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MikeRapp

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Everything posted by MikeRapp

  1. MikeRapp
    I think we here are all acutely and personally aware of the unique scenario in drum corps, and we all know of many situations at many corps where similar things happened. The mistake here would be to react to this as if it was otherwise. These organizations should already be proactive on all levels, and most are. But, they should also help their leaders remain in good standing with the activity. The terrible breach of trust here is not just what Hopkins did, but what everyone around him didn’t do. George needed accountability, and no one stepped up and required it. The enabling aspect of this is the dangerous aspect. No one person should have the ability to bring down any organization, anywhere.
  2. MikeRapp
    It is the condition of humans. We are capable of great compassion and great evil. Well led organizations understand this, and protect themselves from themselves. Wise leaders realize they are almost destined for personal failures that will undermine their life and business. A church I attend has a board of elders, and a team teaching approach, where you never know who will step on stage on any morning. At no time was it possible for one person to fail and bring down the entire church. And it happened, when their main founding teaching pastor had an affair. The church went on to become one of the largest and most capable ministries in my area. Billy Graham never traveled alone and always had another man enter every hotel room before he did—he knew he was capable of failure, so he planned for it. We have all been victim of narcissistic leaders. But to create an organization that enabled and even required Hopkins to be so exposed morally is absolutely unforgivable, and the YEA board should all step down. They may be invited back, but at this point the organization has to become bigger than it’s clearly failed leadership.
  3. MikeRapp
    Sorry, but YEA was clearly taking advantage of what everyone knew was a very precarious leadership scenario. They could have stepped in and brought accountability to the organization and did not. That is despite almost countless incidents of unprofessionalism and allegations of impropriety. There are victims in this situation, and YEA is only a victim of their own incompetence.
  4. MikeRapp
    People will often forgive a crime, but won’t forgive a coverup.
  5. MikeRapp
    I just want to say, all of us are wholly capable of and inclined to terrible misconduct. While I have never held Hopkins to any sort of regard, I don’t celebrate his demise. I am completely capable of everything and worse. I am mostly angry with those who enabled him to become a constant threatening and intimidating presence in this activity. We all knew how dangerous his dominating role could be to Cadets. As would it be for any organization! This is why you have boards. You build accountability because men need accountability. All of us! I hope this isn’t the beginning of a long trail of misdeeds that now come to light, but I’m not holding my breath. I tend to be skeptical of things that come to light years or even decades later, but, I am also old enough to understand that a cat doesn’t change his stripes. People who act a certain way in some areas and at some times, do so in other areas and often. I hope YEA gets ahead of this, and fast.
  6. MikeRapp
    Perhaps she should apologize to the paper.
  7. MikeRapp
    So so many people deserve better than this, including the current staff. Let’s all hope so, Jeff. Maybe Cadets can start a new chapter and put this behind them. I surely hope so.
  8. MikeRapp
    This doesn’t sound like the George Hopkins I know... SAID NO ONE EVER. Wow, not a single post from anyone saying to hold the phone, George is innocent. Why did everyone allow Hopkins to crush the Cadets under his narcissistic behavior for years?! Why did YEA allow the board to create a scenario that virtually everyone knew could be headed for disaster at the highest level? This SUCKS. And it sucks to a large degree because we all knew this could happen on any number of fronts! This should never have happened! Please, If you are another drum corps, take heed of this day and for the sake of everyone don’t let this happen to you! No one person should have the power to crush a corps under their own personal failings.
  9. MikeRapp
    Who gets to pay for the vigorous defense of Hopkins and YEA?
  10. MikeRapp
    This is infuriating because so darned many people warned YEA of the potential for such great peril for so many years. They did NOTHING but allow Hopkins to further insulate himself from accountability. It is inexcusable. And now this absurd press release? Awful. The Cadets deserve better, and all drum corps fans deserve better.
  11. MikeRapp
    “There is no clear avenue for a grievance,” said the woman who worked at the office in recent years. “Any path, George controlled.” This is pretty much the worst possible and most irresponsible manner in which to build any organization, and the Cadets BOD did this knowingly, intentionally and willingly. For as long as any of us have followed drum corps—whether we liked or disliked Hopkins—we all knew that the organization had built a Jenga tower with George as the bottom-most piece. Regardless of what you think of Hopkins’ talents or leadership skills, this was and is an inexcusable breach of responsibility. The Cadets are one of the most important youth arts organizations in the world. Now we are all forced to face the worst possible scenario, solely because the YEA board did not have the guts to do their job for decades. The Cadets should NEVER have been allowed to be put in such a vulnerable position!
  12. MikeRapp
    I wish they had gone with something shorter, like Statues Awakening. Or maybe just, Awakening.
  13. MikeRapp
    All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
  14. MikeRapp
  15. MikeRapp
    It’s discouraging to say this, but over the last decade of following DCI very closely, it seems very clear to me that the path to medaling is two things: show design/concept that heavily weights guard and body gesturing, and being a destination for age out talent. Probably not in that order. It’s just undeniable. There are a limited number of experienced, accomplished marching members. You cannot compete for a medal anymore if your corps isn’t dominated by those marchers. When Blue Devils wins medals every year and has massive age outs every year, you can’t argue with the model. Yes they have stellar coaching, stellar design, and great planning, but all of those things depend on and are accentuated by the best talent available every single year. I know someone used to keep track of average age of experience and correlated that to final placement, and it was truly amazing how lock step they were. I continue to hope for the underdog corps to make a charge. It’s just not going to happen the way DCI scores shows. Crossmen, Academy, Phantom, Scouts, et al, they are all losing many of their most accomplished marchers every offseason to the perennial medaling corps. Until DCI offers some incentive to do otherwise, that will continue to be the norm. Cadets has an unparalleled history, but you just cannot compete for medals when your best marchers are graduating to other corps, and the high schoolers at Crossmen, Academy, Mandarins and Blue Knights are auditioning at BD, BC, Crown and now Cavaliers and Boston. I don’t care who your teachers are or how many medals are in your trophy case. There appear to be more top level corps now, but if you fall below a certain level in this activity, it can take a very long time to get back into medal contention. Kids have increasingly short memories. And with show design changing so dramatically, it doesn’t help when you are no longer a popular corps and your banner shows weren’t Down Side Up and What Dreams Are Made On from a creative standpoint. As shows get more complex and more expensive to produce, that gap is likely to widen.
  16. MikeRapp
    The continued rumors of staffers not being paid anywhere near on time is scary, though. You cannot run an organization with so many bodies on the road for months with constant money issues, it eventually catches up with you.
  17. MikeRapp
    Times have changed. There are twice as many elite corps now. I definitely agree that design vision is a dominant issue in DCI. That’s quite different from the era when “faster and louder” put you in medal contention. Cadets have no chance if they continue to put shows on the field like the last few. That said, a great show concept alone doesn’t make you a medalist, as Academy proved two seasons ago.
  18. MikeRapp
    Cadets2 grads won’t put Cadets into medal contention. There are too many other elite corps now. The way DCI does scoring, it’s now almost impossible to contend for a medal with a corps that doesn’t have a huge contingent of college kids who have marched with other finalist corps. You can’t put a massively difficult show on the field in September with a bunch of high school kids, or DCA move ups. Crown, BD, Bluecoats, SCV and now probably Cavaliers and Boston are much more likely age out destinations than Cadets. That’s just too many open positions. It’s not like the old days, where Cadets were an almost certain medalist.
  19. MikeRapp
    Bluecoats, to me, lost their position more than Cavaliers gained it. Their ballad never worked as the anchor of the show. I’ve not liked much of the new Cavaliers show design style. It was my least favorite show of the finalists. But in the end they continued to execute the concept at an increasingly higher level as the season progressed and they peaked at the right time. There just wasn’t another level to Jagged Line, and I think their previous three shows raised expectations that they would do something fantastic down the stretch. It just didn’t happen. It was still my favorite show, but when it comes to scoring entertainment value isn’t always the decisive factor.
  20. MikeRapp
    With so many age outs, it’s tough to expect SCV to remain in medal contention. They will no doubt benefit from a lot of move ups from Vanguard Cadets, but to remain a medalist contender you have to have a corps dominated by destination marchers. Likewise, this to me is the key year for Cadets. If they don’t make a comeback, which I think is unlikely, you could see them drop to the lower half of the finalists for some time to come. They have always been one of the few destination corps for experienced marchers, and I frankly don’t see that happening anymore. There are other more compelling options now, especially with Boston establishing themselves as an east coast medalist contender. I’d be surprised if their competitive grouping doesn’t end up being with/against Phantom and Crossmen. I’m still holding out hope that Knights finally make that next big leap forward. They will always be cutting edge musically, but will they design around a visual concept? Hopeful but not optimistic. They will remain in the second grouping until they get religion from a design and story telling standpoint. Bluecoats will contend for the gold, with Blue Devils and Crown. I have a sneaking suspicion Crown will emerge with their second gold medal this year.
  21. MikeRapp
    Btw, in case you hadn’t heard, Nashville was awarded an MLS Franchise this week, and will be constructing a brand new soccer stadium on the fairgrounds property. I don’t know whether DCI would rather play there or at Vanderbilt, but the option is coming. Stadium is expected to be the state of the art, and will seat around 40,000. https://www.si.com/soccer/2017/08/14/nashville-mls-expansion-bid-stadium-plan-renderings
  22. MikeRapp
    It’s my impression that the trend to the left, if you will, in drum corps is certainly a trend. I mean that in terms of social issues, sexuality and “more.” It’s not lost on me that the shows have, in general, certainly reflected this. Definitely in terms of attire and what is considered normal and, from what I have seen and heard, accepted conduct off the field. I’m not altogether sure shows are “darker,” but they certainly have tended to be more overt and “blunt”in their themes and execution. Many of you may consider me a prude, or behind the times. I am a creative director by trade, so I’m certainly not insensitive to Creative license. That said, I wouldn’t want my daughter to wear some of the guard uniforms I’ve seen of late, and definitely would not approve of my kid traveling with some of these corps based on what I have heard of their off field culture.
  23. MikeRapp
    I’m not sure you would be able to field a competitive guard going that route. While I grew up on traditional drum corps, there’s no argument that the quantum expansion of guard has fundamentally changed the activity. I don’t see kids ever choosing to go back to the days of marching and twirling.
  24. MikeRapp
    Send In The Clowns. *drops mic* I will say, Elsa’s Theme still remains as the one ballad I continue to go back to time and again when I want to feel the unique power and emotion of drum corps.
  25. MikeRapp
    Against this entirely. Shows would not become more appealing or musically better by cramming more bodies onto what is already a very crowded field. Then you add exponentially more cost, not just in buses but food, Insurance and management. Its also undeniable that the older and more experienced members would always gravitate to the top six corps. This is why the NCAA adopted hard roster limits for all scholarship sports. Bigger name schools with more resources would just sign kids to stand on the sideline to keep them from competing with them at another school.
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