Dave

No need for multiple threads on the same subject.

...and closed.

I must agree with Jeff, I think returning music to at least equal footing with visual is a step in the right direction. Visual is awesome and necessary, but as I've said in the past: we don't buy muted DVDs to watch just the drill, but we do buy CDs to just listen to the shows. I'd like to enjoy today's shows musically as much as I have in past years.

There is legitimate reason to be concerned. Any time bad management results in a corps dying, especially with the sort of borderline legal issues VK has evidently experienced, it damages the reputation of the activity. When members, staff and donors get burned, the result is that every other corps has that much harder of a time perpetuating its own existence. It's a legit gripe. Go look up threads (if they're still in the server) about groups like Jester, Spartans before their last resurrection, or whatever Marion called itself before they folded, just to name a couple examples. Opportunities to build a vibrant, thriving organization were squandered by people that either didn't know what they were doing running a business or that were, in certain cases, outright fraudulent.

...why would that imply Facebook?

This is literally the first time I've ever heard of it.

Uh, Mike...

It's also the prize for the runner-up and most congenial.

The prize is a lifetime ban.

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say. DCI doesn't create new corps out of thin air, people decide to start up a group and affiliate it with DCI. All DCI does is evaluate these groups to try to make sure they're being run correctly and on solid financial ground.

I think we have quite enough G7 threads.

I'll be at the Fort Worth performance December 22. Dallas has one December 24 but I'm out of town.

I seem to recall that while it held some potential on the judging side, it did pretty poorly when you tried to use it to actually write drill.

I don't think it would hurt...but honestly that's pretty surface level. The problems drum corps are having funding themselves are endemic to the basic way they operate as businesses, and it really isn't relevant what kind of shows they do if they don't have steady funding sources and a good manager.

Honestly, I can't recall a single year that we didn't have at least a few people in the corps that weren't switching over from woodwinds, especially in the hornline. The mello and bari sections seemed to be the heaviest recipients, but we had at least one contra player that switched.