drumlaw80

Putting all "could have, should have, would have" aside, it's unbelievable and a little sad that the DCA journey as we all knew it our whole lives is coming to an end. It seems only yesterday, we were in Scranton, trying to get Renegade's foot in the door for the 2002 season. Or, when I was seeing my first drum corps show ever (1980 Reading Buccaneers, in Scranton). I see people say they miss Renegades. But we all do. Ditto for Brigs, Minnesota Brass and the rest. It was a very special couple of decades, a wonderful world within a world. I had more fun in Renegades than I ever did in SCV. Truth be told, even if we had successfully gotten DCA to level the playing field the bring about parity, I'm not sure DCA could have survived Covid, and maybe society changing in general, the growth of indoor etc. It's hard enough to keep the momentum going in a senior corps, let alone wit a few years taken off the field by a pandemic. To all my DCA friends out there, I miss you guys and hope you are doing well on your life adventure. Play LOUD. Lee 7

I debated responding to this, I don't know what is going on with SCV, at all. But I have seen my name dragged through the mud here by a few, basically saying that my involvement with SCV would somehow harm the organization at this point. At a time, when SCV has no corps on the field, and none in the foreseeable future. Drum corps aside, I suggest that it is a mistake to professionally judge me on the basis of the Renegades music selection in 2006, or your personal experience in the corps. Or on the basis of interactions on DCP when you have only met me in person once. Since my time in Renegades, which ended over a decade ago, I have grown a great deal, and accomplished much, including raising millions of dollars for projects and producing movies in Italy and Japan. I am currently legal counsel in various capacities for three DCI corps, all of which are doing well, and none of which I talk about. So, throw rocks at me if you must. Air your grievances from 1995 or 2008 or whatever. But that rock throwing is the same angry hostile culture that got SCV in this position in the first place. And unless and until that culture changes, you will not see that corps on the field again. Lee Rudnicki

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7 STEPS TO DRUM CORPS RESTART When it's time ... 1. Fold DCI and DCA, form one new national organization that represents everybody, senior and junior corps. 2. The mission statement is to facilitate the formation of as many new corps as possible. 3. Make electronics illegal, to make it cheaper and easier to start new corps. Reduce show length to 9 minutes with a mandatory concert number to make it easier for new corps to compete immediately 4. Divide the country into 8 regions. No corps competes outside their region until finals week. The goal is to get more corps on the field, by making it cheaper and easier for everyone to get into the game. 5. Reduce all corps appearance fees, and all corps membership dues -- focus on creating as many local/regional drum corps shows as possible, and incentives for local sponsors to hold a show. 6. Every show will have senior and junior corps competing, with full retreat at the end for the fans. 7. Start a circuit of judged winter concerts (on stage, no drill), so the competitive experience of the activity is not so focused only on the summer. The above is all possibly silly nonsense, and maybe even irrelevant given the state of the covid-19 crisis. But, if I had a vote, the activity would focus on growth, not art or music technology, for the next few years.

THANK YOU! Thank you x 777 to all of you who have read The Renegade Journal. I started this project in Rome in October, simply to get myself in the habit of writing again, I didn't know how it would turn out, nor how many people would go on to read it. It had been an amazing and fun writer's journey reliving the Renegades experience through my notes, blog postings and other materials. When all is said and done, I am a little baffled at how much I have written over 31 chapters, and by how many have read the story ... and very grateful to have had the experiences and friends described in the book. There is no way to mention every person, corps and experience that made the Renegades a success and/or memorable, but I hope this "novel" now at least gives you a sense of what that wonderful Renegades journey was like. 7 https://therenegadejournal.home.blog

Hello everyone, Happy Holidays. New Chapters are up! https://therenegadejournal.home.blog

Thank you my friend. I'm having a blast writing this - some really fun memories, crazy times!!! 🙂 https://therenegadejournal.home.blog

This is sad to read. But in my personal experience, trying to discuss the big changes that aew needed for the long term viability of DCA and its member corps gets met with indifference and/or great hostility from within DCA itself. The inherent problem with DCA is that it is, and has always been, a loosely-knit organization where every corps is out for themselves, self-interest rules the day. Not sure if it is still the same, but back in the day, the show sponsors had to negotiate a separate contract with every corps, just to hold a show. What kind of sense does that make? That's bass-ackwards. Ditto for allowing one corps to win every championship for decades without doing anything whatsoever to introduce parity into the organization., except tell the other corps to get better. As if that was going to solve the problem. That's why I left DCA, that's why so few are motivated to be part of DCA anymore. I once thought DCA was on its way to becoming a huge national organization that would encourage the participation of people of all-ages all over the country in music and pageantry, for lack of a better word. DCA is doomed, in my opinion.

Ciao everyone. In 2002, I self-published a book about the San Francisco Renegades, and the crazy experiences we had long the way to becoming the first DCA Finalist from California. As the years went by, and I started to write other things, I always wanted to write a second edition of this book, but never got around to it. Until now. Instead of an e-book for the 2nd edition, I decided to publish it via a online blog. Instead of writing and publishing the entire thing at once, I add a chapter every day, or every other day, and the response has been amazing. In the last week, more people have read the first few chapters of the new "Renegade Journal" than ever bought the first edition book. There is nothing to buy on this page, I am simply writing it for myself, and for posterity, and out of passion for an amazing set of memories and experiences. So, if you are interested -- please check out and hopefully enjoy - https://therenegadejournal.home.blog 7

Generally speaking -- an organization, a team, a person, a company, even a planet, for that matter ... are never static. They are either going up, or they are going down, almost nothing stays the same. Given the number of participants left standing, I don't think anyone can honestly state that DCA is growing in any way. From the outside perspective, it seems to be fighting for survival now. Maybe not financially (I have no idea), but in terms of relevance to the community. There are many reasons for this, many have nothing to do with drum corps, but DCA is off the radar for many people now, fans and members. This is nobody's fault, the answer is not to point fingers or lament about how things were in 1982. Society, the country, music, the activity -- everything is different than 1982. Everything is different than 2002, in fact. What worked before will not work now. But unless DCA takes serious, brave and intelligent steps soon, to change with the times and evolve as a competitive circuit, and to increase participation in the community on all levels ... dark days lie ahead.

Hi everybody. Just checking into DCP after 500 years. lol I was surprised to see DCA finals and prelims moved to one day, but I remember all of the corps "trying" to perform in a big hurricane in DCA 2006, which was comical and crazy, giant wind gusts, and sheets of rain knocking people down, causing every single member of the guard to drop at once etc. Better safe than sorry. Best of luck to all for a great DCA 2019, weather notwithstanding. 7

Rest in Peace, Ray.

One unfortunate fact I might add about licensing rights -- there is not one drum corps in DCA, nor DCA itself, that would remain standing after a successful copyright infringement lawsuit against it. Legally, it's like running across a highway. - we'll be fine - or we won't. But 'won't' is really bad. So, one can ignore legal risk in licensing, and probably be OK - but if you're wrong, the stakes are very high - it is literally, the bankruptcy and/or existence of your corps on the line. This is not legal advice to anyone, I'm not trying to be the know it all lawyer in DCP, I do not represent DCA anymore. I just want people to understand -- yes, the legal burden on mini corps and other groups, may have seemed like a pain to deal with for one performance - but those rules came from federal law, not random DCA rules to hassle everybody. With respect - Lee

Wow,

I was involved in the clearance for DCA corps, drafted most of the paperwork you are probably using, and I currently help deal with this issue for a large corps. I am not speaking for anyone, nor about any specific situation. But the question is not whether or not DCA mini corps need license X, Y or Z. The question has always been - do you want to treat DCA as a professional entertainment industry activity? Or, legally speaking, is it the mom and pop wild west show (no offense). Because if a drum corps organization is going to be famous, going to get lots of publicity - the rights acquisition becomes mission critical, because the likelihood of getting sued for stealing someone copyright goes way up. You have no idea how much time and effort we have spent on dealing with this issue for the reality television show that comes out in October. This is the stage where teams of lawyers review everything before a show airs. Something like an arrangement license missing can kill a television show about a music group (literally). So, if DCA has plans for mainstream expansion, then DCA absolutely must have its act together legally, and I am sure they do. If DCA will remain small, unknown - then you might get away without having the rights for the music you play, because no one will care. I don't say that as sarcasm, it's the reality of the economic basis for copyright actions.