tubamann

Your are right. Dynasty has good customer service. Yamaha does too. I can tell you from personal experience some sponsors of corps DO NOT!!

Any ideas on jeff's future plans??

No. Part of the deal with Yamaha is the ability to resell instruments.

Ahh yes..the warmup where people were excusing themselves from the arc to puke in the bushes.. The worst day of a BAD summer for the Baby blue team

His love for the Scouts is admirable. However, his ramblings and poor writing make it hard for us to get it. God forbid you use proper (or even semi-proper, in this case) grammer and punctuation. If you write like an idiot, people may think that well..

Hmm..Teddy Nicolaris (of 27 fame) is a DCI percussion judge. Diane Nicholaris (the judge) is his sister (edited this once I found out!)

It has always been owned..since Mr Nelson wrote it and had it published. Look at the bottom of the score. There is a copyright. In the past, drumcorps skirted the issue, and it was not heavily enforced. It is a different matter today. Beleive me, DCI or a corps DOES NOT want ASCAP and its building full of lawyers coming down on us..

Absolutely! I think DCI and its constituate corps have been very good of recent in offering media for the masses. There are blogs, podcasts, vigenettes, etc all available for free from alot of the corps.

Try to keep in mind that he corps/DCI had to get clearance to play and make recordings of the music in the shows. There are music licensing issues here that many of us (including me) don't understand. As none of us are copyright or entertainment lawyers, I will leave the decision making on this to DCI.

Because on an opinion board, I have the opinion, not the corps I marched. Some people cant tell the difference.

exactly. Call them what they are.

Yup..quite a bit. The last two years have both shattered records; last year expecially!!

Yeah..and that brass staff all teaches CC now, and THEY call them tubas. So there.

Actually..The Charlotte Drum Corps Association was founded in late 1987. Crown was established in the Fall of 1989. The corps moved its operations to Fort Mill in the Fall of 1997. The reasons were several: One of the board members had bought a building in town..(the building that the corps office is still in, and is now owned by the corps) and the town of FM, with one of the finest Marching band programs in the Southeast, "got" the whole marching thing, moreso than Charlotte did. This was not uncommon. While I was in Spirit, we were techincally the "Spirit of Atlanta", with the bingo dump on Memorial Drive, SE..Yikes..but in reality we were the Sprit of Cobb County, GA. We rehearsed in and around Marietta, and a good portion of the membership were "Cobbies"

First-Performance at Six Flags over GA.-June 1989 (Spirit) Last-Macy's Thanksgiving day parade 1992 as part of the All-star corps (Crown)

Sir..I have not insulted you. If I did, you would know it. If you look in my post I never questioned your dedication, your motives, or your right to an opinion. I simply was justifiying my own opinions. We shouln't be so sensitive. Here is what I believe: I believe in the right of the drumcorps to have artistic freedom, and determine their own path. If a majority of the DCI corps think that electronics and amps are needed, then so be it. Drumcorps are responsible for their own fates. I think that amplifiction of the pit and voice, if done well can be effective. I have heard it done not so well either. I also believe that use of amplification should be judged. If we need to propose rules to amend the judges sheets, then so be it. I believe that the setup (and people for that matter) in DCI has the best interests of the corps in hand. Some of may not like all of the rules or the politics that exist, but I feel that the current system, though flawed, is still the best choice. Nutshell. I will also venture this..you are pontificiating here. You have belittled anyone who who has a differnece of opinion with you. (Mike D and myself) Perhaps you should take a look at your own words and tone before you scold others. Good day.

Ah yes. The GMC PD4104. The last one rolled off the assembly line in Pontiac Michigan in 1961. Underpowered, with a seperate engine to run the AC. The infamous friction brake for parking..giving one the ablility to kick-start the engine by pushing. They don' make themn like that anymore. Thank God.

First of all, I have no malfunctions. I feel great and I am thinking clearly. Thanks for asking. Who am I?? TUBAMANN...drum corps apologist/progressive-at-large and frequent disparager of the nay-sayers!!.. I am also.. A guy who has spent a lot of time in the activity. 19 years to be exact. A guy who thinks that the folks in charge at DCI and the various corps are good honest people who have the best interests of the activity at large in mind. I can say this because I have actually MET them and LISTENED to them. A guy who is not afraid of change, even if it be major change. A guy who marvels how the 200 or regular posters on DCP think that they represent the DCI fanbase at large. A guy who has watched many a drumcorps evolve from a just above fly by night to quaility organizations in 20 years, and one who has observed with sadness those corps that did not evolve and went away. A person who on many occasions, has put my money and sweat where my mouth is in this activity. A guy who has a very different opinion on the rules, changes, and corps then you do. God forbid. There you go. You asked..I answered.

I know in many corps, the "gush and go" water break is in effect. A one min. quick break for a each 30 mins of rehearsal.

I would also conjecture that the marching band activity in the south is much stronger than in the northeast and new england.

I think that corps today have taken a more sane approach to the activity in general. The reality is that these kids are doing this at the top level. A trainer..makes sense..thes kids are athletes. Tenor stands..NFL players don't dress in full pads for all of practice either. (god knows they wear those #### things enough, and they are heavy..jesus are they heavy!!) As time has progressed, corps have become better at doing things that now think outside the box of drumcorps, wich I think is good.

Reality is that the guard for corps will essentialy show up in April after WGI. The CG that shows up in the fall might make up 25% of the summer guard.

Err..Technically Crown is from South Carolina. Just over the line from NC, but in SC. It is fair to say that CC is the Charlotte area corps, as the state line has really dissapeared as "metrolina" has grown.

Whatever..Think alot of yourself, eh? The end is, in DCI, the BOD can do whatever they really want. If they want to Fire Dan A..they can. Fold DCI and go home, they can. If they want to change the rules, they can. They have made a precidence of honoring the opinions of the instrutors when voting on rules. That is all. If you really want to have a voice, start a competitive drum corps or get a job as a DCI director. Until then, you are just another of the DCP mob complaining about how drumcorps has changed in a way that they don't like. Frankly, it is getting kind of stale.

You know the Board can do whatever they want. If they want to overrule the instructor's, it is in the bylaws that they can. The realilty is that they BOD will respect the wishes of the instructors. The real problem that YOU and many others have is that the majority of the "hands on" people of DCI (ie instructors and directors) DO NOT think as you do...