HockeyDad

Let’s not over glamorize Hopkins. He ran a summer marching band. Brought in top talent who designed championship shows for him. Drove them away. Tanked the band. Assaulted girls and was convicted. Now he sets up tee times for you. A dickish loser with a psychopathic personality. Not worth anybody’s time of day.

Thanks for the correction. It doesn’t change my thoughts about the press release though.

Agree. So many naysayers about that show. Too cool to say they like Christmas music is how it seemed to me.

I LOVED the first 2/3 of the 1986 show. On The Waterfront was driving and intense. Not sure what they were trying to accomplish with the closer though.

That feels right, as the press release could be used to teach a class how Not to write one. Full of sanctimony, bitterness, self-pity and victim blaming. If this represented the new and improved board, then their standards were pretty darn low.

I’m sure you mean that the Cadets community wanted winning….the right way.

Heavens. I’m sorry your 12 year old self had to go through that. I hope you have persevered and that you and those who love you are proud of the person you’ve become.

If what you are saying is true, it didn’t come from nowhere. The wounds were self-inflicted. In other words, and to be specific, if people are glad this happened because they had enough of George Hopkins, then that’s on GH. It’s not on those who are glad (using your word).

Well, to be fair (thanks for that ear worm, Letterkenny), you could say that (not everybody will be sad they folded) about any corps that folds.

You have got to be kidding me! My first thought was not of the shows that won or came close, but 1978. 14th place. I believe I saw them at the US Open in Marion, OH. Another great show site long gone. That ‘swingin’ version of I Don’t Know How To Love Him. With the sung “Amen” along with the 1 pt. penalty or whatever it was. Strawberry Soup as kind of a percussion feature. Staring in 4/4 time and finishing in 3/4 if I remember. It was a very long time ago. A rock in’ show indeed!

What would be the point? In other words, “no.” Shooting the dead horse is not necessary here.

Agree, that press release was hard to read.

I get that people are mad and upset. But the - she got what she wanted - they got their pound of flesh- stuff is ridiculous. What “she wanted”, I’m pretty sure, was to not be sexually molested. And then have to live with the stigma and victim blaming over the past 40 years and even up to this minute. So, yeah, let this be a warning to all those corps that still exist. DFTK. Perhaps this is the message that’s needed. Have you corps received it loud and clear??

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.

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.

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.

Looks like I need to type faster when editing a post. Oh well…….

Funny (to me) but snotty retort removed. I’m trying to be better.

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.

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.

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!

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!!

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….🙄

I’ve often said everything I know about classical music I learned from drum corps or Bugs Bunny cartoons.

But they had fun and were well fed. That’s all that matters right? 🫠