BobFieldsDCW

Some asked why Regionalization did not catch on....Here is my post from the Yamato folding forum that might answer a few questions. The numbered were questions that a poster was asking about how to keep Division 2/3 from blowing away..... These proposals have been made in the past, and here is some backround on why they did or didn't fly then: 1. Severing formal ties with DCI. >>> Back in the late 80's/early 90's there was a vote of Div 2/3 corps on a Friday night in Chicago to have them go their own way. It was a scary thing for those of us who voted but it made sense back then since other than DCM there was little for those corps to compete in. But on Saturday that was all changed and they fell back in line. Garden State Circuit was reborn because the II/III corps were not getting any shows. At one point we had 14 corps in competition with GSC most of whom did not tour at all. Many of those GSC corps only died because their leadership was not able to find anyone to pass the torch to. Money always had a little to do it - but more often than not we could not find people crazy enough to wraps their whole lives around drum corps. 2. The use of regional circuits instead of national tours. Perhaps develop one national event for all corps to attend. >>> DCI came to the West Coast back in the 80's with a plan called Regionalization. That meant that through a series of championships in an area, the best of those corps would be allowed to go to DCI Finals and compete nationally. At that time most of the smaller corps like San Jose Raiders, California Dons, Valley Fever, Conquistadors plus those in the Northwest and SoCal did not want to be LEFT home while everyone else left on tour to the East. It also meant that the drum corps season would be cut very short due to the big guns heading east. It was more a case that noone wanted to be left out. And it was hard to recruit kids when the big corps were offering the chance to tour nationally. 3. More professionally managed fundraising efforts. Not just setting up bingo and hoping people volunteer to work and hoping a crowd will show up. >>>Anything is possible. It just takes the funds to pay for the professionals or find the volunteers to do the work in association with the professionals. It was hard enough to keep the kid in the corps who was doing seven "other" things - let alone keep the parents involved. Those were tough days when drum corps was more like a babysitting service for the single parents who were looking for mates. There were times we did not even see the parents come down to see their kids off on tour! 4. More local community involvement and exposure. Don't spend the entire summer away from home. >>>The way Division 2/3 is doing it now is much more logical than the old days in that you have to give the kids something special to draw them in. I remember there was a corps called Pacific Blue from Vancouver, BC that had a BIG corps because they promised to take the kids to Disneyland on their trip to California each year. There has to be a hook to keep them interested enough to do it all summer. Parades get really old really quick - especially when there are 300 fire trucks pumping out their exhaust and the parade is 3 hours long in the boiling sun. Fastest way to lose the kids! Hopefully the trips to Indy will be much more affordable being more in the center of the country. 5. Introducing a more realistic set of successful parameters to members, staff, parents, volunteers and fans. >>> I think we are all looking forward to those. Anyone want to offer them up? 6. More local parades, concerts, exhibitions. >>> One of the ideas that they had from seperating from DCI was so that they could build more shows around State Fairs, Festivals, Concerts, special events. Having them at the state fair (there is one in Indy hint hint) you could bring in people to watch one evening along with other acts - including rock bands and destruction derbys that they already present. DCM had lots of connections with these events and that was the basis of what was going to happen if they did split. It is still a good idea but we just did not have the guts back then to make such a radical change. And the only reason it was proposed is so that 2/3 would be paid attention to I think. 7. More emphasis on teaching, development, less on competition. >>>Actually Gail Royer was a pioneer in that philosophy. He often spoke of no competitions and doing music for the sake of music. It never happened with Vanguard but it looks like that was the thought behind Star taking their seperate direction. I am sure for anything old, new, borrowed or blue that we can do to revitalize the activity. Keep those great ideas coming in and perhaps some will stick! Happy Holidays to all!!! Pre-PS: My daughter Leighann just got home from camp in San Antonio. This is her fourth year in Crossmen's guard. She said things went very well and the vets are really trying to let those who dont know what BONES is really all about.

Why are there 275 pages to this post??? Just wondering?

Why so many bells? Well you see back in the sixties and seventies there used to be these door to door bell salesmen that would go from corps to corps telling each one that all the other ones just bought bells. They were just trying to keep up with a trend I guess.. Happy Holidays!! Silver Bells, silver bells, it's Christmas time....

These proposals have been made in the past, and here is some backround on why they did or didn't fly then: 1. Severing formal ties with DCI. >>> Back in the late 80's/early 90's there was a vote of Div 2/3 corps on a Friday night in Chicago to have them go their own way. It was a scary thing for those of us who voted but it made sense back then since other than DCM there was little for those corps to compete in. But on Saturday that was all changed and they fell back in line. Garden State Circuit was reborn because the II/III corps were not getting any shows. At one point we had 14 corps in competition with GSC most of whom did not tour at all. Many of those GSC corps only died because their leadership was not able to find anyone to pass the torch to. Money always had a little to do it - but more often than not we could not find people crazy enough to wraps their whole lives around drum corps. 2. The use of regional circuits instead of national tours. Perhaps develop one national event for all corps to attend. >>> DCI came to the West Coast back in the 80's with a plan called Regionalization. That meant that through a series of championships in an area, the best of those corps would be allowed to go to DCI Finals and compete nationally. At that time most of the smaller corps like San Jose Raiders, California Dons, Valley Fever, Conquistadors plus those in the Northwest and SoCal did not want to be LEFT home while everyone else left on tour to the East. It also meant that the drum corps season would be cut very short due to the big guns heading east. It was more a case that noone wanted to be left out. And it was hard to recruit kids when the big corps were offering the chance to tour nationally. 3. More professionally managed fundraising efforts. Not just setting up bingo and hoping people volunteer to work and hoping a crowd will show up. >>>Anything is possible. It just takes the funds to pay for the professionals or find the volunteers to do the work in association with the professionals. It was hard enough to keep the kid in the corps who was doing seven "other" things - let alone keep the parents involved. Those were tough days when drum corps was more like a babysitting service for the single parents who were looking for mates. There were times we did not even see the parents come down to see their kids off on tour! 4. More local community involvement and exposure. Don't spend the entire summer away from home. >>>The way Division 2/3 is doing it now is much more logical than the old days in that you have to give the kids something special to draw them in. I remember there was a corps called Pacific Blue from Vancouver, BC that had a BIG corps because they promised to take the kids to Disneyland on their trip to California each year. There has to be a hook to keep them interested enough to do it all summer. Parades get really old really quick - especially when there are 300 fire trucks pumping out their exhaust and the parade is 3 hours long in the boiling sun. Fastest way to lose the kids! Hopefully the trips to Indy will be much more affordable being more in the center of the country. 5. Introducing a more realistic set of successful parameters to members, staff, parents, volunteers and fans. >>> I think we are all looking forward to those. Anyone want to offer them up? 6. More local parades, concerts, exhibitions. >>> One of the ideas that they had from seperating from DCI was so that they could build more shows around State Fairs, Festivals, Concerts, special events. Having them at the state fair (there is one in Indy hint hint) you could bring in people to watch one evening along with other acts - including rock bands and destruction derbys that they already present. DCM had lots of connections with these events and that was the basis of what was going to happen if they did split. It is still a good idea but we just did not have the guts back then to make such a radical change. And the only reason it was proposed is so that 2/3 would be paid attention to I think. 7. More emphasis on teaching, development, less on competition. >>>Actually Gail Royer was a pioneer in that philosophy. He often spoke of no competitions and doing music for the sake of music. It never happened with Vanguard but it looks like that was the thought behind Star taking their seperate direction. I am sure for anything old, new, borrowed or blue that we can do to revitalize the activity. Keep those great ideas coming in and perhaps some will stick! Happy Holidays to all!!! Pre-PS: My daughter Leighann just got home from camp in San Antonio. This is her fourth year in Crossmen's guard. She said things went very well and the vets are really trying to let those who dont know what BONES is really all about.

Since some corps have not moved at all the last few weeks, I would not expect to see any movement at all. Perhaps the corps that have been within the same point and have move by tenths. But the judging community has not been very brave this year to make anything other than minor movements. As they say... It is what is!

And it wasn;t a tux uni...it was a modified version of a US Marine officer's formal mess dress uniform (to see an original....watch the end ballroom scene in "True Lies") I like the original one. But the latest is more now and better than the one before it. That one was too Blah.

George - Sitting on the track as part of the Committee, I had a first hand view front and center one of the most memorable moments in my life. It brought me back to the past as a young (?) DCWorld photog taking pics of one of the greatest corps on earth. Although the coats are a little wider than they used to be, the heart is still there and the corps fans ate it up!!! Did anyone else notice the reaction of the crowd to the Bridgement compared to some of the Junior Corps that night? Junior corps take note you need to put some fun and entertainment back into your shows! You have become too cerebral and the crowds seem to have spoken that night as to what we are missing in the activity. Good job to all the the admin, staff and marching members. Good job GEORGE!

I have never seen the outer edges of the lower levels filled out for years. There is certainly enough room to take in the people from up top. This show has years and years of dedicated fans and DCI East Committee members who have made this show a real success. The park, the lake, walking amongst the performers, watching the warm-ups, picnics, seeing ducks fly through the valley, and housing sites are all things that would be lost if they moved the venue. Although it sounds like an idea to move it, would you really be gaining anything in the loss of paying customers from those dedicated people who come year after year. There is no doubt that it would take several years to rebuild the venue once again. There is no doubt that the cost of the new stadium might make it impractical to move especially when you add the thousand of hours it will take to find all new housing sites for that many corps. And you cannot imagine the struggle that the East committee goes through each year to pull it off. It has become a community supported standard in the Lehigh Valley, where moved to another spot it would become a "what's that?" when you tried to explain it. I have been told that it is there through the end of next year for sure since the date has already been set for early July. Hopefully in that time a resolution will come about with some hard work by DCI. My first year there was 1976 with the Blue Devils and I certainly would hate to see this piece of drum corps tradition be cast aside. I hope to be going there for many years to come. My compliments to Bob Bennett and the crew for all the work you do. There is no other group of people like this in the Drum Corps activity.

Now I know why I never bother to read to read any of this!

I also was at Spring Training an Monticello New York and can attest to the big strides that the corps has made in a just a week. It is hard to even compare the two Saturdays with each other. At Camp Kutchers this is the first time that the parents, volunteers, and some of the staff had gotten to here 90% of the show all put together. We had heard just snippets until the Brass concert and it was hard to get the entire feel of the show. They also premiered the Radio Section with the Disc Jockeys adding their comment to parts of the show. Looks like it will work pretty well, but once again we saw it crowded into a tiny little theatre just prior to the yearly History Night that the Alumni put on. It was also mentioned that the Cadets seemed to be so far ahead of the Crossmen at Memorial Brass. Well since they were in Camp a week early we noticed it to, but...Crossmen moved just as far in a week after being at camp. So not to worry Crossmen fans. This is going to be one of the best years for the corps, and they have a great staff this year. I have seen Bobby Jones drill and it is exciting. A far departure from last year. See how many shapes you can identify!

As a transplanted SF Areaean I thank my luck stars every time I get to see a California drum corps here in the east! Thank you Santa Clara for coming to local shows near Philly this year!!! I still have my West Is Best T-Shirt, but they throw rocks at me when I wear it out here! Bob Fields - Former BD Bus Driver

You just need to find people whose family IS drum corps. Our family does Crossmen followed by Ridley Marching Band and USSBA followed by Apex/Bpex Winterguard with about two weeks off between each season. You need more nuts like us who just love the activity. Not sure where you find 'em but good luck. b**bs Hoping hoping to see you on the field soon.

I sure hope that they will be allowed to sell their souvies. If buying T-shirts will help either corps come back again then bring them on. :) Bob Fields Drum Corps World What's Happening Year 30

Saw Crossmen at Camp Kutchers this weekend! Very strong. What a difference a week makes! They will spend thursday through Sunday at Sun Valley HS in Aston, PA just south of the Philly airport. Come by and see for yourselves. Musically way ahead of last year, guard catching up soon. Putting the last touches on the show over the four days at Sun Valley. Things seem on schedule so they look to be ready for Chesapeake! :)

The first post was someones elses comment. I thought both corps did great at the Gettyburg Show. Shakey start for Crossmen but they pulled it together quickly. They have a great horn line, drums under Darren Hazlett have that old time Crossmen flair. I liked Crown too but not the singing. Just wanted to comment that I didnt find any similarities at all between the two corps. I know that the Ballad will be a real winner and there are already talks of moving things around in the show. This is like the first coat of paint with that masterpiece yet to follow. Thanks Cathy. bob :)