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We don't know much about no geography - or proper grammar - in these parts. We'll just hitch up the mules and ride north to Rochester come Labor Day Weekend. If they let us in the gate, we'll put on a good show for the folks. Promise.

DCA Rulebook, p. 10: 8. Order of Performance (Prelims) – Corps will appear in the order of their highest score during the regular season at DCA sanctioned contests, with the highest scoring corps appearing last. All ties will be decided by drawing. In the absence of the availability of a seeding score for a competing corps, order of appearance shall be any Affiliate Member corps, followed by Associate Member corps, and finally by Full Member Corps as per the following: Affiliate Member Corps – Unseeded Affiliate Member Corps will appear before Associate Member Corps and will draw for position. Associate Member Corps – Unseeded Associate Member Corps will appear after unseeded Affiliate Member Corps, and will draw for position. Full Member Corps – Unseeded Full Member Corps will appear after unseeded associate member corps and will draw for position. DCA Bylaws, Art. VII: ARTICLE VII Membership shall consist of full members and associate members. Commencing for the 2008 season: Full Members – The North American all age corps that finish in the top ten (10) positions at the DCA championship preliminary contest, providing they have competed in at least one (1) DCA sanctioned contest, excluding championship preliminaries and finals, shall be Full Members in a given year. These ten (10) corps will constitute the full (voting) membership for the ensuing year. If there is a tie for tenth (10th) place at the preliminary contest, all corps tied for tenth (10th) place shall be full voting members. Associate Members - The next four (4) highest scoring North American all-age corps at the DCA championship preliminary contest that do not qualify as Full Members. I would say go ahead and cut and paste this for future reference since this discussion seems to occur every year, BUT, there will be a Rules Congress this winter. Who knows what changes will be made??

Music City Legend is pleased to announce it will be opening DCI's Masters of the Summer Music Games with the playing of our National Anthem. This is Legend's second consecutive year opening the show. The Masters is one of the premier and best attended DCI regular season shows, featuring the Top 8 scoring corps of the summer. The show takes place at Middle Tennessee State University on Fri., July 25, starting at 8:00 p.m.

The Legend Battery Pod launches for Baltimore later this afternoon. Heaven help our Pod pilots. I can hear the pecking on the seats now. Brass, guard and pit are underway in the land yacht, as well as the equipment trailer. The little (now big) corps that could, Shenandoah Sound, has put together quite a lineup, drum corps fans. Come on out, show your support and enjoy a great night of drum corps.

Thanks a bunch for a solid review. Even though I was at the show, I didn't get to see any of the DCI corps. For clarification, Legend is competing as an Open Class corps in DCA. 2005 was our first and last year as a Class A corps. There were a fair number of holes last night due to work conflicts (Tues. night - ugh) and a few not ready to march the show. We also add some DCI kids after the DCI season is over so the numbers will beef up as we get closer to Labor Day. Work in progress, but it's coming along well...

Perhaps they are awaiting a DCI evaluation. I didn't realize they were exhibition until we saw the recaps. It was a 4-judge panel up in the box. This corps [Tradition] is off to a good start. Looking forward to their progress and having a new competitor 5 hrs. away from us.

GREAT review, Joe. Thanks. Good luck up Nawth CV.

The weekend is HERE! Happy Father's Day all you dads. Come out for the season debut this Sunday.

Drum corps is fun. Drum corps without debt is "funner."

So much to say, so little time and I only type so fast.... At risk of being accused of talking without permission, one idea (to aid corps development) we have kicked around down South and even around the bar...err... breakfast bar at some DCA meetings is a roundtable, seminar, or whatever you want to call it, at regional meetings or even a Rules Congress. Topic? Building, Growing and Preserving Your All-Age Drum Corps. How easy would it be to fill that agenda for a day? New guys, you really can learn things which will help your corps by building bridges with those who have already done it. Old guys, you really can learn things which will help your corps by listening to the new guys. Most of us wear shoes and are pretty smart. We may have faced problems you don't see coming or have fresh approaches to old problems. The point here is the "other" corps is rarely your enemy. We're all in this together. We've got to talk to each other, listen to each other and learn from each other to grow the activity. The trickle down effect will help all corps.

Ahem [raising hand]. Make that two. MCL: Class A - 2005, Open Class 2006-present. More will come. Rome wasn't built in a day. Many of the corps in Class A are young organizations. As they solidify their bases, they will come.... MCL is only 5 years old. We have gotten this far due to a little good fortune and a lot of good people. Back to stealth mode.

The Alpharetta show was recently moved from Fri., Aug. 15, to Sun., Aug. 17. We are in Douglasville on Aug. 16 for our 5th straight appearance at the CV home show. The 17th, in Alpharetta, marks our 2nd appearance at Alliance's home show. Both shows have solid lineups and are run by some of the best people in DCA.

Music City Legend's first public performance of the season takes place on Sun., June 15 (Father's Day) at Centennial Park in Nashville. The performance marks the corps' second joint concert with the Nashville Community Band. Showtime will be around 7:00 p.m. The rest of our summer performance schedule looks like this: July 1 - Richmond, KY (DCI) July 3-6 - Baltimore Trip/Shenandoah Sound home show (DCA) July 12 - Watertown Jazzfest July 26 - National Anthem at Nashville Sounds game (Brewers' AAA team) July 27 - Jacksonville, AL (DCI) Aug. 1 - McKenzie, TN (DCI) Aug. 2 - Hendersonville, TN (MCM II) Aug. 16-17 - Atlanta area shows (DCA) Aug. 28 - Sept. 1 - DCA Championships Come on out and see us. Better yet, come join us. Drum corps can be fun.

This discussion highlights one of the reasons why corps don't talk much about numbers in the winter/spring. There's a decent chance your predictions will be wrong and you will look foolish. You never really know what you have until you actually hit the field. Quitting is easy. Finishing a season is not. A lot of people are looking to quit when the time and money demands of drum corps are realized. Are there good reasons to quit? Yup (e.g., health, family, employment). But if each Director had a dollar for every person who said they were going to come to a rehearsal, but never showed up, or showed up but didn't finish the season, our coffers would be overflowing. It's the nature of the beast and will always be this way in a volunteer activity where people lose money doing it.

I'm VERY proud of you guys. I won't be at your home show due to other commitments, but I look forward to seeing SS in August.

Legend's first public performance is on June 15 at Centennial Park in Nashville. Our first field show is July 1 at a DCI show in Richmond, KY. Come see for yourself. Better still, come join us at rehearsal this weekend. This will be the largest (and most talented) edition of Legend ever. And we'll swell a little more after DCI Finals.

Great job Legend. Notes from last night: 1. Hootie is still the man. 2. You will never go hungry at the Opry if you know where to go. 3. You will never go "thirsty" at the Opry if you know where to go. 4. A 20 foot buffer zone is needed when beer and moving batteries mix. 5. Naomi Judd had her first drum corps experience last night. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the hornline ignited. Authorized, "bootleg" video secured. Very nice. Many compliments from the suits and the MTV folks.

Agreed on the point of an exciting Class A competition, but, wow, these comments are a little hot-to-the-touch, even with the parentheticals. If DCA would be so kind, now, to inform the two (or more) Open Class corps of their "non-finalist" status for 2008, they might appreciate it. A whole lot of time and money could be saved and used toward preparing for non-finalist status again in 2009. We all could rejoice in the comfort of knowing nothing will ever change, no matter what you do. [sarcasm off]

Doesn't your girlfriend cruise DCP??

Lee Rudnicki wrote a book on this (I think). Might be a good idea to start there. The "7 and a ham sandwich" approach is probably the way most successful corps start. You've got to find a circle of diversely talented, dedicated people who are willing to stick it out through the early years. Success will breed success.

This is a "Black Op," if you get my drift...

Coming briefly out of stealth mode... This Thursday night (May 15), Music City Legend plays at the Grand Ole Opry House for a corporate event. The corps will be the opening act for Hootie & the Blowfish. It's a great night for drum corps when it gets to share the stage in one of the most historic musical venues in the country. Yea! Drum corps is fun. See you this summer...

We've got some new video on the site. It was shot at the March rehearsal. Yes, for you discriminating listeners, you will hear some ticks, and we were missing a handful of horn players, but we'll put it out there anyway. The passion and energy are there. There is some audio from our camp this past weekend coming soon. HUGE improvement in just a few weeks. Goosebumps a-plenty.

last bump...have a great weekend everyone

Wild card, eh? I like that. Last year we were a Class A-sized corps running with the big dogs. The puppy has a grown a bit since last summer... Final placement? Who knows? The only thing we're guaranteeing right now is an entertaining show for the audience. This is an entertaining thread to read - not so much for the placement predictions, but for posters' perceptions about various corps.