Thanks to ChiBoyinLA on r.a.m.d for this review! From the "Better late than never" department, here is the Recap and my review of last Sunday evening's contest in Santa Barbara. The California corps were given a reprieve from the recent unseasonably hot weather when they travelled to the "American Riviera" for the last Southern California contest of 1996. Cool ocean breezes lowered the temperature below 60 degrees once the sun set behind the gorgeous Santa Barbara Mountains. City College Stadium is without question the most beautiful drum corps competition site in America (and I've been to over a hundred venues). The 42-row concert side is built into the side of a bluff facing the ocean. There are no back-side stands; rather, spectators look directly across the field to the palm-tree lined beach and the Pacific Ocean. Most of the corps warmed up for the show on another bluff overlooking the beach, or directly on the beach itself. The Blue Devils continued their undefeated march through California, despite a somewhat flat show. The Blue Guys took all captions except for percussion in garnering a first place score of 86.4. Major rewrites of the last "movement" of the show are underway, and the presentation tonight must be considered a work still in progress. Gone are the dozen brake drums along the front sideline that provided the focus of the drum solo for the past month. Major portions of the drum solo have been replaced by what must be considered a bit of "filler" for now - in fact, the Devs' were so proud of the new solo, that they played most of the solo with their backs to the audience ****sarcasm alert***** The musical book at the end of the show also seems to have been shortened a bit. Further revisions to the final movement will certainly be added this week in preparation for the circuit championships next weekend. The shortcomings at the end of the program, however, do little to diminish the impact of the first three movements. The opener screams at the audience like a fighter jet upon takeoff. "Desi" - the second movement - is the highlight of the show right now. Musically, it is kind of like a mambo on speed - think of "Brasil" played twice as fast as expected. Every section gets a chance to riff for a few bars, including the rifles, which throw a series of sequential "fives" that seems to last nearly 30 seconds. Which brings me to the guard, whom I overlooked in last week's review. This group is just unbelieveable! This guard strikes (IMHO) a perfect balance between traditional equipment work and dance. They stick to traditional guard equipment - flags, rifles and sabres - no props, oversize flags, ghoul makeup, skulls, etc. And, boy, can they work the equipment! The rifles and sabres seem to be in the air more than in the members hands, and I only noticed one drop of the HUNDREDS of tosses that take place in this ten minute show. The coed unit also gets to show off its excellent dance skills, particularly during "Breathless", the third movement. This unit will again, without question, be in the hunt for top guard come August. The drumline was edged out tonight by Santa Clara by the narrowest of margins (0.1). Their program is more technically demanding and exposed than Vanguard's, but tonight there was dirt noticable from the 40th row. Expect the trouble areas to be cleaned up or watered by the focus shows - then look out. And look out for the Vanguard as well! Santa Clara started the season six points behind their neighbors in Concord, but closed the gap to only 1.7 tonight, scoring 84.7 for second place. SCV's strength right now comes from the wide range of moods and emotions they create with their "La Mer" production. While BD tries to hammer the audience into submission throughout the whole show, the Vanguard is a study in contrasts. What most impressed me tonight was not when the hornline "let-it-rip", which they can do nearly as well as BD, but, rather when the hornline toned it down. The beginnings of the first and third movements of their production can only be described as "lovely" - with a warm, peaceful sound that flows across the stands like a warm tidal pool at dawn. Several audience members around me let out simultaneous "oooohhhss". The splendid musicality of the Vanguard brought them a win in the GE Music subcaption. Jim Casella's drumline were some crispy critters tonight, taking the drum caption on the strength of another squeaky clean performance. SCV probably will not have the most demanding drum book (marching or playing) this year, but it will be tough to play much cleaner than them. SCV's major weakness on the scoresheets is in GE Visual, which tonight accounted for 1.1 of the 1.7 gap behind Blue Devils. The gap can be attributed to several factors. First, the drill has also been plagued with several holes - I counted three tonight. SCV has a full hornline, but various injuries have prevented the corps from marching the full 64-man complement all season. Another member of the corps was driven away in an ambulance following a post-performance seizure (I was told he'll be O.K.), so expect holes for at least the next week. Second, as mentioned in earlier posts, the drill is not as demanding as it could be. I must say, however, I am being very nit-picky here; the drill IS entertaining and works very well - it just isn't quite state of the art (IMHO). Finally, a part of the spread must be thanks to BD's guard. SCV has a wonderful guard that complements the show well - but they are just no match for the flashy Blue Devils. Following this weekend's performances, I must slightly reevaluate my predictions for these two corps. Last week, I said SCV was a Long-shot for the Top 3. Based upon the improvement I saw in one week, and the long way this show can go before maxing-out, I would say they now have a "shot" at the Top 3. Blue Devils are not a "lock" for the Top 3, but they certainly have an inside track right now. There is little doubt that BD has the talent (in all sections) to ensure a top 3 showing, it is just a question of whether the staff will provide a vehicle to get them there in mid-August. Velvet Knights appear to have added about half-a-dozen horns since last weekend, bringing the total to the mid-50's. They also are up to about 14 in the guard, although not all of the girls have been worked into the show just yet. The hornline executed their book much better than last weekend, but they still have quite a way to go before they can be considered Top 12-caliber. The same can be said about the marching - I noticed members out of step at numerous times throughout the program. The lines are straighter, but not close to perfect. The guy with the cheesy monster mask has disappeared from the show, and during the afternoon rehearsal, VK was practicing with a much larger "monster". I cannot comment on whether this "monster" or its antics are humorous, because the costume was incomplete, and frankly, the member inside was struggling just to walk around in the large contraption. I noticed tonight that VK has virtually no "antics" in the show right now - after the spaceman appears during "2001", he disappears. The only other attempted humor in the show is the "Darth Vader Dance" near the end. I can only assume that the staff will try to inject comedic elements into the show over the next few weeks. I also noticed during the afternoon that this VK corps is quite a bit younger than past editions. This could be an explanation for their early-season execution problems. But although they are young, they are sure working hard. They have a long way to go, but they seem to be up to the challenge. I spoke with a few members after the show, and they were not worried about the scores. Instead, they spoke about how much they are enjoying the summer entertaining crowds and making new friends. I was glad to see that these kids are discovering the true meaning of drum corps. VK placed third tonight, and third in all captions, with a 66.5. The first competing corps tonight was the Division II Pacific Crest from Diamond Bar. The corps has made great progress in this, their third season of competition. The crowd was very impressed by PC's 30-person drumline and pit. This groups is quickly approaching open-class quality, and they would be there already if they practiced open class hours. The drumline consistently beat out Mandarins and Vanguard Cadets during the past month. The 21-person hornline was also suprisingly effective, most likely due to the excellent balance of the line: 6 sops, 4 mid-voices, 8 baris, 3 contras (if I counted correctly). Crest played an entertaining show of selections from the musical "Jeckyl and Hyde." Pacific Crest ended their season here tonight, but appears poised to make a big jump next year. The talent is there - in fact, several members will finish this season with open class corps that need to fill a few holes. All that PC needs right now are more members in the hornline and guard. When PC finally decides to tour outside of California, you folks back east will be pleasantly suprised. Pacific Crest scored 72.4. To open the show, the crowd was treated to exhibitions by two first year corps: Nightfire from Los Angeles, and Westcoast Sound from San Diego. Both corps are small (less than 30 members), but the kids are extremely enthusiastic. I must commend both the members , for putting on inspired performances, and the crowd, who rewarded these performances with hearty applause. I can't wait to see how these corps grow in the years to come. Big personal "thank yous" go out to Stefanie Kressaty (ScribeToo@aol.com) who scored me a pair of PRIMO tickets, and DCWest's Tom Hope, who provided me with a recap sheet. Finally, for those of you attending the show next year, I highly recommend "Rosie's Cafe" on State Street, which serves food and LIVE jazz music into the wee small hours of the night. We stumbled in here for some post-show refreshments (as did a few of the judges) and had a great time.
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