Jump to content

HockeyDad

Members
  • Posts

    5,152
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    35

Everything posted by HockeyDad

  1. Not its primary mission (travel the world, visit exotic places, meet people and kill them), but, as a side benefit, I received excellent education and training in the military. In fact it set me up for a lifetime career of keeping the neutrons inside the reactor.
  2. You always make me think. Like, how do you know all these big words? 🙂. Ok, my actual point is that your words - ‘what’s the point’ - really ring true to me. I’m not sure the leaders in this activity really know what the point is. Is it to get the highest score come heck or high water so find the kids who can hit the high notes? Is it developing and educating? Is it pure love of the art? What is the point? Do whatever it takes to pay the bills for one more year and worry about next year later? Work together as a group of corps to drive costs down to ensure long term survival? Haha just kidding on that last one, that’s obviously not the point. But without a clearly articulated idea among these leaders about what they are trying to accomplish, something with more depth than “marching music’s major league” (cute but useless), I am pretty skeptical about the long term prospects of this little activity.
  3. Well, actually, Blue Stars came back immediately, first as a cadet corps, then as an A60 corps. They were not inactive for decades, or even for years.
  4. Looks like I need to type faster when editing a post. Oh well…….
  5. Funny (to me) but snotty retort removed. I’m trying to be better.
  6. Interesting reading. At this point, however, does the outcome have any effect on the future of the Cadets? They seem to be in a place right now whereby a comeback seems highly unlikely, no matter what happens with the lawsuit. Unfortunately.
  7. Measures may not have been in place, but the standard of care was no different than today. Don’t F the kids. My grandparents would leave their car keys in the car. That didn’t make stealing a car legal. They left the door to the house unlocked. That didn’t make burglary legal.
  8. Time were different. Sure. Society was different. Sure. If by that you mean, people couldn’t imagine rampant sexual abuse by people in authority was going on, and thus stringent safeguards were not in place, yes I agree. But at the same time, the standard was exactly the same as it is today: DFTK!
  9. The first time you saw 1996 BD. Club Blue, Gangster Chronicle. Tell me you didn’t jump in your seat on that first hit! Ok here’s an obscure one. 1978 27th Lancers. If I remember correctly they started at the corner of the field and the first move (with the color guard out front) was a “head chopper”. Rifle toss / flags sweep over the heads of the rifles as the rifles are still in the air. Hoo boy that impressed my teenage self!!
  10. Last week, The Man Who Knew Too Much was on TCM I think. There’s a scene where they’re driving past a marquee that says something like London Philharmonic with guest conductor Bernard Herrmann. And then, they show the symphony and there he is conducting! That plus the music to the movie was by Herrmann. I explained to my wife and got about the same reaction as I get when I offer to take her to a drum corps show….🙄
  11. I’ve often said everything I know about classical music I learned from drum corps or Bugs Bunny cartoons.
  12. But they had fun and were well fed. That’s all that matters right? 🫠
  13. In the spirit of the - shows you regret not seeing live - thread. I’ve been blessed to have seen so many shows over the years, I have very few that I missed live. But, there are two that stick in my mind as complete surprises (in a good way) that I’m so happy so saw. Not champion shows or even top three. But just electric in the moment. 1979 prelims performance of the Troopers. Yes I realize the other side of the coin here is what that meant to the Crossmen who were bumped out of finals. But imagine being in the days of no internet, no instant communications. No or little information about who was hot and who was not as finals approached. Maybe you read about it in drum corps world but that information is not instantaneous. So being in that crowd, watching the prelims unfold, realizing - hey, Troopers are ‘that close’ to making the top 12 for the first time since 1975. Four years. That’s a long time when you’re a teenager. As the show progressed the crowd really got into it. The Ecstasy of the Gold, the Sunburst, segue into Ghost Riders, my recollection of the crowd going crazy. What a lasting impression. So glad I was there. 1999 quarterfinals performance of Blue Knights - Trittico. This had to be their best performance of the season. The intonation and ensemble performance- just perfection. Those middle voices! Ugh. So glad I was there to witness it. They placed 5th (!) in quarterfinals. I think 7th in finals. What are your happy surprises?
  14. I don’t know. I’m just not seeing that. Not since several years ago. But anyway…. I don’t see why a Latin jazz based show wouldn’t work. Just make it some stuff they haven’t done before.
  15. Latin jazz = out of date and no longer can be successful? I’m not connecting the dots here. That’s ok, I probably shouldn’t be going on about Madison on a Cadets thread.
  16. Yeah, no one is doing that either. You’re just repeating old tropes. Everyone is well aware that it isn’t 1976 anymore. Or 1988. Or 1999. The fact is, times have changed, Madison is not playing Malagueña, and their team has failed to find that recipie for success. And no one is saying the recipie for success is to play Stars and Stripes Forever. The criticism is of the leadership team failing over multiple years, to even crack the top twelve. I suspect you know this but want to place the blame on old alumni for some reason.
  17. That’s crazy. I Googled it and it says MacArthur’s Park was released April, 1968. For Kilties to add that mid season is wild. They must have jumped on that song immediately!
  18. “Generous with their opinions and miserly with their checkbooks.” Classic. So true in many many organizations.
  19. Yeah but the execution of the plan didn’t include eliminating every corps that has adults who can’t keep it zipped up around the minors. I guess in the end you get to the same point though. Very few corps. The corps unwillingness to address financial pressures, combined with inappropriate/ illegal personal behavior from the people who are supposed to be the adults in the room, has really taken a toll on this activity.
  20. 40 years ago is a long time, yes. But DFTK was still a thing back then. We shall see how this turns out.
  21. Ignorance as a defense. Interesting strategy. Seems like society is increasingly not buying this excuse. As an example, just two weeks ago a school shooter’s mom was found guilty of manslaughter. I know no details about it other than the headlines but I see a parallel. In one case the parent held responsible for the crime committed by the child. In Cadets case the umbrella organization (DCI) being sued for the crime of one of its members.
  22. Yes, but the problem is that the sins didn’t stop happening before they were even born. They kept happening until GH (sidebar - still a member in the world drum corps hall of fame!!) was gone.
  23. I agree. It certainly pulls back the curtain on some things. And what you see is not pretty.
×
×
  • Create New...