garfield

I didn't understand half of what you wrote, but I love Stravinsky and I hate it when the rhythmic structure of his, and other composers, is overwritten in the name of a great battery. Schoenberg, OMG. What guts.

Nice. LOL.

Well, it is totally truthful so I can't understand how "unfair" is accurate. It was unfortunate, for sure, and unnecessary. I don't suggest timliness. But I can understand if you think his legacy should only reflect your perception. This is mine. Frankly, anyone who knew Pete understands that this was clearly an apt example of his actions in making sure "his" kids were taken care of. Can't fault him for that. In fact, I always questioned why the custodian wasn't chastised for giving in to Pete's demands, but I repeat myself about Pete's personality. The last comment "...my kinda guy.." is a better reflection, IMO. EDIT: I didn't create his nickname, he came with it.

Becoming a parent changes everything, most especially your perspectives.

"Pis--d off Pete" pulled into town with his corps two hours late because they had to stop and eat on the way. They were the premier corps at our show and they were housed at the premier high school. There was one light fixture on in the gym for emergency evacuation reasons and Pete demanded that the custodian get the scissor lift, crank it up to the ceiling, and take that one bulb out of the fixture so "his kids could sleep". When the custodian reported it the next morning, the president of the school board stormed into the show office, ripped us a new one, and swore they'd never host another drum corps in that school again. Also threatened to get the fire marshal to cite the corps. Pis--d off Pete had a long and storied history in drum corps. This part of it took us years to overcome and we never did get to house a corps in that school again. RIP, Pete. The devil has met his match.

Yea, and to the extent Dan was successful, it was because he learned how to be a soft punching bag for his director bosses even as they frequently didn't appreciate him. A new CEO frequently comes in with an agenda for change to accomplish the goals given to him but, in DCI, both the goals AND the agenda are set by the directors. "No you can't..." and "...because we always have" run deep in the DCI "boardroom".

I think the major problem is that hardly anyone heard anything about his performance. And it's not likely that such negative comments would come from the people who hired him such a short time before. I'm much more of the mind that good-hearted and well-intentioned Nate ran up against the same stone wall of resistance to change that has been in place since 1972, and simply got tired of banging his head against it.

This is more than surprising to me. Is it really 30 full time staff now? All year, 30 staff? That does seem excessive to me when I think back to all the years when Dan, Sue, Kathy and a few others ran the whole season and interns filled in during finals week. Maybe I'm mis-recalling. "Operational efficiencies" saving half a million per year? I'm cynical. But someone here could probably verify the claim with a deep dive into DCI's tax filings in another year or so. They're not hard to read, and they don't explain every detail, but they'd clearly show savings like that.

There's only one drum corps organization with a $10m tour budget: DCI. No equivocation is warranted. The org needs leadership to produce a season-long tour. That leader had better understand the activity and his bosses and their demands. Nates departure only shows that Dan A's shoes were bigger and tougher to fill than many had thought when he was CEO.

It's the CEO's job to organize and produce the season. It's the corps' job to get their corps to the shows to earn the gate, high gas prices, sub-standard housing, flat tires, broken kitchens, whatever. None of that is the CEO's job.

How many corps directors now could produce a season-long tour and show schedule? Heck, how many corps directors run their corps at a bare profit each year? Acheson said it best: He was determined to be the best CEO that the corps directors wanted him to be. Nothing more, nothing less.

A little clarification is due... The drum corps themselves run 12 months a year and are busy nearly every month. Those same drum corps pay the CEO as chief cat-herder and show producer so they expect him to work as hard as they do all year long. I'm highly confident in saying that, if there were any way for the corps to get a summer tour produced with a part-time CEO and staff at DCI, they'd quickly force the point. However, it's money well-spent and a $150k salary versus a $10million budget is more of a rounding error than a serious financial hurdle for the corps to cross.

What "majority" do you speak of? Modern audiences want, what, exactly. Amps, mics, dancing and prancing, props, short shows, large memberships? These are the things "modern" audiences want? How would you define "modern", age? I was an active member/fan for 50 years. Never once did anyone who cashed my checks ask me what I wanted, modern or otherwise.

Raises hand.