Anyone going to the Cavie show on 6/29? As much as it pains me to add $$ to their coffers, looks like a quality show and close by!!! Debbie Galligan and I are are going and would love to see some Imperial alums.

What did you do in the Corps? Guard

What years were you a Corps member? 73-77

Debbie Galligan. Another name from the past. Tell her about the website! And enjoy the show.

What did you do in the Corps? Snare, Drum Major, Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

Yes, I will be there with my Mom and one of my kids.

I know what you mean about filling thier coffers.

The very first tag day I was involved with the Imperials, I was in Glenview, Il standing on a street corner in the spring of 1980.

A car pulled up with a lady driving in it and a yound boy in the back. I told her it was for the Imperials Drum & Bugle Corps to help keep kids like me off the street and asked her if she would like to donate.

"Oh, I can't do that... My Son's in the Cavaliers!!" She said in a whining tone.

Look me up at the Cavaliers show, and I'll be happy to imitate her for you. Etched in my memories for 28 years.

My Cell (630) 567-9588

This will be the first show I've gone to in 2 years.

What did you do in the Corps? Cymbals, Bass Drum,, Tenor

What years were you a Corps member? 1980 - 1983

Don't feel bad about the ticket price, it's still a good cause. It's keeping my son off the streets at night.
I'll also be there.

Scott

I will be taking Bob's father to this show as well, stop by and say hi to Ron, he would love to see all and tell him you marched in the Imperials.

I will be at this show with a very special guest.
I am taking Mr. Rom Shreffler who is Bob Shrefflers father.
If you see him there please come up to him and say hi, also tell him that you marched with the Imperials.
Look forward to seeing you at this show.

Looks like this is the show to hook up at. Oh well. One of these days...

Hey, George, you still got a mustache? Better yet, you still got hair?

George's hair comes and goes these days...not that he ever had much to spare...

What did you do in the Corps? Snare, Drum Major, Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

Went to the Oswego show last night with Ron Shreffler.
Crossmen and Madison looked good.
The Cavies are at finals level now, they looked very good. While at this show we were sitting close to to 50 and Mr. Don Warren saw Ron, called him Ronie and sat down next to him and started talking to him as if they had seen each other yesterday.
Ron had a big smile on his face and they talked about the old days. Ron also told Don that we will be at the Cavie show too, I'm sure they will find each other again too.

What did you do in the Corps? Marched

What years were you a Corps member? 1978 and 1979

Deb & I will be sure to look for Mr. Shreffler & Co... NO one kept house like that man, that EQ bread truck was the original "California Closet"!!!! We will be hanging with some former Guardsmen as well.... One was also in the Nesi Ambassadors... A well rounded group!

Thanks for the cell # - we will give it a ring. :)

What did you do in the Corps? Guard

What years were you a Corps member? 73-77

Penny,

When Dad marched with the Kilties Senior Corps in the 2000s, he did the same thing to their truck!

Funny and true story: When Dad became Quartermaster of the Imperials, he found three big boxes on the truck, marked Drum Sh*&, Horn Sh*&, and Guard Sh*&. Great filing system...

Never understood why that thing didn't flip over.

What did you do in the Corps? Snare, Drum Major, Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

I'm an ole Imperials fan... from the '50's. I'll be at Naperville on Sunday evening, and, as always, I'll be on the look-out for anyone wearing any Imperials stuff. And yes, The Cavies are Finals ready, already, from this amateur's eye. (I've seen em four times so far.) Cadets might be too; we'll see. Hope we get good weather. Eight corps... fun times.

Cavaliers over Cadets by more than 2 points in Madison, and won all captions.

And who are the Revolution? I've never heard of them, but they beat several DCI corps.

What did you do in the Corps? Snare, Drum Major, Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

Bob, the Cavies' show is awesome... and they pull it off to perfection, too. Electric is the word for it. The crowds are crazy about it. I'm looking forward to seeing them, again, tonight... and The Cadets, too, for my first time this season. The jump between The Cavaliers and the rest is huge, this particular summer, judges or no judges... the fans see and feel it. They are on their game; that's for sure.

Just got back from Naperville show. I live blogged it on twitter. I sent updates from my cell phone to my twitter account.

Here is my review:

BLUE STARS
They have a full corps this year and it is great to see. They are pretty good as well.

PIONEER
Still doing the celtic thing. Lots of flag, rifle and sabre drops, drum line a little sloppy, but it got very windy out there and rain came down too.

MADISON
Madison seemed to be improving this year. I thought they should have gotten a better score than they did.

THE CADETS
Shut up and play - I'm sorry but an NPR show as a Drum & Bugle corps show doesn't work. Narration about breast cancer? The rest of the corps is hot. If they would just stop talking and let the corps play, they would be great.

CAROLINA CROWN
They rock this year. No talking, just playing and classical music too. They should have beat Cadets, but too much interval where only horns play (although they are very good).

CAVALIERS
I didn't think a Samurai show would work, but it does, very very good.

What did you do in the Corps? Cymbals, Bass Drum, Tenor

What years were you a Corps member? 1980 - 1983

Based on Jim's comments it sounds like the DCI corps are picking up where they left off last year. "Shut Up an Play" comment would have been appropriate for the Cadets last year as well.

Am interested in the Cavaliers Samurai show and may have to subscribe to one of those DCI streaming programs to satisfy my curiosity. Do the dancers use Samurai swords? Is it based on the movie "Kill Bill" ? Good reason not to have judges on the field, someone might get beheaded or have a limb removed.

I looked at the DCI scores for this past weekend and it looks like the Blue Devils and Santa Clara are scoring in the low 80s versus high 70s in the midwest.

I concur with Jim's comments. I've seen Pioneer 3 times now, this season. It's not just the wind and rain. I don't know why Madison scores so poorly, year in and yeur out. Again, in '08, they do please the crowd, as does Carolina.

Hi Imperial friends,
It's drum corps season and I had the urge (need) to see how you all are doing. I saw some reviews from the Cavie show and I too have seen some of these corps and wanted to put in my two cents as well. I've seen some of the same DCI corps up in MN a week ago and this past weekend (Blue Stars, Madison, Crown), saw a couple you have not (Glassmen, Troopers, Phantom, Blue Knights, and Colts), and some others in Div II or whatever they call it nowadays (Revolution and Colt Cadets).

The Phantom Regiment are really entertaining this year. I'm going to leave it to you to see the show itself, but I will say that there is alot of violence including a guard member getting her throat slit, the guard attaching the euphonium line with large swords, and eventually, all of the guard getting slaughtered. But after all, it is the violent story of Spartucus. I can see PR near the top of the heap at the end of the season with this show.

Carolina Crown has a nice show, but it's hard to top the entertainment value of last year's show and this will probably keep them from the top with this show. They are extremely talented, but nowadays at the top, talent is not enough.

Glassmen and Blue Knights are in the same ball park as they usually are. Their respective books are as bland as usual, but both of their performance levels still put them in finals in the middle of the pack.

Madison, Blue Stars, and the Colts will spend all season battling for the bottom at finals. Right now I give the edge to the Colts and their strong horn line, but the Blue Stars bicycle show should have better effect scores in the long run. Madison is as entertaining as usual, but not very clean at this point. With their cult status and if they have a staff that can clean up the show, they can get in finals.

You traditionalists out there will appreciate the Troopers. They still where the exact same uniforms down to the drum major wearing the side arm, the spurs, and the high boots. They even have the star burst move to the music of "Ghost Rider". Of course it's fun to watch the retro stuff, but it won't fly in competing with modern drum corps and they will battle Pioneer for last place in World class. But again, I do recommend that you see them if you're into drum corps nostalgia.

In open class, the Colt Cadets are really good. I'd say that their average age is around sixteen making them a bit different from the young corps they have fielded in the past. They are definitely worth seeing. The Revolution is a new corps from San Antonio, but most of their members appear to be Asian. Even their staff had a heavy Asisn influence and at the risk of being a labeler, I'd say they are from Japan. Not sure how that came down, but the corps is fun to watch and a hard working bunch that even practiced in the parking lot after they came off the field.

Other than that, I've seen the three DCA corps in MN (MN Brass, Chops Inc, and my corps, the Govenaires), but senior corps doesn't seem to be too popular in these forums, so I'll just say that they're all very entertaining this year and you should all try to see them. Especially the 47 year old trumpet player in the Govies.

Have a great drum corps summer everyone! Go watch as many shows that you can, because drum corps is still a beautiful thing!

Jim, I had an 11 y.o. grand-daughter and her 10 y.o. brother with me the first time that I saw Phantom Regiment, this season. They both had a bit of a problem with the grizzly throat slashing scene, by a drum major yet (right?!). I'd like to see that graphic scene changed. Thanks for your views on the various corps... again, I very much concur, re the junior corps. I'll emphasize how pleasantly surprised I am with the Blue Stars quantity (of participants) and quality of performance this summer. I haven't seen the sr. corps that you mention, but I do enjoy the sr. corps that I have seen.

Bill, my folks saw a military group and said they were great. I'm sick of this drum corp crap, the music is awful and the dancing should be on some stage. What you just posted sounds awful. I thought we were in drum corp to be away from violence.

Yes, drum corps is not made for the children in the crowd anymore. And yes, color guards are not acting like robots any more. I couldn't agree with you more.

Today's kids, by a certain age, for the most part, are numb to visual violence. They see so much of it that they aren't affected by seeing it, and that is sad. These two young ones were affected, tho, as was I, actually. I found it distasteful... and I just love Phantom Regiment, otherwise. An older lady, behind me, gasped upon seeing this enacted on the field. I could actually hear her gasp. Maybe that's the affect they want to produce?

I just sent this to Phantom's contact email address: "Hi! I'm a long time big fan and supporter of Phantom Regiment. I recently donated to the fuel fund, in fact. I have a concern. The first time that I saw this year's program, I took two of my grandkids with me, as they love drum corps -- a girl, 11, and her 10 y.o. brother. They both were bothered by the throat slashing scene. Is it necessary? Could it be symbolized, or something, rather than being graphic? Please, let's discuss this. Thank you, Bill"

And they said the 1971 Cavalier Circus Show was outlandish! At least nobody got killed (except the corps, when they went out East). I haven't seen Phantom, but have a couple of former students marching with them, and I hear they're quite good this year. They tried the Spartacus show twice before, and it bombed, so I'm not sure why they're doing it again, but we'll see what happens.

And Dr. Snyder, you're wrong about us not appreciating senior corps! So continue to comment. In fact, the most entertaining show I ever watched was DCA finals in 1980, right after aging out of junior corps.

And it's good to see you out here again. I was wondering what happened to you!

What did you do in the Corps? Snare; Drum Major; Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

Wow, I guess I'm more desensitized than I thought. I do work in the criminal courts, so maybe that's it. I really liked the live or die scene. My three-year-old was a bit concerned until we told her they were only acting. The crowd in Normal, IL, had a lot of PR followers, because the resounding answer, louder than corps, was DIE! I also liked where they emulated the scene from the movie "300" when the guard all got together in the center of the field with the shields up. I think something more needs to come of it, though. And I'm glad they got rid of those blue sashes.

I noticed no one mentioned the Blue Coats' show this year. It was a very nice presentation. I think it's called "The Fighter", and they pull it off as well as last year's jailbreak theme. Strong horns and battery, with some fairly articulate pieces coming from the pit. I think they'll continue to draw crowd appeal, if not top scores, with this year's show. Lots of intensity, an' aah likes intensitee!

I really did enjoy the Cavs' show, too. What's really nice about the show and the way they've laid EVERYTHING out is that there's a lot of room for them to either add intensity or simplify for score. Incredibly well done.

Now, what's the deal on these new snares? Is it me, or have they shrunk? They've got a decent sound, though. Or did I just not notice it before?

And finally, did anyone receive this ad in their email?
http://www.roland.com/products/en/RMP-12/features.html
I got this ad in an email, and I got another email ad for AeroBeds. Not sure I like DCI is selling my personal info. What's next? Ads for Oscar Meyer Wieners being the official DCI weenie? What's it coming to? Anyway, back to the RMP-12s, I think it would be interesting to see a full battery of these things all transmitting wirelessly to a receiver (or would it be multiple receiveers?) to see what it sounds like.

- Z -

What years were you a Corps member? Snare

I just received this email, re Phantom Regiment's throat-slitting scene, and my email to Phantom about it (see above, here). This email is from Phantom's exec. dir. Here is the email, in full:

"Mr. Schaefer,

Thank you for your previous support and taking the time to write me with your concerns.

When we were designing the show, we spent much time discussing this section of the show. And in order to really depict the story of the times during Spartacus era, we felt that this was indeed very much a part of the story telling we are doing. We understand that not everyone will agree, and that this will bring up much discussions.

We have a story to tell on our stage, and just like any other theatrical event, we will spur discussions both positively and negatively. There are many Broadway shows and plays that current high schools perform that bring up the same questions. I have been a part of previous drum corps shows that depicted much more violence (i.e. Santa Clara Vanguard and Miss Saigon in 1991). When we get to the larger stadiums, it will be lost on the audience (and judges) if it is not as pronounced as it is.

Again, I understand and respect your position. Thank you for taking the time to write.

Sincerely,

Rick Valenzuela
Executive Director"

I'm just trying to imagine anyone using the words "stage", "Broadway", or "story line" back in our days...In those times, you had to worry about the violence OFF the field (especially if you were a rookie in most corps)!

What did you do in the Corps? Snare; Drum Major; Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

Yes, Mike, th drums are smaller. I believe most of the are 14" now, compared to the 15" we used. Some may actually be 13", but I'm not real sure. And I'm surprised you like the sound of them - I hate it. Sounds like a table top. And have you ever played on those Kevlar heads? THAT'S an interesting experience!

What did you do in the Corps? Snare; Drum Major; Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

The reply from the PR director (glad he DID reply ) was instructive. As Bob Shreffler pointed out, the use of "theatrical" terms services to remind us that drum corps is now a totally different thing. It is now considered THEATRE! But, this isn't a surprise.

What did you do in the Corps? drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63

Re: new drums. Have to agree with Bob again. The sound of the new drums (and even the "old" larger drums) as being used and "tuned" today is terrible. No real drum sound .. just like a table top.

What did you do in the Corps? drummer

What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63

Well, folks, how do I reply to Mr. Valenzuala? What should I say? What would you say? Help!

Whoops! Correct spelling is Valenzuela.

Bill,

You should not respomd at all. Rick has a Drum Corps to run and really dosen't need this distracion.

What did you think of the color guard fight where half of the guard were stabbed with there flag poles and left for dead?
Vangard did this in the early 70's. This is nothing new. Enjoy there show for what it is.

That Vanguard show was interesting. They actually marched two color guards - one male and one female - and staged the fight scene from "West Side Story." And they started the "Curse of 7th Place."

What did you do in the Corps? Snare, Drum Major, Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

Scott, you ask (above) "What did you think of the color guard fight where half of the guard were stabbed with there flag poles and left for dead?" I thought it was interesting... cool... and I think the kids did too. The girl getting her throat slashed, from behind, by the drum major, and then slumping to the ground as he released her from his grip? ... hmmm.

ok, so i didnt go to a show.. but the Northbrook parade today... I was very disappointed with the Blue Coats.. not a note from the hornline the entire route! Who is the corps from Kalamazoo? they sounded ok... The Colts were together... Im sure Ill enjoy their show..

You were seeing a coupla very good corps there, Sheila. I don't know who's from Ka'zoo, tho. Did the Coats' horns play ANYWHERE along the route, I wonder? I don't think the crowd realizes just how good the drum corps are, as they parade by; they don't appreciate them for how good they are. Well, that's been my impression. They are NOT your local h.s. rag-tag band, or even a good h.s. band, and yet, I don't think the crowd knows the difference. You know what, tho... everybody enjoys, so that's good.

Yes, Scott (see 5 posts up, please), because of the timing, I will only send Rick V. a sentence to thank him for responding ... the guy is up to his ears (busy), I'm sure!

However, I truly wish that they would change that scene, somehow, a.s.a.p., Scott. I wish DCI would step in. They really should. It's just not good, clean, family entertainment, and it degrades drum corps, as an activity. What's next?! Really! I just might see every show first, from now on, before letting the grandkids (6 of them go, from time to time... 2 are too tiny, yet), see it. Sad. Their parents don't know a thing about it; I'm lucky! If they did, I'd hear about it; I'm sure.

Maybe the movie rating system (G, PG, R) is a good idea, actually, if this kind of stuff is going to continue or even grow.

If I had known about the guard girl getting her throat slashed by one of the two drum majors, I never would have had my two grandkids witness it. I would have distracted them, somehow, or just told them that I want them to look away for 20 seconds. It's pretty awful, really. You should see it, Scott... it is chilling, even to me, an adult. I'm serious. Call me sissy Bill.

Violence, depicted in the shows, is something that DCI might want to discuss in the meetings during the winter. I'll suggest that to them, via email, rather than continuing dialog with Rick V., of Phantom, about it.

I'll say one thing, with absolute certainty, Scott, IT IS INAPROPRIATE, GDI, at a drum and bugle corps show. period, say what you might!

It's still a great show. Obviously not for sensitive viewers, though.

Agreed, Jim.

I think some of Blue Devils' dancing since going to a coed guard may be even LESS "family friendly" than this scene from Phantom (although, again, I haven't seen it yet). Remember "When a Man Loves a Woman?"

What did you do in the Corps? Snare, Drum Major, Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79