silvertrombone

Purple Knights--who are you? From Rockford? Great screen name! I realize that lots/most people view D2/3 as sub-DCI--that's too bad. I don't remember D2/3 much from when I was in corps, but I was pretty impressed last year. Talent was right in line with many of the D1 corps that I saw and some of the shows were much more enjoyable. I can only speak from experience from a D1 perspective having done two years. 1.) I marched a 15th-place corps with 8-10 vets out of 128 and by the time we all aged out Sky was represented in all of the top 6 and ten of the top 12. Great talent, bad staff. I have more friends from that corps than my top 6 experience, and more fun/happy memories--if sleeping on gym floors, riding on buses, etc... 2.) I marched a 3rd-place corps filled with vets who weren't as good as the rookies, but "boy, we marched last year" was the theme of the year. It was said of '93 PR that another week and they would have won. We said of '94 that if we had another week, we would have killed each other and missed finals. 3.) Can a D2 champion overshadow half of the D1 corps in talent, show, etc? I've heard similar statements about Academy last year. And we had one person leave PR '94 during the season and march with Pioneer and win a ring--not bad! Would I recommend marching to not marching? Absolutely! March DCA if you can't do DCI. March D2/3 if you can't get into your favorite top 6. I'm not knocking D2/3 in saying that. I could only afford one year at PR, so I did Sky a year. That's what I mean. If PR were a Dallas corps, I'd have been in from '89 to '95. And if "if's" and "but's" were birdies and putts, we'd all be on the PGA tour. March where you can. March the best you can. And march as long as you can. Because eventually we all end up in the stands! And always--ALWAYS!--march your age-out. The eleventh commandment of drum corps. If you can't afford it, call Boo--he'll pay for you! (Oh, I'm going to get in trouble for that one!! )

Couple problems that I see from "outside the Beltway." The MBA in me says that the D2/3 corps have the EXACT same business side issues, decisions, planning, budgeting, etc as the top 6. Same for the rest of D1. The distinct advantage is no different for Apple Corp as it is for a start-up corps, say Academy in Arizona in the last couple of years. Apple is established, no doubt. And although Academy has had some great success, STRICTLY FROM A BUSINESS STANDPOINT, they are not yet an 'established' corps. I base this statement strictly on knowing that they are a relatively new corps, not on inside information, experience in running a corps, etc. If you take offense to any remark above, simply delete Academy and insert YOUR choice of a corps less than 5 years old and lets move on. If you haven't figured out, I'm speaking to the business side which is actually what puts the corps on the road and on the field. Cadets, Scouts, Cavies, etc have a dedicated log of alumni that can justify sending $50 per year to their favorite corps, or several. If there is a member needing $$$, there is an alumni base they have at least the connection to of being associated with the same group. When I marched SkyRyders in 1992 we had one vet who had marched in the Hutchinson, KS corps and about 10 total in the corps. We weren't exactly well-connected to the historical alumni of that corps, and besides, it had relocated 400 miles south to Dallas. Basically, no alumni support, no alumni involvement, no connection to the local community, no more SkyRyders! Nobody will argue with me that Sky has a rich history and many traditions--just not a perennial top-6, or even top-12, corps. DCI, unfortunately, butters their bread with a generous helping of the top 6. Again, unfortunate, but that is the big draw. If Academy becomes a perennial champ in D2 (sorry, do I have the correct division? Just making sure.), I would imagine that DCI would start including snippets of their performances in the broadcasts and marketing materials. Oh, another business decision that I wouldn't be surprised by. How much money does it cost to field a full D1 corps?? I don't know what the cost-benefit analysis would yield--maybe that's why we now see 135 vs the old 128 membership--but it's a lot cheaper to field a corps in two buses than 3-4. Wouldn't be shocking with gas and other prices to see corps shrink. Perhaps more regional tours and less national travel??? Believe me, Texas could support about 30 competitions all by its lonesome. Then have the regionals converge in a one or two-week national tour cluminating in Finals week. Maybe not as sexy, but if you don't have to travel all the way from Silicon Valley to Boston and back it seems it might be a bit cheaper. Just a thought. Here's an idea that might be thought of as heresy, but why not apply the idea of 'efficiency' to drum corps operations? Why does each corps have a corps director, headquarters, staff, etc? It's awful expensive to run a corps. George Hopkins and YEA have a pretty good thing going--one organization, two major drum corps, and a whole slew of other activities (band stuff, etc). Now, I don't always like what Hoppy likes, but I have to say that impresses me. And if you don't think YEA could form, launch, or resurrect about 8 corps in Texas in the next few years (move Cadets down here??), you're not thinking ahead. Texans like DCI, and we go 1,000 miles out of our way to march where we want to march. Why not launch 8 corps down here, bundle them all together into one organization, and organize your own tour from here?? One director cuts down on a BUNCH of overhead, plus cost of living is significantly reduced over San Fran Bay, Chicago, the Northeast--the current top 6. OK, Madison and Rockford aren't Chicago, forgive me. You can tour anywhere, and you can launch a show a 1,000 miles away (see also Cavaliers 'home' show in my home town, Denton, TX!). Bingo could take place anywhere also--won't go into details now--too long to discuss LP's etc. Now apply this concept to D2/3. Just thinking out loud. But if all the D2/D3 corps would get together, maybe form a satellite office with DCI either in Indy or elsewhere, and take care of all the logistics from one location. It might be cheaper to fly people out to certain locations than pay a dedicated director for each corps. One tour director per corps, one director for the whole group, etc. Same thing could be put in place at D1 level, but something tells me there are too many egos in the top 6 for that to happen. So now, before anybody rips me a new one on any of my thoughts, remember they are just thoughts...brainstorming. But I have put SOME thought into these various topics previously. There is some pretty good money in drum corps--time to start being a bit more 21st Century in some of the business practices of all these non-profit organizations before they go the same way as Freelancers, SkyRyders, Kingsmen, Kilts, 27th Lancers, VK, Magic, Cap Reg, and many many more. There were something like 150 corps when I discovered DCI in 1991--how many now??? Great thread--more like this need to be in place.

There's only one person I know with the name 'Geoff' spelled 'Geoff!' Hey, Canada--good to run into you here! Yeah, I figured out the 'Tsar Nicholas' thing. Aren't we all creative! :) Sorry to go off on a tangent here, guys, but are you the Geoff from Canada that was on Wheel of Fortune several years ago? I walk into my grandmothers apartment on our house where she is eating and watching Wheel and I sit down to join her like I did frequently back then, and lo and behold one evening there I see a familiar name, face, and spelling from Canada! If I remember correctly you did pretty well, yes? Remind me, did you go to the bonus round or get second place? Being a former Phantom I'd expect you to get beat by some Californian by about, oh, $400 or so!!

Which corps? That was the first year of two that I was referring to--thank you! Someone who understands. Please elaborate for those who haven't enjoyed the "thrill" of Wichita Falls. Maybe they executed that announcer--I think he was the culprit. I was in SkyRyders Bari section and I tend to remember dropping points to the previous night--Tulsa, maybe? Not appreciation--a distraction! I've never been thrown off in a performance like that. Remember, most of us had just graduated HS ourselves--we weren't even top 12 that year. Screaming throughout just for the sake of it. You know what the average crowd is like. They're basically respectful of each corps and if the corps does something cool like Z-pull, crab step, disappear or the Machine 'push' from last year (sorry, don't know what you guys call that), they go nuts. These guys went nuts when Sky's guard laid down their flags--before the performance! Not complaining, guys. I marched PR when D3 members would approach us like we were Aerosmith or such. Kind of cool except that the caliber of most of their members was no different than ours.

Eww. Your 16-year old girlfriend is like 55 years old and eligible for AARP. :P (Sorry, I don't know you, but I couldn't resist! Feel free to retaliate--I don't mean anything personal and I deserve it! Just a young(er) punk who saw the opportunity for a funny-funny! Or did you mean your CURRENT 16-year old girlfriend? Double eww! <**> )

Bob Smith?? THE Bob Smith??? ASCAP. If DCI hasn't called ASCAP they should go that road. Those guys are in the business of music. If anyone knows the answer, they would. Anything sold would be required to pay something like 45 cents per song on the recording per recording. And if ASCAP doesn't represent the song, its pretty much imminent domain. Works the same with Beethoven and Shostakovich as AC/DC, etc. Some of Shostakovich is still copyrighted, me thinks, where Beethoven is all imminent domain and pretty much fair game. And believe me, ASCAP LOVES to get their money. They'll be the most helpful bunch of tyrants any of you ever deal with--probably why DCI has the recordings in the vaults!

Probably the reason the corps won marching something like, what--7 years in a row prior to '93? Couldn't hide it, couldn't run from it--just HAD to be better with the feet, and they were. Correct me if I'm wrong, but PR didn't lose marching until they cut down on M&M in '93 for more visual stuff. We had the same problem in '94. Probably part of the reason they only have one trophy--they're the only of the top 6 with white bottoms. Remember, we're talkiing about a green backdrop, unless you're in Boise! Of course, Star did pretty darned good '90-'93 with white and cream, and someone from the northeast has taken home a few with light colored lowers. How has SCV done in years with white lowers? '89 and '99 were white pants and shoes, right?

If I remember correctly, they were "Back in Black" in '96 cuz they were IN black for the first time in '95. Should have been my age-out year. Would have been cool to usher out white and bring in the black--right up until July 4... ...and all the alum said, "AMEN!" Four parades on July 4 in the sun is not fun. Black helmets? Yuck. Roast yer brains. Shoes? Yuck. Scald the toes. Just marching those four in white was miserable. Yeah, yeah--drum corps were once parade ensembles and all that. I suppose I have a crappy attitude, but give me 12 hour rehearsals and stadium shows any day. OK, some of you will be biased towards black like many of us are biased towards white. And I'm not being original in pointing out the fact you can see it better from the stands, the box, the concourse at Alamodome, etc. Black is a 'trimming' or 'thinning' color, which means that it makes you look smaller. Don't see many 'little WHITE dresses' for a reason. I fell in love with Phantom because they literally LOOK bigger on the field. Bigger, taller, wider (the shoulder things help). Test it next season. Take a look at the Carolina Crown ensemble and compare them with Spirit. Both very good groups, very rich traditions, but one is in dark one is in light uni's. Crown simply looks BIGGER. Same with Phantom. Contrasts? There is none better than Cavies and Phantom. Note: Statement meant simply to compare visual looks--not bashing anybody, and if I were I'd be wrong. I prefer PR, others prefer the Green Machine--both are great! White--all white, top to bottom. LOVED the end of 2006 with starched whities Chicken to Dinkles. But granted, "Defiant Heart" would not have been the same in white. Kind of cool for The Ring, too. But beige???

Boo! Talkin dirty in front of all the kids...really now! What would all the old geezers from the 70's who read you on dci.org say? :P

Oh, Tsar Nicholas--sorry so slow. Took me a while to figure out who 'Tsar' was. I have a friend in Austin who is a composer/arranger who has a custom software system that he raves about. Let me know if you'd like to be put in touch with him--he loves hearing from young(er) men. Especially those with an interest in music composition/arranging.

Eww, pasty white thighs! When was that picture taken--February??

Wild, is that photo in your signature line the '93 or '94 crab? I'm guessing '93--grass is too nice to be Foxboro. And wasn't it Jackson that used the messed up DCI logo? If you've got '94's let me know. And we can settle this guy/girl thing real quick--who started this thread? Guy? Then anything goes. Girl? Then take that into mind when answering--kind of a different question, ya know?

David Smith, aka Rosey, aka Stretch, depending on whose nick name you liked best, Tim's or Tony's. Bari/Buick--no, I didn't lug one of those Euph's around all summer. Blah! I'm about 8 feet tall--help any? Who are you--no name on your profile. '92 fireworks--that would have been sweet! Can you imagine the reaction? I think you guys should have fired off some during Finals. Yeah, would have probably resulted in DQ, but who cares at that point? DQ and GREAT GE or 8th place? hmm. See, should have had Cesario go up to Madison and work out a deal with National Weather Service in '87--missed opportunity.

Great, thanks Corey! I was right next to you in that one and right before they panned out far enough to get me the cut to some other shot. Happened, I kid you not, four times in that show! Dang! And I was lifting the guard CAPTAIN, for crying out loud. Hmph--not bitter!! :)

Any of you guys from '93 Scouts?? You guys know about the rain. I missed your finals performance getting hot dogs and stuff, but from the tunnel it sounded like the weather smacked you guys in the face, you stood up and said, "That all you've got?" Exciting performance--I made sure to check it out on tape!

Say the Fairie God Mother says to you, "I'm doing away with DCI/DCA and you have to help me replace it." What do you do? Do you allow all 'band' instruments? Strings? Amplification? etc. How large of ensembles do you require/allow? How do you handle tour/performances? Be creative. Most of you have been on tour. Repertoire, tour schedule, performance stuff, business side stuff. Be creative. If you want twinkies with every meal, this may not be the thread for you. Serious replies please.

OK, so I'm not the first person to marvel at everyone remembering the moon cooperating with our '94 performance of Debussy's 'Clair de Lune.' But can anybody top this? Creativity and originality count, go for it! For those who don't know the story, can somebody direct us to a video online? I haven't found one yet. '94 Regiment basically repeated the wildly successful show. Same closer, same Crab Step, same "take off the helmet" thing in the really cool ballad. "Why not?" was the reason I was told they selected that program. Kind of a Kinky Friedman thing, I guess. But the ballad was really cool. In addition to getting to march in front of the sideline (OK, not the first to do that I know), the moon was very cooperative Finals night. The guard uniform was hot--imagine the '06 guard with black and flesh-colored striped uni's. Kind of like the night full moon with clouds in front of it (thanks for the description, Spook). Matching silks. Then at the end of the ballad we do this nice kneel down and face backfield stage right. Two things were in clear view, I'm told--the Jumbotron (real great guys--scopin yourselves out during a performance!), and the full moon. Now, this was so cool because it pretty much didn't stop raining and being overcast until Saturday. Intermittent rain all week, clouds, yadda, yadda. Then as if the lunar table, the national weather service, and our performance time had all conspired--boom! There's the moon. Two questions: Can anybody top that for all-out heavenly cool? And two, did Cesario come up with that, go up to Boston, check out the lay of the stadium, write it into the show, etc? Tony, you?? You guys don't tell me that was just luck and we didn't do our thing to the left with no Jumbotron and no moon. And no, the SkyRyders 'dove' thing doesn't count. Don't worry, I marched there, too--I'm not bad-mouthing anybody. The only thing I can think of is the Madison Fire Station thing.

OK, I understand wetting one's britches when your favorite corps comes into view. Not enters the field, but just comes in the line of sight in the tunnel. You know, when the first pit members show up bringing their tons of stuff?? What's up with Wichita Falls, Texas??? I'm from Texas, OK, but, like--what did you guys drink? I performed there twice and you guys don't shut up. The guard does a toss and you go berserk. The horns blow your face off and you go berserk. The drums do anything and you go berserk. Nobody does anything and you're already going berserk. Not just cheering, not just chanting your best friends' girlfriends' best friends' second cousins' name before the show---BABY THROWING, HOARSE-THROAT BERSERK!! Do you guys still do that? Geez, that was the most annoying thing I had ever heard. Kind of like Ann Coulter having pies thrown at her on stage, although I find that kind of amusing and I'm a conservative. Please don't take over my thread and make this a political thing. <**>

'94 we ended the show with the same move, then when the snare tapped us off the field we crabbed off stage right. Only performance in history to garner TWO ovations after the performance ended?? Had to have added some GE, or something.

Honorable mentions count--that's 6! Yikes!!

Ahh, they do that in Wichita Falls all the time--in the stands----during the performances----------even SkyRyders-----------very annoying. I won't blog here...I'll go make another post!

####, that's 5! Pretty impressive to see someone marching in the 2000's looking way back to the early 90's and mentioning Xmen. '92 was pretty spectacular for them. Nice to have them in Texas now, thanks to GH. I was in Sky in '92 and we toured in DCEast with Cadets and Crossmen extensively. That was the show of the year, IMO. Disappointing even year for PR--they did that there for a while. Boy, that was a hot year! Good choices, guys! I kind of liked the "Elements" number. Don't even remember if that was the title, but the one with the silks representing Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. I said they should do Birdland several years later. Prophetic. Of course, I also think they should have followed up the Metheney with Yanni. Oh, well... Oh, I saw '95 PR on your all-time favorites list. Didn't march, but it was my age-out. Definitely, DEFINITELY march your age-out. Sell your soul, take off a semester, get a credit card--scratch that, don't get a credit card, give plasma--but march your age-out. I've still got a box of crap I need to go leave on the field some time...

Hey, Corey--another former Buick, former SkyRyder! Rosey here. What the hell is that formula at the bottom of your post? LMAO, really--but WTF??? Sorry to bore all the rest of you with unrelated drivel.

Wow! Three mentions of PR '94! I'm going to name my three first born Mike, Spook, and Will. I hope I don't have any girls or they'll just have to deal with it! Thanks, guys! I've been away from the activity for several years and just came back in on a more regular basis in the last couple of years. Probably beginning with the spring DCI countdown and 1/4's at the movies. I've always been a little bit disappointed with the show selection that year other than Clair de Lune. Anybody familiar with '93/'94 knows they basically followed the same formula. Ironically, they got the same placement and same score, too. I always wanted to march an '89 or '93, my only year to march top 12 was '94, and I conveniently aged out in '95. Great timing, right? So three posts about the '94 corps in one thread is pretty special to at least one person! If I've missed anybody else's posts, don't worry I'll get there. And you'll probably hear me blubbering again! But my gosh, my poor wife!!

Spook, I don't know who you are but I'll say the same thing I told Mike (right name? previous post). You just made my life, man! I was in the '94 corps. Special treat for you in memory of your late wife--I was also in the '92 SkyRyders. Another special treat just for you since you mentioned my year! Oh, and Dallas was my home show--thanks! I don't know if you ever heard about our experience at Finals with the moon, but here goes. It rained all week. Nasty stuff. Gillette is heaven compared to Foxboro. They sprayed green stuff on the ground to make it look like grass on camera. What is it with grass north of New York? Oh, and 1/4's was on Wed, Semis on Friday and Finals on Sat to accomodate Thursday night Patriots pre-season game. Just contributed to the field conditions. 1/4's was rained out after Scouts, PR, and Vanguard performed due to weather. The top 3 did not go on. Remember, we're talking about a corps in all white. I don't mean to jinx future corps members, but falls are not permissible when the green sticks to you. So we get to Finals performance, and you remember the guard uniforms, right?? Wow! You should have seen our reactions the first night they came out at the Kennedy School wearing them. Ouch! Great looking guard. And we do that nifty little kneel down and face back field stage right at the end of Clair de Lune, right? Lo and behold, the clouds cleared and there it was--a FULL MOON!!! Tell me someone planned that out in advance, checked the lunar table on the calendar, flew to Boston and scoped out the stadium at 10:45pm, or whatever, cuz that was just too cool! The closer that night was absolutely spectacular, and to this day I can't help but think it was because you couldn't help but notice the moon! What a boost. Oh, I was one of the guys who got to dance around with a guard member and do that fancy little lift thingy--that was kind of cool. Come to think of it, you guys look for the new post. See if you can top that for cool--lining up the heavens with a DCI performance! Twice according to SpookyKid!! SUTA, brother!