Mike_Bonfig

Definitely! My wife and I were actually discussing fuel prices this weekend heading back from Wisconsin Dells to Chicago. We were discussing that when we were in our first years of college you could still get gas for around a dollar a gallon. Just the thought that fuel prices have gone up 300% in the last 16 years is a little jarring. I'm not one to buy into a lot of why's and what if's about it...it's just the way it is...and I've always got the option to stay put rather than drive cross-country for a vacation. Unfortunately, the nature of the beast in corps is that of a "road warrior" so it's about finding where to cut corners elsewhere. Bio-Diesel anyone? Next week's headlines: "...in a surprise move, the Madison Scouts have converted all fleet vehicles to be fully bio-diesel powered. As an additional measure, the corps has changed the food program so that every meal now includes french fries and chicken wings in order to create a surplus of cooking oil to be recycled and used in the vehicles. Additionally the corps has formed a partnership with McDonalds and will be hitting every golden arches on their path this summer to raid the grease traps for refueling..."

I'll go back to something I said when this discussion came up a couple of years ago as gas was consistently getting to the $2.25/gallon mark. Drum Corps who want to survive this kind of economic crunch are going to have to become creative. Particularly small corps. When I toured in 1994 with the Northmen, we hit EVERY town with the Madison Jr. Scouts and the Bandettes. None of us were that big and we typically were all next to each other in the lineup at shows. We could have easily "bus pooled" fitting all members and staff on a total of 2 busses, versus the three that we followed each other around in. Just in doing that, amertize the cost of 1 bus not being run over the summer and we're talking about a few thousand dollars. Oh would this be inconvenient? Sure it would. It would require some scheduling and housing gymnastics for all three corps. HOWEVER, once you got used to it, I don't think it would be as bad as everyone thinks. OR even if you did it only for the first tour and then re-divided for the national tour. Then there would be some other ideas for money savings like combining (then dividing) the corps to make two decent sized parade ensembles that could learn some common tune and cover more parades on the 4th of July, etc. And consolidating to a single food truck/program as well and saved money buy buying in greater bulk and such. OR maybe all of DCI should put together a shopping list and go to Sysco and say, "Allright, what price will you give us on 10,000 bags of breakfast cereal?" versus the typical 500 that a corps might individually buy. Anyway...my point is, that I think corps will survive this not as much by depending on fans, but uniting to find creative "symbiotic" solutions.

Actually, that's only Willie Nelson's brand of BioDiesel. BioDiesel readily available in the Midwest, and a little more sparsely over the rest of the nation: http://www.biodiesel.org/buyingbiodiesel/r...es/default.shtm

Interesting that this topic came up on the day when I was going to search the forums to see if anyone had been discussing BioDiesel (http://www.biodiesel.org). The question I was going to ask was that as much as I love drum corps and as much as I AM NOT a hippy, is it ecologically responsible for the Drum Corps activity to burn the amount of fuel/create the amount of emissions that they do in a season? Bio-Diesel may be a solution to this, as well as the cost of fuel issue. I have a friend who has the converter kit in his car to allow it to run on BioDiesel, and he said that in Minnesota here, it finally just hit where BioDiesel is slightly lower than regular. Since it is essentially a fuel created from vegetable oil and the US already produces an excess of Corn, it should only get cheaper as they refine the process and increase availability. So, what do I think corps should do? A) Use Bio-Diesel. Since drum corps is a summer activity, viscosity should not be an issue. B) Travel smart. If you are going to be leaving tour to do a two day re-write camp, try to find a town to host that will pay for your gas in exchange for a clinic or concert package. Or a town that will feed you while you're there so that you can put the food budget for those days toward fuel. A completely off the wall idea would be small corps arranging to tour together. I know when I was in the Northmen in 1994, we basically went town to town with the Madison Jr. Scouts, and the Bandettes (and probably some others if I thought about it). For our respective sizes, we could have easily fit all of our members and staff on two full sized charter busses. And probably could have even fit all of our equipment on one semi and then had one food truck. Would it take some doing? Sure. Would it be inconvenient? Probably at first while corps got used to "carpooling". Would it have saved money and reduced environmental concerns? ABSOLUTELY. We were all going the same places every day anyhow. This idea is obviously not without it's challenges...but it could work - and I think with a lot less effort than it would sound like.

In Order: 1995 Madison 1994 Blue Devils 1992 Santa Clara 1989 Blue Devils 1990 Velvet Knights

Several people have pointed out here that there have been instances where recordings were swapped out to highlight better performances or whatever. I'm well aware of that ('89 BD stands out in particular) - however, I tend to think that kind of cover-up is crap. My point is entirely that whatever happens, happens - and because drum corps is a live forum sometimes you're going to get things that aren't "right". At 2000 DCA finals I blew some chunks, and it's right there on the recording. I would have massively preferred that they used Minnesota Brass's recording from Prelims - though that would have been only for my personal better show. The corps as a whole was better on finals night (similar to '89 BD). In my mind you "play the ball where it lies". The corps doesn't get to re-perform live that night if the soloist has an off show or if there's a major trainwreck in marching. If I'm buying a finals CD then give me what happened at finals. Conversely, if what we're after is a a controlled environment and a high quality recording with little likelyhood of problems, then set up a standstill recording time in the stadium for the top 25 corps and let's get a really clean recording (I'd buy it - holy LOUD!!!!).

I understand that this kind of profanity does take away from the "family show" aspect of DCI. However, you're purchasing a CD of a LIVE performance. And despite the un-popularity this statement will bring, "Drum Corps is a stadium event." People will probably never agree on whether or not it's appropriate to yell during a drum corps show. I think it is, others think it isn't. Profanity yelled probably isn't right at any point. But you're purchasing a CD of the LIVE performance. If a plane goes overhead during the show, you get the plane. If the soloist blows chunks, you get the chunks. If someone shouts, you get the F-Bomb. See where I'm going? Then again, these are just my thoughts. It's unlikely that I'll buy the CDs, so I should probably defer to the people who are going to purchase them.

I realize we're teetering near the edge of "off topic", but I couldn't agree with Steve more. Knowing how computers/documentation/the Internet works, I pretty much guarentee that the raw document for the rulebook could be very easily converted to a PDF form, and then posted to an Internet site. Doing so would take a grand total of about 20 minutes, and then about 10 minutes to update online anytime they made an update to the live document. Yes, charge whatever is appropriate for a printed copy - and I'd spring for one for DCP to have access to, but once we get a printed copy, it's out of date the minute it's printed anyhow. It just seems to me like most of the time a great way to squelch rumors is to make information like the DCI rule book & bylaws readily available. This of course, is not a problem specific to DCI. There are plenty of organizations who have their rules/regulations/bylaws interpreted by the hearsay of the un-informed. These organizations under this kind of scrutiny could resolve some of their problems by public postings of the REAL story. In a way - and I'm not faulting anyone from DCI or the Troopers, I think it would be in good taste for one of them to make somekind of a public statement to explain a bit more of the specifics rather than letting us go on wondering, "Did Mr. Crumb drag the Troop to financial ruin?" or "Did Mr. Atchison decide he didn't like the Starburst move anymore?" or whatever other speculations we can draw our conclusions to. Then again, as Chuck N. has wisely advised, it really is none of our business - and we're sort of on a need to know basis. Other than to satisfy our collective curiousity, we really don't have a good reason to know the details of what's happening - and I'm sure the Troopers will make the appropriate statements at the appropriate time.

I too was not left with the best impression of Senior Corps from my Jr. Corps years. I got the impression that while Sr. Corps were entertaining, I felt like there was an air of "hack-ish-ness" to their intensity & performance. It took a lot of convincing to get me to my first Sr. Corps rehearsal. I stuck in it because I missed playing, but even during my first couple of Sr. Corps year with the Goives (3 years after my Jr age out), I could not wrap my mind around the fact that Jr. and Sr. corps are different animals. I had to learn to embrace the differences rather than fight them.

Considering you're a trumpet major, I would assume you've got at least some assemblance of chops. I guess I would say decide on the corps you're interested in participating with and speak with corps directors. I would guess that just about any DII & DIII corps would work with you working back and forth between pit & trumpet soloing if you have the chops. However, for timing reasons afformentioned, you would probably not be able to play from the pit for the whole show - I know in the past when injured players play from the sideline and all of a sudden don't have marching to focus on and can just watch the DM, timing gets off as well as balance because they're not playing "in" the ensemble. You might be surprised even with some of the relatively "newer" Div. 1 corps who would be willing to let you work between soloing and pit percussion - again if you have the trumpet chops to warrant giving you solos.

"Now to the uninitiated, the fans aren't booing, their blueing...." I imagine they need to rehash all of this crap again since they're opening up to a new audience tonight.

Now that folks are back from the drum corps season and surfing the web again, I'll give this topic one "BUMP". Again, if anyone has any idea where I can hunt one of these horns down, let me know.

Greetings - As you may or may not know from my posts elsewhere on this site, I am an alumi of the Northmen Drum and Bugle Corps of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The year I marched there was the last year the Northmen fielded a corps and I was the last person to do the Age Out Ceremony in a Northmen uniform. Always up for a little nostalgia, I am wondering if anyone on this board knows the whereabouts of the Northmen Bugles. I know that after the 1994 season and folding of 1995 they were eventually sold to repay some debts. If anyone who reads this board knows what corps may have purchased those horns, please let me know either by this forum or through PM or e-mail. If you're reading this forum and are in possession of those horns, I am interested in purchasing a soprano from that lot (ideally my old horn, though that would probably be near impossible to track). Most of them were either Degs or Ultratones, and considering current horn cirumstances (3 valves and Bb horns), they probably have very little monetary value. Still, I'm willing to pay a fair price for one in good working order. Thanks in advance for any replies.

Actually, I saw these at Sam's Club too. Trumpets, flutes, alto saxes & clarinets. I really wish they would have had one of the trumpets out of the box to give a test ride to. I frankly don't expect it to be much more than a beer can with valves (as Chuck N. used to say). However, it came with a music stand, and some other stuff as well as a couple year service agreement. Maybe next time I'm there I'll ask them to open one for me and see if the horns know "Double C".

I never really saw it happen myself, but in 1995 there was a drum corps myth that Roland Garceau (who had aged out of BD the previous year) was marching in the Blue Knights. They had a guy with his build, who marched with the same very bow-legged style who played some high notes during the show.

I guess so. Personally, I don't have problems hopping between high brass instruments, at least as far as the feeling on the chops. For me it was just that when I played on a trombone mouthpiece (or even worse a tuba) it felt like I was playing into an ice cream pail, and when I would get done, the set of my chops was no good for high brass. And this was even at a time when I considered my chops to be the best they've ever been. But then again, I was definitely nowhere near a professional level...

Trombone mouthpiece in a soprano? Or just plays a low brass instrument?

Saw Tower Of Power in concert on Saturday night at Treasure Island Casino near Hastings, MN. Anyhow, they were pretty good. Seems like it would be a fun gig, though you'd really need to be a "pocket player". On trumpet they had Adolfo Acosta and Mike Bogart, both former members of Maynard Fergusons band. Mike was playing lead and at first, I wasn't too sure looking at his embochure that I liked what I saw. It didn't appear that he was playing flat on his face, but rather had a little more of the pressure on his bottom lip and head tilted back. However, maybe I wasn't seeing it right, and either way, he made it work for him like I champ. When he came out on stage he was carrying a valve trombone as well. I was intrigued by this, and he actually played a pretty tasty solo on it at one point. At several other points during the show he thickened up some chords with it. The most amazing thing to me was that there were a few places where he was wailing on some high notes on the trumpet and then while still holding the trumpet in one hand, he'd put the bone up and play something, and back and forth. In High School I remember being asked to play some valve bone in an ensemble for state S&E. I did it, but it seemed to take me about 5 minutes of warming up to adjust to playing the bone, and about 20-30 minutes afterward of flapping out my lips and getting back to playing trumpet. On the same token, I've never really been able to play tuba - just too much "lip flapping". I was wondering what any of your experiences were with switching back and forth. My HS band director always seemed to be able to hop around between instruments pretty easily too, though I would rate his sound on any of the instruments "average" unless he really warmed up on it.

Most of my best friends have marched drum corps, but most of them weren't my best friends while I marched...they just grew into that status. At my wedding, 3 of my 5 groomsmen (including one of my 2 best men) were Colt's Alumni. I marched with two of them in 1990, but they were lead sops and I was a 3rd. Ended up going to college with one of them and staying in touch with the other and they grew into great friends. I acutally served as a groomsman for one of them this past summer as well. The third Colt alum in my wedding party I didn't march with (in Colts), but met in college, roomed together for a while and he's actually to blame for getting me involved in Sr. Corps. I'm constantly trying to remember the names of folks I marched with - particularly in the Northmen since we were such a small tight group - and Google them to see if I can find them and what they're up to. Also, with the resurgance of Alumni Corps in the Midwest, I've kinda been hoping that the Colts will jump on the bandwagon with that one....

In the interest of improving the activity, I would create a rule that unless you were "rooking out" you would be required to march 1 year in a division II/III corps before auditioning for an open class corps. The idea would be that this would elevate the talent pool in Div. 2/3 every year, and realistically, some people who would have never considered a 2/3 corps would make friends/bonds with the smaller corps and would stay there.

As drum crops relates to life, I have 3 regrets that I consider frequently. 3) I regret not trying out for the Blue Devils in 1994. My best friend marched there and he had moved out to Cali for the spring. I was planning on marching with the Northmen and got a call from him in early April saying that they had had some sopranos back out and he had already talked to Wayne. If I could send an audition tape by the next day he'd look at me right away. Just wasn't in the cards financially at the time. But what a ride they went on that summer. More than any other corps (possibly from any other year) I felt as they walked on the field, every time I saw them, it was pretty obvious that they owned things that year. 2) I'm not happy with how things turned out for me in 1995 being with Madison. I had planned on doing the voluntary age out thing in 1994 and being on staff with the Northmen in 1995, so I hadn't done anything to keep my chops or body in shape. Then the Northmen folded, and I was lucky enough to be offered a spot in the Madison Scouts. However, physically I wasn't anywhere I needed to be, and that chipped away at me mentally as well. Then I had a persistant knee problem, likely generated from a lack of physical conditioning prior to jumping into learning Madison drill/Madison basics blocks. Eventually the pain was too much and I "quit". Ended up driving for the corps most of the summer. Had fun, made some friends, and learned a lot about drum corps and perspectives, but wish I could have marched. 1) If I were a smart person, I would have never had a break in marching after my inaugral summer of 1990 with the Colts. The teachings of Chuck Naffier and Jeff Bridges put me in good physical and great "chop" shape. My best endurance/high chops ever were the senior year in high school after I got back from Colts. I made the mistake of not telling my parents right off the bat that I was going back to marching, so they had different ideas for my next summer, and there was a HUGE shift in the Colts in the summer of 1991. When I came back in 1992, it was a completely different corps, and I had missed the transitional year. Just couldn't reconnect with them after that. But if I had stuck with it all the way through, I could have marched lead sop 1991-1995 with the Colts. That would have been some good stuff.

The Colts did it for years, though I believe it was converting C tubas to G tubas - I could be wrong. But they purchased a key conversion kit from the manufacturer and it was basically some extra tubing that they put in the horn. It allowed them to rent the horns to schools in the off season.

One other thing I'd say from my one-time observation of I&E at DCA is that you will probably be scored as highly on showmanship as you are other things. That is, if you involve the audience/judges in your program, that's a little more the par for the course than just getting up and playing your classical piece at attention and marching off silently. Not that you can't do that....but there's a lot more "whooping and hollering" and that kind of thing going on at I&E for DCA - especially for the ensembles.

In 1990 my dues with the Colts was $525 and went down $50 each subsequent year you marched capping off at $375. Camp fees were $30, but were waived after you paid off your summer dues. There was also a discount if you paid your entire dues before Feb 1. Those dues covered all travel, food, equipment (except disposables), instruction and food for the summer minus 1 free day. Additional costs were shoes, gloves after 2 pairs and spending money. I want to say that I figured my costs to be around $700. I want to say the same membership is more than twice that much today. I assume gas and insurance are the two things that have skyrocketed. And then of course, not to bring up amps again, but every time the activity changes, (Bb instruments, amps, etc.) it raises the "price of admission" for corps who want to remain competitive. They have to stay with what is definied as the current drum corps sound.

I loved the shirt that the Bluecoats started selling in 1990 "Why Drum Corps is Better than Marching Band". Another favorite of mine that I've only seen a buddy wear is a shirt that has a cartoon shot of a girl talking to a guy in a Madison Scout uniform. She's saying "I though you always said scoring wasn't important." and he's got the thought balloon saying "I did???"