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But mellophones take up the slack with JD Shaw arrangements...

I can handle hot living down here in Floriduh but I am going north for the summer this year. Three summers of swamp hot so it’s time for a little break.

Even my son has two. All the iterations of Southwind are gone and it seems to be forever. We know what happened to Cap Sound.. big fish eats little fish to survive.

This should be good!

What, the George Soros of drum corps..wow.

Jeff, I couldn't sleep after I realized there was yet another Red Flag I was aware of that you wouldn't have been aware of for very good reasons. I've kept it to myself for 30 years and have only discussed it a couple of days ago with someone else. Since this thread involves abuse- That contact person within the corps that we both know that I mentioned? Well, someone took that individual where there were no witnesses during a rehearsal and struck them. Who, Mom and I don't know, we just know the individual was struck and was afraid to say who it was. 30 years is a long time, but I'm thinking that was when Mom hit me with the question as to what in Hades was happening there. Mom and I don't know who it was. And whomever it was should be thankful I don't know. *sigh* There was also the joint Bingo with the Fire Department where it was decided by the Management that it wasn't worth it. A loss of easy and steady income at the time. There's another Red Flag I remember. A lot of times, I know more about many things that I let on, Jeff. I know to many I might come across as a total rube and a goof, but I figure I'm better off underestimated. I know we agree on one thing, Jeff, and I believe everyone on this thread agrees: We want the experience to be far, far better for young people who want to be challenged hard in this activity. It's an intense crucible where one finds out a lot about themselves. Without the discipline I learned and kept with me, I prolly would have given up in the hospital two Augusts ago. But I know I was determined and disciplined enough to fight hard from my corps experience. We need transparency and professionalism badly. People need to stop running away from these things and try and bury it. Yeah, it's horribly embarrassing. Being called out and called a "Worthless sack of (insert colorful Noun)" like I was over the PA system at the Syracuse State Fair Grounds Stadium when I was 16 in the middle of a rehearsal was pretty embarrassing, and it still gets whole lots of great ho-ho-hos and chuckles when its brought up. I just smile and chuckle along, so funny. I overcame it and then some. I was determined to make it in the activity. Some folks might not have overcame that. The activity needs to learn from this stuff and do better.

Jeff, there were things I knew that happened before that. The big Red Flag was when the Business Manager passed away suddenly and the Director took the role of both Director and Business Manager by convincing people that's fine. and getting voted in. Right there's a huge Red Flag. Loss of Checks and Balances in management. That alone should have been a concern from everyone, and it wasn't. Those are two separate positions for good reasons, and it should have been done by two different individuals in spite of the sudden emergency situation. Some responsible individual should have been found. Bad things usually happen when one person is given too much control and there's no one there to check them. No, I wasn't there. I ended up doing other things with DCA. And if I was there at that point, I would have voiced very serious concerns about that alone and been shot down in flames. Likely been laughed out of the room. I look back when I made an approach about coming back in 1992 and got shot down. I think it was because I was thought of by the certain person who shot me down as someone who was going to ask too many questions about too many things. There were other things I was privy too through contacts where things were shady and questionable before the Championship. It was why Mom had her questions. It's why that contact I had got the heck out of there before things got really bad and made sure the books on their end were tight. You can figure out who. Yes, the house got cleaned after 1the championship- but the damage was done in many ways before it, and there were enough clues there that even someone like me was concerned. Many folks were kind of oblivious or maybe they might not have wanted to look closer? There was a Championship to win, and if this stuff got dug up, it would have been a distraction. Folks wouldn't have been happy. As it was, folks were unhappy in many aspects. Was there an annual corps meeting some time around March where the corps' expenses were explained and itemized and how the income was raised and what the corps monetary balance was at that time after the Business Manager died? Just asking. That was done for 5 of the six seasons I was there, the Sixth was that whole insane six-week effort, and that really doesn't count. There's another red flag if the combination Director/Business Manager at that time didn't sit down and take the time to seriously discuss this with the membership like it used to be done. If that was done, all well and good, but I'm seriously asking you. Somehow, given who was the responsible person to lay out the accounting to the membership, I'm betting the answer is "no" and the excuse would have been that it wasted valuable rehearsal time, just trust me that everything is okay. Don't worry about where the jackets that were pre-paid for are, or the Rings. There's another red flag. Jeff- there were a lot of things that hard questions should have been asked about and got deflected, or folks were scared to go there. Sometimes, when one is standing back from a distance and observing neutrally, maybe they're seeing more than someone that's right there in front of it about some of those things.

quick point of order from someone who was there.....the red flags were not actually very apparent until after said championship. I too miss my corps, and was there for the resurgence. but many decisions and actions made AFTER the championship are what led to the fall of 97, and pure stupidity by those who took over mismanaged the last years. I love you man, but you weren't there. I was, and you know the busybody I am, i asked a ton of questions and talked to a lot of people. A lot of us were fooled but the red flags didn't start appearing until the winter of 97. Come August well....they were full blown full field tarps.

Every corps I ever marched with folded decades ago.

yeah this wasn't the kind of topic our usual snarkfest was made for. we like to bust ###, but losing an icon...yeah, we aren't bashing that

Governaires 1927

To be honest, the REAL low bass sound (not enhanced) has been missing ever since the move to Bb. I don't know if it's a byproduct of the move or arrangers simply don't arrange in a way that produces the low bass sound.

I’ve been going since 2000. Love the show. Only negatives are that it’s usually hot and the band kids are oblivious to their surroundings. May miss this year as I’m probably going to Orlando for the City vs Barca friendly.

Another oldie. But long dead. The Norwood Park Drum and Bugle Corps was formed in 1928 by William Widmayer, who was their director and first instructor. The corps was a community-based parade corps, located on the northwest side of Chicago. The corps was one of 14 started by Widmayer at the request of local community

Very nice podcast to all involved. Well done, insightful, and respectful. I enjoyed listening to that. Thanks!

I think the current oldest WC drum corps is Madison Scouts (1938). Not sure if there were any inactive years for Madison but in terms of the year they were founded they would be the oldest now.

The Madison Scouts are so old that they forgot they existed prior to 1938. Evidence of their activity in 1920 was just recently brought to light. On the all-age side, the St. Peter Govenaires go back to the late 1920s.

Madison - 1938 Boston - 1940

Cavaliers have been active since 1948. I'm not sure if any others have been "Active" more than 75+years.

So who now is the oldest active corps? Boston, Cavaliers, someone else?

Very excited for the upcoming season. Excited to see what the staff changes will bring to the table.

Y'all. Respectfully... Choosing show material based on 20th century artists who sold their works to/sympathized with/entertained Nazis is not anywhere near the same as enabling and facilitating abuse in drum corps. (Although, to be fair, there are countless other artists and creatives out there that aren't tied to violence, abuse, and atrocity. Would it be a good idea to use Michael Jackson's music at this point, for example? I wouldn't!) It's possibly in the same ballpark as Polanski and Allen in film... but there's no need to ambiguate the topic here. Countless untold members were physically, verbally and sexually abused for years; it was covered up and silenced; and blaming a single person vastly oversimplifies the breadth of this issue. Activity leadership and the community at large have never had a transparent, honest and informed dialogue about that, which risks the safety of current marchers and staff. Rand, an expert, who has listened to countless survivor reports by now suggests centering survivor perspectives. Safe Sport International suggests centering survivor perspectives. Both say that the remedy, which survivors are due, includes minimally linking them to mental health support services, or gasp actually enabling said services. I suggested the idea to VMAPA and it was immediately dismissed without discussion. DCI and drum corps seem to refuse to do anything resembling that. Still. To the detriment of current marchers and staff. It's unconscionable at this point to not even host discussions with survivors, given how long this legacy has lasted.

Lol. Bro, this guy was massive! When he came around the temperature dropped 20 degrees, because he blocked out the sun lol. He wasn't a Drill Instructor, but he was one of the Cadre that "Greets" you when you first arrive at boot camp on the bus. My bus pulled up, and immediately the Cadre start yelling and screaming for us to get off the bus and causing mass chaos, the Winnebago Chief started rocking the bus from the outside, almost tipped it over......by himself. You weren't laughing in his face. I don't care how rebellious of a teenager you were LMAO.

Now you mention, that, reading up on it, it was extremely weird. Then again, IIRC for some reason (Health and age?) he decided not to run for it and take his chances?

I had not - thank you!