dave27th

My .02 on this topic is that if any MM has such an easily bruised ego after going through a season of competitive junior corps that a few boos would bother him/her, I would think that they would have quit or been weeded out long before the first show. In my experience, and I can't believe it has changed that much today, there isn't much of a place for an individual with a tender, easily bruised ego. That type of person isn't, IMO, usually attracted to marching in a drum corps in the first place. I never boo any corps, but that is because I do respect what they are doing, whether I like it or not. However, I don't think that hard work by anyone means that someone else does not have the right to boo them for whatever reason they may have. Dave

I actually like this fad, I like the way it eases into the opening statement. I think it increases the expectation and suspense of when the corps cuts loose

I am going to start my reply with I am also one of those "old farts", although I did march in a competitive all-age corps until 2005. The only show I could attend this year is Atlanta, and I enjoyed the show immensely, in fact, I enjoyed the show this year more than any in the last few years. I thought there was a lot of innovation shown this year and I was very impressed with it. I did not care for the electronics. I thought they overshadowed a lot of horn lines and I really dislike the artificial tone opposing the natural horn and drum sound. Having said that, I believe that you really don't understand what a lot of these posters are talking about. I think you can look at the difference between drum corps today and yesterday as the difference between the opera and popular music. Opera is sophisticated and subtle and usually in italian or something while pop music is powerful, easy to understand, written for the fans and is usually meant to give you a good time without always having to look for the hidden meaning. Which is more popular? I don't know about most fans, but I don't really want to go to a drum corps show to lean the nuances of Shostakovich. I go to have my face blown off with great marching, a powerful and loud hornline and a drumline that plays the entire show and has a kicka** snareline. I don't want to analyze, I want entertainment. You can say anything you like about your perception of a lack of quality and the simplicity of drum corps back in the day, but I will contend that they put a lot more fans in the seats than the corps of today. There were a lot of 'name' shows such as the National Dream and the U.S. Open that existed along with D.C.I. that drew thousands of fans. Some of the reasons for this, IMO, is that there were a lot more drum corps back then. If I counted correctly, there were about 305 competing junior corps in 1979, compared to somewhere around 80 today(I don't know the exact number). Of course, quality varied widely, and I won't pretend that there weren't some horrible corps back then, but you will always get that in large number like that. This made drum corps more accessible to the average fan, because they could go to more shows, and very likely, they had a local corps to cheer for. These shows were geared more to fans than judges, with many high points and complete melodies. This number of corps also made it more accessible for average musicians as you didn't have to be a music major and sell your left kidney to be in a drum corps. Also, there were a lot of traditions being followed that got the fans revved up before the show even started, like Bones with the Crossmen. You can say what you want, but if you watch video of shows back then, it was very common for fans to be on their feet for the entire show, cheering and applauding wildly. Today's shows are much more complicated, and technically proficient due to instrument changes, blah, blah, blah, but they are ultimately more boring because they are approaching the activity like opera, not pop music in the majority of cases. In conclusion, I think fans 'don't get it', because they want entertainment, not education. Of course this will change as the members of today get older and become spectators, since they will have matured with the 'drum corps as education' idea. However, a lot of the paying spectators today are my age, and, personally, that is what I want. I don't care so much about the b-flat horn change, except I think bugles are a lot more exciting to listen to, or the amping of pits, but I detest synthesizers and electric guitars, they never seem to be mixed right and detract from the show as a whole. Let me tell you, I saw my first drum corps in 1976 at the Pontiac Silverdome and upon seeing the 27th Lancers (What an awesome drum corps, I was so lucky to be able to march with them, even if it was only for one year) I was hooked for life and I still love it today! There you go, my .02 worth. Dave McBurney Sagainaires 1977 27th Lancers 1979 and 1994 Heat Wave of Orlando 1993 to 2005 AND the father of Shannon McBurney Heat Wave of Orlando on and off Spirit of Atlanta 1998 AND the father of Sean McBurney Suncoast Sound 1993 and 1995 Spirit of Atlanta 1996 to 1999 Who happened to be in the first electronic ensemble to win DCI I&E 1996

I have never seen any member of the Midshipmen on a drum corps board before, I saw your corps many times back in the '70s, along with Flint Guardsmen and Saginaires. Too bad these corps are not still around, Michigan used to have a strong base of regional corps. Dave McBurney Saginaires 1977 27th Lancers 1979, 1994 Heat Wave of Orlando 1992-2004

I would agree that all of the logos mentioned are great, but I would say, totally unbiased, of course, is that the 27th Lancer logo is the greatest of all.

I'm not sure about this year, but, typically, it would be around $6,000 for the bus for each trip, each member would have to pay for his/her food, and we slept on a gym floor. The only time we stayed in a motel was at Finals. We did not have bingo for revenue, we earned it by show fees, working concessions at Orlando Magic games, college football bowl games, Daytona races, concerts at the Orlando arena, playing for conventions and anything else we could do to earn money. In the very beginning, we even played for car dealerships and minor league baseball teams. Doing something conventional like marching in parades did not earn us any money. Usually, in Florida, the parade sponsor wants the marching unit to pay a fee to march. Heat Wave was extremely lucky in that the Bahia Shrine let us use its facilities at no charge for rehearsals and we were able to find practice facilities that did not charge us. Dave McBurney Heat Wave Charter Member

When my kids were young enough to march, school started around the 12th of August, so they usually missed a few days of school, plus band camp. Hey, Charlie, good to hear from you, how are you enjoying CA? Glad to see you're still with Renegades, life sucks down here without drumcorps. I'll tell Val you said 'Hi', Dave

'79 27th Lancers It was Zingali's first year as drill writer, the show was incredibly difficult for that era, the corps was written off at the beginning of the year, and started the season very rough, scoring a 55 at the first competition. Dave

I would disagree with this statement. Heat Wave has gone to many shows where the promoters specifically asked for us to appear. Fans used to go crazy when Heat Wave took the field. This whole mind set of a big corps is a good corps and a small corps is a crappy corps has really set all of drum corps, DCI and DCA, back. There are many kids who will only march in Madison, etc. and would never think of marching in a corps like Pioneer or Lake Erie Regiment due to size and reputation. This means that they usually do not march in a corps at all. This deprives them of the experience of a lifetime and deprives certain corps the chance to move up. Yes, there is something special about marching in the Blue Devils or the Syracuse Brigadiers, but how do you think it got that way? The Blue Devils were a drum and bell corps, how do you think they became what they are today? They started small and became world champions. I also wanted to reply to the person who said that if we can only recruit 35 people in a city of two million, we probably deserved what we got. Let's think about what goes on in Orlando: 1. More major amusement parks than any where else in the country 2. Many, many beaches close by 3. Wages in this state are generally lower than other states, plus most of the jobs are service industry jobs with no set schedules and work on the weekends 4. It is HOT and HUMID, much more than anybody up north can believe 5. The travel to go to any show is extensive and requires a lot of money and/or a LONG bus ride. A typical trip to a competition for Heat Wave consisted of getting to the Bahia Shrine parking lot by 6 pm on Thursday night, driving until 6 pm or so on Friday, arriving at a school and taking an hour to eat and shower, rehearsing until 1 am, trying to sleep on a gym floor where typically the air conditioning was turned off for the summer, getting up at 6 am to eat and shower, once again, in a locker room shower with how many other people and, of course, the hot water was turned off for the summer, rehearsing all day until 3 or 4 pm, getting ready for the show, hopefully, with time for a shower, although this didn't always happen, competing in the show, then, getting on the bus to head back to Florida, without a shower, getting back to the Shrine sometime around midnight on Sunday. Let me tell you, 24 hours on a bus full of people that haven't had a shower can make you re-think the whole drum corps experience in a hurry! 6. There are also many band directors in this area that are actively hostile to drum corps. They don't want their members to miss camp, or to come back with an "attitude" 7. Let's also not forget the fact that many northern corps draw many members from Florida and the Orlando area. I think the fact that Heat Wave was able to field a competitive corps for 9 years and win two championships says a lot about the character of the corps and of its members. Knocking the membership or BOD for not trying hard enough is unbelievably ignorant without knowing the facts. Dave

I would have to say that your opinion depends on your definition of a drum corps. If your definition is that a drum corps is a group of people out busting their ### to work together as a team to put on the best show that they are capable of week after week, traveling thousands of miles in one weekend to put that show on the field for an audience and to be judged, making friendships and bonds that very few other people will ever have the opportunity to, then yes, 30 people do actually make a drum corps. Numbers are good, numbers are great, and I would love to march in a 50 man hornline again, but numbers don't make a drum corps, the people do, and, believe me, it takes a lot of dedication to belong to a small corps that is struggling with money and membership. I think, overall, Heat Wave always fielded a good, entertaining corps. Nobody who was not in Heat Wave could ever understand what we had to go through to put that corps on the field. That is drum corps, my friend. Dave McBurney Heat Wave of Orlando 1992-2004

Hey, Stephanie, How about a little more on Heat Wave, I like the they were great comment, but would like a few more details. Dave and Val McBurney BTW, how are you and Roger doing? Too bad we didn't run into you at Night of Magic