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xandandl

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xandandl last won the day on January 4 2020

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  1. Acccording to several Crown BoDers I know personally, he announced to the boD awhile back to begin looking for his replacement due to his health issues.
  2. Out of respect to the Regiment alumni, phans and prhriends who post on this thread, out of respect for Mr. Warren (corps alum and director) and Mr. Valenzuela (recently announced resigned CEO) and others interested in the Phantom Regiment, I post here what I stated on another thread. In full disclosure, over the years I have been an occasional donor to the corps and past financial sponsor to several Regiment fmms. "re: Rick Valenzuela rick@regiment.org David Warren david@regiment.org I was wondering why Regiment made the OP's initial list twice, the only corps to do so. (???) It occurred to me Mr. Valenzuela has resigned from his Rockford position as CEO until a replacement is named. However, Mr. Valenzuela who also has been serving as official liaison between DCI corps directors and DCI BoD, also announced that upon leaving Regiment he will be taking on a new position with System Blue whom we all know to be a manufacturer and distributor of musical instruments for bands and drum corps. In a perfect world, I would anticipate Mr. Valenzuela to recuse himself from any say on what musical instruments DCI corps should be allowed to use in competition. Otherwise there seems a clear ethical Conflict of Interest situation which might skew any of Regiment's votes and would sully Mr. Valenzuela's strong legacy at both Regiment and SCV where he has been director. At Regiment, he helped climb the corps out of a large financial hole and steadied the corps past the fatal bus tragedy in Arizona; at SCV he steered the corps past the death of its founder Mr. Royer and continued many of the traditions of the corps where Mr. Valenzuela was himself an alum (baritone.) Just as excellence has been the presumed goal of his leadership both in California and Illinois, I would hope he would choose the higher standard now and honor the wishes of the founders of the two corps he chaired. Mr. Royer was a music teacher from Iowa who moved to California and took over the leadership of the Sunnyvale Sparks drum corps whom Mr. Royer re-branded as The Santa Clara Vanguard. Mr. Royer could have started a marching band like the Santa Ana Winds or the Royal Regiment, both fine California independent marching bands; instead he chose a drum and bugle corps and continued to choose his and other units to be drum and bugle corps when Mr. Royer, Mr. Jim Jones, Mr. Don Warren, Mr. Bill Howard, Mr. Hugh Mahon, Mr. George Bonfiglio, and others began Drum Corps International. When they began, they chose not to align with the Largo, Florida Band of Gold and other marching bands who competed in American Legion and VFW national contests. They and DCI for almost 50 years after have chosen brass and percussion instruments. When Mr. Alex Haddad and others began the unit in Rockford in 1956 from the interested teens at two different Catholic high schools and greater Rockford, they chose not to continue as a marching band like the schools had (and whose uniforms they borrowed) but as a drum and bugle corps of brass and percussion instruments. One can note something similar when Mr. George Bonfiglio and others took the remnants of the Immaculate Conception (I.C.) Reveries and began the 27th Lancers drum and bugle corps, a DCI silver medalist and strong contender, rather than re-starting as a marching band in the neighboring Boston CYO and Eastern Mass circuits quite active at that time. I don't presume ill will on the part of Mr. Valenzuela whom I have cited previously on various DCP threads as being noteworthy for his allegiance to his corps. But I do in a fraternal way remind him and other DCI leaders that conflicts of interest mean more than just "what DCI judge is now the clinic leader for Fred Martin's high school band?" In light of the System Blue connection, Mr. Valenzuela should recuse himself from the discussion and vote and in no way hamper or influence any vote from the Phantom Regiment. The media does not need the grist of another scandal story about DCI. To now, Mr. Valenzuela and both of his corps still have my respect. I hope that continues."
  3. re: Rick Valenzuela rick@regiment.org David Warren david@regiment.org I was wondering why Regiment made the OP's initial list twice, the only corps to do so. (???) It occurred to me Mr. Valenzuela has resigned from his Rockford position as CEO until a replacement is named. However, Mr. Valenzuela who also has been serving as official liaison between DCI corps directors and DCI BoD, also announced that upon leaving Regiment he will be taking on a new position with System Blue whom we all know to be a manufacturer and distributor of musical instruments for bands and drum corps. In a perfect world, I would anticipate Mr. Valenzuela to recuse himself from any say on what musical instruments DCI corps should be allowed to use in competition. Otherwise there seems a clear ethical Conflict of Interest situation which might skew any of Regiment's votes and would sully Mr. Valenzuela's strong legacy at both Regiment and SCV where he has been director. At Regiment, he helped climb the corps out of a large financial hole and steadied the corps past the fatal bus tragedy in Arizona; at SCV he steered the corps past the death of its founder Mr. Royer and continued many of the traditions of the corps where Mr. Valenzuela was himself an alum (baritone.) Just as excellence has been the presumed goal of his leadership both in California and Illinois, I would hope he would choose the higher standard now and honor the wishes of the founders of the two corps he chaired. Mr. Royer was a music teacher from Iowa who moved to California and took over the leadership of the Sunnyvale Sparks drum corps whom Mr. Royer re-branded as The Santa Clara Vanguard. Mr. Royer could have started a marching band like the Santa Ana Winds or the Royal Regiment, both fine California independent marching bands; instead he chose a drum and bugle corps and continued to choose his and other units to be drum and bugle corps when Mr. Royer, Mr. Jim Jones, Mr. Don Warren, Mr. Bill Howard, Mr. Hugh Mahon, Mr. George Bonfiglio, and others began Drum Corps International. When they began, they chose not to align with the Largo, Florida Band of Gold and other marching bands who competed in American Legion and VFW national contests. They and DCI for almost 50 years after have chosen brass and percussion instruments. When Mr. Alex Haddad and others began the unit in Rockford in 1956 from the interested teens at two different Catholic high schools and greater Rockford, they chose not to continue as a marching band like the schools had (and whose uniforms they borrowed) but as a drum and bugle corps of brass and percussion instruments. One can note something similar when Mr. George Bonfiglio and others took the remnants of the Immaculate Conception (I.C.) Reveries and began the 27th Lancers drum and bugle corps, a DCI silver medalist and strong contender, rather than re-starting as a marching band in the neighboring Boston CYO and Eastern Mass circuits quite active at that time. I don't presume ill will on the part of Mr. Valenzuela whom I have cited previously on various DCP threads as being noteworthy for his allegiance to his corps. But I do in a fraternal way remind him and other DCI leaders that conflicts of interest mean more than just "what DCI judge is now the clinic leader for Fred Martin's high school band?" In light of the System Blue connection, Mr. Valenzuela should recuse himself from the discussion and vote and in no way hamper or influence any vote from the Phantom Regiment. The media does not need the grist of another scandal story about DCI. To now, Mr. Valenzuela and both of his corps still have my respect. I hope that continues.
  4. good point. But keeping elbows locked and uniform as the kazoo section jazz runs back stepping to far sideline while trilling a triple tongue mellophone-like sustain will take some getting used to, ha, ha.
  5. Kazoos were used by Guardsmen BITD, harmonica was used by BD (Yowza!) and The Cavaliers previously. Oboe and bassoon by BOA, UIL, and USBAnds.
  6. Evolutionary development. Perhaps it is more Revolutionary changes, and I don't mean just a drum corps in Texas. While some see Woodwinds as the final straw and the picture boy for all the changes the designers have imposed on the drum corps public in the past decade or more, I find the ire and discussion as positive to wean the professional elitists and designers back to what DCI is at its core...corps serving youth for development as young adults. The discussion need not be rancorous but it has lately seemed quite one-sided out of Indy. As other posters have noted on several threads, the comments on DCP, reddit and other social sites seem more united in viewpoint relative to the proposed changes and definitely find agreement across generational lines. DCI needs take note.
  7. as horrible as he may have been, how did Cadets get licensing for that 2000 program and with cooperation from Disney no less?
  8. Morning Call (Monday, Jan. 6th) features article about financial problems at the Ham Fam and difficulties with traffic around J. Birney Crum ongoing into the summer and perhaps Autumn according to local reports beyond this article. https://www.mcall.com/business/mc-biz-allentown-hamilton-street-bridge-work-20200106-t4g4pkclbbfgdfoixlzk2o6tge-story.html
  9. You are not open to opinions which differ from your own?
  10. Are parade permits required for picketing or is this covered under First Amendment Rights? And we could always repeat what the US did to Noriega when he hid out in the Vatican embassy. As the LATimes reported the doings in Panama: Noriega slept through three days of ear-splitting rock music blared toward the embassy from loudspeakers by American troops surrounding the place--harassment that kept awake his host, Archbishop Jose Sebastian Laboa, and was shut off only after Laboa’s repeated complaints.
  11. I anticipate that as the budgets crunch, world/political situation worsens, and choices have to be made between being a local youth oriented program vs. a "Blast" like summer program for college marching band candidates that there will be a split in DCI. It would even include some World Class units if usual donors no longer go with all the changes but would fund a more youth oriented (compared to designer oriented) program. Some may sense these comments as extreme but the behind close door rancor of DCI meetings and corps reps has long been a tradition, even modus operandi of the organization. When Dan Acheson finally retires (due to age, illness or displeasures) watch the lid come off the boiling stew pot and everything spill over into an ugly mess. Public relations people like to present a tony pollyana image but DCI is far from that now and for several decades.
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