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bstar82

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Everything posted by bstar82

  1. I'm here for this show, came in Wednesday for pro football HOF events. The parade downtown was a first class event, probably 15 hs bands and one very large band with probably 70 brass? Don't recall their name. Did the tourist thing in Cleveland today, really nice place to visit, but I'm really looking forward to this show to end my trip. Hoping the weather holds out. It's been spotty the entire time we've been here.
  2. Bob Lendman was my director when I marched Blue Stars, but I do know the history and importance of Dr. Kampschroer's contributions to the Blue Stars and DCI. I met him numerous times and the best words I come up with to describe him is a true gentleman and a class human being. FCO and rest in peace Dr. Dave
  3. Drum corps lost a great instructor today with the passing of Mike McCool. I was taught by him 35 years ago and I would see him every now and then thru the years and he always remembered me. I remember being at a weekend camp in Lompoc, CA and discussing drill design with him. And in 83 in the Orange Bowl parking lot before finals talking about what Garfield was doing on the field at the time. He was blunt and funny and loved the kids and this activity. Rest in Peace Mike
  4. For Sale: Three covered wagons only driven on show days and never over 5 mph, in mint condition. Kick the tires if you'd like.
  5. Went to the theatre tonight, flying into Indy in 7 hours. I had some freeze issues with the FN shows also, but I had to run to my local library during a break, got on a computer there and had no issues with either angle. I really like the Colts this year, but I would enjoy it more with just 1/2 of the narration. I also like Crossmen a lot, but those wagons add absolutely nothing to the show. One of BK's best shows ever. I have not seen Jay Bocook in a while, but I swear he could pass himself off as Archie Manning. This year's nominee for "bathing in chocolate" quote? Rondo and his "Brassgasm" remark.
  6. The name of this thread should have been, "Better late than Nevermore".
  7. Dave Flynn on the far left and I think Mark Tatum is near the front.
  8. My sources are two DCI directors who shared w/ me the attendance numbers on separate occasions. Both gave me the same numbers and I have known them many years, so I don't expect them to lie to me. I'm not going to reveal them as we are long time friends and I'm not going to ruin my relationships with them. I agree their marketing is clever. But this is something that wasn't needed to fill seats in the past. Selling a discounted ticket is never bad thing. But I believe it is a way to fudge the numbers and make attendance look better than it was projected. For example, I knew a person in the promotion department of a NBA team some time ago. One week before games, I would see her and she would hand me vouchers for two lower level tickets to that game. All I had to do was bring the voucher the day of the game to the ticket office, and they gave me the best seats available for free. It was the norm she would give me 20 vouchers a game and I handed them out to anybody I knew. She told me the owner and GM demanded the lower bowl be full and that they would also instruct their TV crew not to show too many angles of the upper sections. But I have heard from my DCI friends that they have been told the concert side needs to look full for the broadcasts. I myself, have had the benefit of attending three DCI Finals and not paying a dime to get in. I have sat next to folks who paid $125 for their seat and I cannot imagine I'm the only one able to do this. If I told him I paid nothing, ( which I would never do) wouldn't they consider that a slap in the face? DCI does have a great deal in Indy. But at what expense down the road? The dissatisfaction of long time fans and alums who cannot afford to go to Indy or simply may not want to go as in the case of the OP. He sounds attached to the activity and disappointed at the same time as he cannot see DCI finals in his part of the country for a ten year period. Conventions and major sporting events are bidded on by cities, but not so much DCI. It is DCI that has to sell itself to a city, explain the activity especially the housing requirements. But now that DCI is firmly in place in Indy, it is much easier to stay put and persuade fans to come to Indy rather than take their show to them and possibly attract new fans who could never justify going to what they may call a "band" show in Indiana. So you ask for my point and that is to the OP, I don't ever expect a change of venue will happen. This is one step away (woodwinds) from being a true band competition. It is now up to each individual to decide how much of this they will accept.
  9. These logistics have been worked out in the past. When DCI was in Denver in 04 and Pasadena in 07, the tour schedules were pretty much reversed from east to west. Akron does have a great stadium, but that doesn't solve the travel issue for the western folks. Boise? I don't believe Boise is a airline hub so the travel could be really expensive. That show used to be a biggie in the 70's, a DCI West regional in fact. But the interest there has decreased so much, Bronco stadium hasn't hosted a show since 07 or 08. The show is now at a high school, the smallest rinky dinky stadium I have seen west of the Mississippi. And they couldn't fill that stadium up this year. But then again, I'm in for anything other than Indy every single year.
  10. As much as I would like to see anything else other than the current format, I don't see it happening unless attendance in Indy takes a huge nosedive. And then that can be justified to a point with the increasing numbers and income generated from the theatre quarterfinal show and the FN webcast. The attendance has decreased in Indy since the first year in 09, but the DCI marketing folks been very clever in keeping the stadium attendance look similar from year to year. As I have mentioned this before, in the past few years, DCI has given a free ticket to finals to the previous year age outs hoping to keep them in the fold AND with the thought that they would not travel alone. So at the very minimum, that would be a BOGO for DCI, but in 09, I knew three age outs who brought six others with them. A very clever idea. Another promotion is handing out flyers at downtown events offering incredibly cheap tickets to finals for local residents. All that was required is a valid ID . There is other ways I won't get into, but I have been to Indy four times, and I have only paid full price one time in four seasons to attend all sessions. And no, I wasn't with a corps at the time, but I wouldn't be surprised if I was part of that official attendance figure. Remember BITD, DCI had committed to moving the championships every two years? That model seem to work and more importantly, it kept fans generally happy that they would have the chance to see DCI live somewhere in their part of the US (or Canada) every few years. That changed somewhat in the 80's, with a financial failure in Miami in 83, one year in Atlanta and then three in Madison. Kansas City seemed to get us back on that every two year track and we were scheduled to go back to Montreal, but that fell thru and Dallas and Buffalo replaced that period. Shortly after that, DCI had announced there would be four permanent sites on the two year rotation. If I recall correctly, Madison, Orlando, Kansas City and Buffalo were the chosen sites. That never happened and DCI and Disney forged what was touted as a long term relationship, but fans were not going to go to Orlando every year. It was just too far for most fans along with other issues ( housing and weather ). So DCI found a permanent home in Indy, still really far for most fans west of Denver. But DCI does tout that Indy is within 1000 miles from the majority of the US population. And Denver, Houston and Austin nearly fall into that 1000 mile circle. I compare the Indy agreement to what Orlando might have been in the plans, just in a more central location. A long standing agreement with a lot of monetary support (City of Indy and in Orlando, Disney ) free office space, and a world class stadium (albeit the acoustics) and hosting all of this in your backyard. It almost feels like the only way DCI will ever leave Indy, is that some city will have to bid and offer quite a bit, kind of like the way cities bid for the Super Bowl, political conventions, all star games etc. But the activity doesn't and will never have that type of public interest. That all being said, we are stuck with Indy. I hope I'm wrong, but it feels like out with the old, in (replace them) with the band parents. Coming to a DCI show near you in the future? A full section of woodwinds. It's just a matter of time.
  11. If you have a car and I assume you do, I drove to NYC between shows a caught a Yankee game, left early and made it back in time for the second show. Another year, I watched SCV rehearse at Kutztown State and played 18 holes at a remote golf course not far from there. Another year, I drove to AC, kind of far but something to do, and of course the bar across the street from the stadium was the place to be after the shows for a lot of fans and staff members. I don't believe it has reopened. I miss late night sandwiches from Wawa.
  12. Funny story, in Cheyenne at the stadium 90 minutes before the show, as the gates were just opening up, I'm near the souvies and a Madison vendor asked me what it looked like out west since their view was blocked by a building. I told him honestly, this show is not going to happen. The skies were so dark as far as you could see from north to south and moving our way. Some fan who was the eternal optimist, overheard me and said, "I lived here 30 years and it's not gonna rain". I kept thinking to myself, the weather doesn't care if you have lived somewhere for 30 years, that has no basis for the weather to change. Some 30 minutes later, lightning is in the distance and the rain is starting up. I was surprised how long the show staff waited until they finally cleared the fans in the metal bleachers. The skies opened up and corps were having a tough time getting their equipment put away. We sit in the vehicles for a while and the show is called off. I'm not kidding you when I say the corps and staff members who were putting equipment away? The water was well over their ankles. As we are pulling out of the lot headed to Greeley, I see the fan sitting at a bus stop, no rain gear and just drenched from head to toe looking a lot like Forrest Gump. He saw me and unable to help, all I could do was give him a nod. Hopefully he had plans to attend DATR the next night.
  13. I have always thought the Atlanta attendance is helped out by a number of factors. The top five scoring corps and remainder of the so called top G7-8 are 250 miles away the night before. This is the only place in the southeast US that fans can see every world class corps, unless one decides to travel to Nashville, Charlotte, Huntsville, etc. and hope these shows are all on different nights. There are no DCI shows south of Atlanta, i.e Florida. The Saturday show time makes it easier to travel on Friday night/Saturday morning.
  14. 6/22 Bowling Green 6/25 Pittsburgh 7/2 Medford 7/3 McMinnville 7/5 Renton 7/6 Richland 7/8 Boise 7/9 Ogden 7/11 Cheyenne (rained out) 7/12 DATR 7/14 Lebanon scheduled: 7/30 West Chester 8/1-2 Allentown 8/4 Centerville 8/6-9 Indy
  15. Comparing to drum corps, Porn? still happens. These are what kids think about. Changing on busses? Of course. Nicknames? still happens, but maybe not at the level described in the report. If I recall correctly, Cavaliers pretty much had a nickname for everybody bitd. Whether they were obscene, depends on who you talked to. Underwear run thrus? Absolutely at one time, but DCI is frowning on some of the skimpy clothing worn on tour at school sites. A big reason DCI is having housing issues from year to year. It upsets the local folks quite a bit. Then again, OSU is a institution of higher learning, so what happens there will be more in the public eye than maybe what drum corps members might attempt on a random day.
  16. There are two, maybe more who marched with Gold and quite a few from SoCal along with one from Overland HS in Aurora, CO. He ages out in 2020! He has his whole marching life still ahead of him.
  17. Regarding the drivers and the hope they are all getting plenty of rest. BITD in my rookie year, we were really short of bus drivers to the point one of our mallet players drove one of our busses after rehearsing all day on tour. He had his CDL and endorsements and he drove nearly every night on a cross country tour. It scared me to no end and I stayed up and talked with for as long as I could every night. I could see the fatigue on his face while he was driving... BTW, I worked for a government agency for a long time and part of my job was to report any health and/or food violations I witnessed to the health dept though I did not work for them, we worked side by side and I can say I have seen OC's operation up front and they do everything possible to keep their members and staff healthy. Everybody who serves food wears protective gloves ( members are not allowed to grab food off the serving tables) and hand sanitizer is placed everywhere possible. Also, filling up a jug or a cup with liquid, it is important to not have either touching the spout from the source. Next time you're out, you can tell if you have a careful bartender if you notice they will not allow the glass to touch the spout of a tap. A lot of cross contamination is spread here w/o a lot of thought about it. One of the positive aspects of corps having to contract out for drivers and busses is, the companies are adamant to keep their drivers within their limits behind the wheel.
  18. Airfare is also tough as the PGA tournament is being held the same week in Louisville, KY a couple hours south of Indy.
  19. Blue Stars will bypass their Austin housing site and stay in Waco tonight, not sure about Friday night yet and if they will make the somewhat long show drive to SA on Saturday.
  20. Confirmed, Started w/ a few kids a week or so ago and now there are dozens who are ill. On a brighter note, the 50th Anniversary corps of the Blue Stars has been invited to perform in Indy at DCI semifinals.
  21. Okay thought so. One I mentioned judged finals one year and has been hated by one west corps ever since.
  22. Brasso, are you talking recently or since the formation of DCI? Off the top of my head, I can think of Dave Bandy, Mike DeAngelo and Lloyd Pesola who all instructed and judged at one time.
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