packwick

cool to see Cavies closing the gap a little on that "fight for 5th" grouping of phantom, mandies, and cadets. went from thinking they were overrated musically to underrated after Houston.

Devs open up spread back to 2 pts in ATL. it's ovah!! ovah, i tell u! i mean it kinda already was but now it's double underlined. scores look like id have them. my top 3 have been devs, bloo, and crown for a while now despite reaaaaally loving Boston's first standstill. vis clean for Boston but just doesnt quiiiite match the majesty of the music for me, maybe reflected in vis GE vs mus GE tonight. bloo still needs to figure out music but vis and vis effect could keep them top 3. crown pretty all around excellent esp musically despite perc, only thing is that the show isn't the most imaginative thing in the world and could prob have seen it performed 10 yrs ago if it weren't for all the costumes lol. kinda the same situation for Boston's Cartwright show w/o the oomph of all the flags. Devs and Bloo's designs are more RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW! lol (read: outdoor winter guard shows)

also they're intensely analyzing Crown over Crusaders LOL. im just like, u do realize that this is a very subjective activity and a completely diff panel of judges can give different results right? lol. especially when the groups are already obviously close in quality.

im on a Discord server w/ some band directors and they're talking about miking select members of brass throughout the entire show. never heard of this before. does this happen in high school too? seems kiiinda sus to me lol. woodwinds, i know the miking has been going on w/ the top bands since just after 2000, but brass? i feel like brass is loud enough in ensemble moments w/o miking. don't mind it for soloists. i like that brass can play more warmly and delicately w/o needing to force the sound up to the pressbox.

also if u swing by a McDonald's on ur way home at midnight bc ur craving something cool and sweet like a hot fudge sundae don't bother bc of course the ice cream machine will be "down" and you'll end up getting a cinnamon roll instead that's clearly been sitting around all day bc it's room temp and as dried out as a mummy.

juuust got back after an hr drive back down to houston from the woodlands. popped a rizatriptan, live band events always give me a migraine for some reason, hmmm, could it possibly be all the blasting? lol nice to see the corps live, it's always like stepping into a dream seeing band shows under Friday night lights. colors are more *~sparkly and vivid, visual details are clearer. overall my opinions of the corps are preeetty much the same as from watching the pirated stream vids, which i guess is a good sign that they're reliable, for me anyway. things i liked i still liked, things i didnt i still didn't. biggest change of my opinion = Cavies. they floored me tonight. they sound niiight and day better than they did at that 1st contest where they sounded like a hot mess lol. major major improvements and the Saucedo arrangement is consistently interesting and melodic and very nostalgic. i loved it. their music content scores should be higher. i would have had them 4th tonight, totally unexpected for me. Mandies... my first time seeing this one. i get why ppl like it, but for me musically it lacks nuance, dynamics, attention to detail compared to literally every corps that came after them. they approached everything musically w/ a sledgehammer, boom boom boom, it was like Texas loud blasty. i really didn't enjoy it much but everyone else around me did. some cool wow vis moments like the rotating set pieces w/ the drill weaving between them. costumes are nice, but having so many different ones on the field made it seem busy at times, i had trouble figuring out where the designer wanted me to focus. surprised none of those performers that got spun around barfed at the end LOL. audience loved it. thought the Colts had an all around solid show, not quite any wow moments like the other top dawgs but still generally appealing. after Mandies gave me a headache i found Colts' more dynamic approach to music refreshing frankly lol. Star's ballad was my first wow musical moment of the night, soooo so so sooo beautifully performed. still don't care 4 the park and bark near the end, the guard is just too dirty to keep my interest, kind of a persistent issue imo, all sloppy all over place. all their vis scores will go up w/ a cleaner guard performance. looks a little cluttery too. drill at the end is very cool and the green costumes really sparkle. Crown was awesome, def 2nd place overall tonight. i would have had them 1st in both brass and music ensemble. just wooonderful control and warmth and nuance and attention to detail w/ the dynamics, also super difficult stuff. lots of goosebump musical moments, visual program not the most colorful or varied, kinda dated too, but performed the heck out of it. ballad through ending still drags. still love the costumes, storytelling a little hokey but whatevs. they were like 4 pts better for me than all the corps before them. Blooooo, luv the visual program for the most part but musically both Crown and Devs had them beat pretty clearly imo, reflected in perf and music leaning GE scores. not quiiite there yet in music performance + pacing/arrangement issues. heard even more William Blake poem snippets than i expected if that's even possible lol, often seemed unnecessary and intrusive. they should cut back on em. still don't love the big hit of the ballad or the t-bone section. ballad still sounds like a too simple pop tune arranged for brass when heard live. thinner, less luxurious sounds in general compared to the Devs who went before them, expected that based on the vids. rhythmically not totally locked in tonight either. generally more imaginative and varied musically and visually than Crown. cleanest guard tonight. ceiling = higher but there need to be significant perf improvements and music design adjustments to medal. Devs obvi 1st, obvi the most effective and cleanest visually, if i had babies i would have thrown them after their ballad. best moment of the night by a mile, which i knew it would be after seeing the vids. again again again they're just so smart about how they design, they cut-out the fat (lol) so that there's almost never a dull moment musically or visually, plus they just know how to make giant moments that are better than anyone else's. easiest show of the top 3 imo but they're reaaaal smart about it. park and bark or essentially park and bark on the cut-outs on side 1 while something interesting visually happens on side 2. was pointing it out to my mom the whole time, also how the drill was usually slower paced w/ smaller step sizes. didn't look too demanding to me but it was clean clean clean and very effective. really it was only at the end when they were running around in circles and playing where i was like, ok that looks more like what the others are doing in difficulty lol. ending overall still kinda meh. colors really pop tho. Seattle Cascades, im happy theyre rebuilding, i remember going to a band convention in Seattle in high school, def recall that the programs in the Pacific Northwest were not as far along as others in the Midwest and esp Texas. hopefully having a corps there will help motivate a lot of youngsters to work work work. not the best performance tonight, just kind of pure mud musically lol. kiiinda harsh to say it that way but yeah. my honest opinion is that they probably wouldn't even make regular BOA regional finals at one of the TX events, def not at San Antonio. not really what id expect in DCI world class. might be better served by open class as they build build build up.

at los cucos w/ Ma, then headin over to Tomb All. i'll let ya know how it goes.

hey at least there were a few minor chinks in the Devs' armor tonight despite winning by 1.5 points LOL. 2nd in guard, losing to Bloooo! actually really happy for Bloo's guard, ive long thought they've been under credited for how well they blend the movement w/ the equipment, so fluid looking. many ppl just focus on the really obvious trick tosses, they should be looking at more than that. M Turner is a longtime movement judge for wgi, effect too i think. wonder if that's what he picked up on. 2-4 will be fun again. still think Bloooo's production prob has the highest ceiling but the perf captions need to be there. haven't seen Boston in a while, will need to catch up, loved their music, visual less so.

lolol. silence is golden. Bloo's shows are designed for indoors w/ all that electronic soundscaping stuff. always translate better inside. also why it's no big surprise a major criticism of Bloo is that they're becoming too WGI-ish. personally i love the Devs' visual program, it's colorful, clear, well balanced w/ all the elements on the field, interesting, sometimes beautiful, varied. even right away like when those sinuous follow-the-leader forms rigidify into boxes, suuuper cool and contrasty. sure there are def some recycled elements, but every drill writer does that, it's what makes Murphy's style his own. broken arrow tonight. frankly nothing about the comp aspect will be exciting unless the Devs lose LOL.

hmmm... maaaybe. they sounded good in May but... stiff competition. at least ill have the guard to watch if i think the drill writing is meh lol. not sure how much of what i saw will actually be in the show but if they do end that full ensemble flag phrase w/ that pop toss connected immediately to the one-handed double 45, i'll be gagging.

there are some vids of little rock on yt. i agree w/ bloo over crown but im not like 100% in love w/ the show yet. it loses me from the big hit of the ballad thru the chaotic t-bone "priests in black gowns" section. ballad starts out beautiful and intimate and evocative but the climax is meh, too thin, too simple, sounds like a pop tune arranged for brass, which is what it is, and the visual isn't big enough. contrast it w/ the Devs' ballad which is also a pop tune but is so much richer harmonically that it almost sounds like it was originally written for brass, plus the melody has more of an obvious contour like you're taught a "good melody" has in music theory class during basic part writing. tbone part is a fun contrast at first but goes on too long, belaboring its point, and just isn't that interesting musically or visually. i would shape the heck out of that ending drill, have the black butterflies all converge to a single central point or something at the end with that final descending glissando, it just looks so lazily staged right now. but yeah besides that i like the show quite a bit lol

Bloo overtook Crown tonight. they may/will probably go back and forth but Bloo will prob end up 2nd by August. their show is just more interesting and imaginative overall, musically and visually. higher ceiling. better designers. which is kinda a pity cause Crown performs so well. Devs won every single judge over Crusaders and overall by 1.5 pts. no surprise. Crusaders did great, but Devs are on a different level again, at least for the 1st half of the show. def some inflation here relative to Little Rock tho. i don't believe nooot even for one second that Crusaders are 2 points ahead of Crown right now after losing to them less than 2 weeks ago. not happenin. they may beat Crown at the next meetup but it won't be by that much.

oh Pearland is missing too. still will be very very competitive tho.

is it "only" Coppell, Flower Mound, and Keller that will be missing in this yr's finals compared to last? too lazy to check and compare. supposedly Hebron and Marcus are still going.

twhs is going to this one? veeerry interesting. snarky first thought: they must be sick of winning a regional LOL. buuut it'll be nice to see em up against some big dogs early season. guessin' they prob want the extra time to learn their show. they were like two-ish weeks behind last year compared to previous years, reeally freaked me out, well as much as hs marching band can freak me out LOL. they still only had through the drum break by Lone Star and it was really dirty. wasn't until area where i was like, oh okay they're fine they'll prob get 5th at San Antonio lol. dunno if im gonna wanna go to this one tho. last time the stadium was suuuuuper hot and suuuuper noisy with all the sounds from behind the stands. buuut it does go up really really high which is nice for GE. suuuuper competitive contest. probably hanging w/ BOA Austin.

Avon, Blue Springs, Brownsburg, Carmel, CTJ, Hebron, James Bowie, Keller, Pearland, Round Rock, TWHS, and William Mason. def a chance for Fishers, Dripping Springs, and maaaybe Homestead? dunno. small bubble. tx could put 7+ in finals this year. fishers prob most likely to ruin it lol.

oh honey they're def fair. when i force myself out of a GE mindset and pay specific attention to difficulty, like simultaneous moving and playing responsibilities, the Devs are clearly below Coats and Crown, Coats' brass tone quality in particular def suffers from the challenges of the drill, w/ thinner less controlled sounds. Devs have more park n bark, and when they are moving + playing it honestly mostly doesn't look that challenging to me compared to the others. id bet a lot of money the high school shows i marched in back in the day had a higher percentage of simultaneous marching and playing time than the Devs' show this year, including while jazz running forwards and backwards playing rhythmically irregular Bartok music. ofc our drill was filthy, poorly attuned to the needs of the 8 hr restriction, and largely ineffective too but that's a different conversation LOL. the golden trick is to keep your show mostly easy compared to the others AND keep it super effective. we're def not in the Cavies 2002 era anymore where the marching and playing demands are INSANE but they still somehow get it squeaky clean.

BD startin' to suck the fun out of the competition aspect again, at least for gold. 2 pts aheada Crown/Coats, about a point and a half aheada Crusaders, hopefully it's a liiittle inflated tho im in agreement they belong on top right now. Devs' staff have an understanding of how to design for both max effect and max cleanliness, really those two things are symbiotic. Devs do the "moments of difficulty" thing without overtaxing themselves, kinda like what texas bands should be doin w/ the 8 hr rule, while still giving us layered staging, a little dash of strange imagination (despite repeatedly picking a famous artist for their overall theme), and those goosebumpy super emotional peak moments. other teams don't quiiite have that understanding, not so consistently anyway, so it seems a liiittle more like luck when they happen to knock it out of the park. le sigh. maybe one day...

only 0.4 points separating 1st to 3rd is intenssse lol. i woulda had Bloooo on top tonight which i didn't think heading into the comp. there's a level of imagination in the vis and music that's not quiiiite there yet in the others. also i like that they're exploring the meaning of the poem which gives the show some intellectual depth. end of the opener and closer are exhilarating, loses me during the splatty trombone section. i like the costumes, very colorful and flowy, it's like something Stevie Nicks would wear lol. in a good spot on top in GE w/ room to grow in performance. Crown's brass still unmatched imo. lots of close attention to detail in how everything is phrased. great balance b/w sections and clean technique too. the drill is very pretty, lots of intricate follow the leader stuff moving across the field, tho a little samey. guard is outstanding, next level fo sure. love love looove the costuming, lots of personality, looks masc and heroic lol. show still kinda loses me from the ballad onward, just not the most gripping or melodic thing. lots of dead air followed by lots of pointless sounding brass technique, well i guess not pointless, it's designed to impress, but even as a one-time extremely talented brass musician im more inclined to oooh and ahhh over stuff that's interesting and artsy than technically challenging. Boston's music right now > visual for me tho they were 1st in ens visual including composition, so def some ppl appreciate the clean simplicity of it. the music is toootally alive and expertly performed, the visual is more basic by comparison. def think one easy thing to do to make it more interesting is to add more color, like some vibrant blue flags. color palette reads very white right now, go figure lol. that ending statement needs to be way bigger too, hard for me not to think of twhs 2016 where the epicness of the visual matched the epicness of the music. drum break thru jaunty sailor stuff should be a little more formed visually, less scattered park and bark. the end of that section is suuuper super fun and exciting musically but then they just stand there, thats not what i see when i hear the music. can still see it medaling w/ some improvement. the most championship looking and sounding thing ive seen so far is the Devs' show thru the ballad which is bonkers good, not so much after that tho lol.

stiiill think Boston's music effect is #1 overall, don't think ill be changing my mind about that despite some impressive peaks in the other 3 contenders' shows, coughBothSidesNowcough, but i think the visual side may leave them vulnerable to Devs, Coats, and Crown. just a liiiiittle toooo simple in parts, nooot in terms of demand but in terms of layering/intricacy, tho that could help w/ clarity later. kinda got Broken Arrow vibes sometimes, simple shapes but in a sea of rifles instead of flags lol. works in BOA, we'll see if it works in DCI. guard is impressive but also super toss-happy, would like to see them explore a more musical blending of the movement and equipment in spinning phrases. if this were wgi id say they're sacrificing a bit of variety and range at the altar of difficult and risky tosses.

first half of Devs' show is stellar. the ballad is MAGNIFICENT. like prob gonna be one of the best ever. but then like everything after that is pretty random sounding right now lol. gonna have to make it a little more coherent. cut out set pieces are pretty appealing imo. i like how they pop up and how the marchers pass through them and whatnot, plus all the assembling.

also i wanted to say how much im liking the Coats' oomphier brass this year compared to last, lots more of those big full powerful chord moments. the buildup to them is great too. end of opener and closer are magical and goosebumpy. lots of environmental challenges too having the members all spread out like that across the field so frequently.

yettt another kinda hippie dippie show from the Coats w/ electronic soundscapes and rhythmically pulsed spoken word and tarps that envelop the sides of the field and elaborate costuming. nooot breaking any new ground but lots of really cool and effective moments. glad to see they kinda sorta explore the darker side of the Blake poem. very funereal in that middle section. overall a pretty consistently interesting and appealing show. visual looked a little busy and cluttered to me but it'll prob look better when u can actually see the tarps from higher up indoors. i just wish the drill were more consistentlyyyyy, uhhh, pretty? Vanderkolff's style is clear and logical but also very blocky with lots of blocky lines and scampering lol. been hoping for something a little more elegant and Gainesian for like 20 years. it's just not his style lol. guard very expressive, very fluid. i like contrasting this more reserved style w/ like the Blue Stars style of guard we just saw, which was like a lot of frantic spinning and tossing that didn't always seem very musical to me and also introduced a lot of dirt. Coats have a very musical and lyrical style. some tricky stuff too like all that flag exchange partnering stuff in the ballad. i'm thinking Crown prob would have beaten this yesterday by like a point or something, just a little bit more polished, but could see Coats growing like last year. aaaand Boston just crossed a 77 in their 1st show, guessing the visual is as good as the music based on that lol. im expecting frontrunner status along w/ Devils probably, we'll see.

well Crown was clearly at least 2 points better than the competition. after i saw it i was like, hmmm, at least two, maybe even 3. not sure it's championship quality but def the best tonight. clear medal contender. they'll at least get 4th again. Stars' brass and music scores are uh quite something. i like a lot of the Cavies' music, i think the arrangement is frequently inspired tho sometimes busy, and let's face it, it provides some major nostalgia boners for the old timers. but performance? performance?! gurl(s), no. like, Sure, Jan, that's my response to this judging lol. Cavies simply did not belong ahead of Star in brass and music ensemble besides maybe for their opening statement. overall it was a hot mess tonight, the poor things. hopefully it improves tho bc there's lots to like about the show. excited to see what a completely new panel thinks. didn't get that tonight.

actually i guess my mom did offer to let me use her acct, she was texting yesterday to gush about how much she loved Phantom. won't deprive her tho. im in no big rush to see everything.