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Just A Plain Old Fan

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Just A Plain Old Fan last won the day on January 14 2013

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  1. What a lovely sentiment. Might I humbly suggest you take 2 minutes to actually email the corps/corps directors to express your thanks. A CA tour is a significant undertaking, and I bet they'd love to hear your appreciation right about now.
  2. Thank you for posting. This made me very happy. And on my birthday too. :-)
  3. I'm going to try to provide clarity here, although it seems like everyone is firmly ensconced in their position so I don't really know what good it will do: There is absolutely a standing policy in the activity that corps members are required by their corps to disclose their marching history and if they owe any money to another corps. All the directors (remember the corps, represented by their directors ARE DCI) agreed on this policy. And it makes a ton of sense to prevent people from corps-hopping and leaving a trail of debt throughout the activity. In addition, as you see from the screenshot, corps will take the extra step to make sure the members are "clear" with their old corps. If a previous corps invokes the debt, the current corps will usually request a contract to verify. DCI has been known to intervene if necessary, always with the intent to let the kid march if at all possible. Although you may question me as a source, those facts are 100% true. Where we're getting off base here is the discussion around whether a scholarship "counts" as a debt. Everyone's kind of right here. Traditionally, it wouldn't. However, Garfield is an astute businessman and is 100% correct that here we're dealing with a case of buyer beware. If the contract or scholarship or scholarship/membership/contract states that the scholarship would turn into a debt, and the member and/or his or her parents signed the document, then it would most likely (technically) fall under the same category as the DCI rule I mentioned above. I also imagine the Crown organization would never send an email referencing a contract that didn't CLEARLY state what they were inferring. That would be incredibly irresponsible and immediately blow up in their face. Garfield is also correct that it's entirely possible the stipulations around a donor gift could require all this. I don't see where BAC is in the wrong here. You could argue that they shouldn't have hired Crown staff or recruited Crown members, but that's only slightly germane. Even if there is NO shadiness on BAC's part here, this situation would still present itself with them or any other corps that these "scholarship" recipients move to. It's clear (as clear as I think it can be) that Crown made a direct choice to make this penalty part of their program offering. If there's polite debate to be had, I think it's there. I personally don't think that is in the spirit of the original agreement between the directors and is unnecessarily punitive, but I get it. And they have a right to make their own choices. And people should read contracts before they sign them.
  4. You know, this is the kind of stuff that used to really **** me off BITD. You have a bunch of CEOs having a "bugle" size contest and in the end, the only thing that loses or suffers is the activity (or the fans). Sigh.
  5. What a great topic/question. I've thought about this a lot. My $.02 below. Similar to some of the other responses, I think one of the core values to the drum corps experience is learning that you can push yourself harder than you ever thought you could. And I think that falls under the category of a "life lesson." A really important one. I know any time I look at an existing or upcoming challenge in my life, I think to myself--this can't be as hard as **** from drum corps. Here's how I see that happening in a unique way for this activity: the competitive aspect puts a weight (you can call it artificial or not) on every choice you make, and every action over the course of a summer. And for most "kids," up until the summer they march, they've never had so much weight put on their actions. So even though it's just marching band, it feels (and IS) SO important. You learn what it feels like to succeed and to fail with (artificially) incredibly high stakes. It feels like life or death, but it's really just band. Which is good, because you can fail, but with a safety net. And if you take a kid who doesn't march corps, most of them won't be put in a situation that feels like the stakes are that high until at least their mid twenties, if not even later than that. Basically, it gives you a chance to test/prove your mettle in a safe environment, and that helps kids grow up. I dunno--it made more sense in my head.
  6. Lol. I wonder how many current active users know what that is.
  7. Your sentiment is not wrong, however there is a longer clip out there that shows stadium guy throwing the first punch/elbow. Not making excuses--just saying what you saw isn't the whole picture.
  8. This post was enough to take me out of early retirement. To answer the OP's question: Although the position title is the same, I imagine almost every corps has a slightly different policy regarding alternates. If you sift through the thread, you'll see some explanation of how it's handled with some groups, but it's complicated. In my opinion, the important thing for any corps-student relationship is that the expectations are clear up front. While it may seem unfair on the outside, it's absolutely possible that the young man was placed on alternate status without a guarantee of a full position. It's not always clear or intended that the alternate is next in line, and in fact often a corps would rather have a veteran member brought in to fill the blank over a rookie, regardless of talent level. Lots of variables to unpack, and each situation is unique. Ideally, corps have alternates that are just as good as the people in the line, but more often than not, they are one or two steps away from really deserving that spot. Where it gets ugly is if there's a bait and switch going on. It probably feels that way to either the alternate or alternate's parent(s), but it *may* not actually be the case. The Cavaliers are a well respected organization. I'd be willing to bet they were clear when they offered the contract/alternate status. I'm sure it feels icky, but a) it probably isn't and b) there's still a chance this young man may be able to get a performing spot before the end of the season.
  9. This was awesome, and reminds me of what I like about drum corps, and why people still go see it live. Please don't pee in my cheerios with complaints...just enjoy the music, the camraderie and the respect.
  10. Seems pretty stock to me: The program begins with the shock of catastrophe. [CORPS ENTRANCE] In darkness, the inner spark of hope that never falters helps humanity ascend from the ashes toward light and to a place of possibilities. [OPENER] The climb continues as love and kindness grounded in friendship and community motivates man to shed old paradigms and welcome new horizons. [bALLAD] Although oppression and domination are ever-present and return with a vengeance [DRUM SOLO?]; resilience and perseverance prevail, and the indomitable spirit of man will RISE again. [CLOSER] or: Down Up Down Down Up or: ppp fff mf fp fff As Paulo Coehlo says, "...ALL ANYONE EVER DOES IS RECYCLE THE SAME FOUR THEMES: A LOVE STORY BETWEEN TWO PEOPLE, A LOVE TRIANGLE, THE STRUGGLE FOR POWER, AND THE STORY OF A JOURNEY." That covers all of drum corps themes, right?
  11. This is enough to make me stop lurking. dans, I appreciate your point, and agree that you shouldn't necessarily be downvoted solely because you provided a contrary opinion, HOWEVER, there is some insinuation here that I believe needs to be corrected. 1) "If DCI doesn't listen to the successful in the activity" indicates that the members of DCI aren't interested in input from the (competitively) successful groups, which is a fallacy. If I understand history correctly, none of their directors has run for a seat on the DCI BoD since 2010. It's not that they are being kept out or that folks aren't interested in listening, they are intentionally not participating in any leadership. Which of course hanicaps the entity as whole if any larger constituency isn't engaged in forward thinking discussions. That's very important to note. 2) "Kudos to the 7 for thinking outside of the box" implies that there is a plan of some sort, when George explicity states that they have no plan. If you take it in another context that they are thinking "outside" of the governace box and proposing a new governance model, that's true, but a) it's not a new model, it's a reversion and b) Hop was the one that advocated for the governance model currently in place a few years ago, IIRC. 3) Lastly, I understand the value we all place on "on-the-field" success in this wonderful activity. Consider for a moment that there may be some intelligent directors who may have been "successful" on other areas, (say, business development?) beyond 12th place.
  12. I may be reading too far into this, but consider the following: JD Shaw was the AMAZING soloist on Nessun Dorma in 91. Any chance this is a way for the remaining team to stick it to the guy(s) that left?
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