frontline99

Around the East bay the pronounciation is usually conKERD

it loooks like a bunch of 3rd graders attacked him during arts and crafts.

Oooh. Pretty drums are pretty!

I LOVE this. I wanted to wear that '92-'03 uni so badly.

Rick Valenzuela to his fleugal horn soloist: Great news! You're our featured solist! Solist: Sweet! Rick: But you have to wear a guard uni. Solist: Weak, dude.

It's sad that we get excited when we see good judging. It should be this way all the time.

I don't think there have ever been two more evenly matched corps ever. The ticks were in different areas (Guard for Phantom, brass and drums for BD) but Phantom had the better design and emotional connection with the audience. The only legendary show I can think of that wasn't extremely fan accessible is Cavies 2002. That is the only show I have been stunned to silence by technical achievement.

So what does this mean? Is BDB too good for Open Class or is open class just eroding?

Will what be forgettable? The only one of those shows I'm not familiar with is '84 Cadets. Sorry. I am "youngin'" and my knowledge base is a bit sketchy pre-1995. Even though it's only 2 years old, Phantom '08 is the most intense drum corps experience I've ever had. I was through the roof with that show and I was on Staff for BDB that year. Legend implies age, but I have no doubt it will be remembered as one of the all time greats. I would add: 1996 Phantom (Defiant Heart) 1995 Scouts (Drum Corps Fan's Dream? I was never clear on whether or not that was really the name of the show) 2002 Cavaliers (Frameworks)

Not possible! Not on this board (or any other for that matter).

I just thought some people might like a place to go chat with others about drum corps in a more real time format. It's a lot easier than refreshing forums all the time.

Yeah... forums are much more hi tech!

I couldnt find any others so I made a drum corps specific chat room on IRC. The server is irc.geekshed.net and the room is... #DrumCorps. You will need a chat client like XChat or you can go to a web based widget like Mibbit. I am looking for some people to help op it as well. If you know your way around IRC let me know. Thanks, enjoy!

And now while we wait fir the scores a man in a dog costume will shoot tshirts on the roof of the stadium.

Nobody is half as good as the Bluecoats at show design. Not Devils, nobody.

Wow. So good to see the Cadets be the Cadets!

Troopers battery is superior to the Blue Knights in both book and demand, but BK has a more mature pit.

Any one up there have an update on the weather?

Um, that seems quite out of place with Vanguard Cadets beating BDB? BDB has been in front by 2-3 points all season. Not saying that it's not possible, but that seems highly suspect. Where there really only 5 judges?

did they fess up to it? I remember jumping on that as soon as I saw pictures, but I don't remember them ever saying anything. I don get the weird narrowing thing. It looks weird to have the sash end in the middle of the body. I know they are trying to make them look tall and thin, but I dont think the effect is strong enough to warrant the change.

THIS:

Am I the person severally distressed by the fact that there is no refference to helping educate the members? Yeah, sure, you can have a little meet and greet mini clinic before the show, but does that really replace the education you would get in an Open class corps? I am shocked (though I probably shouldn't be) and find it offensive that these corps could be so nonchalant about their desire to rid the activity of the scourge that is open class and non-finalist corps. How dare they soil the reputation of this fine activity by only giving their members a great experience and life lessons. That has no monetary value! That doesn't feed Dave Gibbs ego! Are they out of their minds?! I have my own plan, it's called the 'Go to H***, G7' plan. It's simple. It calls for a reset of the activity. A reset back to the pre-DCI days of the 50s and 60s. Where there were more corps and education and member experience were the priorities, not feeding the inflated egos of a handful of directors. A regional, weekend touring model based on local involvement. There must be changes. Drastic ones, too. That much is clear. But sacrificing the smaller less comepetively successful groups like a virgin on an alter to save those with better brand recognition? That's not what drum corps is about. That's dispicable. Get over yourself, G-holes.

Can we have a subpoll concerning polls which we have had several times in the past? For instance: "best 'best of 2nd place' poll?

I don't know how old that number is, but when money got tight the first thing Rick cut was his own salary. To $0. Even if he was making 57K that would work out to about $0.18/hr If only this were true. The state of California voters basically told the Charities, "We don't care what happens to you. We want more casinos!" in November of '08. (Thats a whole other conversation with the insane greed and injustice going on there) No, It's not Brentwood, but it's not Compton either. It's just an average middle class neighborhood. So, true. Capital still has one of the biggest bingo games in Columbus, 2nd only to the mysterious and shady BT Bingo, but that doesnt mean what it used to. The last two years this country's disposable income vanished. That means not a lot to gamble with. Bingo revenues have been reduced in half. The casino is another factor. Part of the reason behind going inactive for the season is coming up with a more long term plan since bingo (across the country, not just Columbus) is disapearing as a means of fundraising on a drum corps scale. There was no 'attitude' that led to CR not fielding. They took time off to pay off debt and came back once the financial situation got better. Unfortunately the country plunged into a recession shortly after and they played it safe by not coming out when the economy is so unstable. Rick always looks at the big picture and the long term. He is concerned with keeping the organization alive and giving the best drum corps experience possible to as man kids as possible. Competitive success is not how he measures success, no matter how much the rest of us got caught up in it. The actual corps expenses are a only a small fraction of the expenses the corps has during the season. DCI DID NOT TAKE OVER THE CORPS. EVER. They sent in someone to observe and thats what he did. He observed. He made no decisions, he gave no orders. He watched. That's it. Capital Regiment went inactive because of financial reasons due to a flood of expenses occuring all at once in the 2006 season. If most corps were managed half as well as Capital Regiment a lot of the corps we lost would still be around. If you think that Capital is alone here, you're out of your mind. Many of those corps people have mentioned here as being models of well run are in deeper holes than Capital. They have just kept it out of the news. The DCI model of drum corps is no longer sustainable. With the increased operational costs paired with increased difficulty of fund raising I am certain that DCI as we know it will be gone in 5-10 years. It kills me to think about this, but it's the realty of things.

I had an interesting view of the corps this year. Obviously, I am a bit biased. That said, I saw the corps back in December with one vet, barely 20 brass and a few guard. Fast forward to the next time I saw them at the end of July. Wow. I was blown away. I can't wait to see what happens this year.