GO HAPPINESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I KNEW you could do it, and you brought home your goal. I'm incredibly proud of your growth as people, and your growth as a team this year. Who'd have thought with the rough start you had to this year, that you'd be celebrating now?!?! It was great seeing you guys this week, you made me very proud!
City High, strong close to another strong season. Your show continued to grow and grow after a bad 1st competition. Both your sound and your visuals continued to get better, and a finals placing in a brutal line-up was your reward,...great job! God Bless, Damon Brown
Well I heard a lot of things before seeing any groups this year (kinda shocked from things I heard and saw), and this was my first competition to go to all year.
CR Kennedy - I didn't see in daytime but for finals, I thought you were awesome, it was probably my favorite CR Kennedy show. Congrats on ur GC. I love Kennedy because of their level of energy always. IDK what Damon does, but I love how his groups always have the best energy.
CR Washington - I didn't see in daytime but for finals, I was really impressed with this show. I love Sunday, one of my favorite ballads and it was done really well. I loved the opener as well....overall a really good show. Also I thought you guys had great energy.
Linn-Mar - I saw both performances ( I know people are going to disagree with me on this but oooh well ) Daytime performance, I was a little bored, esp after the ballad. For finals, I thought the show was stepped up a lot, but I felt like 80% of the choir just got botox and had the same face the whole show (I'm really into facials and energy if you don't know) Otherwise, I think that the show was pretty good and I always like to see what you guys do.
Troy - I saw both performances and I thought your daytime performance was better. But the dance solo girl....sooo good and I loved watching her. I really liked the show and facials and energy. The whole show was put together really well.
IC High - Only finals, I was honestly so bored that I couldn't pay attention. So I have no idea what to say for this.
CR Jeff - Only finals, I thought this show was put together well and I enjoyed it.
Finals for me would have been:
CR Kennedy
CR Wash
Troy
Linn-Mar
CR Jeff
IC High
Xavier - Oooh yea I forgot I liked this show better than IC high, but I was kind of disappointed with from what I heard from everyone. I was expecting a lot more so I think that was made me lose interest, maybe. I still don't know if it was finals worthy thought, because I didn't see North or Praire.
QUOTE(Jorge @ Feb 18 2007, 10:42 AM) [snapback]385052[/snapback]
Wrong.
It was announced... "Show Mt. Pleasant how wrong they were, from your SCC friends"
I don't know where you got "GCS", but that is quite false.
sorry bro....sorry for the confussion....someone in our group told me it was GCS...sorry about that GCS....my mistake....once again...good job everyone...why the hate towards everyone...
QUOTE(Jorge @ Feb 18 2007, 10:30 AM) [snapback]385048[/snapback]
Why are you attacking GCS?
Dude...no im not at all...GCS is like show choir god....im just havin a little joke...whys show choir gotta be all serious all the time. lol....I'm just stating the fact that everyone underestimates CR Wash because of the lack of good placements in the past. Linn mar is a great group and maybe people think that they deserve to beat us but in my opinion they didnt...and obviously the judges thought the same way at both mt pleasant and davenport. Cedar Rapids has some amazing show choirs this year and Davenport could have gone 10 different ways. But we kinda got knocked off our horse when we were 6th in the day round and we deff got back on and it gave us some energy.
Congrats to Cr Kenn....you guys are amazing...great show...
QUOTE(GCS_Baritenor07 @ Feb 18 2007, 10:09 AM) [snapback]385039[/snapback]
I still stand by my postings from Mt. Pleasant thank you very much.
As far as results go, congrats to Kennedy, I loved your show in the beginning of the season and I'm happy to see you guys stepped it up.
No man...no hard feelins i was just givin u a hard time.....Everyone did amazing this weekend and it was so close that i think it could have gone anyway. I will hold my coments about shows till i graduate tho.
wow.... what a fun competition!!!! I got to see all of the finalists and Xavier and Davenport North.... The only complaint I have with this competition were the acoustics in the main level of the auditorium. Everyone sounded completely different in the balcony then down on that level. That made it REALLY hard to predict results. Anyways, here's what I thought:
Cedar Rapids Jefferson: I was the most impressed with y'all!!!! Your show was tight, and you had the strongest vocals in my opinion. The downfall of your show in day round (the only time I saw it) was the tap. It just didn't seem like the arrangement was smooth. I felt that you guys would win after I saw you. I was just floored!!!!! Congrats!
Cedar Rapids Kennedy: I was 2nd most impressed with you guys. I had heard that a lot of people didn't like your show earlier in the year so i was expecting blah... Idk what Damon did with you guys this week but you were also AMAZING!!! The energy level was extremely high and that's definitely what carried you to win both the day round and finals. I thought your vocals were a little shouty but obviously the judges didn't think that. I didn't love your diction either. During a lot of the songs I couldn't tell what you were saying. That's really the only thing I would work on with your show. Congrats on two AWESOME performances and your fully-deserved Grand Championship!!!
Cedar Rapids Washington: I love you guys so much. You impressed me so much just because you went last in day round and first in finals. I know y'all were disappointed after finding out the daytime placings, but you definitely came back!!!! Your energy level was so high in finals. You all stepped it up 100% for finals. Every thing the critique judge commented on you did, so a HUGE bravo for that. The faces especially were amazing!!!! lol and the "V"s!! Everything was so clean. I think your ballad was so different from the power ballads EVERY other choir had. I felt your ballad was so nuanced and that made the difference in your show. The diction was impeccable. I could understand all the words, which was not true with all the shows. I'm so glad I came down to Davenport to see you guys! It was awesome. Alicia Simmons and Andrew Chupp are my heroes... just cuz they are!!! Sorry I can't come down to Kennedy to see you guys! I really wish I could. Huge congratulations to Momentum for having the most difficult time placements of the day (in my opinion- going last in day round and then first in finals after having found out you were in last). Kudos
Cedar Rapids Xavier: Honestly I thought I would get more from you guys. I definitely thought you should've made finals. The vocals were not as strong as some of the other groups, but they were very blended and crisp. Sorry about the set, though as I said to some of you it was sort of really hilarious.... I feel bad for saying that but it was... I really liked the opener and I thought your show just sort of went downhill from there. Not a lot, but there wasn't a huge climax, the energy went down. The show felt a little convoluted. Like I said, not huge things, but the little details of the show that can make all the difference. I was still very impressed with you guys and I thought you did an excellent job!!!!
Davenport North: WOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!! This show was 1000 times better than at UNL when I last saw you guys. The opening half of the show especially has improved with all the vocal energy. I'm sure you guys are a little bit disappointed with your placement, but it was such a tough competition. And y'all improved so much, it was definitely a performance to be proud of!!!!
Iowa City High: In my opinion, I wouln't have put you in finals. That being said, you guys stepped it up in finals. Your performance was awesome, especially in the first half of your show. I think your show seems really long, mostly because of that semi-ballad in front of your closer. Around the middle of that ballady section I was like "wait didn't they already do their ballad". I feel like I've seen "Save The Last Dance for Me" before- costumes and all. Does Damon also choreograph Grand Island NW?? (i dont remember whether that was the group or not). I thought you guys had really good soloists, but your choir still sounded really weak to me, compared to the other groups. I like the opener a lot, although I know I've seen that before. The closer vocals need a lot of work. I couldn't understand any of the words. I don't even know what the song is called. It just sorta sounded like your mouths were opened and sound was coming out but you weren't saying any words. That bothered me a lot, just because the choreography had a lot of energy in it!! However, I thought you had a very good show and I was very surprised with the high level of performance you gave this weekend!!!
Linn-Mar: Ok. So all the debate is with you guys. I saw you in both rounds and here's how I feel. Day round: You guys were horrible. I could tell that the show and potential was there... I thought there was NOOOOO energy until the last dance break of the closer. I was just shocked at the low level of performance in the day round. Having said that, the finals performance was AMAZING!!!!! Everything that seemed wrong was right, and it felt that way right from the beginning. I think the main thing that pumped you guys was the band. They didn't play in the day round and I'm sure that didn't give you the energy boost you needed. The first half of the show in finals was especially amazing. I finally found what I was looking for in the show. I was on the bottom floor in day round and in the balcony in finals, so that may have had something to do with it. I thought your vocals in day round were the 3rd worst I saw, but in finals I would've given either you or Washington Best Vocals. You definitely showed you had an amazing show in finals, and until we see the finals scores (HINT) we won't know why you didn't do better. But I would also be VERY pleased with third. It was a really tough competition but you brought it in finals!!!! Congrats!
Troy Buchanan: I was more impressed with the showmanship than the actual performance. The ballad was very loud and powerful, but it seemed like whenever you danced you didn't produce as much sound. I only saw your finals performance because I arrived at the competition right after you got done performing. I wasn't as excited as I thought I would be. It was a good show and the choreography was really crisp, clean, and had great pictures... I just felt like something was lacking from the performance. I wasn't stirred or even compelled to pay attention. I had to force myself to watch the show... I thought you guys would get third or fourth, so I'm not completely surprised....
I'll put what I thought the results were later in the day...
I sat in the Adler Theatre and watched EVERY show choir that performed today. That's 32 show choirs folks! I'm a fast walker, so during "set-up" time, I roamed around and visited etc.
The 4A competition was TIGHT! I and many others had no clue who would make finals or not.
From what I saw in the day, this is what I thought day round results would look like...
1st- Cedar Rapids Jefferson (Best Band)
2nd- Xavier
3rd- Troy
4th- Linn Mar
5th- Kennedy
6th- Washington
7th- Prairie
8th- Iowa City High
9th- Davenport North
I was not shocked to find out what the true day results were... because, everyone was so close and on the same level.
After watching finals... this is how I had it...
1st- Kennedy (Best Vocals)
2nd- Linn Mar (Best Choreography)
3rd- Jefferson
4th- Troy
5th- Washington
6th- Iowa City High
I won't go into talking about each individual show yet... but here are some final thoughts.
Linn Mar had some crazy scores in the day... From the judges they received one 1st, one 7th, and one 9th (last)... they were awesome, and I don't understand why two thought they were so low?
Prairie received two 6ths, and one 4th in day round... yet they did NOT make finals... I think Great River needs the "Fehr Fair" judging system/sheets.
Xavier- I don't care how "cursed" you all felt... I thought you would be in finals for sure!!! I'll talk more about my love for you all later.
I was really pulling for Linn Mar at this competition (as you might have been able to tell). I think their show was the most interesting, unique, and difficult. The kids are awesome (I hope you enjoyed your trolls)
I was ecstatic to see Kennedy win though. You all deserved it so much! You are the most improved show choir I have seen all year. I wasn't a big fan of the entire show until today!!! Great job!
So yeah... Xavier, Kennedy, Linn Mar... I love y'alls.
Davenport Great River Show Choir Invitational 2007
