MikeRapp

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.

Well, no corps went under because they had to buy new uniforms. They went under because they were poorly managed. If they were managed at all.

Brasso, I appreciate your perspectives and comments, as always. That said, if you believe the reason attendance and popularity is what it is because corps don't widely march in military styled uniforms anymore, sorry, don't buy it. If anything, had the Blue Devils and Cadets not pushed for fundamental changes in shows a decade or so ago, DCI might well not exist at all today. There is a very obvious, very real other factor at play here: The Internet, which has led to on demand media. DCI is far from the only live activity that has been (and will continue to be) dramatically impacted by the on-demand reality of media. Attendance is down for all, ALL, live events, of all types, everywhere in the modern world. People want to watch stuff on demand, anywhere they are, preferably in their homes. NFL, MLB, NBA, even concert attendance is down DRAMATICALLY since the dawn of the internet. The fragmentation of media has made it possible for DCI to live stream events via subscription, and have a reality TV show producing a series for cable on their dime. NASCAR can't even get on regular TV anymore, and we're crying about drum corps being relegated to PPV? Please! Times are changing. I for one don't care for all of the changes happening in drum corps, but I am 100% sure that if DCI doesn't push the envelope kids will simply watch some video on YouTube while playing Pokemon Go. Kids don't NEED Drum Corps.

There's only one reason I can find that DCI does not require the manufacturers to provide free uniforms to the corps: it's because they would lose the sponsorship money that comes from banners and tradeshow tables at the shows. I simply cannot believe that being a member of DCI does not get you a uniform sponsorship like every other similar activity on planet earth.

But here's the thing. We have seen guard uniforms go from "traditional", often a different and often feminine version of the marching corps' uniform, to totally dramatic. Male and female guard uniforms are often completely different from each other as well. They wear make up, they carry all sorts of props, they act, they yell, they are doing things we never would have imagined from a "drum corps" not very long ago.In fact, the only thing that today's guard does that previous guards used to do is wave a flag and twirl a rifle...and even SCV decided that was not the best option this year, with their lightening bolts. Look at the Cadets guard this year, what is traditional about literally anything they did this year? They marched a dude dressed in a toga and wearing full body makeup! Why aren't we crowing about the loss of tradition in the cadets or bac guard? One main reason: the changes have elevated guard to its own unique artistic entity in DCI. I guess all I am saying is, you cannot stop change. You may relegate yourself to the history books clinging to history. We older folks may genuinely miss the traditions of drum corps, I know I do, but I am MORE excited about seeing 10,000 high schoolers at Vanderbilt stadium yelling Blooooo. You have to decide where your line is, but you better be committed to the results. Madison has a tough offseason to deal with. Do they want to fight to make finals from here forward? Because I promise you, there are other corps coming up the ranks that don't care about what the over 40 crowd thinks about tradition. The Bluecoats body suits are simply one way of doing uniforms differently. They will almost certainly do something very different next year. I suspect we are headed down a path where the marching members will change uniforms at least once during the show. It would kill me to not see the military style anymore. But I've learned the hard way about clinging to the past.

To the above, I would add: The thunderstorm section of SCV. PERFECT. The preshow and opening of Blue Knights. Very surreal, almost sci-fi like. In addition to all the Bluecoats stuff above, the first company front. Just sent a clear message, we are going to blow apart everything you ever thought you would see at a drum corps show. Cavaliers throwback rifle drill. Academy xylophone ghost graveyard scene. Probably the most ingenious percussion scene of the season. In addition to the hurricane and whirlpool drills, the absolutely perfectly symmetrical opposing semicircles in the ballad climax still stuns me. Simple perfection.

Out of respect for you and the other Cadets alumni here, I am not going to comment on this thread any longer. Just too much subtext that I clearly cannot fully understand. And because I don't have any personal history with Cadets, it's just better to let those who do speak into this as better informed participants. Would rather discuss happier things. Onward. :-)

Serious question for those who would know much better than I: What impact could the new BAC staffers have on next year's performance? Is it reasonable to expect a borderline finalist to jump to top six because of these new guys coming in?

Fair enough, I respect your experience in this. Thanks.

Ok, poor choice of words, should not have used borderline contemptuous. Forgive me. People leave, we hire new people, so be it, we'll be fine. Just seemed intentionally not a very nice thing to say about people who may well have more credibility with the Cadets organization than George ever will.

Do you see the directors at Blue Stars posting borderline contemptuous things about the staffer who was recruited away from their corps at mid-season by George? Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD do it.

On top of that, wasn't it his job to hire so-called younger people during that 36-year run? And yet he apparently decided to retain people whom, I surmise from his Facebook post, were utterly replaceable? I'll say this, George sure does know how to motivate people. Especially those who now work for other corps. SMH

It seems to me that George willingly courts public opinion and feedback at every turn and is more than eager to present himself as the face of Cadets. If you take the good, then you better be willing to accept the bad. George pretty clearly brings both onto himself at every turn!

Fortunately, there were no cameras behind the scenes this year...oh...wait...

I might also add that this design process requires experienced marching members. You cannot do that with 160 high schoolers. It worked for Something Rotten because they had a superstar roster of designers and writers, and Tony winning actors.

It's the theatre design process. I have a friend who created one of the biggest hits on Broadway last season and that is prcisely the process they used to finally put the end product on the stage. They were changing singificant parts of the show right up until opening night. You can only do that if you trust your creative talent and directly involve them in the creative process. Oh, and they have to be great at what they do.

In retrospect, I can't believe this design team did so many shows together before they went this route. They share the same musical histories, for the most part, borne out of Star and Blast. Maybe the time was right this year, and wouldn't have been earlier.

See, I don't have any history at all with WGI. Zilch. I understand what you are getting at but to me it is simply reimagining what a drum corps show can be. Has nothing whatsoever to do with WGI.

If DCI made the judges' video recordings a part of the subscription plan, it might prove to be more valuable than the shows themselves. As an educator, I would think the really good judges would relish this.

I have had the misfortunate of working around a couple of organizations in which the leader intentionally and purposefully built the organization in such a top heavy way so as to ensure it couldn't operate without her/him. Sometimes it is a well intended mistake, other times not so well intended. Either way, the outcome is the same. It always ends ugly. Even Jobs, in his last months, made Tim Cook promise him they would never ask what he would do in any situation. He got it...the second time around...because he saw the peril in the other way the first time around.

I've worked around big time college athletics for a very long time, with some of the most mercurial head coaches in the game. When someone says, Even if we wanted to get rid of the guy, there isn't anyone qualified in the organization to replace him...big sign of serious trouble. Very alluring, but very unwise to build an organization around one gigantic personality, imho. It always seems to lead to a predictable disaster. Far more examples of bad outcomes than successful ones. You cannot allow a successful organization to depend solely on one person. Steve Jobs learned that lesson the hard way, and when he came back to Apple he finally took the advice of smart(er) people around him and let them shine. No one castes a longer shadow in the NFL than Dan Reeves. He was, by all intents and purposes, the entire Denver Broncos organization, a Hall of Fame coach who literally wrote the book on what we now know as the modern NFL offense. But Dan was a wonderful person, and an empowering leader, and people walked over hot coals for him. When Reeves retired, a reporter asked him how the Broncos could ever replace him. He smiled, and said, "stick your hand into a bucket of water, and pull it out, see how fast the water fills up the hole? That's how fast the Broncos will replace me." Reeves never needed the Broncos to bend under his will. As a result, it always did, willingly. Dude understood leadership. Look at the Broncos today.

The hardware is increasingly more affordable. The qualified people to run them, not so much. Look at the resume of the fellow who is in charge of Bluecoats' electronics...

It is interesting that Blue Devils now feels very mainstream to me. That said, I'm all for a variety of approaches. Academy is one thing, Blue Knights is another. Both were finalists. I personally don't want everyone to do Mary Poppins shows. But I also don't think Blue Knights will medal doing extremely esoteric concepts that get little to no audience reaction.

First season I've ever felt the way I do now. I so wish I could see some of these shows again from the 50. Watching the encore performance of Down Side Up last night was bittersweet. What a celebration!