Icer

There is what you get second hand (like from Glass Door), and there is what actually happened. There is obviously overlap - most people don't just make stuff up - but those of us who saw the whole tragedy unfold in front of our own eyes have a unique perspective.

There is a difference between a meglomaniac and a predator. When he ran the Yankees, George Steinbrenner was clearly a meglomaniac, but it would have been a profound surprise if he had been accused of sexual assault. This is what was the case at Yea! That the CEO had control issues was known by everyone (and the organization was hamstrung), but what ultimately happened came out of nowhere.

The professional CEO does not direct the board in any organization that I know. The board exists to support the management and provide oversight. This is a model that exists with both for-profit (non-public) and non-profit. The more dominant the CEO, the less the board does. This is reality. There is another model, which is a board-managed organization, and a lot of small non-profits use this approach. So this idea that the CEO says jump and the board says how high is a misnomer. The CEO says what they want, presents a budget and an operational plan, and the board asks questions. At the end of the day, the board either supports the CEO or replaces them. Because the CEO of Yea! was also the corps director, the fan base, which was exclusively focused on the creative product, looked at him as the coach of a sports team. Team isn’t winning, replace the coach. But the organization was much larger, with 3 operating units, and the situation is not so simple.

My understanding of BAC (and please correct me if this is mistaken) is that the 50 or so board members are donation-based, and there is an executive team that does the work of the board. This is a model that many non-profits use, and it can be very successful. There were two incarnations of the Cadets-related organization. There was the original version, which was completely focused on the corps. Then there was the larger version (YEA!), which included USBands and XCape. XCape was a small operation, but USBands was a huge undertaking. At one time it was the largest marching band circuit in the country (in terms of events - BOA was obviously a higher profile), and also included concert festivals as well. The money generated from US Bands helped fund The Cadets and XCape, lowering the dependency on donations. But it also meant that the board would naturally view each of the three as operating units, with USBands having the most impact financially. This was inconsistent with the fan base, which was pretty much only focused on the corps. As for the management of the Corps itself, like any other organization, it reflects the personality of the director. Some directors are delegators, others are micromanagers, and some are in between.

The board did not get involved in decisions relating to performance, so to that extent there was indeed a rubber stamp. That's what infuriated a segment of the community who wanted the corps leadership replaced (which was, unfortunately, contractually impossible without bankrupting the organization and taking down not only The Cadets, but US Bands and the youth dance studio). But the reason for the conflict was personality and results, not criminality. If you know the people involved, you know that this is an accurate description of the situation. No one rubber-stamped sexual misconduct because it was not known at the time. If the Philadelphia Inquirer had broken the story in January - which is what should have happened - action would have been taken immediately. We still might be in the same position today, because 1982 was still a long time before and obviously still unresolved for the victim, but at least it would have been a clean break. Instead there was a bunch of anonymous communication that paralyzed the organization. The resulting fallout was 10x worse with no benefit to anyone.

Presumably yes. My point is that with all the chatter, no one was talking about criminal misconduct. It was all about personality and results.

This is oversimplification to the point of intellectual dishonesty. From 1982 to 2017, the only thing that mattered to pretty much the entire Cadets community was whether the corps was winning, and to a lesser extent, solvent. If the winning had continued, it's entirely possible that things would have remained hidden for an indefinite period (with ongoing suffering by the victims). Starting in 2015, both of the aforementioned indicators began pointing down. 100% of the negative chatter in this and related venues were focused on personality and results, not criminal misconduct. As we know, in January 2018 the ground shifted, first quietly and then publicly. Any possibility of preventing a meltdown was undermined by a combination of lack of experience, legal/contractual obstacles, and one or more bad actors. In the end, everyone lost, starting with the victims but with a wide circle of collateral damage as well. I haven't decided yet whether to tell what I know - it will depend on whether any good could come of doing so. The reporter who broke the story offered me an outlet at the time, but I decided I wanted to be done with the whole disgusting mess. However, suffice it to say that the sexual misconduct was only part of the scandal.

That was a memorable show as well. The SE Championships had moved into The Benz (from Powder Springs the previous year), and the atmosphere in there was electric. People may also recall that the very next show on the tour at Wake Forest, The Cadets must have marched 30 holes because a virus ripped through the corps. That knocked them back a bit, but when they got to Allentown they pulled out all the stops.

I understand the point being made about the arc of this show, but IMO, The Cadets rose in 2018, not from 2018. The kids that marched that year had everything stacked against them. Not only did they put on a show from the heart, but when they nailed the Z-Pull and revealed the traditional uniform in the final scene, it brought down the house at the DCI Eastern Classic. There were still more obstacles (most notably Covid), and there is a ways to go, but the bounce back started 5 years ago this weekend.

No, it’s not exclusive to the Cadets, but The Cadets we’re at the wrong end of the spectrum. If you don’t know this, you need to talk to more people.

Obviously it didn’t happen to everyone. But talk to some of the others.

There is a second story that runs in parallel to the incidents that ultimately brought down GH. For years The Cadets succeeded by supposedly being the hardest working corps. And maybe they were. But the toll in broken bodies - especially females - was unconscionable. It took a few years for me to figure this out, and by the time I did, the sexual misconduct issue blew up. When the time is right, I will tell the story as I witnessed it. But for now, just know that there are some scars that have not healed, the reasons for which may not have been assault, but were ultimately highly destructive nonetheless.

That’s fine, but slightly less of Kerouac means more Cadets, which on balance would be an improvement.

After watching the show (video, not live) and FWIW: - Good job of arranging. Nice showcase of brass. - Percussion is simply beast. So many great features. - Uniforms - very subjective. Some will like, some not. I don’t see that as being a big deal either way. - Drill seemed a bit frantic at times. Opportunity for this to evolve as the season progresses. Less running, more coordinated movement. - Voiceover - If there is a way they can take out some of the narration that is not central to the story, it will showcase the music and marching more. Overall a good start considering what every corps has been through.

Personality, antics and blind spots, yes. Beyond the victims, the circle of people who knew about the abusive relationships (at least the sexual ones) must have been extremely small. I know quite a few people who marched and had staff positions during the years in question, and to a person they were shocked by the revelations. If you have no life and want to take the time to look back at this forum before 2018, you will not see a single post alleging sexual abuse. If it didn’t even appear in an anonymous forum, that should tell you something - not that the abuse didn’t happen, but that very few people knew, and the ones who did weren’t talking.

Some folks are going to learn the hard way that it doesn't matter what is rumor and what is truth. Hope they have a sense of irony.

It’s funny you should post this now. My impression of this weekend was that the corps are not really playing to the judges. They are playing according to their personalities and the crowd. When you look back at the so-called “Glory Days” of drum corps, EVERYONE was playing to the judges in pretty much the exact same way (The Cadets just did it better). I personally enjoyed Crown’s performance because I loved the sound and the drill (the uniforms, meh). The ovation they got reflected the fact that the Allentown crowd appreciates that style. Surprisingly I also enjoyed Bluecoats performance because it just sounded and looked great (although the drill was clearly not on the level of Crown). I also liked what Phantom did, although their talent level is not up to their show design There were so many different styles represented, it presents a real conundrum for the judges. And there is a risk here for DCI. If they remove the standards, DCI will become like figure skating. All costume and jumps. Impose rigid standards and the attendance may drop off. Not sure how they navigate through it.

I don't think it matters so much as having a good team. One thing GH failed to recognize as the craft evolved, was that one person could no longer do it through the force of their own personality. There are just too many moving parts. Drew is extremely talented (plus being a first class individual). I would almost say let him decide what interests him the most and then go out and get individuals who will work well with him (and Tom, etc).

Interesting observation on this year's show. I think the 2018 show from the ballad to the end may be one of my favorite shows of all time. The first half, I just wasn't crazy about the dominant musical theme (Crusaders seemed to do a better job mixing the same piece into their show). But under the circumstances, to come up with that pretty much on-the-fly was really impressive. And the kids left it all out on the field, which helped as well. Honestly, I thought that coming off 2018 and with a full planning cycle, the corps would have been able to put together a higher scoring show. But I generally don't judge the success or failure of a year by the placement (except for 2014, which was a missed opportunity), so as long as the corps is cohesive and the attitude is good, 5th, 7th, 9th is not a big deal to me. Hopefully the kids will have the same feeling of accomplishment when they conclude their finals run next weekend.

You are absolutely correct. It’s amazing how much revisionist history is out there now. From the 80’s until about 2014, GH was a giant. He could be polarizing, but everyone knew “The Cadets way” and understood that it was consistent with long term success on a scale only exceeded by BD. So even the people who didn’t like GH respected the corps, and probably grudgingly respected him on some level as well. Many of the kids who marched for him looked on the experience as life changing in a positive way. What virtually no one knew (and those few who did should be eternally shamed) was that beneath the success, the quirky exterior, and the periodic bouts of annoying narcissism was a darkness that ruined lives and reputations in more ways than has been reported to this point.

I’m not a psychologist, but there has to be something seriously wrong with an individual that can go down this road and not have it consume them, whether it’s a priest, a teacher, or a corps director. How does one get up and look in the mirror every day? How does one go about trying to set an example? Even absent a conscience (or the ability to rationalize it, which is the same thing as not having a conscience), how does it not become torture to have that in the past, knowing that at any moment it could become public? It would be like a real-life version of “The Telltale Heart”.

I think there is a difference between feeling uncomfortable and actions. GH is not accused of making people feel uncomfortable. He is being charged with two counts of outright assault, and if the allegations are true they not really a gray area (a jury will still have to assess reasonable doubt, but the seriousness of the alleged crimes themselves will not be in question). The issue of discomfort is much harder because of different standards. Some people are looking to be offended, others have very thick skin. Fortunately, issues of discomfort are a long way from assault, so if we can get to a place where that's the entirety of the debate we have accomplished a lot.

Penn State and Bill Cosby (and Matt Lauer and Tiger Woods if you want to throw them in as well) were not controversial at the time of the respective allegations. By contrast, GH was already a highly controversial figure, with plenty of people having a lot of strong opinions. Of course in the Penn State case there were loud voices saying Paterno was long past his sell-by date. Maybe if he were still on top of his game things would have been kept quiet for longer. I worry that there is a problem here that background checks will not sufficiently address.

What I find most perplexing about this topic is that in all the discussion of GH that took place at the time, not one criticism had anything to do with what would become the subject of the allegations, EVEN THOUGH EVERY ONE HAD ALREADY OCCURRED. Even on an anonymous forum like DCP in a thread that was specifically created to bash the guy, no mention. As one who believes that at least some of the incidents rise to some pretty serious levels of misconduct/assault, including potential criminal consequences, it is a mystery how this stayed under wraps for so long.

Read the sentence. "We agree" means his stepping aside is in the best interests of the organization. If that's what his lawyers are basing their suit on, they will have a tough time winning their case.