Grumpy

Can those of us who don't do Facebook find out what's up?

Corps members may not particularly like marching in parades, but they are a necessity and a great way for a corps to help the bank account. Why do you think so few (if any) competitive shows are scheduled ON July 4? Many corps will cram as many parades into their schedules around July 4 as they possibly can-even marching as many as 3 in a single day in some cases. Many times, corps that are forced to take a year off from competing because of their finances will still do parades if they have enough members to make a good showing. If you want to see a huge difference in "parade marching styles", go to the parade in Indy that is held on the Saturday of Finals with all the non-finalist corps. The one that got the biggest response at the parade I attended in 2011 was a corps where the members were interacting with the kids all along the route-snare drummers handing little kids their sticks and encouraging them to tap on their drums, and the like. Every parade crowd is different, and even different sections of the same parade are different. Heck, I was in a parade a few years back where the parade had come to a standstill for several minutes, and our horn instuctor called for a "California warm-up" to keep the horns loose-and the crowd around us went nuts! Every corps should have enough songs in their parade book so that the DM can gauge the crowd response and call for tunes that will keep that positive energy going.

A lot of communities have time limits on how late outdoor musical events are allowed (like Annapolis for DCA Championships). It may have been that the organizers felt that adding more performing units would or could put them past the local time restriction. Atlanta being an indoor venue, wouldn't be subject to such restrictions-or possibly, Atlanta doesn't have such a restriction and therefore the point becomes moot.

FYI, I noticed today on the DCP headline page that SCV is offering tickets in their block for sale for semis and finals.

The only "local" DCI shows that I know of in upstate NY are Buffalo and Rome...and Rome isn't exactly local, it's about 3 hours IIRC. In addition, if either or both of those shows happen to take place during the week, it could have a significant impact on the ability of some members to participate.

Many corps will buy "blocks" of tickets each year that are usually in the better sections, then sell those that they don't sell to their own alumni/corps' members families/etc. Those generally don't become available until late spring, again check Marketplace on here or contact your favorite corps.

Arguably one of the most popular and crowd favorite shows of this past season was Jersey Surf's "Bridgemania" so I don't buy this. Just sit near a corps staff (any) during their corps' show, they'll key you in when to applaud-as they all do, and rather vocally, even when the rest of the crowd is sitting on their hands. And, IMHO, Madison are still the masters at getting people out of their seats.

Umm, note to architects-put a drainage system in. For those who know about the debacle with the Oil Can, 'nuff said.

I'm going to expand on the stadium thing here...each year, LOS is progressively trying to minimize the "echo" effect in the dome, and with a lot of sound deadening efforts. While helping to achieve the desired effect, they also mute the noise from the crowd, IMHO.

At least in our area, if UPS leaves that wonderful news during the week, you can drive to their terminal which generally is open for a short time and pick up your package after 7 p.m. on weeknights...I have done this exact thing in the past in order to get my "fix", even though the terminal is a good 45 minute ride each way. I have said this before but I really wish DCI would offer different shipping options than UPS, even if it cost more...if US postal service was used and I had to pick up my package, it's less than a 5 minute trip and Fedex is about a half hour but is on my way to/from work. I have enough negative experiences with UPS to write a book-and I don't get a whole lot of packages delivered.

Whenever you order airline or concert tickets, your credit card is charged immediately-even if the travel date or concert is 8 or 9 months in the future. Same thing with DCI/DCA tickets-if you ordered tickets for next year's championships, you've already seen that charge show up on your cc statements. With DCI quarters/semis/finals, that's probably approaching $275 per person right there.

I received an e-mail from DCI the week that the standard DVD started shipping, that said the Blu-ray would begin shipping after Thanksgiving. I haven't received anything with tracking information yet, and as of a few days ago my credit card hasn't been hit yet either. FWIW, I ordered mine as part of the FN package.

Boston's home show each August usually only has 4 or so world class corps. There are usually a couple of open class corps and alumni corps usually round out the schedule. There are generally 7 or 8 corps performing in total. I have a feeling this comes down to primarily two issues...first, money. I was part of a group that hosted a DCI show several years ago, and looked into hosting a DCA show. At the time, the more top corps you had, the more it cost. The cost for corps was based on that corps' placement at the previous years championships. In other words, having Blue Devils and Crown at your show would cost significantly more than having Troop and Jersey Surf. Alumni corps, and in particular Boston's own alumni corps, don't have a huge impact on the cost side either. The second issue is logistics. Where are the corps coming from? The next stop after the Boston home show is Allentown, so depending on where they are coming from it may not make sense logistically for them to go to Boston then on to Allentown. IIRC, many times (though not this year) the Boston show takes place the same night as the first night in Allentown, so in those instances the corps in the Boston show are always corps from the second night at Allentown.

My guess is that FN orders were probably among the earliest...one of the Fan Network options was to subscribe to FN and include DVD or Blu-ray at certain subscription levels. Many people who ordered with this method most likely did so when they renewed their FN, which IIRC expired at the end of May...so she most likely was trying to determine when your order would have been likely to ship. Unless something has changed this year, traditionally they have shipped based on when you ordered. If you ordered Blu-ray, the e-mail I received yesterday stated those would begin shipping after Thanksgiving.

I don't recall receiving e-mails in the past, but this year I received TWO-the first was a couple weeks back, and informed that shipments would begin the week of 11/12; the second was yesterday informing me that the Blu-rays would begin shipping after Thanksgiving. I am assuming that the latter was sent because the DCI office was probably getting numerous complaints about orders arriving without the Blu-rays, or people who had ordered only the Blu-rays calling and wondering where their order was. I'm glad for the second one, as I had been wondering when my Blu-rays would be arriving-but in this area, Mr. UPS Man is not the most reliable (wish that DCI gave us the option to use other shippers, but that's a topic for another day).

This was covered in another thread...this scene was "ad-libbed" by the corps members and the recording crew had no clue that this was going to take place, and the only angle they had would not portray the "suicide" properly.

But then there is still the possibility of what happened in 2008...rights were granted, then rescinded after the finished product had already begun shipping, which caused an immediate halt to the shipments, and an edit to remove that portion before they could resume shipping.

Phantom, but they'd have to go back to the black unis. Wasn't BD's '95 show "dark"? I could also see Bloo doing a dark show.

I was kind of surprised that this happened to Revo; I would have thought after 2011 that EVERYTHING there would have been under the microscope. I honestly don't know what the best solution to the entire situation concerning all the rights, but it is clear that DCI needs to draft a policy that the corps can live with, that DCI can live with, and that will give those who are purchasing FN and/or audio and video products a complete product. I recognize that a lot of the rule changes allowing electronics were drafted to "allow designers creative freedom" but IMHO a great designer should be talented enough to design a great program within the parameters allowed. It was done for a good many years before electronics were added to the mix.

Bush was looking for a DM a couple weeks back, there is a thread in this forum about it. Haven't heard if the opening is still available. FWIW, most DCA corps appear to be having their open house/auditions over the long Thanksgiving weekend, I would pick a couple that interest you and in within your geographic preference and pay them a visit.

I honestly can't see one of the ringleaders of the G7 debacle (Hop) promoting a new open class corps. If I had to guess, I would say it would involve something to do with Crown Ticketing.

I don't know if this is still the case, but BAC had held winter camps in Florida and had a pretty healthy number of participants from that area...I heard from some alums it was because, at least at the time, most of their staff and a good amount of the staff's students were located in Florida. This was a few years ago, don't know if their situation has changed. In the spring they had continued their all days in New Hampshire, with the exception of last year because they began tour in CA.

Does anyone have knowledge of the status of Alliance and/or Brigs?

I'd settle for a PA system that we could actually HEAR, some stadium ushers who could help people find their seats to eliminate the traffic jam at the concourse exits, and setting up an entrance on the side of the stadium instead of making everyone hike around to the ticket window entrance even if you already had tickets.

I dated a woman who was a foster parent to teenage girls, and the placement agency asked that I submit to a background check since I was at the house so much and occasionally stayed overnight-and that was over 10 years ago, so this has been on the radar for quite some time. Any corps that does not already do this as a standard operating procedure is living on borrowed time.