ckomnick

On rare occasion a jacket will come up on eBay or Craig's List for sale. Dann and I monitor these sites for things like this. We first politely ask the seller to remove the item and not sell it. If they were a corps member, they often comply. Sometimes these jackets come to sellers through estate auctions or through abandoned storage lockers. If the seller won't comply, then the corps will offer to buy the jacket if it's reasonable to do so. One problem we've had is that there are black-market jackets being made in Japan and being sold online. And it's not just corps jackets, but other corps merchandise as well. That's been a bit more difficult to battle, but we try to stay on top of that as well. Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps

A big thank you to all of our fans who showed up for our Merrillville show only to have it cancelled. We waited it out as long as possible, but the prevailing lighting did not allow us to continue that evening. The option of an indoor standstill just isn't practical for numerous logistical reasons. We are hosting our third show on Friday, July 6th in Whitewater, WI. If you present a Merrillville ticket stub, we will provide you a free GENERAL ADMISSION ticket to the event. This is another great show lineup in a historic venue and hopefully you'll consider coming up for that show. Thanks! Chris Komnick Executive Directors Madison Scouts

Thank you Craig and the Cavaliers! As the show sponsor, it was very difficult to finally cancel the event after a long delay. While the rain did eventually cease, there was lightning continue throughout the evening...our foremost concern. We appreciate your willingness to make this offer! Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

Uh oh, it's usually not a good thing when you have a DCP thread started with your name in the title. Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

Here's a great opportunity for horn players who are still interested in marching this summer. We now have an immediate opening for a trumpet (lead preferable), mellophone and tuba. These positions were recently vacated and you would need to come audition at our upcoming camp (March 23-25) in Indianapolis, IN. Great staff, great show and a great experience are the reward! For additional information contact director@madisonscouts.org Come join us in Indy! Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

The corps did play ESOM at our camp this weekend as part of our rehearsal music. We also played Brian's Song and scales and exercises. I don't know what we're going to play for our encore pieces as we often don't even decide that until late in the spring. I'm thinking some of the slur exercises might be the best choice. I was just surprised by the word "fact" and was wondering if somebody failed to get me the memo. P.S. - we do have our show selected and I'm thinking on making the announcement on 12.25

Really....a fact. And your source is?

For the life of me I have no idea why Jolesch felt the need to publicly publish this photograph, especially without any greater context to the situation. It almost seems that their intent was to embarrass this young man. So let me put it in context, this was one of our snare drummers and the photo was taken on Finals night. All week long he had been battling an illness, one that had him in the ER on the Monday before Finals. In late July we lost one of our snare drummers due to injury leaving us to finish the season with only 8. This young man fought hard all week to keep the section in tact for the championships. Instead of sitting on the sidelines he opted to perform...and perform he did. I can tell you that everybody had the greatest respect for his effort. Obviously the physical exertion took its toll at the end of the show, much like you see with athletes who push themselves to the limit. Once he was able to rest and rehydrate, he was fine and attended the retreat ceremonies. He was a great sport about the situation and the guys in the corps appreciated the fact that he "left it all on the field" that night. So that's the full story. Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

Hey Fans: Just want to make you aware that the Madison Scouts and the Boston Crusaders have again decided to put on the gloves and square off in The Old School Challenge REMATCH! Last year the Boston Crusaders put a TKO on the Scouts by winning by a mere $69. But each corps raised over $16,000 each and it was an incredible fundraising effort for both corps. Thanks to all the fans who participated to last year's success and hopefully you can make a contribution in the rematch! Tour expenses are taking their toll, fuel is expensive, and we can both really use your support. While the Scouts & Crusaders battle it out on the field (and it's really quite competitive right now), we can do the same in this fundraiser. CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THE MADISON SCOUTS > CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THE BOSTON CRUSADERS > The Old School Challenge runs from now through midnight on Friday, July 29th. Final results will be announced at the Atlanta Regional. Thanks to you all for your continued support! Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

We have the full rights to arrange, perform and sell our audio performance of Empire State of Mind. The issue that has not been resolved is what is called the "sync rights", or the combination of the audio component with a video component in situations where it is sold on media. This is why the Fan Network can show a live performance of the show, but must mute out audio during a replay of the show. We have been in this process since February and will continue to work on getting this to some sort of resolution the best we can. It has no bearing on our ability to perform the piece. Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

Alumni, fans and family: We look forward to hosting the 59th Annual Drums on Parade (drum corps' oldest show) and we think we have a great lineup of activities for you. There are still a few tickets available to the show, but you'll need to get them from the gate at this point. The festivities include: FRIDAY – JULY 8 MSARP 5-Year Anniversary (everyone welcome) 6p – Stadium Bar – Madison, WI (near Camp Randall) Food and drink specials, performances on the big screens, good times! SATURDAY – JULY 9 6th Annual – “GO FOR THE GREEN” Charity Golf Outing 9a – Pleasant View Golf Course – Middleton, WI Proceeds benefit the Madison Scouts 3p – PRESHOW TAILGATE (everyone welcome) Live music, food & beverages - located in the park right next to the stadium Proceeds benefit the Madison Scouts 6:30p – DRUMS ON PARADE Tickets still available but must be purchased at the gate This is a big fundraising weekend for the Madison Scouts and we hope you can join us to make it a big success! Chris Komnick Executive Director

The Madison Scouts instructors have a clear standard of conduct that is a component of their contracts and reinforced verbally. We have again discussed our expectations with our instructional team to assure that such things do not occur. Having been on the road with the corps for the past two weeks and at every show, I can confidently say that I have not seen this behavior firsthand from our staff. However, I do suspect that the conduct in question was from an over-zealous volunteer. I apologize if that situation disrupted your show experience and we will work to make sure that does not happen in the future. An ongoing challenge for the activity is to provide a place for the staff's of corps to evaluate the performance on the field. As we traveled up and down the East coast, we've encountered very small venues with limited space for viewing the performances. Certainly the show promoter doesn't want to sacrifice prime real estate for staff viewing. But that same staff needs to review and evaluate the performance so they can be effective in the post-show critiques. This is a problem that does need to be solved. Thanks for the feedback, Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

At this point in time, the synchronization rights to "Empire State of Mind" have not been secured. The Madison Scouts have secured the ability to arrange and perform the piece, but the sale of synchronized video content has not yet been granted and DCI has appropriately decided to mute the replay content on the Fan Network to avoid any possible infringement at this time. This does not affect the broadcasts of live performances, only the replay of them. We have been furiously trying to resolve this issue for over 7 months. Due to the popularity of the piece and the numerous artists involved in its creation, it has proven to be vary challenging. Let's just say that drum corps licensing is not a high priority for the agencies involved with a pop tune like ESOM. We are continuing to aggressively secure a license and we appreciate your patience as we work through these matters. Chris Komnick Executive Director

Due to the weather outlook for today, we have CANCELLED our dress rehearsal this evening. We have reschedule the dress rehearsal for an 8:31p step-off on Monday, June 20th at Indiana University's Memorial Stadium. Public entrance will be from the SE corner (non-concert side end-zone). Sorry for the inconvenience and we hope to see you on Monday evening. Chris Komnick Executive Director

It is our intention to march 5-9-5 although we've been dealing with some nagging injuries in those sections during spring training. When you see photos at this time of year, there are all sorts of reasons that guys may not be in the line. During mid-week some younger guys are finishing up high school. Sometimes somebody sits on the sideline to attend to an injury. Don't read too much into spring training photos. Lots of changes and lots of people moving in and out. Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

No, it wasn't us. Whomever posted is in copyright violation and I've asked them to take them down. Not to be a spoil sport, but it puts the corps at risk when people post and use our name in the video/audio like that. As the licensors of the music being performed in those clips, it is the responsibility of the organization to help police copyright violations such as these. Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

Through the usual rigors of spring training, we find ourselves with a few last minute openings in the corps. We are in need of one trumpet (soprano) lower lead, one baritone/euphonium and one guard position. If you know a young man looking for an opportunity, please have him contact director@madisonscouts.org Thanks! Chris Komnick Executive Director

At the beginning of the season we had a discussion about the release of pre-season media and had the following conclusions: 1. It takes a lot of time to put together quality videos. Last year we had an intern during camps. It was very time intensive to shoot video, produce it, approval process, etc. We found we were spending an inordinate amount of time putting these together. For an organization that primarily runs on volunteer services, it was becoming too taxing. 2. The facilities in which we rehearse were not conducive to quality results. Anybody who has been in our facility in Bloomington can attest to how small and loud it is. Most of the video that we shot last year had useless audio that required us to dub over. Even when we got into the Mellancamp pavilion, it too was also very loud and boomy. 3. There is licensing risk in publishing video with music. Yes, everybody does it....but that doesn't lessen the risk to the organization. 4. We just weren't happy with the quality of the performance clips. Our goal it to put the best show out on June 21, not January 21. What we don't want to worry about is putting together quality performances before that date. And let's be real, anytime a video/audio is released for a corps it goes through an extensive evaluation and critique in the DCP community. 5. Lastly is a philosophical debate about previewing a show before it is completed or readied for public consumption. I like to attend symphony performances, but I never see the CSO release rehearsal clips. We decided that the best choice for the Madison Scouts is to give our fans performances once they are ready and well-rehearsed. We have an intern who will be shooting video starting in spring training. We do intend to have performance clips available once we are comfortable that the quality meets our expectations. As for announcing our music selections...there's no real secret here. We've announced more than half of our show repertoire. The last piece has not fully cleared licensing. This piece in particular has many people credited for it's creation, so there are several contact points to getting it licensed. Should be done soon. Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

The Whitewater Classic show has $7 tickets (concert side) and parking is free. For $28, a family of four can see a great show including the Cavaliers, Blue Stars, Colts, Troopers, Teal Sound and Pioneer in one of the best stadiums for drum corps. Plenty of room to spread out a bit, especially with younger kids with the wiggles. BUY TICKETS > When you're done with the show, stay the weekend in Whitewater. Go boating or camping. Or head up to the Dells! Point being we are really trying to get this show re-established and are offering inexpensive seating options to get the stands filled. Some shows are going to have different pricing options depending on numerous variables. But keep in mind that shows, and paid admission, is what keeps this activity going. We need to have a paying audience in the stands. A good portion of the revenue from the show goes directly to the corps participating in the show. Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

Agreed Eric! The Scouts appreciate everybody assisting us on the last Chase program resulting in our award. Now lets all be sure to vote for the corps listed above as well as DCI! Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

Good to see you this weekend Jason and thanks for all the work helping out on the bus reconfiguration. We have experimented with a few pieces for the closer and we have internally selected one of them. We have been waiting for the licensing to clear. One of the copyright holders has approved, but it's split amongst three groups so we are waiting for the other two. I don't want to put ourselves at a negotiating disadvantage by announcing the music until the rights have cleared. They are telling us we should have paperwork cleared this week, so hopefully we'll have something to announce very soon. Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

Since it's my shows that are being referenced, I'll answer: Convenience fees cover the infrastructure necessary to support the on-line ticketing service that allows fans to select their seat, process their order, and print and mail the tickets to them. The base ticket price covers the venue, the corps' appearance fees and management of the event. One could make a good argument that the price of the ticket should just be stated in an all-inclusive form...in this case $13.50. However, Ticketmaster has really set the industry convention for stating ticket prices and has set the standard by stating the costs separately. We've opted to follow suit. The tickets for Drums on Parade and The Whitewater Classic are managed through the DCI ticket service which is managing many of the DCI events this summer (except those in stadiums required to be managed by Ticketmaster). So whether it's the base ticket price or the convenience fee, it's all going to the costs for running these shows. That may or may not help, but at least it give you an understanding of the details. Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

I'll reply as I did in another thread: Yes, the Scouts are hosting it. No, we are not going to be there. We were committed to be on the East coast tour long before this opportunity became available. But we wanted to jump on the opportunity to re-establish a show in Whitewater. It's a great lineup and a great venue. I hope drum corps fans will join us on June 30th for this inaugural event. Fans of drum corps need to recognize that, where possible, you need to attend shows. Attendance at shows is the primary revenue stream that keeps the whole activity moving forward. The mix of revenue streams into corps vary greatly across all the corps, but the one constant for the collective activity is event revenue. The activity needs a stage to perform and we need people that are gracious to attend, and pay, for viewing our shows. Here are the basic economics of tour events. When you opt to sponsor an event you are required to pay an event fee to DCI. Essentially, this amount then goes directly to the performing corps for their appearance at the show. This is the bulk of the cost in running a show. On top of that expense is the cost to rent the facility, turn on the lights, provide event support, and local police. There is the cost to house each of the corps 1 to 2 nights at local area schools. Sometimes this can run up to $2K per corps per night. If you are an event promoter you sweat bullets until you sell enough tickets to break even. Sometimes that doesn't happen and an event promoter can lose money hosting a show. Given that most event promoters are either drum corps or non-profit charities....that is not a good thing. You try to cushion the net profit with business sponsorships and other ancillary activities around your event. As an event sponsor, I urge you to buy your tickets in advance...it takes a lot of risk out the equation not having to depend on a large walk-up crowd. There has been great merit to all the various debates about the state of the activity and the how and why. As someone managing one of the "acts", I can tell you that DCI and the corps are very concerned about what it takes to bring audiences to our events. We may not always agree on the method, but in the end we are trying to solve the same problem. I think that when we objectively look at the activity over the past 24 months, there have been some shifts to develop and deliver a more entertaining and engaging product on the field. As we see the various corps show announcements for 2011, I sense we may be in store for an incredible season from the collective activity. But we need people to attend events. If you went to one show last year, go to two this year. Bring one or two new people with you to a show. Everybody should see at least one opera in their lives...they should at least see one drum corps show as well. If you haven't attended Finals in awhile, make it a priority. If you dislike the closed stadium, come with others who dislike it as well and grouse about it over a beer. Just be sure to be there. Show up on Thursday to see how some of the Open Class corps do on the big stage. Attend the endless parade of corps on Saturday morning through downtown Indy. Celebrate the activity! I hear people commiserate about the state of modern music today. I hear people's concern about all the cutbacks occurring in music education programs throughout the country. I can tell you that the drum corps activity is an incredible music education opportunity top to bottom. This is an activity that is teaching the next generation of educators. The activity is providing an incredibly unique opportunity for young people to perform, on a large stage, in front of thousands of people who applaud their efforts. They are getting opportunities to learn and perfect an amazing wide array of music in an incredibly group-intensive setting. Pull the $20, $30 or $50 out of your pocket and support this activity by attending a show. When the Scouts took on the Whitewater show we knew that it came with risk. But we also recognize how important it is to provide the stage and provide the audience to the membership of the drum corps activity (regardless of whether the Scouts are in it or not). We've been doing this with a local band show the past couple of years in Whitewater and it's now time to bring drum corps back to this great community. If you live in the Midwest, there are groups that are working hard to make sure you have shows to attend and corps to support. Whether it's Scouts' Drums on Parade, The Whitewater Classic; or the Phantom's new show in Paddock Lake, WI or the Rockford TOC event; or the Blue Stars shows in La Crosse or Metamora; or the Cavaliers shows in Lisle & Michigan City; or the great show and community celebration in Cedarburg....go to a show...go to multiple shows...support this activity. So that's my stream of thoughts on this subject. Now to focus on preparing for our upcoming camp this weekend. Thanks! Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

The Scouts are returning drum corps to Whitewater by hosting The Whitewater Classic this year and hopefully in the future. The show site is here: http://www.TheWhitewaterClassic.com Tickets will be available for sale shortly! Yes, the Scouts are hosting it. No, we are not going to be there. We were committed to be on the East coast tour before this opportunity became available. But we want to jump on the opportunity to re-establish a show in Whitewater. It's a great lineup and a great venue. I hope drum corps fans will join us on June 30th for this inaugural event. Chris Komnick Executive Director Madison Scouts

One complimentary Madison Scouts t-shirt to SFZFAN!