andre le géant

According to the prelims recap, the Kilties drumline finished in the top 10, so the size of the battery didn't seem to be detrimental in any way.

The Omen Original Soundtrack (1976) Jerry Goldsmith _______ I think the music and the whole tense story of "Is this child the antichrist?" throughout the film, leading up to the final scene and revelation would lend well to a Renegades show.

Maybe this show will show me how to get to Shell Beach...

...and is a fantastic example of Dick Dale's "better than average" manual dexterity

He was probably smothered by his own biceps

Most people's opinions tend to be rather worthless, given how little people have generally seen of all the different corps throughout the season. The percentage of people that have seen one of the three particular corps in question (Crusaders, Kilties, MCL) that have ALSO seen the other two is very low due to geographical proximity. Bias is far too high. Nevertheless, all the corps will finally be together and the best preliminary shows on Saturday should make Sunday finals. The only meaningful opinion at this point is the weather, IMO.

...consider yourself warned... I all I can say is that I wouldn't want to follow us.

I completely agree

Well if there was a previous reply here and it was deleted, then I retract the "chose not to ask me directly" statement.

anonymous of course. You didn't answer drumcorpsmama's question andre le geant. Why do they recruit 12 and 13 year olds? Your own horn instructor, bozo Larry, was disgusted by it himself. I guess he's gotten over it. Answer the question. Why? Because others chose not to ask me directly, and rather pose a question on a somewhat obscure blog, I offer this response to the previous statement: I am Eric, the 4th bass drummer for the Kilties...no need for speculation. The post from Drumcorpsmama that I responded to did not actually pose the question you just now raised. Go ahead, read it again. " I have it on good faith that the Kilties are going all out to recruit in the SE Wisconsin area all HS and middle school students. Where does that leave the Racine Scouts?" Going "all out" is subjective to say the least. I already discussed the Racine Scouts. One might ask, how would an organization like the Kilties have access to those individuals? The youngest members of the Kilties are involved as a sort of family activity in which their father/mother, etc. is/are concurrently involved. For the Kilties. things like positive word of mouth, music store postings and promotion by educators are viable avenues of recruitment. In SE Wisconsin, the high school marching programs have a strong hold because school districts control access to students, which seriously dampers recruitment activities for any growing corps on any level. The Kilties recruit young members because adding youth is a benefit to the organization--youth adds athleticism and helps to balance perspective towards the activity. The organization provides quality music education in a summer environment. This correlates to a "Red Queen Hypothesis" originating from Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass" and is cited often in evolutionary theory (Van Valen, 1973). At the top of the hill, the Red Queen begins to run, faster and faster. Alice runs after the Red Queen, but is further perplexed to find that neither one seems to be moving. When they stop running, they are in exactly the same place. Alice remarks on this, to which the Red Queen responds: "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place". Drum corps works in a similar fashion as co-evolution, as other corps are also evolving and striving to be on top...Recruiting youth provides a better opportunity to compete, and ultimately succeed as compared just sticking with only adults (which isnt inherently negative, but generally puts a lower ceiling on the size of the corps these days). The point of it all is that success is no guarantee....but if you don't try you're going to go extinct. DCA is an all-age activity, and your own biases and experiences surely have shaped how you look at this scenario. The Kilties, and other DCA corps, can provide a competitive musical performance summer activity without requiring the time commitment of a DCI corps. Lots of young people may prefer this schedule in order to still play sports/work, or look at DCA corps as an opportunity to gain music/marching experience before looking to move on to a DCI junior corps. It's a proverbial "niche in the market" that the Kilties and other DCA corps can provide that other comparable groups do not. It's up to individuals to decide to set a positive example for others, and really that appears to be your problem. If it was such a pervasive problem, there likely wouldn't be the "DCA: All Age - All Good" campaign that exists today. Now, I prefer civility, so please, if you must respond, do it here, and and do it directly. Thanks, Eric

That viewpoint does not compass the reality of the situation. The reason that the Racine Scouts struggle in recruiting in the immediate SE Wisconsin area (particularly Racine) is because there is a champion High School marching band (and corresponding middle school band program) run by the City's school district that kids are much more likely to join, which has better facilities, a summer tour schedule, better management, and qualified drum corp alumni educators teaching in a corps-esque atmosphere. It's an incredibly difficult environment for a corp like the Racine Scouts to thrive, and frankly I'm surprised they haven't yet gone the way of the dodo bird and the passenger pigeon. Its a shame more kids in general (and this applies everywhere across the country) don't consider a summer music program though. I'm all for competition on all levels of drum corps. I believe drum corps is superior to general summer camp programs in virtually every way. The Kilties, like all drum corps, are merely looking to grow its organization and provide an educational experience in a competitive performance environment. Recruitment can be very laissez-faire and thats just how it is everywhere...in academics, business, athletics, performance art, and so on. Ideally there would be enough performers stepping up to the plate on the front end such that recruiting overlap isnt a problem for groups. Most D1 DCI corps are at that point now, which allows them to focus energies on the performance aspect. For many D2/D3 corps and DCA corps, its just not there at this point in time. It takes fantastic management, motivation from within, and a winning attitude to really ascend.

Sing along now THE BEST FIGHT SONG IN EXISTENCE (click me!) On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin! Plunge right through that line! Run the ball clear down the field, A touchdown sure this time. On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin! Fight on for her fame Fight! Fellows! - fight, fight, fight! We'll win this game. On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin! Stand up, Badgers, sing! "Forward" is our driving spirit, Loyal voices ring. On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin! Raise her glowing flame Stand, Fellows, let us now Salute her name!

It would be awful nice if everyone just decided to meet halfway in the Midwest B)

You can say that again B)