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I should probably mind my own business and I’m sure someone will tell me to do just that. But it’s seems to me that now is the time for contrition and remorse. Perhaps reaching out to the survivors and offering support. Let the healing begin. Finger pointing isn’t going to solve anything.

It's amazing who gets passes and who doesn't.

Must have been "Putney Swope" hall..that kind of banter would have worked well there''...lol

Unfortunately, none of this is true. The tour administration this year, some of whom were new, were absolutely fantastic. They had no agenda besides doing their jobs (and doing them well!). I wonder if their competence threatened the complacency of the higher administration, whose mediocrity ultimately drove the corps into the ground. OC would be fielding a corps this year (and retaining virtually all of their staff and 30-50% of their vets) if the higher administration simply took accountability for their inadequacy, which ranged from complicity with sexual harassment claims, to mismanagement of money, to general unprofessionalism. Instead, the higher administration refused to step down from their roles. The instructional and design staffs and, consequently, the marching members, left in protest. How could anyone return to a place led by an administration that neglects both the members' safety and their success? No one wanted this outcome. We all wanted OC to field a corps. But for as long as their CEO and board chairman are still there, shutting OC down is the necessary move. There is no permissible compromise to member safety.

Probably Crown. They always seem to be ahead of the curve on trends that I absolutely hate. 😑

I’m a drummer I’ll trust the judge

I'm lucky to have time during most summers to get to quite a few shows. Plus, it helps living in the Midwest. Just purchased tickets to the Casper show. That's a place I have wanted to visit for drum corps for a very long time. (My first drum corps T-shirt in 1975 was a Trooper's shirt.) I happen to be headed to something in far western North Dakota anyway. Also seeing the Stanford show for the first time this summer. Last summer was a first for me in Whitewater. Anyone else planning to get to first-time show venues during the 2019 tour?

They aren’t the only ones.

hell Contras weren't even 10 years old then

Thank you..I couldn't have said it better

"True innovation" comes from many concepts, not JUST one. Sure, working within limits and creating something great is one way. But...so is looking outside the box and accepting no limits. You can achieve greatness in either approach. You can also achieve junk in either approach...and everywhere in between. DCI was formed in part because the corps felt limited by rules like the VFW mandated. We even had a caption called Cadence, where three times in a show the timing judge checked the tempo, and corps got penalized if their tempo was outside a narrowly proscribed range, something close to 126-132 BPM. Were there great shows in that era? Absolutely. I saw my first show around age 10 in 1963, and I have loved it ever since, right up to 2018. Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights 1969 is on my all-time favorite list, as is St Lucy's Cadets 1966, and a host of shows from 1971, including my corps (Cadets), the 27th Lancers, Blue Rock and Argonne Rebels. But...so is Blue Devils Felliniesque, Crown's Relentless, BK Avian, Bluecoats Downside Up, and others of the modern era that have integrated props VERY well. You mention the tools that have always been there. When I started marching in 1964, flags were not spun, nor were rifles. Drumlines only had snares, single tenors, straight bass drums, rudimental basses and cymbals. No mallets, quads, pits, etc. Horns had one valve, and either a slipslide or rotor.

Except in Sound Engineering it would appear. For example, if a soloist botches a solo due to not playing it correctly, tenths credit can be lost. However, if the solo is botched though a sound engineering goof up, no loss of tenths credit materializes ( it would appear ). It seems the judges will judge what it " might/ should have been " with the solo, not " what it was ". THATS the current " nature of the game " at the moment, it seems to me Stu. As for full field tarps, I don't think it will be much of an issue in outside, football field, DCI competitions any time soon. I don't think we'll ever see it frankly. It takes too long to fill up a football field and then take down in the allotted time Corps have. Plus, the outdoors weather conditions of possible rain and/ or heavy winds, make the possibility we'll see full football field tarps in the future on real grass football fields probably slim to none, imo. Safety issues galore with this too, imo. Maybe a Corps or two might try it. But it won't be something that we'll see on any grand, permanent scale in DCI long term, imo. So I wouldn't overthink something thats likely not ever going to happen, in my view..

The deeper problem I have concerning this aspect is that an adult sound engineer is directly involved in manipulating the competitive performance in real time.

Maybe for a decade. During my time in Texas high school band (2000-2003), everyone was still chasing The Cavaliers. There was also the obvious BoA stuff that didn't exist in DCI, largely because (to me, at least) DCI seemed to "above" it. I feel like it's only been a decade or so that we've seen top Wold Class corps just shameless ape the BoA stuff. Eww.

How do the outdoor groups who have used tarps handle any weather issues? Do they just not bring out the tarps for that particular performance?

Having been behind the curve on nearly everything for my entire life, I can appreciate this comment.

If you’re letting a field judge distract you, you aren’t watching right

Thanks, he landed in BK. Amazing how quickly lists get passed around between corps.

I believe Troopers are looking for brass players if that is what your son plays. Huge amount of Drum Corps tradition there.

Doing a modified mid-west tour, so new to us will be Lisle, Minneapolis, Mankato, DesMoines and Dekalb. Repeats will be Whitewater and Dubuque, although at least 20 years ago! Leaving from Montreal.

Hey battery folk, all those hours you spend every week working details, so that you're not just clean from the stands, but clean under a microscope? Forget it, no one will be there to reward that level of detail. Now get back to working on your pliés!

Hoping to make it to Indy and/or Allentown for the first time!

Just going with the years that I know well, so ignoring 1972-1997 because there are finalist shows from those years that I haven't seen: 1998-SCV 1999-SCV 2000-Cadets 2001-Cadets 2002-BD 2003-BD 2004-BD 2005-Phantom 2006-Phantom 2007-BD 2008-Phantom 2009-BD 2010-Crown 2011-Cadets 2012-Crown 2013-Crown 2014-BD 2015-Crown 2016-Crown 2017-Crown 2018-SCV

2014 Bluecoats.

Way too early for placement guesses for me. So much of that depends on design and execution that it's impossible for me to say. I was watching Crown though and thinking, "Dang, now that they've got the percussion issues solved and the brass is still gunning for the Ott, I bet they get their guard and visual stuff sorted out fast and come out with a design that uses these powerful sections in a much more "Crown story" type way." They could tear it up next year big time. Similarly I was watching Cadets and thinking, "Geez they heart and passion of this corps is just huge. I wonder what this creative team is gonna do when they can design a show from the ground up rather than adapt one just before the season?" I fully expect to see Cadets back in the conversation. That said, the 'top tier' is getting mighty crowded! Which means only one thing. The kids are all gonna get a fantastic experience for the summer and the fans get the feast of watching it all.