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2011 Drum Corps Associates World Championships Finals Competition


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so I'll ask...given the weather forecast, why the need for full retreat?

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This will be my final rant for the season (unless anyone else defames one of the judges for "incorrect" placements last night - still gets my blood boiling):

I have feared the geographical expansion of DCA since the first time I saw (and loved) The Chicago Connection back in Allentown in 1977. I'm not really a Xenophobe but I still fear this "expansion" and here are my reasons:

The end of prehistoric drum corps came in 1965 when the Chicago Royal Airs and Truman Crawford brought the weekend activity to the state of "art".... I don't mean to take anything away from other fabulous prehistoric corps such as St. Kevins, Sac, Madison, Boston (the list goes on and on)... I just think Royal Airs were the logical outcome of that activity.

Now it's 1966 and 3 or so coach buses pull into the parking lot at Gaelic Park in the Bronx and out onto the field marches a group from Casper Wyoming and at 15 I can see the activity will never be the same again. None of us had ever seen a show like that, and they weren't alone - The Cavaliers from Chicago introduced us to a sound so dark and rich that we wondered if they had newer more sophisticated instruments. The handwriting was on the wall - within 5 years all the major junior corps (as we called them) were touring and the skill level was heading places we had never imagined. Sure, with the exception of a couple of hold-outs like the Bridgemen the activity had moved out of the reach of middle class city kids whose folks needed them to work during the summer for the family to thrive, but it was part of evolution.

The DCA all this time was still evolving more slowly, and on a local scale. Senior corps sprang up here and there around the country but there were few if any local circuits and difficulty maintaining an interest level. Fast forward (or backward depending on your reference point) to 1977 and those pesky Chicagoans I mentioned earlier. Unlike the Trooper and Cavies, the Connection didn't storm the DCA and bring the competition to its knees but they were good enough to set off a warning light in my head. It was only going to be a matter of time (although not 5 years like the kids) before these non-Eastern corps would not only compete, but eventually win in the DCA.

Over the years two disturbing (to me) trends evolved: on the junior level DCI thrived (after cleaning up the early mis-management) but corps disappeared at an alarming rate taking many of our favorites with the toll. Another bothersome point for me was that the identity of many DCA corps began to morph into pale copies of the DCI corps - drills were written emulating the breakneck movements of Zingali, Pace, and Brubaker without the time to perfect them. Weekend warriors began to squeeze their less toned torsos into the same spandex suits as the junior guards, occasionally giving the impression of a moving sausage. DCA corps began to lose a critical element of their own identities. BTW I get how much of this is my own take on things - you may read this - or more likely stop reading it saying to yourselves "what a moron!" and you're totally within your rights.

The canary in the coal mine should have been the demise of perhaps the greatest Senior corps of all times, especially with respect to the fans who supported the activity - the NY Skyliners. They wouldn't bend to fit their identity to the new DCI clone version and began to lose their appeal not to audiences, but to younger players and spinners. The drummers seemed to continue to come, but it wasn't enough. Plus the economics of this ever expanding DCA "tour" got to be too complex. Alarm bells and whistles should have been going off all over the place when Sky ceased to take the field, or even when they ceased to be a serious contender for the title.

So where am I going with all this? We have a mid-western DCA champ - it is well deserved and only a matter of time. If they hadn't done it the Renegades or Corps Vets or someone from a galaxy far far away would have done it. But what happens next? In my opinion what happens is that local shows become harder and harder to put corps into and the costs for the travel get passed along at least in part to the paying audience. So we see shows with ticket costs of $40 - $50 and just a couple of the competing DCA corps on the marquee, augmented by local Alumni corps who give their all, but at $50 a ticket show-goers want to see some competition - they want to see the reigning champs show up on buses and storm the field.

In short I fear the summer shows will dwindle and the talent will be diluted. The folks who foot the bill will get less for their money and seeing as they're in their 60s now and have grandkids to visit and their parents to torture they will slowly show up in smaller and smaller lots. I guess it has been inevitable, and the seeds were undoubtedly planted long before 1977 but that's just the first time I noticed it. I just hope that the well-deserved victory for the Minnesota Brass is not the drum corps analogy of the meteor hit in Mexico 60 million years ago that wiped the dominant dinosaur class off the planet after a reign of over 100,000,000 years - hell that's longer than the Brigadiers' streak and Reading's streak added together.

Like everything else that ever swam, slithered, crawled, flew, knuckle-dragged, walked, or marched on this lovely planet, once we're gone, we ain't coming back.

Congratulations MBI and hopefully not yet condolences DCA.

Did anyone actually read all the way through this? Hard to imagine... I wouldn't have...

I read all the way through it.

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This will be my final rant for the season (unless anyone else defames one of the judges for "incorrect" placements last night - still gets my blood boiling):

I have feared the geographical expansion of DCA since the first time I saw (and loved) The Chicago Connection back in Allentown in 1977. I'm not really a Xenophobe but I still fear this "expansion" and here are my reasons:

The end of prehistoric drum corps came in 1965 when the Chicago Royal Airs and Truman Crawford brought the weekend activity to the state of "art".... I don't mean to take anything away from other fabulous prehistoric corps such as St. Kevins, Sac, Madison, Boston (the list goes on and on)... I just think Royal Airs were the logical outcome of that activity.

Now it's 1966 and 3 or so coach buses pull into the parking lot at Gaelic Park in the Bronx and out onto the field marches a group from Casper Wyoming and at 15 I can see the activity will never be the same again. None of us had ever seen a show like that, and they weren't alone - The Cavaliers from Chicago introduced us to a sound so dark and rich that we wondered if they had newer more sophisticated instruments. The handwriting was on the wall - within 5 years all the major junior corps (as we called them) were touring and the skill level was heading places we had never imagined. Sure, with the exception of a couple of hold-outs like the Bridgemen the activity had moved out of the reach of middle class city kids whose folks needed them to work during the summer for the family to thrive, but it was part of evolution.

The DCA all this time was still evolving more slowly, and on a local scale. Senior corps sprang up here and there around the country but there were few if any local circuits and difficulty maintaining an interest level. Fast forward (or backward depending on your reference point) to 1977 and those pesky Chicagoans I mentioned earlier. Unlike the Trooper and Cavies, the Connection didn't storm the DCA and bring the competition to its knees but they were good enough to set off a warning light in my head. It was only going to be a matter of time (although not 5 years like the kids) before these non-Eastern corps would not only compete, but eventually win in the DCA.

Over the years two disturbing (to me) trends evolved: on the junior level DCI thrived (after cleaning up the early mis-management) but corps disappeared at an alarming rate taking many of our favorites with the toll. Another bothersome point for me was that the identity of many DCA corps began to morph into pale copies of the DCI corps - drills were written emulating the breakneck movements of Zingali, Pace, and Brubaker without the time to perfect them. Weekend warriors began to squeeze their less toned torsos into the same spandex suits as the junior guards, occasionally giving the impression of a moving sausage. DCA corps began to lose a critical element of their own identities. BTW I get how much of this is my own take on things - you may read this - or more likely stop reading it saying to yourselves "what a moron!" and you're totally within your rights.

The canary in the coal mine should have been the demise of perhaps the greatest Senior corps of all times, especially with respect to the fans who supported the activity - the NY Skyliners. They wouldn't bend to fit their identity to the new DCI clone version and began to lose their appeal not to audiences, but to younger players and spinners. The drummers seemed to continue to come, but it wasn't enough. Plus the economics of this ever expanding DCA "tour" got to be too complex. Alarm bells and whistles should have been going off all over the place when Sky ceased to take the field, or even when they ceased to be a serious contender for the title.

So where am I going with all this? We have a mid-western DCA champ - it is well deserved and only a matter of time. If they hadn't done it the Renegades or Corps Vets or someone from a galaxy far far away would have done it. But what happens next? In my opinion what happens is that local shows become harder and harder to put corps into and the costs for the travel get passed along at least in part to the paying audience. So we see shows with ticket costs of $40 - $50 and just a couple of the competing DCA corps on the marquee, augmented by local Alumni corps who give their all, but at $50 a ticket show-goers want to see some competition - they want to see the reigning champs show up on buses and storm the field.

In short I fear the summer shows will dwindle and the talent will be diluted. The folks who foot the bill will get less for their money and seeing as they're in their 60s now and have grandkids to visit and their parents to torture they will slowly show up in smaller and smaller lots. I guess it has been inevitable, and the seeds were undoubtedly planted long before 1977 but that's just the first time I noticed it. I just hope that the well-deserved victory for the Minnesota Brass is not the drum corps analogy of the meteor hit in Mexico 60 million years ago that wiped the dominant dinosaur class off the planet after a reign of over 100,000,000 years - hell that's longer than the Brigadiers' streak and Reading's streak added together.

Like everything else that ever swam, slithered, crawled, flew, knuckle-dragged, walked, or marched on this lovely planet, once we're gone, we ain't coming back.

Congratulations MBI and hopefully not yet condolences DCA.

Did anyone actually read all the way through this? Hard to imagine... I wouldn't have...

Ray,

Allow me to ask a few questions, and I hope you answer them.

Were you at DCA in 1993? When there were 13 corps? total?

I fail to see then how you can blame expansion for the death of former NE corps. These people that left these corps arent travelling thousands of miles to march with these corps. Brigs ran into money issues and membership issues. Volumes have been said and unsaid about that on here and RAMD.

Westshore died due to mismanagement. Oh i could go chapter and verse on that then get sued for telling too much.

yes, Sky refused to bend, and relations with the alumni didnt help. But...there were ways to be "NYC" and attract younger members. Stuck in 1975 wasn't the way to go.

Cru ran into money issues.

Capital brass and les Mets long gone.

there's 5 corps from that year gone. Without corps from outside the NE coming in, DCA's dead. Yes with them gone it does hurt some local shows. No doubt about it. But those corps from outside the NE are not the reason.

Because of the lack of corps, the talent isn't diluted....it's made corps stronger! More corps does not always=good, because if you have a bunch of corps out there that suck, people will stop buying tickets.

Personally, the openness to expnasion outside the NE that slowly began in the late 90's has not only helped keep DCA alive, it's helped DCA thrive. Now more fans are getting to see DCA corps across the country than ever dreamed of. This isn't just a NE secret anymore. CA fans can see a DCA corps now....midwest fans now get to see two champions at shows, plus a corps making finals for the first time in 14 years!

DCI fans get two see two DCA corps at the Atlanta Regional. They got to see one corps each at Stanford and Denver. These fans are starting to realize DCA isn't just old drunks playing the same show every year.

My dream is to get to Indy next year and see all 40+ corps at prelims, all 25 at semis, a DCI show in the afternoon and finals Saturday night. Drum corps fans dream day!

none of it would be possible without expansion. I remember in 1999, seeing Govies andChops for the first time ever. I thought "wow, wish they could come in to DCA!"

Now they have...and DCA is better off for it.

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Little hints of their Blue Devils linkage ... John Meehan has weaved in some Channel One Suite phrases ... very tasteful! :worthy:

I hear those quotes and I 'feel' the BD connection, but sometimes it takes a while to make the conscious connection. I love those moments...

Edited by Genesee
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so I'll ask...given the weather forecast, why the need for full retreat?

Great question, or better yet once the decision to do full retreat was made and the corps are standing out on the field why was there no sense of urgency to get through scores. It was nice to see those giving speeches wearing ponchos and carrying umbrellas why the performers got to stand out in the open.

Also if you were one of the last 3 corps on you got to load your trucks in a full down pour as well as lightning.

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Great question, or better yet once the decision to do full retreat was made and the corps are standing out on the field why was there no sense of urgency to get through scores. It was nice to see those giving speeches wearing ponchos and carrying umbrellas why the performers got to stand out in the open.

Also if you were one of the last 3 corps on you got to load your trucks in a full down pour as well as lightning.

they did try to move the announcements of scores along, but...and this is a no win situation...ifthe sponsors, politicans and such dontget their say or hear their name mentioned, it can #### people off. yeah it sounds silly, but it's true

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so I'll ask...given the weather forecast, why the need for full retreat?

Blame me. Gil Silva was standing next to me and he had this "I don't know" look in his eye. He didn't want the drums to start playing. I said "c'mon, you gotta do it." He said "you think so?" I said "hell yes!" He said "ok, go drums!" I don't know if he actually listened to me, but I liked to think he did. So you can blame it on me. Knowing what I do now, I'd do it again! Maybe I can't speak for all the performers, but I wasn't going to miss ANOTHER retreat this year due to rain. ESPECIALLY not finals! And it was a night I'll never forget!

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  • 1 month later...

Also throw in Dream Contest 1974 (Hurricanes out during a deluge) and Dream Contest 1979 (Bayonne performs without pants - who else?)

I hear ya Ray! I was also there for both of these..... (Hurcs in 74 and Sun in 79) worthy.gif

Yea, I know.... sometimes it takes me a while to read some of the posts.... LOL

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I hear ya Ray! I was also there for both of these..... (Hurcs in 74 and Sun in 79) worthy.gif

Yea, I know.... sometimes it takes me a while to read some of the posts.... LOL

Hey I remember all that....Bucs wore pants and t's I think...muddy as hell....

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they did try to move the announcements of scores along, but...and this is a no win situation...ifthe sponsors, politicans and such dontget their say or hear their name mentioned, it can #### people off. yeah it sounds silly, but it's true

Yeah when it started to rain I was pretty mad but after a while I thought it was pretty refreshing! :tongue: and plus...then people couldnt tell if I was crying or if it was just raining :tongue:

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