Nope, sorry. Just a fan: grew up in a family of Cavaliers cheerleaders, went my own way into Phantom Regiment worship in high school when they were doing Shostakovich at the same time as my wind ensemble. As a high school trumpet player, my inclinations were always toward jazz ensemble and having/wresting free rein to make an ostentatious ass of myself. I didn't have the requisite Team Player mentality for drum corps. Also, I couldn't march for shit in marching band and even topping out at lazy-ass scatter drills, I couldn't hit my sets. There was a close call back in the summer of '03 when Capital Regiment lodged at my high school and had a hole to fill, but I was already committed to driver's ed that summer and I certainly couldn't just up and leave town on--not shitting you here--30 minutes notice to spend my summer marching. I was already way late to the driving party as it was. Conversation I had with an instructor:

- So I heard you're one of the better trumpet players here.

- Thanks!

- Would you be interested in coming on board with us?

- That would be interesting, yes.

- So are you packed?

- ...excuse me, what?

And so I guess there was some miscommunication between my band director and the corps, because I was not ready to go right then and there. Ended up being for the better, as Capital Regiment ended up folding a few years later because they didn't feed their kids enough and there was a massive heatstroke episode or something down in Texas. SO ANYWAY what did you think of the show? I loved the lineup, but if they're going to do an all-star game like that, they can't do it at a high school in Rockford. Take it to DeKalb or Evanston or even Madison, somewhere with an actual stadium befitting such a lineup, and let Phantom have a reasonable home show to themselves.

Other thoughts:
- The judging was totally fucked for the Concord Blue Devils to have won the night with such a terrible show.
- Phantom Regiment had one of the best shows I've ever seen and the crowd, albeit a biased one, was going nuts. Should've won. I've really been getting into opera, too, so that helps, and even without that, everyone knows "Nessun Dorma" and can appreciate a Big Finish such as that one.
- The Cadets had an almost perfect show except for that recorded crap. That's what drum corps should be: fan-friendly and LOUD, like Madison does. I hated them for years because of all the goofy-ass rule changes they ramrodded through, but this was classic drum corps, and they won me over.
- The Boston Crusaders should've placed higher (I'm really fond of Respighi and Mahler) and I bet they would've if not for a State of Illinois pity point to:
- The Cavaliers, who did not have a very good show at all, but it was their most fabulous, if you're picking up what I'm putting down.
- Loved the Vanguard's show, but I have a recording of the Cavaliers doing The Planets and no one's going to do it better.

The rest of the show was in one damaged ear and out the other.

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Boylan HS should never again host the Rockford show of shows. Phantom should take this show to DeKalb.
As an "old timer, I don't like the trend the last 20 years. The prancing & dancing is out of control. The narration & amplification is out of control too.
I marched in the Scouts in the early 1980's & got to play Maleguena & Ice Castles. No one plays music like this anymore. The music majors & show designers have ruined drum corps. Shows today are way to high brow. The regular Joe off the street cant relate to the music being played today. I used to be a huge Blue Devils fan, but the crap that they play is just brutal. Sure its clean & they certainly play it well, but the content is weak. Crown & Cadets both have great shows, as does Madison.
There are 4 weeks left in the season & I hope that either Crown or the Cadets can catch the Blue Devils.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

Haha. Madison is playing Malaguena and Ice Castles this year!

As for it being too highbrow, yes and no. Classical repertoire absolutely has a place in the activity, as it has for years. Joe Off The Street may not know The Rite of Spring or The Planets, but that doesn't mean they can't be adapted into kick-ass shows. The problem is when designers start aspiring to "high art," which isn't so wrong except that drum and bugle corps intrinsically cannot be high art. The opera is high art. The symphony is high art. College marching band in high school football stadiums while people eat popcorn...not high art. And it's not even the classics that end up making up these sorts of shows, anyway; it's wind ensemble lit that only music educators would know, or original compositions. If anything, these sorts of aspirations ending up being sort of a grotesque parody of what we think of as Boundary-Pushing, Experimental, Thought-Provoking Genius: that show last night where they were playing samples of some girl going "PAIN! FEAR! DEATH!" or something was just plain silly. The Cavaliers were awesome about ten years ago when they went experimental like that, but they had the talent to pull it off. Most don't.

There's a place for experimental crap as long as everyone's not doing it and dragging the whole thing down. Sort of like the defensive end shell ruining hockey. Have that wankery for those who come to see it, but also have a variety of genres and approaches for the rest of us.

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Exactly. Every corps is playing classical/symphonic music today. I miss the days when there were corps playing spanish, Scottish, British, Jazz, & Pop music.

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CSFMB 2014 Nascar Pick 'em Champion

We don’t have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven’t taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much. — Ronald Reagan

There's not much classical at all, actually, if you mean the Baroque/Classical/Romantic/Modern tradition. The insidious stuff is just contemporary literature for wind ensemble, most of which is empty academic twaddle. It's not Tchaikovsky or Puccini we're worried about here.

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It was The Waffle Shop as The Waffle Hut is too upscale for Rockford.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Indiana has Waffle Houses and Waffle Steaks. I have never been to a Waffle Steak.

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It is a Hawg Ass and Hawg Ass Jr. rule that anytime down south we must have breakfast at a Waffle House prior to our journey back north of the Mason Dixon line.

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

Wow.

Rockford, Waffle Houses, classical music.

All in one thread!

Americuh is great!!

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2018
#ExtendLafleur
10 More Wins

I go into them and a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert breaks out....so yes it is a requirement when we go south. Plus Tora loves their kids meals

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