xandandl Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Perc, Thanks for re-printing this. Much truth. It also brought back great memories of a great man. Here's an example. He offered me a ride on his plane once as I was taking a few days off from tour with a competitor corps so that I could deal with a family issue. He made the offer without strings and it eased my travel greatly. However and unrelatedly, the day after the plane ride I ended up in the ER and was admitted to the hospital. Bill Cook phoned me everyday for two weeks to make sure I was getting the best medical care and that I would make it back to finals........for the other corps. A few years later when Blast was in my area, he came by to visit. Very well deserved member of the DCI HoF. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted January 8, 2015 Share Posted January 8, 2015 Perc, Thanks for re-printing this. Much truth. It also brought back great memories of a great man. Here's an example. He offered me a ride on his plane once as I was taking a few days off from tour with a competitor corps so that I could deal with a family issue. He made the offer without strings and it eased my travel greatly. However and unrelatedly, the day after the plane ride I ended up in the ER and was admitted to the hospital. Bill Cook phoned me everyday for two weeks to make sure I was getting the best medical care and that I would make it back to finals........for the other corps. A few years later when Blast was in my area, he came by to visit. Very well deserved member of the DCI HoF. Wow that's an awesome story thanks for sharing! This is the type of stuff about our activity that I think is very difficult to explain to people who have never marched, or who aren't fans, etc: the type of stuff that make our activity a little unique and a lot of awesome. It's not the instrumentation, or show design, it's the people and the commitment to excellence that truly defines the activity in my mind. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
troon8 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Meth. Lots and lots of meth. Or...they worked really hard to get where they are, they've got terrific staff who excel at motivating, inspiring, and teaching them, they love music, love the team of friends they end up working alongside, and want to be the best at what they do. They like to be challenged and to have fun. I don't think it's rocket science. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleran Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 (edited) It's not the instrumentation, or show design, it's the people and the commitment to excellence that truly defines the activity in my mind. The million dollars didn't hurt either. Adjusted for inflation, that would be $2.27MM in today's economy. [and I mean that in response to the history piece that was posted, not xandandl's personal story - not intending to cast aspersions on Cook at all] Edited January 9, 2015 by Eleran Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsubone Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 The million dollars didn't hurt either. Adjusted for inflation, that would be $2.27MM in today's economy. [and I mean that in response to the history piece that was posted, not xandandl's personal story - not intending to cast aspersions on Cook at all] That amount of money probably isn't too far off from what the Top 6 pay each year. The 990s are floating around somewhere, corps spend tons and tons of money to get down the road every year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thirdcoast Posted January 9, 2015 Author Share Posted January 9, 2015 Great read. Love the bus! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 (edited) Holy Family was my old parish before moving West. Pastor Fr. Jim Hickey would find a use for that bus if available. Side note: The Office MGR for Holy Family (Anne Marie) used to march with HF Defenders and her close friend married a Crusader. Edited January 9, 2015 by Ghost 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WestCoaster Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 (edited) Very interesting article. Just for the record, though, Star was 3rd in 1992, not 2nd. Cadets overtook them finals night (so I'm pretty sure they were more than 2 tenths out, too) Mr. Cook was maybe thinking of the Friday night of that year when they were indeed 2nd, after having won the prelims on Thursday. Edited January 9, 2015 by WestCoaster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Very interesting article. Just for the record, though, Star was 3rd in 1992, not 2nd. Cadets overtook them finals night (so I'm pretty sure they were more than 2 tenths out, too) Mr. Cook was maybe thinking of the Friday night of that year when they were indeed 2nd, after having won the prelims on Thursday. Yeah IIRC they were almost a point behind Cavaliers (Cadets were maybe half a point behind Cavaliers). Also I think their score was slightly lower Finals night from Semis night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perc2100 Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 * NOTE *I did not mean to hijack this thread/conversation with a history lesson of Star of Indiana. I thought Mr. Cook's words on how to build a Championship corps are both insightful and entertaining, and when I saw the website that originally contained the 'Recollections' was no longer available I thought others would be interested to read Mr. Cook's thoughts in full. What strikes me as interesting rereading this, in regards to design for a WC corps: * in Mr. Cook's mind sufficient difficulty is integral, and it wasn't until Star was truly pushing that in all aspects (brass, percussion, visual) that the corps jumped up and truly contended for Champion * after Star won DCI their next design thought was to come up with a crowd-pleasing show: this seemed to backfire to an extent * designers "retaliated" with a darker show that was meant to NOT encourage wild applause and cheers. I've always thought this was incredibly fascinating, and it's fun to think of "what if:" if 1992 had been really well-received by fans, and still placed 3rd Finals night (though with positive fan feedback could it have had the mojo to finish 2nd or maybe even win?!), would we have gotten a completely different show design in 1993? We'll never know of course, but it's fun to think about * after 1993 Star left DCI for seemingly two reasons: to give members an opportunity to play incredible venues with the best brass ensemble in the world, and to create a broad, audience-appealing production. I might be reading too much into those decisions, and clearly the first reason was likely the paramount reason for the Brass Theater direction. But it's interesting that at least part of the drive seemed to be entertainment. Mr. Cook conveyed things like, I believe that "Brass Theater" is designed to entertain--it is not designed to score points and The music is selected for audience appeal He also talked about before the decision was made, watching Canadian Brass before and seemingly marveling at the audience enthusiasm: The night before, all of the corps attended a performance of the Canadian Brass ensemble; the auditorium was filled and the crowd received them with the enthusiasm of brass music lovers. Very interesting, IMO, if one of the driving factors of leaving DCI was to not have to worry about scores and judges, and to only have to focus on pleasing a crowd with great music/arrangements + impeccable, near-perfect performances. IIRC they played parts of their 1993 production in the Brass Theater (and def. Blast!) productions, and it's fun to think that Medea went over more favorably with mainstream music/theater crowds than with drum corps crowds. Anyway, all of this is especially interesting to me because it was a behind-the-scenes recollection, but one not from a drum corps alumni or designer: simply a drum corps fan. It's a rare insight on how to build & maintain a Championship claibur World Class drum and bugle corps, from someone behind-the-scenes but not a performer, staffer, or designer's perspective necessarily 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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