over60

I got some news from DCI that elicited my pathetic version of Snoopy's Happy Dance. (No, you don't want to see it) Unfortunately, Snoopy's dance is 100 times better than mine. (####! Who put that piano there?) Anyway, I wonder how many of you can guess my question just seeing the answer: "Yes, he will." I asked them if Tom Blair will be directing again. Yes! For those of us who haven't attended any shows this year we be seeing things we've never seen before.

I just thought of a perfect disguise for people in the stands, although the ladies might not be too enamered. Imagine if you're a performer and look at the audience and see the stands full of Groucho's!

Now that everyone knows DCI will not be selling videos anymore, including digital files, how many people in the stands will now completely ignore the warning given by DCI at every show about fans not making any audio or video recordings? ("It's the law".) Is there any way to physically stop people from doing this? I suggest people who will be recording performances from now on begin wearing disguises since we all know that there are video surveillance cameras literally everywhere. Just sayin'.

A couple weeks ago I tried inserting a DVD movie I've had many years into my DVD player but it took three tries before it finally accepted it. I decided it was time to look for a new DVD player so I went online to websites that rate DVD players and found one site that rated my six year old player as still the best in it's category. The way technology advances so quickly that was a red flag. So I did some research online and it appears that the DVD/CD formats are being phased out, quickly. The current younger generation is only interested in digital audio/video files they can download to their phones/TVs/computers. They are not buying DVD players. Therefore, the manufacturers of DVD/CD players are getting out of the business, or at least scaling back which will reduce supply and raise prices and this is not good news if you're someone like me (75 years old) who has more than a thousand DVDs/CDs, including ALL the DCI videos going back to the beginning. I thought I would check with the DCI store to ask if they had plans for adding digital championship recordings to the Blu-Rays and DVDs. The DCI store is now powered by PepWear in Texas. I sent the following question to the Pepwear Zendesk Support group: "Has DCI ever mentioned to you about offering digital videos in the future?" Their response was, "Unfortunately, to my knowledge DCI is no longer going to be making Blu Ray's and DVD's." That didn't answer whether DCI was going to sell digital products but it did shock me that they would not be offering any more DVDs and Blu-Rays! So, I went directly to DCI and asked the same question and here was their response, "We are not planning on selling physical Blu-rays or CDs any longer. We also are not planning on selling video downloads other than those that are already available. We are planning on offering Audio downloads for 2022. Sincerely, DCI.org Support" Notice that DCI's response did not mention DVDs, just Blu-Rays and CDs. It bothers me that they will not be offering digital downloads which is the wave of the future. This is especially bad for me with all those movies and CDs I've accumulated over many years. They cost a LOT of money and I don't want to have to pay in the future every time I want to see a movie I already paid for and own but might not have a DVD player! So, the only thing I can think of is to buy a couple new DVD players now while they are still available at reasonable prices. I suggest you might do the same, especially if you have a large collection like me. Then I thought maybe I could find a way to convert my DVDs/CDs to digital formats to put on USB thumb drives or external hard drives that I could use with my TV but even if I could do that HUGE job, that's over a thousand conversions and my pc would probably melt because video processing is very intensive. To help clarify the situation I emailed DCI earlier today and asked "I heard you will not be selling Blu-Ray discs or CDs anymore. Will you still be selling regular DVDs?" They just responded, "We do not currently have plans to sell physical audio or video media in the future. However, we do have have digital audio and some video downloads available on Marching Music Downloads: https://marchingmusicdownloads.com Digital audio downloads are also available on Amazon and iTunes. Thank you for your interest. Sincerely, DCI.org Support" Wow. Say it ain't true! The only good news is that I learned earlier in the year that Tom Blair will be producing/directing the 3 days of the championships this year so we should have the best views of the shows but it's a shame the performances from now on will only live in our memories, with the exception of the scattered videos that may get posted to YouTube if that will still be allowed. For some reason this information is giving me negative vibes about DCI's situation. I hope this is not a portent of trouble. Perhaps DCI doesn't want to be bothered with the digital rights issues anymore, especially if the video sales were not profitable. Am I over-thinking this? (It wouldn't be the first time; I'm a card-carrying pessimist.) Hopefully someone knows something I don't and everything will be fine. Any thoughts?

The reason I began this post was about the corps, not the audience. That's why it was locked until I asked for it to be re-opened so I could ask a few questions. First, does anyone know if Phantom was masking on the buses when touring began? Also, does DCI require testing every day for the entire entourage, which would be about 150+ daily? And, what are the protocols? Is reporting to DCI mandatory or optional? This season could unravel quickly if more corps become infected. I just hope all corps are wearing masks on the buses.

If I understand the situation medically, comparing this year to what happened last year is apples and oranges. Last year the Covid-19 vaccine was good a handling the original virus and the Delta variant, but I think the reason for the large upsurge in infections now is because the original vaccine is much less effective against what's here now so we have to just pray this current upsurge stops. I heard there might be a new vaccine in the Fall but that won't help us during the summer.

I just heard on the radio this morning that the CDC states there are 100,000 new cases of Covid per day now, which is 5 times higher than this time last year. This is terrible news for our activity. The current vaccines were designed to deal with the original Covid-19 of three years ago. The recent spike, although milder in symptoms, hospitalizations, and deaths, is the result of new strains since last year's Delta variant. And young people are contracting the virus much more than the original strain. A director at Northwestern Memorial Hospital here in Chicago said that it can take up to three days after contracting Covid before symptoms appear, meaning people can be spreading the virus without knowing they are endangering others. Since it's extremely contagious, many corps, including staff, can be infected in a matter of a few days. What happens to people who test positive? Do they isolate and miss practices? If so, for how long? I've been thinking about where the biggest danger exists for a touring corps. It's got to be the buses. It's been many moons since I was on a corps bus back in the early 1980s but I remember what goes on besides sleeping, things like horse-play, yelling, laughing, singing and yes, romance. Kissing is about the easiest way to transfer the virus. Practicing outdoors is really not too concerning because you are out in the fresh (hopefully) air with breezes blowing. But you can't stop Cupid. As Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) said over a hundred years ago, "Teenagers are nothing more than hormones with two feet". We may laugh at that witticism but it's has devastating consequences. The worst case scenario I can think of is for Covid to spread among most of the corps once they begin touring with long hours on the buses. This could mean, obviously, the loss of a tremendous amount of practice time, but more importantly, perhaps housing sites will withdraw their offers. Then what? If several (many?) corps withdraw from the tour and go home, will DCI be forced to cancel finals? DCI has already received $4.7 million dollars from taxpayers to continue operations. I don't think that will happen again. And, the corps are under tremendous financial strain and I doubt if more than a handful would survive another lost season. I can't imagine what fuel costs will be this year. My advice for all corps: WEAR MASKS ON THE BUSES!!! I hope my initial thoughts will not come true. I would appreciate hearing your more optimistic opinions or other helpful suggestions to assuage my fears . Let us pray.

Here was my response, "The people directing your cameras have no idea where to look for the most significant action on the field. It seems like they randomly switch among the cameras every few seconds just to get a new perspective. That is unacceptable. Tom Blair of DCI has people scouting the corps ahead of time so he knows when and where to look during each corps performance. He never misses a visual highlight. In the future, all you have to do is contact each corps and just ask them this question, "Where on the field and approximately when (in minutes and seconds) should we focus our cameras during your performance?" You might also ask them to contact you if they make significant changes during the season. IT'S JUST THAT SIMPLE! Please make an effort next year to honor your commitment to DCI, the fans and the corps to present their performances as well as possible. Thank you." Think that'll help?

Now that the season is cancelled and DCI and the corps are in dire need of financial support, I still think it would be a good idea to flood ESPN with communications about showing a real sporting event, rather than some of the nonsense they are showing to replace their sports programming.

Yeah, for example, it would be a shame if the poor people who own the Beatles rights would wither and die because they did not get the massive fees from the DCI media sales.

Cherry-pit spitting and marble races? ESPN is airing obscure sports amid corona virus Why not contact ESPN and get them to broadcast some DCI shows, with DCI's permission, of course. It could be a way to get massive "free" publicity at the time when DCI and the corps need more national exposure and financial help. Just a thought. Miami Herald

I haven't posted here in years and I remember how rough you readers can be but I'll risk being ridiculed. After watching the Southeast regional in Atlanta I was happy to see that Phantom finished well and has a good chance of making finals again this year, but I thought the ending does not live up to a couple of their previous dramatic show endings that had the crowd on their feet, screaming. So I went to bed and awoke to go the the bathroom about 4am Sunday morning because I'm a 71 year old guy and that's what we do thanks to Mr. Prostate. As I shuffled to and from the bathroom with my eyes half closed I suddenly had a vision of a new ending that would be simple to implement (I think) while adding a great deal of drama. Hear me out. I've read a lot about Joan of Arc and there are many known general facts but many lesser details are unknown. We know that she was taken to the town square in Rouen, France to be burned at the stake and 800 troops surrounded her so the adoring masses couldn't somehow rescue her. Joan also had a priest accompany her. Currently the show ends with the hornline and percussion front and center and the guard spread around the field with Joan on the tower in the center of the field, alone, except for some puffs of smoke. Pretty weak, emotionally. And it's not the actual scene of her death. Thinking of how this show's ending differs from both their Juliet and Spartacus shows, it's a matter of staging. In Juliet, after Romeo collapses and dies on the 50 yard line, Juliet runs to him and holds him but she's inconsolable and decides to kill herself. But, she doesn't do it on the field. She runs up to the drum major's podium and commits suicide as close to the crowd as possible and the audience roared it's approval. In Spartacus, after our hero has been killed, one of the Roman officers who was sympathetic towards him grabbed a spear and ran up to the drum major's podium where he skewered the Roman general whose army killed Spartacus. Again, the crowd roared. (Incidentally, the bad Roman general who was killed was none other than Will Pitts. You unkind fans can insert jokes here) So, how to replicate the actual scene? Currently, as they end the show, the brass and percussion players are front and center so they don't have to move much. They can briefly separate so the tower can be pushed to the front of the field and then close back in to surround it as it passes. The brass players are now the 800 soldiers. Now use a portion of the ladies in the guard to act as the crowd. They would be facing the soldiers, most of them on their knees with their hands in prayer position in front of them and also crossing themselves. Perhaps one or two of them would either break through the soldier's ranks or be allowed to place small bouquets of flowers at the base of the tower. Now all you need is for one guy to be dressed in a brown, ankle length priest's robe to stand at the foot of the tower. That completes the scene. As for the music, I suppose they could play what they use now but how about a reprise of Fire. The musicians already know the music and it's much more forceful for this scene. Now for the real drama. There are many accounts of what Joan's last words may have been but I don't think anyone knows for sure. So, let's take the one that is most dramatic for our purpose. The Catholic church excommunicated Joan for being a heretic but in her mind she was still pious and considered herself a good Catholic. After all, she had only done what the visions of angels (and Saint Michael) had instructed her to do. One account I read was that just before the fire was lit she told the priest that the last thing she wanted to see before she died was a crucifix. She asked him to "hold it high, so I can see it above the smoke and flames." Wow. Picture that image. I think we got ourselves an ending. So the priest got a long pole and attached the crucifix to the top of it and held it up high in front of her as she was consumed by the flames. And, this is my thought, to add even more pathos, have her kiss the crucifix as the music builds and then slump in death a few moments later on the last thundering note of the show. If that wouldn't get the crowd up and screaming I'd eat one of their pith helmets, without salt. (maybe a little ketchup) This is the recounting of my dream. Am I crazy to think this, or at least some of it, is simple enough to implement even with the limited amount of time left? (On second thought, don't comment about the crazy part.) And remember, God is surely with them, although I do wish I would have had this vision a month ago. And I don't mean to criticize the instructors. Maybe they have something similar in mind. As Joan would have said, hey, I'm just telling you what I see in my visions. Don't kill the messenger. Suta!

Didn't I read something a while ago that Tom Blair (with his camera crew?) will be directing the cameras at the three shows in Indy?

It's time for DCI to get serious about corps using copyrighted material for which they have not received permission from the copyright owners. Off the top of my head, here is my suggestion. It should be part of the DCI rules. All corps must secure written performance/use permissions from copyright owners of all material included in their shows, musical or otherwise. Copies of these permissions must be on file with the DCI office before the season begins. ANY CORPS PERFORMING MATERIAL FOR WHICH IT HAS NOT RECEIVED WRITTEN PERMISSIONS FROM THE COPYRIGHT OWNERS WILL BE ASSESSED A 2 POINT PENALTY PER OCCURENCE. (in other words, if a corps has one song and one image for which DCI has no permission letter on file, the corps would receive a 4 point penalty for that contest) Since the performance copyright issues seem to be only of concern relating to the DVDs, perhaps the penalties would only pertain to performances during the championships, when the videos are being made. That way, corps would have extra time to secure permissions, if needed. But starting the season without having copyright clearance for all material in your performance would be a huge risk and would force corps to plan their shows earlier to allow time for obtaining permissions. This would be a good thing, in my opinion. Why should fans and corps members be "cheated" out of some portions of shows being removed from the DVDs? No more. Maybe you have other suggestions?