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RBarron10- I thank you for your contribution to what can be a valuable dialogue. It's a dialogue we've had several times before, but hopefully we learn something new each time. Most likely, 8 out of 10 posts that follow will attack your opinion, and possibly even your person. I won't. I don't think you came back here to destroy the activity. I think you came here to help it flourish. I also want acknowledge Brad T for doing the same, and those who follow. This activity is not big enough to suggest you, or anyone with similar views, get lost. It needs to find a way to keep you onboard. To my eyes, there has been great change in this unusual product. But, more importantly, I accept that I HAVE CHANGED, TOO! I've adjusted my relationship with it, and so can you. Having seen 1000, or more, drum corps shows in person over the years, I give you the advice I now give others of my vintage. Simply this, the corps will change on their schedule. Change the way YOU witness what they do. I think you'll find, today's shows are BETTER THAN EVER for where you (and I) are in our present requirements, and wherein we find value. Give the activity a different look. For me, DCI corps have become so complex, so multi-layered, so detailed, etc., I no longer enjoy it as I once did from a single seat in the grandstand, at a single viewing. I'd miss too much in person. I can't take-in enough anymore in that setting. I have discovered Pay-Per-View now works far better. I realize now, without the aid of multi-camera views, close-ups, personal sound control, and an outstanding seating location for whatever the corps are doing, I'm bored, too. I make no apologies for that. Neither should anyone else. Far too much of today's supurb productions are missed, by ME, taking it in live. I can't imagine anyone sitting 'low on the twenty' seeing and hearing what I do now. Obviously, very many people still attend live, and at great expense. It's their turn. I had mine. Life goes on. The corps and shows today are simply amazing. Once skeptical of where we've gone, now I can see that special attraction is still alive. There is incredible talent presented here in an imaginative way that exceeds what I once thought possible. What a joy to rediscover drum corps can still work for me. A good example is the recent Blue Devils show. I spoke with several knowledgeable people who saw them live and hated their show. It made no sense to them, and evidently not many of the rest of the audience either. I'm here to tell you, that show would NOT translate adequately live, especially with a single viewing opportunity. But, it's a fantastic poduction when presented in a DIFFERENT package! I watch it over and over, and with pleasure. All the other corps have much to like, too. I should shout out to the Cavaliers who never cease to satisfy me. To sum it up, RBaron10 . . . hang in there. Give it another look, a different look. Never forget, YOU have changed, too! Can't wait for the coming season!

Anytime I see a person complain about "modern art" being over their heads, the only thing I can think is "....well that explains who's buying all those paintings of clowns and kittens at local art fairs."

You're right. That is sad. You know what would be sadder? For those artists who actually have something to say and an interest in pushing themselves to try something new to stop doing what they're doing, because, after all, the kitten and clown patrons out there will never appreciate the work. Working toward the lowest common denominator because a big chunk of the potential audience has no interest in being challenged never leads to anything worth knowing. One of the whole points of reading, watching, or looking and listening to the work of creative artists IS to have your preconceptions changed and your tastes challenged. What would be better would be for those who don't care for something to ask themselves WHY they don't like it - and do so from the standpoint that it's perfectly OK to come to the conclusion that you didn't like something not because it was strange, but because the artist in question failed to do the thing that he or they were trying to do. I think that's the real problem in drum corps now, from an artistic standpoint. It's not the shows are too artsy, it' s that with too many cases, they're failing to deliver the goods.

I know I can't be the only one getting annoyed by these "I'm leaving drum corps forever" threads. Is anyone expected to care? Just move on quietly and save us all the time and effort.

Tell you the truth, I can't remember ANYONE ever booing the Troopers! Sure, you are welcome!

Wow I asked a simple question and get called almost every name in the book for it. I said I was not excited about the upcoming season. I asked “Does anyone else feel this way and if so why?” Here is what I found surprising. I’m not trolling … I’m asking a question about the upcoming season. I’m stating I’m not excited and was bored with many of last year’s offerings. But I was thrown under the bus and ran over repeatedly. Don’t worry I have thick skin J. Some members really gave me some good insight about some of the things currently happening with corps I didn’t know. Thank you for being supportive of my question and statement about not being excited and needing more than one viewing to connect/understand a show. The DCP members that bashed me for my post, I checked to see their status on DCP and surprisingly I found many of them to be Veteran members with numerous postings. My gosh are you the Nancy Grace’s of DCP where your opinion the only ones that count? Some of you bashed me for starting a topic you thought had been beaten like a dead horse. Do you bash those that start topics talking about Placements for 2014? We’ve not even seen a show in 2014 yet. I didn’t want to bring electronics into this discuss nor instrumentation … I really don’t’ care either way about what type of horns the corps play, but if you want to know I think drum corps lost it’s edge (corps used to have a bright sound now they don’t) when it went to B Flat horns. Lastly, it seems like many of you don’t have lives and live on here. One poster was asking why I had not posted yet to defend myself. Well I just got around to checking my post. I am sorry but I am a rather busy man with my own National Championship Drill Team and I’ve been busy. Hind sight - maybe it’s not the corps I’m bored with at all … maybe it’s the snotty attitude some people have towards drum corps. Some of you posters sure do fit the label of, “Take it or leave it”, or “Its change baby so adapt” and “Out with the Dinosaurs, we don’t need you!” It’s a free world, so troll on.

Oh, that does happen too. As a band director, you had better not create a show that requires the cast of "Ben Hur" to move on and off the field if all you have available is the cast of "Gravity".

I know; he's more of a hater apologist (and a troll apologist, apparently).

When pondering this features real first name, we might be reminded of the first name of the gent who developed the theory of relativity.

Mellodude isn't a DCI apologist. He is actually the exact opposite of his sig... See no "good". Hear no "good". Speak no "good".

Nice insider stuff Ray. Sunrisers had Uncle Nick and their "Wail Juice" and Skyliners had this gent and their "Soup". God bless both these men.

It generally isn't a huge issue, and I don't have a problem with people expressing their opinions. But this year's griping seems to have been taken to a whole new level. Maybe I'm just suffering from "alumniof fatigue" and am overly sensitive to people starting a topic to gripe about every last negative thought that popped into their head.

Why does it do that? How are things in your black and white world? Maybe, just maybe, not everyone who says something positive about DCI is an apologist. Maybe they genuinely enjoy what DCI is and has to offer. It's a shame that the shows no longer entertain the OP, but I'm not 100% sure what his aim was posting it out here in a separate thread instead of one of the myriad others saying about the same thing.

many times a circuit is only as good as the last score they gave you.

And then you can pretend all is well in the kingdom. If the threads annoy you, you could perhaps not read them.

Nope. Not going to put anyone's name on here publicly so people outside my brotherhood can criticize them. If you were a Scout alum, that would be a different story, but not taking that route, sorry.

The Skyliners are very excited to be marching in the second largest St. Patrick's Parade in the country this Saturday. We are marching in the Scranton St. Patrick's Day parade. The parade kicks off at 11:45. It will be televised locally on Channel 22, WYOU in Scranton. We are in Division 5. After the parade, we will post video and pictures of the day. Thanks for all your support and kind words so far. Next step - to the FIELD! Larry

If I'm right, how fitting this close to St. Patricks Day. Andy, am I on the right track? Correction: OK, I think I have the right train, but it's on the wrong track. Nanci, the current feature would more likely be a Braveheart than an Irishman, so let's do away with the St. Patty's thing. Calling a Scotsman an Irishman could get one in deep cabbage.

As a reminder, these aren't "perfect" scores but "maximum" scores. And what would be the point of disallowing judges from awarding the maximum possible score? All it would really do is make the maximum score minus one tenth the new maximum.

I've tried to list every corps who has indicated intention of appearing in Open Class this season. Naturally this is a work in progress, and I welcome your input to help fill gaps and correct errors. Blue Devils B -- Noir [nuvo] Music Selections: --"Young and Beautiful" (Lana del Ray & Rick Nowels) --Brute Force (Miklos Rozsa) --Theme from The Usual Suspects (John Ottman) --"Children's Hour of Dreams" (Charles Mingus) --"Asphalt Cocktail" (John Mackey) --"Film Noir" / "Pursuit" from Cirque du Soleil's Iris (Danny Elfman) Show Announcement Blue Devils C -- Surfin' BDC Music Selections: --"Fun Fun Fun" (Brian Wilson and Mike Love) --"School's Out" (Alice Cooper, Michael Bruce, Glen Buxton, Dennis Dunaway, and Neal Smith) --"Surfin' USA" (Brian Wilson and Chuck Berry) --"Wipeout" (Bob Berryhill, Pat Connolly, Jim Fuller, and Ron Wilson) Blue Saints -- Summon the Gods Music Selections: --"Flight of the Pegasus" (David Shaffer) --"Fate of the Gods" (Steven Reineke) City Sound -- Big Easy Blues Music Selections: --"Do Watcha Wanna" (as popularized by Rebirth Brass Band) --"St. James Infirmary" (traditional) --"Beale Street Blues" (W.C. Handy) --"Brooklyn" (as popularized by Youngblood Brass Band) Coastal Surge -- A Southern Saga: Scenes from Charles Towne Harbor Music Selections: --"Spangled Heavens" (Donald Grantham) --"Gone" (Scott McAllister) --"Final Battle" from We Were Soldiers (Nick Glennie-Smith) --Symphony No. 1 (Chris Theofanidis) Show Announcement Colt Cadets -- Crazed! Music Selections: --"Goin Out of My Head" (Teddy Randazo & Bobby Weinstein) --"Overture" from Dancer in the Dark (Bjork) --Equus (Eric Whitacre) --"Crazy" (Brian Burton, Thomas Callaway, Gian Franco Reverberi & Gian Piero Reverberi) --"Love Crazed" (Terry White & Brian Zeglis) Show Announcement Columbians -- Stardust Music Selections: --The Planets (Gustav Holst) --"Vincent" (Don McLean) --"Coronation" from Stardust (Ilan Eshkeri) Eruption -- Burdens of Brilliance: Inside the Mind of Mozart Music Selections: --Symphony 25 in G minor (K-183)- Allegro con brio --Concerto for Two Pianos in Eb major (K365) – Rondeau --Serenade No.#10 Bb major (K-361) -3rd movement --Requiem (K-626)- Confutatis --Don Giovanni (K-527) -a cenar teco, da qual tremore insolito Show Announcement Genesis -- The Art of Darkness Music Selections: --"Strength of 1,000 Men" (Thomas Bergersen [Two Steps from Hell]) --"United We Stand, Divided We Fall" (Thomas Bergersen [Two Steps from Hell]) --"Mad World" (Roland Orzabal) --"Lux Aeterna" from Requiem for a Dream (Clnit Mansell) Show Announcement (The program had previously been announced as "Pure Imagination" to feature music from Mary Poppins [R. Sherman & R. Sherman], The Sound of Music [R. Rodgers & O. Hammerstein] and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory [L. Bricusse & A. Newley].) Gold -- The Journey Music Selections: --Original Music by Scott Director and Seth Woodard Mvt. I: Every Journey Begins ... With a Single Step Mvt. II: New Places, New People, New Things Mvt. III: One Journey Ends and Another Begins Show Announcement Golden Empire -- A Journey Begins Music Selections: --Symphony No. 9, "From the New World" (Antonin Dvorak) Guardians -- Terra Nova Show Announcement Music of Steven Bryant, Aaron Copland, Maurice Ravel, Loys Bourgeois, Daniel Montoya, Jr. and Sarah Santa Cruz. Music Selections: --"Ecstatic Waters" (Steven Bryant) --Symphony No. 3, second movement (Aaron Copland) --"Daybreak" from Daphnis and Chloe (Maurice Ravel) --"Old Hundredth" (Loys Bourgeois) --Original music (Daniel Montoya, Jr. and Sarah Santa Cruz) (Show title originally announced as "The Logic of All My Dreams".) Impulse -- Dusk to Dawn Music Selections: --Symphony No. 5 (Ludwig van Beethoven) --Moonlight Sonata (Ludwig van Beethoven) --"Ode to Joy" from Symphony No. 9 (Ludwig van Beethoven) Incognito -- <3 – less than love Music Selections: --Romeo and Juliet (Sergei Prokofiev) --Romeo and Juliet (Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky) --Carmen (Georges Bizet) --Original music (Rick Barclay and Tony T. Nguyen) in four movements: Romance, Struggle, Trust, Betrayal including excerpts from Romeo and Juliet and Carmen Show Announcement Legends -- La Cathedrale Music Selections: --The Sunken Cathedral (Claude Debussy) --Stained Glass (David Gillingham) --Lux Arumque (Eric Whitacre) --Gloria, mvt. III (John Rutter) Show Announcement Louisiana Stars -- The Lighter Side Music Selections: --Light Cavalry Overture (Franz von Suppe) --The Barber of Seville (Gioachino Rossini) --The Marriage of Figaro (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) --"Toreador Song" from Carmen (Georges Bizet) --"La Habanera" from Carmen (Georges Bizet) --William Tell Overture (Gioachino Rossini) --"Infernal Galop" from Orpheus in the Underworld (Jacques Offenbach) Music City -- Go West! Music Selections: --"On the Trail" from The Grand Canyon Suite (Ferde Grofe) --Billy the Kid (Aaron Copland) --"Sunset" from The Grand Canyon Suite (Ferde Grofe) --The Red Pony (Aaron Copland) Show Announcement Patria -- Todos es Posible Music Selections: --"Treasure" (Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence, Ari Levine, and Phredley Brown) --"Paradise City" (Axl Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, and Steven Adler) --"It's My Life" (Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Max Martin) --"Gangster's Paradise" (Stevie Wonder, Coolio, Doug Rasheed and Larry Sanders) --"Boogie Wonderland" (Allee Willis and John Lind) Racine Scouts -- 87 Music Selections: --"Eine kleine Nachtmusik" (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) --"Four Score and Seven" (Vic Schoen and Les Brown) --"Once Upon a Time" from All American (Charles Strouse) --"7/8" (Colin "Kyteman" Benders) --"Crown Imperial" (Wlliam Walton) --"Onward Christian Soldiers" (Sabine Baring-Gould and Arthur Sullivan) Show Announcement Music Announcement Raiders -- Seasons of the Earth Music Selections: --"October" (Eric Whitacre) --"Month of the Cold Moon (January, 1839)" (Roland Barrett) --"Into the Joy of Spring" (James Swearingen) --"Kingfishers Catch Fire" (John Mackey) Show Announcement 7th Regiment -- Nev7sky: Alexander's Legacy Music Selections: --Alexander Nevsky by Sergei Prokofiev Show Announcement Spartans -- Olympus Show Announcement Music Selections: --"Olympic Fanfare" (Jeff Bolduc, Mike Moore, and Matt McGuire) --I. Hades: Symphony for Brass and Percussion (Alfred Reed) --II. Aphrodite: "You Are So Beautiful" (Billy Preston) --III. Artemis and Apolllo: Apollo Unleashed (Frank Tichelli) --IV. Hera and Zeus: Rest (Frank Tichelli) Les Stentors -- Magical Illusion Music Selections: --Now You See Me, Now You Don't (Brian Tyler) Vanguard Cadets -- The Road Not Taken --"Kaval Sviri" (traditional) --Meetings Along the Edge (Philip Glass) --"Test Drive" from How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell) --"Forbidden Friendship" from How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell) --"I'll Stand by You" (Chrissie Hynde) --"Secrets" (One Republic and Ludwig van Beethoven) Show Announcement Watchmen -- Lost Souls Music Selections: --"Under the Bridge" (Flea, John Frusciante, Anthony Kiedis, and Chad Smith) --"They Don't Care About Us" (Michael Jackson) --"Hallelujah" (Leonard Cohen) --Music of Korn? --Music of Skillrex? Edited 3/11 to add Spartans show title; 3/16 to add Racine repertoire; 4/19 to update Genesis repertoire; 5/2 to add Raiders repertoire; 5/9 to add Surge show title; 5/10 to add Louisiana; 5/21 to add logos for Eruption, Empire, Guardians, Incognito, Louisiana, and Watchmen; 5/22 to add Gold show title and repertoire; 5/28 to add BDB show title and repertoire, to add Legends show title and repertoire, to add Colts show title and repertoire; 6/10 to remove Newark (who show no signs of participating in DCI this year) and Thunder (the latter had announced a show titled "Our Generation", inspired by Jonathan Reed's poem "Lost Generation", but while there's been no official announcement, all indications are that they're taking a year off), to correct name of NET ("Eastern" not "East"), to add two items to Incognito, to add Saints show title and repertoire,* to add Surge repertoire,* to add alternate Eruption show title,* to update Genesis repertoire;* 6/19 to add Raiders program title; 6/23 to update Eruption program title, to add BDC program title and repertoire; 6/25 to add Patria (and their show title); 8/18 to clarify 7th repertoire, to note sections of Gold's show, to add Stentors title and repertoire, to delete North Eastern Technology, to clarify Music City repertoire, to add to Racine repertoire, to add Spartans repertoire, to add SCVC repertoire, to add composers to BDC repertoire, to add City Sound title and repertoire, to add Columbians title and repertoire, to add Golden Empire title and repertoire, to add a note about Guardians repertoire, to add a note about Watchmen repertoire; 8/19 to add Louisiana Stars title and repertoire,* to add Patria repertoire,* to change Guardians title and add repertoire,* to add Impulse title and repertoire,* to expand Incognito repertoire,* to add Watchmen repertoire. *found on CorpsReps

SCV tried the live narrator thing a couple of years back with their John Henry show. Meant that every performance was a little bit different, and they had to adjust as the show went on if the timing changed. Very risky concept, as there's so much that can go wrong in a show.

Madison's problem isn't DCI, Madison's problem recently has been their visual packages aren't deep enough to carry to Finals. You can watch the scores go up until they get to Atlanta, then plateau because you can't get it any clearer. If they added some stuff or made them a bit more difficult, they could be in the Top 6 again. They can clearly play well and spin/drum well, but their visual package gives them a ceiling right around 8

Chattyt. You miss read what I said. I said I was not excited and yes the shows bored me. Sure some of the had a few moments but last year no corps with the exception of SCV and Madison on some level made me want to see that again. I like for a corps to do something that makes me want to see more. I left San Antonio last year not really wowEd by anyone. I have been to shows before and would run home and find the next show and off I go. I was not completely bored as you said I was I was just not excited and generally bored if that helps

IDK, I still think when you play the follow game, you start to lose the traits that make you unique and great in the first place. With respect to the Cadets, do what you do best, great drill, move well, play great, don't water down the difficulty and create that unique, crisp visual kaleidoscopic product you know how to do. Let the other guys roll around on the field. If they have those fundamentals in place, then I don't care about stages and narration, but the latter are never going to take a mediocre show and make it great. I remember when watching Cadets in the past and the audience would laugh because what they were doing was so difficult, in such a different league, it was super human. Just bring back the maroon, gold and white summer gods!

leave Stu out of this

I need to repost my original post to this. DCI is NOT ignoring customers or dissenting opinions of their shows. People can be disgruntled as much as they want... but I see the corps and DCI changing their tune over the past few years to accommodate them. A lot of the shows we see would not have been happening if there wasn't a dissent from the fan base. DCI would not be having a press release saying that they are changing the way they are judging GE to accommodate the audience if this kind of dissent wasn't getting further than DCP. There is an obvious and tangible movement in DCI and its members corps that addresses the complaints that people have had. (You cannot deny that...) And for what? These people can complain (more power to them they have gained in influence in the direction of DCI) but their complaints need to be satiable and right now they AREN'T. Frankly, what's more annoying than a complainer is one that cannot be satisfied by any reasonable and realistic means. And that's what I think we are seeing here. Those that are expecting DCI to pull a rabbit of their ### with a show that compares to something they enjoyed and loved during the 80's (a memory which has gone many years through the rose colored filter of nostalgia of course). Frankly, they aren't being fair to themselves who have possibly changed more in 30 years than DCI has. If people want DCI shows to "change" they need to at the very least make it seem that changes would "actually" satisfy their angst with modern corps... and I think for many people the idea that a show will be created that will actually make them stop complaining is an impossibility. That liking a modern corps show, no matter what it is, does the past they loved a disservice. Ask yourself FlamMan if you EVER see yourself actually, physically, viscerally enjoying ANY modern corps performance as much as you did in the past. If the answer is no is that DCI's problem or yours?

Really? Four years ago, our leading corps proposed we "fool around" with how $100,000s of DCI payments to corps are allocated, based on the unquantifiable assertion that their corps are somehow more responsible for drawing fans and their money into DCI in the first place. We actually had to debate that insanity (and still are). So apparently, we are long past ruling out ideas because they might have some tiny effect on the relative amounts of DCI revenue different corps receive. Any corps who believes that premise ought to have no problem with putting their money where their mouth is (which might explain why those corps seem more interested in incorporating a fan vote somehow).

The best corps according to who? Judging is subjective. (I am sure you did not need a reminder of that.) I did not say that. Outcomes change on the whim of a single individual judge all the time. (If not, there would be no need to judge more than one show per year.) For someone who shrugs off just about any change ever proposed, I am amazed at how you bristle at this idea. I mean, here we are - not just us on DCP, but the powers that be in DCI committees who are tinkering with the judging system for the umpteenth time because even though all judging is subjective, we cannot seem to get a grasp on judging "general effect". Maybe the problem is that "general" effect requires a small fraction of input from the "general" public, instead of just the same eight people who judged the same shows over and over all summer long. As the earlier example shows, a system can be devised for incorporating such input at such a small percentage so that only the closest battles between corps would ever see placement changes... changes probably already taking place from day to day during the season... but that might be just enough incentive to cause corps to think outside the judges box. Your reaction sounds like fear. What are you afraid of, really?

Same here, with a few exceptions. But on the upside, for one example, I could watch Crown's show from last year every day of the week and never get tired of it. I've seen a whole bunch of drum corps performances from the late 1960s until the present... and not all of them have wound my watch, so to speak. LOL. But overall, it's still a great activity/pastime/whatever it is we want to call it, and I still enjoy it, on all levels... DCI, all-age, alumni. When or if the day comes I don't enjoy it anymore, I'll move on. But so far, so good!!!

And you don't want to be accused of "badgering" him, do you?

I don't know, MikeD. Seems to be lots of "panties in a wad." going on here!

Okay......here's a guess...Is his name Albert Campbell?

Still in the process of putting this together. I am leaning towards the history intro with clips from earlier shows, and then going towards the present, taking everyone's show suggestions into account. I want to get as many newcomers as possible, but I'm also contacting the local middle and high schools' band directors to let them know our library will be doing this so hopefully they'll send their students. It was going to be scheduled for our county's spring break next week, but I've decided to hold off until the beginning of summer break and hopefully incorporate it into our Summer Reading Program. For those that are interested, this will take place at the public library in Springfield, Tennessee,. Thanks again for the comments and suggestions! It is truly appreciated!

Are you replying to me? Your inability to quote in your replies is a bit confusing. If you are, your broad generalization of one (me?) as a "DCI apologist" is pretty goofy. Call me brash, call me mean, call me trolling a troll, or whatever. But NOTHING you quoted in the post before this that you apparently can't reply with speaks to apologizing for DCI. Maybe you're a Troll Apologist?

Two Crossmen charts that immediately jump out - Baroque Samba (1990) and Heat of the Day (2002, but the early season version, pre-hosing). Mike

I notice that the OP is nowhere to be found. Was he scared away because he lacks conviction or because was intimidated by the responses? Possibly, just possibly, he's a troll. We don't like trolls here any more than we like weak spines and opinions. Was it possible that he'd have stayed around if the responses were more favorable to his opinion? Seems unlikely. But maybe the OP didn't understand the nature of a public opinion forum board. Hey, OP! Any further comments or were just having a bad day?

Here's what I see: someone posts they don't like the product for any of a number of reasons. And what do we get in reply? A discussion of why someone likes the product? No. We get ad hominem attacks. That says a lot about who really is the childish person.

No, I never said 5% of their score. I said 5% of the score, as in a 5 point caption. The example N.E. Brigand gives is an appropriate enough illustration for discussion purposes. Now, this being DCP, reactions run full scale from "yawn" to this: Obviously, allocating 5% to a fan vote does not turn the whole event into nothing more than a popularity contest. I thought you said that being open minded to change can be a good thing. How is 0.1 "distant"? Okay, I get it - you are a Blue Devils fan. But be honest - are you truly concerned that the 2013 Blue Devils would have taken 9th in a fan vote, as in the hypothetical example above? I think it would relieve frustration and generate excitement. In this age of more advanced communication technology, all kinds of businesses are using similar tactics to get feedback on their products and/or strengthen the connection with the customer. This does both.

What other threads are we supposed to jump on? It's the off-season. If you share the same feelings as those being expressed in an all-but-identical thread, post them in that thread. For the same reason that the 1,834 threads complaining about BD seemingly every year get merged into one. I don't understand the need for each member who's disenchanted with the current state of DCI programs to start another topic that's exactly the same. You can, sure. It's a free country. But don't expect to not get called out about it.

except DCI posted one of their best years ever. while on field product has left me waning in recent years, I haven't had enough to walk away all together...but I've walked away a lot, and well, they dont seem to be hurting without me

does the shot at a ring override the enjoyment of the product? I'm guessing for several kids, it does

no. i left out the .75% that could give a ####

Why do they need to be the same show? Why does the best performed show have to be the most audience-friendly every year? Think about VK. Exciting, entertaining, and fun as all heck, but not clean enough to win. I doubt though that anyone cared about them not winning, either in the corps or in the stands. They weren't the best out there, but they were the ones that made the lists of classic shows over the winner that year. There are enough shows out there that everyone can pick their favorite and the one they think is the best.

I thought last year was a great year. I loved Crown and they won, BD was not as offensive as usual, Cadets had one of their top music books of all time, Bluecoats had a great show and that's just the top 5. Bottom few WC corps were better than ever!

Just keep it moving FORWARD, Larry!

Our current photo subject.... He was the topic of a conversation we had last Friday at Bahrs Landing, a seafood restaurant near Sandy Hook, NJ... the northern part of the Jersey Shore. We were up there visiting family, went out to dinner... and ran into a Skyliners alumnus who lives in the area and who spends some time at that restaurant. In fact, we've seen this man every time we've been to that restaurant!! This alum showed us a painting he had donated to the restaurant... a painting of a ship, given to him by our current photo subject... donated to the seafood place after our subject had passed away. Our photo subject had made the last trans-Atlantic crossing on that ship, as a member of the crew. OK... I know there are probably no clues in all that, but I thought it was a nice story.

"assume the worst" as in this directly competes with Sound Sport? Why would that be "the worst"? Competition between circuits is a good thing at the very least it's an indication that demand for such ensembles is growing.

This is the future for today's Open Class drum corps. The economic sense of running a summer program just isn't there, but this would allow those with smaller, local membership bases to compete in a format that lends itself to their size and time constraints. And some of these independent units could compete in a Summer League version of this under DCI's auspices, if DCI took the next step and created it. SoundSport was always a logo and a general idea looking for a structure; have WGI create the competitive structure for winter, tweak it for the summer performances, and you could have year-round drum corps for those who want to compete but don't want to have to spend $400k a year to do so (and more units for local show promoters to use in creating their lineups).

Some shows I would highly recommend showing, 92 Velvet Knights 2000 Cavaliers(although any Cavies show 2000-06 would probably work great) 2013 SCV or 89 SCV Madison 88 or 97 Cadets 93 Blue Devils 94 If you can put together some clips of the greatest moments would be cool too. Les Etoiles spinning drums, Bridgemen blindfolds, 27th guard spinning rifles, Troopers sunburst, Jersey Surf Taking the penalty, Cavaliers Diamond cutter, SCV changing pants in the tunnel, SCV Broom trick in 86, Blue Devils pit in 2000, Scouts guard fight on the spinning drum set 97, Cadets fingering horns next to them in 2000, and maybe include some fan moments, like the Vanguard yell, or Bloooing.

Give us a report back on how it went and which shows you ended up using.