Back of the Bus: In Traffic
Nothing but brake lights in sight.
Swamp Tour has hit.
Corps are dealing with all the heat and humidity that the Deep South has to offer, and a few of them have also been hit with a stomach bug that kept the Cavaliers and Bluecoats from doing their full productions at one point or another. Even beyond that, more and more holes are showing up as Corps medical teams are doing all they can to contain this in an environment perfect for spreading disease. Send your best, and some extra Vitamin C, to your favorite corps member as we dive into this week’s Back of the Bus.
Pacific Crests?
One of this year’s biggest breakout corps, Pacific Crest, has started to slow down relative to their competitive peers. Last night in Atlanta, they were almost a whole point behind the Blue Knights, a corps they’d beaten by a full two points at BK’s home show in Fort Collins two weeks ago. Dave McGrath, Pacific Crest’s Program Coordinator, undoubtedly has a few tricks up his sleeve to finish the season out strong, but with the Blue Knights coming together and seemingly on the same page now, will that be enough? Or will Goddess suffer the same fate as Everglow and become another beloved show that ends up on the outside looking in?
GEM's Crystal Ball: 2023 DCI Week 4 Finals Predictions
GEM writers and contributors were asked to give their final rankings of the top 15 competing corps, regardless of class, based on where they predicted the corps would end up Saturday night, August 12, 2023.
Time for a Change
We’ve seen massive production changes over the past few weeks. Some intended to beef up content numbers and improve the flow of the show, others to make the performances more achievable. It happens every season, and I’d like to highlight some notable ones here.
The three big B corps (Bluecoats, Blue Devils, and Boston) have all unveiled new or significantly adjusted closers in the past week and a half. Bluecoats and BD brought theirs out this week, and Boston wowed crowds in San Antonio with an enormous whale tail flyover representing the destruction of the Pequod.
Boston also made some changes the other day to the tail end of “Shipping Up To Boston,” which seemed well received by the audience. That said, their changes didn’t particularly seem to go over well with the judges at Atlanta, where they got third* (*subtotal of 4th, but Bluecoats had a penalty that put them behind Boston). We’ll see whether or not this is just an unfriendly panel at their next few meetings. Still, seeing the gap between them and BD increase by almost a point and a half in just one day is pretty stunning.
J. Birney Stories
This weekend is DCI East in Allentown, and if you’ve ever been to one of the nights of Allentown, you’re sure to have a story about J. Birney Crum. Whether that’s the infamous hill, the stands themselves, or any other aspect, there are few more storied venues in the activity currently in use. The fans there can get pretty particular with who they decide to show their appreciation, and if you can get a great ovation out of them, you know you just threw down.
That said, things will look a little different at DCI East this year. DCI sent out an email to quite a few ticket holders, letting them know that due to some acts of vandalism, their selected seats may not be available. Due to its severity, multiple rows of seating have been closed within certain sections. It has been reported that the school district has ordered the requisite material to repair and replace the problem areas, but that did not arrive in time to get everything repaired for this weekend’s shows.
It’s fascinating looking at the lists for both nights of this show, as we have Blue Stars and Troop going head-to-head on Friday and Pacific Crest getting another chance to challenge Blue Knights for that elusive 12th spot. On Saturday, Cadets, Phantom, and Mandarins will all be performing, with Cadets forcing their way over the past week into that top-five conversation. The top 4 will be split over the two nights, with the Blue/oo corps performing on Friday and Boston and Crown battling it out the following evening.
The Value of a Tenth & Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part 1
GEM's Daniel Montoya Jr. discusses Subcaptions, The Value of a Tenth, and gives a mini-review of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part 1. To contribute to The Recap, offer suggestions, and/or ask questions, email us at therecap@generaleffect.media.
Quick Hits
Bluecoats’ .4 penalty in Atlanta last night was due to timing, according to CEO Mike Scott, and has already been addressed.
Crown Percussion in 8th at Atlanta is wild to see, but I would expect this not to become a trend in future years as the design staff gets used to each other.
Shout out to (one of) my home team(s), Heat Wave, for finishing their season strong.
Keep an eye on Colts v. Blue Stars tonight and Blue Stars v. Troop on Tuesday. 9 through 11 seems very up in the air right now.
I was having a great convo in the GEM Slack a week or two ago, and an excellent piece, Paul Hart’s Remembrance, came up. This piece is most closely associated with Madison, but it’s been 25 years since we’ve heard it performed in DCI competition. If the Bluecoats wanted to play it, I personally think that design team’s take on it would be stunning.
This will be sent out before NightBEAT scores are released, so hopefully, there aren’t too many absolute stunners that I miss, but well, I don’t want to send this out at 11p ET. If there are, I’m sure we’ll talk about them on the pod if they get released in time to chat about them, or maybe I’ll put them somewhere else.
OH! If you missed it, we had FloMarching Co-Founder Wesley Sullivan on the pod this past week, it was an excellent conversation, and there was a terrible imitation of a Boston accent at one point. Link for that one is above. Staying on the theme of Boston, we’re going to have former Crusaders Drum Major Hunter Britton on for the episode we’re recording tonight. It should be fun.
Barbenheimer
I did the much talked about/memed about Barbenheimer last weekend. There’s very few experiences like 6 hours sitting in the same seat through two very excellent movies that almost could not be more different.
I started out with Oppenheimer, and I’m not 100% sure that was the right decision in retrospect, but well, what can ya do. Every moment of that production was carefully crafted, and even though they included some moments that have since been alleged to never happen, it was a stunning look into the psychology of a man who made something that many thought was impossible, and enabled the unthinkable, and how that would go on to haunt him for years to come.
Barbie was a little more bright and cheery, though also a tearjerker. I would be stunned if “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish isn’t submitted for awards contention, and it’s the highlight of one of the most emotionally significant scenes I’ve seen this year. I actually went back and saw Barbie again today to get a second read on it, and that scene hit me even harder the second time around. Greta Gerwig killed it, of course, which comes as no surprise to anyone familiar with her work, but it’s still refreshing to see another amazing filmmaker getting her due.
Matthew Carstensen is currently GEM’s Managing Editor. He has been involved in the Pageantry Arts for over a decade as a performer at the highest level, an instructor, and a fan. You can find him on Twitter, Threads, and Instagram at @SatNightLites. He currently lives in Florida with his dog.