dancingfrog

There was a time the the Lackawana, NY Melodiers All Girl Corps carried their bass drums like snares.

Saw your corps at the DCA Championships. I really enjoyed them. Looks like your corps is going in the right direction. Good Luck in 2009.

Check-out the sound track from the movie, Dark City in Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Dark-City-Inspired-M...866&sr=1-35 If all else fails, Wagner's Ring!

WAY TO GO KILTIES! I LOVE IT!

I can remember a very famous Wisconsin DCI Corps using long spears with beautiful brass spear-heads to guard their American Flag and an Illinois corps having lances like the Knights used instead of rifles. I am not sure if they used the lances to guard the American Colors. The corps that had the tank on the field had a guy in front of the tank carrying a rifle, not a bazooka!

Hey Donny, One of the things that I find about some DCI Drum Corps is that many of the corps appear to please everyone except themselves. Many people have the formulas and answers, such as uniform changes or change the Irish identity. You are of Irish Blood and I am sure that you know that there are many sides to the Irish culture. Maybe Pioneer should do as Mr. B. used to say, “Just go out there and let it rip!” I saw Pioneer this year and the potential is there, but sometimes to reach ones full potential, they can pull out all stops. Year after year, Pioneer seems to be projecting a very cautious show. For example, DCA’s Alliance built their show around a strong percussion section and the results worked and helped them reach their goal. Perhaps Pioneer is just trying too hard and use as examples, corps like Bridgemen, Velvet Knights, etc., do your own thing. Good Luck with Pioneer

As far as the selections of music that corps are playing, it has to be difficult trying to get rights to play certain music each year. It can be costly and time consuming. I sat next to a retired couple at DCA Finals and they had a print-out of the music that all the corps played. They were looking at the music selections and making comments even before the corps came out. Yet, I know it has to be difficult for a corps to pick the right selections. I belong to a non-profit community choir and we have to go through the same thing that corps do before we can choose selections for a concert. We may find more corps repeating music from prior years.

Tom, Many people in Rochester wondered why Frontier wasn't a multi-purpose stadium as in Scranton or Syracuse. Especially since the Rochester baseball team was not doing well at that time and the teams from Syracuse and Scranton were better. Naomi must have thought that she was dedicating a baseball only stadium to her father. Once again, like the Fast Ferry, poor planning. Thanks for clearing things up!

I'am sure that you didn't mean for the comment to be racist, but we have similar situations in the North East also with the casinos. Many Native American people are still living in poverty but many people think they are all getting rich. We also have a large population of people who have East Indian ancestory also and many of us use the Native American term to avoid confusion when mistaken for East Indians. Although I can trace some of my ancestory to Trible Leaders, there are still people who feel that some of my people do not belong in the main stream. I know that we still live in a racist society (example: reaction to one of our Presidential Candidates) and there are times when I may seem too senstive. That is one of the things that I tell friends about drum corps is that in my many years of participating, I did not experience or see too much racism. I still feel that drum corps people and their fans are still a great bunch of people.

Maybe the sentance should have read: (yet ... I'm sure the powers that be, their casino management teams, and their lawyers will try another "attack"). I had many Native American ancestors and the sentance sounds racist and generalized.

Some may have felt that the corps were set back from the audience, but I did notice that some of the same corps managed to part hair during prelims and not at finals while other let loose at finals. I feel that the corps with the right intestinal fortitude managed to peel my face last weekend! The quality of DCA has improved by leaps and bounds!

Much attention has been given to the winners of both Open and A Class at the 2008 DCA Championships, we should also give credit to Allan Buell and all of the wonderful people responsible for such a memorable weekend and all the Fantastic DCA Drum Corps who went beyond the call of duty to bless us with the most wonderful entertainment.

I saw a glimpse of the Defenders on YouTube. With the quality of their brass, I wish that they would move to Class A instead of Alumni. I loved their junior corps when they competed.

You can add Blast and the Hawthorne Caballeross 2008. I march with a community marching band and the director was very partial to woodwinds since he played sax. Some of the tunes played were on the "light" side. But, he added Malaguena one year and it was "Honkin!" Everyone took notice along the parade route when were were approaching them!

Much attention has been given to the winners of both Open and A Class at the 2008 DCA Championships, we should also give credit to Allan Buell and all of the wonderful people responsible for such a memorable weekend and all the Fantastic DCA Drum Corps who went beyond the call of duty to bless us with the most wonderful entertainment.