Michael Boo

I honestly am really going to miss doing the Recap Roundup. I really loved delving deep into the numbers and trying to synthesize what I saw into something the average fan could understand and appreciate. On the flip side, I'll be getting a lot more sleep on the nights of the big shows. While I will certainly relish that opportunity, I will miss trying to bring the fans more into the process. I'll be looking for something new to try to share. Oh, and thank you much for your kind words.

I spoke with him by phone yesterday to get the comments, and he sounded just like the Don Warren I loved as a marching member of Cavaliers.

Patrick Seidling is the director of the "A" Corps.

I've seen countless marching band halftime routines on television over the decades, and I'll say this for Stanford...They're memorable.

No one at DCI wants to contend with whatever might happen before everything gets figured out. It's a preemptive thing for now, and I hope soon it will be a thing of the past.

I wish it were that easy, and I've sent in the time codes for all the installments that have utilized stock music until (hopefully) this issue is remedied. For example, 6:42 to 8:20 is the segment I selected for the Bluecoats' article. I'm as unhappy about what's happened as anyone, and like everyone else, I hope the issues we're dealing with will soon be a thing of the past.

No Florida?

There have been ongoing concerns about the extreme heat and sun in the stadium. http://www.mercurynews.com/southbayfootball/ci_26360587/49ers-fans-complain-unbearable-heat-at-levis-stadium

It's worth considering that it would only look like this if we were all in the Goodyear blimp.

San Antonio is on a Sunday?

As for the OP's proposal...what more should we break that might not need to be fixed? Sometimes it seems like some love continual excellence, unless someone is continually excellent.

In Semifinals, being a fan of drum corps got the best of me and I was screaming by the end of Crown's show. I heard people laughing behind me on the camera platform and realized some of their staff was standing there. In Finals, I so wanted to experience that same feeling, but at the end of the show, I leaned over to my co-blogger and whispered, "That's not the show they put on last night." Sometimes one doesn't catch lightning in the bottle every time. Although Crown's Finals performance was excellent and worth savoring, it did leave the door open...and Blue Devils know how to walk through doors.

And the judges for Finals were drawn from a hat, but the judges who had already judged Friday were included. It had been decided they wouldn't be put in the hat. I was down on the field after Friday finale talking with Don Pesceone when George Hopkins came up and reminded him of that, to which Don admitted George was correct and he had forgotten about that when he put the names in the hat. Multiple judges that had worked Friday were put into the mix for Saturday by mistake. That may or may not have changed the end results, but it was an interesting thing to witness live.

I once had a dream that I was at DCI Finals and the corps I founded, The Belleaires, came in second. I not sure where that name came from, but when I was a kid, we vacationed on Belleaire Beach in near Clearwater, Florida. So, if I ever founded a corps, it would be named The Belleaires.

Sigh...life is too short...

Once again, Jeff Ream demonstrates why I am not the wisest person in drum corps. :) Seriously, he's got his finger on the pulse of logic and I tip my hat to him for that. Not that I wear a hat.

Don is THE reason I'm involved with writing for DCI. He asked me to write the LP liner notes in 1984, followed by writing for DCI Contest Guild, (the predecessor to DCI Today), followed by asking me to write the DCI program book in 1989, which led to all sorts of stuff and everything I do for DCI now. He meant so much to me that on his very last day as Executive Director of DCI, I took my marimba to the DCI office and gave him an impromptu recital of corps songs..."Over the Rainbow," "You'll Never Walk Alone," "Somewhere" from "West Side Story," "Danny Boy," "Send in the Clowns," and others. In the most literal way possible, he changed my life.

As long as "pseudo-intellectuals" and whomever else keeps buying tickets and soaves to support the corps, I personally don't mind what they say about the shows, the corps, the designers, the directors, DCI, whatever. The members of the corps know they have the support of the fans by the number of people in the stadium seats. Even griping about something means that something is being discussed and has hit a nerve, generating interest. I've had people complain about things I've written, which is fine, because it means they're reading what I write...ultimately the one thing I want them to do. Complaining about the corps shows means those people doing the complaining are watching the shows and they've been inspired enough by the productions to talk and write about them. Complaints about drum corps are better than no reaction at all, being that no reaction would mean drum corps no longer existed. Now get off my lawn!

One more.

He's going to cringe every time he hears someone tell him to bring his ax to the gig.

In 1978, I was at the Blue Devils rehearsal prior to the World Championships Prelims when the Boulder, CO Noise Enforcement vehicle pulled up with a complaint and the officer took decibel readings. Doris Wentland, a local with the DCI committee, had to attend a hearing a few weeks later. Drum Corps World published a photo of Doris bending down at a Boulder Noise Enforcement vehicle with her hand cupped to her ear to listen for any noise from the vehicle. In 1979, I was again at a Blue Devils rehearsal prior to the World Championship Prelims in Birmingham. The corps was staying and practicing at a suburban high school to the north of the city. During the evening rehearsal, an irate neighbor came from across the street to complain about the noise and state how his family couldn't enjoy their evening routine. This is one of the more awesome things I've witnessed at corps rehearsals: The staff was very polite with him and explained what they were doing and asked him to watch for a moment what they were doing. After a few minutes, the man left the rehearsal without saying anything and went home. A few minutes later, he was back, with his family in tow. They stayed for quite some time, watching the corps rehearse and then do the run-through. I think the corps created some new fans of drum corps that day.

I've read this thread from the beginning and more than recognize that it could easily be heated, resulting in posters "screaming" at one another. The fact that it hasn't turned out that way kind of makes me wonder if we've entered the Apocalypse and just don't know it yet. :) In all seriousness, keep it up, folks. This shows hope for more than just drum corps.

The following is something I originally posted on Drum Corps Planet. Music licensing seems like an increasingly annoying problem for corps. Just this past season, Madison Scouts’ popular closer, “Empire State of Mind” had to be blacked out on the DCI DVDs because the corps couldn’t secure mechanical licensing rights. (More about what really happened later.) DCI corps aren’t the only entities running into music licensing difficulties. Last month, Burger King had to pull a commercial with singer Mary J. Blige over rights and earlier in the year, former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was sued by the owner of the “Rocky III” theme song, “Eye of the Tiger,” for using the work without permission at campaign rallies. A brief history of how we got to where we are The way music is produced has changed dramatically since digital media has taken over. Madison Scouts’ arranger Robert W. Smith states, “The record companies lost the keys to the kingdom as soon as the first CD was pressed. It wasn’t all that long ago that Napster and other file sharing services were under attack for causing record companies to lose a lot of money.” But now, according to Smith, the music companies are “almost giving away the music,” making their money through concerts and merchandising…even receiving a share of the beverages sold at concerts. Much more so than before, licensing is a cash cow for the holders of music copyrights. In DCI’s earlier years, corps didn’t have to worry about licensing and didn’t pay the statutory rate for mechanical licenses. Corps have gone from barely being a blip on these companies’ radars to becoming very much a part of their income stream. (Popular speculation that the move from G bugles to B-flat horns was responsible for increased licensing issues is an unfounded myth.) While corps must receive permission to arrange a piece of music, mechanical licenses are not required for live or audio broadcasts. However, they kick in once a performance is recorded for sale to the public. (Why is it called a “mechanical” license? The name originated from the use of mechanical machines that used to copy the recordings.) Additional problems arise with synchronization licenses, which are required when pre-recorded audio is fixed to a moving visual image…something that occurs in television shows and commercials…and DCI DVDs. Such a license is not required for live performances, which is why those who attended DCI’s “Big, Loud & Live 7” Quarterfinals broadcast were able to enjoy watching Scouts’ “Empire State of Mind” in its entirety. That is where things become more difficult for those requesting a synch license. A publisher has the right to say “no” for whatever reason. Which leads us to… What really happened with “Empire State of Mind” Until now, drum corps fans blamed a variety of sources as the problem for why Madison Scouts couldn’t obtain the synch rights to “Empire State of Mind,” which resulted in the blackout on the DVDs. Rap artist Jay-Z was often blamed for this, as he is the original recording artist. “In our case,” according to Smith, “State Farm Insurance knew well in advance that on 9/11/11, they were going to put out a nationwide television commercial using ‘Empire State of Mind’ as the central statement, with school kids singing the song at a New York City firehouse. It was in the best interest of the insurance company to obtain exclusivity and they paid a lot of money to get it. If someone else in the popular media had come out using the piece, it would have lessened the impact. “I tried assisting Scouts by using my channels in the publishing industry to get the synch rights, but I kept getting the same answer. When someone turns down a request for a synch license, they just say ‘no’ and that’s it. The reason for our problems became abundantly clear the moment I saw the commercial on September 11, 2011, understanding why utmost confidentiality had to be maintained. Generally, such exclusivity lasts a year and is so expensive because the publisher can’t make money from anyone else during that time.” Madison Scouts Executive Director Chris Komnick recounts, “By the time the publisher gave us the definitive ‘no,’ we were already into May. We made the decision that the music in the live show was more important than the DVD and so we decided not to change the last third of the show. We thought they were telling us ‘no’ because it was such a hot piece of property at the time. It typically isn’t that hard to get such licensing. “We are continuing to pursue the licensing of “Empire State of Mind” with the expectation that the synch rights will eventually be granted. We’re hoping that sometime in the future, we can make available a full recording of our ‘New York Morning’ show in conjunction with DCI.”