PioneerWebmaster

We've actually had opportunities to add people in recent weeks, but continually adding people significantly hinders the improvement process. And believe it or not... we are trying to get Better Every Day!

We've had a few late arrivals, but for the most part... what you see is what you get for the 2012 Pioneer!

Very little carry over from the winter program in the drum line. The horn line was originally charted to be at 48, but we had a rash of injuries, financial issues and other "life" related things that popped up very late in the spring.

We really thought that we were going to put some bigger numbers on the field. A lot of factors came together (and not in a good way) that led to the numbers we have on the field right now. They've got a great staff on tour with them and should start to show some major improvements as the tour progresses.

I will get in touch with Lansing (caption head) and see if he can help out in with this! LRD - If you see this... hit me up on FB or by email!

It's actually the first time that we've posted in its entirety! Besides providing the basic info for parents & fans, my hope was that people will take a look at it and realize that we're out there traveling, rehearsing & competing like every other drum corps. Granted, the tour book only provides a glimpse at what the corps actually goes through in any given day... it does at least clear up the myth that the corps spends half of its summer in church and the other half on cultural days!

Too bad... I just saw them on 4th of July in the Brown Deer, WI parade and they were small, but still entertaining. Best of luck to them and hope to see them return!

Just saw this on Facebook via one of the local news stations. If you're at the show tonight... I'm not making this up:

Not a corps. "Corps style" band that participates in the MACBDA circuit here in the Midwest.

Thanks for the input on our website! I would love to put more "real time" info up on the website and/or via social media. As a digital media guy myself by trade, I completely recognize the fact that we're missing out on this area and it kills me at times. We've tried some stuff in years past with member blogs, twitter feeds and so forth with limited success. I would love to try some stuff again in the future. However, I'm a big believer in the philosophy of "do it right or don't do it at all". The biggest thing is having adequate time & resources on the road to be able to do it right. That means regular updates and in a somewhat consistent format. In the past, updates were sporadic at best and would sometimes go dark for days (even weeks) at a time with no explanation. Often times it was legitimate issues such as no web access and/or simply not enough time. That's understandable to me, but to the "viewers" that becomes frustrating. Rather than people being grateful for the bit of information that they did receive, I would get emails galore complaining about the lack of updates. We do have a photo gallery which in years past has had several solid contributors from the road, however this year I haven't had anyone submit photos yet. I'm already working on stuff for 2013 that will take the website in a more mobile/viral direction... I've got some really cool ideas that will be outside of the realm of what people are used to from Pioneer. In fact, I'm not sure if I've seen some of this stuff done on any of the other corps' websites... so stay tuned!

Pioneer Summer Tour Calendar: 2012 Summer Tour Calendar

The Cedarburg show is one of the best promoted drum corps shows around. Print ads, radio ads, and television ads... You name it! Add in the media coverage that they have gotten, and I've been thoroughly impressed with the job that they've done at getting the word out. I've seen some years where they've sold out the whole grandstand on the front sideline and then filled half of the back sideline!

A view from the press box courtesy of Brian Wilson, our Corps Manager:

Just a quick update to Pioneer: They were performing in a series of local events in the Milwaukee area today & yesterday... including a performance at the corps bingo hall in conjunction with a neighborhood festival. At some point in late May, the Sioux Falls show was nixed in favor of these local performance opportunities. Their next scheduled show will be Mankato on Tuesday!

Pioneer is a Quantum marching partner with our corps and indoor line playing on Mapex percussion and Majestic field percussion. Our brass is still King.

We've had a unique winter season again. Needless to say, the numbers aren't where we would like them to be. However, recruiting is in full force and we've had new faces at every single camp. It is true that there are a good number of guard and percussion members that are involved in WGI, so the numbers should increase in camps ahead. I want to make it clear that we do have openings in virtually all sections. If you have any interest in marching in a World Class corps and experiencing a full World Class tour, I would encourage you to check us out. We've got an awesome show in the works and have assembled an experienced staff to guide the corps down the road. Now we just need another couple dozen kids to really make the 2012 season pop!

Very cool. Hopefully they will be able to make it back!

Very sad day for the Pioneer family. Harry will be missed greatly. Our condolences to his family and everyone who was blessed with opportunity to meet this great man over the years.

Thanks Donny! I hope all is well with you!

Thank you very much! It's going to be an exciting season!

We can still use more votes in the Citgo Fueling Good contest! You can vote daily at the link above!

We're not afraid of DCP. If that's the impression that you got, I apologize. I personally embrace DCP as a powerful recruiting and communication tool. However, at times DCP (similar to TMZ or the National Enquirer) can legitimately become a distraction... and even a PR nightmare when threads blow up in the way that several have about Pioneer in recent years. It's great that people want to talk about the corps and we've always appreciated constructive feedback. However, as a corps we don't always have the resources to mitigate threads that turn into bashing of almost every aspect of the corps and its personnel. You have to weigh the pros against the cons, and sometimes it's best to avoid the fire all together rather than trying to play with it!

Vote Please?!? $5,000 can go a long way on tour for gas!

We would like to post more clips and so forth, but in all honesty it's a double edge sword. If we post anything more than some camp dates and basic press releases detailing our show/staff, there's a contingency of DCP regulars that come at us with torches lit and accuse us of overhyping the corps and/or failing to live up to the hype. Fair enough. We respect their opinions and have made an effort not to overhype the corps while still getting the necessary/relevant info out there. In addition, it's no secret that we often times start out the winter/spring with less than the desired number of members. Would a video from the December Camp in 2010 that showed 12 horn players really have hyped up or helped anything leading up to the 2011 season? I don't know... My gut reaction is that it would have led to even more of the turmoil that we had on DCP over the past two years. More realistically, I have the equipment, hardware and software that would allow us to produce videos the same quality as Blue Devils, Cadets and some of the other top tier corps. What we lack often times is the physical time to make it happen. I've done videos for the corps in the past, but the past couple years have been full of personal challenges that have made it more difficult for me to spend time with the corps. I'm working on a couple of things for the spring time (including a new video gallery for the website), but don't want to make any real promises on the content until it goes live! DVD - We're working on a project that may extend back over the entire 50 year history of the corps. Again, time is a huge factor here and finding the equipment necessary to convert some of these old formats has been a bit of challenge. More to come on this at a later date!

Voting is now open for this round of Citgo's Fueling Good Contest! We have a chance to win $5,000 in gas cards for this upcoming year. Please take a moment to vote for us! You can vote daily and every vote will help! Click Here to Vote! Vote Daily!