drumlaw80

Hi everyone -- quick evil update! The Renegades novel is now available on Apple Books !

Thank you, Jeff!

Hi everyone -- quick evil end of summer update! The Renegades novel is now available on Amazon Kindle ! -- CLICK HERE

Ciao everyone. I marched in the 1980s, and recently published a drum corps novel, The Renegades. The reason I am telling you about this book here, is because it is full of historical DCI stories from the 1980s, including the Crossmen, Cadets, SCV and Blue Devils, Bridgemen and others. I have one sample chapter available here The book is on Amazon if you are interested. Thank you for checking it out! Lee

A sample chapter of the Renegades is now available = RENEGADES SAMPLE CHAPTER. 7

Thank you so much Fred, I'm glad that you enjoyed the book! I had a great time writing it and reliving those magical days!

Hello everyone - The Renegades novel is now available on Amazon - CLICK HERE

Pssssst. The Renegades novel just dropped on Amazon! The link is here.

Ciao everyone on the Drum Corps Planet -- The Renegades novel drops this weekend on Amazon, starting on July 7 Signed copies are now available here

CLICK HERE FOR THE RENEGADES ON AMAZON Seven Fun Facts 1. After slightly reducing the font size and line spacing, I got the page count down to 370. I don't think it is possible to read this book in one sitting. I also think people are going to read this book more than once, which is what happened to the test reader. 2. The novel is dedicated to Dave Gibbs and the Blue Devils. As you will read, without their help, the field show version of the Renegades would probably not have existed. 3. I have worked on this book every day but two this year. On many weekend days, I did nothing else, from 7:00 am to 10:00 pm or so. Writing this book took a ton of research, some interviews, and months of writing and rewriting to get the tone right. This is the most time I have ever spent writing anything, including My Immortal and every legal document I have ever written, and although not perfect, it is the most polished thing I've written. Maybe people will hate and ignore this book, maybe it will sell five hundred thousand copies and become a movie that accidentally brings the corps back. I have no idea how people will react to this - but it is my best. 4. "The Renegades" is not a yearbook or documentary. It is a chaotic novel, where all of the events really happened. Technically, it is historical fiction. The chaos level is quite significant, 500 light years past anything ever seen in drum and bugle corps literature. For example, Denis DeLucia and the Bridgemen drum line arrive to the story on horseback. Dan Day is a knight. Richie Chameroy is a berserker. One famous example of this writing style used in "The Renegades" is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The two books are very different, but the philosophical approach is the exact same. 5. I have embedded a ton of real drum corps history, facts, scores, and stories into "The Renegades." Not only from the Vanguard, Buccaneers, Crossmen, Cadets, and West Chester University, but also the Blue Devils, Bridgemen, Troopers, and many others. It's very clear where the chaos ends, and the actual drum corps commentary begins -- getting the two to blend was not easy, took 5 months of rewrites. A drum corps fan should be able to read this and laugh and maybe cry, but also feel very, very proud of drum and bugle corps. No one is disrespected. 6. Lisa-Lisa has three monologues in the book, one that addresses the surveillance capabilities of the Bushwackers. 7. There is an entire page about 7. *** The Renegades will be available on Amazon on 7-7-24 Stay tuned.

Putting all "could have, should have, would have" aside, it's unbelievable and a little sad that the DCA journey as we all knew it our whole lives is coming to an end. It seems only yesterday, we were in Scranton, trying to get Renegade's foot in the door for the 2002 season. Or, when I was seeing my first drum corps show ever (1980 Reading Buccaneers, in Scranton). I see people say they miss Renegades. But we all do. Ditto for Brigs, Minnesota Brass and the rest. It was a very special couple of decades, a wonderful world within a world. I had more fun in Renegades than I ever did in SCV. Truth be told, even if we had successfully gotten DCA to level the playing field the bring about parity, I'm not sure DCA could have survived Covid, and maybe society changing in general, the growth of indoor etc. It's hard enough to keep the momentum going in a senior corps, let alone wit a few years taken off the field by a pandemic. To all my DCA friends out there, I miss you guys and hope you are doing well on your life adventure. Play LOUD. Lee 7

I debated responding to this, I don't know what is going on with SCV, at all. But I have seen my name dragged through the mud here by a few, basically saying that my involvement with SCV would somehow harm the organization at this point. At a time, when SCV has no corps on the field, and none in the foreseeable future. Drum corps aside, I suggest that it is a mistake to professionally judge me on the basis of the Renegades music selection in 2006, or your personal experience in the corps. Or on the basis of interactions on DCP when you have only met me in person once. Since my time in Renegades, which ended over a decade ago, I have grown a great deal, and accomplished much, including raising millions of dollars for projects and producing movies in Italy and Japan. I am currently legal counsel in various capacities for three DCI corps, all of which are doing well, and none of which I talk about. So, throw rocks at me if you must. Air your grievances from 1995 or 2008 or whatever. But that rock throwing is the same angry hostile culture that got SCV in this position in the first place. And unless and until that culture changes, you will not see that corps on the field again. Lee Rudnicki

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7 STEPS TO DRUM CORPS RESTART When it's time ... 1. Fold DCI and DCA, form one new national organization that represents everybody, senior and junior corps. 2. The mission statement is to facilitate the formation of as many new corps as possible. 3. Make electronics illegal, to make it cheaper and easier to start new corps. Reduce show length to 9 minutes with a mandatory concert number to make it easier for new corps to compete immediately 4. Divide the country into 8 regions. No corps competes outside their region until finals week. The goal is to get more corps on the field, by making it cheaper and easier for everyone to get into the game. 5. Reduce all corps appearance fees, and all corps membership dues -- focus on creating as many local/regional drum corps shows as possible, and incentives for local sponsors to hold a show. 6. Every show will have senior and junior corps competing, with full retreat at the end for the fans. 7. Start a circuit of judged winter concerts (on stage, no drill), so the competitive experience of the activity is not so focused only on the summer. The above is all possibly silly nonsense, and maybe even irrelevant given the state of the covid-19 crisis. But, if I had a vote, the activity would focus on growth, not art or music technology, for the next few years.

THANK YOU! Thank you x 777 to all of you who have read The Renegade Journal. I started this project in Rome in October, simply to get myself in the habit of writing again, I didn't know how it would turn out, nor how many people would go on to read it. It had been an amazing and fun writer's journey reliving the Renegades experience through my notes, blog postings and other materials. When all is said and done, I am a little baffled at how much I have written over 31 chapters, and by how many have read the story ... and very grateful to have had the experiences and friends described in the book. There is no way to mention every person, corps and experience that made the Renegades a success and/or memorable, but I hope this "novel" now at least gives you a sense of what that wonderful Renegades journey was like. 7 https://therenegadejournal.home.blog