Ron H

Wacked scores in St. Paul tonight. The DCI judges seem to be all over the place with the Midwest All-Age corps this year. (Seriously, no movement in scores???) I thought the Govenaires had one of their best shows in recent years. Even more fun than last year. Great guard and great communication! MBI's exhibition was also terrific, though not without its flaws (more later). It was also really nice to see Chops, Inc. back on the field! There are some real judging issues this year regarding the DCI panels. I don't know if it is inexperience with the sheets or what. But if you follow the trend, the midwest corps are getting worse, which is ridiculous.

I hope so, John. The unfortunate truth is that DCA corps are geographically fragmented. That puts a lot of pressure on the judges to place them correctly in the finals. In my 35+ years of experience I've witnessed both brilliant triumphs and horrifying tragedies in DCA. (YouTube: 1987 MBI shut out of the top 10! Really?) I don't think that level of blatant discrimination exists anymore. But I maintain it will be difficult to place MBI (Or the Renegades if they ever come back) among the top contenders without them participating in regular season (aka Eastern) shows.

As Florida Sun points out, the true wild card is still Minnesota. The fact that they aren't going "out east" before finals and their reliance on DCI judging may work against them this year. But their formidable drum line (top 3 for more than a decade), their consistently strong horn line and their typically adventurous musical program design is not to be ignored. Their guard has only won the DCA caption once, but they have always had a WGI-styled layered complexity (which is often harder to clean) that does not always translate to DCA and, I think, is their achilles heel on the DCA sheets

Wow. Way to diss two corps in two different years simultaneously. Bravo for your cleverness. As an MBI alum I'm really looking forward to the head-to-head with our friends the Cabs, Bucs as well as Fusion Core, C2 and the spectacular accomplishments of CV (They had my favorite show last year). And I am breathlessly looking forward to your own contributions to the hornlines in DCA. I'd love to hear what you've done with your own horn line, VOR.

And I just have to chime in about who won percussion last year. And who I think is the same team who may win percussion this year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpGWWxThUE4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaOzn9Cg1CU

Thanks Tom. Is that true of DCA member corps? Or just non-members competing in the DCA circuit? If so, that is something that needs to change. In any case, I still maintain that DCA corps who expect to "profit" from every single one of their show appearances are living in a fantasy world. Yes, they need to minimize their expenses but if they rely upon appearance fees to balance their budget they are in for a world of hurt. As a result of that strategy, the activity will never grow.

If a corps expects to have every show appearance "pay for itself" through fees then it has the wrong business model. And that's what kills expansion.

I just got back from the Fridley parade where MBI gave a standstill performance for 9 regional competitive marching bands. MBI's musical book is a killer - Very abstract yet it relates to anyone who knows the original Radiohead, Holst and Mozart tunes :) !! The very brief references to "Mars" and "Jupiter" are great. Beautiful interpretation of Eric Whitacre's Lux Aurumque. A few intonation errors but nothing that will prevent the hornline from being among the top lines at DCA championships. The percussion book is phenomenal. Very exciting! Especially as the show progresses - it just gets "bigger and bigger." 54 horns for the show. 28 guard and 24 battery plus 13 for the front line. I'll stand corrected if the numbers change. The amplified pit was tasteful and worked well with the entire ensemble.

MBI has been pretty quiet this past winter. So what's going on? Here's a video from their latest camp:

On top of that, there is absolutely nothing stopping other eastern corps from going after exactly the same demographic that C2 is aiming at. And with the limitation of age in C2, it means a member who truly has a lifetime love of the activity and wishes to pursue performing into their 30's, 40's and 50's+ will find themselves drawn to a different corps.

MBI's full show logo for 2014 Music divided into 6 movements Knights of Cydonia by Muse Subterranean Homesick Alien by Radiohead Nitro by Frank Ticheli Jupiter by Gustav Holst Lux Arumque by Eric Whitacre Original Composition Dies Irae by W.A.Mozart

In MBI's quarterly newsletter they announced the name of their 2014 show, but not the individual pieces yet. The title is "SuperNova"

My point in posting the summary of the 990's of the top five corps was not to demonstrate that the eastern corps really can't afford to travel. It was to demonstrate that - in my opinion - they really need to start changing their business model so they CAN travel in the future. If MBI can continue to amass that much money and actually make a profit in a down economic year it shows that ANY DCA corps can do the same. To continually teeter on the fiscal cliff is what's wrong. It won't guarantee longevity no matter how good the corps is. We've seen that in many corps that have disappeared.

Top Five DCA Corps, 2011 (Last year the returns are available for all 5) Ranked in order of Total Assets Corps / Income / Expenses / Net Assets (Assets - Liabilities) Minnesota Brass / $326,000 / $258,902 / $575,727 Hurricanes / $154,528 / $183,941 / $38,879 Empire Statesmen / $212,784 / $210,253 / $26,752 Buccaneers / $172,868 / $196,976 / ($18,414) Caballeros / $143,533 / $153,195 / ($65,443)

Well I guess we'll never know until they try it.

Depends on how you define "loaded." MBI has more money in the bank than the other top 9 DCA corps combined. (Well, you'd maybe have to exclude C2 if you count YEA's resources) MBI has the largest budget. Their assests are greater than Phantom Regiment's. This is all on public record if you do the research. They did it based upon financial prudence, diversification of income and on top of that, they can still afford to go out east twice per season. THAT's the model that other DCA corps need to follow if this activity has any chance of long-term survival.

Well it certainly helps when the CEO of MBI is a CPA. I'd argue that MBI's geographical location improved the corps' finances over the years. It forced them to integrate the touring costs into the annual budgets to the point where it is now considered a standard line item. It's become simply part of the cost of doing business. A big part, to be sure, but the psychological impact of the budget is lessened. I agree that the finances of each corps has to be nailed down first. But they really should find diversified sources of income to safely support one large trip each season (or two if the championships ever move to another region.) Diversification helped MBI establish, by far, the biggest operation of any DCA corps.

You can thankfully add Chops, Inc. to that lineup now that they've announced their return to the field. I do agree that Racine would be a great place for a show like that and it would likely get a huge crowd.

Ha, good thread! But let me offer the "darker" side of this. Please, please, let's have a world-wide drum corps moratorium on "City of Angels!!!"

Bingo. My friend - who also attended finals with me and has more than 30 years experience in corps and WGI guards - had something to say about C2. He always has associated the Cadets' organization with stylistically unique and usually spectacular guards. I think it's inevitable that C2 will one day win DCA. (I also think Atlanta has a chance too, but that's another discussion.) But right now, the guard is the major weak spot.

And please do, Fran. I think you've got an argument worth discussing.

Oh... Count on it. DCA championships will definitely move outside of the NE US. It has to happen. If it doesn't, All-Age Corps are doomed to oblivion. DCA will become nothing more than a local championship show.

No nevermind, my friend. As I have been told, several of the MiniCorps have had troubles with the availability of percussionists. And that is the major problem. Nothing more than that. If that problem is solved, then you'll see more MiniCorps in 2014.

I learned that 25 years ago. :cool:/> I will disagree mightily with the level of artistic sophistication exhibited by these two corps. But it is what it is. And that's cool.