packwick

sorry i don't. i guess i could screen capture the soundless one but not really worth it. that's the guy!! lol

Hebron sounds great!!! opening is some really heroic cinematic sounding brass fanfare. so technical and accomplished again. love to hear Reflections of Earth again too!! even more nostalgic Reagan stuff!!! this time from 2001! lol

supposedly they have like 75 guard members this year which is crazy!! but yeah they looked really really good in the muted video, hanging w/ the best imo. i remember thinking their upstairs vis was clean last year prior to Conroe, think they ended up 2nd across the board in visual. could make a little splash at Katy methinks if the music is solid. my first thought also about ctj, seems more manageable to get clean, miiight be a good choice for them, we'll see. def think they're cleaner than Ridge and Reagan right now, and have much more show fielded than twhs. still over a month til BOA Katy tho. that one's gonna be reeeeal competitive.

and here's Reagan https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YkkHbiEGhi4&pp=ygUfcmVhZ2FuIHNtaXRoc29uIHZhbGxleSBmb290YmFsbA%3D%3D that little cosmic swirly kaleidoscope drill in the middle of the field near the beginning is such nostalgic 2002 vibes, brings tears to my eyes.

i wasn't sure the news station archived vids but it turns out they did for the CTJ vs Judson game. https://www.ksat.com/video/big-game-coverage/2023/08/26/johnson-vs-judson--08/25/2023-bgc-football-archive-/ ctj looks and sounds great!! all very sophisticated. didn't hear the title clearly, audio is a little muffled, might need to put in some earbuds.

oooo y'all i think Bridgeland might be the real deal. watched the soundless Bridgeland and Cy-Fair game lol. both looked very good, but Bridgeland in particular was, like, stunningly good visually. so layered and interesting and well performed. that guard is going. to. be. a. threat. they opened w/ this like full field black flag feature, full size 6 foot poles, and it was shockingly clean. rifles were reallllly on point too. just reaaaalllly consistently engaging to watch the whole visual package. gotta hope the music matches it, could be a great yr for them. unless im confusing them w/ CyFair LOL. i think CyFair were the maroon ones. they were also very good. have these curved white set pieces the band moves around. ofc u really need the music to know.

alllllrighty now that ive seen first videos from everyone, time to RANK THEMMMM!!! bc that's what we do here right??? /s *me setting Hebron's soundless video to I Like Your Booty (But I'm Not G@y) by the Insane-o-Flex and diligently assigning them a score*

no i like that they're very much safety 1st. but maybe ask around how others in the district are coping. i guess it wouldn't be a real *~*Day Danse*~* w/o 100+ degree weather!! LOL anywho, back to topic.

that ballad is lovely. im looking at that set in the thumbnail right now asking myself, is that a Wes show??? lol. classic drill form.

oh yeah the weather def sux but they're also far from the only ones dealing w/ that. did u see how much North Shore performed at the same game?!! maybe NS has an indoor facility from trickle down football funds that have been generously gifted to the band. we all know that's the only way it would work LOL. bands are an afterthought. btw north shore looked and sounded great!! nobody has mentioned them yet!!! i was pretty impressed. back to the topic, just find the pace of learning kinda strange. ultimately worked out for them last year. and my overall impression is more positive this yr despite them only performing like a parent exhibition amount of show.

i watched the VYPE and the ihsfan vid for CedarP and CedarR. i think in the vype one the sports guys disrespectfully talk over Ridge but then shut up for Park, who is LOUD and in charge. reminded me a lot of last yr which is probably a good thing for them. the other vid seemed to show Ridge performing through their ballad which is nuts. they sounded good in the ballad also, variations on a theme by Paganini unless im confusing the two bands. preeeetty beautiful and expressive already. the LISD schools all look great and have lots on the field already, wish i coulda heard em. FloMo remains the masters of the symmetric drill, this time w/ lots of big ensemble flag moments, lots of visual volume. guard is really looking good for a first show, maybe even kinda sorta chasing twhs a little. Marcus is looking real clean again and their guard is solid. Hebron starts out in these like three big ovals that unwind. im wondering if there'll be some set piece thing in the center of them. really liking what im seeing, lots of nice layering, im sure they sound great too. guard not as strong as the other two yet but may be slower to start. the good news about twhs is that i like the opening fanfare quite a bit and will probably like it more w/ set pieces and maybe some leg capes or whatever on the guard, kinda looks like they're picking fabric up. bad news is that they performed the least amount of drill of any of the 20+ bands i watched and the least ive ever seen from them at a first game. 2nd mvmt also pretty boring and robotic even at the standstill. guard looked good tho, like they time traveled from October lol. go figure. anyone have any insights on why they're a bit behind learning the show this yr and last? just a new approach of holding back? i for one think u need to give the kids every public performance opportunity possible to build confidence even if it's dirty. def was concerned when it took them until Oct 18th last yr to perform their full show for the first time publicly.

oh yah Texan Live has def expanded its range. takin another look. they'll also have Duncanville, Leander, Rouse, Round Rock, Pearland, CyWoods, Bridgeland, College Park, Klein Oak tonight. soooo annoying about the audio. could have been a good one-stop shop.

texan live streams bunches of games but i learned after paying 12 bucks for a month that they mute halftime for copyright reasons. oh wellz. was trying to see 7 lakes. well i guess technically i saw them lol. looks like they'll have both Hebron and FloMo tonight, thought it was only H-town so kinda surprised. was curious if the sound is still on when it's live but ill be at a fancy steakhouse tonight w/ my sister so prob won't be watching anything live. seems like they sometimes forget to mute. KSAT12 will stream CTJ tonight. u might have to watch it live. not seeing post event recordings. woodlands online will have twhs, tho they often do a crappy multicam that's like 80% close ups. did high-ish cam for Grand Oaks last night tho. other CISD schools too.

also the crown to start Vista's show. lol, wonder where ive seen that before??? sly little nod there, love it. Iconic. ICONIC. both vista and bowie were hot messes visually, same as everyone else in August in TX, couldn't really tell what was going on a lot of the time. too early to project any future success obviously. i'll keep u posted lol. ill know when theyre cleaner!!

luv luv luuuuv Bowie's music, esp the opening part, so expressive. gettin lots of pcep 02 vibes w/ the Danielpour too.

yeah there's gonna be a lot of last minute schedule adjustments i think. they need an indoor training facility like Carmel has lol. actually Brett was looking into that back in the day but def it was a pipe dream. the indoor activity is the future, no question.

lol wtf. had to look this up. would be cool, i dunno, maybe, seems like it would be expensive to make him, he's very detailed. preeetty sure they're doing the benches, saw a lot of curved movable platforms. sounded a'ight at their recent exhibition. some struggling trumpet stickouts but vid was filmed at floor level way off to the right side. only did the first minute. no outside drill. prob too hot. Trollgirls 2 for sure. also Coppell's, Pearland's, and Dripping Springs'.

the devs will deserve the win if they pull it off but i hope there's an upset, at least in semis lol. it would be exciting.

https://m.facebook.com/photo.php/?fbid=307028735037541

twhs' show is called Day Danse. features the music of Chick Corea. visual inspired by Parc Guell/Gaudi Park in Barcelona.

judges got the top 3 right. what/how splits seem to indicate Bloo could move up w/ a stronger performance tho i think the finals panel is probably favorable for Crown. still a pretty obvious visual ge/music ge judge split for Bloo vs Crown. so much for judging w/ the same sheet eh? Chumley had Devs in 2nd and Bloo in 1st so everyone can stfu about him now lol.

CHUMLEYYY!!! lol ive been stalking DCP this season and really don't understand why theyre on his a** all the time. nothing super weird in his previous DCI scoring, like at all. no wtf gaps. maaaaybe in 2002 he really threw the contest for Carmel at BOASA via VisGE, think that was him, dont know why the f*** i remember that 20 years later, but i also kinda agree w/ it in retrospect. Carmel was clearly more effective than Bell visually lol. my fav thing to do now is follow the live forums comments, watch the leaked YT vids, be like lol wtf were those ppl watching, look at the recaps, be like ok the judges generally got it right, then go back to the forums and read the meltdowns over the judging lolol. doesnt help that theyre all biased and clearly have corps they're rooting for lol

it'll be a blast. let us know what u think after!! interested in your thoughts on the live performances. imma be scavenging for YT vids.

Bloo capturing a few 1st places in GE last night at Allentown over the Devs after direct comparison miiight bode well for their chances of medaling at worlds. we shall see...

hmmmmm i might bristle a little bit at the suggestion that judges care much about reputation. maaaybe the younger or more inexperienced ones? def Marie Czapinski didn't give a s*** about it when she put Blue Springs 1st in visual GE in 2013 at SA lol, or when John Phillips had Harrison 1st in music GE at Nats that same year. also "clearly better" is soooo subjective imo. we might think oh my gosh that band has really reeeaally bad tuning or tone quality right there while the judge on his tape is focused on how dynamic the music is or how consistent the articulations are between the choirs or whatever. we have no idea what the judge is focused on at any given moment w/o hearing his tape. makes it hard imo to judge the judge. ofc this won't stop me from complaining when i think they're wrong LOL. in the wgi judge manual we're told to encourage the A guards, appreciate the Open ones, and "learn from" the World guards, im paraphrasing, don't remember the exact wording. but there's a point buried in it, it's that we learn what the "best" is by watching the best groups. i think in some cases that may make it difficult for a new group w/ a different style to break through if the judges have been trained on a small handful of groups that keep winning, it shapes their opinions on what the best content "should" look like. it's not really a reputation thing exactly, maaaybe more of a stylistic thing in some cases.