ironlips

First Stadium - Randall's Island, Bronx, NY - 1960 - Ultimate rookie experience, Corps equivalent of landing in Oz. Last - Frontier Field, Rochester, NY - Alumni Spectacular - Hot fun in the Summer Time Best - Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, NJ - National Dream Contests - Great acoustics, Most enthusiastic audiences Worst - Memorial Stadium, Baltimore, MD - Pitcher's mound, disorienting outfield wall, audience seated in neighboring time zone

All in with you on this, John. Thanks for everything you continue to do for the entire activity.

"Sanity Mongering" My embedded sources are reporting that the DCA leadership will announce the unanimous decision to cancel the 2020 competition season, within hours.

Absolutely right. I was in the Army then, scared out of my wits, but wasn't deployed there. Many of my corps buddies were and some didn't come back alive, or whole. But even that didn't kill drum corps. By comparison, this situation is trivial. Stop whining. If the season is shut down, which it should be, all those kids will remain eligible next year. Sometimes reality bites.

"Daddy, are we there yet?"

I had no doubt about that. Your statements were clear.

I see your points, and I'm sure you see mine as well. Facts are facts (even today). Regardless of duration of copyright, or the well-known abuses of the system by record labels historically cheating the songwriters, those authors are still entitled to royalties. There seems to be some misguided belief particularly among drum corps folks, that they should be exempt from this legal, and ethical precept. That's why these discussions, on this forum, tend to be futile. Maybe this one will be the exception. As you probably know, HFA (formerly the Harry Fox Agency) can put you in touch with virtually all publishers of music. Also, Concord/Bycicle Music now holds the rights to almost all music connected to major stage productions. And you are correct. Sometimes the publishers don't get back to you. I know. I've being producing audio recordings for 40 years. My recourse in those instances is to call in the legal help. Sometimes that gets results.

Trying to explain copyright and the concept of intellectual property on this forum seems utterly futile, but perhaps we could get agreement that creators, be they composers, choreographers, painters, authors, or drill designers, deserve to have control over the uses of their creations. Drum corps have had a free ride for 100 years, violating the rights of these people.

Oh, yeah! Shellmer and Dennon writing, Charlie Poole on snare, Jim Centorino on sop. An embarrassment of riches.

So, have you heard Tine Thing Helseth?: And there have been plenty of great female brass players in drum corps. Most here are familiar with names like Bonnie Ott Thompson (Commodores and BD) and Garfield's Barbara Maroney, but the Godmother of them all was Lil Lindy who taught and soloed with the Sunrisers until the early '60s. She and her husband Bill went on to instruct hundreds of young players in the NY area. Later, Ada Di Marco (St. Fidelis Majestic Knights) and Laura Schachner Hanlon (Miraculous Medal Orbits) tore it up in East Coast I&E competitions, defeating most of the boys, including Wayne Downey and yours truly. Gail De Angelis Balls (ND-ettes, Garfield, 27th Lancers, Sunrisers) and Rene Meyer Delucia (Saints, Garfield) both played upper lead soprano in some excellent hornlines. Today there's nothing so unusual about great female brass players in and out of drum corps, and that's a good thing.

OK. It's time for the adults to enter the room and call a halt to this tripe. There are a couple of other sites far more appropriate for this kind of screed.

1968 Kilties

" I marched on and off in various senior field and alumni corps from 1966 until 2003. " That's a pretty impressive career on the field, and I compliment you for continuing to fulfill missions for Bugles Across America. As a veteran and BAA member I thank you for providing that honor.

It's true that the "rules" are different, and today's performers couldn't do what we did without a whole lot of training. Likewise, we would fail at what is required of them now. But make no mistake, they work even harder than we did, and much more efficiently. Everyone's entitled to their preferences, but respect is due for great accomplishments, regardless of style.

St. Vincent's was a powerhouse corps, with several National Championships to their credit. They were from Bayonne, NJ. I'll have to check the stats, but I'm pretty sure they dominated even the Cavies, most of the time. http://www.dcxmuseum.org/index.cfm?view=corpslist&Corpsid=484 By the late '50's, Vinnie's started to fade and the Cavaliers were on the rise. By 1961, there was a new "Green Machine".