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I was traveling to Gulf Shores, AL a week after our local drum corps show and was wearing my fresh from the souvi stand Old Bones Crossmen T-Shirt and I never thought it would or could be taken in a negative way. We stopped at a McDonalds in Mobile, AL and I got some really strange and some angry looks from people looking at my T-Shirt. Then it hit me , Crossmen, Southern Cross, figure of a Skeletal Man wearing a cross uniform. Uh Oh. Sure, I could have made an attempt to explain what Crossmen was and what the skeletal figure stood for but noone was talking, just staring, so I scooted out of there before things got ugly. I'm not even going to go into my experiences while wearing my Sky Ryders Rainbow shirt. I'm just glad I didn't buy the shirt with the Sky Ryder Soprano player riding the chrome rocket. Anyone have similiar experiences wearing their Drum Corps T-Shirts?

The next time somebody uses Mars, the Bringer of War, the arrangement should use the vocals and the car horn in this... Also, the guard needs to wear the henchmen outfits.

The tears won't stop flowing... Just...so...beautiful.

The man in this photo might be the only person in the history of drum corps to be ejected from a corps during that corps' performance.

I'm thinking we need to develop our own competitive factor out here and not worry about an affiliation with DCA. Build our own sandbox to play in theory.

In the late '80s, I had a shirt from a Canadian corps that simply said "I play contra". When I wore it, people from the general public gave me the thumbs up, and tell me that they did too...it usually wasn't worth it to try to explain. (For you youngsters out there, Contra was also a video game popular at the time, and the game that popularized the Konami code).

Gulf Coast made trips to Atlanta and Orlando for a period and hosted a DCA South show . Stars made an appearance at one Atlanta show when Brent was Director Unfortunately for a couple of them it wasn't the economy or membership or travel that caused them to cease at this time... I will just leave it at that ! GuldfCoast tried and is still trying to revive, under a different name and mgment!

A number of previous posters in this thread keep making declamatory accusations about Regiment yet fail to provide any anecdotes or proof to support their accusatory claim. I know the SUTA pledge binds one to keep things in the phamily, but to the phans and others who read this thread the posts seem bitter and almost incredulous because of the lack of full disclosure. Or should I say, phull disclosure. I was always taught from the time I was little that if you point a finger at someone, the other four fingers point back to you. Is there any merit to the claims or are you just giving Regiment the finger?

Membership is a contantly revolving thing. I think our corps is on it's 7th or so generation since '04. Gulf Coast and Frontier each had good runs for a while. Vigilantes, the spin off Corps of Frontier had what looked like a strong group with good fundraising ideas. I think it was the high cost of membership and constant fundraising that might have burned people out. I hope these corps can make a comeback. Denton was a pretty good place for a show and not too far a trip from KC. I remember the member spike we had after we posted the pics from that show then the economy crashed. Sound Sport is helping us pick up members now. I'm hoping to revitalize and reorganize our Corps so we can be a player out here when things pick up for everyone.

There aren't many "discarded" G horns left that have much life left in them...wouldn't be a great investment in the future even if they were cheap...and God forbid you (or anyone else) is the person responsible for keeping them in playing condition. That would be a job akin to having to teach me how to pirouette. In 2000, I did not notice the difference between Cadets' and Cavaliers' horn line quality while viewing them live. Cadets had B-flat horns and Cavaliers still had G. When I received the CDs, minus the visual stimuli, I was stunned. The difference in clarity between the two B-flat lines—Cadets and Blue Devils—and the remaining G lines was astounding. At that point, I called a director friend of mine and told him I hoped he was planning on making the switch, because once a brass judge closes their eyes to shut out everything else and focuses specifically on the quality of sound...it's all over.

With that newest set of diagrams, I'd say it looks as if the show is about cataract surgery, removing the cataract and replacing it with a corneal implant.

So in order of release: I got absolutely nothing. Closest thing to a good idea I've had is an Exodus type show. But I don't know why there's division in the first two but it's a full chevron in the last one. There's a part of me that's just imagining Hopkins going around to message boards like this and laughing at our attempts to decipher his clues. That part of me is still laughing. The rest of me is just confused haha

This is the first of fifteen thousand potential show concepts that will be put out there by The Cadets in the next several months. 14,999 to go.

Per his Facebook, Andre Feagin is retiring.

There better be people ready to catch those babies.............

I'm thinking more along the lines of restarting the Great Plains Drum Corps Association and operate on our own. We could call the shots and make rules that accommodate the corps in our area and allow them a competition venue to perform at.

Thanks Mike for a straight-up answer, although it took a minute to realize that this was the serious Boo talking about something most serious from which he makes his living. As a non-percussionist, what you stated was clear, accessible, and didn't need a degree in drum speak to understand. Your ability to relate it to the financial situations which plague corps is also a nice touch. But I especially like that you can critique the reality of the situation beyond the "Back in my day" thinking which too often throws temper tantrums in the posts ("thunderous goo" and the like) which make a lot of heat but not a lot of light. Guess this is why they'll keep you around for another year. You've got a birthday coming too, don't you. Maybe since we won't need all those extra equipment trucks for the pit equipment now they will give you one as a birthday gift to store all your articles, speeches, and the beginning of the Boo library.

Mr Boo, you pretty much got it right on the head. Here's a little back story; It was a synthesizer, a small and simple and very portable Roland. There was much discussion the night before prelims about using the synth or not. A lawyer (who happened to be staying in the same hotel and is a DC person) was actually consulted and over a number of beverages it was deemed that the corps position (as you mentioned) would not be impacted negatively by an assured penalty. The crowd, as it were, was not overly wow like " Holy @@#$% look it's a synthesizer they have there". It was more like "Hey...cool.. an electronic piano". Then it was one and done until it all came into play several years later.

Maybe after this victim... err... guess who, has been named Nanci will post that photo showing him being ejected during the show. (He just may be the oldest rookie in the activity, I'll need to verify his age to see who's older, me or him. )

I believe he was called for a "penalty" during his corps performance in the Alumni Spectacular a few years back. I think that's what Fran is referring to in his post..

The Tampa Bay Thunder had a great time during the past three seasons doing the DCA route and it has helped us in many ways becoming organized and financially stable during this period. The fact of the matter is 97% of our membership during the past two years are made up of those band students that could not afford to participate in a World Class group, didn't make a World Class group, are over 21 or simply didn't have the time to dedicate to a full touring schedule. That being said, we also face the major issue of going until Labor Day weekend while school has already been in session for nearly three weeks! Lets talk cost. The corps during the past three seasons had winter camps every month and a spring training period. They traveled in 2011 over 8,000 miles for three shows! In 2012 they traveled only 2,500 miles due to the hurricane and missing championships, one show. This past summer the corps again traveled over 6,000 mile for three contests including championships! We feed our members, transport our members and outfit our members much like a DCI Open Class corps. The past three years with staff, travel, equipment and all other expenses we spent over 100k each year to compete in less then 4 shows each summer. This is NOT a DCA problem, this is simply geography. DCI Open Class - Our members and others that want to become members are still those that cannot participate in the World arena but want to participate in DCI. The Open class model gives the Thunder that opportunity with going in the road for about 20 days start to finish competing in about 7 or 8 shows before finals. That's the same amount during a three season period and we are done by mid August with zero school conflict! Is the cost greater? Yes,but its not like competing in DCA was cheap on a per show basis... We have maintained a low tuition for our members during the past three seasons and that will increase but still be significantly cheaper then world class and rightfully so. It is our desire to grow into the DCI thing over time and remain as a Open Class corps long term as the BOD has voted and passed that this would be the model and no other. In the end, we wish our DCA Florida friends the very best of luck but if you look at the history it is very difficult to be a DCA corps in Florida that is Open Class competitive (over 65 members). The time, money and members just can't buy into going from June until September with three to four weeks between shows. This is not because good people haven't tried, its just never been able to sustain over time. Look at the history. We have our hands full but have received great feedback thus far and will be announcing some changes within the next week or so including 2014 program and staff. Wish us luck and please continue to support all drum corps!! JVN

Here's another link to the same audio, with the following description: "This was recorded by the Portsmouth Sinfonia in an experiment where all the members of the orchestra would swap instruments with each other and attempt to play them to the best of their ability."

Renewal, Fragile, Forbidden, Protest

Indeed. There is a champion every year, but a line as great as 2013 Cadets is rare. I would much rather have been a member of their drumline than Crown's.

Maybe you should consider starting a sub-chapter of the SDCA in your area ... they seem to have a good template to follow ... :-)

"Everytime you miss your dot a kitten dies"

.......and New York City is brimming with corps?

Both!

If you are referring to Texas Encorps, they are in no way affiliated with GCS. GCS still exists in a suspended state, with all of our instrumentation, uniforms, and equipment.

now they are just yanking our chain!

Normy, Haters gonna hate. I'm very excited for the Regiment. I think there is some potential here. Just let it develop without the negativity of certain contributors. People came down hard on Don Hill when he came in 2012 before he even put pen to paper!!!!!! Don helped the Turandot program rise to the top. Let's hope his reunion with Kuhn and others will bring further success to the Regiment organization.

And if you're a parent or especially a grandparent with a child in Mrs. Carson's 4th grade, then that group would sound just as great as Crown did!

I agree with this completely. And by winning the high drums, you are helping your corps out as much as you possibly can. I don't see any difference here than say an olympic gymnast. You know that while Mary Lou Retton wanted a team gold, it was even much more exciting for her to win the individual all around gold medal. And in her quest for that gold, she helped bring her team to a silver medal. And a corps should be extremely proud of a section that wins a caption award, even if it isn't their section. That drive can inspire all other sections of the corps as well.

Subscript to this announcement is the addition of Gordon Henderson (UCLA band, SCV) to staff as consultant and Dr. Will Plenk to return. Doctor Plenk? Way to go Will; it was only a few seasons back we were seeing you as that fair haired Cadets' DM from Lindenhurst challenging us with The Door!, etc.

When I was marching, the silky Cavaliers member jackets, black with green stripes down the arms, were sometimes mistaken as gang jackets in certain Chicago neighborhoods.

It looks like an eight year old drew it. Eight...Hmm, 8 years before 2014 was 2006. According to Wikipedia, 2006 was designated the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Deserts...like desserts. Contrast that with the fish and water motif. The 2.0...the two worst desserts in the world are both fish based (Bananas Flounder and Tiramisalmon.) Yet there are THREE fish! The third fish must represent the addition of some previously unknown Super Sea Life Dessert...like Lemon Meringue Octopie. And YES! The design as a whole does closely resemble an Octopus! This means that Cadets next year are switching to eight valve bugles in the key of C! Like, the sea, where octopi live! Forget Einstein and E=MC2...there is TRUE genius at work here!!!

If this is *truly* the case, I hereby withdraw my snide salt shaker. As for copying images from FB (and almost anywhere else on the web) , the process is really simple if you use Chrome. Right click (ctl-click for macs) on the image. Select Copy Image URL. In your DCP message click the image button. Right click in the edit box. Select Paste. Click Insert Image. Voila.

I'm not saying it's that easy, no. But if every year in Minnesota DCA is solely represented by MBI, Kilties and Govies then that's all the area will ever know. It's not going to be a quick win no matter which way you look at it. But after a few years of new groups being introduced to the area, fan bases might develop for these other corps and people might be willing to travel to finals from outside of the Northeast because now they understand and enjoy the product of not just their local corps, but other corps that will be in attendance. It's the show sponsors job to advertise for their show and the corps in attendance, not to advertise for DCA in general or the corps elsewhere. The best analogy I can think of is a circus. The circus proper is DCA. If MBI is the dancing horses, Govies are the acrobats and Kitlies are the bears on bicycles, then for the Midwest folks, that's all they ever see. So to them, THAT is the circus. They don't realize that there are also lion tamers and clowns and fire breathers. You can tell someone they should go to Rochester and see the circus, but in their mind they've already seen it because they've never experienced a lion tamer or a fire breather.

It's a challenging dilemma, isn't it? Let's assume adding the Caballeros to a Midwest show is a guarantee of 1500 additional spectators (who would not otherwise be there) purchasing tickets for that show. A real slam dunk! That's an easily available $20,000 added to the budget. Now then, for the good of the order, the Midwest show sponsor offers the new-found $20,000 to the Caballeros to help them pay for the trip. the Caballeros agree to provide payment for all other expenses their corps incurs. Problem solved?

Yes, it is that easy in some parts of the country (a slam-dunk in Racine as example); especially in the Cabs case. It's called "branding"; a term unheard of decades ago but unknowingly used when forming some of the most memorable and iconic drum corps organizations of today. A unique style of music, a unique style of uniform, etc.......recognizable and relate-able to the drum corps aficionado and the general public. Cabs, Troopers, Kilties, as example, fall into that category of being relate-able over a vast geographic area.

Nothing would happen in the stands. Only DCP would notice.

Were you around in the eighties and nineties? Like....around drum and BUGLE corps....standing in front of them or a mile away? If not.....you wouldn't understand.

This is the one-gazillionth "B-flat vs. G" thread on DCP. It should win some sort of prize for that milestone.

Why do people keep insisting that the G horns would be "louder" than the Bb horns? Is there something about the physics of their construction that makes this so? In all of the research I have done (somewhat limited) I have flund nothing about the basic construction of these instruments that would suggest Bb or G is louder than the other. From Kanstul's line of marching instruments, here are some specs: BbTrumpet: .470 Bore with a 5 1/16 inch bell G Soprano Bugle: .470 bore witha 5 inch bell What is supposed to be making that G bugle sound so much louder??? Is it less tubing (since it is in G instead of Bb)?? Help please with the physics of this "G is louder" assertion.

Depends. Are the drum heads mylar or kevlar?

I started marching in 1964 and stopped in 1972...taught and judged in the GSC in the mid/late 70's to around 1980. The volume from the contemporary hornlines is due far more to the desired sounds the staff wants to create than the hardware used to create it. And...the changes made in marching Bb/F horn manufacturing has gone a long way to eliminate whatever difference there was in the volume from G horns and modern Bb/F horns based on hardware alone...all of this IMO, of course.

Most people don't notice it.