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Double reply: I am certain that people's hearts are in the right place, but this is not ready for public yet IMO. Literally no human being is named or listed, board or otherwise. I would have no idea who I am actually giving money to or who is responsible should issues arise. 501c3 is claimed with zero information to confirm. No EIN is given. No information is given about which state you are operating out of. With only a name the IRS search option is a pain in the ###, but I can confirm at the moment that the organization does not show up on IRS.gov for tax exempt or charitable status (501c3) if the actual business name is "The 1934 Foundation." If that is not the formal business name, the formal name needs to be available. If that IS the business name, either the determination letter is less than 2 months old and isn't input yet, or it hasn't been issued yet. The language of what you are doing lacks clarity as to exactly who you are and whom you are fundraising for as well. The name gives an "obvious assumption" to the community in the know at large, but not saying it, along with the lack of corporate transparency makes it all feel a little "off" to me. Own who we are. The suit isn't gonna add you for merely mentioning that you happen to be former Cadets looking to sponsor drum corps tuition for marchers. If the mission is to help displaced modern Cadets find and afford new drum corps homes in the wake of the dissolution of the corps, I am on board for that. However, I won't donate to any charity that lacks this basic level of transparency. Full transparency is required.

Can't wait to hear how this weekends camp goes! Safe travels to all. Crazy to think move ins are less than a month away.

I can't remember who it was, but the quote was........... "Every few years it might be someone's SEASON when they win DCI, but make no mistake, it's BDs WORLD we are living in, until someone can prove they can consistently beat them year in, year out."

Nailed it. I could be wrong, but I have a hard time believing that BDs current staff doesn't have their respective successors either identified, and/or already attached to the hip, and they are mentoring and grooming these people to eventually take over at some point. Not saying this will happen, but who here would be shocked if 5-10 years from now, Brandon Olander takes over for ScoJo and leads BDs percussion into the 2030s-2040s.

I appreciate the respect for BD and understand this is not a diss on the Mandarins. I do expect that while BD’s staff depth and stability and reputation led to a very strong recovery post-pandemic, Crown, Bloo, and BAC will continue to close the gap and one of them will capture the Founders’ Trophy soon, with the others not far behind. But BD will get their share. And I am looking forward to Cavies, Mandarins, and PR upping their game as well, as well as hoping for a strong reentry from SCV.

I mean to be completely honest, if I'm at BD I'm not even worried about Boston, Bloo or Crown. Yeah, one of them may creep up and beat BD on an "off" year but there's nothing that suggests it will become a trend. We all know the field has no chance the year after BD finishes 2nd.

1934foundation.org A few of us have been working on this on and off for over 2 years. The past few months we have been holding Zoom calls with other alumni and have a group of over 130 involved. Take a look at the website.... and help us give scholarships to deserving drum corps performers.

I miss the era where you could jump or fall multiple places based on performance. Example 1973 BD was 24th, in 74 they were 9th, 3rd in 75 & won in 76.

I’m with you on this Chief. And there are BD staffers who’ve been with them since the early to mid 80’s. I would guess they have had successors in place for quite a while now and I wouldn’t be surprised if those successors have THEIR successors waiting in the wings. Brandon could be one of those folks. One thing BD does and has been able to do, more than other orgs., is have long range plans in place. That contributes to their never ending success. To others dismay.

Unfortunately, we live in an era where someone can take a comment, flip it, and conform it to whatever narrative they want to convey and take the original comment completely out of context. But I agree with you wholeheartedly. I don't see it as a diss towards Mandarins or any other corps either. Honestly, it's nothing more than keeping it real whether some like it or want to accept it or not. And the reality is BD will be the favorite to win it all every year until proven otherwise. Someone might step up and win DCI this year, and it will be exciting, well deserved, and earned. But guess what, BD will still be the favorites for 2025. They earned that over these last 17 years.

Maybe, but I wouldn't be shocked if Chandler (and most of the other top staff at BD) have successors ready to hit the ground running the second they retire.

Couldn't have said it any better myself. We're witnessing history. There will never be another dynasty in drum corps like what BD is today.

Hope your son has safe travels this weekend brother. Dre is catching his flight to Sacramento this afternoon. Getting excited! DCI Season is almost upon us!

Safe travels to everyone headed to Sactown for the Mandarins first full corps camp. The time to validate and plant that flag as a legit top five corps starts today. Let's get after it Mandarins!

Safe travels to all the members and staff heading to San Antonio for camp today! Looks like it will be a beautiful day to fly for our New England and Florida members, as well as a great day to drive across town for our San Antonio members! 😀 Seriously, Castleton is now less than a month....I LOVE this time of year!

The CEO said in the last open board meeting that they'd announce with rep at this weekend's camp. Edit: Guess I misheard... looks like it'll be the May camp. My bad.

I’m with you. Remember the 27th Lancers Foundation?

Idk brother, based off what you described, I think we still see that to a degree. Crowns rise in the placements from 2006 till they won it all 2013. Bloo's rise from when they first medaled, in 2010 till their first title in 2016. Boston's surge over the last 6-7 years. Mandarins steady climb since 2017, that now has them sitting in the catbird seat of top five going into this season.

I agree. BD shouldn't even be worried about them at the moment. NOW.......... if/when the Mandarins continue on this upward trajectory, who knows, this could be a conversation in 2026-2027. But there are levels to this.

Me, too!

Same here. The highlight of Legend was the cymbals kneeling in front of the snares with the soles of their shoes spelling out West Is Best.

I can almost guarantee that whatever Mackey cooks up is going to be dark, as I mentioned before, because that is what he excels at and that is something that Crown excels at. My hope that is even though Matt Harlof is the new residing head director for Avon HS he still has the time to put into Crown, after all he isn't just the brass caption head there anymore. He also oversees the percussion caption as well now. I want crown to go all out this year, they really have an opportunity to take the field by storm this year after the success they had last year.

BAC has their first and last full corps camp this coming weekend, and as of then, we will be only four weeks away from Spring Training in Castleton, Vermont. This year, they will only be up there 17 days, with the rest of pre-season on locations closer to the Boston area. Along with several local performances, many of us are thrilled to have the corps closer to the Hub. Can't wait for the start of the season!!!!

We think a lot alike, my friend. The very first thing that came to mind.

For long = until Scott Chandler decides to leave.

I badly want to hear something. Very badly. Let it be Crown.

I saw a performance of Make Our Garden Grow tonight, and it reminded me of the truly outstanding arrangement in 1985 (starting at 6:45). An amazing melody.

I noticed that too though I've never known BD to preview show music this early on. So who knows if this will actually be in the show or not. Mandarins may also be playing this piece this year. Either way, it's a beautiful piece!

Blue Devils Instagram stories playing this beautiful piece over their promo camp video for the weekend starting tomorrow. INTERESTING! 👀

We did the Peace Sign all of my years, 70, 71 and 72. In 70 it was the most controversial. We did it coming out of concert to The Peace Sign playing White Rabbit. The VFW admin was against it. At Nats though, we got a huge positive response from the audience. The flashes going off by photographers were blinding when we were charging the front in the form.

With due respect, The site already has a community guidelines section... that pretty much covers the "rules" of the site... I should know as I have been on the DCP admin team since the site was less than three months old. I was kinda party in actually WRITING said guidelines. If you want a thread discussing 2024, Vanguard, then I am pretty certain that the 2024 staff is relevant to the topic. I feel comfortable speaking for the admin team on this that we are not particularly interested in enforcing arbitrary rules set on individual threads that sit outside the community guidelines.... and besides, there is already a 2024 Vanguard thread. Closing this thread as a duplicate.

Troopers are in the conversation

Is it too late to add Spanish Fantasy to our wish list?

Flomarching with Mandarins just released the artist names of the source material. Along with playing Agape by Nicholas Brittell in the background of the video

Mandarins might take the award for “ballad that makes me cry” this year….

I was too. My girlfriend at the time was a flag in their guard. I was ecstatic for her and other friends in BD, but it was also bittersweet.

If BD was going to bring back any music from the 70s-80s, might as well bring back the single baddest piece of music to ever grace a football field. La Fiesta, BD 1984. Game over. Everybody go home. See you in 2025. No one is topping that. BD throws down La Fiesta in Indy, the heck with throwing babies. We will see grown adults getting tossed around Lucas Oil.

Hey, Fizzle, Channel One Suite hardly fits the dark theme you want so bad! 🤣 i am cool with reprising Channel One. Much preferred over dark! And Buddy Rich played a concert at my high school in 1974 or 75. Hard to remember which, as it was, after all, a concert in the 70s. 🤣

Aggressive definitely from what I recall. Battery was going for it. Sounded like a minor key so that definitely made it sound darker. Wish I could have figured out a theme but it’s difficult hearing only one movement in audition camps. Maybe we will get more intel after this weekend if someone goes up to watch on Sunday

That was true for me as well watching Crown & The Cadets online. But when I experienced them live. 🙌 There's no comparison watching these shows online vs live & 'in person'. ✅

Hope i am not violating any rules here..... 76 Wrong video, oh well still a favorite piece (Legend of the one eyed sailor) ELECTRIFYING! 86

The ending of the Cadets 87 show was brilliant and very satisfying!

Can GH get eaten by the shark in the closer.........a real one?

I hope so! (never knew the lead singer was the drummer!)

1982 is my favorite. It's the first show I ever saw, and was a real game changer with Zingali's drill and that horn line. The beginning of what would become decades of dominance in the activity. 1982 really put the rest iof the drum cops world on notice. I marched Cadets starting in 1984, so I never watched that show live. But I suspect 1984 could be one of the best drum corps shows ever. I am devastated that I will never again get chills when I see the maroon and gold take the field.

1984, 1996, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2011, 2012.

So many to choose from, but if I have to pick one, it would be 1993. They basically took that amazing 1992 show concept and ramped it up to 15. Seeing them perform live in Denver that year was a real treat!

Guess I missed my opportunity for a maroon t-shirt; all that's left is the small size which I guess would work if I was cut like "The Rock". But I'm not & it wouldn't be a pretty sight. I guess there aren't that many small folks. Everybody be big... 😁

Thanks for the lore, friend. I'm actually hesitant to speak for the members I marched with in this way. My motivations were different those two years as what amounts to a double rookie, 03 on flag and 04 or sabre. But I'll try... I can say that 03 finals was strange. We were rained out of our final rehearsal runthru, for one. The age outs felt robbed and that was a major factor in the final performance despite some hefty magic extended to us by Myron. We weren't sure, even to the last minute, that we would even have a final show. I was just happy to be there, flying by the seat of my pants, having no frame of reference for how things are supposed to be. Same with my rookout seat partner, who was awarded rookie of the year that season. Too many challenging things happened to the membership btw 03 and 04 that distracted us from the grit you're imagining. Those things may not have affected everyone directly, but the chain reactions are something I still consider often. I think that grit was likely there for the drumline though, but they were tighter than the rest of us: solid, alumni staff; moved-in in Jan; already had a strong 03 season together where they had carried the rest of us like a boss. And not just in score, but literally, the opener wouldn't have been possible if they hadn't been so tight. But they literally always had fire in their eyes... that never changed based on placement or competition. They were our heartbeat in every possible way. You'd have to ask one of them for more clarity on that tho. You didn't ask, but I'll take it a step further to describe why I think we didn't place higher in 04. I think the staff and alumni were motivated more than membership in the way you were referencing. We, as members, were stoked on the show in 04, for sure, and it was seen universally as not only highly competitive, but a vehicle for a first place finish. No pressure lol just jump from 5th to 1st, amirite? This perspective is what may keep me in hot water with the org and alum but it's what I believe: in that way, the staff pushed us too hard. Particularly in visual and guard. I still think that just a little more rest both years would've been the key to greater competitive success. Instead, they did the opposite and that's why Vanguard had the rep of the hardest corps back then, even giving Cadets a run for their money. That's why there were silly drops on both finals years. That's why there were still drill mistakes from all sections. That's why a rookie horn soloist cracked in 04 finals when he nailed it consistently leading up to that point, poor thing. When mistakes in such amazing shows happen that late in the season, and when everything else is so pristine, it's not on the members, it's on the staff's ability to motivate appropriately. One of the previously mentioned drops from the sabres was actually 2 drops on finals night from our most reliable, consistent spinner. Our elders, alumni, and staff let us down in that way. Contrastingly, I eked out a sloppy finals but didn't drop. There was a lot of that among the weapons because we weren't confident, we were still trying. And we still had to save juice for the 1st noncompetitive TOC after that. It made things weird again. The difference is that the drumline could get comments from their finals on-field judge describing how art isn't always perfect if it's truly expressive. Their mistakes were forgivable given the artistry they had captured. The rest of us had staff that found our mistakes consistently unforgivable and "motivated" us accordingly. "The Way" with all its many flaws was in full effect back then. All that said, IIRC, competition was a motivator for staff and alumni. Myron always wanted members to focus on ensuring we were aware that we were trying something new and breathtaking and to keep our focus there... competitive success would fall in place after we got that. It was the higher calling he always pushed. He always iterated that shows took up a fraction of the summer and that the rest of our time together was much more valuable, so many of us took that to heart. That was my motivation more than anything else. I don't think I was alone in that.

everyone raves about 04, and they should. but without 03 there is no 04, and 03 was awesome also