Mike_Bonfig

Definitely! My wife and I were actually discussing fuel prices this weekend heading back from Wisconsin Dells to Chicago. We were discussing that when we were in our first years of college you could still get gas for around a dollar a gallon. Just the thought that fuel prices have gone up 300% in the last 16 years is a little jarring. I'm not one to buy into a lot of why's and what if's about it...it's just the way it is...and I've always got the option to stay put rather than drive cross-country for a vacation. Unfortunately, the nature of the beast in corps is that of a "road warrior" so it's about finding where to cut corners elsewhere. Bio-Diesel anyone? Next week's headlines: "...in a surprise move, the Madison Scouts have converted all fleet vehicles to be fully bio-diesel powered. As an additional measure, the corps has changed the food program so that every meal now includes french fries and chicken wings in order to create a surplus of cooking oil to be recycled and used in the vehicles. Additionally the corps has formed a partnership with McDonalds and will be hitting every golden arches on their path this summer to raid the grease traps for refueling..."

I'll go back to something I said when this discussion came up a couple of years ago as gas was consistently getting to the $2.25/gallon mark. Drum Corps who want to survive this kind of economic crunch are going to have to become creative. Particularly small corps. When I toured in 1994 with the Northmen, we hit EVERY town with the Madison Jr. Scouts and the Bandettes. None of us were that big and we typically were all next to each other in the lineup at shows. We could have easily "bus pooled" fitting all members and staff on a total of 2 busses, versus the three that we followed each other around in. Just in doing that, amertize the cost of 1 bus not being run over the summer and we're talking about a few thousand dollars. Oh would this be inconvenient? Sure it would. It would require some scheduling and housing gymnastics for all three corps. HOWEVER, once you got used to it, I don't think it would be as bad as everyone thinks. OR even if you did it only for the first tour and then re-divided for the national tour. Then there would be some other ideas for money savings like combining (then dividing) the corps to make two decent sized parade ensembles that could learn some common tune and cover more parades on the 4th of July, etc. And consolidating to a single food truck/program as well and saved money buy buying in greater bulk and such. OR maybe all of DCI should put together a shopping list and go to Sysco and say, "Allright, what price will you give us on 10,000 bags of breakfast cereal?" versus the typical 500 that a corps might individually buy. Anyway...my point is, that I think corps will survive this not as much by depending on fans, but uniting to find creative "symbiotic" solutions.

Actually, that's only Willie Nelson's brand of BioDiesel. BioDiesel readily available in the Midwest, and a little more sparsely over the rest of the nation: http://www.biodiesel.org/buyingbiodiesel/r...es/default.shtm

Interesting that this topic came up on the day when I was going to search the forums to see if anyone had been discussing BioDiesel (http://www.biodiesel.org). The question I was going to ask was that as much as I love drum corps and as much as I AM NOT a hippy, is it ecologically responsible for the Drum Corps activity to burn the amount of fuel/create the amount of emissions that they do in a season? Bio-Diesel may be a solution to this, as well as the cost of fuel issue. I have a friend who has the converter kit in his car to allow it to run on BioDiesel, and he said that in Minnesota here, it finally just hit where BioDiesel is slightly lower than regular. Since it is essentially a fuel created from vegetable oil and the US already produces an excess of Corn, it should only get cheaper as they refine the process and increase availability. So, what do I think corps should do? A) Use Bio-Diesel. Since drum corps is a summer activity, viscosity should not be an issue. B) Travel smart. If you are going to be leaving tour to do a two day re-write camp, try to find a town to host that will pay for your gas in exchange for a clinic or concert package. Or a town that will feed you while you're there so that you can put the food budget for those days toward fuel. A completely off the wall idea would be small corps arranging to tour together. I know when I was in the Northmen in 1994, we basically went town to town with the Madison Jr. Scouts, and the Bandettes (and probably some others if I thought about it). For our respective sizes, we could have easily fit all of our members and staff on two full sized charter busses. And probably could have even fit all of our equipment on one semi and then had one food truck. Would it take some doing? Sure. Would it be inconvenient? Probably at first while corps got used to "carpooling". Would it have saved money and reduced environmental concerns? ABSOLUTELY. We were all going the same places every day anyhow. This idea is obviously not without it's challenges...but it could work - and I think with a lot less effort than it would sound like.

In Order: 1995 Madison 1994 Blue Devils 1992 Santa Clara 1989 Blue Devils 1990 Velvet Knights

Several people have pointed out here that there have been instances where recordings were swapped out to highlight better performances or whatever. I'm well aware of that ('89 BD stands out in particular) - however, I tend to think that kind of cover-up is crap. My point is entirely that whatever happens, happens - and because drum corps is a live forum sometimes you're going to get things that aren't "right". At 2000 DCA finals I blew some chunks, and it's right there on the recording. I would have massively preferred that they used Minnesota Brass's recording from Prelims - though that would have been only for my personal better show. The corps as a whole was better on finals night (similar to '89 BD). In my mind you "play the ball where it lies". The corps doesn't get to re-perform live that night if the soloist has an off show or if there's a major trainwreck in marching. If I'm buying a finals CD then give me what happened at finals. Conversely, if what we're after is a a controlled environment and a high quality recording with little likelyhood of problems, then set up a standstill recording time in the stadium for the top 25 corps and let's get a really clean recording (I'd buy it - holy LOUD!!!!).

I understand that this kind of profanity does take away from the "family show" aspect of DCI. However, you're purchasing a CD of a LIVE performance. And despite the un-popularity this statement will bring, "Drum Corps is a stadium event." People will probably never agree on whether or not it's appropriate to yell during a drum corps show. I think it is, others think it isn't. Profanity yelled probably isn't right at any point. But you're purchasing a CD of the LIVE performance. If a plane goes overhead during the show, you get the plane. If the soloist blows chunks, you get the chunks. If someone shouts, you get the F-Bomb. See where I'm going? Then again, these are just my thoughts. It's unlikely that I'll buy the CDs, so I should probably defer to the people who are going to purchase them.

I realize we're teetering near the edge of "off topic", but I couldn't agree with Steve more. Knowing how computers/documentation/the Internet works, I pretty much guarentee that the raw document for the rulebook could be very easily converted to a PDF form, and then posted to an Internet site. Doing so would take a grand total of about 20 minutes, and then about 10 minutes to update online anytime they made an update to the live document. Yes, charge whatever is appropriate for a printed copy - and I'd spring for one for DCP to have access to, but once we get a printed copy, it's out of date the minute it's printed anyhow. It just seems to me like most of the time a great way to squelch rumors is to make information like the DCI rule book & bylaws readily available. This of course, is not a problem specific to DCI. There are plenty of organizations who have their rules/regulations/bylaws interpreted by the hearsay of the un-informed. These organizations under this kind of scrutiny could resolve some of their problems by public postings of the REAL story. In a way - and I'm not faulting anyone from DCI or the Troopers, I think it would be in good taste for one of them to make somekind of a public statement to explain a bit more of the specifics rather than letting us go on wondering, "Did Mr. Crumb drag the Troop to financial ruin?" or "Did Mr. Atchison decide he didn't like the Starburst move anymore?" or whatever other speculations we can draw our conclusions to. Then again, as Chuck N. has wisely advised, it really is none of our business - and we're sort of on a need to know basis. Other than to satisfy our collective curiousity, we really don't have a good reason to know the details of what's happening - and I'm sure the Troopers will make the appropriate statements at the appropriate time.

I too was not left with the best impression of Senior Corps from my Jr. Corps years. I got the impression that while Sr. Corps were entertaining, I felt like there was an air of "hack-ish-ness" to their intensity & performance. It took a lot of convincing to get me to my first Sr. Corps rehearsal. I stuck in it because I missed playing, but even during my first couple of Sr. Corps year with the Goives (3 years after my Jr age out), I could not wrap my mind around the fact that Jr. and Sr. corps are different animals. I had to learn to embrace the differences rather than fight them.

Considering you're a trumpet major, I would assume you've got at least some assemblance of chops. I guess I would say decide on the corps you're interested in participating with and speak with corps directors. I would guess that just about any DII & DIII corps would work with you working back and forth between pit & trumpet soloing if you have the chops. However, for timing reasons afformentioned, you would probably not be able to play from the pit for the whole show - I know in the past when injured players play from the sideline and all of a sudden don't have marching to focus on and can just watch the DM, timing gets off as well as balance because they're not playing "in" the ensemble. You might be surprised even with some of the relatively "newer" Div. 1 corps who would be willing to let you work between soloing and pit percussion - again if you have the trumpet chops to warrant giving you solos.

"Now to the uninitiated, the fans aren't booing, their blueing...." I imagine they need to rehash all of this crap again since they're opening up to a new audience tonight.

Now that folks are back from the drum corps season and surfing the web again, I'll give this topic one "BUMP". Again, if anyone has any idea where I can hunt one of these horns down, let me know.

Greetings - As you may or may not know from my posts elsewhere on this site, I am an alumi of the Northmen Drum and Bugle Corps of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The year I marched there was the last year the Northmen fielded a corps and I was the last person to do the Age Out Ceremony in a Northmen uniform. Always up for a little nostalgia, I am wondering if anyone on this board knows the whereabouts of the Northmen Bugles. I know that after the 1994 season and folding of 1995 they were eventually sold to repay some debts. If anyone who reads this board knows what corps may have purchased those horns, please let me know either by this forum or through PM or e-mail. If you're reading this forum and are in possession of those horns, I am interested in purchasing a soprano from that lot (ideally my old horn, though that would probably be near impossible to track). Most of them were either Degs or Ultratones, and considering current horn cirumstances (3 valves and Bb horns), they probably have very little monetary value. Still, I'm willing to pay a fair price for one in good working order. Thanks in advance for any replies.

Actually, I saw these at Sam's Club too. Trumpets, flutes, alto saxes & clarinets. I really wish they would have had one of the trumpets out of the box to give a test ride to. I frankly don't expect it to be much more than a beer can with valves (as Chuck N. used to say). However, it came with a music stand, and some other stuff as well as a couple year service agreement. Maybe next time I'm there I'll ask them to open one for me and see if the horns know "Double C".

I never really saw it happen myself, but in 1995 there was a drum corps myth that Roland Garceau (who had aged out of BD the previous year) was marching in the Blue Knights. They had a guy with his build, who marched with the same very bow-legged style who played some high notes during the show.