Welcome back to the "Land of All Things Brass." This month's edition of Brass Advantage is devoted to all my readers who have sent questions to This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it I've selected 8 riveting questions that I'm sure you'll love…

1. "As a brass expert, what do you look for in a drummer/drum line? Does a drummer/drum line have to be musical, to groove, to drive the music, to play against the brass/other instruments? Can a drummer/drum line be musical? Is there anything you would like to change in modern drum lines"? - Thomas Claesen -

Drummers must have good time… It's essential that they display accuracy in both rhythm and tempo control, possess great facility, technique and a grasp of all musical styles. They must also have an inner fire to their personality enabling them to drive the corps both emotionally and expressively. Buddy Rich is an excellent example of a drummer who knew when and where to take command and always demanded that the band live up to his standards and abilities.

"To be a successful soldier you must know history...Weapons change but man who uses them changes not at all." ~ General George S. Patton, June 6, 1944, in a letter to his son, Cadet George S. Patton IV

Dabble at Googling some of the “ancient” corpsdom history below, and you will likely find soupcon. The idea for this slant of combining the past with tidbits of today’s corps came to fruition partly through an Instant Message pal, a brass player in Director Andre Feagin’s Memphis Sound, who enthusiastically seeks to know more about corps. Stuffing him with more history, I off-handedly IMed, “This was before YouTube, mp3, CDs or DVDs. You can’t Google much of this history.”

Ergo, I invite corps nuts of all generations to squat around the computer campfire and revisit or ponder how it used to be compared to current events. Some of y’all will fondle a cup of Folger’s coffee in an Archie Bunker ripped recliner, others with your Starbuck’s as you wirelessly read on.

Stuart Pompel and Program Coordinator Dale Leaman are leading Pacific Crest into a 2007 touring season that will end near home at the DCInternational Championships in Pasadena in August. Pompel is the executive director of this fine Division I corps that will feature the show "What Happens in Vegas...." During the DCInternational meetings in Atlanta in late January, sans any blackjack tables, Pompel shared his vision for Pacific Crest's "Vegas" season.

Cozy Baker: What are your plans for Pacific Crest in 2007?

Stuart Pompel: We are expecting to march 130 again. Recent camps are going great. We've seen over 350 kids since December. The most amazing thing is the level of marching, which is a sign that the schools are teaching better. Always, when you see some of these kids, they are amazing players and great kids.

Similar to the television commercial comparing the Mac to the PC, corpsdom's "P.C.," Paul Collins, is the guy who has been around many years, no fancy bells and whistles, but a guy who just gives and gives to so many drum corps. Does he charge for his repairs? Of course, but Collins' prices are typically far less than storefront music shop repairs, based on quotes Collins gave me during an interview at the DCInternational Atlanta meeting in late January.

The first time I encountered Collins was at an Empire Statesmen rehearsal in the early nineties. Since then, I've run into Collins seemingly everywhere, from DeKalb, IL, to Centerville, OH, to Powder Springs, GA, to Orlando to Madison to Rochester. It takes all of us to make corpsdom click. Collins and BAC Horn Doctor Mike Corrigan, www.horndr.com, are the only two touring repair services. Collins and Corrigan are typical examples of the gypsy lifestyle so many endure on summer tour.