Jocko the Wonder Llama Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 <SNIP> Next time you go on a long rant, at least try to get ONE "fact" correct. <SNIP> To be fair Sam, he does have one fact right - DCI does exist. Beyond that, well....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84BDsop Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 To be fair Sam, he does have one fact right - DCI does exist. Beyond that, well....... Broken clock, blah blah blah.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puppet Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 I gather from the tone of the posts here, and the complete-sentence thoughts being expressed, that Tim, Puppet, and Oldfart are "old guys", and I have always highly valued the chance to learn from people older and more experienced than I. I wonder if Tim and Oldfart and Puppet would share their ages? Disclosure: I'm 52, probably a youngin to you guys, and I went to my first show in '72. Guardian and DrillMan and I argue lots on the WC threads; I like to get this, seemingly, "older" viewpoint. I probably share lots of your feelings anyway. But, to the point. It's hard to tell your hyperbole from your point, Puppet. I get the one-liners and, again, I value and agree with much of what you say. It's always good to establish where you are before you plan a way forward. The arguments about costs to participate are relative - I make more annually today than my Dad made in 10 years; $125 finals ticket prices don't bug me. The fact that corps run "hand-to-mouth" bugs me, when they're charging for kids to participate. In a way, you should expect it: as the number of corps has diminished there are now more qualified members available each year than the (sadly, low) number of corps can handle. The supply of MMs far outstrips the number of corps that can take them. It also reflects the nature of kids today, many fewer kids will "settle" and march a lower corps if they get cut at their dream corps. They'll just go home and do something else. When directors started seeing the long lines at auditions they (rightly, to some degree) started charging to whittle out the not-serious and less-experienced. More thoughts later... I am 60 years old. I am a writer by trade. I began my drum corps career at the tender age of 12. I, unlike many of my peers, was about to attend Music & Art High School when I got hooked on Drum Corps and I already played The Horn In "F" in both the All City (here in New York City) orchestra. I was a member of the Queenaires Drum And Bugle Corps from Queens out of the St. Catherine of Sienna parish from whence the Queensmen and the Marionettes both originated. From there I marched St. Joseph Patron Cadets and then St. Rita's Brassmen. I will reiterate that there where no dues paid or needed to march with those corps. There were no auditions to speak of. After an entire winter of rehearsals, you knew who the "not-serious" were and that was that. Experience was a non-issue. You got experience by doing. Those were simpler times. Now that I have rambled on I must also say that these pages are not dissertations or essays ... just mostly replies to what we've seen. I am not here to change the Drum Corps world any more than I could change Hy Dreitzer's arrangements or Carmen Cluna's drills. I couldn't play the Mellophone like Barbara Malone but I was a #### happy mid range player who just happened to be in one of the best horn lines of our era. No. Really. We were. Not sure how old, but I know Puppet marched with St Rita's Brassmen as a mello player pre-DCI. Quite right, Mike. And a better competitive spirit couldn't be found between our two organizations (among others!) at the time. Hmmmm....since others utterly destroyed you while replying to this same thread on another part of the board (especially Mike Boo)....you have no rebuttal?? Anyone? Bueller? *cricket cricket cricket* I thought so. Next time you go on a long rant, at least try to get ONE "fact" correct. Oh, yeah. They call it a 'rant' because it is a rant. Otherwise it would be called a formulaic equation or something. Just saying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84BDsop Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Oh, yeah. They call it a 'rant' because it is a rant. Otherwise it would be called a formulaic equation or something. Just saying. A rant SHOULD have some loose connection to the facts, however....the OP had about as much factual content as I have hair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Quite right, Mike. And a better competitive spirit couldn't be found between our two organizations (among others!) at the time. That is true. And yes, you had a great horn line. I was always a St Rita's fan. Wonderful innovative shows that you performed incredibly well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrillmanSop06 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Successful troll is successful. Look who hasn't posted since starting the thread. The funny part is that people are actually SUPPORTING what he has to say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puppet Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Wait, I'm going on record as saying the only things I really agree with is that 35 years ago was 35 years ago and that 35 years ago I would have been 25 and unable to march in any junior corps ... I believe might be the average age right now. And yes, if the Star model had been picked up by other drum corps there might be less financial woes among existing drum corps ... But, c'mon a rant is a rant. It's just this kid's feelings. Doesn't have to be factual. For most of us feelings are reality. This whole DCI thing (it's problems and everything)this whole "we lost so many corps" thing, this whole "the halcyon days of drum corps" thing is and has been a lot of whining many of my age gave up (and I sure did - but I stopped pouting after like 1989 and began to accept junior drum corps for what it was) and we have been somewhat rewarded with shows designed by George Z - Star's double-cross comes to mind - Spartacus and more recently Phantom's Juliet. In between, there have been some great little tid-bits. I will continue to look for that one little cherry in the bowl of vanilla ice cream and sigh with gratitude when it happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pearlsnaredrummer77 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Just because DCI existed starting in 1972 does not mean that all corps were "under the stewardship of DCI". The majority of local-style corps had very little to do with DCI back in the 70's, unless a DCI show happened to be in the area and needed a few fill-ins, or champs were close by for local corps to attend. Those corps had every right to exist, if they could draw enough members and had the resources to do so. I taught/judged in the Garden State Circuit from the mid-70's to around 1980, and I saw many corps die off...not due to DCI, but because those corps were not able to cope with a changing world. Insurance costs, inflation, fuel costs, VFW/AL/CYO sponsors pulling away...a lot of these local corps were the blood, sweat and tears of a couple of incredibly dedicated people, many of them not all that expert in the business side of things. A good bit of that is true, and there were other "external" factors-deindustrialization, suburbanization, but DCI did play a role in advancing a certain vision of where the activity was headed. The AIO was once a three day, major event, but by the early 80s, DCI was not playing ball with scheduling-I guess the regional championships somehow diminished DCI? Those types of championships had a lot of meaning for the smaller corps in particular (and the AIO at least was a good payday for the bigger corps). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pearlsnaredrummer77 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) Successful troll is successful. Look who hasn't posted since starting the thread. The funny part is that people are actually SUPPORTING what he has to say. Well some of what he wrote does reflect a segment of drum corps veterans who don't care for what DCI has become. Really, I suppose it comes down to a matter of taste. Some folks find the current version of junior corps pleasing and others (including me) do not. I think the frustration is valid. I guess we all have our dreams of what a junior corps should be... Edited January 18, 2012 by pearlsnaredrummer77 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puppet Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Well some of what he wrote does reflect a segment of drum corps veterans who don't care for what DCI has become. Really, I suppose it comes down to a matter of taste. Some folks find the current version of junior corps pleasing and others (including me) do not. I think the frustration is valid. I guess we all have our dreams of what a junior corps should be... Hmmm. When I dream I dream of what junior corps was. Young people between the ages of say 12 to 18 who mostly spent their entire drum corps careers in one uniform. The current version is what we got. Mostly adult professionals (17 to 25) who will bounce around from corps to corps in search of that ring. It is what it is and whatever it is it is no longer "junior"! And that's my biggest beef. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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