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Fran Haring

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Everything posted by Fran Haring

  1. One year at the US Bands championship event at Philly's Franklin Field, by Sunday night the entire show crew was pretty much toast after two full days of bands. Myself included. I was the announcer for that entire weekend... totally fried by Sunday night. So... our old Sunriser buddy Gary Williams, who was working for YEA at the time, started sending me fake Air Grams with various inside jokes!!! Yes, I read all of them. No one in the stands had any idea!!!
  2. Man... some of those crazy-### Air Grams I had to read. Among other things, sexual innuendo (either unintentional from clueless parents/grandparents, or intentional from various trolls). I wouldn't read the most blatant ones. Or the ones where I couldn't understand the horrible scribbling that passed for writing. My first several years, I never pre-read them. Made it more interesting. πŸ˜‚ I had to use my radio newscaster skills to edit on the fly. LOL. Sometimes I had to turn the microphone off because I was trying not to laugh out loud. IMO, those #### things were/are a complete ripoff. A total, shameless money grab. Hardly anyone in the bands is paying attention as they get set up to perform. But hey... folks still buy Air Grams. God bless them. I think P.T. Barnum was right. πŸ˜‚
  3. My friend, you would have to pony up a ####-ton of cash to get me to read another Air Gram in this lifetime! πŸ˜‚ And even then I'd have to think about it. LOL
  4. Sure does. And then add in those infernal Air Grams and so forth. LOL Thankfully, Air Grams are in my rear-view mirror. πŸ˜‚ Hopefully for good.
  5. Yep.. that was the exact scenario at the band championship shows I worked for YEA/US Bands. On Saturdays we'd usually have two awards ceremonies, since it was a long day with multiple classes. But once the first ceremony ended, out went the audience, and a new audience came in for their bands.
  6. Sure sounds like a "between a rock and a hard place" scenario for DCA. I don't think the "service only" option would keep DCA in business too much longer. Maybe DCA needs to adopt the mindset of numerous minor-league baseball teams, who know their product can't match that of the major-league level, but hustle to make up the difference by turning minor-league games into an overall "fun for the fans" experience with various promotions, giveaways, contests, and so forth? I don't know. I just wish my friends with DCA well, regardless of the decisions they make. The future of all-age drum corps is in their hands.
  7. Chris, a shorter answer to your "service vs. production" point... If DCA goes all in on the "service" option... then, in all honesty, why bother at some point? Isn't that kinda what DCI Open Class is already doing? Less time and financial commitment, training ground for the World Class corps, and smaller audiences? DCA, to me, would become a "niche within a niche within a niche"... etc.
  8. Great points, young fella. 😎 I think DCA's priority has to be shows that put paying customers in seats. And I don't think corps necessarily need to sacrifice or lessen the "member experience" to do that. (By member experience, I mean the well-being of the members and the training/education they receive. I like the fact that DCA corps have made many positive strides in those areas, compared to the old days.) To me though, there's another aspect of "member experience"... and that is the sheer gratification/fun/thrill of performing a show that gets the fans on their feet wanting more. I think the "DCI Lite" tilt the circuit has taken has kept members of some corps from experiencing that audience connection to its fullest. I wonder if that's a source of frustration for some members. I have no firm idea. About this, or anything. πŸ˜‚
  9. Short answer: Yes, I believe that has been one factor.
  10. Yep... that's the bottom line, Keith. I wish them all well.
  11. By "bunch of marketing" do you mean DCA basically ignoring (especially in 2012) several people who either lived in/knew the area, and/or had connections with the high school band/marching music scene, all of whom had reached out to DCA and were willing to help get the word out? LOL
  12. Speaking of Annapolis... from what I recall, DCA did a Groupon promotion in 2013, and Finals attendance was noticeably higher than the first Annapolis year in '12. I wonder if DCA might consider trying something like that in Rochester. Yes, the tickets would be at a discount... but as the saying goes, beggars can't be choosers.
  13. Imagine the scene at Wilkes Barre-Scranton International Airport: "Victor Laszlo is on that plane!!!" πŸ˜‚
  14. I know the number from 2010. Won't say what it was, but it was not stellar, to say the least. And this with the hometown Empire Statesmen at the top of their entertainment game with their "Oz" show, and two other great, entertaining corps (Buccaneers and Minnesota Brass) joining ES in the top three that year.
  15. Yep. Once again, 100 percent on the money, my friend. Kinda sad to see the declining attendance. And I'm in the same situation... a relic from the past, no longer as involved as I once was. Heck, the DCA folks never (or rarely) listened to me when I worked for them... why on Earth should they start now??? πŸ˜‚
  16. My older twin brothers are 72... I'm 64. Every year on my birthday, one of my brothers tells me "man... you're getting old!!!" I tell him "dude.... you still have me by eight years, and always will!!!" πŸ˜‚ .
  17. I know you've fought the good fight regarding this with DCA before. Perhaps the current administration will give it a look, at least.
  18. The Ski Mask Cadets are considering forming an alumni corps. Hey... since the corps performed once, in the spring of 1981 (yes, that is a true story), they could be an alumni corps now!!!!
  19. Your entire post is on the mark, Steve. But I wonder if the current brand can be grown (to get more fans in the seats, sell more souvie merchandise, generate more buzz, etc.) if the product is basically the same as the DCI product, except at a less-accomplished level. Please... that is NOT a knock on the DCA corps, their members, and their staffers, who do amazing things in a short period of time. It's just a fact. The DCI product, at the World Class level, is nearly overwhelming (in a good way) these days... and with the DCI corps now apparently getting the memo about incorporating personality and various "bells and whistles" into their product (I think Vince Bruni would love seeing all the props....LOL), they have basically eroded the unique "we're a bit different here" edge DCA had, and had for decades. If a drum corps fan, who does not have a kid or relative involved as a marcher or staffer, can spend 40 dollars to see Carolina Crown, Bluecoats, BAC, whoever, vs. spending that same 40 bucks on a DCA lineup, where is their money going to go? Sorry if that sounds harsh. And I'm not saying DCA can't find a niche that brings in more paying customers than the current situation. But there are no easy answers here. I wish all my friends there well.
  20. Yep. Looking for the mini-corps results.
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