Threats

Didn't they (PR) also stumble a bit when they announced Adam Sage's departure? How ironic is it that PR is in need of a good PR person at the helm!

I can field this one for him. These are the facts, and they are indisputable: 1. Does DCI have as many corps as it has ever had? Heck no. There are fewer corps now than at any point in DCI's history except maybe its first year in existence. 2. Does DCI have as many shows/contests as it used to? No. This is, of course, a direct correlation to #1 above. 3. Does DCI have as many members participating in it? No. Even with the bloated expansion to 150 members, there are still not as many participants as there were during the peak of the activity. 4. Is DCI shown on television anymore? No. Not on PBS, and not on ESPN. And the leadership of DCI doesn't seem to want to do much about it. 5. Are there three viable divisions in DCI? Nope. Smaller corps started struggling (hmm....wonder if that had anything to do with making the member limit 150 instead of the old 135 or even older 128) so they folded Division 2 and 3 together. And now a group of corps wants to make a division of their own. Yeah, that'll help. And now for some opinions, not facts: You're confusing the overall issue. Do the members of today's drum corps play and march really, really, REALLY well? Absolutely. Do the drill designers of today's drum corps know how to write some fantastic, out-of-this-world stuff that looks great? Yup. Do color guards of today put on great displays of emotion and workmanship? For the most part, yes. Can today's brass players play technically and musically extremely well? For sure. And yet, they are being given vehicles that focus mostly on chopped-up music that is arranged to highlight the visual design...not the other way around (with exceptions such as SCV last year, and PR most years). We end up with an ADD version of drum corps that is a VERY VERY FINE PRODUCT. But lacks something. It doesn't draw people into it the way it used to. Allow me to present the usual comebacks to this when I've spoken with friends: A. Drum corps is a visual activity. If I want to just listen to music, I'll go to an orchestra concert. Response #1: Drum corps is a visual AND aural activity. I used to think they needed to be 50-50, but I don't believe that anymore. I think of drill as the thing that attracts the left side of the brain...but the music is what attracts the right side. The music is what brings passion to the activity. A cool drill move has a wow factor, but very rarely does a drill move bring emotion to the table. Response #2: I've never understood why a good drill writer couldn't write good drill to music that has fully fleshed-out phrases. Steve Brubaker, George Zingali, John Brazale....they all did this. No, the drill wasn't as fast paced (16- and 24-count moves instead of 8-count moves), but are you telling me that Pete Weber, Mike Gaines, Jeff Sacktig, and the other high-profile drill writers couldn't go back and write a great drill show to the music of 1988 SCV? 1989 PR? 1990 Star? Come on...we're not giving the drill writers (or the audience) enough credit! Give us full phrases, full melodies, non-chopped up music....the drill writers will still write great drill to it! B. 150 members gives 22 more members a chance to compete! It's a GOOD thing for corps! Response: Yeah...if you're only interested in the big corps. It kills membership in the smaller corps (evidence: There are fewer small corps now). If we instituted a 128-member limit like there used to be, and did it for next year, at least SOME of those kids would flesh out the smaller corps. In the top twelve alone, you could field two entire corps on the extra members that were added. But instead, we pandered to the headline corps, once again. They got their wish...and the activity got a little less healthy. C. Corps have to compete with many more things these days! Response: There has ALWAYS been stuff that competes with corps. Television, video games, soccer leagues, after-school sports, summer baseball, these were all around during the heyday of DCI. It's not that there are many more things that compete...it's that DCI leadership has been an utter failure. Terrible marketing, terrible management. A lack of vision for the future. These all contributed to the downfall....not the internet or X-Box or IMAX moveis. DCI is NOT doing so well. At least, not as well as it used to (and CERTAINLY not as well as it could, if it had better and stronger leadership and management). Things that run by committee are usually doomed to failure. What DCI needed in the mid-90s was a dictator...someone with a strong will and the vision to make decisions for the overall health of the activity, regardless of the endless political maneuverings of George and David and their wannabes. Instead, we got people who seemed content to give the individual corps more power...and of course, those individual corps are more concerned with themselves than with the smaller corps. What they didn't realize was that this is all a synergistic activity...and sooner or later, the struggles of the smallest corps catch up to the bigger ones. DCI has maybe 10-12 years of life left, barring an unforeseen shift of philosophy and management. Get strong leaders in the leadership positions, and make sure they are people that have the overall good of the drum corps activity (as opposed to the marching band or WGI activity), and the activity might be saved. But I don't see it happening. At some point, the G7 will go form their own sandbox to play in. Drum corps as we knew it will be dead. I hope I am wrong.

Just saw it. Looks like a WGI show.

I'd change that to every Phantom show past 1994. Brazale and Hall wrote pretty good drill from 1987-1994. After that...meh, I can do without.

Who the heck is going to carry woodwind players/instruments around with them all season long only to use them in a brief time window prior to the beginning of a show? Sounds like a waste of resources, and it won't be long before Hoppy or someone says: "Gosh, we're already carrying them on tour with us, and it really is unfair to the kids to not be a part of the show. We should let them be in the show already, why do you hate America? If you're not with us then you love terrorists."

Here is what is going to happen: The G7 corps will get more money. Because they have actually defined themselves as a "higher league," they will also begin to get even more auditionees with the all-or-nothing mentality. The smaller corps, facing decreased show money and even more dwindling numbers, will start to fall one by one. Talented staff members, seeing the writing on the wall, will start jumping ship. Write this down: In 2012, we will lose one corps. In 2013, we will lose three corps. In 2014, we will lose two corps. No new corps will come into existence during these three years, though a few Open Class corps may move into whatever the upper level, non-G7 league will be called. By 2020, we will be down to 10 "supercorps," exactly as George Hopkins called for 10 years ago, and exactly as he currently wants and is manipulating events. With no other corps to really fill out shows, contests will dwindle and become fewer in number. By 2025, drum corps as we know it will be extinct, either merged with BOA or transformed into a creature we can't possibly understand at the moment.

"I apologize to Chris and anyone else if my RAMD antics harmed them in their pursuit to minister to young people. " You should make this a part of your signature, and you should read it every single time you're getting ready to post anything anywhere. Your "RAMD antics," as you call them, have created baggage for you that I don't think you're ever going to be able to live down. That was your own doing. When you've got an entire FAQ page dedicated to your trolling, you know you've wasted some serious time. Think of all the good you could have been doing instead of trolling newsgroups for endless hours at a time. No one would care about your claims to be a world-class trumpet player (we're used to boastfulness from trumpet players, although I am surprised that with all those degrees in theology you never learned about Pride going before the Fall). We'd be doubtful about your claims, but all in all, it wouldn't really be a blip on the collective radar of RAMD or DCP...except for the fact that for a good 3-4 years, you were the epitome of the worst kind of human being and everything that was wrong with Usenet at the turn of the decade. You lied. You boasted. You harassed. You instigated. You threatened. You blustered. And in the end, you made a name for yourself, just not the one I think you wanted to create. I have no dog in this particular fight, but I do remember all too well your back and forths with Sorrell, Pilato, Lamb, and the rest of RAMD (and I just giggled a little, thinking about the "Howdy Bots.") May I make a suggestion? Leave. At long last, set your baggage down, and walk away. Enjoy life. Continue to play, or minister, or teach, or whatever it is that you like to do. But stay away from message boards...they do not reflect you in a good light, in fact, one could say they bring out the worst in you. I'm not interested in your resume or your rejoinders, and I'll pretty much ignore you after this, because frankly, I don't spend much time on DCP. However, as a fellow theologian, I'd like to point out that you've displayed envy, wrath, and most of all, pride in many of your online interactions over the years. You may claim that you are only kidding and fooling around, but your "boss" and mine may not see it that way. Rededicate yourself to a life of service and humility, Michael. Set your baggage down, and walk away.

And !boom! goes the dynamite. Page is down. Ladies and gentlemen....that was the quickest folding of a "corps" I've personally witnessed. Any chance we can apply this newfound power of ours to the TV show "Glee," the band "Coldplay," the chick who writes the "Twilight" books, and Glenn Beck?

Not to keep flogging a dead horse here, but... The fact that the corps has "announced" that its corps song will be Whitacre's "October" SCREAMS bando to me. Quite rudely. At the top of its lungs. In my face. With a megaphone. Turned up to eleven.

There's something about the drill designer's claims that doesn't pass the sniff test for me either. I could be completely wrong, but...there are some schools on his client list that I could have sworn were written for by someone else. Maybe this guy just teched them one year, and that was enough to toss on his clients list. What with Howdy on board as well, I think this might be the biggest collection of drum corps wannabees with chips on their shoulders seeking to "prove everyone wrong." Their staff bios are a classic case of "padding the resume" with as impressive-sounding tidbits as you can. And why the He11 would Howdy be teaching contras instead of trumpets? He barely knows the fundies of trumpet and now he's going to teach another brass instrument? The winter snare line instructor currently marches Crown on baritone, and was a trumpet player in high school? I do notice almost no one that is claimed to be on their staff has marched with one of the corps we call "big boys" (aside from the Crown guy above and one or two others). Looks like they are all people who wish they were better than they actually are, but are somewhat deluded about it as well. Reminds me of this guy: http://www.ehow.com/video_4931122_swing-ex...ne-players.html They've apparently taken down his triplet video, but...it was the laughingstock of the (musician's) web for a short while last year.

One more: I've seen that drill writer's stuff before. He writes some of the most un-cleanable stuff I've ever seen. Looks great on the computer, takes the entire season to get even halfway to clean, provided there are rewrites. The corps may be legit, but, Im not so sure its sustainable.

Great minds think alike, it seems.

Um, is that "Howdy" on staff? That right there is enough to send me running for the hills.

Wow...I've been away from DCP for a month, and all of this happens! These are some great pickups for Madison....I really like Vanderkolff's work. Madison should make a good push for Finals next year.

The boys know what they're doing. They'll be back with a vengeance next year...count on it!