JohnD

Tom, THANKS for your participation. HOWEVER ... the contest DOES have a restriction that the prize may not be assigned or transferred. I won't get into the reasons for that restriction here - however, there are a number of ways to 'get around it' .... such as, having the person that you'd like to see attend (or parent, if a 'kid' under 18) register and submit their own entry. The Official Rules provide all the details. Our intent is to give these tickets away to someone that would LOVE to attend the show .... and I've been assured that the seats that we're providing for this contest will be GREAT. While I think it would be really cool for a long-term DCA fan to enjoy this 'treat' ... there's a big part of me that would love to see someone who had never attended a DCA Championship show be able to have this experience as their introduction to DCA. Thanks again ... and good luck all. -john

Don't forget - you have to submit your answer to the Contest Question and complete the online Official Entry Form in order to be eligible for the drawing. More info and the link to the Entry Form can be found on the DCP Front Page. -john

The Official Rules for the Contest require that Entrants be 18 years old or older (sorry, but my attorney was pretty adamant about that one!), so "15 year old kids" are not eligible to enter. That doesn't mean that a 15yo couldn't get his/her parent to register and enter ... and take you along to the show!! Good Luck all. I'd love to see you with us in Rochester!! -john

The DrumCorpsPlanet.com Photo Gallery has just been updated with 120 *new* photos from the DCI Division 1 and DCA Open Class corps from 2005. A collaborative effort with Drum Corps World magazine, the Photo Gallery features nearly 300 images of corps that took the field in 2005 - from DCA, DCI, and around the world. Additional galleries are being prepared to include corps from Europe and Japan, which will be released in the coming weeks ... so stay tuned! To visit the DCP/DCW Photo Gallery - select the Photo Gallery item from the DCP main menu on the Front Page. Our thanks to Steve Vickers, publisher of Drum Corps World, and the great DCW contributing photographers for making this possible. Enjoy! -john

The DrumCorpsPlanet.com Photo Gallery has just been updated with 120 *new* photos from the DCI Division 1 and DCA Open Class corps from 2005. A collaborative effort with Drum Corps World magazine, the Photo Gallery features nearly 300 images of corps that took the field in 2005 - from DCA, DCI, and around the world. Additional galleries are being prepared to include corps from Europe and Japan, which will be released in the coming weeks ... so stay tuned! To visit the DCP/DCW Photo Gallery - select the Photo Gallery item from the DCP main menu on the Front Page. Our thanks to Steve Vickers, publisher of Drum Corps World, and the great DCW contributing photographers for making this possible. Enjoy! -john

We experienced a brief service interruption this afternoon, while doing some work on the servers that host DCP. The entire site was down for about 5 minutes ... while we made a couple of quick changes and rebooted the system. I always figure its best to 'fess-up' to these minor blips and let people know that you're actually working to improve the security and reliability of the systems we deliver our services on. Thank you for your patience and support. -john

John, Drop me a PM or EMail (support@drumcorpsplanet.com) with your IP address. If you're sharing an internet connection amongst several computers, I'll need the 'public' address of your router. Armed with that, I can scan our logs to see if something has been recorded on our side. The offer remains for an IM chat or phone call to work thru this. -john

Actually - 'for profit' (or not) has nothing to do with it. The copyright law provides certain, specific "RIGHTS" for the copyright owner (hence the word "copyright" - NOT "copywrite", as noted in the earlier post) that provide protections for their works - period. Whether or not the copyright infringement was committed by a for-profit or non-profit entity really has no bearing. From the US Copyright Office site: WHAT IS COPYRIGHT? Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following: To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords; To prepare derivative works based upon the work; To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending; To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works; To display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work; and In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission. In addition, certain authors of works of visual art have the rights of attribution and integrity as described in section 106A of the 1976 Copyright Act. For further information, request Circular 40, “Copyright Registration for Works of the Visual Arts.” It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the copyright law to the owner of copyright. These rights, however, are not unlimited in scope. Sections 107 through 121 of the 1976 Copyright Act establish limitations on these rights. In some cases, these limitations are specified exemptions from copyright liability. One major limitation is the doctrine of "fair use," which is given a statutory basis in section 107 of the 1976 Copyright Act. In other instances, the limitation takes the form of a "compulsory license" under which certain limited uses of copyrighted works are permitted upon payment of specified royalties and compliance with statutory conditions. Once again - if you have any question about activities you're contemplating or presently engaged-in .... its best to consult with competent legal counsel, who knows the details and nuances of Copyright Law. Not doing-so exposes the arranger, public performer, and every party 'downstream' to potential liability. That's my not-a-lawyer opinion. Perhaps one of our member-JD's could weigh-in on the subject. -john

I'm most interested in getting to the bottom of this issue. Bawker is right - that DNS takes time to work its way thru the network to the furthest reaches of the internet. However, the DNS change was made several weeks ago and all 'current' DNS servers should have had plenty of time to catch-up. I've sent a PM to John - asking that he contact me directly so I can help diagnose the problem. If we have 'issues' - I want to make sure they're resolved ASAP. Thanks all for your support. -john

This looks like a GREAT idea for Yamato to help support their programs. What an innovative way to earn a few extra dollars to help pay for fuel and the other necessaties required by today's corps. Kudos to the team at Yamato for putting this together! Great idea!! -john

Ummmmmmmmm..... NO ....that's not it at-all. There's an entire body of law that covers that .... COPYRIGHT LAW. The original composer (or subsequent assignee) retains the exclusive rights to the work for the duration of the copyright - including the right to define how their work is modified/represented. While some composers would be willing to permit a wide range of changes - I'm sure others would require that the arrangement remain true to the original composition. The details of the license would dictate the limits of what could be done. My advice - contact someone that is well-versed in copyright law and the nuances of music licensing. DCI and several of the Top-12 DCI corps use CopyCat Music Licensing for their releases and licensing work. Jeni is well-versed in the law and procedures for securing the rights to arrange, perform, record, transcribe, and transmit copyrighted works (just about ALL music is included). -john

I received an interesting phone call last evening, letting me know that McDonald's (the fast-food guys) are 'casting' for their new round of packaging. They're looking for young people - their pictures and stories - to feature on the bags they stuff burgers and fries into around the world. They ask, "Tell us what you love in life. Is it painting? Or maybe playing a saxophone on a street corner? Whatever it is, send us a photo. Then tell us in 100 words or less why you love it and how you live it." Who better to provide stories of passion, dedication, and living the things they love than corps members? How cool would it be to see a member of one of our corps featured on the bag you get at the drive-thru window? Certainly, we have some young people that have a compelling story that can make the cut. Those selected win a trip for 2 to London for 7 nights for a photo shoot, then are featured on McDonald's packaging. You can find more info at ... McDonald's Global Casting The call closes on May 31st - so if you're interested, act quickly. -john

OK - we're done for now. All DCP sites were returned to full service by 7am EDST. We'll continue to have these sorts of 'maintenance windows' during off-hours (in NorthAmerica - apologies to our friend elsewhere) from time-to-time - as we continue to refine the new systems. Our objective is to have everything tuned and ready for a busy summer. Thanks again for your patience and support. -john

[bump] (just to ensure that as many people see this as possible) -john

We'll be taking the DrumCorpsPlanet systems offline tonite (Weds, 5/3 pm thru Thur, 5/4 am) to perform some maintenance / upgrades on the systems - things that we held-off on until after the move. We plan for the systems to be off-line during the hours of 3am EDST (midnight PDST) thru 7am EDST (4am PDST), which are our least-busy times for activity on the systems. We hope to be able to complete our activities during this maintenance window and have everything back online by then. Thank you for your patience and support. Best, -john [edited to correct the dates .... uuuuugh]

Good point, Rob. While we're always looking for creative ways to help fund the operation and growth of DrumCorpsPlanet [insert shameless plug for the DrumCorpsPlanet Store] - I am not accepting donations from the membership. With that - I think it would be GREAT for all of those that donated in the past to DCP's operation to send those funds to their favorite corps, instead. There have been a number of great ideas on how people can 'contribute' to the success of the organizations in this activity .... but most importantly, do SOMETHING - rather than simply expecting someone else to. For those that feel that the management of today's corps are focused on the wrong things .... get involved with the organization as a volunteer or Board member. In addition to giving you insight (and perhaps, some input) into the decision process and priorities, your support can benefit the activity in other ways. Or .... just sit back and complain about things here ....... Your choice, I suppose. -john

This is an important topic and one that I think we should discuss more often - the way in-which this community supports the financial needs of the drum corps activity. Sure, we'd like to see lower ticket prices and tour fees .... but how many of us really know what it takes to put a corps on the road, what it takes to staff it, and what it takes to ensure the organization will be around year-after-year. We've talked about how the numbers have shrunk over the years due to financial failure - but how many of us have signed-up to do something about it? A couple weeks ago, the DrumCorpsPlanet Weekly Poll posed the question: "Have you made a financial donation to a corps this year?" My intent for the question was really to get people thinking about the issue and hopefully, eliciting a committment from those that had not made a contribution to-date. The results were interesting: Yes - 54.7% Yes - but not as I should - 6.08% No - but will, REALLY - 13.81% No - and have no plans to - 25.41% What surprised me most was the number of people that had no plans to donate anything to the financial well-being of the activity. I'm interested in knowing why such a large percentage of people that responded to the poll have no intention of contributing even $5 to the corps of their choice at any point this year. I'm also interested in how many of the 13.8% that responded that they would, have. For those people that support the activity financially .... THANK YOU. For those that don't - please find a way to cobble a few dollars together, perhaps as suggested by 'dcisupporter', and sending it to your favorite corps. It WILL make a difference - especially if we all contribute. -john

Update: The PhotoGallery and DCPStore are back online. Keep an eye on the DCPStore this coming week - as we'll have a couple of new items to introduce you to. If you haven't yet seen the store, you can visit it by clicking here. -john

Our move to a new server 'cluster' and hosting company has been completed - helping ensure that DrumCorpsPlanet has a solid foundation for increased traffic and expansion in the coming months. While a few straggling items remain to be resolved thru the weekend, the sites are moved and running fine. As readers' internet providers start 'seeing' our new location, the site will be available. This process of propagating a domain's 'address change' sometimes takes a number of hours to work its way thru the internet. Everyone should be back to normal by Saturday midnight at the very worst case. I know there were a few of you that suffered withdrawal pains while we were offline. A special word of thanks to you, for hanging in there. Thanks to all for your support and patience. -john

We're in the theater at Irvine Spectrum, watching the crowd jockey for seats. Great turnout in SoCal for another Classic Countdown. 10 mins to go. _ -john

SERVICE INTERRUPTION - DCP OFFLINE AT TIMES THIS WEEKEND The DrumCorpsPlanet site and forums will be offline this weekend from time-to-time, as we move the site to our new hosting company and servers. We will do our best to keep the interruptions to a minimum - primarily during the late-night hours. However, do not be alarmed if you see a screen that advises you that the site is offline. I assure you that we'll be back 'on-the-air' as soon as we can. Taking the site offline, so we can freeze the forum traffic - then move it, is the only way we can ensure that all threads and posts are preserved during the transition. We'll also expect that we'll be 'forwarding' traffic for a period of 2 - 12 hours over the weekend. During this time, you may encounter a page that advises that you will be 'redirected' to the DCP site. During this time - DO NOT change your bookmarks. The URL/domain name will return to normal operation - just as-soon as the internet's addressing system (DNS) 'learns' our new location. In the mean time, we'll handle the routing manually. Thank you for your patience during this activity. Our move to new servers DOUBLES our resource capacity and provides the foundation on which to continue our expansion of the content and services Drum Corps Planet provides. We'll be well-prepared for the summer season and able to fully support our growing family. Thank you for your support and participation. Best, -john

I had an opportunity to drop-in at the Kingsmen Alumni rehearsal today in Anaheim. WOW! A few pictures are featured in the story here in the DrumCorpsPlanet news pages. -john

Hoping to get to the Anaheim Kingsmen Alumni rehearsal this weekend to give them a better testing. Hopefully, they'll have some something for me to listen to Sunday afternoon. I'll report back next week. -john

Perhaps you'd like to pose the question to Wayne Downey - who writes the Brass Advantage column, right here on DrumCorpsPlanet. This is precisely the type of question that he'd like to receive, then address in his column. You'll find Wayne's first column on our Featured Columns page of DrumCorpsPlanet.com -john

Already covered! From the EarAmps™ description in the DCP Store: "EarAmps are adjustable to fit all sizes and require NO BATTERIES, AC POWER, or off-field sound engineer to manage. They're easy to store and can be enjoyed by drum corps fans of all ages. EarAmps are protected by a U.S. Patent and are based on sound scientific principles (no pun intended). CAUTION: EarAmps™ are NOT for use in the proximity of loud, intense noises (such as gunfire, sirens, Blue Devils horn line, etc.) - as permanent hearing damage may result. " Now then ...... "3D Drill Glasses" ...... hadn't thought of that. Maybe next year ? -john