bspeakman

Actually, that photo was taken in 1963 in Homewood Cemetary..after the Memorial Day Parade. I am a third sop in that photo..my first year.

Congratulations to Jerry Miklos---You taught me how to give 100% ...and I even remember your Valiant!!!..

Kudos....Excellence should not be departmentalized..it should be institutional!

Cadets Snare, 2002, 2003

1962, Lewisburg, PA....all PA Sr. corps Archie, Riley, Reading BUcs, Pittsburgh Rockets..I was hooked.

The key here is "perform at a world class level". It works when it's done very, very well...Fans rarely went to the hot dog stand when VK or Bridgemen were on the field...even if they were not "top 5". I miss that fun!

GREAT SEATS. Super Premium Friends of DCI VIP, Section 241, Rows 2-3, Seats 2,3. For sale at face value in pairs ..same seats for all 3 events. Quarters, Semis, Finals. $510/pair. email: innkeeper@springfieldhousebb.com

Surprised they don't ask if you do chain link.

DCI is probably as close as DCA this year. I enjoyed the Rockets reunion several years ago..would enjoy seeing a show with some of those guys. You can always find me at Lupos on DCI Sat .

Mike- First, I do believe that the vast majority of kids march "with a corps", not "with a staff"...but I have seen some who follow staff members to other corps...or join based on the "names" who teach or create at a specific corps...usually not a positive outcome. My long winded answer... I have had the same thoughts. I have been priviledged to work with some great staff people, and I AM a believer that great corps are, to a great degree, the result of great vison and a great staff. Corps that rose quickly into prominence from relative obscurity became great first by innovation (BD, Cadets, Star are great examples) by a young and forward thinking staff, and, after that it was almost self propogating ...first, great staff+innovation=WINNING, then Winning+ great staff=great recruiting and great talent...etc., etc... Staff does become less critical for some period of time as an organization matures until some tipping point is reached where an organization must innovate or decline begins. What concerns me now is the lack of innovative young staff people, that which made The Cadets, BD, Star, 27, etc. great initially. Many of the same staff people are traded among the top 12 corps, people are passing petitions to avoid innovation, the same small core of adudicators have, by design, large impact but little vison. In most of the activity, we are not seeing the type of attention that needs to be given to bringing along fresh young, innovative talent at the creator level...especially in percussion and visual design. All of this seems to stem first from the good old American tradion of trying to BUY "Instant results" rather than planning and creating long term solutions. If you look at the NFL , NBA and MLB, you'll see plenty of bad, and a very few successful examples. From my humble and completely anecdotal observation, it seems to begin with top management..Directors, Boards, Alumni Associations who spend far too little time planning and providing the support and resources necessary for long term growth and far too much time looking at last year's or next year's placement. Certainly there are exceptions....but they seem to be fewer each year. There are "greats" in the activity whose names we all know, but there are, I am sure many more undiscovered talents out there who could become greats if they are mentored and grown Frankly, with all of the emphasis we give to teaching the kids, I am disappointed that I have not seen all that much staff mentoring in my years in drum corps.

I wouldn't let my kid march in a corps that does not have some sort of dedicated medical satff...preferably a trainer or EMT who understands sports injuries or a nurse. YEA! corps both have trainers from spring training through tour. It's not prohibitively expensive to find one and I think that is the best investment they ever made!! The physical demands of the modern drum corps are significant. The risk of other problems from the cramped quarters, spotty nutrition, dehydration and lack of rest is also significant. IMO, it is downright negligent of a corps management to rely on untrained personnel (I think it is criminal to rely on the kids themselves) to handle medical issues. Many drum corps have someone in that capacity...at varying levels of professional training..if your kid's corps does not, I would ask where else they are short changing the safety of the kids? I would certainly look for a new corps for your kids.

Huh? How is that "ironic".

I must disagree. Although I am a believer in the concept that this program should be designed to appeal to a "new" audience, and I have no real problem with the emphasis on "features" rather that performances...this was NOT one of the better efforts. I usually have high praise for the Blair productions but this year I have real difficulty finding anything good to say. From a production values standpoint, the program was mediocre, the story lines were not as well developed as usual, the talent was below average, the direction (usually first rate) was erratic and the field audio was just plain awful...I have heard better from cheap band show videos. I can't understand it! I have worked with them in the past when I was at a PBS station and have always said that Tom Blair does a good job..ESPECIALLY technically. But this one was not up to an acceptable standard..too bad, as this was the long awaitied first commercial production that non-corps people might actually see. We had a houseful of HS band kids, and they were understandably bored and disappointed..and I thought that was the market DCI was shooting for? C- at best.

Good thought Keith. I have always believed that it is OUR (corps alumni) responsibility to give back to the activity that gave us so much by assuring that more kids have the same opportunity. My first suggestion would be to think about taking all of the effort and money that is spent on "alumni corps" and use it to fund opportunties for more young people to participate. Nothing wrong with us geezers getting together to play and march around a bit, but just think of the new corps we could create if we refocused our energies.

Garfield '83-'87