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Never flew into Guam, but went there multiple times via ship. Once you got fighting the snakes on the pier, Guam was pretty cool lol. Okinawa was our second home when I was stationed in Sasebo. We would always pull into White Beach. Kadena Air Base, getting into fights with the Marines at the Globe and Anchor club at Camp Foster, my one and only terrifying and frightening trip to Whisper Alley when i was a E1..............lots of memories in Okinawa. Lol.

Christing hell. So sorry an otherwise stellar season for him with Gold had to end so terribly. One can DRIVE from Indy to Ontario, CA in 29 hours...although stops for food and sleep and all. 😉

The Byron nuclear power plant cooling towers saved my ### back in 94. Regiment was rehearsing in Byron and, one night, I borrowed a friend’s car to take a girl into Rockford to see a movie. (The Crow. Ugh.) I thought I had a handle on how to find my way back but … I didn’t. In short order, I became utterly, hopelessly lost. After midnight, with no phone, in the middle of nowhere. I began to panic, thinking I’d have to sleep in the car on the side of the road, knock on someone’s door to use a phone, and show up God only knows how late to rehearsal the next morning. Panic. But then, in the darkest moment of my despair, I found a glimmer of hope. Literally: the faint light of those Byron cooling towers. I pointed the car towards the twin glow of those beautiful, atomic powered lighthouses, floating across an endless sea of corn. (At least, that’s what it felt like.) The going was still rough. Those country highways tend to meander, and I was led astray more than once along a false path. But, I had faith. (Or, at least, hope.) It took a few u-turns here and there, but I eventually found my way “home.”

It doesn't matter what "craft" kids have learned at another corps, a high level band, or wherever. The BD way of constructing/teaching/learning shows is a very different experience, and I have seen so many members attest to that. They essentially create big chunks of the show on the field, in real time, rather than hand the members something charted out in advance. It's a big learning curve for new members, no matter where you came from. They had 143 new-to-the-corps members and only 21 vets who knew the system this year, which was why there was a big question hanging over them early on about whether they were going to be able to pull off something of their typical level of excellence. Huge props to all involved that they were able to. The staff has been frank about saying it was a bit rocky early on and they had to slow down and alter their teaching approach until they could get so many new people locked into the method. It's all a unique learning experience and there is nothing unfair about people wanting to better themselves by being exposed to it, especially those who plan to go into the education field.

Certainly, like anything labeled BEST, open for debate...but not for me. Thank you Tom Rarick and Bloo Pit 22.

Instead of speculating, try clicking on this link to DCI.org, scroll down to "Policies and Procedures". Appearance fees and the revenue sharing formula are explained on pages 69-71 of that document.

Well in 2023 he is moving up to World Class, so my wife and I will be at finals week, meaning he can fly home with us. Alot of lessons learned from that adventure lol. We are thinking to stay an extra day in Indy on Sunday, then fly out Monday morning back to SoCal.

That's a big NOPE. You cats are better humans than me LOL. The only thing that I an compare that to is pool tables. If you play on a bar box (7ft) and then move to a snooker table (12ft) it feels like you are literally blind. I cut my real pool playing teeth on snooker tables at UA because you could play for .10 cents an hour instead of $2 an hour for regular pool tables. By the time I played on tour (and failed miserably for 2 years,) table size didn't bother me anymore.

Would be interesting to hear him tell the story 30 years from now.

The longer you spend at sea in one, the bigger it starts to seem inside. After you spend time ashore for a while and then go back, it feels like it shrank again.

You got lost in that expanse of nothing but corn and bean fields. I grew up in that stuff. You learn the farm roads when you’re a local.

That's a great video. I felt the Sanford was going to be decided in the pits this year about mid season after seeing how close the batteries were in the top lines. This was a banner year for percussion all around.

I remember BDs pit from the 2000 Methods of Madness show being absolutely insane that year. The battery..............not so much.

Want to keep your best members from going to BD? Treat everyone in your corps better

Not sure about currant corps members. But kiwi corps members? I hear they're flocking to Concord in droves! Sorry...it was low hanging fruit. Oh...wait. :-)

My absolute never again is the airport in Mombosa Kenya. There was a dude crossing the runway with a herd of goats as planes were inbound lol. Not to mention at the time I was there, a radical group was trying to shoot down commercial airliners and military aircraft with RPGs.

Ugh. Philly is on my no list too. I was changing planes there one time right when iPods were brand new. I was an early adopter and the security people at the gate check were supposedly doing 'every third person randomly' as you boarded the planes. I was a lucky winner so ok. They looked that thing over, I explained it plays music. She calls over a coworker. "oh one of those new apple things!" He calls over some others cause he's excited about it. Pretty soon we got 5 people from three gates trying to board planes over here oglling my iPod and the ticket people just checking people on with no security.

We’ve also donated this way.

on this i will agree.

2010 is up there too. 15,16 and 18 SCV too

My absolute never ever again airport is Philadelphia.

He ate 5 egg mcmuffins from McDonald's after I picked him up LMAO.

Lmao… been Guam twice. High point was taking rental car to working area of airport to inflate a tire. Guy led us back there and left while we were checking the map. “Uhh do you remember how we got back here? Oh …. I’ll drive and you watch we don’t end up on a runway”. 😬

Thanks so much for linking me to that! That was a really interesting read.

Ft Myers? WTH 🤦‍♀️

But I loved Crown this year! 😢 I want that guy to stay right here, right now!

I would like to know this too, I need to know how much I need to put on my GoFundMe page so the Bluecoats can show up at my funeral

I've never tried LAX as everyone has advised to avoid at all cost. And I fixed my reply. (not sure what I was thinking) My early departure to IND was thru ATL & my afternoon departure for return home was thru DTW. Delta airlines; but they did fully refund everything even though I purchased a "non-refundable" ticket.

This needs to be a T-Shirt

Years back returned on an overseas flight to Baltimore Washington international (BWI). Next was puddle jumper to Harrisburg (about 40 minute flight). Got switched to another plane then had to siphon gas out to lighten the load. Then… couldn’t get a gas cap on the wing open. Mechanic had to tap on the door with a big wrench to be left in to check something (over and over). 😱 Women behind me asks “how long does it take to get to Harrisburg” Told her “if you had gotten a rental car same time as we got on the plane you’d almost be there”. “ARE YOU KIDDING? 🤯” “Afraid not… I live there”. Kicker was rental car desk was closed when we got there. I about ran to the taxi area before everyone else thought of it.

Any thing Sandi Rennick writes.

Apparently yesterday I was in a grumpy mood; thus I guess my comment is not a good idea. Thank you for setting me straight.

If the Madison Scouts name is ever changed from that corps; you might as well scrap almost any hope of them ever making the Top 12, again. In addition, that organization could become a new Pioneer; a struggling Division II corps that's pretending to be World Class. The Madison Scouts name still means something in the drum corps activity and is still attractive to new members; even if they aren't Top 12 recruits. I've mentioned this before; the Madison Scouts have become a caricature of themselves via show design. This was even occurring during their final years as a consistent Saturday night in August finalist. Every aspect of their shows, both musically and visually, was similar in respects to their Latin/Spanish flavored shows and their musical themed shows. The name and the addition of females in the ranks isn't hurting that corps; it's show design, plain and simple.

I don’t miss that drive on I-94, 90, 80 to I-65 south from Chicago at all. Nightmarish every year. I-74 from Cincinnati to Indy and back Sunday, was a breeze. And only 1 - 1/2 hours.

It's been a thing for quite a while. A local band in my area used an app for the preshow one year about the internet and how the government tracks us through it. This was band in the early 2010s.

No Sub's for me either. I wasn't built for that life. I am not man enough to handle what they go thru weeks and months underwater at a time. Mad respect to the Submariner community.

That's rare! I don't think I ever met a Horned. That's freaking legit. I would brag about that too if I was him lol.

Nope best front ensemble IMHO ever was 2007 Phantom Regiment.

Can you keep the corps going with a name change? With the corps you mention, they disbanded due to financial issues. We can debate as to whether corps that had as distinct an identity like 27th and Bridgemen, both of whom shared a great deal in common with Madison would fare today, but not changing their show concepts had little to do with their leaving the drum corps arena. I think a better comparison might be to look at Troopers and Crossmen. Troopers did not look like Troopers, at least color scheme wise. Troopers did not sound like Troopers. Yet there was no mistaking we were seeing the Troopers. Crossmen did not look like Crossmen. Musically they sounded similar. The drill was similar. Yet I wondered what I was seeing. Even though the move to Texas was a while back, people associate the corps with Pennsylvania, Preseason folks were debating whether the Malta Cross made the corps appear to be too religious. They are perfect candidates for a name change, but would that take away recruiting opportunities? For better or worse, Madison should probably leave the name alone.

The cavity search is what makes you “friends.”

Organizations/companies invest a lot of time, money and effort in building their brand. It makes zero sense that almost every drum corp has abandoned their brand. Coke, Kleenex, Ford, Apple, Kraft, etc...understand this. Why don't drum corps leaders?

Who would've ever thought drum corps fans would be complaining about a super team. It happens in pro and college sports and corporate America. In the end, BD can't march more than 165, so there will be plenty of talented kids to go around.

Why would MMs give up raisins to march BD? currant as apposed current.

What if there was a rookie rule, where each core has to march a set number of rookies ?

People do this activity for education too and learning from all the top people makes you better.

I would have a shirt made that says “I’m Not Him”

I found a security camera photo.

like they want him

You mean Blue Devils B in 13th

2023 Predictions: 1. At least one corps figures out how to incorporate drones and drone pilots into their show. DCP argues whether or not the pilots should be students who count against the number limit or professionals. 2. The Blue Devils release their drill, brass and perc books, guard choreography, and uniform design next week for 2023 with a message on DCP that says..."we're gonna win again...#####es. If you want to try to beat us...march the exact same show and out perform us. Other than that? STFU. " 3. The Cavaliers go all-Female. March a show titled "Women Are From Venus" themed around Roe v. Wade and witn their 8th DCI title. 4. The Bluecoats can't field a corps because they can't get the peyote and tequila out of their system from the 2022 show. 5. Santa Clara finally decides after 3 or 4 years of PJ's uniform to march a show completely nude. 6. Someone with a lot of money re-starts the Bridgemen. And they violate every possible DCI rule...and the fans love them for it. 7. The Mandarins do an 11-minute rock and roll show. Charles then wins American Idol. 8. Phantom Regiment has a female DM with long blonde hair that is kick-### ( Claire, that was tongue in cheek....if you're reading this you know our family loves you). Because that's now part of their "look". That's just for starters.