Field and Floor

How are you ... beret?

Shock and Awe from Phantom Regiment, as the corps announces that after 29 years, the helmets are gone! First, the corps went all gushy, replacing its regiment-style uniform with all-white View image"costumes" for a few years. Then the machismo returned, when the Drum Corps International champion became the "corps of the night" with an View image all-black version of the gushy white costume. Next, the corps channeled the 27th Lancers, by adding View image khaki weskets to much hoo-hah from the Regiment faithful. So it was back to black last year, with the guard striking a biker chic look, apparently to make it clear that they were not the Phantom Lancers.

But today the announcement comes that the ultimate biker accessory, the helmet, is going the way of the militaristic and artistic beret.

But surely, if the competitive season does not View image">pan out just right for the corps, by the time we get to Denver we can know that the corps will return to helmet, much to the fans' appreciation!

(And the crab walk will be added ... and the wedge returns to the final 30 seconds of the show ... and if things get really, really bad ... STREAMERS!)

4.3.04
Oh, so it was a joke, an April Fool's prank. Which part?

Starbucks' newest location?

On the week that Starbucks announced its intention to more than triple its number of stores worldwide, one of our favorite drum corps offers a prime location!

This makes sense, and probably explains the corps' ability to march at 200 spm.

It's like F&F:FM

And just like the conservatives, you wouldn't have to be afraid. The F&F station would have just as much reach as does radio's newest commodity.

Just don't ever think of squaring this one off with this one!

We all know who'd win that debate.

tired of worrying that pageantry is not on television?

TURN YOUR TELEVISION OFF!

Just like these folks have ... for a week, for the tenth year in a row.

Maybe it will take this time.

don't turn this into slander-fest

Please, this newsgrouper pleads, "I am just seeking some honest response. Thank you for your time."

Of note in the post: "But if the process is to be educational, it seems that there is some work to do."

I think they're missing the point entirely

The only "DETAIL" that matters here, it seems to me (tongue decidedly and firmly in cheek), is that this is one of those fabulous performers in James Logan High School's color guard!

Now View image this, on the other hand, lends itself to full speculation of all types ... what with Penelope Cruz-ing away to Matthew McConahey.

If it weren't a bad thing, it's the sign of a good thing!

Finally, an independent pageantry media outlet that is so popular it literally implodes!
(The link is to Drum Corps Planet.com, which was, on Wednesday evening, totally disabled.)

We'll continue surfing by ... awaiting your return to the cyber-waves.

Good Publicity / Bad Publicity

Read at [www.andrewsullivan.com]

"I never lost sight of the meaning that I have, or would have. And that's why ultimately we have to treat good publicity and bad publicity as being exactly the same. You can't let the good go to your head, because therefore you must - if you are being true to yourself - you must believe the bad. So consequently I don't believe anything. Which is very confusing on Thursday nights." - Morrissey, in the latest GQ.

next up: the salas division

Now just who are all these divisions intended for? And for independent units in the first-level class?

Public Indecency

From [IWantMedia.com]

Q: How do you define broadcast indecency?
A: Marty Kaplan, host of "So What Else is News?," a new program about the media, on Air America talk radio:

"Indecency is the right wing attempting to redefine dissent as unpatriotic.
It's corporate chieftains being shocked that their profit centers depend on sleaze, violence and humiliation. It's audiences complaining about the content they keep lapping up.
It's regulators exempting media from their public interest obligations.
It's pornographers hiding behind the First Amendment.
It's grandstanding politicians going after artists and intellectuals.
It's 11-year-olds' favorite way to taunt their parents.
It's nothing that any of us hasn't heard before."

... and (unfortunately) from pageantry designers who cross that perceived line _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ with young people as the performers.

Not to mention the need for copyright clearances

From [rec.arts.marching.colorguard]

circuit weekend!

For many guards, circuit weekend -- no, no, not that! -- circuit championship weekend (searchable by geographic location) is the biggest, and most important competitive weekend of the season! For the rest, it's the final warm-up for national championships, this year in San Diego, and in mid-April.

Good luck to every unit, in every region, in every circuit, and in every venue across America!

A drum corps "trinity"

News that anyone is attempting to start a new drum and bugle corps is always good, but this news is particularly interesting, given where it was first printed.

Not here.
Not here.
Not here.
Not even here.

But here.

Congratulations!

DCI says we're "unique"

I'm unique; are you?

If you've visited dci.org in the past year, you are, too! At least that's what they say.

So what does that all mean: if you've visited wgi.org in the past year, you're just bored?

Phantom Regiment U

And forever more, it will be known as Rockford College, home of Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps.

SUTA-U!

The original "blogger" dies

Veteran broadcaster and author of "Letter from America," Alistair Cooke dies at 95.

"He was best known to many Americans for his show "Omnibus," which changed the face of U.S. television in the 1950s and for presenting "Masterpiece Theater" on public television.

"He was even gently spoofed on the famous children's show "Sesame Street" as "Alistair Cookie."

Worse than Bush-ites?

Excerpted from a post on rec.arts.marching.colorguard:

I honestly think I have more faith in the integrity of the US government right now than I do the powers that be at WGI.

Than Cheney? Condy? Rummy? Ashcroft? The W. himself?

You're joking; right?

(short)story ... developing

It's morsels, or nuggets, or snippets, or headlines ... the news that many of us like to receive these days. Just listen tp Fox News' Shepherd Smith, sans verbs.

Or pageantry followers.

WGI! COMING TO SAN DIEGO IN THREE WEEKS!

CA GUARDS -- SHOO-INS?

WEATHER. BALMY. FL-LIKE.

CHAMPIONSHIPS IN THE SUNSHINE STATE: WHEN?

Why do I still like Anderson better, though? Oh, it's an age thing!

Perspective

[chrisnull.com]
Color guard show in local competition (left)
Color guard show in San Diego (right)

Coming in just three weeks ... let the soaking begin!

"We've allowed young to define old"

In her commentary on National Public Radio's firing of "Morning Edition" host Bob Edwards, Linda Ellerbee posed that fascinating quote (used as this post's headline).

Plus this: Golda Meir was 71 when she became prime minister of Israel, Michelangelo was 66 when he finished the "Last Judgment," George Burns won his first Oscar at 80, Grandma Moses didn't start painting until she was in her 70s. But they didn't do any of those things in 21st century America, where reality is a television format, celebrity is a profession, and age is a moral failing.

And so it goes in pageantry, as well.