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My son had many highlights last year in his rookie season with the Cadets. A month or so after finals when we were casually taking about his experience and his top moments last summer, he didn't hesitate to say said that wearing the Westpoint uniform for the 4th of July parades and for the retreat in Indy was "by far" his greatest moment of the season. He even claimed that he got emotional when trying it on in his dorm at camp. I was surprised about that but as he explained it, he said felt like a superhero, like a champion. He couldn't believe he was lucky enough to wear the uniform that so many great Cadets before him wore. If those uniforms have to be moved/liquidated, I hope they end up with former Cadets who earned the right to wear them and wore them proudly.

“Generous with their opinions and miserly with their checkbooks.” Classic. So true in many many organizations.

I vaguely remember that, but just looked and didn't realize it was .8 in penalties. Ouch! ####, drummers. Always causing chit.

Isn't it ironic that the architect of the G7 conspiracy is now a disgraced felon whose drum corps no longer exists? He used to say, "We are the act!" How right he was.

TOB exploded in NJ, as well as NJ started their own circuit too. However in the last 2 years, USBands picked up a ton of PA bands, and Cavalcade grew too. TOB is basically non existant in Eastern and Northern PA east of the mountains to the NJ border

Glad too see Surf sticking with the fun and audience friendly shows.

Perhaps the incessant "give us $$$$$$$$$$$$" E-mails got people to tune out!? Just asking...

You sound knowledgeable, but there are a few things I do question. One, I’m not sure I agree Cadets alums have been free with criticism but miserly with funds. Over the years I have sat with Cadets alums at shows in Boston and New Jersey, purchased tickets in Cadets blocks in Allentown and one year in Atlanta. I only started hearing grumbling in 2012 at Met Life Stadium. Cadets alums have been generous and for many years defended the corps right or wrong. Alums just got fed up when it was expected that alums would bail the corps out of trouble, no questions asked. Also, did a new regime decide it could do without US Bands, or did it have little choice in selling it off? I can’t imagine too many banks would have been willing to extend credit to Cadets after 2018.

Most likely that Scott McC had one, and GH didn't.

That’s crazy. I Googled it and it says MacArthur’s Park was released April, 1968. For Kilties to add that mid season is wild. They must have jumped on that song immediately!

Not accurate. YEA/Cadets had good years and bad years. Some years they would have a few bucks left over. Some years they would finish a few bucks short. Mostly it was one year of up followed by a year of down. The clear trend was break even. (Break even isn't a failure in an organization whose mission is to devote proceeds to programs, not to generate profits.) YEA had a line of credit with the bank because the timing of expenses didn't sync with the timing of revenue. That line of credit gave the operations flexibility to pay bills 12 months a year. The bank kept extending credit because YEA paid it back. Credit wouldn't have been available if the loan weren't repaid. It was repaid in no small measure from the proceeds of a successful U.S. Bands program. U.S. Bands was the change that killed the Cadets. The Cadets by themselves haven't been able to support themselves in a sustainable way for decades. Going all the way back to the 70s and 80s, Cadets alum have been generous with their opinions and miserly with their checkbooks. The new regime thought they could do this without U.S. Bands. They couldn't. (Don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. I had a bird's eye view of the financials for many years and was privy to high-level discussions as well.)

1968 was even before my time. I miss the Kilts but not competing against them.

Yeah but the execution of the plan didn’t include eliminating every corps that has adults who can’t keep it zipped up around the minors. I guess in the end you get to the same point though. Very few corps. The corps unwillingness to address financial pressures, combined with inappropriate/ illegal personal behavior from the people who are supposed to be the adults in the room, has really taken a toll on this activity.

It did, but in addition to the lawsuits facing YEA, band directors on the Atlantic seaboard were getting really fed up with the way USBands was being run (a lot had to do with scheduling and last-minute, poorly communicated changes from the stories I have heard first-hand). The NESBA gained more bands in Massachusetts, a group of band directors in Maryland started up their own circuit (MMBA) to get away from USBands, and I believe Cavalcade picked up some groups, too. I think USBands has started to recover under the Blue Devils' leadership, but damage was definitely done to the circuit's reputation.

In terms of Madison, is there no love for MacArthur Park? I don't that I can take it.

i am really hoping they get more bodies....that will help a lot. I realize their business model won't have them knocking on the Saturday night door since they get seriously started later than everyone else, but man i'd love to see Friday not be a question mark up to the final day

so.... we heard lots of rumors of bad business prior to April 2018. After that exploded, more and more came out, and eventually YEA dissolved and the only 2 valuable items....the corps and the band circuit....splt off and were bught respectively. The corps had rumors of issues financially but then again, after Hopghazi and splitting off on it's own, that wasn't a surprise. things seemed stable enough. Then Scott got pushed out after literally keeping the corps alive. then covid. then they came back out in 21, and back full force in 2022 with a new director after i forget the person that replaced Scott. Oh and that director and end of the season had drama and rumors of serious financial issues. Like a legend fired and that terminationended up driving that director out. Then they moved 7 hours away from the home base and came out last year. Rumors seemed mostly quiet, even right after the season...and then October hit. Then word of the lawsuit got out in addition to other rumors of financial issues that came up as 23 ended. so really, for 5+ years, the financial issues have always seemed to be lurking under the surface and just needed a trigger incident. the move to Erie didn't produce any kind of funding results and ###### off long time donors. No more band circuit to help keep robbing Peter to pay Paul. Maybe covid sped it up, but in hindsight....this may have been inevitable anyway. i noticed after Hopghazi USbands lost bands. since BD took over, it's gained a lot of bands and rave reviews for how it's run. of everything that happened in this time, in addition to feeling horrible for alumni seeing this all go down, i feel bad for Scott. He brought Crossmen back from dead in the 80's. He retired from a great teaching gi early to help keep his corps alive. And because they didn't bounce back right away and people got sold a bill of goods on others ( especially one who never got the top job anywhere else despite their best efforts)..man. so sad. but really....i'm not sure we wouldn't have ended up here anyway