HockeyDad

When one top 12 door closes, another one opens. I’m looking at you, Madison Scouts.

Heh. Reminds me of a scene from “Ghostbusters”: Bill Murrray - “I make it a rule never to get involved with possessed people.” Sigourney Weaver (possessed person) pins him to the bed and gives him a long kiss. Murray - “Actually, It’s more of a guideline than a rule.”

There has been discussion of whether OSHA regulations apply. In another thread Labmaster made a good observation that regardless, the insurer might drive requirements, ie, require protection “informed by” the OSHA requirements. A corps or DCI doesn’t want to be on the receiving end of a lawsuit from the family of a marching member who got seriously injured (heaven forbid) falling from a prop, and engaging in debate club as to whether OSHA requirements apply. That’s a no-win situation. So whether OSHA applies or doesn’t apply to a drum corps, I suspect it’s the prudent course to enact safety policies based on the OSHA regulations. Looks like that’s what WGI has done.

Interesting read. I’m sure DCI can and probably does check that the DCI rules are met. However the DCI rules need to comply with the OSHA regulations. People working on a moving scaffold? Yeah, no. So the notion that the six foot rule doesn’t apply if the prop isn’t moving doesn’t pass the giggle test. But I think the OSHA rule is 10 feet not 6. So the props may comply. 29 CFR 1926.451(g)(1).

That is quite an achievement then. Congratulations to Boston Crusaders. (First time ever not losing to Blue Devils)

A couple things: 1. Is this the first time ever that Boston has… not lost to the Blue Devils in head to head competition? 2. I need to eat crow over my prediction that BD would win. It’s nice that there is actual real competition this season and not the foregone - BD is going to win - that we’ve had the last couple of years.

1. Blue Devils Every year y’all talk yourselves into someone other than BD. And (almost) every year BD takes it.

No one exists without their own personal biases. Try as you might, you will not remove them from your thinking. You can never convince me that a judge would judge equally a 2024 Crossmen show that includes “Birdland” with their actual 2024 show, if they were performed equally in all respects. The show containing Birdland would score lower, no matter how much protesting you do that you would be objective. That’s just human nature. The shiny new thing sets our hearts aflutter and scores higher. “OMG The Bluecoats are micing their flags!!” as an example.

Yeah, I’ve never been crazy about that response. Seen it many times on DCP. Feels dismissive. My actual, real choice here is to continue to spend my money on the activity, or don’t. That is the choice I have, and I have exercised it annually since 1978.

You have nailed the reality and the fatal flaw of today’s drum corps all at once. Well done! If today’s drum corps were broadcast on PBS, would anybody watch it other than the moms and dads and dwindling group of hangers on? I wouldn’t watch it. I watched SCV and Troopers. They seemed the same. Same formulaic boring approach. Glob together, play a loud chord, scatter about, reform a new blob, toss in a glissando, make funny looking body movements. Yeah, no thanks. But I guess the judges like it.

This sentence is Gold!!

What happened to melody? It went looking for drill and uniforms. And we haven’t seen them since. But scatter is still here. And loud chord. And tonguing exercise. And body contortion. Then there is simultaneous demand. They are here. Oh, and glissando. And recorded samples. And costumes. I guess that’s what “drum corps” is today.

BD will continue to win until someone takes it away from them. I don’t see that *someone* this season. Not yet anyway.

Seems like more - everyone gets a trophy - thinking. What I see on DCP is posters who are very careful to distinguish between the corps leadership, designers, staff …. And the marching members. Sorry but I do not ascribe to the - give me sunshine and fluffy bunnies or shut up - mindset. When my company’s leadership gets criticized I don’t take it as a personal attack. Heck, much of the time I agree with it. It’s a big mean world out there. If we hold hands we can manage it.

I missed the posts where people were being negative towards the marching members. Can you print me to one?