CORRECT TIME AND DATE FOR DRUM CORPS!!!!!!!!

It's all correct now! Don't miss it - you WILL regret it!

Drum Corps Withdrawal

CORRECTION!!!!!!! That's the wrong ad, I know. Drum Corps International Finals will air on ESPN2 on SEPTEMBER 5TH 2006 at 8/7 PM (Eastern/Central)

Last weekend was amazing! I caught semifinals and finals at Camp Randall Stadium here in Madison. It was the perfect end to a terrific season for many of the world's greatest drum corps, as it was also the perfect end to a season in which I got to see a ton of terrific shows (Dubuque, Madison and Rockford - now that I'm within an hour away from DBQ and R-ford).

And yes - finals (in it's stilted, abbreviated version) will be on ESPN2 next month. DEFINITELY check it out. 1st place Cavaliers put on an INSANE show - I loved the shit out of it.

I could go on and on (as you well know), but I'll spare you (unless in the coming weeks I find myself SO withdrawn that I find more great YouTube clips).

This should do the trick

So, I was having trouble finding something that really let you know what drum corps is all about and why I'm so crazy about it. I think this will help you all figure it out.



WHO ARE YOU KIDDING????? The Blue Devils DO NOT FUCK AROUND!!!!!!!!!!! Coming with that drum shit - marching percussion going OFF on the cymbal rack (4:30-5:00 and again at the end), the combined drum rolls - multiple drums playing two parts to one drum roll (very beginning with two snares and at the end with the whole snare line) and the horns KILLING IT. Plus some recognizable Dave Brubeck (Blue Rondo A La Turk at the beginning, and later combined with West Side Story's "Cool" and Brubeck's "Take Five") will help you understand drum corps composition and arrangement.

FIVE DAYS AWAY FROM FINALS - and you can't tell just how damn excited I am.

IMDB - you make it all the easier to understand...

So, I'm on my lunch break today and there's my girlfriend asleep in bed - not uncommon since she works overnight at the TV station. I turn on the TV and the ABC Family Channel is on (because she probably watched Gilmore Girls at 10 AM, as usual). At noon, however, Family Matters is on.



Family Matters - thy name be heroin: addictive and nauseating afterwards. Here's the rub. The show spent years on ABC but went to CBS for a dismal, ill-advised final year. I think I may have been watching an episode from that season (which no one ever saw because we were all in high school and knew then what a horrible idea it was that the show went to CBS.) Having seen nary a moment (okay, I may have watched a show. BUT ONLY ONCE! ONCE!) my jaw dropped to find that Harriet (originally played by Jo-Marie Peyton-Noble France) was A DIFFERENT FREAKING WOMAN!!! Why/how the FUCK does HARRIET GET REPLACED????? No one else says "Carl Winslow!" in a pissed-off tone like J-Mar Pey-No! (Okay, so that abbreviation doesn't work at all. Sorry.)



TV execs at CBS (circa late 90s) - what was your deal? Did "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" set a precedent when THEY switched maternal lead actresses during their last season? Did they really?



Oh and sweet little Judy Winslow who only appeared in the opening credits - she's a porn star now. Way to ruin a little girl's dreams of being on TV for more than three seconds a week and turning her to a life of porn! Shame on you Miller-Boyett Productions...shame...

And one last thing, the episode I watched today featured a character named Myra who was TOO bubbly and obsessed with Urkel. The actress? Died from stomach cancer in 1998. (or so some French website would have me/us believe...)

Family Matters - you have a more fucked-up E! True Hollywood Story than even Diff'rent Strokes. And that's part of the entertainment value, isn't it folks?

Another crappy comedian that I failed to mention earlier.

Greg Behrendt. Granted he knows that he's uncool (considering he has a DVD or CD by that name), but I hate how he tries to demystify men to women in his book,


And any talk show appearance he's done in support of his book, he's done by acting like SUCH a douche! All soft-voiced, nicey-nice and whatnot.

If you're a guy and you're trying to help men understand women - do it while you're dating the women or only if you're gay. No one appreciates a guy divulging how all other guys work, unless women are going to do the same. (which they never will because they chalk it up to "randomness" p in regards to how their minds work.) Thus, men and women should only try to understand each other by interacting with each other instead of trying to beg for answers - that's cheating.

I'd trust Behrendt if he were laying it out matter-of-factly and not giving women the benefit of the doubt (and by wrapping up his info. in a girly pink book cover). If you're not actively trying to figure the opposite sex out and taking the easy way out by reading this book, well then I have no sympathy for you or your growing collection of cats, ma'am.

I just wished I would've been consulted before the actions and thoughts of my gender were explicitly laid out for all to see. I only wish there were more of an even trade-off to the whole thing. That having been said, I can't say that I haven't tried to rationalize another man's actions for a close female friend who has been wanting answers (or to perhaps get closer to said female friend in the process), nor can I say that I haven't ever done shit that was in need of explaining only to have not been able to ("shit" being done, being for example, blowing a girl off, not calling her back, breaking up with her, you know, stuff that's in the past). But MY actions are mine to explain, not to be decoded for easy literary consumption.

Mr. Behrendt, you'll need to report to male headquarters and hand in your license as a practicing male. In exhange, you will be given the entire canon of romantic comedies from 1986 to the present.

The best TV show ever, and proof of it.

In a show OVERFLOWING with comedic genius, this has been (thanks to Andrew Sullivan.com) one of the best clips I've found that I haven't originally watched. It's like she knew what was coming (maybe having been a Daily Show watcher herself). Her icy defenses not withstanding, Colbert stepped up and delivered above and beyond what is usually expected of him. That ending is KILLER. Plus, why is a deomcrat trying to play a round of French-baiting? I don't get it - I didn't think that was naturally the demos style.

Not only is The Colbert Report hilarious, but Colbert is a formidable interview (even outshining Jon Stewart on a regular basis. Stewart tried to cajole with Anderson Cooper recently going off about how he hates cable news to no avail. As much as Stewart is correct, Cooper shot him down for being a bit too glib and over-the-top in his accusations. But shame on Cooper for just being so damn full of gravitas all the time.)

So Colbert is unrelenting in his scathing humor, a great interviewer, but he's a uniter no a divider - no matter how much he plays up the conservative-cable-news-commentator character. Check out him chatting up the NAACP pres. Is that not sweet, yet snarky? How does he do it!!?!!!??!?!



God Bless The Colbert Report.

"I'm in LOVE and I don't care who knows it!" - Buddy the Elf

I love my girlfriend. This is a known fact. But this post does not deal with my love for her. (Sorry, Lisa.) This post deals with my love for drum corps.

Here's my question to you - how, knowing me, can any of you STAND my utter geekiness? One, I'm a giant popular music nerd (not too frowned upon, socially speaking). Two, I read comic books (not so much a "cool" trait). Three, I am/was a film/media major so I get academically geeky about movies and TV (quite an annoying thing to behold, I'm sure). Fourthly, I'm something of an information whore - I thirst for random facts, trivia, new information & knowledge on anything and everything.

But drum corps, and my love for it, rivals the uncoolness of reading comic books. Except I geek the fuck out about drum corps - more than some people (my girlfriend, mainly) would like me to. BUT I CAN'T STOP.

Drum corps, isn't marching band. It's innovative high-art. If you've seen the Broadway show "Blast!", you get a small taste of drum corps (albiet a weird permutation of corps). I can take or leave "Blast!" because drum corps belongs and thrives on the field. It's sensory. In a theatre, you don't get the whole experience, there's not diesel fumes, sunscreen scent, no horn blasts and rim shots echoing off of buildings. You're getting what some producers think is a more palatable and digestable way for more people to get into drum corps (not that I am in ANY WAY against people getting into corps. I wish more people knew about something I love so much.)

I've gone to drum corps shows in Dubuque since I was a kid and I marched three years in the Colt Cadets drum corps (a corps designed to feed trained kids into the Colts drum corps, for slightly older kids). If there was a way I could get paid to march - I'd do it in a second. The fact that kids are out rehearsing 10 hours a day (roughly), slamming through a 12 minute show, and working & toiling over the course of the summer to polish and perfect a show to reach musical perfection is incredible. And while I also hated the hot, hot days where I worked until I couldn't hold up a heavy-ass horn anymore, it was incredibly rewarding and sparked a million great memories. Like the year and half that Nick was a dick to me. (kidding, pal!) Oh, to be in 8th grade again (and not have to deal with too much awkwardness, thanks to being among friends).

I digress. Drum corps (for the most part) consists of crazily arranged music (mainly classical or jazz) that is given beautiful voicings through brass and percussion. And like I said, it's high art - some of the conceptual shit going on in these shows is amazing. (This cannot be said for every corps). It's insane to see corps evolve over a summer as they become one with their show (the music and the marching), all while the show changes around them (corps are CONSTANTLY changing their drill and music in effort to bring the show as close to perfection as possible). Never have musical genres (those of classical and jazz) become so lively, energetic and compelling as they have once they have come onto the field.

I'm not spilling the beans, but 10 or so years from now, a documentary on drum corps would/will be the greatest achievement I ever hope to accomplish.

In the meantime, come with me and enjoy some hot clips that exemplify some of the more exciting parts of drum corps. Here's some Blue Devils drum line warm-up ish.



here's some great Blue Devils pit/frontline and marching percussion business.



And lastly I'll throw you some 1996 Phantom Regiment just so you get a more complete picture of great drill and the full drum and bugle sound. Go to Drum Corps International and check out some great stuff and check out the links to the home pages of drum corps all over the country. Give this stuff a try - it's addictive and engrossing, not to mention exhilarating for viewers of any interest level. FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!!

Who was the world's worst comedian before Jay Davis?

Was it Carrot Top or Mitch Fatel?



Either way, as I said, Jay Davis is the new worst comedian in the world. We're looking at a man who was the opener on Dane Cook's Tourgasm (with two other not-as-crappy openers, Gary Gulman and Robert Kennedy, who are still bad in their own special way) and has given viewers the sense that he has spent the entirety of his career working at small colleges. Any act, musical or comedic (or if you are a magician, acapella group or hypnotist), that does the small college circuit means you pretty much suck all sorts of suckiness and are way too bad at what you do to have any kind of audience that consists of more 22 people. He even looks like he's trying to do some magic shit in some homely college student union.



Not only has the shitty HBO series "Tourgasm" shown Jay to lack the ability to create a rapport with his audience, but the way he struggles through his jokes is just painful and telling of someone who doesn't need to be doing something so poorly. But this is compared to Dane Cook who (as The Onion's AV Club has so expertly pointed out) tries to appear as some sort of comedic messiah.

So there's that to contend with... mediocre comedy somewhere in this world that is being presented on a larger venue thanks to HBO. At least you can change the channel after Entourage (and Lucky Louie).



TOPIC: "Lucky Louie" is an okay show, whereas Louis C.K. is a terrific comedian/writer. Whats up with that? Dear Reader, please don't hold it against him that he directed Pootie Tang and made Lucky Louie. He did write for SNL and Conan, after all!