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Renegades oh....wait.....

On the money. I hope all-age corps never goes to the "oh-so-serious" less-personality route taken by so many DCI corps. Not a knock on those DCI corps. They are absolutely great at what they do, and I enjoy watching them. But I would hope that all-age corps have a bit of a different mission. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this whole game is passing me by. Maybe the days of DCA being the more relaxed, personality-oriented, mainstream, (meaning the "average fan from whatever town" can enjoy most if not all of the shows, as opposed to the "inside marching music" audience) outright crowd-oriented product (by that I mean that corps like Empire Statesmen, Skyliners, etc. can, and have, thrived competitively even though those corps' shows are/were geared for the average fans first, judges second) are going away and will not come back. I don't know. Heck... I don't know a lot of things.

So true. If you can't win with what brings the audience out of their seats, sends them home satisfied, then maybe we need to take a hard look at what we are trying to sell.

Agreed. I dont think it will be a member thing, just a design thing. I doubt they will worry about designing for the judges but more to the fans as a thank you and something special for them. If that happens to lead to a championship or at least a high finish, that would be cool to see.

And I can remember hearing "that ain't drum corps" back in my second season of..... *gag*... 1975. About everyone has an idea of what they like about DC and I think that's part of the fun. Kinda like people in Antique Auto Club of America (my other hobby) and the different eras of cars they like. Strange thing thou... in AACA you never hear any insults based on likes or dislikes of cars. ECL like everyone else is entitled to his/her opinion and that;s cool. But just to be clear (been a few days) it's the insults and telling people to stay home that caused me to respond.

Of course you are right, Don. When message boards become nothing more than shouting matches, they tend to fade away. There are more effective ways to "have the last word," like going out to the backyard and shouting at your squirrels. Let's keep this a place to offer opinions and respectfully discuss those views as adults.

So, how about these "2013 Programs" this topic is about?

The Sun Devils Drum Corps experience weekend begins this Saturday December 1st at Citrus High school in Inverness, Florida at 10am. We're expecting a great turn out, so Brass peoples, if you have a horn, bring it with you. THE FUN BEGINS SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NEXT SUN DEVILS CAMP: JANUARY 5TH & 6TH AT CITRUS HIGH SCHOOL IN iNVERNESS, FL COMMON DOWN FOR THE FUN!! http://sundevilsdrumcorps.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=90&Itemid=54

Let me say a few GOOD things about Statesmen. First, they ARE wildly entertaining and the show alway brings a smile to your face! Obviously their record of consistent top 5 placements is VERY impressive! They are indeed a FINE drum corps and always have been. But they have found themselves in recent years unable to be competitive with the type of program they have been putting on the field. Cabs, also a perrenial contender found themselves in a similar position. But unlike the Cabs, who have retooled their staff and their program to compete alongside the more modern paradigm of the activity, showing a lot of guts and moxy in the process, Empire has simply decided to take their marbles and go home. It is VERY unfortunate, and a real loss to the activity. DCA needs corps like Empire and corps like Empire need DCA, 'cause without a circuit they will find themselves with a VERY limited market for their product.

Not going to expound about the snarkiness of the "1990's high school band shows" comment; but will mention the winners anytime (and all the time) Empire (and corps of similar philosophy) enters the performance venues are the audiences and fans; accessible, excellent "toe-tapping" and "eye-appealing" entertainment to the "cheeks in the seats" (i.e. paying clientele).

Is it Reading, because they've demonstrated they know how to stay on top? Empire Statesmen, because they'll be doing their last (for now) season on the field and everyone will be on hand to make it memorable? Caballeros, because they made their move last year and it's only "up" from here? My answer is Cadets2. Cadets2 were certainly solid by September last year after a late, and slow start. They are being managed by an organization that doesn't take "no" for an answer and has lots of tools to work with. What's your take?

exactly what are you talking about? jim has a right to his opinions. and if they differ with you or mine so what. why does everybody have to get so nasty when there is disagreement? and i don't mean you or jim. i mean everybody. drum corps has changed and some don't like it. some do. so you all carry on just like we did. and if we don't want to anymore we won't.. just like those that came before us. i just get tired of the younger ones telling us how wrong we are. give us some slack for crying out loud.

I don't know if anyone else noticed, but the dude took over twice as long to explain the show as the show itself!

I extremely dislike iTunes... Great that DCI is going there, but I'm NOT!

I'm hoping the percussion finally steps up

I called ticket master as soon as tickets were suppose to be available. I was looking for seats for all three nights (thurs, fri, and sat). Ticket master had only thurs available and in section 140 (the section I wanted), they only had the first row. Ticket master told me that the other nights would not be available until the next day and finals tickets would not be available until wed. I called DCI. They told me that was not the case and they all should be available. I spoke with a fantastic lady at DCI who instantly faxed me an order form. I got section 140 row 11. If you know the stadium it is half way up the lower section right in the middle. Pretty much where we sat last year. Perfect for the sound whore which I am. That day started off as a nightmare, but DCI came through for me.

I think they'll do a great job...they seem to be taking it pretty seriously...in fact, they are in Bradenton FL right now rehearsing, both parade stuff and 2013 Show material....no time to waste!

The pit always seems to take a bad rap because they don't march. But think about it. When there's a parade and someone has to carry the corps standards who's the first one who gets the call? When the water bottles have to be taken care of they do it. When the truck has to be loaded and unloaded who does it? We all know who it is and they do it without complaint. Drum Corps is lucky to have them.

From what I've been told,9/10ths of the music has been selected, they want to lock in the show before the specific selections are announced.

I find it sad that some people have to Voice their assinine remarks on here. I would always rather "go out" on top rather than leave hurting. Statesmen are doing it the right way. I am sad to see them not competing after this year as they have meant so much to DCA. They have been (still are) the most entertaining drum corps!

"...out of this world." What does that mean?!?! A space show? Star Wars!? The Planets!?! I'm obviously experiencing some pretty severe drum corps withdraw...let's go Crown! Hope it's another one to remember.

set up properly, a Z-Pull is music in motion

Too bad they couldn't park in front of the Pres and blast a full version of "Conquest" at him!

Rock Hill police recruit: "Sergeant, why are we watching Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons?" Rock Hill police Sergeant: "Bomb recognition."

Very nice performance, indeed!

A couple things that worry me: 1.) Do people even know how to read nowadays? I mean geez, look at the comments left on the article's page. You'd swear that some of them read the title and commented on it (highly likely). 2.) Did Coates need to explain the "tic bomb"? I think the explanation that it was a prop was just fine. I can't imagine that saying this was necessary. Comes off a little like hazing, but I can't imagine anyone outside our little world will read that far into it. 3.) If we get rid of the pit- that terrible, distracting, visual electronic mess at the front of the field we wouldn't need tarps! (PLEASE SEE MY SIGNATURE! sARCASM!) P.S.- Not the story I was expecting when I clicked on the title. I was expecting some youtube video of crown's "tick" bombing in a performance. Would have been MUCH funnier. Oh well, I guess I can expect that won't happen anyways.

Yeah, uh, actual bombs don't look like cartoon bombs...

Very disappointed to hear this. I loved 2011 and 2010 and hoped they'd stick with those types of shows. I personally am not a fan of any type of dancing hornlines - or drumlines.

Found this pic of their December camp. Crossmen FB page

But they will march in Preident Obama's Inaugeration Parade.

I can NOT wait to see this show!

:thumbup:/> GOOD LUCK !!! Nice to see things are moving along, and we will see you AGAIN.

Keep your eyes on SUN. They have a new management group, an excellent instructional staff, a ton of people at rehearsals, and new money behind them. They probably won't win it all but they will upset some apple carts this season.

Well, as you know Im not a crown honk but i really wanted Crown to win last year. If we're going to talk about Crown I'll do so vaguely. To be completely honest, Heard not so great things coming off their very successful season and beginning of this season... A little shocking but, no need to say anything more than that publicly that's for sure! Hopefully some good changes will be present this season. I do hope Crown can top last years show. Quite a bar raised not just for them but the whole activity!

yeah I'll miss them a lot. I mean if you go back to 88, they've been a consistent player...that thwy were 6th last year says a lot about how the rest of DCA got better around them. I still say Miss Saigon was one of the best DCA shows all time, and the Wizard of Oz show is one of my favorite Empire years ever

I'd love to see a show about "Nanuk the Eskimo". "Don't you go where the huskies go...and don't you eat that yellow snow"

Given his connections to Chicago, I'm surprised the Cavaliers didn't get this piece of graft. Or maybe Obama asked for the best DCI corps, and the G7 already plan to split off at the January meeting, making Boston the #1 DCI corps come inauguration day.

Let's hope your predictive skills rival your grammatical abilities.

It's Bush's fault drum corps haven't been invited for so long...

If this prediction comes true, this would be the first time in 10 years that the Blue Knights fail to make Top 12 Finals. It just shows how hard it is to make Top 12 Finals these days with so many large and talented Corps.