From: jerger@d0msu7.fnal.gov
Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps
Subject: VK bashing & DC North
Date: 13 Aug 92 20:29:11 GMT
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Lab
X-Posted-From: d0msu7.fnal.gov
X-Posted-Through: sol.ctr.columbia.edu


    I've been "lurking" for a month or two now, trying to study for a 
Ph.D. candidacy exam without geting sucked into hours of posting after 
discovering this great channel. But this one draws me out... Hate to
make my first post a flame, especially of someone who writes such good
long reviews - but oh well.

dowzycki@andromeda.rutgers.edu (Ken Dowzycki) posted these comments
recently:

>for the hornline.  Did people really expect BD's guard to maybe have
>a silk with a picture of a man and a woman embracing on it to get the
>message across?   It's only one song and I feel people should relax
>a little bit.

Hear Hear!!
 
>   As for the future of the activity, let's be more concerned with the
>pure shit that the Velvet Knights put out EVERY year like the bull 
>pissing on the matador, horn players running around in boxer shorts,
>fat ladies, girls popping out in bikinis, Bart Simpson buses, Pee Wee
>Herman in a boiling kettle, blowing bubbles, inflatable rafts/animals,
>swinging golf clubs, a statue with male genitalia on it and last but
>not least those two prick drum majors on lounge chairs.   Anyone of
>these "attributes" takes away alot more from the activity than what the
>Blue Devils are doing in this years closer.

    Ouch!! Geez, maybe you need to take your own advice, Mr. PottyMouth. 
Lighten up - it's only one corps and I feel you should relax a little bit. 
Drum Corps hasn't deteriorated yet just because VK does stupid gags every 
year. If you don't like 'em, fine - neither do I, but defining something 
as stupid is even more subjective than defining something as obscene, so 
please pocket the double standard.
    For the record, I pretty much hated VK for years - mainly because
I never thought the marching or playing was any good so to me the gags 
came off as tacky grabs for GE points. And since I was going to school in
So. Cal., my only realistic drum corps choice was VK or nothing. So I
chose nothing. Then I saw the '87 show, grudgingly admitted that I 
liked it and that they actually looked and sounded pretty good after 
bringing in some new staff, and so the VK-hater marched the snare line 
in '88 - the year a lot of your gripes seem to have happened. And 
frankly, I STILL think that the bull/matador/pee thing was going for 
the obvious, easy gag where I thought we could have more effectively 
played it serious for a change, and I don't know WHY they threw those 
red wigs in for Finals other than in a random search for GE points. 
But after seeing the crowds eat all that kind of stuff up all summer,  
you start to realize that a lot of people get a kick out of the goofy 
stuff, so somebody needs to cater to it, and if you're a grouch 
like me, all you can do is hope it's at least done well so you can 
like it too. And rest his soul, Bobby Hoffman's not going to roll 
over in his grave if you don't.
    Oh, and by the way, the two "prick"s from '88 happen to be friends
of mine and two of the nicest guys you'll ever meet. Though if you go
around calling people you've never met "pricks" for the roles they play,
maybe you never meet many nice people.

*******END OF FLAME**********

	
	By the way, one add to the Drum Corps North reviews: Devs
unveiled (literally) a new twist in that they strip off their jackets
right before the closer. I was told by my friends in the drumline that 
they hadn't had time to actually rehearse it while playing, so they had
some problems with people missing parts because their arms were stuck
in their sleeves. It's a bit weird to see Blue Devils horns and drums
in white shirts with unbuttoned (unvelcro'ed, really) fronts - not sure
if I like it yet.     


                                                Steve Jerger
                                                jerger@msupa.pa.msu.edu
Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps