HockeyDad

Pot - Kettle

Tom, you said people need to vent. I don't know why, but I don't feel that way. I just feel like, it's finally over for me. The interest just isn't there anymore. That's ok. Am I a "legacy fan"? Yes. Will I leave? Yes. Will someone fill in for me and my family? Right now, I just don't care. Sorry for sounding so bad. Hope it all works out and the experience is as great for you younger folks as it was for me, but, I just don't see myself paying any more money for this product. sorry.

Uhhh......except: The dudes who founded my country didn't trust the unwashed masses to vote for a president based on popular vote. So they came up with the Electoral College, whereby the Electors ("wise" gentlemen selected by each of the States) voted for and therefore selected the president. Not unlike GH's proposal, actually........

If it's efficiency he wants, why 9? How about one? Decision making would be super easy. I nominate Al Gore. Everyone would be super stoked for Al Gore. I'm serial.

You sure are smart, aren't you? As you go through life, be sure to insult the people you interact with as much as possible. This behavior will really help you get ahead and earn you lots of respect. As a person who participated for quite a long time in both activities, I'll stack up my perspective against most anyone's, thank you.

Do these HS bands compete in the summer? If you are in a competitive HS marching band, are you precluded from marching in a drum corps? Do the seasons overlap so that you have to choose one or the other? I can understand the theory that you get your "fix" in marching band, so no need for drum corps, but I don't think I agree with it. I think it's much more plausible, as others have stated, that other social and job opportunities / conflicts explain why the demise of your local drum corps, not HS marching bands.

Not sure I follow your statement. There were high school marching bands then, too. At the same time that there were the "smaller neighborhood drum corps." The smaller neighborhood corps didn't fold because the kids went to the high school marching bands. They coexisted, generally their seasons didn't overlap and they were not competing for the same resources because you could participate in both. So I read your post as an either / or thing with smaller neighborhood drum corps and high school marching bands, where I saw both existing togehter. So I do not agree with your claim that high school marching bands replaced small town drum corps.

Hi. Me again, the "OP." I just want to apologize for starting this thread. It must have been the post-Packers win and Cowboys loss euphoria - I wasn't thinking clearly. I could have scripted most of your answers - having read lots of your posts, I already knew your opinions on this. So, my bad for "picking the scab" again. Obviously from my post I think there's some kind of disconnect going on here, concerning rules changes. But I will say no more on that. I hope that, should the Packers win this Sunday, I can restrain myself from coming on here and posting something else equally beaten to death, like, why - when a big selling point for amps was so the pit could use their "concert technique" and not bang the h-ll out of their instruments, do they continue to do so? Peace.

After years visiting RAMD and now DCP and tons of reading, I really wonder if DCI hates its fans; or would rather the fans would just go away; or what. Having been around the block a few times, I do know that the fan base is not being treated like a wanted customer. If so, where's the market research and response to that research? Anyway looking at the results of the DCP polling on the Rules Proposals (I'll save you the response - yes, informal, not representative of the fans as a whole, and all the other usual retorts), and seeing that anywhere from 70 percent to over 90 percent would like to see amplification repealed, electronics prohibited, etc., but anticipating that the opposite will actually happen, I don't know if I can conclude anything other than DCI doesn't like its own fans, or, thinks they don't matter, or are irrelevant to what they're trying to do. Am I wrong?

Outstanding - thank you for the reply. Life's funny - I think I would enjoy DCI more if any of Tim's proposals passed. I would like to say I trust the BOD, but I don't know them, so I don't know how to make a decision on that. I have personally experienced less opportunities for access to drum corps in recent years, so I can't say that things are getting better.

But you have also, consistently, supported BOD decisions with the reasoning that if the BOD decides to do it, then it's the right thing to do, because you trust the BOD to move the activity forward. At least that's what I've taken away from reading your writings over the past couple years. Sorry if I am wrong. Anyway, therefore, if the BOD were to approve this proposal, are you now saying you'd disagree with the decision?

It's interesting how few directors make rules proposals.

What a kind and thoughtful response. Thank you.

At this point, the B.S. level rose to above my hip waders.

Or church, or their families. Heaven forbid.

Whaat? I don't see how these are related. One a tragic loss of life, the other financial trouble. I don't get it. Or is it just an oppotunity to take a shot at Phantom Regiment?

A couple months ago there was a nearly identical thread on costs. Someone did a detailed breakdown where, by the time he was done, I think it was so cheap DCI is paying the fan to attend finals. Hey - DCI will do what they do. And, you will do what you do. Too expensive, you'll stop going. No amount of sarcasm or name calling or rationalizing will change each individual's tipping point, where they decide it's too expensive to go anymore. Them's the facts. There's not a lot of precendent or market comparisons for DCI to follow for establishing prices, as it's a unique activity. So, just how would YOU establish prices?? My guess is, after each Finals, they reassess. Until the day the Finals attendance dramatically drops, how can DCI conclude prices are too high? What would you conclude, if you raised prices $100 per ticket and the attendance numbers didn't drop? You've got a good thing going, right? I don't think things will change until attendance drops off to the point that it starts hurting the bottom line.

Start a happy sunshine thread of your own.

I salute you music majors. Obviously you have gone into music because it's your love. I admire that. Back in the day of rotary phones and popcorn popped on top of the stove, a lot of us baby boomers were steered into fields of study where we could easily find good paying jobs by our depression-era parents. Fields like engineering. Now we work in high paying jobs we dont' like and are miserable and hate ourselves and we end up using outlets like this to vent our angst. Gawd I think I just figured myself out..... Anyway I really do admire that you are pursuing what you like, vs. what will land you that $$ job, because, all things being equal, music is generally considered a tough field to land work. Hang in there!

I agree, and the first time I hear narration that's done well, I'm sure I'll love it. Darn, there I go again with another sarcastic one-liner. HoltonH is mad at me for that. Sorry HoltonH.

So Tom, you defend public education (and I have nothing about public education) but in the next breath make a similar gross generalization by blaming it on "American companies?" C'mon.

Hey - that's my line. Anyway, if we're in anything goes mode, why not: Go all-age, eliminate the 21 age limit. What's its purpose, anyway? If woodwinds are allowed we are still being exclusionary, limiting it to wind instruments only. So, allow strings. Figure out a way. Put those amps to use. Then somebody can do Kansas right. No limit to size. You want 300 kids out there? Do it. There appears to be no limits to what some would allow in drum corps. The only distinction between drum corps and band is there's a summer tour in involved.

I was being sarcastic....... you know, repeating the mantra of the 8 billion posts that say this... Anyway, I like the unique sound of drum corps. Changing for the sake of changing, without any real vision or business plan, and becoming just another marching band organization, seems like not a real great idea in my opinion. So, no, I'm not big into the - well, that didn't work, let's try this - philosophy. I think that first, the BOD should try to agree on what DCI is, what it is for, what their purpose is. I don't know, maybe you can never get a consensus on that, but they did manage to get rid of their main antagonist, Mr. Stewart. Have things improved, financially, since 2002? Why do I even ask. I already know who will say "yes" and who will say "no." I think getting rid of the broadcast is not looking good for the long term. But who thinks in the long term? Just worry about today? Or how to get through this season? At least the BOD isn't making any real bone headed moves lately, like having Finals in Jackson MS. The move to Indy does seem logical, at least.

Guess that makes me special. Everybody on DCP quotes from others' posts. Why are you bothered by it now? A couple pages ago you did an uber dissection of a post and responded to it probably 10 times in one post. Again, Pot. Kettle. Don't like it when someone points out to you that you're engaging in the very same behavior you don't tolerate?

Hey, look who's winning the popularity contest. 135 out of touch bitter old people, a scant 70 %, prefer Mr. Stewart's vision. What's wrong with you? I'm tired of you people who can't adapt to change or progress.. Get Over It. The activity/idiom must Evolve or Die. Don't you know that change constitutes evolving? Quit living in the past. It's about the expeeeeeerience. Now, go away, but, just one thing before you go. Could I have a couple thousand dollars for this years fees? Thanks. Now, go away - no one cares! Oh, almost forgot - It's Over! Have I omitted anything?