xandandl
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Posts posted by xandandl
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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.orgI 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."
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re: Rick Valenzuela rick@regiment.org
David Warren david@regiment.orgI 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.
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Just now, cybersnyder said:
We can have oboe and bassoon solos now on the sideline, right? So that part hasn't really changed as it would have to be miked.
If Yamaha sells it, it's an instrument. Is a kazoo much of a stretch from playing a brake drum?
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.
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6 minutes ago, rpbobcat said:
So, if this passes ,can we anticipate an oboe or bassoon soloist ?
Does anyone know if a "kazoo" is considered a musical instrument ?
I for one can't wait to hear the harmonica when a corps plays "Thunder Road".
Kazoos were used by Guardsmen BITD, harmonica was used by BD (Yowza!) and The Cavaliers previously. Oboe and bassoon by BOA, UIL, and USBAnds.
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15 minutes ago, cybersnyder said:
Sure. But emailed opinion will scale proportionally. I realize that my impact is effectively zero, so what will be will be. I don't like woodwinds, but I think it's going to happen. Then again, I don't really like the current state of drum corps in general so I'm hoping that whatever the next evolutionary development is, maybe it will be more interesting.
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.
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9 minutes ago, Newseditor44 said:
This. All of this.
And it's not the marketing people you would have to worry about. I worked for Disney (as a marketing professional) for about 10 years. For me to get access and use Disney related assets and collateral for company related marketing projects was a pain in the arse. The amount of permissions and red tape you had to crawl through was intense. But the real issues would be around licensing the music and their control over intellectual property. Based on previous experience, it is incredibly unlikely to happen.
as horrible as he may have been, how did Cadets get licensing for that 2000 program and with cooperation from Disney no less?
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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.
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1 minute ago, Terri Schehr said:
If we purchase tickets to championships, aren’t we indirectly donating to all of the participants?
actually only the member corps.
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9 minutes ago, cixelsyd said:
Sad that this is even necessary, but to clarify... everyone, feel free to respectfully communicate your opinions on the DCI rule changes to the voting directors. (You can, too.)
Respect their privacy. No home addresses, phone numbers, or whatever else was in that xandandl post above.
Respect their time. A personal email is not the place for insults, memes or pointless rants.
But I think they do need to hear from those of us who feel that change X will bring an end to our fan interest... or that change Y will make us fans all over again.
picketing corps offices was what I had in mind.
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10 hours ago, horndevil said:
1990, I think
Looking at the faces, I agree with you.
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14 hours ago, MPutnam said:
If woodwinds are allowed, will there be a woodwind caption award? Who would the trophy be named after? 😄
some guy named Reed.
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3 minutes ago, cybersnyder said:
I just thought the “list” was on the creepy side of the line.
You are not open to opinions which differ from your own?
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29 minutes ago, cybersnyder said:
Home addresses next?
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.
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15 hours ago, MikeD said:
Since DCI is the corps, how do you envision that happening? Who would form the new entity, and where would the corps come from?
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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47 minutes ago, mingusmonk said:
Whatever it is, they'll be doing it with a 100% vet snareline.
But do they play nicely with others?
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2 minutes ago, Fran Haring said:
Trust me... I was never on the dais. I was not exactly high up on the totem pole, and that is putting it mildly. LOL
There were years there when I was lucky just to be in the room.
Being in the room was "lucky?" Not according to some of the versions I have heard and have been hearing...
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2 minutes ago, Poppycock said:
It’s a lot more difficult to be creative without props. It’s monkey see monkey do with original thought being the exception.
Look no further than WGI where hundreds of participating units are like one another, then there’s that one original idea that surfaces from the mist of all the boring and another trend begins until the next original idea.
Remember when DCI once had corps with distinct personalities in their shows, in their traditions, in their styles and vesture...
How I miss those days.
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do the variations in tee shirts denote anything about total years of membership?
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3 minutes ago, 2muchcoffeeman said:
I'm open to seeing evidence to the contrary, but I'm skeptical any corps director would want this.
The economics of running a nationwide tour for 154 are perilous enough as they are. I can't see any corps getting enthused about increasing overhead by 25+ percent (and logistics by 1 billion percent). There's not enough audition revenue in the world to cover those increased costs. Under this proposal, there's no more performance revenue on the table, no increase in the number of shows, and no one has provided the studies showing this would send ticket sales through the roof. In short, this idea is a torpedo into the financial hull of all but 2 or 3 corps.
. . . and if the long game here is to get DCI down to 2 or 3 supercorps, that runs directly against the rationale provided for this proposal.
2 or 3? G ee, that's even more elitist than 7 or 8.
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Perhaps the key question which must be addressed before any "vote" is taken concerning DCI's rule changes is:
Has DCI as first envisioned gone past its shelf life (which if it has would mean it is time for it to end or others to form a new entity) ???
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45 minutes ago, Weaklefthand4ever said:
Back at UA, I used to do that to the cats who roomed next door to my room. I had a set of old Polk 4.5's and when they would get a little out of control, I would face them right at the wall and full blast some bagpipes until they stopped. I presume that it might actually have killed one of them.
If certain posters can complain to DCP mods about the use of "mafia" as being offensive, we Irish/Scots and umpteen countries (like Greece, Italy, Israel) who have their own versions of bagpipes might find your slight as offensive as well. Unless the mods have one set of rules for one poster or two and a different set of rules for all the rest of us.
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2 hours ago, Fran Haring said:
Only once, from what Iremember during my time with DCA.
The incumbent was challenged by a candidate who basically had no chance. LOL. The incumbent was easily re-elected.
Your shirts alone would have made the dais more colorful at BoD meetings.
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3 hours ago, dbriggs said:
didn't know it was a "running for"-type position. thought it was "next-in-line"-type thing. was there ever a time when multiple people vied for it?
or is it the last one left in the room when...
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1 hour ago, Terri Schehr said:
I was thinking this morning. If the other side of the activity passes woodwinds, DCA could use their all-brass exclusivity as a marketing tool! DCA: Still all brass in 2021.
And next question would be: Would that be more enticing to possible mms or audience? Probably a segment of both?
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Carolina Crown 2020
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
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.