MikeRapp

I worked for a few years with now Penn State head football coach James Franklin, when he was at Vandy. Hopkins and Franklin I swear are separated at birth!

Synth mix didn't help them, but IMO it was more the product of crash and burn drill concepts that served no purpose in GE, and screwed up sound balance and quality. JMHO.

For all the constant happy talk about how scores don't really matter, corps that underscore sure do seem to make quick personnel changes in the offseason...

I would think that someone at Crown could be enticed away to be the overall show creator. Really, anywhere in DCI. Would be interesting to make a list of all the Crown alums that are working for other corps now. Quite a legacy they are building. Academy, Crossmen, sure there are many others. As far as their main brass leadership, don't some of them work at Western Carolina? I would think they would not leave WCU to "throw out candy to band moms" at band events in the offseason. No offense intended.

Sounds as if it was an amicable parting. 12 years is a long time to spend at one place nowadays.

Has anyone announced who is leaving? Don't recall seeing anything...fwiw.

Are these new hires replacing people at BAC, or are these new positions being added to the organization?

Interesting info. My perception is, George is George, regardless of where he works or what he works on. If Cadets were the only drum corps that had its executive director hands on involved or not, would not matter one iota to George. It's how he is, it's how he wants it to be, and most importantly, that's how it will always be so long as the board allows it. George is no dummy, obviously. He has had countless successes in most everything he has been involved in. Cadets may not exist today were he not leading the charge a decade ago. As I have said, I have worked with and around these sorts of personalities a lot, being in the creative business here in Nashville. They tend to attract very highly motivated, creatively driven people who have great talent, but they also tend to systematically burn through those people in a predictable amount of time. You just burn the candle at both ends and get tired of the drama and inconsistencies. These folks in my experience tend to chalk that up to the cost of success, and also it tends to cement their position in their organization, when you are constantly churning through people, you remain the only constant. Regardless, though, if you choose to work at cadets, you choose to work for George, and whatever you experience is ultimately your decision. Same is true at crown, academy, bac and every other corps.

I detest seeing the kids shake their heads so they can see their shakos on the Jumbotron. If I was a corps director and saw that, you can bet those kids would not only be loading the bus, they'd be washing it.

Well the bottom line is this: if George retains total control over Cadets, regardless of his personality or approach, you have to be able to accept the way he does things if you choose to work there. Same is true anywhere you work, but it is especially true in creatively driven organizations. Entrepreneurial personalities are common at the head of creatively driven organizations, and they usually require and use veto power often.Having worked for and with those sorts of organizations my entire career, I can tell you that at some point there is a divide between the leader and the most experienced creatives. All want control, and not all will get it. People tend to survive together if the organization remains stable and successful, but not when things are failing. Whether people left because of George, or George pushed them out, ultimately doesn't matter. Gotta get on his ship or get off.

Yep, really smart. But ultimately it may mean the successful organizations have to be located in major metro areas. Bluecoats could pull it off by pulling from Cleveland and Columbus, I suppose, but it would seem to be easier if your facilities are located within the metro.

I wonder, though, if the opposite may happen. Given new freedom, and a new team, new ideas will gel quickly. These are all very experienced educators and creators. They may well already know what show concepts they are pursuing together.

Perhaps this is the single most relevant, and most overlooked, advantage that Blue Devils has. Their staff can largely work for Blue Devils all year around. They aren't just a world class corps, but a year around music education program that has a significant full time staff. People can focus their entire attention on their job, and know the organization will continue to operate all the other areas. We may look down our nose at Winter Guard, but it provides another significant similar activity that staff can be used for and help run the organization financially. This may well prove to be the only model that works as a long term, stable solution for world class corps.

I couldn't agree more. But the Blue Devils' design direction is now to choose a non-musical art topic, and express that topic musically. They wouldn't choose to do a blues show, but rather a show about a topic or individual (not a blues artist) of the so called blues era. Someone is going to do a jazz blues show and it's going to score in the high 90s.

So what happened to all the guys the new BAC staff replaced?

You win the Interne...sorry, my bad Terri!

The potential arrival of elite talent at BAC is less a short term factor than the potential loss of loss of talent at Cadets. Especially pit talent. Coupled with the certain rebooting of the educational talent at many positions, next year could be a historic low for cadets. Corps lose elite marchers every year, but cadets are used to enrolling age outs, not losing them.

Was it spontaneous?

Perhaps not the best choice of words...

Fwiw, I would be for a no speakers rule, but I think every corps should have the open of using in ear amps, and in fact if I were at DCI I would get someone to donate all the equipment for title sponsorship of the tour. Easiest sales job on planet earth.

As I understand it, the TOC shows are pretty much a direct result of the G7 proposals. yes?

Well, I see your point, but it's not relevant to this discussion. All corps buy uniforms in great quantities. Whether they are traditional or modern doesn't matter to this discussion.

They don't have the right unless the members remit their right to do otherwise. Membership in DCI transfers rights already, others would/could be added to it.

Right. With growth should come opportunities to marshall power that comes from a joint business decision that benefits everyone. it would mean, inevitably, that some corps directors would have to work with organizations they didn't select. But no NFL team can choose to wear whatever uniforms they choose. The NFL cuts a deal that is good for everyone. In college sports, conferences cut deals on behalf of all members. Some are Alabama, while others are Vanderbilt. But the benefit of being in a conference is the opportunities to make money as a group that you cannot make independently. Likewise, conferences band together under the banner of the NCAA to cut other deals that benefit all NCAA members. And, at the same time, each school retains some rights to negotiate deals with other partners for specific sports. No doubt I am not the first person to come up with this, so forgive me for perhaps sounding like I just discovered water.

I brought this up earlier this season, so I definitely am concerned. That said, I think the only reasonable solution is that DCI has to marshall their power as an organization on behalf of its members to help lower costs common to all corps. In my limited experience, there seems to be at least as much feeling of "indebtedness" to the long term sponsors' well being as there is for the corps, and that leads to solutions that don't really help either party. (Well, if we mandated that all corps use this uniform supplier, all these other uniform suppliers would be upset...and of course, no longer sponsor our events.) And of course, the ultimate solution is to make the pie larger. Which can only be done by creating an environment where the activity can be more creative and more appealing to increasingly more fans.