Rufus67

Saw the show last night and was very impressed with all the corps and I can't ever remember a show/year where that was true. Just really impressed with the whole thing and excited to see how things progress this year. Oh, and the Bluecoats battery is simply sick...sick I tell you! The Cadets drumline got a lot of love during the broadcast, but Bluecoats outdid even them in fan reaction.

I'll admit I was totally wrong on the Cadets show. They absolutely killed it last night and the entire theater thought so too. They and Bluecoats by far got the most applause and spontaneous "Ooohs!"

First live show was summer of 1984 while attending George M. Parks' drum major academy. I believe Crossmen were there but the stars of the show were the Garfield Cadets. Been a Cadet fan since then. Garfield was rehearsing on the same campus as us and George came into class asking if there were any trombone/baritone players. One of the guys we hung out with said he did and George asked if he could speak with him. Apparently a Garfield member had injured themselves, couldn't march any longer, and they were looking for someone to replace them. This guy volunteered, watched the show from the sideline, and finished the tour with them (at least I think he did). Cool story.

From C2's site, pretty recent post I think: Interested in joining Cadets2? There is still a chance to be a member of Cadets2 in 2014. The corps has very limited spots available to talented performers in and around the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania: Color Guard: 1 rifle, 1 flag Front Ensemble: 1 vibes Brass: 2 baritones, 1 tuba

As a disclaimer I am a huge Cadets fan. First show I saw live was in '84 and from that point on they could basically puke on the field and I'd like it. Also as others have said, thank you to YEA and George for making this performance available. Under the heading of "no good deed goes unpunished" though... This would be a wonderful show with a great brass line, battery, pit, and colorguard that would stand up just fine on its own if not for: Narration - didn't add a single thing. I've seen the video interview of the performer who seems like a nice guy, and his performance is ok, but the concept didn't work in its current format. Too much in my opinion. French horn - yes, I can see why DCI needed to added other brass instruments for that whopping 10-15 second solo (which was good btw). Totally get now how a mello wouldn't have worked there... Stage - it's an albatross and no matter how much it gets gussied up, or how many folks come popping out of the trap doors, all I kept thinking was "When are they going to do something with that next?" rather than enjoy what the corps is doing on the field. Priorities, show designers - while we pay to see a show it most certainly isn't to stare at a platform that obscures most of the work being done close to the sideline. It also reminded me of how folks refer to owning a boat - once you have it you feel compelled to use it all the time or find things to do with it. The whole show reminded me of one many years ago I think by the Sky Ryders when they did West Side Story. They attempted to perform the musical with the colorguard doing the acting and corps proper basically moving behind them as a marching orchestra pit. Can't say I have favorable memories of that show, though it was an attempt to do something different, and I'm very concerned this one by the Cadets won't pan out either.

They're in rehearsal, I know, and have seen sporadic Facebook posts from some of the folks who've signed up to march this year.

I doubt many will to start. Not sure if most (all?) had their show concepts set, or at least well on the way to be, by the time the announcement came out in November. How hard would it be to incorporate those type of instruments into the show especially if the music selected doesn't feature them? Having answered the original question I offer apologies in advance for hijacking the thread. Would someone smarter than me help me understand why there would be a need for trombones, french horns, etc.? Aren't the marching equivalents good enough musically? Stated a bit differently - what musical purpose is there to fielding the "new" instrumentation?

I don't think any corps, or 501c3, out there is looking at this type of thing (or i-Texts for that matter) as anything other than supplemental income. It's kind of simple really - corps always need money, people will always shop on Amazon, so why not link their shopping to a non-profit? Another way of saying it is "What's the harm in setting it up?"

To: President Stu From: Baritone Section Leader Smith As a 5-year member of the corps who is entering their age-out year, and as a member of the corps leadership, I feel compelled to let you know of events as they come up. I've discussed this situation with my fellow section leads, caption head, and drum major and we're at loggerheads over how to address a situation that's come up. Members discussing openings in other corps and/or breaking contracts is nothing new, but the buzz has become quite loud in the last couple of months. Long story short, there are a good number of members who are discussing breaking their contracts due to what they view as possible shortened/cancelled tour this summer. My main goal in letting you know this is to ensure a successful season for myself and the corps (including those discussing bolting). There are several who are not yet current on their tuition and my fear is that they will never pay if they think there's a possibility of the tour being cancelled mid-summer. I'm taking a calculated risk informing you of the above since as a group we can't agree to course of action, all while time is ticking away. I don't want my last year marching to be incomplete and will do whatever I can to ensure a successful season. I look forward to hearing from you soon on how to address.

That's not quite accurate. Most of the examples you provide are variations on a theme (quads to quints, bugles to valved, etc.) with the obvious exceptions of things like amplification and keyboards. The addition of trombones, french horns, and sousaphones is, at best, a tangent to brass development in drum corps rather than part of that evolution of existing instrumentation. It's one thing to advocate for instruments to be added, but I don't think it's accurate to say doing so is part of some natural state of flux in drum corps.

Dan - I work at NAPA and my office overlooks the road where this happened. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest as there were a slew of stuck cars there Tuesday and little direct sunlight to melt anything. Our office was closed yesterday but my boss made it in and said they had to land a lifeflight helicopter right on the road. Awful story and hope the girl's able to make a full recovery.

This was, literally, the perfect storm. While the forecast was updated around 3am the day snow started, nobody except Dawson county cancelled schools. As a result, when the snow started around 10 and schools/business made the call to close early around noon, everyone hit the road at the same time. Add to that what snow had fallen frozen and/or was crushed and you've basically got a skating rink. For those who don't know, the Atlanta area is very hilly (not mountains, but pretty steep). Semis and cars alike got stuck going up them and were basically abandoned in place making it difficult for anyone else to get around them, let alone the few salt trucks we have down here. My commute took me 11 hours from 5pm to 4am. Needless to say I was very glad my company closed yesterday and today. Looking forward to the 60s this weekend for sure. The biggest impression made on me occurred twice, once at the top of a hill on 285E around Riverside Drive and again going up a hill on 400 approaching the Holcomb Bride exit. One of my son’s favorite programs is The Walking Dead (ironically filmed in the Atlanta area). About mid-way up both hills you started to see abandoned cars scattered everywhere and pointing in all directions. In addition there were a good number of stuck semis, several of those jackknifed. As I wove my way around these stalls/stuck vehicles, and looked at the side of the road with people walking along the edge, it occurred to me that I’d seen this scene several times before in the TWD. At hour 10 into the ordeal it didn’t seem crazy to think walkers would be coming around some of those vehicles!

Sorry, had to do this...

So I'm not a musician (though I played one on the field for a couple of years), but I'm wondering if anyone's ever thought of doing the music from Peter Gunn as a show? I know VK did bits of it, but I was thinking something more in the spirit of the show's music (i.e., not campy). Some of the tracks from soundtrack really move such as Blue Steel, the show theme of course, and Fallout!, while there are also some great ballads. Like I said, I know nothing about how "appropriate" a song is for drum corps (or what goes into the decision-making process when putting a show together), but every time Henry Mancini's soundtrack pops up on shuffle the thought occurs to me that it would be cool if a corps could do a show with that music.

Slightly off-topic, but still related to pronunciation of the Cabs' name. No idea where I heard this, but it goes something like the following (yes, it's that old a recollection that the Cadets were still in Garfield). Apologies in advance for the mangled phonetics. Ya got ya Garfield Cadets Ya got ya New Yawk Skyliners But ya just can't beat dem Hawthorne Cabayerees

For what it's worth, BAC is doing this as well. Doesn't make me more/less inclined to do this but putting it out there: http://www.bostoncrusaders.com/news/382-i-texts

Freddy's participation also helps explain (at least partially) why Cavaliers are holding an audition camp in Atlanta this year (along with Phantom, BAC, and Bluecoats). Still trying to figure out if it's because of the amount of talent there or that really swell airport with lots of direct flights.

Has anyone heard of wrapping the horn in aluminum foil and submerging it in hot water that has dissolved baking soda in it? My concern with using a polish is that eventually it will wear off the silver. I read the baking soda solution in a couple of places (and saw the before/after pictures) but just seems kind of out there.

Not to be completely ignorant of corps administrative structure, but what does this mean for Todd Snead? Is he out? He's still listed on the corp's website, but then JW isn't listed there yet.

It'd take a miracle...

I wonder if there's any hope of them reforming as a feeder corps for a local World-Class like SOA or Crown. I know World-Class corps have their money issues as well, but looking at the OC cadet programs from BD and SCV that seems to be a viable way to go (i.e., treat Open class as a minor league/feeder organization for the WC corps). Not sure how the finances or organization would work but wondering if something like that would be a good way to go. Of course that might lead to a Cadet3 corps and I'm not sure anyone wants to contemplate that!

If I recall correctly from a rather extensive article about Mr. Cook, his emphasis was on running the organization as a business with the entire proceeds/profit of that business being sunk back into the running/operation of a drum corps. There were three financial pillars that he set up to make that happen at least a year before they started thinking about putting anything on the field: Bingo - called it the "life blood" of drum corps As others have mentioned the charter bus service (believe it was more common back then for corps to own their own buses? In any case, needed to do something with them out of season) They also operated at least one FBO (i.e., airport) I think that's the model that would need to be used today in order to replicate the success of Star - start supporting companies first (that may or may not have any direct relation to anything drum corps) and get them successfully generated a steady flow of cash that would then go into operating the corps. I'll see if I can find a link to the article and post it.

46 First drum corps show seen at age 17 in 1984 Marched DCA 85, 86, and 88 Attended one DCI camp in winter 86, realized I was out of my depth, and didn't attend another Still loving the activity and having a blast rediscovering it with my son.

As a drum corps fan, and current band booster president myself (one of only two board members with signatory authority on booster accounts), this story scares the living crud out of me. Sincerely hope they are able to recoup/raise the funds.

Phantom Regiment, I owe you a huge apology. I saw your show early in the year and thought it simplistic without much room to grow. You all knocked my socks off Thursday with how complete that concept became. Really enjoyed what you presented and how you executed it.