mingusmonk
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Days Won
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Posts posted by mingusmonk
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22 minutes ago, NewToPosting said:
Understood. For legal reasons, I'm not going to post that (I know for a fact what this person did and its impact on at least a few people). As slimy as that person is, they are innocent until proven guilty.
Apart from naming them online (which I'm not going to do, and neither are his victims), what are the options? He's being kept hush-hush, which isn't helping.
You and/or the survivors could consult privately with MAASIN. Advice on this path is a big part of why they exist.
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Nate Smith has been releasing some intriguing albums and EPs lately with music that has a cinematic quality.
Some of it a little more thoroughly composed rather than jazz/funk.
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On 8/22/2022 at 11:56 PM, Lance said:
Loved seeing a bit of snarky puppy in dci this year, but needs lots more. Pretty sure I posted lingus by them in this thread awhile back. Even if dci doesn't use them, listen to them. fantastic musicians.
I know plenty of current designers are hip to it. Here's hoping.
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Bluecoats ballad material.
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I am not a journalist. So in order to prove that my summary is from 1st-hand survivor accounts, I will be posting direct links to their public claims. I did not want to post these here because of The way we have seen Previous abuse survivors treated over past across the Internet. Their stories are graphic and hard to stomach. Fair warning.
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If you have survived sexual violence or have concerns about potential survivors and if/when to report or where to start, RAINN is a highly qualified start point. Both in terms of handling survivor support and logistics of various regional methods and channels. https://www.rainn.org/
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By his own words, the previous director was cherry-picking only one story/reason for Tom's firing with no supporting details. And, as one would suspect, his post was entirely self-serving. Nonsense to consider it helpful to this thread.
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I understand not wanting to get yourself tangled into the social media cesspool, but some of y'all need to create a burner account for research purposes.
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3 minutes ago, fsthnds said:
Wasn't Mario on staff with Ayala and let go along with Ike in 2020?
Yes. Both Ayala and Mandarins. And since he already had a fully operational and successful independent group under his own control, his non-cooperation (and other insider's silence) enabled him to have a couple more years in the activity. It's not like he was going to fire himself.
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12 hours ago, FTNK said:
can someone give a summary or link
CW: SOME BASIC DESCRIPTIONS OF ABUSE
Summary: Multiple former students of Mario Ramirez have come forward publicly. They make claims of grooming and sexual relations while they were students of Mario. According to the survivors, the relations happened at camps and/or while on tour with Diamante, Mandarins. The descriptions are that physical relations would start when they were technically no longer minors, but Mario would mention that he was interested in them when before they became adults, in the grooming process.
Mario and his wife run Diamante and have taught or consulted with countless scholastic band and guard programs. He was most notably teaching at Ayala and Mandarins and was separated from both jobs around the time of the Ike Jackson investigation (Thread linked above for those that weren't around or do not remember.)
*** all of the information summarized here has been taken from public social media posts by multiple survivors ***
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The true lesson of this thread is the vast difference in how we each define "underrated"
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8 minutes ago, CAtenhut said:
You do realize Diamante IS Mario, right? Well, not anymore... I think they're done.
And it looks like Mandarins fired Ike and Mario after the 2019 season, but could not disclose the reasons. But that doesn't mean info wasn't shared to DCI and WGI. I believe they are required to, but I'm not sure.
I do. WGI didn't give exact dates. They said they received allegations "recently" and investigated for "several months." There are ways to shut this down, even with the existing legal corporate restraints of Human Resources. True advocates of the young people in this activity would make sure these people are not present.
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6 minutes ago, Slingerland said:
A corps/band/guard can't just say "hey, don't hire this person" without running into all sorts of problems. But if anyone in that world wants to hire someone, they're expected to at least, y'know, do a little background checking and employment verification, and if the answer to the question "are they eligible for re-hire?" comes back 'no', you'd expect that they'd figure sh-- out.
Unless they really don't want to know.And that's it. People inside, they know. It's the kids coming in from the outside that don't know. And the insider's silence is a complete failure and those that participate in the silence are literally endangering lives. You can find multiple posts on platforms like this one:
They KNOW! The community and activity needs to devalue insiders and develop advocates within their leadership. It is insane to me.
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For some reference, there was a little blip for a couple of pages on the Ike Jackson, Mandarins thread in 2020 that hinted at where we have ended up on this Diamante issue.
If Mandarins and/or DCI discovered something in their investigation(s) of Ike, why on earth was Mario still working with WGI groups and hosts of other high school color guards for the next 2 years?! Why do these organizations NOT share this info?! He was terminated by Ayala around the same time as well, which was also having to investigate Ike.
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Diamante refuses to cooperate with the investigation.
This is relevant to DCI, as the claims relate to folks that staff and teach in DCI as well. And some of the claimed actions took place on DCI tours too.
Some public posts from survivors are out there in social media land. Very raw and difficult to read material.
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FYI - if you have survived sexual violence or have concerns about potential survivors and if/when to report or where to start, RAINN is a highly qualified start point. Both in terms of handling survivor support and logistics of various regional methods and channels. https://www.rainn.org/
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1986 Suncoast Sound
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23 minutes ago, gbass598 said:
I think Mike left Bluecoats to go to BK for a couple of reasons. One being he wanted to be the arranger. The other is that he is a BK alum.
Keep in mind that Mike and Kevin Shah were a huge part of the design team at BK. Maybe even the main drivers of their design process. We've seen how BK has been since they left. Would Crown give them the same carte blanche in the design process? Who knows. Maybe they are due for a change. I feel like Crown's shows are always similar regardless of who writes the percussion. If Mike and Kevin are the ones brought in, I think they also need to be given more say in the overall design process than previous percussion designers to shake things up a bit. Not sure if they are but they "could" be the missing piece of the puzzle.
Along those lines, people mention a potential Mapes/Grom return in this thread. Mapes was fairly vocal in his departure from Blue Stars regarding his frustrations with other caption/design team and being limited to defining his success and satisfaction within "percussion only."
If we see them back anywhere, I would expect them to have more input in overall design than they did in LaCrosse.
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1 hour ago, DrummerParent said:
Sounds like they are going after someone currently in WGI. As mentioned by kdaddy, Mike Jackson (founder of and composer for Broken City, formerly SCV, Bloo, BK) seems to be the lead based on rumors. John Mapes is the other name I’ve heard (Pulse Percussion, formerly Blue Stars, BDB). Both highly regarded as arrangers and instructional leads with strong WGI connections which could help with recruiting. They’ll have the connections to build a top notch staff.
FWIW, Mike's position at Bluecoats was Caption Head. The current role of Roger Carter. He never wrote or arranged at Bluecoats. The arranger was always Tom Rarick during Mike's years in Canton.
That being said, Mike's work at BK was enthralling.
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14 minutes ago, Brian Tuma said:
I hope they come back strong competitively as well as being a safe place for the members to flourish. Their 2021 show set them up well for a finals placement had they not sat out 2022.
Looking forward to seeing new names on actual touring staff. That will be a huge indicator on lessons learned. Especially since so many design/caption leader roles remain unchanged.
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I love that the internet is as old as it is and people still argue about the definitions of words while not really arguing the post itself. Classic online "discourse".
Big leadership changes at PR ... accurate.
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You and others are off-topic but this is a gruesome annual thread so some if us find the diversions appealing.
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https://bluecoats.com/give/feedbloo
If you search hashtag #feedbloo on social media you'll see pics of all meal/snack sponsorships.
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The "Music Corps Should Do" thread
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
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I would love to see a group brave enough to dip into the sounds of Alternative/Progressive R&B. The harmonic opportunities and variety in rhythmic challenges are already built into this music. I especially enjoy Hiatus Kaiyote.