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I see the Southern Knights are officially on DCA site. Congrats S K !!!!

First, I think it's worth being careful with semantics here. While it's true that BD was part of the G7 list of corps, their work as part of the plan was, specifically, dealing with the "reconstruction". It was Hop's portion of the plan that tore down the structure. If one looks at just the "reconstruction" part of the plan, including the formation of a new non-profit to host the group's efforts, it was not horrible in and of itself. That said, I'm not convinced that all members of the group were aware of what was to be finally presented and, therefore, I'm not willing to hold all G7 corps responsible for the slash-and-burn part of the plan that was so destructive. Also, I think it's possible that a primary reason the corps' signed on to the plan was because of a level of frustration that corps far down the food chain (not Spartans specifically) were not doing the "easy" (paraphrase of Brasso's contention) work of growing their programs by being smarter about funding themselves. Because of a seeming unwillingness to "do what's necessary to grow", I can understand the frustration even as I disagree with the actions based on it. I've also learned that the level of frustration was heightened in the G7 corps because of a feeling that their freely-offered advice on such topics was ignored or, worse, dismissed because "...well, that's BD and it's "easy" for them...". I'm not carrying the G7 water, but it is reasonable to, at least, understand their position even while disagreeing with it. The fact is that it's not ever easy to find funding, which is the reason, I suspect, why this thread was started. I'm glad to see some actual thought being put to the subject here.

two words Belshazzar's Feast

Slow down young one...my comment was meant to be toungue-in-cheek, but you know get defensive as though I've wronged you.

I'll sleep better at night knowing this video exists.

"...for a friend." Bwaaahhaaa

Wait, that was a joke? Well, crap. Does anyone know how to return money that's been robbed from a bank without getting in trouble? Asking for a friend.....

Oh, come on Brasso. We've been here a long time, and you're being overly sensitive and picking on semantic analogies. I don't think anyone here actually thought you were seriously proposing robbing banks to fund their corps. At least I didn't! I thought it was a stupid response to a serious question that added nothing at all but a derailment to the OP's thread (yes, I helped). But I didn't think you were serious and, I'll bet, neither did Stu. I'm glad you're laughing at everything here now. It will help keep your blood pressure down and maybe help you to focus on the point - instead of, you know, that "Brasso Experience" we all seemed to have had over the years... (come on, laugh, it's funny!) I never actually thought you were suggesting someone rob a bank! LOL!

Today's moment of zen

Ever since I joined DCP I have most often agreed with your postings and I have high respect for your opinions. On this one, though, I will counter: 1) To say that BD (as a co-author) should be dismissed and separated from The Cadets (the other co-author) would be like stating that Fredrich Engels should be dismissed and separated as co-author on the book he collaborated on with Karl Marx. Once a person collaborates with another as a co-author, they both stand or fall together. BD owns that entire document along with the others who were on board. 2) The leadership of Santa Clara publicly defended the proposal out in the open as the front-man. The leadership of the other four signed on and backed the plan. Here are the options for their involvement: a) Incompetent on supporting it without understanding the proposal, b) Obtuse and Compliant, or c) Outright Supportive. Which one of those excuses them from their backing of the proposal. 3) The way advice was transmitted to other corps, which caused the frustration prior to the G7 proposal, was akin to the advice presented here in the opening postings by Brasso. Flippant, Snarky, and it is Easy and Uncomplicated for us; and when confronted with that presentation as being holier-than-thou (because it is easier to raise millions when you already have millions to pay professional development people as opposed to scratching in the dirt for volunteers) the response was also akin to the Brasso later postings of Drop Dead, Go Away, You are Boring, etc... So yeah; I understand their position. It was a unified front, co-authored by two, publicly fronted by one, and signed by four others; and I disagree with the proposal.

Awesome, can't wait. I have experience in mobile app management/development when I worked for NASCAR. I'd be happy to be a beta tester for you.

I usually stay out of this sub, but saw the title and was curious. This is actually something I've put some thought into, and I believe it solves a lot of the problems we've seen in licensing. More to the point, I think we often overthink the costs/process associated with "original" music. I follow a lot of Electronic music composers, and many of them generate truly original pieces of music that spans the emotional spectrum, lasting anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours+. And their style of music (from a composational standpoint) isn't too far off from drum corps. There's an artist named Tiesto who basically does super emotional Blue Devils shows, and Bluecoats' show from this past season pulled a lot of the musical structural elements I've seen from several artists. To the point of Electronic, we naturally assume "electronic" won't work for our activity, but the electronic part is purely because that's the set of audio files they upload into their system. I've spoken to a few EDM composers about this, and every one of them feels they could make an amazing 12 minute production using nothing but brass and percussion audio files, spanning literally any emotional spectrum we'd want. On top of that, there's literally software that can translate these electronic compositions into sheet music. If a corps were to hire a moderately talented EDM producer to produce the music, and then run it through a basic sheet music annotation software, that corps could literally have a super engaging, truly original, wholly owned musical program in a weekend.

Not sure why they took down their own video. Sounded AWESOME!

Competitive success is not the only thing that determines if a corps will go world, money is a huge factor in it. I think part of the reason Genesis went world was because they knew they weren't going to beat BDB or SCVC for a long time, so the figured they might as well go world class now.

But this is the Egyptian Army Band, playing for heads of other nations! I mean, really, how about tuning your instrument! This sounds like a carnival band!

Either they have pulled the DCI event listings or I am doing something wrong.

In 2010, claiming that they were 'the only real show' within DCI, the leadership of BD and the Cadets authored a proposal which was also backed by the leadership of Santa Clara, The Cavaliers, Bluecoats, Crown, and Phantom Regiment. In that proposal they placed themselves in a premier-corps category status, placed themselves as the only seven corps which should have the majority of votes, they stated that they should collect the majority of revenue generated by DCI, they placed all other WC corps in a second-class DCI status, and they proposed eliminating all DCI support whatsoever for the OC (ie Spartans et al), It was self-titled as the G7 Report and there are threads on here devoted to the subject. Brasso said that the Spartans are a corps which does quite well at funding on the level they are at. My point to Brasso is that if it is so uncomplicated to raise funds why did BD find it necessary to yank all of the DCI support from the Open Class to foster their own BD agenda?

I did... and still do. Marched in a local-circuit junior corps, then a DCA all-age corps, through the 1970s into the early '80s. Of course I'm exaggerating about the number of corps in my town... but there were a bunch of local corps around, like you said. A lot of them were mom-and-pop operations with shoestring budgets. Heck, even some of the nationally-known top contenders were barely getting by back then. Now, a corps' management has to know how to run a business (not always the reality, even now... LOL) , and it's good to see the various guidelines in place which try to ensure that a corps can pay its bills and give its members the best experience possible. And scholastic marching bands, by and large, have taken the place of the "local corps experience" kids once got. Nothing at all wrong with that... just different than it used to be.

That food truck is insane. The 2017 Knights have to be going berserk with excitement. And come on guys... take a joke.

1) Cost. Typically, the cost is way more to have an original composition commissioned as opposed to just paying permission to arrange fees to a Copyright owner for an existing composition to be arranged. and 2) Time. The corps creative staff can quickly bounce around show construction ideas while listening to music already composed as opposed to waiting for an original to be written and recorded.

How wonderful! I suspect you lived in the East. I taught school in Delaware in the 1970's and there were lots of local corps. They mostly marched in parades.

I share your intrigue in the best of ways as well.

I wonder if it has something to do with the music rights stuff.

I'd say I'm more intrigued than concerned

Hi everyone! We've been hard at work since last August making a LOT of changes to the app. Things aren't ready just yet but when they are, it will be the biggest update we've released so far! We're making it easier than ever to get scores and find the information about the drum corps season you're looking for. There will also be new ways to interact with your fellow drum corps fans that we know you'll love. So bear with us for another month or two as we get the app ready for the 2017 season. We appreciate everyone that has downloaded the app to date and we're looking forward to another great season of drum corps! posted from the DrumScorps app

I don't have sympathy for anyone who is disappointed or feels trolled that there was no show announcement. Heck, BK NEVER announces this early. Me? I expected this food truck announcement. Believe me...it's a big deal for BK. And, I might add, a pretty sweet trailer. AC, slide-out, actually designed to be a mobile kitchen. It's pretty darned nice.

They trolled the heck out of their facebook followers by posting this: "The Blue Knights are pleased to make a special announcement for the 2017 season (watch to the end for the music): So lay it out like its a show announcement, even saying to watch to the end for music which ended up being from the 2016 show...annnnd its a video about a new food truck that they want people to donate for appliances. Ok BK.

If ever piece cried out for Crown....

not mentioned is that Steve himself is a BAC alum (bari, I think) whose drum corps fondness was honed at the University of New Haven. Band director there, Jason DeGroff, a Cadet alum, was previously BAC's drill writer seasons back and returned last season as a ST instructor to help out another of his students, Eddie Falco, all great guys. 7th Regiment will benefit from having Steve on board.

yes yes yes yes yes

Yes, the newly rebuilt Manning Bowl in Lynn is a thousand times better than the older Manning Bowl that was an eyesore mess even back in the early 60's, let alone into the late 90's.. I do agree with you that these once thriving US Manufacturing cities( like Lawrence, Lynn ) are like many once vibrant US Manufacturing Cities.. their jobs were shipped overseas, and they have struggled mightily to keep themselves financially solvent as a result. So any monies these type of struggling cities receive from stadium rentals, may not be much, but every bit helps.

I've long claimed that Joel Alleyne of Etobicoke Oakland Crusaders (DCI Worlds Finalist 1975-1977) was the best and most crowd-oriented drum major I've ever seen. I've written such in a column I do for another website.

It wasn't so very long that Spartans were the dominant O.C. corps, beating BDB and SCVC many times in the mid 2000s.

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