Mickk3

update - Do you think DCA corps, or corps in general would benefit by adapting more of the old school techniques and/or philosophies into their training and program? no - let dead dogs lie [ 32 ][47.06%] yes - it's lacking [ 28 ][41.18%] not quite either.. let me explain my views on this [ 8 ][11.76%] It would have been interesting to have continued to a second part of the poll to find out how many of which answer DCI, DCA or non-corps. It also seems that either DCIers aren't voting or aren't commenting if they are. I would imagine several aren't sure what 'old school' drum corps is. What I do know is that the audience at DCI in Pasadena weren't kids by any stretch. Most were around my age, give or take a decade.

I agree somewhat, but it appears that the majority doesn't. Do you think DCA corps, or corps in general would benefit by adapting more of the old school techniques and/or philosophies into their training and program? no - let dead dogs lie [ 32 ][49.23%] yes - it's lacking [ 25 ][38.46%] not quite either.. let me explain my views on this [ 8 ] [12.31%] That doesn't change my opinion really, but does give me insight asto what others think. I think there can be a good balance, and if the right corps co-ordinators catch on to it, they're going to find themselves with a winning corps.

in '69 I was 10.

Most of the DCI corps members were born in or near the year 1989. For them, Alvin Ailey, Andrei Sakharov, Huey Newton, Emperor Hirohito, Ted Bundy, Abbie Hoffman, and Don the Beachcomber have always been dead. 1. What Berlin wall? 2. Humvees, minus the artillery, have always been available to the public. 3. Rush Limbaugh and the 'Dittoheads' have always been lambasting liberals. 4. They never 'rolled down' a car window. 5. Michael Moore has always been angry and funny. 6. They may confuse the Keating Five with a rock group. 7. They have grown up with bottled water. 8. General Motors has always been working on an electric car. 9. Nelson Mandela has always been free and a force in South Africa. 10. Pete Rose has never played baseball. 11. Rap music has always been mainstream. 12. Religious leaders have always been telling politicians what to do, or else! 13. ³Off the hook² has never had anything to do with a telephone. 14. Music has always been 'unplugged.' 15. Russia has always had a multi-party political system. 16. Women have always been police chiefs in major cities. 17. They were born the year Harvard Law Review Editor Barack Obama announced he might run for office some day. 18. The NBA season has always gone on and on and on and on. 19. Classmates could include Michelle Wie, Jordin Sparks, and Bart Simpson. 20. Half of them may have been members of the Baby-sitters Club. 21. Eastern Airlines has never 'earned their wings' in their lifetime. 22. No one has ever been able to sit down comfortably to a meal of 'liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.' 23. Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers than GM. 24. Being 'lame' has to do with being dumb or inarticulate, not disabled. 25. Wolf Blitzer has always been serving up the news on CNN. 26. Katie Couric has always had screen cred. 27. Al Gore has always been running for president or thinking about it. 28. They never found a prize in a Coca-Cola 'MagiCan.' 29. They were too young to understand Judas Priest's subliminal messages. 30. When all else fails, the Prozac defense has always been a possibility. 31. Multigrain chips have always provided healthful junk food. 32. They grew up in Wayne's World. 33. U2 has always been more than a spy plane. 34. They were introduced to Jack Nicholson as 'The Joker.' 35. Stadiums, rock tours and sporting events have always had corporate names. 36. American rock groups have always appeared in Moscow. 37. Commercial product placements have been the norm in films and on TV. 38. On Parents' Day on campus, their folks could be mixing it up with Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz with daughter Zöe, or Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford with son Cody. 39. Fox has always been a major network. 40. They drove their parents crazy with the Beavis and Butt-Head laugh. 41. The 'Blue Man Group' has always been everywhere. 42. Women's studies majors have always been offered on campus. 43. Being a latchkey kid has never been a big deal. 44. Thanks to MySpace and Facebook, autobiography can happen in real time. 45. They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcolm X from Spike Lee. 46. Most phone calls have never been private. 47. High definition television has always been available. 48. Microbreweries have always been ubiquitous. 49. Virtual reality has always been available when the real thing failed. 50. Smoking has never been allowed in public spaces in France. 51. China has always been more interested in making money than in reeducation. 52. Time has always worked with Warner. 53. Tiananmen Square is a 2008 Olympics venue, not the scene of a massacre. 54. The purchase of ivory has always been banned. 55. MTV has never featured music videos. 56. The space program has never really caught their attention except in disasters. 57. Jerry Springer has always been lowering the level of discourse on TV. 58. They get much more information from Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert than from the newspaper. 59. They're always texting 1 n other. 60. They will encounter roughly equal numbers of female and male professors in the classroom. 61. They never saw Johnny Carson live on television. 62. They have no idea who Rusty Jones was or why he said 'goodbye to rusty cars.' 63. Avatars have nothing to do with Hindu deities. 64. Chavez has nothing to do with iceberg lettuce and everything to do with oil. 65. Illinois has been trying to ban smoking since the year they were born. 66. The World Wide Web has been an online tool since they were born. 67. Chronic fatigue syndrome has always been debilitating and controversial. 68. Burma has always been Myanmar. 69. Dilbert has always been ridiculing cubicle culture. 70. Food packaging has always included nutritional labeling.

holy crow, LucysSkylinerAlumni! Visual Dance Ensembles, ya say? Well they're gonna have to come up with something a little less fancy than that if i'm ever to remember it. But this is from a guy who still calls 'sanitary engeneers', garbage men (not to mention from a guy who still says 'holy crow' LOL).

I agree with a lot of what you said, but none more than the above quote. I'm not an old codger who listens only to old music, I listen mostly to contemporary music. I think for the sake of creating something memorable, but most especially as to not alienate a non-Drum Corps audience, a recognizable song here and there wouldn't go amiss. Carolyna Crown did that, as did Madison with their opening number, and the responce from the audience was great.

I'm talking about marching and playing techniques. I don't know much about today's teaching or management techniques to comment but if you do - then please.

I haven't been around the DCI/DCA scene for a long while. While I was thrilled with many segments of the DCI performances, there were a few things that just looked sloppy to me. Pasadena was the Olympics the drum corps season yet many of the drill formations were unclear, some guards were perfoming above their repective abilities to the detriment of the visual show and, IMHO, many of the corps were somewhat indistinguishable from one another. Having said that, I like the faster pace of the shows, some of the dancing (but I did feel that it was over-used and somewhat formula... sometimes became unremarkable because there was no contrast). Then along came Anaheim. I'll admit I've always had a place in my heart for Anaheim, but man alive! It was the dignity I admired. The only thing I thought less than perfect about their show was that there were too many members to peform at their maximum capacity. I'd appreciate hearing the views of young and not-as-young alike as well as peoples views on how the old school/new school question might apply to the different sections of a corps (horns, drums, guard). At the end of the day, I think corps could benefit from reintroducing some of the old school ways into their programs. Do you? Please expound.

nupe.. no way no how, no matter what (other than injury sustained while marching). Yo Mama kicks it and you quit mid-season... then you didn't march. You have to testify at your Pappi's murder trial and you quit mid-season... then you didn't march. If you can't be depended on to carry out, to the end, what you committed to carry out, then you broke a contract... null and void, do not pass 'go', do not collect 200 kudos. as for the guy BD brought in to plug 'just in case'... if he wanted to march, if he wanted that accomplishment, so much that he had hung around all season because the staff was afraid they were going to lose a member but never got to march , thats one thing.. the guy/gal was dedicated... but this chump never marched and put in no grunt work whatso.... so my Mick-meter ranks him a - Nupe.. he didn't march (I would admire him if he had offed someone so he could fill in). At the end of the day, it's not about who you marched with, when. It's about a contract you hold with people who are striving to be of excellence. Win, lose, or draw, you have accepted a bond. Ya don't have the cajónes to see it through? Fine and dandy ... but don't act and talk like you did.

I'm sorry for your loss, 84BDsop. I haven't heard that name in years. Yes, I lied about my age and was marching under Mr. Zazzara at 11 years old (my two older sisters were Mello-Dears so my folks knew they'd be in the same place often to keep an eye on me). He was my idol because of his unabashed enthusiasm. My second year under his direction, back in the day when in prelims you did a short show, the timing of our short show was miscalculated for the US Open (Marion Ohio) and we went overtime. I don't remember the exact penalty but it took us from 1st to 13th so tight was the competition. I was confused when our score was announced and thought we'd placed first (mind you, not every corps had performed at that point... I don't think General Butler Vagabond had gone on yet and if my memory serves me, they took 'A' class that year.. I could be wrong). I jumped up and down and started crying with joy (hey.. I was a child, ok?) even though Laurie Ayers from the Tri-Town Cadets, and my girlfriend was watching. Not until I saw Mr. Zazzaras face and Laurie's stunned face, did I realize I was mistaken. It's was, and is, one of the biggest disappointments of my life. I can't remember wanting something so much and I can't remember ever since being so heart-broken (AND Laurie broke up with me that night!). I'm sorry to say, that was the year Mr. Zazzara resigned. Secretly I thought he resigned because of me. It's funny, but since I've been considering marching, a lot of early memories have come back to me. And later memories came back of when I taught winter-guard (remember Wildcat's and Hollyhawk? Man alive.. they were something else!) for Grenadiers and Top-Hats from Towanda, Pa. Crazy fun days! So today I spent a few hours watching Dream rehearse. Objectively, I don't think marching would be that physically demanding but I did have to face a dilemma square. I haven't played a soprano since before rotaries were introduced. I did play mellophone after, but truthfully, even if I were to give it a go, I'd have no place to rehearse a horn at home... so I think they're both out. That leaves guard but I'm not quite sure guard is for me either. I honestly don't want to offend anyone here - at DCI this year, it looked apparent that playing a horn seemed to be out, so I was kinda projecting myself in some of the male guards places, and at the end of the day I'm not sure if I could feel confident wearing some of the gear they are required to wear. Like I said, I'm fit.. quite fit in fact, but truthfully I found many of the uniforms and movements to be immaculating. Now before anyone gets mad at me, I ask you to project yourselves wearing uniforms like some of the uniforms the guards wore Superficial? I understand it is, but it is nonetheless. I think I'm going to look around a bit more. I liked Dream. I really liked the experience of remembering rehearsals. But I want to make the right decision for myself. Who knows how many more years I might have to compete.. I just want to be as sure as I can be.

84BDsop Keep an eye out on these boards...there will be a new Sr starting up in The Valley (Granada Hills, specifically)....we're just tryign to finalize teh initial mgt meeting. Where'd you march before? Thank you for the info, 84BDsop. I'll be keeping my eyes open. I marched many many years ago in a corps from Elmira NY named the Mark Twain Cadets then later on moved to a corps named The Grenadiers from the Binghamton area of upstate NY. I think the only thing we were really known for (Grenadiers) were our unbeatable M/A totals. Not sure if you still have them but they were the mark for how difficult your score was compared to how well you played it. I was a soprano for a couple years, mellophone for a couple more, and guard for 5 or so. No offense Mick, but I think if you believe any of what you have written perhaps you should be considering an alumni corps. IMHO DCA corps today are running laps (backwards) around anything that came out of the 70's. Feet and chops-wise, that's probably more than just a chronological leap. - KC No offense taken. I'm over playing my state of decline a bit, KC. I'm actually quite fit. I appreciate your post though.. there are many things to consider: not the least of which are health agility. Take it from someone who knows. If you have any joint or tendon problems, think twice. You'll be seeing alot of your doctors in the future. My body will never be the same and I didn't even finish the year out! I bailed before the second competition. DCA corps are not the slackers that DCI would make them out to be. Rehearsals are exciting but exhausting. People over 40 are taking serious risks to their health. But ya know what? It's worth it! LOL 'd do it again. Having never competed on that scale before, I surprised the heck out of myself. I still can't believe the stuff I learned and did in that guard! My Dad would have been so proud of me. - cin4057 Thank you! I have an appointment with my doctor, Cin, for this very reason. He's a joint specialist (Lombardi: Kerlin-Jobe clinic) who has worked closely with over the years. I know what he's going to say, 'Why ask me.. you're going to do whatever you want anyway', but if I were in serious peril, he'll tell me that too. As soon as I send this, I'm jumping in the shower and I'm leaving to watch the rehearsal of a corps nearby. I'm going to be as honest with myself as I can muster while watching them.

I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S COME OVER ME, BUT FOR WEEKS I’VE BEEN CONTEMPLATING JOINING (WHAT USED TO BE CALLED) A ‘SENIOR CORPS’. SO FAR, INSECURITY HAS KEPT ME AWAY (’GOOD GRIEF, MICK, IT’S BEEN NEARLY 30 YEARS SINCE YOU’VE MARCHED.. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?!?) BUT DEEP DOWN THE TENTACLES OF THE NOTION ARE BECOMING MORE INVASIVE. THE ‘THEN AND NOW’ GAME I PLAY IN MY MIND WHILE COMMUTING IS BECOMING LESS EFFECTUAL. PLEASE HELP ME BY ADDING TO THE GAME - Then - ‘I’m sorry I’m late for practise but I couldn’t find my zit cream’. Now - ‘I’m sorry I’m late for practise but I couldn’t find my Dentucream’. Then - ‘Sorry I’m late but my watch broke’ Now - ‘Sorry I’m late but my hip broke’ Then - ‘My car wouldn’t start’. Now - ‘My joints wouldn’t start’. Then - ‘Sorry I’m late but I had a date’. Now - ‘Sorry I’m late but I couldn’t remember the date’. Then - ‘My alarm clock didn’t work’. Now - ‘My Metamucil didn’t work’. Then - ‘I Needed to stop for Sunscreen cream’ Now - ‘I Needed to stop for Genny Cream’. Then - ‘My mom made me go to church’. Now - ‘My probation officer made me go to church’. Then - ‘My hair was touching my collar so I had to get it cut’ Now - ‘My hair was touching my collar so I have to shave my back’. Then - ‘I had to study for my S.A.T. test’. Now - ‘I had to study for my I.R.S. audit’. Then - ‘I didn’t have gas’. Now - ‘I had gas’.

Dude - you have class!