The Cavaliers' 2018 show, "On Madness and Creativity," was inspired by the stories of composer Maurice Ravel and painter Anne Adams, both of whom were thought to suffer with the degenerative brain disease progressive aphasia. One of the early symptoms of the disease is a flood of creativity. In this Field Pass podcast, Dan Potter finds out how one song held the final key to completing The Cavaliers' production and why the corps' artistic director Danny Wiles thinks this year's top six corps could be the best top six ever.

Tonight will be the 15th "Big, Loud and Live" cinema broadcast of the DCI World Championship Prelims. 15 years is impressive. But, it's just a fraction of the total time that DCI Hall of Fame member Steve Rondinaro has been broadcasting drum corps. Tonight marks Rondinaro’s 40th broadcast as the main host of a DCI World Championships, first on PBS, then ESPN and now in movie theaters. In a Finals Week Field Pass, Dan Potter chats with Steve about those four decades in the "air chair" and learns some things about “Reliable Rondo” we didn't know.

Santa Clara Vanguard is currently enjoying its most successful season in almost two decades. The California corps looks to have a competitive edge heading into the final week of the season and could be on track to claim its first World Championship title since 1999. Some of the credit for the corps' return to the top of DCI's World Class goes to second-year artistic director Michael Gaines. In this week's Field Pass podcast, Dan Potter goes in-depth with Gaines about the design and performance of Vanguard’s 2018 production "Babylon."

Santa Clara Vanguard is currently enjoying its most successful season in almost two decades. The California corps looks to have a competitive edge heading into the final week of the season and could be on track to claim its first World Championship title since 1999. Some of the credit for the corps' return to the top of DCI's World Class goes to second-year artistic director Michael Gaines. In this week's Field Pass podcast, Dan Potter goes in-depth with Gaines about the design and performance of Vanguard’s 2018 production "Babylon."

A funny thing happened to the Field Pass when it went in search of barbacoa and breakfast tacos on Sunday after the DCI Southwestern Championship in San Antonio. We ran into The Cadets doing their laundry. And, we were reminded for the first time since we marched in a drum corps, laundry sucks. We also re-discovered the one joy of laundry day, the chance to just hang-out and chat about drum corps, and life, for a while.

Two of the reasons why 2018 has quickly become one of the most memorable drum corps seasons ever are Megan Hutera and Olivia Hayter. Megan is the flugelhorn soloist for the Madison Scouts and is the traditionally all-male corps' first, full-fledged, female member. Olivia is the remarkable vocal soloist belting out tunes by Joni Mitchell and Billie Holiday in Bluecoats' production "Session 44." Dan Potter introduces us to both in this edition of DCI's Field Pass podcast.

By almost any measure, Music City of Nashville is having a hugely successful first year in its first season performing in Drum Corps International's World Class division. Dan Potter chats with Music City executive director Kent Baker and Drum Major Patrick Nelsen in this week's Field Pass.

The Blue Stars are hard at work, framing and finishing their 2018 production, "The Once and Future Carpenter." Dan Potter found out, it's a show that reboots the music of The Carpenters, merging it with the contemporary compositions of John Alden Carpenter, and mixing in the soundscape of a carpenter's workshop.

After jumping from a 12th-place finish at the DCI World Championship Finals in 2016 to sixth place in 2017, a lot of drum corps fans are closely watching the Boston Crusaders this summer to see if they can continue their climb. Dan Potter visited the Crusaders as they prepared for the DCI Tour Premiere in Detroit to find out about this year's corps and its 2018 production "S.O.S."

The start of the 2018 Drum Corps International Tour is upon us! In the latest episode of DCI’s Field Pass podcast, Dan Potter sits down with first-year DCI artistic director Lee Carlson for an in-depth look at some of the new and innovative ideas corps will be bringing to the field this summer.