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Brasso: You could not be more wrong if you tried. Again your judgmentalism I have observed from several seasons of reading DCP posts is well out of line. You are becoming a new version of Stu.

Seen it all: Thank you for focusing what I am trying to have others consider. Mr. Holland, I too have designed visuals, worked on World Class staffs and know well the discussions in the box, on the bus, and on the field. Bravado doesn't remove the reality.

I know Cadets are selling their President flags. I don't know who is left, but I am surprised Hopkins wasn't able to sell them as a whole batch to some veterans post, town hall, or new school for federal holidays and such. Great social studies prop.

So, Perc, re: "I don't think there have been enough egregious injuries..." How many are too many? One of the challenges that modern designers face as the major shows are now in larger-than-life facilities like GeorgiaDome, LOS, Giants Stadium, etc. is that the effects must be greater to make an impact. My question is basically, at what (human) cost?

Ok, you are having a sarcastic day and I don't want to play that game. But I know BosCru lost a major potential financial sponsor when I showed said zillionaire this corps' schedule for 2013-14 and almost got him to come to a home show contest. He emailed back his regrets, circled the Good Friday camp weekend with the comment: this corps' values are confused. He donated his money elsewhere, outside of drum corps.

Yes, there is the history of accidents, mistakes and the unexpected. Ask drum judge Charlie Poole about the mis-tossed sabre that sent him to the hospital several seasons back. But my point is, modern visual demand is stretching vulnerability. When is too much? How far is appropriate? Is it right to write danger into the show??? (human pyramid such as Cavalier's continental divide mountain is another example.) Do we keep pushing the limits until someone dies before us (and I don't mean in Phantom's show, necessarily.)

I wish Boston all the best in the new season. But I sure hope that its young administration will be better thinking than planning another camp weekend for Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday which also this past Spring was Passover and Greek Easter weekend. What your religious beliefs and participation is is one's own business, but even many "secular" families use such holidays as this and Christmas (a national holiday) to gather as a family. Modern drum corps already pulls family life apart with four months of Spring training and summer tour. We shouldn't be shooting ourselves in the foot, especially for a corps originally founded as Most Precious Blood and still touting to honor the memory of CYO Nationals. If this is the only weekend, facilities are available read the handwriting on the wall about WHY. Choose another facility. And ditto to the Cascades. I noticed that DCI showed no photos of either corps until well into the season.

Having witnessed Boston's human pyramid/windmill, having held my breath for Coats, Crown, and others attempting trust catches, having heard about and still praying for the color guard member of Blue Devils who, injured in Spring training, was able to make an appearence at Indianapolis, seeing Cadets deal with damp stages strangely not painted with nautical paint, this article struck my attention: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/20/world/asia/in-india-human-pyramids-draw-crowds-and-protests.html?_r=0 Who hasn't heard of the concussion concerns dominating NFL, NHL, and NCAA discussions of late? Who wasn't concerned when the Crown member (Brandon? a contra) suffered several years back at finals and tried to pull himself off the field without drill destruction? Or the Boston tuba who suffered the torn ACL this year in Indy and attempted the same? The judge didn't know whether the kid was injured or pretending to be one of the barnyard pigs of their program? In this off-season of considerations of the future, will corps' insurance go up as a result of the danger to the performer in these visual programs? Will visual designers have to re-think the vulnerability in this era of trampolines, lunging over Blue Stars' couches, and putting the bodies at higher risk??? Consider and discuss.