Newseditor44

Does anyone remember when Moe used to do the scores updates on the old Cadets score hotline? That was my first interaction with him and probably one of the things I will remember the most, that wonderful Southern voice coming across the phone. RIP.

$20, and so have to drive an hour and a half? Sorry, not happening.

I would hope everyone keeps an open mind when reading the show rep today. Think outside the box. The music is going to be amazing.

This season is probably the closest the show design has been to 2012 than at any time since that show (music wise). I don’t get the vibe that it’s dark at all.

There are a few of us that have been around the corps in the preseason for quite sometime. I don’t know that I would say they are “better”, and it’s difficult to compare one group to the next in preseason, but technically I haven’t heard a group this good, this early. And as for the show design, it’s definitely different. A lot more notes than were a custom to in a drum corps show, and that’s saying a lot for Crown. It follows the same kind of vibe we’ve got from Crown sense 2017, but takes it in a totally different direction while trying to hook the crowd as well.

Just saw this for the first time, and I will say I’m more hopeful today than I was 5 months ago. If they stick to what they say they’re going to do, I full expect this corps to be back on the field next season. Good job SOA.

I’ve been around this activity for 30 years and seen a lot of things. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a brass book like the one I heard at Camp a few weeks back. Crown has spent the past decade and change playing a lot of notes… but this season’s book blows any of those shows out of the water. It’s absolutely insane what they are trying to accomplish.

If you have to use that machine, you're digging too much. You dig? 😉

If you do some digging on the web, you might be able to hear Crown playing a snippet of this years opener. Not telling where, though. 😗

Change is inevitable. This activity has changed dramatically over the past 60-70 years, and what were witnessing today is one of the most impactful changes we've ever seen. It's really the perfect storm. But I think to blame all of it on diversity, inclusion, and misconduct would be inaccurate. Yes, I think those reasons are part of it, but there are other factors at play, including: The economy and the rising costs of membership fees. You wanna march with a top tier corps and have A-List designers and instructors, you're going to pay$5-$7k, Back in the 80's you could march with a top 12 corps for $250 a season. The pandemic. The world has changed more in the past two years than maybe in anytime in recent history. I really think the pandemic has forced a lot of people to rethink many things in their lives, and it also gave us the opportunity to live for a few years without drum corps. We've essentially missed two entire seasons of competition, and getting those kids back that didn't march those two years is proving to be more problematic than though. The students are not rushing back to be part of the activity, and it could take a few years to gain momentum. The increase to 160+ Competitors. You have to wonder if DCI was still at 128 competitors per unit, if we would be seeing the same issues filling up corps rosters. It could be that the numbers aren't as bad as we think, rather, we're just being too ambitious. Abuse incidents, reputation, mismanagement, etc. While this is something that has had an impact, I don't know if its had the impact that a lot of us think it has. I do think its going to take a few more years for us to really know how much this has impacted the activity, but my guess is this would push students who want to march to other organizations, not necessarily keep them away.

Agreed. I’m probably one of the few people that hopes they make a solid recovery. DCI can use all of the positive stories it can get right now.

I would give them a bit of a break (we're still in the middle of a pandemic). My guess is the lack of revenue for the past two years has put them in a bit of a hole and they've had to scale back plans dramatically. They're probably just starting to get their feet underneath them. I'm sure we'll begin to see more come to life the closer we get to the summer.

I think many presumptions are being made, with almost none of within the realm of coming to fruition. Where I believe reality sits at the moment: It's going to take time, y'all, and we're probably going to see other issues and problems arise before we get close to getting it right. There are a lot of outstanding, responsible educators and volunteers in this activity who are incredibly concerned about these issues and working hard to make the activity safer for everyone involved. They are all probably just as frustrated as we are. I doubt any civil or legal action will be taken from any of these incidents. That doesn't mean that the parties involved aren't finding solutions, but I don't know that lawsuits benefit anyone. They can become quite expensive and sometimes counterproductive on the plaintiff's side. The mainstream media has enough on their plate to deal with stories based on hearsay. Usually, media outlets do not touch a story like this until it's in the court's hands or there is an official criminal investigation.

All good intentions, totally get that. I would have probably done the same thing. They'll get through this, it's just going to be bumpy for a while.

This is really one of those critical moments that you need someone that knows that they're doing. The longer they wait to make that happen, the worse things will get.

I would caution against doing something like this. Facebook's security team can be a mess to try and navigate, and doing this could get their page revoked and taken down. Aside from losing a majority of their historical posts, it could take a very long time to get Facebook to reauthorize the page if it gets shut down. I would much rather try to find a way internally to help SOA get their ducks in a row and implement a crisis comms plan, that would be much more productive.

If it were me, I wouldn't be allowing comments right now. There is a difference between allowing comments to promote civil discussion and knowing when to use social media strictly as a communication tool. They should be in full-on crisis communications mode. I would not allow commenting on any of the SOA social platforms. Let people talk elsewhere; that's fine; you can't control that. You don't have to do that to delete messages, especially on Facebook. There is functionality built-in where they can hide people's responses without them knowing it, and it's clear that the person managing the channel has no advanced experience managing communities.

My God they keep shooting themselves in the foot.

As a former journalist and someone that has managed major corporations social media programs for 15 years, I absolutely agree with this. The fact that this thread hasn't been completely shut down is mind boggling to me. I cringe everytime I see it's still up. Every hour it's up is costing them months of work to rebuild and restore their reputation. It's crisis communication 101, and they've failed miserably.

And now we have SOA alumni gaslighting this girl, stalking her high school and spreading absolute BS and n Facebook? If you use the phrase “woke” in a Facebook post, you’re part of the problem, not the solution. And there is no one from SOA moderating the conversation. This is getting ridiculous. I’m almost to the point that I hope they never come back.

You can count on that happening. I’m sure it’s already in the process of being done.

I never thought I would ever say this, but I hope the entire activity gets blown up. And I’m not part of the “woke” crowd… I’m an alumni and parent.

Honestly, we might be at the point where DCI has to shut things down for 2022 to address these issues. I have a feeling there are more ready to come I light. Hire the most reputable independent law firm with zero ties to DCI or the music community. Let them investigate and make recommendations. Then hold everyone’s feet to the fire. No one gets a pass. You have to prove to the world that you are worthy of a third chance. They’ve totally f’d up!

My suggestioN has nothing to do with maturity, and everything to do with legalities. It’s blatantly clear that the corps have failed at managing these issues and created more liability for the activity and themselves. It’s only a matter of time before law enforcement gets involved, and then that scandals happens DCI will be forced to fold. If that happens it will impact the entire marching arts activity, and be extremely difficult to recover. Imagine the headlines - teacher accused of sexually assaulting 16 year old for months on band tour. The activity would never recover from that.

I think SOA and DCI have some big issues in front of them. The first being a major lawsuit. It’s pretty clear the parents have lawyered up and are doing their due diligence. This is something that could impact the activity is ways we can’t comprehend. Long story short, SOA is done, and DCI is in for the fight if it’s life.