Ila Gaponoff

Well, if Godzilla got to be in VK, I don't see why a T-Rex couldn't reach ultimate glory...

Yes, a comment like that was made last year, but I really don't think that is what will bring vets back. There are a lot of top drum corps out there that a member could go to if they wanted to leave. However, the predicted returning vet percentage as of right now is extremely high. I don't know the exact numbers, but I believe the brass line is at like 70%. Don't quote me on that though! :) I'm very excited for the coming year!

Yeah, I'm at work right now so many sites are blocked (elementary school), I talked to a scades friend there and he thought there was just a tuba, but hopefully, when I get back home, I can call the corps or something.

Hey, I'm a mellophone player from Cascades and when I heard they weren't fielding this year at all, I thought I'd just take the summer off and work. Well, I'm already really itching to get back into the activity and I'm wondering if there are any corps with holes? I'd be willing to play baritone as well, as I read bass clef for my main instrument anyway. Thanks a ton. :)

No, you didn't miss anything. I think they need to set up a few donation options. Maybe an online one through paypal and a good mailing address. They really need the website updated weekly at the very least and still, that doesn't happen. I don't know who is in charge of that as of now.

I'm hoping it'll work. We'll see though. I'm thinking about asking some Seattle schools as well to let me talk to their band program about it. Even if I don't get as many recruits as I would like, at least I prompted some awareness of the activity. I don't know when our mini tour schedule will be posted, but if it ends before finals, maybe a few of us Cascades could go out to major DCI events and sell merchandise just like the Troopers in '06. I'll even use my left over tuition money (since I was almost paid before the tour was canceled anyway) to make some nice generic DCI shirts. Perhaps a vet friend from last year who is an incredible artist could help. It might not make too much profit, but it would also help raise awareness of the corps returning in 2009 and maybe that would spur some excitement from some potential new members. We'll see though. :)

I am a graduate of Mercer Island HS. Yeah, we have a 275 member marching band, but competing? That's foreign. My band director was in VK and he got me into through some videos he had. It's not as easy as it seems. We do a 5-7 set show that lasts 8 minutes for each football game. The idea of drum corps sounds like too much to them when I try and recruit. They've never seen it live. They love the videos, but none of them will come try it. Believe me, I've been trying to recruit the past two years. Got one person interested, but his mom wouldn't let him come. However, with this mini local tour, I think I may be able to recruit some people. When I go home for spring break, I am planning on dragging as many as possible to the next camp. The simple MI camp last summer had a great turn out and they did a little marching. Hopefully with my band director's support, we'll get quite a few to the March camp. I'm hoping to try some other schools in the Seattle area as well. *crosses fingers*

I have marched with Cascades for the past two years. I still plan on marching the mini tour this summer. Taking a year off was a very smart decision. By taking a year off, we can focus on making Cascades great inside and out. Out of the whole US, competitive marching band is newer to the NW than other places. When I was in high school, I didn't compete at all. I found out about drum corps from my band director who had marched VK. Saying that our staff did not make an effort in recruiting is not fair. We worked very hard. A lot of our brass staff needed to take the year off for their own real life reasons. This year we can get more interest in NW drum corps and we can help rebuild the corps. Yes, a lot of the members are mad, that's fine. I totally support anyone who wants to join another corps and get the experience of a life time. I have made the choice to stick with the corps I love and I know there are other vets as well.

Um...I'm a member of the Cascades and I haven't heard anything...I did miss the last camp because of huge masses of snow (I'm in Colorado), but as far as I knew from January, it was a longer all days (normally 2 weeks or less because of schools in that area) and to catch up, show days are much closer together. If cascades are not fielding... I totally missed the memo and would like to know!

Percussion is more than filled -- I think. I believe people were being cut in December (though I'm not positive). Guard should be fine. Brass was struggling with numbers in Dec, but not ability. Sounded very good -- plus the camp was postponed at the last minute because of flooding so that caused some people to not be able to attend the reschedule. As for brass... Trumpets and Tubas were lacking the most. Mellophone line was almost full and baritones were doing all right.