Ron H

Which seems to translate into this: I'm done. I'm not going to personally risk anything to promote All-Age Corps. It's over. I've done my time. I'm going to be an armchair critic from now on.

There is no need for that, provided you put together a good business plan. And that is what is sorely missing from most DCA corps. Poor financial planning is what is truly killing DCA. There are really only three (though maybe as many as five) DCA corps that are set for the financial long run, with Minnesota Brass waaaaaaay in the lead. By a factor of 10. And no one in MBI has ever won the Powerball. And no one in MBI has millions to donate to the corps. It's all about wise management, plain and simple. MBI is followed by the Buccaneers. And the Caballeros. This is all public record, BTW, since 501 c3 corporations are an open book by law.

There are good reasons why MBI beat them legitimately. We are all homers to some extent. And that blinds us to many details. Personally I thought high brass would be the VERY LAST caption that MBI would win. I am rather shocked,actually. Visual I could understand. The Cabs have never been known for being particularly adventurous in visual design. But MBI has had some of the best visual shows for the last 5 years or so. But hey, I'm looking forward to the recaps.. Congrats to C2 and the Bucs!!!

MBI. There you go VOR.

Actually Yup. The Cabs do not have the visual program that MBI has, despite VOR's weird love of it. Watch it all again. Carefully. There is a magnitude of quality separating the two.

Though they should be.

Ummm, did you not even pay attention to the last two pages of this thread?

A three-way horse race for 1st this year. MBI at 91.0 in a completely different time zone.

Mad Circus. Photo by Dawn Tunison.

It really is a brilliant show. Not particularly adventurous musically, given MBI's recent years of putting together really interesting arrangements. But still very well done and well performed. I will reiterate what I said in another thread: That guard is frighteningly good.

FWIW... MBI has a phenomenal show. Every bit as interesting as last year's "Supernova" (And that was #### good). Very complex and visually terrific. One of the best guards I have ever seen in a DCA corps.

I'll simply say this. After seeing MBI and Govies at the DCI Minnesota show on July 11th, the performances from both corps last Friday at the DCI show in St. Paul were astoundingly better. MBI has the best color guard I have ever seen from them in late July. (Actually, I think this is the best color guard I have ever seen in DCA, period.) Percussion is tops. Horns have dramatically improved. MBI is undoubtedly a contender. That show is something else.

The main reason is this site is now irrelevant. The sum total of all the people participating in the conversations in the DCA threads amount to maybe a dozen people, all talking amongst themselves. It no longer reflects the fan base of the DCA activity. (If it does, DCA is in seriously dire straits.)

It won't happen anytime soon, but I can guarantee that if Minneapolis were ever to host the DCA Championships it would be the best-attended, best advertised and best-organized DCA Championships in the history of DCA. Why? Because the the Twin Cities have a long and lengthy track record of supporting oddball music festivals. With 3.5 million residents, MSP is the North's answer to Austin and the SXSW festival. And as host, MBI would have the best connections to all local rehearsal venues. Furthermore, the stadium (The U of M's TCF Bank Stadium) was designed (with the help of acousticians) to be the best stadium in the US for musical acts. DCI recognized this and their DCI Minnesota show is among their premier venues. This stadium has amazing acoustics. It's like it was built for marching bands and drum corps. The premier suites sell out for DCI Minnesota and those go for $1600 a crack. Again, it won't happen anytime soon. But imagine the possibilities. :)

So, despite the most recent responses, this effort failed. There is no North Star All-Age Corps, right?

Sorry for the late reply - Holidays and all that... :) So, you didn't see all the finalist corps this season. So your opinion about the results of 2014 is relevant how? (Hey, I'm just poking you .)

It's not just "on" Broadway that ticket prices have risen. In Minneapolis the price of the tickets to the next "Beauty and the Beast" tour range from $49 to $109. And yet they still will sell out 8 shows in a 2,600-seat auditorium. I completely agree with Fran Haring. This may be a bit harsh for my dear family in MBI, but I saw them in St. Paul in the middle of last season and thought that they were going to be a 5th place DCA corps at best. This was at a DCI Open Class show. MBI did not perform well. Yes, this was one of the dreaded mid-week shows and I can give a lot of slack for that fact. But still... MBI has, in the past, been pretty decent early in their season. But with the increase in complexity of their (and other DCA Corps') shows I feel they need to re-think their early season strategy and go back to starting in November rather than in January. This is just a personal opinion. However ALL DCA corps need to come out with a salable and marketable product in June. Otherwise, why should any fan spend 10 or 15 bucks for a show that is just "in progress?" Most one-time fans will have no idea how the drum corps season works. They will assume that what they see before them is what the ensemble can give. These spectators will have no desire to see the show again if they weren't entertained the first time around. In the bigger scheme of things, is it really worth the massive effort it takes to field a solid top DCA corps if that corps is only "really good" for the last 3 weeks of a season? (OKAY, I am exaggerating the issue a bit, but the principle remains...)

Off the top of my head, Bucs, Cabs, Bush. If I don't recall others that did (Fusion?CV?), it was because it was done so well I wasn't jolted by it. The reason I remember the above three was noticing the speakers or in the Cabs' and Bush's case, using them for the pre-show set-up as well. The above three also did a great job in meshing the speakers with the overall ensemble sound for the record. MBI? Hello? With permission from Neil deGrasse Tyson for the pre-show.

Here's the elaborate auditions page for 2015 Minnesota Brass.

Yes, I think many corps do that (including MBI for many years). Specifically, MBI now has BD's John Meehan as arranger and brass consultant.

Mad Circus Sounds like the next season of American Horror Story :) Emerson, Lake and Palmer Danny Elfman Rufus Wainright Beats Antique Queen This should be interesting now that MBI has the Blue Devils' arranger on staff.

Great news Eric! Good to see new and returning talent in the best staff in DCA! (Yeah, I'm a homer at heart... Sorry Bucs and Cabs. You guys are terrific too ) I'm looking forward to seeing how John Meehan can possibly improve upon the already adventurous and unique charts that MBI has become known for.

Given the importance of the internet in advertising and marketing, I'd love to see how DCA corps produce promotional videos on YouTube or other websites. Here's the place to post links. Minnesota Brass from last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaDzMv0r7Vk&feature=youtu.be

I predict two "blue" corps in the top 3.