Scerpella

Awesome! Thank you! Something of a coincidence, the second photo which in many ways resembles that iconic picture from 1976 thats on the Scouts "Old School" souvenir shirt (below) has one person in common and in the same exact place. Todd Ryan is on the right end this time on Mellophone.

Thia is probably owing to our numbers but listen to recordings of the MSARP (on G's) and any Scouts corps since 03. Just a rawer more powerful sound. Which is not to take anything away from those Scouts corps of course.

Puts me in mind of Star of Indiana

my recollection could be faulty but wasn't Madison required to ditch all the costumes worn by the members except for "Alice" at VFW? They had Pinocchio, the 7 Dwarves, the Alice in Wonderland rabbit...but I dont think any of those costumes were worn at VFW.

Fund raising is a huge problem for any 501 3©. Bingo was a staple for many organizations but casinos dealt many of those programs a death blow. Kilties had tremendously good fortune in taking a chance on an idea 5 years ago which turned into the single largest producer of revenue for the corps. Great Lakes Brewfest has afforded the corps with security it never had before. The only problem with the event is that every year more people want to attend and the venue can only hold so many.

For me because it was so long since I marched in DCI, DCA seems in some ways harder than did DCI. Although the sheer number of hours we put in back in the day dwarfs what we do now as an All Age corps. In the 70s the drill design was rudimentary compared to now. When I was under 21 I marvelled at how talented DCA lines were although I thought sloppier.

Bill, you didnt get the new memo? These are the new strategic objectives of the organization Year 1 Make Finals Year 2 Win DCA Year 3 Win American Idol (New format) Year 4 Create World Peace Year 5 fold Year 6 Open in Branson for the Gatlin Brothers Year 7 Check into Rehab Year 8 Assume the Presidency in a bloodless coup Year 9 Get a Bingo License Year 10 Usher in the Age of Aquarius

I just was exposed to the works of John Rutter in the last 9 months at which point I started to grab everything I could listen to. I came to the conclusion the Rutter's Gloria by itself could make a great Drum Corps show....then found out that Colts had the exact idea 10 YEARS AGO! I am really looking forward to hearing Hurc's treatment of it.

A War of Attrition it seems.

Perhaps some MCL folks will spend a year with a competitor? You have Alliance and CV within 4 hours, Kilties 8 hours, the MN corps 12.

This is a point I failed to add to my last comment. Part of the reason G lines from the 90's and before are louder is simply that we were trained to play louder and standards for intonation and tuning simply werent the same as today. Compared to our own peers there wasnt an appreciable difference apart from volume but compare one of those lines to today and its obvious that todays players are simply trained differently, mainly in how to not overblow. So I will refine my earlier claim about Gs being louder to have the qualifier that part of that was simply in how we played the horns, although I still believe the G lies are louder at the end of the day all things being equal.

Of my own little country Backyardia.

Maybe someone can verify this for me but wasnt Phantom carrying a 70 something person hornline in 08? The G lines of the 80s and 90s rarely were too far over 60.

I would really like to see a Mythbusters type test done on G vs Bb. Obviously, obviously, obviously horn players comprise most of the difference in the sound between the two. But theres enough first hand experience in this forum that supports two truisms about this. First the best G line never sounded as good as Bb. And second the loudest Bb line has never sounded as loud as a G line.

The G sound is a bit raw compared to the Bbs but its a bigger and more traditional sound.

I say this every time 1972 is brought up but at DCI prelims the Spectacle City Mariners who took 29th overall won side 1 M&M ex with a score that wasnt beat in finals as well. That and being a finalist in the DCI depleted VFW Nationals in Minneapolis were the last two dying gasps of a once great corps.

You would have marched with a number of Mariners who jumped to DPV midseason in 72. Johnny Jackson, Larry Odom, Steve Rasputin Batton. A bunch of Mariners including future Blue Stars DM Don Fitzgerald went to LaCrosse the following year. Bobby Williams was another.

Back then, performance counted for more than design.

I remember that game very well. I was working as an orderly in a hospital and I was in the patients room and he had the Packer game on. The camera shot was from the pressbox so it was impossible at first to see who was playing. I didnt recognize the music certainly. Suddenly on the first close angle I realize its Madison and I sat in that patients room and watched the entire show as it was the first time I had seen they had changed it completely. All the while I'm babbling to this 65 year old guy in a hospital bed with a bad prostate or something about drum corps and telling him I was joining the following year. And 3 months later I did! As I recall they got a very nice audience reaction considering it was a football crowd.

The turbans werent all that cute though.

During "Backwoods Sideman" if memory serves. And used during the closer as well of "Come in from the Rain"

Looking for replacement patches from a jacket that was stolen years ago. The 77 and 78 patches are fairly identical apart from date.

This is a drum you are beating all the time Lance. I don't think its particularly accurate however. For one thing every dinosaur can appreciate the exponential rise in talent and difficulty that exists now in the activity, in that respect todays participants get all the love. But to characterize folks dissatisfaction with the direction of the activity and the effect of programming on the overall accessibility and entertainment quotient of todays units as "dissing" and not showing respect is simply wrong. Corps were formerly more numerous and the activity used to be much more vibrant. One can say that with complete confidence in the factual nature of it without taking anything away from the ability of todays marcher. And for the most part, actual criticism has not been directed at the kids but the so called stewards of the activity. Criticisms which are both valid and borne out by the fact there are less units and less fans now than a few short years ago. But its a solid bet that those who participate in the activity today will be among those lamenting what it has become in a few short years if the changes continue at the same pace, that much is simple human nature. Your perspective is necessarily going to be different because you did not march in the activity. This does not invalidate your opinion but it separates it from probably the largest part of the participants on this forum who have participated. For the record, I believe the activity has swung the pendulum back to more entertaining presentations.

Spats I think are the one thing which is certainly going to be part of the '10 uniform.

Wow, clearly youre in Public Relations and customer retention. Isnt it a shame all these stupid people with nowhere near your comprehensive knowledge and taste are allowed to attend drum corps shows?