ZSDAvenger

I marched for 3 seasons in a top Div 1 corps (03-05) in DCI and aged out this year (2005), also earning a Div 1 world title in one of those years.... Having had far more exposure to the current members of today's DCI than any of you old timers, I can safely say that the vast majority of us know FAR more about the 'olden' days of DCI/drum corps than you give us credit for. What always kills me is seeing how one person on a silly (albeit entertaining) web forum (dcp or other) can cause all of you moldy oldies' to get up in arms about how all of us youngin's supposedly dont know our history, don't respect our history, and don't care for our history....and NUMEROUS other rediculous claims. So, after reading your lament about the current state of affairs with 2006+ DCI, I feel bold enough to now say that is the old and long aged-out members who are most responsible for the ignorance about today's marchers. You oldies would NEVER let any of us "youngin's" tell you about DCI/drum corps and how things were in your time...this thread is testament to that....so to those of you who fit there, please don't be throwing your weight around here acting as if you can tell ME (the current generation) what it's like to be a drum corps member TODAY! How dare you. I can say that it is extremely insulting. Im sure you know the feeling.....having one young person on here try to tell you about your history...how did that make you feel? It probably feels awfully similar to having old FMM's tell me what its like to be current DCI member. HAH! like you'd know! I have an endless amount of pride and respect for my corps, the people who came before me in my corps, and for those who will now be following me. I also have been fortunate to be able to learn a lot about my corps' history from older members and alumni during my years marching. Anyways, I have better things to be doing now...and shall continue this thought at a later time....ENJOY!

That's what it says on the newsletter I got...did you not read the voting procedures on dci.org? Yabetterbelieveit is correct. You can vote for one corps in all 12 spots, but the only vote that will count will be the one that applys towards the year with the most votes from other people. Im not sure where the confusion it, makes sense to me. Lancerlady, you are correct on the rules of the game, this is just another way to play it.

BD has somewhere around that number of returning members for 06 as well.

ditto. ---------------------------------------------------------- and to remain partially on-topic.....I would have liked to have seen a Brass judges tape and a Vis performance judge tape on the top 4 instead of guard and perc.

I think your friend was mistaken....I was at every BD brass warm-up (for hopefully obvious reasons)....and that never happened.....ever.

I wish you would have actually read my post. Here, let me help you.... How much more should I elaborate on that before it becomes a valid part of my post? oh, and I also said: Oh, how I love reading comprehension! Do they still teach that in Wisconsin?? Oh, and how nice of you to insinuate that I can't have an opinion that differs from your little circle's thoughts of warm apple cider and fluffy puppies. I must be wrong for having my own opinion. Back to your regularly scheduled rant.

Dan Acheson told the members that a total of 250 invites were sent out, and about 115 people showed up. Yeah yeah, great memories/bonding....it happened, and its the salvation of the weekend for the members, seeing as how the coverage on ABC was a joke. But for what it cost me, I could nearly do a complete tour w/ most div 2/3 corps, instead of 3 nights in an overpriced theme park. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time meeting people and hanging w/ my corps buds....also got to put on the super suit one last time, however the effort that was put into the show design by the staff, the hassle that the ABC/Disney gave the corps staff over the repertoire and the effort put out by the staff and members for the performance was incredible overkill for 6 seconds of TV time. If we weren't going to be on TV, the ABC/Disney people shouldn't have wasted 30 minutes with us at the parade starting line getting the block set at just the right point so the whole routine could fit within the cameras range. They also shouldn't have had us do 2 takes. They also shouldn't have spent time and money doing TV promos about the corps (other than to appease DCI, I imagine) for 6 seconds. They also shouldn't have been so indecisive about the show repertoire by changing the performance song 3 times, giving the music arrangers and guard choreographers a huge stress induced headache caused by having to meet unfair deadlines. (This also hurt the performance as it greatly delayed the music/guard work being released to the members) You can say all you want about how it should be about the fun time the members got to have, and I'll never disagree that thats not important. But thats only half the reason for even being there in my opinion. I give nothing but praise to the DCI staff for being far more on the ball with this project than ABC or Disney could have dreamed to be. It really shows me just how much better corps people are at sticking to their word, accomplishing the task no matter what, and being professionals no matter the circumstance. I wish people outside of the drumcorps world could be such. ZSD, A PO'd honor corps member and son of a PO'd parent.

some people get upset easy? Uh okay. Maybe if we weren't there ultimately for the purpose of being IN the ABC Xmas parade. Sure, the mushy stuff like meeting new people and exposing those to the live performance is nice and all.... But when it cost me an arm and a leg to be in it (iow $$) and you don't even get the TV spot that you, your family, and friends, not to mention many DCI fans were looking forward to seeing, it sortve comes up as a bust. For all the pressure that the ABC and Disney personell put on us to have this ready, which was quite a bit, it is very dissappointing for this to happen. thats why I'm upset about this. Disney/ABC people were all about GO GO GO THIS NEEDS TO BE SHARP!. I feel like name calling right now. I feel like my chain was really jerked hard on this one. I don't blame DCI in the least, as they had no hand in what made it through the editing process. BOO ABC and BOO Disney.

BOO ABC. Why did they even bother to announce the corps? What a crock. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! What a complete waste of advertising if they don't even show the corps. Im angry.

BD 2005 was booed at murfreesboro. during and at the end of the show. So there was more than just the "NO" from the crowd on finals night.

Some people have said that boo'ing just drives the members to work harder and show people whats up. Truth. Most of those same people have also said, that for the above reason, the boo'ing doesn't hurt/disturb/bother the members. Wrong. Flat Wrong. I can say this from experience. And no, I didn't march 05 Cadets. It may not bother 100% of everyone who experiences it, statistically. But it hurts. Try working your ### off all summer to be great, get boo'ed, and see if you don't feel the same way. If you don't enjoy a show, don't applaud for it. That will be more than loud enough to get your opinion across. Boo'ing is low and disrespectful, no matter how you try to justify it.

from the Blue Devils forums....snipped from a post made by Dave Gibbs: "One note is that we will increase the brass section from 66-70. We will be adding 4 more Euphoniums." BD forums topic Though the word from a current member is that they will actually be adding 6 euphs, but taking away 2 baris to have 8 baritones and 16 euphoniums. (used to be 10baris/10euphs) Im excited to hear what this low brass injection for BD will sound like!

Ive heard those lines...and Im not sure I could agree with that.

thats DCP for ya.... well that depends on what your definition of "is" is. sheesh. Question seems pretty cut and dry to me.......

the performance in the DCI.org video is not the performance that will air on ABC. The video on dci.org is simply of the corps participating in a normal, everyday Disneyworld parade down Main St., not the ABC Xmas Day parade. Doesn't the idea of taping a nationally broadcasted parade at night with low lighting seem kind've silly to some of you?

visually, Academy emulates the BD style. Visual caption head is a current BD vis staffer, and many of the vis techs are BD alums. Musically....not so much, even though the current brass caption head is a BD hornline alum. Academy kids seem to be all about BD/SCV. Lots have been going off to audition for those two corps after a year or two w/ Academy.

Rest assured, Academy will be D1 in the very near future. In the meantime, they are taking their time and not biting off more than they can chew. They have a BIG talented staff and lots of SUPER enthusiastic kids to march for them. You go to any marching band/corps function in AZ and you are garuanteed to see a few kids sporting Academy jackets, whether its the middle of summer or middle of winter. I think its kinda silly to wear those things in the summer, but they're proud of their corps. Having a fair amount of exposure to Academy, I can say that they are not just going to fill spots with bodies just to have the numbers on paper. No way. Go to their website right now, and see just how many people are still left on the 'callback' status. Unfortunately, because of the marching histories of Academy's staff....I hope that the corps doesn't have difficulty retaining members in the next few years...(by history I mean that quite a few Academy staff members are Blue Devils alumnus or current BD staff members). IOW, I hope that Academy doesn't become the new BD/SCV feeder corps and can sustain themselves. Im not too worried about that, though. anyways, look for Academy to be contender for the DII title this summer in Madison!

1996 Blue Devils.

that friday night performance was very rough. The two performances on the following day were MUCH better in all respects.

I agree.

OMG! WHO TOLD U!1!! hah, I laughed. B)

"Become a part of a great and growing organization!" .....like Esperanza de Luz?

well....if you can walk the walk....

this would be a great time for a smiley of a donkey being led by carrot hung from a string. B)