bstar82

Colorado marching bands in the mid 70's were starting to adapt to a "corps style" program, albeit took quite a few years for most bands to move away from the high step marching, the twirlers and poms which played a part of the band and as any color guards that existed marched and did a couple of spins here and there. This was pretty much pre CBA days as the movement to corps style really kicked in thanks to JL Gerardi and Wayne Manazanares leading the way. Back then (1973-1979), there were dozens of HS bands in the Denver area that numbered 150-175 members and a few in the 200's. I don't believe when DCI was here in 77 and 78 of having any major impact in keeping those numbers afloat. I recall a few commercials that this DCI "thing" would be in town, but I don't remember it being a topic at all in school. In fact, when school budgets were reduced (with interest rates soaring in the mid teens), the arts were the first areas cut from the school budgets. At the schools I taught at, it was nearly impossible to get approval for much needed percussion and color guard equipment. Where I really noticed it statewide was seeing how the schools I talked about earlier with 150+ members were now skeletons of their self by the mid 80's. The bands with huge memberships were lucky to have 50-80 members. Quite a few of them have recovered and have a larger membership, but does DCI ever see an increase in financially stable World class corps in the future? I don't know...

It is great, but can be pricey if money is tight. I spent $90 for two of us there in 05.

Greg Clarke for his work with drum corps in his 20's and 30's. An incredible instructor and Bridgemen alum!

Colorado Mills in Lakewood Co, then catching a 6AM flight the next day for semis and finals. And all for just $50 outta my pocket!

Garry, I also remember us being introduced from Orange County as well... Did Jack have something to do w/ that being from Cedar Rapids? Lyons, CO should get some sort of credit also.

Cavaliers in Park Ridge until 1980, then Rosement since. Phantom spent some time in Loves Park ( sponsorship?) for a few years before returning to Rockford.

From Deleware County PA until 1979 and then claimed West Chester Pa as their home starting in 1980.

Wawa is a good choice when in the area. And drinking at the bar on Hamilton across from the park before and after the show. Who doesn't go there? That place is a who's who of drum corps staff after the shows.

This is not limited to corps members, parents and band folks. I have witnessed where the fault could be pointed at a number of different groups of attendees. I usually have a seat right on the 50 every year for DATR. The problem there has been the staff members running up and standing on the walking aisle that divides the lower and upper sections of the first level and talking and of course cheering their corps every impact or move. It is probably not cost effective, but should DCI designate a "staff members area only" and make sure that is where they watch their corps performance? I have seen where staff members will ask if a couple of seats are taken, sit in them and sure enough the ticket holder will show up just before the show and now you have groups of people getting in and out of the same seats. Another time, a DCI Hall of Famer who shall remain nameless, was blocking the view of a couple of folks and the usher asked him to move. He flashes his DCI staff credential like it means he's better than everybody else. The usher did not allow him to stay there and he looked quite upset he had to move on. At another show out of state, the same HOF'er sits next to me and I let him know the person sitting there will be back any moment. He went ahead to move but not until I heard from his wife a few rows back who yelled at me that he could sit where ever he pleases. I asked her why and she replied, "Because we are in the Hall of Fame". I answered back, "You two should be proud to represent yourselves that way". And then a gal behind me yelled at the HOF's spouse and remarked, "Yeah lady your s&%t stinks like everybody else's so shut the hell up". A big group laughed and she didn't say a word the rest of the night. The worst I came across was in Dallas in 07. A girlfriend of mine flew in from Hawaii and we attended the Dallas and SA shows. We had great seats we thought at the Dallas show until more people arrived and we all noticed four people had seats 8 and 9 on their stubs in our row. The stadium staff was no help at all, the organizers were nowhere to be found. With the help of the folks behind us, we crammed 3 people into 2 bleacher seats. These kind of instances will never change I'm sorry to say

A buddy of mine is at one of the many hospitals where the wounded were taken to called to tell me a man ran into the hospital with a photo of his son asking if anybody has seen him. Very sad. A 6 year old confirmed dead. I cannot imagine what the parents are going thru. Prayers to all the victims and their loved ones. I know this is a little off topic for this forum, I don't think there is a lot of drum corps folks from Aurora. I can name probably everyone that has marched in the past 30 years or so. A real tight knit community, but Gateway HS is just down the street from the theatre. Gateway has had a lot of success in WGI lately. Excuse me while I vent. My day off and I'm very sad and frustrated about this tragedy....

This one affects me personally because I grew up in Aurora, I have been to this theatre with my nieces and nephews many times, my Dad lives a mile from the apartment complex you keep seeing on the TV this morning and I played golf across the street from it just last Friday. Aurora is just like any other city that its has it's share of good and bad. I was on my way home around 1AM this morning and I heard a lot of sirens in the distance and I thought it must have been a police involved shooting of some sort. But seeing this unfold today and reading a story this past week about a bomb search during a Detroit Tiger game and how regularly this happens at sporting events has me wondering, if you cannot be safe at a theatre, how safe are we at a drum corps show or any show for that matter? Do we now live in a society where we have to be screened at any public venue we visit? This brings up too many memories of Columbine :(

Pac Crest was there today. En route to Kermit TX near Midland. Most of the corps already in Kansas and Arkansas on their way to TX.

JONZ are back!!!

Double post.

Double post

Slotting is already in progress. With the exception of the Cavies having an off year and Spirit and Boston stepping it up, history tells us there really is no reason to expect any drastic changes. It just doesn't happen. Other than being there to watch this live, I cannot think of a better way to see this tonight as my brother is a TV producer for PBS and watching it from one of his production studios was incredible to say the least! The way he was able to control the audio was out of this world, better than any home/webcast TV or movie theatre version I'm sure I will ever witness.

The only thing I can think of is the Minneapolis show has which every World corps is in has been more the cause of this. Rockford's Show of shows has always had a pretty strong lineup and from there the corps can start making there way down to Texas. I've been to both the Lisle and Rockford shows. I would just make it it a long weekend to catch them and Minneapolis. For quite some many years, there has been a Dallas area and a Houston show on Thursday /Friday nights, then San Antonio the next day only to have some corps head to either Denton (a Cavie sponsored show) and others head towards Louisana.

A lot of "Hash" talk on here. Good thing it doesn't anything to do with drum corps....

Is DCI broken? IMO, it isn't but DCI does have serious issues and could be considered broken when another corps either shuts down earlier than expected or takes a year off to reorganize ( which has been the kiss of death for way too many corps) their finances. My personal experience in drum corps includes being a marching member, staff member, volunteer and fan for the past 38 years. In addition, I have had the pleasure of living with two long time D1 directors and I cannot begin to tell you the number of hours we spent discussing everything about DCI and individual corps. Do I have all the answers and cure all to what is going on with struggling corps? Not by a long shot. But here are some of my thoughts to discuss and ponder. DCI is considered the governing body of its members. Are they taking enough responsibility and interest of all the World and Open class corps? I do know when the directors meet in the offseason, they request and pretty much pick and choose where they would like to tour for the upcoming season. It is their responsibility to see they have the financial resources to carry out their tour. This is where I see a lot more checks and balances are needed. I'm assuming DCI does have a controller and an auditor's office in place. Either group from DCI should have the ability to run an audit of every corps finances when it comes to planning their tour. And it should be as detailed as possible. How many vehicles is a corps planning to tour with? what is their budget for fuel, repair and charter costs and a reserve amount should also be in place for breakdowns. Anybody who has ever marched knows this is the norm in the activity DCI should also know the breakdown of how much money will be needed for food, housing site costs, driver and staff salaries and again a set reserve in place in case of unforseen circumstances. The reserve could be a percentage of the entire tour budget or a fixed amount. This is something DCI may have to learn by trial and error until a safe, set amount of funds can be figured out. If it looks like a corps cannot meet the budget to fund their desired tour, this is where their tour is reduced to stay within their means. They can still tour, but cannot risk their future by overextending themselves. I know alot of the money is not in place until nearly the start of a summer tour, but this is where corps have to be a little more active in upping their due deadlines. Maybe having the entire tour fee paid by members by sometime in March or at least a majority of it at that time and possibly 10-15% left of the balance due in May. This would give corps and DCI more time (6-8 weeks) to adjust their tour schedules if needed. I'm not talking about the top 5-6 corps as much as the rest of the groups. In my conversations with my old directors and some others I know really well, there is one fact where a lot of corps get themselves into financial trouble. That is carrying over debt from a previous season to the next and depending on "this" year's money to pay off last years debt. I knew many members who were allowed to pay AFTER the season was over. Really? Is this sound management? I know some kids who actually told me, "Good luck collecting your money, I'm aged out", or "I'm done with drum corps anyway". I know of one treasurer of an open class corps who is volunteering and touring with a world class corps while his corps is on tour. The former director told me the current director and board president have no idea how to spend the money or what is needed on a day to day basis. They make their best guess and the treasurer approves it from hundreds of miles away. I'm expecting this corps to go under very soon as well I hate to say. I believe you have to have an off season budget and a season (tour) budget and they must be followed no matter what. If a corps has to go another season without new equipment, so be it. I understand everybody has a theme to a show, but at what price on new silks, color guard outfits and a pit instrument that may used in a show for four measures? You'll hear a lot of talk in at the stadium on what corps is using so and so horns or drums this year. My question is, were they donated by the company for the advertising and/or are they paid off in full? And is there a carryover on last year's equipment bill? If a 150 member corps is going to put you in the hole shoot for a lower number and see if it saves money. BITD Div 2 and 3 corps were affordable and toured by going with less and two of those corps have returned from bad times to constantly being in the top 15 every year as of late. Bus contracts. Oh boy. If a corps (and a lot them do) charters buses nowadays, please tell me there is a number of face to face meetings with these companies. The chartered drivers should be informed what they are getting into and what to expect and not to expect i.e eating and sleeping with the corps at their sites, driving 6-8 hours mostly overnight, no hotels or meal per diem. There should be no surprises! It's no different that conducting a job interview. If the driver or corps reps doesn't feel this person is a match, move on to the next possible driver. Have all of this in writing ( I"d hope it already is) in the contract and have an attorney review it as well. Corps member contracts. Member and parents need to be present and understand the contract and implications of a corps having to call it quits early for whatever reason. If from out of state, maybe a video conference call should be in place so parents can get all of their questions answered and understand any refund or no refund policies. Parents should not have to feel they are not taking a financial risk by their son/daughter joining a particular corps. A simple outline of the tour, the budget for the tour and any possible changes should be emailed out monthly to all the member's and their parents keeping them informed of the corps current financial state i.e dues collected at present time, amount forwarded to off season budget and amount forwarded to tour budget, projected amounts collected from next due dates etc... Having said all that, (whew) I still believe DCI must be more proactive with every open and world class corps left in our ranks. Back in the 1960's, Pete Rozelle was the commissioner of the NFL. When the upstart AFL came along, those teams were allowed to join the NFL. But Rozelle's greatest mark on the NFL was the way he stabilized the future. He signed TV contracts with NBC and CBS, but at his discretion, he demanded equal shares of TV revenue to each and every team giving them a guaranteed source of income. Sure they went ahead and signed their own local preseason TV deals and today club suites and the like, but the sharing of revenue was paramount in protecting all of his members. DCI needs to care and do just as much for Teal Sound as it does BD, Cadets or any other top 5 corps. Otherwise, we could see this sad story repeat itself with another corps somewhere down the road. Just my thoughts and opinion.....

It is a good thing except today for drum corps fans. Add to that, a lot of vegetation is gone, so now we have the problem of flash flooding. Some of the rivers and streams near Fort Collins and the Springs were jet black and thick because of all the ash that is flowing in and killing the fish.

Terri, you got it right the first time. It will always be Mile High, No Invesco or SA. Keeping fingers crossed!

Except last night, it rained from 4pm until 3am off and on mostly on.

Not too worried about the start of the show, but come 8pm the storm cell looks to be stationed right over the Denver area and stay there for a few hours. The local weather folks are calling for lightning, heavy rain and local flooding. The last 4 corps may not get the chance to take the field. Just got back from watching SCV and the clouds are moving in from the south and west and it is starting to look really ugly out west just like yesterday at this time. Last night, String Cheese Incident had a concert at Red Rocks and it did resume at 11:00 PM. Not sure if the folks running DATR have that kind of time frame to get the show in. But I do know the contract w/ the stadium calls for it to be cleared out by a certain time. The last time DATR was rained out may have been 1974 or 75.

Posted this on the wrong page earlier: Hope for a full DATR show tomorrow night. It is pouring like crazy in Denver right now with a lot of dangerous thunder and lightning. There is no way any corps already here was outside tonight. The forecast calls for up to 5 inches of rain for the next 24-36 hours with the hardest rain coming tomorrow night. If the show was tonight, it would have been cancelled.