jwscv87

Phantom has been my favorite corps post Y2K. IMO they consistently connect with the crowd better than any other corps by a wide margin. Crown has rivaled them recently in that regard and it is great to see Madison moving in that direction. What I love about Regiment is that they can connect with a revival of their roots such as Spartacus or they can blow you away with something completely new like Canon in 2003.

I don't remember us doing anything other than the F-tuning sequence but I am getting old.

Yes but we are discussing something that happened in the US.

Specifically, I was referring to the ED's in that last post. I believe most are tremendously underpaid. If you are the ED of DCI, YEA, BD, SCV etc with multiple successful programs, etc and you only earn $100k per year I would argue you are underpaid. I have professionals on my staff earning that kind of money and the breadth of their responsibilities pales in comparison.

...so we are looking at the same numbers. :). I hired a staff accountant today for $53k. I have seen salaries of ED's of major corps and DCI just north (barely) of $100k. That is hardly healthy in my opinion.

Agreed, but I believe what you are describing is a lump sum Salaries & Wages line item, correct? Not, brass caption head Joe Smith was paid $xxx. You can only attempt to infer how that money was spread and of course that can vary wildly amongst corps. You see very few individual salaries on a 990. What Stu describes as "healthy", I would describe as ####/poor. Certainly our perspectives on salaries can vary, but that is my opinion.

You do not typically see instructors salaries on a form 990. You will see the exec director, any paid officers, and perhaps one or two additional key managers. That is typically it, and if you do look at them you will find that they are not paid all that well. They do often sacrifice income for the sake of the activity they love.

Balogna! It might not be a legal issue, I am not sure, but it is much more than simply tacky and it is CLEARLY predatory. This was a teacher/student relationship. That makes his advances, whether welcomed or not, predatory for incredibly obvious reasons. Even if it does not violate any laws because of the relative ages, I am willing to bet it violates the ethics codes of every agency that hands out teachers licenses in the country.

I dont understand what additional facts you would. If all you know is that he made suggestive texts to a student and discussed the idea that it would be bad if others found out, isn't that enough? I don't care if that is clinically a pedophile, a predator, or simply extremely poor judgement; if that happened he crossed a line that cannot be crossed. Second chances in life? Certainly! Second chances educating teenagers and young adults? Absolutely not!

I think it is splitting hairs to rank in order of importance, but I would agree with the idea that over the long haul nothing is more important than the senior leadership / executive director. If I had to pick between talent and staff, I choose staff. I would not distinguish between design and teaching. You've got to have both. Once you have the perfect storm of admin, staff, and talent in place you have the opportunity to achieve sustained success.

Suncoast 89 was a great season Sam, but I would still give the nod easily to Les Eclipses. In the early season Suncoast was battling with Florida Wave, Dutch Boy, and Crossmen. Three corps that generally were finishing in the low to mid-teens at the time, one of which was just a few years removed from being a perennial finalist. Contrast that with Les Eclipses who were being beat by the likes of St. Francis Xavier Sancians, Malden Diplomats, Connexion Quebec. They were just ahead of corps like The Ventures. The Sancians became the A-60 champions that year and finished 19 pts behind Les Eclipses in quarterfinals. The Diplomats finished 18.3 pts behind Les Eclipses in quarterfinals, and Connexion Quebec finished 17.5 pts behind Les Eclipses in semis. Based upon early season results 89 Suncoast was looking like a corps that would finish in the mid teens and miss finals, but the improved enough to land in 9th. 86 Les Eclipses looked like they would not even have a shot at winning class A only to finish 2 pts out of finals. Two great seasons for sure.

1986 Les Eclipses I can't really say that they should have made finals because I did not see them live, but what a great story it would have made. They had one of the most remarkable seasons ever in 1986. They scored a 37.7 at their first show - 23.1 points behind the 27th Lancers (60.8) and 31 pts behind Garfield. At the end of the season they landed in 14th place, just 2.5 pts behind 13 place 27th Lancers and 2.8 pts out of finals. It wasn't like that first score was an anomaly and they jumped right up to where they should be. Their improvement was a slow, season long progression. I've looked for similar stories of single season improvement but have not found one.

B.C. had a couple corps competing in the NW during the 70s/80s. The Pacific Blue and their feeder corps, the Pacific Blue Beavers. There was also the Pacificaires (they might have been winterguard only - not sure).

Wow, truly the end of an era. I really don't want to see Mr. Gaines end up somewhere else. If he is leaving the Cavies I hope he is leaving the activity as the announcement suggests. His style is so distinctly Cavies that it just wouldn't seem right. I can't think of another designer I feel this way about (mean that as a compliment).

I really wish someone would do a complete show based upon the first Tubular Bells album by Mike Oldfield.

I would have said '86 Suncosat was the greatest original composition for drum corps. I am surprised to learn it was not original. Given that, '85 Suncoast becomes my favorite.

Rick was very involved in 2009. That was an outstanding hornline.

Exactly Bill. I am totally fine with an alum expressing concern about the organization or pining for the glory days, but when you call for person X to be fired in a public forum I think you are crossing a line. Not suggesting censorship just arguing poor taste. We aren't debating national debt here. Drum corps just doesn't warrant such public hangings.

I don't know about that. There has been so much turnover that it is difficult for the fans to be very invested in the staff, and I certainly would not agree that much of the fan base touts the past two years as benchmark years for the brass section. I guess I am ambivalent at this point as I don't know if a change was needed. I will trust in the leadership and hope this move is good for them. I have loved the sound of the Bluecoasts for quite some time so I am optimistic. I just want the corps to be great whomever is teaching them. It really makes me uneasy when you see people calling for and/or celebrating the termination of specific individuals (that comment is not in response to you Brasso). I just think doing so in this kind of a forum is in very poor taste.

Interesting but that announcement is a WGI program announcement, not a DCI corps announcement.

You disagree re: 2003 PR? Wow, I can't imagine anyone disagreeing with that sentiment. To each their own.

I don't know if he is a miracle worker or not, but I did stand right in front of the arc and watch him conduct App. Spring. I am no expert but I did march for seven years and have watched for 30 and I really do think that hornline was very special. I don't agree at all that fans perception is skewed as a result of the melancholy attached to the piece of music. I just think they were flat out that good. They reminded me so much of Phanton Regiment in 2003 - superb hornline without the benefit of a championship caliber visual program.

I pm'd you...

All I see in that view is the soles of his shoes and that is what we were after! (actually... yeah the pants were way to short. I don't recall why they never got fixed)

I agree with you. I don't want to see a greatest hits show at all. However, I think there are pieces from our past that we can re-present in a more complete form (i.e. App. Spring in 2009). I think Pictures at an Exhibition would be a great candidate for this. It wouldn't/shouldn't resemble anything we did in the 80s other than melodically.