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Blue Devils - My hovercraft is full of eels.

Hello friends of the Edge and Empire Statesmen! Well… we did it! It was an amazing experience that we'll never forget. The way we worked with DCI to pull this off was FUN! The people who saw us were very excited to say the least. DCI is VERY happy with what we did and we will talk about future events soon! What a great 40th for them! Bravo DCI! We brought MUCH needed exposure to DCA and the ALL/AGE movement! With any luck, a lot more DCI members and fans will check out DCA this year! Thank you Gil Silva for your support with this important mission! You are a leader with vision my friend. To DCI: Thank you for your invitation to the Edge and Empire. And for the out of the box thinking when it came to promoting DRUM CORPS at your magnificent championships. The best part of the trip by far for me was the way that 1000s of age outs and DCI fans reacted when they saw the EDGE and then the Empire Statesmen flash mob. People were BLOWN away! When I turned around after Edge of Glory, there were hundreds of current age outs going crazy! It got really crazy when we added the corps in, hundreds more age outs came running over to see what all this was and went wild with us! It was DCI meets DCA up close and personal on the age-out field! I will never forget that moment. Maybe it was just the acceptance of what we do and how we do it by so many young talented drum corps people who are not easily impressed on there last night of DCI ever. But the connection was so there you could FEEL it! Wow I just got goose bumps again just writing about that moment. How fortunate am I to have been there for that! Thanks go out to my team of staff and support people who without them, this mission would have never been possible. You are the best! To the Empire Statesmen members a public: THANK YOU for all that you have done this year to help further this drum corps movement even at the sacrifice of your own group! My admiration for you grows daily! To the Edge members: Wow you are the seals unit of Drum Corps to me. What you can do to engage a crowd at a moment’s notice is just amazing! I would not want to be at the EDGE with anyone else. I am humbled to perform with you. Our future is bright as is drum corps if we have anything to say about it. Thank you all for your interest and support in the Edge and the drum corps movement. More news soon… See you all at the Edge! Check out photos from DCI HERE. Check out footage from one of our many DCI flash mob performances "Like" us on Facebook HERE. visit us on the web at http://www.statesmen.org/ More to come David Bruni

Let's be frank here. Those aren't bad shows, they are just shows you don't like.

Yowza Yowza Yowza

http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=777ac5ef-235a-4f86-896d-70392b372660 Nearly 18,000 PAID at Finals, it clearly states that credentialed/wristbanded attendance was over the top of that. 12,000 for Semis is pretty nice as well. Over 40,000 in the theatres for Quarterfinals also! Coupled with record crowd in Atlanta and at Open Class Finals in Michigan City... Nice job DCI!

And, of course, I presume you're including yourself in that description, Anthony.

I disagree... DCP is where people who wish they had the ability to run a drum corps go to complain about the people who are actually running a drum corps. It is the same everywhere in every form of life... Those who can do... Those who can't, claim they know more than those who are actually doing..and around and around and around it goes...

Who cares if the average attendance per cinema is down, the over all total is up. The over all finals week attendance at cinemas and LOS is up. You can add political spin to the figures to suit your "DCI is dying" argument all you like but it won't change the fact that the numbers across the board are up this year. DCI should ignore the "DCI is dying" movement here on DCP and keep doing what they're doing because it's clearly working.

I think dancing/body movement is horribly overused in drum corps today. There was a time when players dancing and/or doing body movement really stood out if it was used (sparingly) to punctuate an overall musical or visual effect. Now that it seems it's de rigueur, it no longer has any real impact. If anything I find it distracting. I also don't like the sloppiness of having the whole corps dancing. It is extremely difficult to get these things in synch, and it looks like mush. Some corps are worse offenders in this category than others, but in general I find it takes away from the overall visual appeal of a show.

I really like the weekend only regional idea for low-budget corps. It's something we're trying to foster here in Ontario.

While I do give Crossmen their due credit because they were truly ON Friday night, and I do concede that Blue Stars had some issues they were not able to overcome in time, one thing I can not swallow is the score/placement that the Blue Stars color guard received that night. To use wesleyrp's words "a scan of Twitter comments and even the semis thread here will reveal what most people thought of their performance that night", that guard was on fire Friday. I was there Thursday, Friday and Saturday, sitting with other color guard instructors and judges. Sorry, Blue Stars was NOT a 12th place color guard. They were 9th the night before (with a weaker performance than Friday) and have ranked as high as 6th or 7th (if memory serves) throughout the season. THAT would have put them into finals.

Blue Knights 2001: Bluetoons....................

I think people complain too much.

At the stroke of midnight this Friday, Cincinnati Tradition boards a bus and heads south to Atlanta! There are many "firsts" for this young DCA corps, as they continue their journey to excellence. They are three years into a "re-branding" project that has the corps sporting new uniforms and a new attitude. Success can be measured in many ways. It's been a pleasure to watch Cincinnati Tradition grow and gain valuable experience along the way. Improvements such as a new equipment trailer might seem like "small potatos" to most folks, but it's a clear indicator that this corps is growing! The members are excited to travel south, for the first time in the corps history. Input from the judges at the Naperville show has been utiliized to it's fullest extent. The staff made many changes to the corps 2012 show, accordingly. C.T. wishes to thank Corvets and Vic Kulinski for inviting us to Atlanta! See ya' on the "50"!

Isn't 50% of something better than 0% of something?

For Thursday night, DCI ranked above Ted and Spider Man in revenue and ahead of Dark Knight and Total Recall in per screen average; in fact it was #1 in per screen average...by almost double. Not an opinion. http://boxofficemojo.com/daily/chart/?sortdate=2012-08-09&p=.htm And of course the per screen attendance will go down if more than one theater in a municipality decides to screen it. Its not like Home Depot expects their business to double in a town when they add a second store...or a third; one cannibalizes the other to a degree, but they get the benefit of a net increase in customer base and a degree of scale. Not that business sense or a discussion on economics has much to do with making sense on DCP :)

Hmmmm...my favorite show of 2012.

I'm sure guard members get hit on all the time. The least people could do is use theme-appropriate pickup lines, such as: Spirit - What are the odds of you and me getting together? Blue Knights - You're not from around here, are you? Madison - Wanna see some pictures of an exhibitionist? Cadets - When can I unwrap my present? Phantom - Is that a sword or are you just unhappy to see me?

You asked for it and BRASSO was afraid to or incapable of delivering. Record of all HEAD-TO-HEAD contests between Blue Stars and Crossmen in Summer of 2012 Date Location Corps Score Corps Score Winner COMMENTS: July 14 Mpls. Crossmen 72.8 Blue Stars 74.75 Blue Stars Mpls. is as close as Blue Stars will get to a "home" site this season in head-to-head vs. Crossmen. July 21 San Antonio Crossmen 77.55 Blue Stars 77.95 Blue Stars San Antonio is home base for Crossmen. July 28 Atlanta Crossmen 80.20 Blue Stars 81.65 Blue Stars Neutral site. July 31 Dublin, OH Crossmen 81.65 Blue Stars 82.2 Blue Stars Neutral site. August 4 Allentown Crossmen 82.3 Blue Stars 83.2 Blue Stars Allentown was once home base for Crossmen. August 5 Pittsburgh Crossmen 83.1 Blue Stars 85.45 Blue Stars Neutral site less than one week from Finals week and up by more than 2 full points on Crossmen. August 9 dci Prelims Crossmen 83.4 Blue Stars 83.75 Blue Stars Something smells funny here even if Blue Stars had an "off" show at prelims, they should bounce back. August 10 dci Semi-Finals Crossmen win for the first time in EIGHT HEAD-TO HEAD CONTESTS! The FIX was in. My opinion? Blue Stars were tossed under the bus. RE: Match-up with Crossmen, you don't win all seven head-to-head contests including all three Regionals, Allentown and Prelims to be treated like the Blue Stars were; especially when you are one of the original 13 founding corps of dci. This is what I mean when I say the Blue Stars (and the Troopers) are SHOWN NO RESPECT. And I will stand by my words until my dying day. And as for name-calling, I'd ask others to look in a mirror before making that claim. And be careful. It seems to me, there are many true professionals on this Forum. I'm proud to count myself among them.

Then if this is in-fact correct and DCI's official position is that there is a tie for the award, I offer a sincere apology to Mike Boo and DCI for my comments. I can see now how Brandt Crocker was confused. Now - someone PLEASE go tell Carolina Crown and their fans that they did not win the award solely and get a trophy over to the guys in Concord.

Here's what I've found out, (This has greatly intrigued me as well, so I've been trying to get to the bottom of it.) In 2001, a rule was passed that eliminated ties. In 2009, George Hopkins made a motion at the Rules Congress to eliminate the rule that eliminated ties. This came up suddenly, during the event, and it was unanimously approved by all the directors. The script handed to Brandt was one thing that had not been changed over the years and no one (including me) caught it. So, the answer is: Yes, ties are allowed in the caption awards, despite what Brandt announced earlier because he read exactly what was given to him. And for those who didn't see an earlier thread; the confusion about the brass trophy came up because Brandt was given two sheets...one with the caption awards and one with the scores. He had to go between the two during his announcements and his eyes went to the name above a caption award instead of below. Someone was pointing to each to keep him on track, but it was just to keep him reading off the correct sheet at the proper time. This too will be corrected as Brandt will from now on be given a single sheet in script form that will allow him to simply read from the top down in finale. The talk among some about Brandt needing to be replaced due to the issue at Finals, without knowing what was happening behind the scenes, was troubling. Brandt is neither feeble, past his prime or incompetent. He is Brandt Crocker, and has more than earned being embraced by all in the activity. He's as vital now as he was in 1972. Would someone please do a mock-up t-shirt in PhotoShop with his photo and the words, "Needs more Brandt"?

Bring back the Marines!

Its the Grand Opening of the DCA Fan Network! Can't make it to Annapolis this year? You can see the action right on your computer! We will be webcasting the Class A and Open Class Preliminaries LIVE beginning at 2:00 PM on September 1, 2012 . You can also see the live webcast of the Mini Corps Championship on August 31, and the Alumni Spectacular on September 1! Pricing is per event, or you can buy a subscription and also get access to video on demand of the Parade of Champions in Scranton PA, recorded on 8/18/12, and other subscriber-only content we'll be adding. Visit dca.thefannetwork.org and click on the "Live Event" tab to order a single event, or the "Subscribe" tab to purchase a full subscription!

I think it would be great if DCI would put the EXTRA stuff show in the theaters for prelims on the Fan Network for those of us that couldn't see it because we were in the stadium that night. Reading some of the posts about the theater experience I see there were interviews and features that I'm sure those of us that were there would like to see too.

Yup, that is how I remember it too, and very much recall the reactions over the three final days in Madison. The cheering for them in 3rd at finals was awful. Pretty similar to how Bill Cook remembers it too, on the Star website: "For Jim, 1992 was a pivotal year because the show was designed for a broad audience appeal and the result was a hostile crowd. At that time, he decided to explore different directions. His frustrations led him to the 1993 Medea program because he wanted to give the organization a vehicle where they would be in control of their performance from beginning to end. Looking back at Medea, there were no opportunities for the audience to react until the show was over. This concept made some of the audience uncomfortable and created even more controversy. I guess that was Jim's vengeance. Also at that time, he began to contemplate doing something other than drum corps with the Star of Indiana. Perhaps the seed of Brass Theater was planted during this period."

I remember there being a lot of resentment sent to Star since it's first appearance at DCI. I heard comments from friends like..."they didn't pay their dues...... they had it too easy because of a corporate sponsor". You would have thought that most of that would have gone away with that incredible championship show in 1991. But even that night you heard those same ridiculous sentiments from some. So it felt like the 1992 show was designed on the idea that if it was wrapped in a flag the petty resentments would go away. But when they were announced having dropped to 3rd the wild, enthusiastic crowd response was worse in my opinion than any booing I have heard since. It must have been truly painful to the members on the field. So I see how the Americana show of 92 was almost a plea to be loved and when that didn't happen we got a pure masterpiece in 93 that didn't require a single American flag or the approval of any resentful audience members.

There's a lot on my mind when I read this. My guess is many will be offended by something I will say, but I'll try and stick my tuppence in here. Back in the day, I saw stuff like this going on, heard about it, watched it. Got involved in some of the goofiness myself. You read much of the "History of the Westshoremen" thread, we talk about it. I was mixed up with Chumley's smoke bomb, for instance..... I'm no perfect little angel myself. I remember listening to some of my college classmates discuss how, in their elite DCI unit, they snuck a couple of sixes on board the bus during tour. Where are those "no-good troublemakers" now? Two are College Directors. Two are still working with DCI corps in important positions and are quite respected. All are excellent educators. They turned out just fine. With one or two notable exceptions in the Westshoremen, we all pretty much turned out fine, got some degrees (At least one Pharmacist, Psychologist, and Minister in the mix), hold down a decent job, work hard, and are pretty good citzens, even with all the craziness that we all were mixed up with in one degree or another. I'd say we beat the percentages of normal society. For those of you who have never performed, (we used to call you folks 'normals' in our corps by the way) one thing remains a constant from when I was active to today. You give up a lot of yourself on tour. Your choices are limited to what cereal and how much milk you put on it in the morning, and what you squirt on the hot dog at lunch. You're expected to put up sometimes with people you don't get along with off the field, but you MUST cooperate completely with them at all times during rehearsal for everyone's good. Don't kid yourself that everyone loves everyone else in the same corps. That's untrue. You put up with getting yelled at by staff and comrades, and dealing with very regimented, demanding, and extremely stressful situations constantly in the rehearsal and performance environ. You live inside a bus with little personal space, on practice fields, competition stadiums, and on gym floors. And, you get to pay 5+ grand a year for this privledge. It's not easy to do this. It never was and never will be. It's something all of us who have competed in DCI or DCA understand implicitly. Really, you could go have a pretty rippin' good vacation and get in lots more trouble with that 5 grand in Cancun. And.... we have people worried that young adults are blowing off steam in various ways that young people blow off steam in this extremely intense pressure cooker of an environment? Maybe the issue isn't the behavior itself, but the environment that generates said reactions, that to me in some of these circumstaces are understandable. We didn't have nekkid competitions on our busses, but we did do other stupid things back then that were about as goofy. Look. My parents told my sister and I we represented the family, and to act like we were brought up. I didn't know this until a couple of years ago when Dad let it slip, Dad checked on me frequently with Chuck Saia(Our wonderful Business Manager) as to whether I was acting up. Compared to a lot of us, I was pretty well behaved, so Chuck didn't tell him quite everything. The point is, Dad checked up on me. It's okay to do that. It's no crime as a parent to be concerned and talk to staff and management about your kid. When you do this activity, you grow up FAST. VERY fast. You learn to be very mature, self reliant, and independent quickly, or you end up failing. Like I said, for the most part, we have turned out just fine, and the corps kids in the future will, too. If you took offense by anything I have said, I don't mean to give offense, I'm more trying to explain some things from the viewpoint of a veteran of the trenches to people who haven't been there. There are real issues. I've said before that this activity ain't Care Bears and Rainbow Brite. I have no real answers. This isn't Parris Island or the USNA D and B complete with Tac Officers hovering around, but it seems some folks might be thinking that's what it should be. As it is, there's enough steam on the popcorn kernels as it is from what I know, see, have heard from kids from yesterday and today, and personally experienced. You don't want the kernels popping.

I remember a lot of booing when they won the Quarterfinals, and then louder cheering each of the next two nights when they slipped to 2nd and then 3rd. This was the sort of thing that I believe Mason refers to when planning 1993. A segment of the fan base absolutely refused to cut them any slack, no matter what they did or how good they were. That was stupid and unfortunate at the time, but the flip side is it made them produce '93. What a loss it would be if that had never come to pass.

I'm not going to get into a religious discussion on DCP. It just isn't a good idea to invite folks with an agenda on tour with a corps who needs to concentrate on being a corps. They just get in the way.

Thanks for the link. I'm not seeing the problem here. I think anything that gets kids playing, interested in music in whatever form they chose, is a good move for everyone. Anyone I've shown Shaun Canon's video thought it was great and we will be playing it at our upcoming open house. If the video pulls a few more kids to marching music, the down side is - where exactly?

For me, the problem wasn't the design for BK 2012. Their hornline just didn't seem anywhere near where it was in 2011 in technique, entertainment, or tone quality.

There have been times that I've strongly disliked a show, but then I watch it on DVD and all the sudden it seems brilliant, but there have been two recent shows that I've rather disliked. I'm selecting two corps I usually enjoy because I think you're biased against a show of a corps you don't care for in the first place. 2011 SCV--I found it dark and bizarre and since it was about a guy trying to get out of Hell, I suppose that's appropriate, but I felt like I was in Hell watching it. Even a rousing rendition of the "Bottle Dance" wouldn't have saved it for me. This year SCV blew me away. So, if you want to win your old fans back, do a show they'll hate one year and be totally different the next and you'll be a hero. I was very disappointed with 2012 Blue Knights. I was also surprised I felt this way. I usually find Blue Knights to be a corps that could be both innovative and traditional, but this year didn't grab me. At Allentown I was shocked with their score and the fact they did well in Indy surprised me. I would have expected Blue Knights, not Blue Stars to be 13th. I felt there was more maneuvering than music and the maneuvering was not very compelling. For me, the moves didn't make sense and crowd response was tepid at best. I will say they had a great finale that gave a good final impression, but it left me with more questions than answers. I do congratulate them for improving enough to be in finals, but I wish it had been with a better show.

See also: 1995 Blue Devils

Im glad to see numbers are healthy. Whats astonishing to me is that 40,000 people watched Quarters in 600 theatres...this number is being overlooked, this is huge ! Things change, the criteria of drum corps is changing, the advent of theatre viewing and the numbers it brings is astonishing.... DCI has problems, yes it sure does. Corps are folding, costs are increasing, these things need to be addressed, however, this news is excellent and something positive to build on. Finals MUST be brought to either theatres or the Internet.....even at full capacity, only half of a stadium could realistically watch championships live.....for 25 to 40 bucks, you can have the "best seat in the house" and theres no way finals attendance will take a hit, even if it drops by a few thousand, the home/theatre viewers will more than make up for it. Good numbers, lets make this off season a positive one. Geoffrey

Congratulations to DCI on the good attendance figures. Now maybe some DCP'ers will stop insisting certain corps and programs are killing DCI.

glad to see it went up slightly. there is still two things, IMO to discuss: it's not up more. Some of that is economy yes, but venue also has to be in the discussion. and DCI by not streaming finals online is pissing money away.

How about for once, people stop trying to believe that the sky is falling when it isn't? Anytime there's good news, it must be your job to try to find the most obscure angle to shoot is down. How about you use the 2004 number as a baseline and realize that there were 23,000 more people who saw (and paid to see) Finals Week this year than in 2004? That's the best news for DCI and for arts education in general that I've seen in a long time. PS - sorry for the rant, but this BS of finding mindless horse-hockey statistics to spread alleged doom and gloom drives me nuts, when the evidence doesn't point to that. It may not be getting better at the rate you want it to, but it's also not getting worse. There's a lot to like about what's out there and about what DCI is doing. PPS - yes, I realize it's the internet, and no one is happy about anything.

Agreed. Lets look at the 2 that mattered this year (from the numbers in the post above): Blue Devils 24 Carolina Crown 33 Would 9 more full rehearsal days instead of show days (since you tend to lose about a half a day's worth of rehearsal days, lets say this was worth about 4-5 entire days of rehearsal) have meant a difference in their scoring margin?

I may get things backwards sometimes, but I can read between the lines. I have heard talk of a developing proposal, and the topics coming up in this discussion confirm the rumors I have been hearing. Combine the classes, but create new tiers? That just serves to adjust the relative number of haves versus have-nots, in favor of the haves. Top 12 as a new payout tier? How will the next 12 compete with that? More separate events for separate tiers? Which events should we separate next? We already did Friday and Sunday. Who wants to see the big Saturday regionals with top-corps-only shows, or separate tiers on separate tours during the week? Those are the only possibilities. Give open-class appearance fees, but take away their championship events? You can bet that the fee payouts will be set so that this change is a cost saving to DCI. I think flammaster had it right - the end times are coming.

Let's be best friends. I was literally coming in to once again talk about a weekend-only, WGI Percussion-esque A Class. I really think that is the only way drum corps is going to survive.

It makes no sense to compare BD to the bottom-scoring corps in World Class in this regard. If BD got an advantage from more rehearsal days, it wasn't in their spread over Cascades. I don't think every corps should be required to do the same number of shows or 30+ shows or anything, but BD's schedule was extremely light this year compared to the corps in the top ranks of World Class. This isn't about money: BD has more of that than any other corps. It's not about location or miles travelled: BD played fewer shows out west than Boston or Phantom did.

Then eliminate the challenge by eliminating the "art"; and here is my reasoning. The Dave Matthews Band, Rush, U2, Rolling Stones, Blue Man, are some of the highest caliber musical bands in the world; there is no denying that fact. I would venture to say that many here on DCP would pay, or have paid, big bucks to go see some of these groups and moreover would more than likely sell their you-know-what to perform with them. Yet theses bands are not concerned at all with "art", just great sounding commercial music along with high quality production which drives the crowd nuts. In turn they garner a plethora of fans all over the world every year who fill entire stadiums by paying out the kazoo for those tickets. "Art" on the other hand is fine, I am not knocking it at all; but if you desire "art" you have to accept the fact that it will only appeal to a very small clientele. I mean how many people will want to go to a stadium and pay to get in to hear and see something by Schwantner combined with wild drill moves no matter how great the performance. And by the way, one of the axioms of art is not having to "connect" with the audience but only making the audience "think"; and who in their right mind wants to pay for travel, food, motel, and hundreds of dollars in tickets to an entertainment venue like DCI and be forced to think!!! Point being is that if you want more butts in the stands, more paying audience, increased fan base, then provide high quality musical/motion commercial entertainment like Blue Man combined with Rush (it does not have to be American Idol combined with World Wrestling); but if you desire "art", then accept the fact that only a very small percentage of a paying crowd will ever be developed; ever.

On the surface this does appear to be a real good idea, more in-depth information is undeniably required. I haven't yet figured out how to word my thoughts on this, but one question is at the forefront. One (beneficial?) aspect of the tic system was that a corps of 60 actually could beat a corps of 128. Under the current system/sheets, would a similar event be allowed to happen? Also curious about the payouts, unlikely any corps below 15th place would collect. Man, I hope I am wrong, but this feels like the perfect way to phase-out what some have deemed those "useless, lesser ranking corps that have no place in 'the big picture'". Make it so there is simply no way they can compete. Hmmm, deja vu?

Normally I look for clean but from start to finish I didn't even care to judge Surf. They were just too much fun. Should DCI go in this direction? Hells Yes!

I think first we need to adjust the question. If you say "worst show" it is negative no matter how you spin it. If you phrase the question.... What was the most "questionable show choice"? It's not quite as stinging... So I'll play. 2008 - Cadets "Cancer in Four Parts with a Couch" (actually I've been using that joke so long I cannot remember the real title) 2002 - Carolina Crown (Greek Mythology...and men in pink togas, Oh My!) 1989 - Spirit of Atlanta - Interstellar Suite (HM to Petrouchka though) 2009 - Madison Scouts - El Relampago (NOT starring Jack Black)

I propose we call "Class B" something along the lines of... "Division III"

The toe down marching is very influenced by dance movements, such as a tondu forwards in learning forwards marching and backwards for the backwards technique. For the forwards technique, for steps 8 to 5 or larger, they marched with turnout in their legs and the heel came all the way to the ground in taking these steps. If steps were smaller than an 8 to 5, they marched with feet in parallel, like a backwards march, without their heels coming down, with a similar legstroke to that of a backwards march, with toes coming slightly off the ground and replaced for each step. The backwards technique was just like that of most other corps, straight legs with steps being on the full platform of the foot without rolling down on the heel and maintaining elevation. For me personally, I noticed the Bluecoats not having any issue at all with having feet in the sound early in the season like some corps did. This technique grew on me as the season progressed, and I'm excited to see how well they can develop it in the future years, because it does seem to be quite successful, judging by how they had come out and had some really good visual proficiency scores at certain shows throughout the year, even beating corps like Phantom and the Cadets at the Massillon show.

All this talk about the Cavaliers being in trouble is absurd. Even the best corps has an "off" season now and then. To say the Cavaliers were in trouble by placing as high as they did in finals is just plain silly. Many corps would love to wind up in finals as high as the Cavaliers did. I am certain they will be back in top form by next summer with a very competitive as well as entertaining show as always.

WOW....reading the OP's post you'd think we were all snorting lines of coke off of hooker's ####s on the tour busses between shows. Reading the post above mine by Tim, His last paragraph is interesting....and a generalization. My wife won't appreciate me airing this out here, but I had more sex on my high school band trips and marching Division 3 than I did at Carolina Crown. As a matter of fact, I was so tired after Crown rehearsals, I didn't even get "tour goggly" I went to my sleeping bag and slept! I will say this though, I remember setting up a sleeping bag next to a female marching D3 and the staff came in that gym and grabbed all the male members sleeping bags (PERSONS INSIDE) and drug them across the gym. The corps did what they needed to do, but obviously they can't watch over young people 24/7...and neither can their parents. Alcohol? With the exception of Finals night or the occasional beer at Ruby Tuesdays on an off day, I never saw it! EVER!!! Nobody was dumb enough to drink when we had rehearsal the next day. ...and guess what? Ruby Tuesday's cards you...so this whole "save the kids" crap is moot. Smoking? Hmm I never met a kid that started smoking on tour. As a matter of fact, the smokers are much fewer and far between than they used to be. It's not conducive to marching (especially brass players). If your kid is a smoker, chances are, they were doing it in your backyard with their friends before they ever went on tour.

To the Blue Devils. Don't ever change. And by that I mean keep changing. Keep doing something I haven't seen before on the field.