A Passing Summer Fancy.

I could win hundeds of dollars in bar bets, with this one. I bet you can't guess my favorite genre of music.
Go ahead. Guess. (immediate family and close friends are disqualified)
Hmmm. You think something ecclectic and obscure, that's probably what it is.
"Bluegrass?"
No.
"Jazz fusion?"
No.
"Barbershop quartet?"
Nope.
"Psychedelic Funk, you know George Clinton. Acid Rock. Parliment. That kind of stuf right?"
Not even close.
"Gregorian chants?"
Niet.
"Oh God, not ... ska!?"
No. Wait what's wrong with ska?
"They use stupid intstruments instead of guitars."
Stupid instruments? Like trombones and saxaphones?
"Yeah, and trumpets. Totally awful stuff."
Worse than key-tars?
"Key-tars rule, okay! You don't know what you're talking about!"
Right anyway it's drum and bugle corps.
"What's that?"
It's like a marcing band.
"God that's even worse than ska."
No, it's not! And, hey, there's nothing wrong with ska either.
"Yeah, if you have no musical taste whatsoever."
How was jazz-fusion acceptable and ska isn't?
"Totally different. You don't know what you're talking about."
Anyway. A drum and bugle corps (that's pronounced "core" not "corpse") or, more commonly drum corps. Is like a marching band except they don't have woodwinds, flutes, saxaphones, clarines that kind of thing. It's just brass instruments and percussion. Except they don't just entertain football crowds and march in parades. They put on shows full of action, theatrics, and fun. It's a musical extravaganza played out with the energy of a sport. Like if someone mixed those cheerleading competitions with a Broadway musical, a military band, and a track and field meet. No other performance is as big and loud and wonderful live as a great drum corps show.
"Sounds totally lame."
IT IS NOT, OKAY! You sure use "totally" a lot what are you some kinds of lame '80's surfer?
"Totally."
Okay, Spicoli, whatever. The highest level of drum corps competition is the Drum Corps International World Final, held once a year. Now, to partticipate in DCI you pretty much have to be between the ages of 16-21 years old. You audition for a corps and then spend your summer touring with them, competing at different shows, sleeping on gym floors, eating all your meals out of the back of a reconverted RV, and generally having a miserable time. But for ten minutes a night, when you're on the field it's worth it.
"So, did you do ever do this?"
No, I tried out once, but life had other plans for me.
"So you weren't good enough?"
I think I was. But most people aren't good enough to play in the NFL or tour with the Stones, that doesn't mean they can't be fans.
"Yeah . . . but"
But, what?!
"But the Stone and football are cool, this is . . ."
Totally lame. I know, I know. Trust me you aren't the first person to tell me that. So DCI held their World Championships a few weeks ago. The competition was close all throughout the season but the Cadets from Bergen County New Jersey won the title. Their show was supposedly this really weird performance piece, like someone made a Twilight Zone music video. It had dream sequences, freaky music, some special effects, and costumes to make it look like the people we're facing forward when they were facing backward. It was crazy and wild and like nothing else a drum corps had ever done before. I wish I could have seen it live. The DCI champion tends to do something really fantastic no one every tried before. They put a lot of weight on being innovative and daring, rather than just tooting through a bunch of old Sousa marches.
"Hey, when you put it like that it sounds . . ."
Totally lame. I know, I know.
"Yeah, but not as totally lame as it used to.
Thanks that's all I want people to say.
The point of all this was to congratulate the Cadets and encourage people to check out the DCI TV special coming up on September 6th at 10pm Eastern on ESPN2 (check it out at http://www.DCI.org/2npse/) . Here's a news segment on the DCI Finals from the CBS Evening News. Be warned though it's drenched in liberal bias.