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Amil Muzz

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Everything posted by Amil Muzz

  1. I am kind of enjoying this... Yes, in fact there was a hurricane in the vicinity of South Texas last summer. It was actually cool in Midland, TX last summer because of that hurricane. It was for a time forecast to come ashore in Texas but moved toward Mexico... Fact #1. I think I was pretty clear...I am not a leftist, at all. Actually, the US is a republic (electoral college), not a democracy...fact #2...the market has lost 300 points in the last week because of nervousness over energy costs and worries over signs of inflation, fact #3. Fiscal responsibility used to be a cornerstone of the Republican Party, used to be along with small gov't and keeping the gov't out of your business. No tinfoil here, dude...just a disenfranchised former republican. "What if.." Smart planners are accounting for and trying to off set their costs this summer. Talk to a corps director and and you'll find that these scenarios are apart of the planning. You'll also find trepidation out there, for good reason. Not even close about the economy? Which part? I know you probably do not hear about this stuff on Faux News. Wht do not you look up what Warren Buffet had to say about the strength, or lack there of the dollar. If you Googled him I am sure you'll find his take on it. Hey...do not take my word for it, do some reading, educate yourself. I do not mean to get personal, but if you think that America is a pure democracy, and not the democratic repubilc it is than I would say you need to check some of this stuff out for yourself.
  2. OK take my overemotional sentence out about the "lemmings", got a real argument? Got some facts? My main point is this: because of the poor leadership we have and the precarious state of the economy, there will not BE an activity in the near future. At least the one I know. That is the real point of how all this relates. As we've been going back and forth today did you see what the market did today and why? This could happen: We are all out on tour, say there is a hurricane (there was one around San Antoino time last year) or a forecast of one, gas shoots up like rocket. Or Israel follows thru with their threat and go into Iran. We just might have to call the game. This is the fragility we find ourselves in. Prove me wrong. I do not want to be right about this...
  3. You can sure not like the adjectives I use, but give us some facts that refute any of it. If you are, I am sure you are above average intellegence give me a good arguement. Understand my choice underlines my extreme discomfort with the dire direction our society has taken. The offensive labels reflect my total contempt for the road we are on and my disappointment in this country for voting the way it did the last time around. Look at the numbers for why people voted the way they did. It ain't opinion, it is fact. In in the key states Rove got these anti-gay props on the ballots. Anybody who votes based on the politics of exculsion are just plain wrong. Poltically I used to identify myself as a republican. Five years ago we probably would have been on a similar page. But the party left me behind in favor of the ultra right wing... Are you in favor of having your phone records sold? Are you in favor of this last tax cut that gives $1,000,000 earners $42,000 in savings and gives a $50,000 taxpayer $42.00 (forty-two) dollars in savings whilst our debt is in the trillions? Are you in favor of the Chinese financing our debt? Do you like paying $3.00+ in gas? Do you like outsourcing? This for me is beyond politics, party poltics. It has to do with the quality of society we have. For me, I don't like my 4th Amendment rights sold out. I do not like the fact that our activity is at the biggest crisis point I can remember, because of fuel prices. Drum Corps as we know is at risk. Next season (07) has got to have a different look. As far as the economics, those are the facts. Find something that refutes it, please. I do not like it, but from where I sit, it is what it is.
  4. One thing to point out about cars in Europe, they are a luxury for the most part. Europeans have great public transport. Our economy is tied to ours cars. So is our dollar, petro-dollars. When Nixon took the US off the gold standard, in 1972 I think, the value of the dollar was tied to the oil markets. Right now it is in our gov't best interest to have oil be as high as possible to finance the astronomical debt this "republican" president has driven up. If oil was at 35 dollars a barrel, which used to be high, our gov't would be bankrupt. Also, the US monopoly on petro-dollars is going to be broken by the Iranians very soon. They are going to start trading in Euros. Which is a stronger currancy, mainly because it is not debt-ridden like the US dollar. Read this http://www.energybulletin.net/12125.html This crisis with the Iranians has more to do with this new oil market than nukes. Because our global hegemony is beginning to be broken up it is entirely possible that the dollar and our economy will collapse in the very near future. In a democracy, the people get the gov't they deserve. At least gay people are getting married, right? I have enough faith in drum corps people to believe (hope) that none of you drank that Kool-aid, but enough malliable, ignorant, hateful, fearful, lemmings did drink the Kool-aid. As a result we are stuck with this gang of dirty, criminal gang of greedy little fixers. 911- do not even get me started on that...these are scary "men" who are willing to do and say ANYTHING! When the final history is written about this gang of neo-facists, or corporatists, we'll find out how bad these guys have sold us down the river (middle class) and how open to collapse they left our economy. For what? Why? Anytime you hear someone say the economy is fine, do not believe it. We all are feeling it. The drum corps activity is going to have to be MUCH different in the future. We cannot continue like this. Kiwanis will not be the last. There will be teams out there that maybe should not be. You young folks out there, educate yourselves about this stuff. Read the Bill of Rights. Learn how this economy really works. Learn to read between the lines. It is your futures that have been morgaged, you are the ones that have been saddled with fixing this long term. The damage that has been done to our country and our special form of gov't have been done severe harm. I hope it is recoverable. All is lost if we do not have an educated, independent thinking citizenry. It takes some work, but laziness has left us with what we have now.
  5. The 'Star Mystic' blinds people to the fact of what a special group of kids and instructors were involved in Star. We were a family and still are. In fact I would bet we are tighter then many other alumni simply because we had such a unique and special experience in Star. Maybe it is not Community as you define it, but it is something, and something really cool. It is a reflection of what we were taught and who we were.......and still are. Well Said...rebbeh!!
  6. 00 BK...counterpoint for days, melodic counterpoint, stylistic counterpoint, tricky staging...brass band, Peter Graham writes some of the most difficult music out there.
  7. Speaking strictly for the brass section, yes all spots are up for grabs. Clearly I would love to have all the vets I can, I it makes the corps better, and a tighter unit short and long term. From what I saw of the Colt vets this weekend, nobody is taking anything for granted. They know what they have and are taking care of business. Nobody on my staff is looking to "clean house." The expectation is as the corps grows, the vet membership grows with it, that is nothing new. The expectations are high, from myself and them. Frankly I was most impressed with everything I saw and heard. The potential for growth is there, the true desire for greatness is there. In the rare (!!!!!) case that something like what is being kicked around would occur, it would not be out of caprisousness, there would be a solid reason for it. None of us are stupid enough to just walk in and willy-nilly start disrupting the progress that the corps has made in the past couple of years. Again, speaking for myself and my staff, we are respectful of what has gone on. Personally, I am grateful and tickled pink to have the opportunity to get my hands on this horn line, especially after the last couple of HARD YEARS that Chuck and I spent trying to make the Troopers a viable Div. I drum corps. (I might add that I have a good chunk refugees from Wyoming with me again this summer, again very grateful and tickled pink) I am very fortunate to walk in on a situation that was a good one before I showed up, and I have Mike Bolla, Tom Lazotte and last year's staff to thank for that, not to mention Chris Tomsa. I will say this, to be a Colt this year is maybe more competitive than it has been in years past. The standard is being set by the veterans. They are hungry and so am I. *Just a personal observation on this topic and others I've read. There seems to be a mispersception of Div I drum corps that they have become some sort of uncaring, unfeeling, competitive mad...thing. This is my 24th year in drum corps, it has not changed much from when I marched in terms of the family aspect. Members still develop the same bonds as we did 20 years ago. I have been in the Crossmen, Carolina Crown, Blue Knights, and Troopers organizations as an instructor. The people who have been in charge of those groups are all about the kids experience above all else. Some are have been better at it than others, but the same desire to do right by them has been there. I look at the amazing progress Crown has made since '02. Knowing the integrity of the fine people involved over there, they most certainly would never sacrifice their core beliefs and philosophies, as it relates to the members, to get a number. Somehow, I get the impression that the persception is out there that competitveness and real compassion for the members are exclusiove to one another. Not about Crown...let me make that clear, but about Div. I in general. I yse Crown as an example because they are a group that has improved their competitive standing. I know Kevin Smith and I know the commitment of the BOD to the members is first and foremost, always. For whatever reason, and maybe it is our fault for not communicating that to the rest of you who's connection to drum corps is this service and are no longer able to be involved on the intimate, day-to-day level I am, but it is always about the students who come to us. At least with the groups I have been involved with, that is all I can speak to...however....knowing a great deal of the other folks around the league, as it were, they are no different. Nobody is getting rich of doing drum corps. We do it for the same reasons the people before us have, because we love it and we love the people we do it with. Jason Buckingham Brass Caption Head Colts
  8. The corps that really perform well together know each other very well. I have been around both kinds, the factionalized ones and the ones in which everybody hangs out and are generally cool with each other...both exist but I think there are more of the latter, rather than the former.
  9. Thanks for the kind words... I did not know I had a problem with the judging community however. The last couple of years with the Troopers they were very supportive of our efforts to try to pull that thing out of the mud. In alot of ways the conversations in critique keep me sane and helped me to keep my nose to the grind stone and have the patience that I needed to keep our program heading in the right direction.
  10. My name is Jason Buckingham, I am the Staff Coord. and Brass Caption Head for the Troopers. I am working to fill the last couple of spots...I have a couple of sop and bari opening left. The line is set for 52 brass, which is significantly larger than last years line. Over 3/4 of the line are vets and things have been going very well this winter. If you are a brass player, or a woodwind player for that matter...e-mail me through the Troopers web site...troopersdrumcorps.org Thanks, JTB
  11. Thrilla... Come to a Trooper camp. If you want to come and get in on the ground floor of a resurgent, venerable, classic, drum and BUGLE-type corps...check out our website and strap in!
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