MikeN

As a drummer, I was astounded when my kiddo told me about brass mm's getting sunburns from the sun's glare off their mouthpieces. Mike

Outside the bubble, audiences care 1000% more about what is being played than what it's being played on. As an entertainment product to the wider world, DCI falls short on that metric.* *(huge qualifier there as that's not the intent of the current DCI product - it's aimed squarely at band kids and families already inside the bubble. That pivot bought them 3 decades (so far) of added longevity, but also capped their outside appeal and impact.) Mike

I remember Sal's first year in '03 was incredibly controversial for all of the "changes," which is very silly in retrospect because that was a #### good show on the field. Mike

Yeah, maybe let's not go there in a drum corps forum. Mike

I think there's some handwaving going on there (not meaning to single out Jeff, a lot of folks are revising history). The corps were pretty knee deep in all of this and ready to go, and had committed back end resources to the New Order. All things considered, they got off extremely lightly after remaining in the fold, and I'm frankly surprised at how little of a grudge got carried forward. Mike

And yet the top corps threw their lot in with him to attempt a coup of DCI, and then let him dictate the terms of engagement with DCI when it all blew up. Mike

No no, lets see how much they would pay me. I'm available for offers. Mike

<lights fuse>I love drum corps as much as the next guy, but I would be hard pressed to consider marching band writers as living in the same galaxy as Stravinsky, Mahler and Strauss. This is not high art. Marching writers derive, they don't really create. <tosses grenade> Mike

DCI can't seem to keep non-drum corps CEO's. Can't imagine why. Mike

I was actually thinking about that today. DCI is thoroughly enmeshed into (competitive) marching band - winterguard - drum corps culture that it's all become an inward-facing bubble. Appeals just fine to anyone involved in those activities. Makes no sense to anyone outside of them. Other separate requirements that don't really compute - -Transitions being graded means your show has to have transitions. -Visual caption bleed means music is secondary priority. You don't have to have musical coherence. You do have to have a comprehensive visual theme and story. The result is 45 DCI prelims shows that follow the same structure, with the same flow, with the same general look. Mike

I'd submit the sheets run counter to the spirit of the whole thing, but that's a bigger discussion. Mike

We were 90% of the way to starting one in Austin in Soundsport (was going to be called the Valkyries), we had the back end sorted, fundraising was a go, had gotten DCI thumbs up and were going to be playing the national anthem for a show in Texas to get the word out. Then the pandemic hit, and that was that. Mike

I'm looking forward to this one. -Mike

Same as it ever was. A judge once told us - on tape - that our repertoire of Kanye and Kendrick Lamar was "pedestrian." Sure thing, buddy. Mike

1995 Velvet Knights was the only one I can think of off the top of my head. Their show Harlequin Carnival was entirely the music of Brazilian drummer Airto Moreira. Played Lau Flora, Afrika and Starfish. Afrika in particular was a *jam,* I liked it a lot. Mike