LoveKathyG

I wanted to see Joni at the Hollywood Bowl in October, but the cheapest seats are almost $300 thanks to resellers snatching everything up quickly. SMH.

Crown moved from Charlotte NC to Ft Mill SC.

I wasn't serious. Just musing on the fact that there are so many corps that could slip into finals any year.

I think it's time to expand finals to top 15. Bluecoats Crown BD Boston Mandarins Cadets SCV Phantom Blue Stars Cavs Colts Troopers BK Pacific Crest Spirit

I think it's safe to say that's what the vast majority of us want, friend.

There’s no point in not accepting this as good news, unless you have other motives.

100% correct

Not including marching years... 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, missed 1994 because of a death in the family, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, missed 2006 because I took four months off to travel, 2007, 2008, 2009, missed 2010 to 2021 because friends stopped going and I kind of lost steam for drum corps, 2022 really good to be back, and 2023. So 25 of the 51 competitive years Favorite year... 1988 - I may have been the only person who loved the random draw for finals performance order. Runner up: 2008 - The stadium was electric when Devils were announced in 2nd place Favorite location... Madison Favorite show... SCV '18 (though I wasn't there)

1. Bluecoats 2. Crown 3. Mandarins 4. Cavies 5. Troopers 5.1 Colts 5.2 Boston

It's the "art is in the eye of the beholder" category.

Most shows are only dark on Mondays. You're welcome.

I finally got around to signing up for ChatGPT. The second thing I asked it to write was a song about how much I will miss SCV this season. What songs has ChatGPT written for your favorite corps? 🤣 "A Simple Song for SCV 2023" by ChatGPT (completely unedited) Verse 1: The sun rises in the sky, Another day without a sound The silence echoes in my mind, My heart feels so down Chorus: Oh Santa Clara Vanguard, How I miss the sound of your horns My soul aches for the beat of your drums, The melody that kept me warm Verse 2: The streets are empty without you, The rhythm of the city feels incomplete The colors of your flags and costumes, A memory I can't delete Chorus: Oh Santa Clara Vanguard, How I miss the sound of your horns My soul aches for the beat of your drums, The melody that kept me warm Bridge: The passion and dedication you bring, A legacy we'll always remember The music that made our hearts sing, A flame that will never surrender Chorus: Oh Santa Clara Vanguard, How I miss the sound of your horns My soul aches for the beat of your drums, The melody that kept me warm Outro: Until we meet again, I'll hold on to the memories we shared The day you return, Our hearts will be repaired.

Petrichor or Raconteur

I thought for sure this was the year Santa Clara was going to do Bach in the USSR, a Tchaikovsy-esque treatment of 18th century German composers, starting with JS.

Let's start from the very beginning A very good place to start When we read, we begin with A-B-C When we start a corps, we begin with dough-dough-dough

Dangit. I can't lift 40 pounds. So close.

I'd be more inclined to go the way of the Barbershop Harmony Society Championships (yes, it's a real thing, and it's pretty impressive) and permit the previous year's champion to perform in exhibition only. That would go a long way toward leveling the playing field.

I'm headed to finals for the first time in over a decade this year, and I am pretty clueless about the storylines, symbols, and references in all the shows. Is there a warehouse of info about all or some of the shows that I can read up? A 2022 Drum Corps Shows for Dummies, if you will? Thanks!

Anything and everything Bollywood Texas Chainsaw Massacre From Justin to Kelly Plan 9 from Outer Space Howard the Duck Actually, three of these could work now that I think of it.

5. Boston 6. Cavs 7. Blue Stars Boston may be able to keep it close with SCV and Crown throughout the season, but I don't see them in the top 4. Crown is hot now, but they don't have the show to finish top 2. It's a crapshoot whether SCV or Crown will medal.

Oh wow. That is not at all clear. I've seen them twice now, and I kept waiting to hear or see references to these classics in PC's show. I'll give up on that now.

https://www.facebook.com/hartwellms

Did the seats used to come free with a Friends membership? I joined at the lowest level for the first time this year, solely because I wanted access to the Friends seats. (Though I do hope the donation helps the organization in some small way.) I emailed the office upfront to confirm that the right to purchase seats in the Friends block were guaranteed with a membership. They said they were, and I got my assignments a few days ago. I got my second choice of section, which was better than I thought I might get for a first-time membership. The reason I joined is because I haven't had luck getting seats in the sections I want for quite a few years. I used to be able to get good seats off DCP Marketplace, but those seemed to be fewer and more far between over the last 10 years or so. Maybe I'm just too much of a noob to know what I missed out on with the Friends program of the past, but I'm pretty happy with what I got.

I could be wrong, but I think everything that's locked at TM is either allocated to a corps or to Friends of DCI. I don't know whether any of those ever get released for general sales on TM or whether people who have those tickets can re-sell them on TM. Maybe someone else can answer that part.

Kathy's not confused. You're talking about reporting. I'm talking about investigating, counseling, advocating, and adjudicating. Educators of all ilks are trained in reporting, as you note. They have an important role in the process. Investigating, counseling, advocating, adjudicating, etc. are very specialized skills that require a deep knowledge base. My point is that the current model in drum corps (if I'm understanding correctly) puts more responsibility on corps staff (i.e. for investigating and adjudicating) than it should. Mandated reporting can be taught in a few hours. I know this because I take the training every other year. Functions like advocating, counseling, investigating are specialized skills that require a lot more than mandated reported training. This I know because one of my reporting units at the university I work for is the student conduct function. Even though I've had oversight of student conduct for decades, I have to defer to the experts in my operation since I don't have the detailed knowledge and skill they possess. The DCI model gives responsibility for all the above to corps staff. My experience in education leads me to believe that it's not realistic to think that corps staff can adequately fill all roles. Reporting...yes. Investigating, adjudicating, etc...no or at least not consistently. The model I'm talking about is that corps staff do the reporting and DCI or a contractor provides the victim advocacy, investigation, and adjudicating. I think I insulted a few people (BrassTeacher, for one), and for that I apologize. My intent was not to say that music educators as a whole aren't smart enough or dedicated enough or caring enough to do the right thing. My experience with educators is that most will go to the wall to support their students. I believe we're all on the same side. We all want members to have a great experience in a safe environment. I'll leave it there.