hostrauser

Not sure why I didn't get notified of this post. No, there will not be an off-season. DCP-I may be dead for good. We'll see how many people sign up for next Summer assuming a (mostly normal) live touring season in DCI.

That truly is a puzzler. No drum corps has ever made an on-field murder a central part of their shows for numerous years in a row.

This thread is like a turd that won't flush

Bands of America recently released their 2021 schedule. They are planning for Fall of 2021 to be "back to (new) normal."

RIP Michael Boo. Thank you for all that you contributed.

Oh, I know. The Republican legislature here in Wisconsin passed a law stating they couldn't even start counting absentee ballots until election day. I think Pennsylvania and Arizona are struggling under the same ridiculous restrictions.

The election is playing a part in this, I'm sure. Sure sounds like some states could use some qualified tabulators.

Was recently introduced to Lucas Richman's "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra: In Truth" which is an utterly fantastic works that holds the influence of Gershwin and Bernstein without being derivative of either. A lot of stuff that would translate well to drum corps, particularly the bombastic finale to the 2nd movement. Mvt. I - "To One's Self" : https://youtu.be/d-w5l-QgSMw (first link does not allow embedding, sorry) Mvt. II - "To One's World" : Mvt. III - "To One's Spirit" :

Maybe not $25 million, but Texas has a K-12 focus on music education that no other state can match. It goes far beyond marching band (after all, it is *IMPOSSIBLE* to have a great marching band without a great concert program). And many of these fancy stadiums get frequently used for band shows, not just football games. I think one thing that really works in Texas' favor is that the same organization (UIL) runs both football and the state music contests, and they really don't play favorites. I remember just a couple of years ago a PLAYOFF football game in Texas got moved because a certain district's stadium was already reserved for that area's marching contest. I simply can't imagine that happening in (m)any other states.

Mililani had a very impressive showing at Grand Nationals (Semifinalist in 2017), and Maui is also very good.

Are we looking at skill level or just participation? It seems like almost every school in Iowa has a marching band, though only a few would even have a remote chance at BOA GN Semifinals. I also disagree with the person that says California has hardly any marching bands. At last count, California had over 500 active competitive marching bands, which is absolutely AMAZING considering the level of support California music programs receive from school districts (virtually nil). Most states are carried by a small handful of powerhouse bands: Rosemount and Eden Prairie in Minnesota, Tarpon Springs (and Park Vista, Timber Creek, Stoneman Douglas) in Florida, William Mason (and Centerville and the Lakotas) in Ohio. Oklahoma used to be like that: it was Broken Arrow, Union, and everybody else for a long time. It's only "recently" (last 10-20 years) that bands like Owasso, Jenks, Mustang, etc. have elevated themselves to at or near that level. Blue Springs has had a similar effect on western Missouri: Blue Springs South, Camdenton, Grain Valley, and Nixa have all be steadily climbing the charts in recent years. I think Texas is by far #1. Indiana is very good, but if you look at their Top 5 (Avon, Carmel, Castle, Fishers, and Homestead) Texas has about 20 bands of that caliber. This is a very subjective question, but I have a lot of spreadsheets. I took the top 10 bands for each state/circuit, and tried my best to adjust them all to the same scale (I used BOA scoring as the baseline, since that's the place where most top bands from multiple states go head-to-head). So, in my opinion if you took the Top 10 bands from each state and had a big, open-class competition, the overall "team" results would look something like: 1. Texas (93.99) 2. Indiana (88.20) 3. California (84.57) 4. Ohio (83.97) 5. Illinois (83.79) 6. Oklahoma (83.18) 7. Florida (83.15) 8. Georgia (82.34) 9. South Carolina (82.67) 10. Missouri (82.26) 11. Kentucky (81.71) 12. Michigan (81.21)

Something I've been pondering: will we see any current World Class corps voluntarily move to Open Class for a season to reduce expenses and get back onto more stable financial footing?

Go away isn't probably the right term. But it WILL change. It WILL eventually change into a format that is less harmful to humans. There might be many, many more deaths this winter before that happens. But COVID-19 will eventually burn out, vaccines or no. It won't stay with us forever, unchanging. That's not how viruses work.

We have a good idea: they evolve/mutate their way out of relevancy. The problem is there are so many strains and they mutate so quickly it can be hard to determine in real-time whether ALL strains are gone, or just, say, 75% of them. This stuff is easier to determine years down the road, in review. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200918-why-some-deadly-viruses-vanish-and-go-extinct

Their intonation was horrid and they earned their (relatively) low marks in brass... but I really, really liked Vanguard's book in 2005. Terrific arrangements of Shostakovich's 12th Symphony and Russian Christmas Music.

Please remember that the H1N1 "Spanish" Influenza of 1918-19 was not the only respiratory pandemic of the 20th Century. There was the H2N2 "Asian" Influenza of 1957-58, the H3N2 "Hong Kong" Influenza of 1968-1970, the H1N1 "Soviet" Influenza of 1977-78, and the H5N1 "Bird" Influenza of 2003-2004. But perhaps the closest reference point for SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 would be the the SARS-CoV-1 outbreak from November 16th, 2002 to May 19th, 2004. The last severe coronavirus pandemic lasted 18 months and 3 days. No pandemic lasts forever.

Pandemics in the 20th Century burned out after 12-18 months, with or without a vaccine. The Coronavirus pandemic truly began in Wuhan, China in January 2020. So, vaccine or no, the virus will likely have run its course sometime no later than June 2021, and will disappear for the time being. The question is: how quickly will things return to a rough semblance of normal? Considering half of the country doesn't even think there's a problem after 200,000 Americans have died, I would wager that America will learn absolutely nothing and snap back to old habits virtually immediately. With careful planning of camps there could easily be a 2021 season. It might be shortened a little, and (per usual) the biggest wildcard will be housing.

In Utah the marching band season is continuing per normal. This past Saturday, the first competition of the season (Wasatch Front Invitational in Herriman, UT) had 36 bands in attendance. 09/26/2020 - Wasatch Front Invitational - Herriman, UT CLASS 3A Open 60.663 Delta (Mus, Vis, Prc, Aux) 56.375 Grantsville 56.100 Carbon CLASS 4A Scholastic 68.563 Ridgeline (Vis, Aux) 68.038 Sky View (Mus, Prc) 64.200 Stansbury 64.125 Tooele 61.375 Uintah 60.650 Ogden CLASS 4A Open 82.463 Green Canyon (Mus, Vis, Prc, Aux) 71.300 Cedar Valley 65.000 Mountain Crest CLASS 5A Scholastic 72.250 Mountain Ridge (Mus, Vis, Aux) 68.925 Salem Hills 68.363 Provo (Prc) 67.925 Orem 67.375 Murray 65.775 Timpanogos 65.775 Springville 64.525 Spanish Fork 63.250 Wasatch CLASS 5A Open 81.700 Farmington (Mus, Vis, Prc, Aux) 78.625 Viewmont 74.850 Lehi 71.775 Maple Mountain 71.663 Alta 63.738 Timpview CLASS 6A Scholastic 71.250 West Jordan (Mus, Vis, Prc) 70.863 Pleasant Grove (Aux) 63.763 Copper Hills CLASS 6A Open 88.556 American Fork (Mus, Vis, Prc, Aux) 85.438 Skyridge 83.625 Davis 83.225 Westlake 81.413 Herriman 81.163 Bingham

Fascinating. USBands had become popular and runs most shows in Idaho, but hasn't gotten much of a foothold elsewhere in the West. I remember USBands trying a few southern California shows here and there that received minimal attendance. BDPA took over the WBA (Western Band Association) which then took over MBOS (Marching Band Open Series), and those two circuits cover most of the top flight bands across California and southern Nevada. WBA gets most of the top bands in California and is the only statewide circuit, but still only claims about a quarter of the total number of competing field bands in California. There's some overlap between categories, but this is the number of bands I have tracked competing in each circuit over the past four years (2016-2019): SCSBOA (Southern California School Band & Orchestra Association) - 314 total, 305 from CA WBA (Western Band Association) - 210 total, 164 from CA CSBC (California State Band Championships) - 154 total, 154 from CA NCBA (Northern California Band Association) - 94 total, 79 from CA For me, it will be interesting to see how BDPA tries to insert USBands into the California landscape. Both the WBA and SCSBOA seem to be love/hate circuits: many of the band directors I've talked to are very much "all in" for one or the other. The NCBA is slowly fading. The CSBC's focus seems to be largely beginner/entry-level or other bands that just don't have the resources to compete at the level WBA requires (though the CSBC has produces a couple of really good bands, like BOA Regional Finalist Gahr H.S.)

George Hopkins will be pleading guilty to two counts of felony sexual assault, according to court paperwork. Link to Docket Sheet

What was the last major caption head change at BD? Scott Johnson coming aboard in 94? The gradual transition from Wayne Downey to John Meehan? (Would that even count since they're both still on board?)

Follow-up: https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/the-coming-collapse-of-a-cheerleading This sounds like an abhorrent company, and a much, much bigger fish than those DCI usually swims with. Maybe it all turns out okay. But it really feels like DCI just sold off Soundsport. I really hope Varsity's interference remains limited to Soundsport and not DCI proper.

What are your opinions on hash-marks?

This page says Aston Township, PA, which appears to be Sun Valley H.S. http://www.theholynamecadets.org/history/george_hopkins.htm "This is exactly the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put!" --Winston Churchill

Citation needed. There are over 165 different vaccines for COVID currently being researched around the world. It is simply inaccurate to refer to "a COVID vaccine" in a generalization. Many side effects can be predicted. Others will be discovered in Phase 3 trials (human volunteer testing). The recent Russian vaccine did not perform a Phase 3 trial and is therefore very suspect. Any vaccine that is approved for use in Europe or North America will have completed and passed a Phase 3 trial. I will take any COVID vaccine with proven efficacy and a completed Phase 3 trial as soon as it is available. Side effects for the patient are usually indicated shortly after administration. All medications have a half-life in the body because as soon as they are administered the body starts processing them to break them down. This is why people with chronic medical conditions need to take the same drug every day, or multiple times a day. Any short-term side effects for the patient would be immediate, and long-term side effects are largely foreseeable. You mention thalidomide. Thalidomide is a drug still in use today, vital in the treatment of many cancers and leprosy. The tragic thalidomide side effects were not directly to the patient being administered the drug, but only to pregnant women's fetuses. The drug makers did not perform any studies on pregnant women and did not consider the very real possibility of the drug crossing the placental barrier. But the side effects were ENTIRELY PREDICTABLE. The United States of America did not suffer the thalidomide tragedy because of a brilliant doctor by the name of Frances Oldham Kelsey. While working for the FDA, Dr. Kelsey had specific concerns regarding the drug's safety (especially in pregnant women) and refused to approve it for use in the United States. Her concerns were 100% accurate and fully vindicated when the horror stories started emerging from Europe and Canada. The whole mess could have been avoided had proper research been done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Oldham_Kelsey