CasualFan

Not the current administration but Forte's original corps director had been deeply involved with at least 2 if not 3 DCA corps that have folded/gone inactive. I am not at all surprised this happened. I never understood why DCI approved his association with a corps considering his prior failures. I guess all they could see was another corps in the lineup. This is NOT meant to reflect poorly in any way on the current administration of Forte.

Well, I hope that your kids don't have cystic acne like myself and most of the males in my family. I took an Accutane treatment as a teenager and the only side effect that I had was very dry skin (it was extremely painful to take a shower in our very hard water). The good news is that it helped with the acne and while I still get it occasionally (25 years later) it's not too bad. Unlike one of my cousins who, after having 3 treatments, still gets acne the size of quarters all over his body. That being said, I don't understand doctors who prescribe it for mild cases of acne that usually go away after puberty.

Hopefully, only the G8 shows.

Oh dear, poor Southern California. Now they will have to start band booster programs like the rest of the country has for the past 20-30 years.

Was checking out the schedule for Open Class corps and it seems to me that this year they have a little more access to World Class shows. This lists shows the number of World Class shows each corps is attending and their total number of shows not counting championships. I had to guess somewhat on the West Coast corps because I don't know if the shows sponsored by Mandarins and Pacific Crest are considered Open Class or World Class. I went with Open Class as the only WC corps at those shows was either PC or Mandarins. On average, most OC corps are performing 50% of the time in WC shows. While I don't have the figures from previous years, my impression is this is more than before. 7th Reg 4/9 BDB 3/12 BDC 3/7 Blue Saints 6/12 City Sound 2/6 Colt Cadets 11/15 Revolution 5/11 Genesis 4/10 Gold 6/8 Impulse 3/7 Legends 10/15 Les Stentors 0/7 Music City 6/8 OC 6/12 Platinum 3/11 Racine Scouts 5/10 Raiders 4/5 Revolution 14/20 Spartans 3/10 Thunder 4/8 SCVC 4/13 VK 4/8 Has Revo been promoted to WC and DCI didn't tell anybody? But seriously, they are competing in more shows than Jersey Surf, Mandarins, Pacific Crest, or Academy. Wasn't it just two years ago they were suffering from budget problems? And now, they are pretty much doing a WC tour.

What would keep him from bringing in people from Cadets1 to fill out Cadets2 for Championships? Yes, I am aware that it probably wouldn't happen, but we've all seen what he does, when he gets desperate for control and power. Personally, I think that if DCA is going to let a DCI organization compete in their circuit, the competing corps should have a minimum age of 22 to keep this situation in check. In other words, it would be a way for age-outs to continue with the organization. Feeder corps under the age of 22 already have a circuit, DCI Open Class.

This is the problem, now though, there is not much difference, if any, between a top notch marching band and a drum corps. I remember watching the Inauguration Parade and the unit that impressed me most was, I believe, a middle school marching band, not the Colts nor the Cadets. DCI corps have lost their focus when it comes to precision excellence. And then, of course, you have the rampant attitude of the members that parades suck so their performance sucks as well.

The only new thing I see on the list is the pre-show entertainment. Sounds a lot like watching warm-ups in the lot Back in the day, it was called trooping the stands DCI does this at the regionals As mentioned before, OC's Volcano Score and this was done at the Las Vegas show. Umm...retreat, anyone? Aren't these are the very corps that wanted to limit their performance time, so they could practice more or leave for their next stop earlier?

Good thing it isn't being held at Boise State!

That sucks. If you see someone from Box 5 you might want to let them know that the webpage to order the DCA DVDs is blank/not loading.

No video clips this year?

Well, I must be getting old, cuz I don't remember them ever doing a webcast that wasn't scheduled. I know that at least twice the last two years they put up VOD from a show that wasn't on the schedule.

I don't know exactly what you mean by outside groups but Box 5, DeMello Video, RawTV, and Tom Blair Productions are all independent of DCI and they are the ones that provide the show/official videos. I would think it takes much advance preparation and a stadium equipped with high-speed upload capabilities for a streaming webcast as opposed to filming and then uploading for VOD.

You can expand the date range to include a full year. When you do that for 2007, it shows PR in third place but BK in 6th and 7th places and BAC in 8th and 9th.

I'm sure that DCI has $50,000 sitting around to spend on professional grade video and audio equipment. Plus the fact that even if DCI owned the equipment, it still can't be in two places at one time.

Or Colts 08

You might want to clarify with DCI about Finals week VOD. The restrictions on the Plus package states all VOD except Finals Week but the Basic package states all VOD except World Class Finals.

If you like to sit in the lower level, do NOT sit too close to the concourse. The noise from the concourse can be very loud.

Video clips showing Music City DC in the CMA parade: http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=12624845 http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=12619843 http://www.fox17.com/newsroom/top_stories/..._vid_3966.shtml

Not a lawyer but I know that you must be incorporated with the state, have a board of directors, by-laws, and articles of incorporation. You also have to file for a Federal Tax ID Number (EIN) and a 501©(3) application. You may have to register with the local city/county government. You can find some basic information at LegalZoom.com. Unless you can find someone to do this pro bono, count on it costing at least $2000 minimum probably more.

When the FN first started, corps were only allowed to make 25% of their corps produced content available as free. Now, I believe, all corps content is free; the subscription package is just for live webcasts and/or VOD of performances. There may be no "conflict of interest" and there is "no overlap" because you removed it from the FN. Now to access content that was once included with a FN subscription, fans have to pay an additional $30 simply because your corps doesn't play well with others. You can't deny that it is a competing service especially since you include BD's performances which are produced by DCI. I do think that DCI has not realized the potential from the FN and doesn't seem to reward those corps which do upload content compared to the corps that don't. In that context, I can see why a corps wishes to develop their own media center but I think the activity would have been better served if they worked with DCI to improve the FN. However, in light of recent events, this move by your corps doesn't surprise me or probably anyone else. As I stated before, BD has removed all of their content and the last time Cadets submitted a video was a year ago, 6/17/2009. I think that it is clear that these two corps are doing their best to undermine anything that DCI does.

I didn't know but that explains why it always seemed just slightly out of sync with the visual (and IMO the worst part of that show).

I guess someone forgot to inform Spirit and Teal Sound. Actually the 2009 rule change allows the recording of spoken words (but not singing) to be used i.e. Blue Stars.

Personally, I don't care that BD and Cadets have their own media centers as they are my two least favorite corps, but I do agree with your sentiment. Most of the stuff on MediaBox (Member Cams, BlueView, ScoJo's Licks, historical) was on the Fan Network. I believe Jeff DeMello spent hours uploading all of that to the FN but now it is completely gone. BD has no "Off the Field" videos on the FN. It is worth noting that Crown, Phantom, Bluecoats, and Cavs are still uploading to the FN.

Marching music has been around in the Southeast for 150+ years. Drum corps in the Northeast 80 years? Drum corps weren't needed in the Southeast because the marching bands fulfilled that role. DCA corps in the south: Carolina Gold Shenandoah Sound Sun Devils Music City Legend (not competing this year) CorpsVets Alliance Gulf Coast Sound Vigilantes One of the main reasons, corps don't exist in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, IMO, is that they are among the poorest states in the country.