ibexpercussion

AMAZING!!! What a still shot. I'm guessing that one is being printed in mass quantities for the guard members.

I am the only person in my family to march drum corps! Does that count as trivia? Kind of like Cliff Clavin from Cheers when he was on Jeopardy: Alex Trebek: Let's go to Cliff and get his Final Jeopardy answer. "Who are people who have never been in my kitchen?" I'm sorry, that is wrong. Cliff: Wait a minute, Alex. I can offer conclusive proof that those three people have never been in my kitchen.

I'd like to see a group do "Tempered Steel" by Charles Young. With about 20 sets of chimes at different places on the field!!!

Let's get some "Key-tars" (as made famous in the 80s) and some Kraakdoos!

For so many years I wanted to hear a "Godfather" show, and then in 2006 BD made that happen.

2 factors for me: 1) Crossmen 1992 was the first "good" show I saw in my life. Yes there were other corps that went on before them that night, but they were the first "good" show. (Still one of my favorite shows ever) 2) Because of where I went to college, and where the corps I wanted to audition for was located, my parents would not let (let alone help financially support) the travel to and from said corps. So, after proving that I could get the grades and get my stuff ready for corps, my parents allowed me to go closer to my school, so I went with my "1st corps love" the Crossmen, and never looked back. The two best summers of my life. *Though I would not erase one memory or friend from this time, I always wonder what would have happened had my parents allowed me to go where I wanted to initially.

In high schools it is not all relatively similar. For example, we have about 475 students in our high school (41 in our band winds, percussion, guard), so we do not have the same size pool to pull from. Also, we have to march 8th graders to have a respectable number of students to create the desired sound on the field. Next, we do have the proper scheduling at the middle school/elementary school level (K-8 middle/elementary school). The students at that school that choose to be in band do not get to be in PE, Art, Computers, etc, and thus we do not get as many kids who even try band. Along the same line, the school that feeds our high school has a "Study Hall" for students that do not finish their work from the previous day, or if a teacher wants them to make up a test, and they do this during the time in which kids have band, PE, art, etc. So we lose class time as well if kids have to go to study hall. Resources are an issue as well. We have to raise 100% of the funds we use each year for travel, equipment, etc. We do not get any money from the school district to help supplement these costs. So when we travel to an away football game, we have to pay for it, if we want kids in the 6th grade to have a instrument to play, and they can not afford to buy or rent, we have to pay. I know this came across as a bit of a "soapbox" moment, but there are a lot of issues we have to deal with at a small school. If all situations were equal it would come down to god-given natural ability and quality of teaching/instruction. All this being said, myself (assistant director/percussion instructor) and the head director work our tails off each and every year to put together a quality show, and we, IMHO, do an excellent job. We compete all throughout the fall, and win our class as a band, drumline, and guard, and many, if not most times, do better than the majority of the larger bands and drumlines as well. Not only do we arrange the music, raise the funds, and write the drill, but we give the kids a quality music education to go with it. We are just as concerned about the kids being able to achieve any musical aspirations they have after high school as well.

Magic of Orlando was the first ever Div. II Corps (now Open Class) to make Div. I (now World Class) Finals in 2002.

Love the former dictator (non-violent) position! Wouldn't it make it more interesting if they were violent?

As a Crossmen alumni I wish you the best of luck! Hopefully you can be part of something great, and be there when we return to the Top 12 once again.

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Doesn't necessarily have to be Crown. It could be any corps that could pull it off.

Crown keeping with the Rock theme, and doing a Led Zeppelin show. Kashmir Whole Lotta Love Immigrant Song When the Levee Breaks Black Dog Stairway to Heaven (no LZ show would be complete without this tune! lol)

Not saying he would, just throwing some thoughts out there for conversation. Also, Rennick left PR after they won drums (in which he was the caption head) and went to SCV.

Agreed. I am sure the remaining members of the Scouts will enjoy having a better group as a result. Why would you not want to improve your team? Hey, Kobe Bryant is a free agent and wants to come to your team, but you don't want him to take Johnny Nojumper's spot because he is already on the team?!?!?!?!

What about Mike McIntosh making a return to the caption head position, or maybe a move up to the top spot for someone like Sean Vega from the Devils camp.

Not for everybody, but what was the most influential show for me, and what made me want to be part of the drum corps activity (and why I still am involved teaching music today) was Crossmen 1992.

What about picking up an up-and-comer from an established corps. Maybe someone on staff with the Blue Devils (Sean Vega) or even try to entice Mike McIntosh back into the game as the head man from the Cavaliers staff.

So are people booing the corps that have boring, bad, or just plain snooze-fest shows if they are finishing 2nd-23rd? The answer is NO! People are booing because they do not like the fact that BD is winning, and that is wrong. Okay, so you don't like what they are doing, but the kids do not pick and design the show. And even more so, I think that booing the corps says that you do not like anything they did, which I believe for most was that they did not like the music, and were not necessarily opposed to the visual design. Even though I did not totally like the musical arrangement, I appreciate what they did, but yet completely dug the visual design. I applauded and stood up in recognition of the best performance of the night, even though it was not my favorite show of the night. My favorite by the way was the Blue Stars.

Enjoy the time. When I marched with the Crossmen in '98 and '99 having my Dad at Fianls was an amazing feeling. He could not make it down to Oralando in '98, but came to Madison in '99 and surprised my on Friday night before Semis. It was a weird feeling when as we walked to warm-ups seeing a guy who looked just like Pops, and then realizing he ha dmade the trip for my last 2 shows. Enjoy the experience!!!

Here are some that come to mind for me: -1996 Crossmen -1986 Blue Devils -1998 Crossmen -1992 Cavaliers -1978 Bridgemen -1975 Madison -1996 Blue Devils

They need to move back to the East Coast, and get back to their roots starting with their location and membership. Right now they just seem to be a really good H.S. Marching band minus the woodwinds. As a former member of the Crossmen it pains me at times to see the direction they are going now (down in case anybody didn't know what direction that was). I hope they can figure things out, and start trying to make shows that can be successful at the DCI World Class Level, as opposed to the BOA level.