bspeakman

Actually, that photo was taken in 1963 in Homewood Cemetary..after the Memorial Day Parade. I am a third sop in that photo..my first year.

Congratulations to Jerry Miklos---You taught me how to give 100% ...and I even remember your Valiant!!!..

Kudos....Excellence should not be departmentalized..it should be institutional!

Cadets Snare, 2002, 2003

1962, Lewisburg, PA....all PA Sr. corps Archie, Riley, Reading BUcs, Pittsburgh Rockets..I was hooked.

The key here is "perform at a world class level". It works when it's done very, very well...Fans rarely went to the hot dog stand when VK or Bridgemen were on the field...even if they were not "top 5". I miss that fun!

GREAT SEATS. Super Premium Friends of DCI VIP, Section 241, Rows 2-3, Seats 2,3. For sale at face value in pairs ..same seats for all 3 events. Quarters, Semis, Finals. $510/pair. email: innkeeper@springfieldhousebb.com

Surprised they don't ask if you do chain link.

DCI is probably as close as DCA this year. I enjoyed the Rockets reunion several years ago..would enjoy seeing a show with some of those guys. You can always find me at Lupos on DCI Sat .

Mike- First, I do believe that the vast majority of kids march "with a corps", not "with a staff"...but I have seen some who follow staff members to other corps...or join based on the "names" who teach or create at a specific corps...usually not a positive outcome. My long winded answer... I have had the same thoughts. I have been priviledged to work with some great staff people, and I AM a believer that great corps are, to a great degree, the result of great vison and a great staff. Corps that rose quickly into prominence from relative obscurity became great first by innovation (BD, Cadets, Star are great examples) by a young and forward thinking staff, and, after that it was almost self propogating ...first, great staff+innovation=WINNING, then Winning+ great staff=great recruiting and great talent...etc., etc... Staff does become less critical for some period of time as an organization matures until some tipping point is reached where an organization must innovate or decline begins. What concerns me now is the lack of innovative young staff people, that which made The Cadets, BD, Star, 27, etc. great initially. Many of the same staff people are traded among the top 12 corps, people are passing petitions to avoid innovation, the same small core of adudicators have, by design, large impact but little vison. In most of the activity, we are not seeing the type of attention that needs to be given to bringing along fresh young, innovative talent at the creator level...especially in percussion and visual design. All of this seems to stem first from the good old American tradion of trying to BUY "Instant results" rather than planning and creating long term solutions. If you look at the NFL , NBA and MLB, you'll see plenty of bad, and a very few successful examples. From my humble and completely anecdotal observation, it seems to begin with top management..Directors, Boards, Alumni Associations who spend far too little time planning and providing the support and resources necessary for long term growth and far too much time looking at last year's or next year's placement. Certainly there are exceptions....but they seem to be fewer each year. There are "greats" in the activity whose names we all know, but there are, I am sure many more undiscovered talents out there who could become greats if they are mentored and grown Frankly, with all of the emphasis we give to teaching the kids, I am disappointed that I have not seen all that much staff mentoring in my years in drum corps.

I wouldn't let my kid march in a corps that does not have some sort of dedicated medical satff...preferably a trainer or EMT who understands sports injuries or a nurse. YEA! corps both have trainers from spring training through tour. It's not prohibitively expensive to find one and I think that is the best investment they ever made!! The physical demands of the modern drum corps are significant. The risk of other problems from the cramped quarters, spotty nutrition, dehydration and lack of rest is also significant. IMO, it is downright negligent of a corps management to rely on untrained personnel (I think it is criminal to rely on the kids themselves) to handle medical issues. Many drum corps have someone in that capacity...at varying levels of professional training..if your kid's corps does not, I would ask where else they are short changing the safety of the kids? I would certainly look for a new corps for your kids.

Huh? How is that "ironic".

I must disagree. Although I am a believer in the concept that this program should be designed to appeal to a "new" audience, and I have no real problem with the emphasis on "features" rather that performances...this was NOT one of the better efforts. I usually have high praise for the Blair productions but this year I have real difficulty finding anything good to say. From a production values standpoint, the program was mediocre, the story lines were not as well developed as usual, the talent was below average, the direction (usually first rate) was erratic and the field audio was just plain awful...I have heard better from cheap band show videos. I can't understand it! I have worked with them in the past when I was at a PBS station and have always said that Tom Blair does a good job..ESPECIALLY technically. But this one was not up to an acceptable standard..too bad, as this was the long awaitied first commercial production that non-corps people might actually see. We had a houseful of HS band kids, and they were understandably bored and disappointed..and I thought that was the market DCI was shooting for? C- at best.

Good thought Keith. I have always believed that it is OUR (corps alumni) responsibility to give back to the activity that gave us so much by assuring that more kids have the same opportunity. My first suggestion would be to think about taking all of the effort and money that is spent on "alumni corps" and use it to fund opportunties for more young people to participate. Nothing wrong with us geezers getting together to play and march around a bit, but just think of the new corps we could create if we refocused our energies.

Garfield '83-'87

Good thought..look at Ohio States' band..no woodwinds...just brass and percussion..are they a drum corps?

GREAT observation!!!!

I can assure you that the thousands of kids I see on the competitive marching band fields do not consider themselves "geeks, or wierdos", nor do their families nor most of their classmates. I have been to a number of schools where the band competition outdraws the football game. Now, I must admit that I have not polled large numbers of the "average person", but I would bet that you have not either. I think that DCI has! I have also spent a great deal of time involved in "Xtreme sports", as my nephews are sposnsored snowboarders/skateboarders. They think that positioning drum corps (their wacko uncle's "favorite" sport) as an "Xtreme" sport is "sweet". In fact, that designation has brought some of their teenaged friends to ask to see what a drum corps really is. They thought that drum corps was all about those baton twirler/drumline folks they see in local parades. Of course, they are not the "average person"..but then again, neither are you or I. In short, in my humble opinion, the DCI marketing position is right on target.

One Correction, select "2005 Hurricane Relief" when donationg online. Thanks!!!

THANKS!!! The people of Bay St. Louis, are DCI show sponsors, and that town has been all but destroyed. I am sure that they will need our help. My family is in Gulfport, MI, and, although we know, as of this morning that they are alive, it is probabale that they have lost their home. A survivor interviewed on CNN last night reported that their neighborhood " no longer exists". Now is the time to give as generously or more than we did to help those in other nations, as you can be sure that other nations will not come to our aid......this is America's Tsunami...and Americans are the most generous people in the world!!!!!

As I said, there are a lot of valid opinions on the subject. I happen to disagree about the value of the spoken word and amplification, but that's just my opinion. I can understand that many disagree with me...and that is a good thing..a diversity of opinions keeps everyone thinking. I did just go to the website of the folks who are circulating a petition about it though (saw the link on a post to this topic). While I certainly agree that they have a right to collect names...I don't get what they plan to do with them. For better or worse, several thousand names,valid or not, won't sway the DCI board. They had a record attendance year in '05, with zillions of HS kids scereaming at the top of their lungs in TX, TN and IN...and that is what will drive their decisions. I was especially amused by the part about investigating potential legal action against people who sign with ficticious names....made the whole effort sound pretty sophomoric..maybe a case for Judge Judy.

Well, we can debate the concept of program narration forever, and certainly there is no shortage of very valid opinions on the subject. But, as one who has executive produced narrated documentaries for PBS, I will differ with your opinion that "Over half the population could rehearse the narration and provide the level of performance that they had this year....." In fact, I was struck by the high quality of the narrative voice long before I was impressed with the quality of the hornline (not that they were not great...BD brass is always great, even in a "down" year). I agree that no one has yet found the key to quality amplification, but that is a completely different topic. Narration (writing or presenting) is not as easy as it looks or sounds! I can assure you that 95% of the population could not match the quality of that kid's presentation (AND...he played 4 mallet at the same time). Maybe many of the professional narrators I know could beat him, but half of the population can hardly speak the language, let alone present a scripted narration to a live audience. The average young narrator might sound more like this: Like, you know, like we're like at a like dance marathon, and, O my god, like it is so awesome....

Are there gatherings scheduled to watch the ESPN broadcast? Now that it is on the "hard" schedule of a major network, with a firm time, it would be great to gather with other drum corps fans to watch together. This could be especially true at colleges and universities, where members from several corps may attend, but may not know each other. Why not a drum corps interest club at your school? A great way to get to know each other and talk over the season AND to invite prospective fans and members into the "Inside scoop" on todays drum corps activity. Corps members are the best PR tool that DCI has...but often, we keep the secret of how great this activity is to ourselves. Lets' find new and better ways to spread the word on our campuses and in our high schools.. As a long, long ago age out and a more recent board member, employee and most recently admin staff member of a major corps, I am always pleasantly surprised to meet members of other corps here at Penn State. Cross-corps discussions are always interesting and enlightening. I am also surprised that, more often than not, they are not aware of the other corps members on campus, ulless they march with them somewhere. So, call your friends and set up a get-together..invite people with whom you want to share your passion for drum corps and turn up the volume. If are at or near Penn State, we will be watching at my Inn in Boalsburg...in Dolby 5.1 on a 60" screen.....stop by and say hello...