The Cavaliers win DCM finals

The Cavaliers of Rosemont, Ill., defending 2001 Drum Corps International world champions, continued their winning ways of 2002 with a winning score of 88.85 in DeKalb, Ill., in the Drum Corps Midwest championships final round Saturday evening. The Cavaliers finished first in every caption. "Our performance was vary eneregetic and emotional," said Cavaliers corps director Jeff Fiedler. "We're very pleased and very proud of the guys."The Phantom Regiment came up second, scoring an 82.75, just ahead of the Glassmen (82.55), the Bluecoats (80.95), the Colts (76.25), the Madison Scouts (74.05), Southwind (68.15) and Pioneer (63.85). In Division III action, the Blue Stars (59.45) topped the Americanos (58.35), while in Senior division competition, the Minnesota Brass (72.95) topped the Govenaires Sr. (57.90).The Cavaliers' innovative show is continuing to enthrall crowds. The entire show is based on a single melody, which is enjoying increased prominence in some mid-season rewrites. Getting the most crowd reaction were two "frame" maneuvers -- a cumulative block box and a formation where the horns surround the guard and break into an enthusiastic jig – a section of the show referred to as the "Fight Club" by Fiedler and the Cavaliers' staff, a reference to the 1999 film starring Brad Pitt. Prior to the contest in DeKalb, the Cavaliers spent a week tweaking the show. Fiedler said the corps dropped the last three charts of the show and added a smaller re-enactment of the "Fight Club" sequence to the ending. The Cavaliers dubbed this final sequence "Operation Mayhem," yet another reference to the film. "The new ending basically recreates the frames (section). We extended the ending to make stronger statement about frameworks at the end," Fiedler explained, adding that the entire recreation happens at the blistering tempo of 204 beats per minute. Fielder said that the Cavaliers will continue to tweak the show in the coming weeks. "There are still a lot of things we need to fix and add."