uniforms. Flag designs and colors are GREAT!! Except the closing flag...I HATE IT!! All the rest are great southwestern, earth tones (nice tans, olives, rose, peach, etc) are designed and coordinated very well. But closer flag is an overbearing blue with the back end of a horse on it ...in red, YUCK!!! Was told that it's kind of an inside joke or something, but doesn't match the style of the other flags (IMHO). Color scheme of the guard (unis, flags) works extremely well with the tradition cadet uniform and colors of the corps. The flag line is great, of course. Need some refining in the faster sections were drill and work are both moving furiously. Guns had some rough moments (that's due to the rain that lightly, but steadily fell for most of the last half of the show) but will be fine. The guard is staged wonderfully through out the show. The large blue props are not distracting at all, help stage things well. Have been told they'll be turned around to depict the inside of a barn for the Hoedown section (Which is great). Overall, another awesome CG put together with the talents of April, Jim, Keith, Jonathon et al. Look for them to be top 3 (of course) Was impressed by the entire show. Very entertaining and fun. Was skeptical when I heard about the western theme, but think CBC has done a great job with it. *Crossmen* HUGE GUARD (close to 40). But that can be done when the horn line is small. Interesting uniforms. Black opalescent pants [remind me of parachute pants..in both look and sound..listen for them in the middle number :)] and black individualized tops. Once again great training and work, although some may be a little out of reach at this stage of the season. Nice flag designs, but not crazy about the color of the opener flag. Great percussion begining. Agree with Chip (in another review of this show) the new corps jackets look homemade. They appear to be the same jackets with a new overlay on them. Not to my liking. Birdland is fun and energetic. Martin and Jauvier (Former CBC CG members) have done a good job with the guard. The small horn line really puts out. Great sound from such small line (in terms of dynamics). *Personal Notes* All four of these top 12 corps will be performing on Sat night in Orlando. Colts should move up and CBC will (of course) challenge for the top spot. Wonder how the Olympic gig will affect them. As a friend said, CBC is usually very competitive, but how many times do you get to perform at the Olympics? The band director announcer was annoying. The Midwest guy should have done the whole show himself. He does an awesome job!! Wondering if the show could be moved to U of Del. Stadium in the future. This Stadium was small, ticket purchasing line and line to get in meshed into one, causing massice traffic flow problems. Overall a good show to start the season (for me at least). Can't wait for DeKalb in 2 weeks. Hear the Cavalier CG is Wonderful, as is the show. Interested to see if 3rd times the charm for Scouts? Hear good things about PR also. CAN'T WAIT. See ya later, Doug Kasales Crossmen - 1987-88...................happy Christine :) The Cavaliers - 1990-91 Escapade - 1992 Dominion - Staff - 1995-96

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