Rocketman

Bummer!

I actually thought people were going to 'name names' of who they thought went 'bad'!

Regiment 2020 Show ideas (no music included) Phantom Unmasked Phantom at The Opera The Journey (400th Anniversary of the Mayflower) The Sounds of Silence (The Best of Beethoven)

YUP!

Well, now it's a matter of $$$$$$. Will they be able to compete on the financial level with the BD's and SCVs of the activity? The activity is so much more than music (unfortunately) and they must be able to 1. Develop a show that meets box 5 requirements. 2. Not go into debt doing so. So, how's the fund raising campaign going?

Overall, I'm ok with the staff announcement. That said, I was not that impressed with the 2015 visual offering so, hopefully Tony Hall can work his magic prior to the start of the season rather than after the fact when they are already behind the 8 ball.

1973 - RCA Finals. Was a trying year for the Rockets that resulted in them not fielding a corps the next year. 1974 - We did an exhibition at a senior corps show that was just great 1975 - North Tonawanda New York. Brass staff - gone, Visual staff - gone. Came in 6th out of 9 with a whopping 48.90. That dropped to 34.05 three weeks later. Corps disbanded. 1976 - DCI Prelims. 1977 - DCI Prelims (should have won) 1978 - DCI Finals (should have won) 1979 - DCI Finals (should have won) I may be a little biased.

Mostly promising.

Regiment 2020 - Isn’t It Romantic (yes, its corny) From pieces written in the 'Romantic' era. Berlioz - Les Troyens, Chopin - Piano concertos 1 & 2, Wagner -Parsifal, Verdi - Aida, Bruckner - Symphony #9, Puccini - Tosca, Tchaikovsky - Symphony #6

I highly doubt it, sadly.

Michael: Decided to respond while it's fresh. Will also respond after the staff 'announcements' with my thoughts there. The primary consideration (for me) would be the financial support they could expect to receive. I am not as concerned about the issue of location from the perspective of ease for the members to get to because, certainly, Rockford isn't exactly 'convenient'. Some have suggested Bloomington as the 'obvious' choice because they supported a corps previously however, that is not completely accurate. A single entity was the primary source of funds (at least initially). To me, the first step is for the corps to develop a list (like you have), evaluate the potential support, and then reach out to those communities to ascertain the interest in having the corps move there. I don't know what steps the Crossmen took when settling on San Antonio, nor do I have any idea what type of support they are receiving. Certainly, the bigger the city, the more options they have. Denton is right outside Dallas and you would think that would have to be the first consideration. I'd stay out of Georgia because of Spirit. I would probably forgo Bloomington and just settle on Indianapolis. Oklahoma, just don't think the financial support would be sufficient. Columbia SC is too close to Crown and Knoxville is too close to Music City (a newer corps). Surprisingly, there is no top 25 corps from Florida. However, that may also be a consideration. JD

2007. Considering the (R)evolution that has happened in 12 years, might be a good time to revisit (for someone)

Regiment concept - Pablo (Picasso). No music yet, just the concept.

It would not appear so and (IMO), there is no 'slow grind back to success' anymore. They have been fortunate thus far in spite of falling placements and scores. If this continues, I feel they could go the way of other corps (2-7) who were successful, then fell off and now are no more.

However, they need to up the design game so that fighting for 12th turns into fight for top 3. Perhaps the 2019 design staff did the best they could with the resources they were given. If that's the case, then if the resources were there ($$$$$$) should we expect a better product?

I'll state it again - Mike Hodin, Regional Vice President of Entertainment Programming and Analytics at Ceasars, lives in Chicago, is a fantastic arranger, and know drum corps (VK, etc). I'd reach out to him for the PC position. And yes, most every corps needs to back off the electronics. After see corps 1 & 3 whip out sousaphones, I fear we'll see a whole line of them next year, and that would truly be the final nail for me.

What I'm saying is, none of the companies listed in the link are included on the corps sponsorship image taken from the corps website. NONE! It appears to be proving my point. Either the corps has not reached out to them (which would be a mystery as to why) or they have reached out and (based on the image) have gotten no support. Which further supports my point that Rockford is not capable of (or willing to) providing the kind of financial support the corps needs to be competitive. Someone has suggested that it is the alumni (estimated at 2,000) that needs to 'step up'. Lets say a $5,000,000 budget is needed to attract and retain top design talent and provide the other resources the corps needs. We're talking a $2,500 YEARLY contribution to the corps. That's not going to happen. Clearly, it is corporate sponsorship that must be counted on for the bulk of the revenue. I happen to agree that the corps cannot do both community outreach AND be a competitive DCI corps. At least, the last five years appear to have proven that.

It must be the lack of coffee. I very clearly indicated that the link was companies headquartered in Rockford and none of them appeared on the corps corporate sponsorship image.

Here is (allegedly) a link to companies headquartered in Rockford - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Companies_based_in_Rockford,_Illinois . From what you see below, none of them are currently sponsors for the corps. Why?

We are going to have to wait and see what transpires over the winter. First and foremost, finances. Everything they do revolves around how much or little they can raise for the 2020 season. I still maintain that if Rockford is unable or unwilling to support the corps (financially) in a fashion that would allow them the resources to compete in the top tier of DCI (which obviously hasn't happened for a while), the corps needs to seriously explore a new base of operations. However, if that were even a remote consideration, it should have already begun months ago.

It's a little hard to do that when you get an average of 30 seconds of music (brass). On topic, how BK's show had anything to do with 'remembering everything', I have no idea. Vanguard, Vox whatever, didn't understand it at all.

Stop - recorded singing/narration, and the godforsaken corps announcement in the middle of music. I friggin HATE that! Micing soloists standing along the front side line! Start - Requiring the brass ensemble to play at least 75 - 80% of the time. Score higher difficult musical runs (typically a scale that EVERYONE does) while moving. If you can't play it while moving, don't play it at all! Stop - The obligatory section features (that EVERYONE does) Trumpets, now Mid voices, now lower brass, now tuba, wait, there's more, snares, moving on to the multi-toms, lastly basses. Another pet peeve of mine - over written percussion books (some call in 'aggressive'). When it doesn't 'blend' (IMO) with what the brass is doing, it is rather annoying. Like a child that is not getting enough attention who suddenly lashes out. STOP IT ALREADY! Oh, I could go on!

These are the number the corps supplies on their 990 form.

That's one!