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August 12, 2006

DCI World Championship Finals Tonight

2006 DCI World Championships This is it, the day of Finals. The time to reminisce on the season and relish in your last hours of the summer tour. It all boils down to this: Cavaliers are holding on strong to the GE caption, Blue Devils are close to grabbing the Visual being only a .10 behind Cavaliers in Semis, and Phantom's amazing drumline has kept them in the hunt by tying the Cavaliers in the Music caption.

What does this mean? It means General Effect wins Championships. In a world of strong performances, it's the show design that will ultimately decide a corp's fate. True, you have to perform and be at the top of you game, but at this level, those differences are minute. 40-30-30 is the balance of the sheet and Cavaliers are winning the 40 point caption, if they stay close in the other two, it's a done deal.

Don't get me wrong...I think all three corps are great and have their own unique identity. But I have to say, I like Phantom's music. Notice I said music and not show. Sure the show is nice, but it could be better. With a story such as Faust, you think they would play up the devil theme a little more. More red material, stronger flags, and a uniform change. I'm not sure what it is, but I find it hard to buy into the theme when the corp is wearing white uniforms - too angelic, it's off balance. I say bring back the 1996 PR uniforms with a red sash - too late now.

Speaking of 1996, I see a lot of correlation to 96 - Blue Devils were doing a gangster show just like this year, Phantom was doing a show with strong music just like this year. And here they are again, but sitting in 2nd and 3rd. Why? The Cavaliers have outdone their design teams.

Enough ranting, about design. There is nothing the performers can do except go out there and give it their all. If you want to check it out as it goes down LIVE, click here.

Posted by Ryan on 02:16 AM | Comments (0)

August 06, 2006

DCI Siloam Springs Review

colts drumline Siloam Springs, Arkansas was the scene for a great showcase of some of the top corps including Bluecoats, Carolina Crown, Boston Crusaders, Colts, Blue Knights, Mandarins, and Revolution. Though hot, lots of trees and a setting sun set the stage for a great evening of drumming.

Let me preface this review, I didn't get to all the warmups, and for good reason. I am currently on crutches and some of the widespread warmup areas made it difficult to get to all of them. I tried the best I could and got to 80% of the warmups. Sorry to you Carolina Crown fans, they were tracking all over a parking lot on the other side of a shopping center and was just too far for me. As for Mandarins and Revolution, we didn't get there in time to see them but for a minute or two. And Bluecoats, well, I made it to part of the warmup, but it was already dark and therefore made no sense to try shooting photos, but I did get a video clip (mainly audio). So, enjoy the pictures and check out the video clips of each corp.

Colts Cymbal Line, looking and sounding great as usual.