khoutler

The Devils show was nothing more than interpretive masturbation. I'm sure it was satisfying for everybody participating but for most of us watching it was just kind of creepy. Speaking to the actual point of this thread...for all of you so enthralled with the direction of modern "drum corps", don't be surprised when in the very near future you're dressing a line (Do they still do that in "drum corps"?) and find yourself looking down the barrel of a bassoon. Nah...that'll never happen.

1988?

Madison Scout tenor line (1987-88) alumn and World Drum Corps Hall of Fame inductee, John "Jed" Mayer is the DM for the Govenaires.

Well those dozen or so bone-heads are just going to have to stand up just like the rest of the thousands of Scout fans in the stands, aren't they?

Yep, and if you can't distinguish between the superficial aspects of drum corps (the shows, the instrumentation, etc.) and what REALLY makes drum corps unique (the experience), leave. I'm done here. Have a lovely evening.

Well...I've seen your Facebook pics, let's just say we are old. MYNWA brother.

Funny, I knew that was going to be the instant response and yes I'll grant that your point has merit. That being said, I moved from NH to march Madison with the 27th Lancers right in my own backyard. Loyalty matters and if the very bedrock principle that binds your corps together is "brotherhood" and "Once a Scout, Always a Scout" then the idea of importing talent at the expense of current members is hypocrisy defined.

Not in my book but I’m so old that I remember when corps-hopping was a rarity…non-existent actually compared with today. Hmmm, why could that be? Here’s my theory; I think that loyalty is a two-way street and that if the corps is willing to cut a vet loose the moment a hot new prospect shows up then it stands to reason that disloyalty will be reciprocated when an opportunity to “upgrade” presents itself to the vet. The case could even be made that as an alumn I might just consider my loyalty fickle enough to say “Heck, the Cavies are five or six placements higher than Madison so that’s where I’ll be sending my donations from now on.” Now I’d never do that but that’s precisely because I bought into the whole “brotherhood” deal and as I see it you just don’t cut your brother from the line because someone with faster hands shows up from Crown now do you?

"What happened to pleasing the crowd?" Three words...Mad, is, in.

Nope, completely wrong. If you are expressing thoughtful, informed criticism of Madison’s show or even just a subjective opinion then those can be a points for debate and discussion. Authors of grudge fueled smack talk are inviting (usually much more witty) derision and, as we have seen here, usually get it.

Yes.

"Maybe they should just do a standstill and play Malaguena." Oooh, oooh...I know, even better, how about some of those killer tunes that the Memphis Blues won all of those titles with back in the 80's!

perc2100, You make a compelling argument. Here is an equally compelling rebuttal*; …we all know how that turned out. *Except for the “all the really good looking girls would still go out with the guys from the Cavies, BD, Phantom, etc, etc.” line (‘cause really…we know the Scouts are, always have and always will be impossibly irresistible to the ladies).

Okay, here’s my thoughtful and restrained assessment after seeing the men in Lynn last night…Holy Bajeebus! At one point during the show I must have muttered (what I thought was to myself) “C#ri$t…they are marching their ###e$ off.” to which my son responded by turning to his grandfather and reported for everybody around us to hear that “Opa…they’re marching there ###eS off!” This show and this group of young men are something undeniably special. I gave up a looong time ago trying figure out how judges arrive at the conclusions that they do and frankly, when I see a show like Madison scorched the Manning Bowl with last night, I could care less. No other corps touched the Men of Madison last night, not by a long shot and nobody touched that crowd of savvy Boston fans like the Madison Scouts, not by an even longer shot. The outpouring of unsolicited, universally supportive comments (Yep, even the obligatory “You was robbed!”) by folks in BAC gear tells me that the Men of Madison are doing exactly what they should be doing right now and for the rest of the season…entertaining, inspiring and owning stadium after stadium of fans. Nothing could have made me more proud of Madison than what I saw last night. MYNWA

Pretty darned great!

Yep.

Terribly sad news for the Scout family. Thank you Jim and MYNWA.

Thanks...funnily enough it's one of mine as well.

"...it's just 'eh' in my book. A throw back to 'old school' but sadly we're 'new school' these days" That would be the "new school" where 2+4=whatever self esteem building, celebration of diversity you'd like it to. Man I miss "old school"...

20 CONTRAS!! That just made my bowels weak!!!

1. Madison 2. Compromise 3. Compromise 4. Compromise 5. Compromise ...life's too short to settle for second choices.

Hmmmmm...yep.

"if your measure of self worth is a subjective number assigned to you by a panel of judges…" - KH. Context...it's a marvelous thing. As for my reliance on other’s work, I just quickly ran through all of my posts here for the use of attributed quotations and located two, Foch and Castaneda. Incidentally I thought the Foch quote was used in a rather novel way and to good effect…but that’s just me. Needless to say, now that I am aware of being in the presence of an intellectual giant of your stature, Mr. Machiavelli, I will be more conscientious regarding my use of lazy literary devices. Have a lovely day,

Mr. Nickelsen, I usually do a fairly decent job of expressing myself but have clearly failed, at least where the Nickelsen’s are concerned, so I shall attempt to be very clear without belaboring this nonsense any further. “Einfach unglaublich…you guys are kidding right?” – KH. An expression of exasperation and utter shock at having, apparently, offended with what I consider to be a bit of simple and accurate humor. Your quote, “THAT is not the Madison Scout swagger that I grew up knowing.” – MJN, and my response to it, “Funny, because I grew up in a family filthy with Scouts and THAT is EXACTLY the kind of swagger I grew up with and let me let you in on a little secret…it has served me quite well over the years, thank you very much.” – KH. Acn’s quote, “So telling someone that if they're in the Scouts - they're 10 times better than anyone, while they're actually fighting for 15th is funny?? I'd be embarassed. But that's just me. ” – acn, and my response to it, “Furthermore acn, the possibility that the Scouts may be fighting for fifteenth place hasn’t effected the size of my balls one bit…but maybe you should take a moment to establish the existence of yours, because if your measure of self worth is a subjective number assigned to you by a panel of judges you are going to spend the rest of your life being…well, to be blunt…a loser. You see, placement at DCI finals has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on the quality of the men marching in this year’s corps…that is determined by their character, not by a ring or a score or your approval. Haven’t you been paying attention for the past seven decades?” – KH. *Please note: The responses to your quote and to acn’s are two separate ideas which I thought had been made clear by starting the second sentence of the paragraph with “Furthermore acn”. Are we at least clear on these points? Now, to your charge that alums like me, maintain or project an “elitist attitude” I say, “Your g-d@mned right we do!” And do you know why that is Mr. Nickelsen? Let me tell you why, because people who project an average attitude are average and are fated to accomplish average things. I actually believe that the Madison Scouts organization builds elite men, men who do not derive their self-confidence from your opinion or mine or those of a group of judges. As Castaneda points out in his work Tales of Power, “The average man seeks certainty in the eyes of the onlooker and calls that self-confidence.” You are welcome to pursue whatever degree of self-confidence makes you happy but we are not average men and, even though it clearly makes you uncomfortable, we will not apologize for being part of an amazing, elite organization.

This isn't your quote? Oh and you misspelled ‘embarrassed’. Nighty-night, Ken