From: dci@cs.washington.edu (Donald Chinn)
Subject: Madison Review, Part I
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 02:34:10 GMT


Ok.  Time to chime in about Madison this year.  I guess I'll do
it in 2 posts -- one about everything EXCEPT the actual performances
and one about the performances themselves.

Things I'll talk about (in order of appearance): The PBS broadcast,
the stadium, VK bashing, other random observations about the
festivities.

Since it is in vogue now to say it: "These are just my opiniions.  Any
reader of my opinions still retains the right to disagree publicly in
a well-reasoned manner.  I retain the right to defend my position, as
does anyone who challenges my view."

1. The PBS Broadcast

Overall, I would say that the PBS broadcast is one of the better (if
not the best) put on so far.  Please remember in this analysis that I
am looking at it from the point of view of the audience that it was
intended for -- the first-time viewer (not the die-hard drum corps
fan).

The positives include:

+ Minimizing the sports analogies (the only ones I caught, after
seeing the broadcast once, are the name "Summer Music Games", the
reference to Bobby Knight, and the reference to the Olympics -- there
probably were a few more).  There's a lot more to drum corps than
competing and losing (or winning).  And if Gowdy refered to any Texas
running backs, I probably would have kicked the TV ...

+ The "flashbacks" from the previous years of the corps.  This was
particularly interesting to me since I have not seen much of the
1970's style of drum corps.  But from a DCI marketing point of view,
the flashbacks were good because they contrast rather well the
differences between old drum corps and modern drum corps.

+ There seemed to be less hype in this year's broadcast.  Rondinero
(sp?) pretty much stated it as it is.

The negatives include:

- Poor sound (as usual).  The impact just isn't there.  Not being a
microphone expert, it's not clear to me how this can be solved.
Percussion seemed to be way overmixed.  It was hard to hear melodies
of the music at times.  Too much cymbals made it a little noisy.

- Camera shot selection.  It seemed like all the shots were either
high up or down low.  There were times when the high camera not show
the corps do anything special and there were close-up shots while the
corps was doing a cool drill move.  At least they got the rotating
airplane ...

- Some of the beginnings of the shows were cut off by the
pre-performance info (meet the drum major, discuss the history of the
corps, etc.).


2. The Stadium

I've been to three DCI's (Buffalo, Dallas, Madison).  Madison has
great sound qualities to it (although I have heard the same rumors
about under the upper deck being echoish).  I was on the 31 yard line
at Finals (24 rows up), and I could hear both the upper and lower
voices well (even when one of them was on the other side of the
field).  At the 20 yard line, I think the sound is virtually useless,
though (but what stadium has good acoustics at the 20 -- especially
when the corps is playing for the people between the 40's?).
Buffalo's sound died out, as I recall, at around the 30.  The Cotton
Bowl had excellent acoustics from where I sat (25 rows up on the 30).

The ice cream is great.  Apparently, the dairy department at
UW-Madison makes some of the best.  I believe they were selling it in
the stadium (Babcock Hall is where they make it?).

Parking stinks, but luckily the dorms were close by, and DCI made an
effort to tell people about buses that went to the stadium.

The Expo (souvies, etc.) were out of the way, so they didn't clog up
people who were trying to catch performances.  Unfortunately, they
were crowded (as usual) and the DCI booth didn't clearly mark what
line you were supposed to stand in for the various things they were
selling.  Someone should post the address of that new drum corps
publication _The Starting Line_ (I'll post it tomorrow if no one else
does).

The seating was a bit Spartan from side to side, but at least there
was knee room (unlike The Cotton Bowl).


3. VK Bashing

I don't think much has to be said here.  Luckily, we live in a time
when there is no such thing as a "real" drum corps.  I quote Marc
Sylvester again:

"My way of thinking is that if every drum corps became so specific to
the type of feel, type of design, type of music that they liked and
stop trying to go for the entire audience, then we'd get a bigger
audience."

VK services a particular area of the activity.  I don't think it
matters that they are Bridgemen-like.  I disagree with people who
don't think they cannot win DCI with their particular style.  Keeping
their style, they could do it.  Take this year's program.  From a
musical point of view, they had some pretty "serious" music (serious
is in quotes, because just what this means varies from person to
person, but I hope you get the intent).  A richer musical arrangement
and a lot better execution would have put them in the running.  It was
a brilliantly designed and choreographed show for the level of
performer that they wanted to write to (see my next post).

I would hate to see 5 VK-like corps in the top 12.  But then again, I'd
hate to see 5 Blue Knights or 5 Cadets or 5 Phantoms, or ...

I think it's important recognize what each corps accomplishes rather
than what it doesn't accomplish (wait, maybe that's a good reason to
get rid of ticks and go to a build up system ...).  [this last
statement is an allusion to a comment in an article in _The Starting
Line_ about the judging system -- very interesting article.]


4. Everything Else

4.1 DCI conspiracy theories
Since everyone seems to want to come up with an excuse as to why
Cavies won this year, Star won it last year, Cadets in 1990, SCV in
'89, etc., here are a couple more hypotheses to add to the conspiracy
hysteria that is sweeping the Net:

+ The Cavies won this year because Brubaker has a tumor (and will
probably die soon), and Star won last year because Zingali was nearing
death.

+ The Cavies won this year to "make up" for last year, as 1989 was a
"make up" year for SCV for all of their second places (1985-1988).

In my next post, I'll describe where I think I would have disagreed
with the judges, but let me say that the two times (before this year)
I have disagreed with the 1st and 2nd place finishes were in 1988 and
1989.  But then again, I didn't actually attend them live (these
disagreements come from what I heard of the corps live [e.g. I didn't
see the Scouts live in 1988] and what I heard on the recordings
(visual and audio), so I haven't lost faith, yet, in the judging
system).


4.2 The Retreat

+ I don't like to start rumors or create animosity amongst corps, but
I was looking over near the Blue Devils and the Cadets as the
Bluecoats and VK were marching off.  The Cadets were standing totally
motionless in a "snapshot"-like pose (as opposed to being at
attention), and I thought I saw some Blue Devils members taunting them
and actually throwing things such as mallets at them [DISCLAIMER: I
was on the 30 yard line on the LEFT side of the stands].  Did anyone
else see such activities?

If what I saw was what I thought I saw, then my respect for BD has
gone down tremendously (for obvious reasons).  I am holding judgment
until I get independent confirmation.

+ "Amazing Grace" by Phantom was great.

+ The crowd being on the field was rude, I thought.

+ I thought it was humorous when the PA announcer kept reminding The
Cadets of Dutch Boy that their bus was leaving imminently.

+ I thought it was strange that the Crossmen spelled out "Save the
Earth" with masking tape, but left a mess on the field.


4.3 Madison

Nice, friendly town.  State Street seems to have a lot of characeter.

The one negative I saw was when I was walking back to the dorms on
Friday night after semis.  It seems that on State Street there seemed
to be a fair number of "hooligans" who looked like they were ready to
pick a fight with anyone who crossed their paths.  Police were there,
but still ...

What a huge campus ...  There were no maps on the campus (although you
could get one at the Union).

-- Donald