Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Thursday, August 07, 2008

Visual show helps propel Blue Stars

By TERRY RINDFLEISCH | La Crosse Tribune

Brad Furlano knows exactly why the La Crosse Blue Stars will qualify for the finals of the Drum Corps International World Championships this week.

So do the fans, alumni and judges.

“The difference is the show, the design and visual,” said Furlano, a former Blue Stars’ drum major and now the corps’ executive director. “The talent is better, but the biggest change is the design — and especially the drill and color guard.”

The color guard finished 17th last season but is ranked No. 7 going into the quarterfinals.

“For the color guard to improve 10 places, that’s unheard of,” Furlano said.

The Blue Stars take the field at 6:39 p.m. today in the championship quarterfinals at the University of Indiana Memorial Stadium in Bloomington, Ind. The top 17 world-class corps qualify for Friday’s semifinals, with the top 12 corps making the Saturday finals.

The quarterfinals will be aired at more than 340 theaters across the country. The nearest broadcast is in Madison.

The Blue Stars have been ranked as high as eighth in average scores this season and finished ninth in the regular season. They enter the quarterfinals seeded 10th.

Timeline

The Blue Stars returned to world class status in 2006 and placed 14th the past two years at the world championships. After making the world class finals from 1972 to 1979, the Blue Stars folded four years later and were reorganized as a small corps. Here were the corps’ finishes at the DCI finals in the past:

1972: Second place

1973: Third place

1974: 12th place

1975: Fifth place

1976: Ninth place

1977: Seventh place

1978: Eighth place

1979: 10th place

Terry Rindfleisch can be reached at (608) 791-8227 or trindfleisch@lacrossetribune.com. To follow the Blue Stars online during championship week, go to www.lacrossetribune.com/bluestars.