mjoakes
-
Posts
1,741 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
4
Posts posted by mjoakes
-
-
On 2/9/2024 at 9:37 PM, Terri Schehr said:
I’m rooting for a magical moment like this from the Cavaliers in 2024.
Thanks. That made my day. I saw them in California at the start of the tour and couldn't get the ballad out of my head the whole summer.
-
2
-
-
18 hours ago, MarimbaManiac said:
I feel like the answer here is pretty obvious, but because it would put a limit on the ability for a corps to buy a better shot at a championship, they won't agree to it.
- Regional tours only, with each corps staying in their region until the week before finals. Then have a number of shows in an easy driving distance from the finals site. Corps fly in and then bus around the area.
- Regional MEMBERSHIP only, negating the need for housing during spring training or pre-season.
- Hard spending cap on things like equipment, uniforms, props, staff, design, anything that isn't related to feeding or housing the corps.
Clearly this would be a major change to the activity, but it would allow for each corps to spend FAR less money on a season and extend the life of the activity as a whole. It would also make sure that less fortunate corps weren't competing with corps that are spending way more money than they are on flashy gimmicks.So the Texas kids who really, really want to march Cavies just have to suck it up and manage the disappointment?
-
1
-
On 12/19/2023 at 11:20 AM, Richard Lesher said:
I honestly can't attest to why they have the problems they have. They DID have a bookkeeper from an outside firm. Apparently that stopped.
I'm not buying their explanation. They had been using Quick Books forever, how changing to a different software all the sudden prevents them from tracking finances for 5 years is pretty concerning. Right?
Right. A junior-year intern could work out the software change. (And any platform worth something is going to make a transition from Quick Books as easy as possible.)
This is all so unnecessary and so sad.
-
4
-
1
-
-
6 hours ago, Richard Lesher said:
The ONLY new person running SCV is the CEO, the CFO herself has been there since 2016, and was the treasurer at the time the delinquency started, the board President at the time SCV defaulted on loans and closed down the corps, and the CFO as SCV continued to receive elevated DOJ notifications.
At every point along the history of failure she has had 100% oversight of finances.
The CEO is neither the final authority for SCV policy, nor compliance, and does not have the authority to remove the CFO.
This may have been answered in one of your earlier posts. (And I do read them. I'm not jumping to the end without having followed the thread all along.)
Doesn't the organization use outside accounting services, or at least a bookkeeper? Or are they paying a staff member to do basic receivables, payables, and member collections?
There are online platforms for accounting and membership services that simplify much of this.
-
This is all so exhausting. (And as I noted earlier, there might be some unhealthy levels of obsession on display.) But I can't stop coming back to the thread. How unhealthy is that?
-
3
-
-
I would like:
- a device that allows me to shrink by 50% any big pickup truck that, when parked, extends two feet into the lot or garage lane,
- all vehicles programmed so that a turn cannot be made unless turn signals are used an appropriate distance in advance,
- to obtain that college minor required to understand how DCI (especially Friends of DCI) makes Lucas Oil seat assignments,
- AI-generated labels for DCP posters, such as "Pretend Lawyer" (or maybe "Plays a Lawyer on Social Media"),
- to have my windows cleaned by the next five people claiming props are the reason drum corps have financial problems.
-
3
-
5
-
Bumping this thread before discussion of Cavies in 2024 gets split up too much. Like the "Comeback..." post, just anxious to not have to follow two threads.
-
1
-
-
There's a certain obsessiveness here that can't be healthy.
-
3
-
2
-
-
1 hour ago, HockeyDad said:
Ahh, a grammar guy. Love it. You’re probably just laying around on a Friday. 😏
Haha. Up early because of meetings. Fridays at university have turned into no class, all meetings.
-
1 hour ago, HockeyDad said:
You aren’t saying that people critical of their leadership are out to “get them” or pursuing some sort of personal vendetta, are you? Because your words, to me, imply that.
Not at all. I'm not typically targeting people on DCP, as I think my posts illustrate. Certainly didn't intend to here, so apologies if it came across like that.
I mean it more literally: The noncompliance isn't so important to me. But some people might want certain outcomes that are served well by highlighting the noncompliance. I've no idea what those outcomes might be. I don't know enough about the personalities involved, including RL's, to criticize motivations.
And as a general principle, I think discussion of all the various angles is a good idea. Milton's letting truth and falsehood grapple. That sort of thing.
-
2
-
-
On 9/13/2023 at 5:38 PM, arabica said:
That’s great. Less props.
Because I have no knowledge of turf stuff and, with the help of early Friday morning coffee, feel like being one of those petty posters: Props is a countable noun and should take "fewer" instead of less.
BUT (1) Grammar has been dying a long death anyway and (2) I agree that prop reduction would be great.
-
5
-
-
Vanguard, Cadets, Spirit, Troopers, Madison, Pioneer, Legends... This stuff is really hard to manage and get things right.
We should be super appreciative of the smart folks at BDPA who have done things so well for so long (even if not always flawlessly).
(I actually shook my head a bit in disgust when I typed Pioneer.)
-
1
-
-
As many others have proposed, the important issue is whatever mismanagement and failed leadership has taken place at VMAPA. And then what steps are underway now to correct all that.
The noncompliance with state reporting or operating requirements, for me anyway, is a lot smaller. First, it is likely a function of the more important management issue.
Second, it isn't so unusual for nonprofits to be out of compliance with state rules. The rules are usually lower priority for nonprofit leadership, which often is managing an organization starved for attention and resources related to their missions. (Lower priority not necessarily intentionally, just due to so many other issues seemingly higher priority.) Add in the voluntary nature of most board seats, board turnover, and then board members so often well versed in mission things but poorly prepared for operational and financial management – and you have, again, not unusual situations causing a nonprofit to have missed some compliance issues.
State web sites can be slow to be updated, and reliance only on that for current info is not as credible as you might think.
My comments aren't meant to give VMAPA a pass on being noncompliant. Just saying that this part of the mess they are in isn't uncommon. For me, the specific compliance issues aren't worth so much angst. But I can understand how noncompliance is something to grab onto if you feel disenfranchised from the organization or have other reasons for using it as leverage to pursue some outcome.
-
3
-
-
Thanks to the mods for the warnings. I truly don't understand why a few posters get so personal on DCP. Or take such great offense when someone questions them. It's just an online forum about drum corps.
Also appreciative of posters who have quality insights or information of substance. Gonna be a long several months of seeing how things evolve with SCV.
-
On 9/5/2023 at 12:10 PM, fighterkit said:
I can tell that I am not wanted in this space so I will be leaving this thread and let you argue and tear each other apart.
Don't leave. DCP needs your good thinking and voice. Not a great thing for another poster to reference your age (though I think that person didn't intend to be offensive about the age). As these pages aptly demonstrate, wisdom isn't a function just of age.
-
3
-
1
-
-
2 hours ago, Chief Guns said:
And from a "business perspective" (not a fan perspective) if you were overall in charge of BD, and you just racked up your 10th title in the last 15 competitive seasons Saturday night, and someone comes in your office Monday morning and says the formula needs to be scrapped and we need to do something else for 2024 to appease some people online, what would your response be as the Director of BD?
Pretty sure all DCP participants would be expecting a call from BD to flesh out some of our opinions. We're that wise and important here, right?
-
1
-
5
-
-
Isn't this thread about staff changes? Maybe the relentless SCV discussions can go to the SCV forums.
Unless SCV news affects staff changes.
-
8
-
1
-
-
9 minutes ago, PopcornEater1963 said:
Home sweet home from DCI 2023! And pondering “what’s next” in the activity.
I love these shows. And the kids and the staff that produce them. Over the past 30-40 years we’ve seen the implementation of Asymmetrical drill, sound systems, props of all sizes, performers “above” the field on ramps, athletic wear replacing traditional uniforms, the body work of plies, “poop squats”, the switch to Bb horns from G bugles, the mandatory 32nd note triple tongue runs that start at the trumpets and end at the tubas, upside down quad drummers, and more.
And I LOVE every bit of it….
But what’s next? When 4-5 corps each year end up micropoints apart near “perfection” it seems it’s time for more innovation to break open the current configuration of a drum corps show.
And to that I say this… we’ve gone “theatrical” with set pieces, narraration, tarps, and sound equipment. Why stop there?
Why not put wireless stage lights on those sky- scraping props. Incorporate special effects like wind, explosions,earthquakes, waterfalls, etc?
Put silks on drones, and fly them in time to music over the field. Put MEMBERS in hovercraft and take “3D” to a whole new level?
Can’t happen you say?
In the late 70’s, most drum corps experts would have said NONE of what is currently happening would happen.
The activity now has a “compulsory checklist” mentioned above and the shows while entertaining as hell check off those unwritten compulsory boxes.
Where’s the next George Zingali, who once asked in the late 70’s… “what if we tied helium balloons to every shako” almost jokingly. And then went on to revolutionize drum corps.
Some of my best DCI friends will think I’m being cheeky… I’m not.
You know what if took to break Blue Devil dominance year over year?
The 2016 Bluecoats innovating like hell in Downside Up with ramps, electronics, athletic wear over uniforms, etc.
Well guess what… Blue Devils are now dominating again. And they get comfortable when no one is changing the way the game is played because they are better at the current game almost 100 percent of the time.
Who’s the next George Zingali and what will he or she bring to DCI Production?
We’ve gone “theatrical”… let’s go all the way.
Nice post and good thinking.
I get bummed out now and then at some of the plain junky stuff on the field. (Madison's almost inexplicable rolling speakers this year; Blue Stars dumping into their show each year every possible prop, often to little marginal effect.) But when done well, and as part of a fully coherent show design, all the new things you speak of are brilliant and entertaining.
It's probably none of the "things" that cause me to frown during performances. It's that they are often poorly used.
Like movies, I think. Some great story ideas in movies are often poorly executed. Because making a film is a collaboratively creative process, it is super hard to get it right. I think we want it that way, BTW. It further spotlights those films that do it all very well.
We should support innovation, even if it challenges convention, and applaud those who get it right.
-
5
-
1
-
-
I agree.
-
2
-
-
I don't know anything about how this ward is determined, but you have an excellent point to make here.
Last night, I heard counting almost immediately after the silence from the pit, and I briefly wondered if it was some kind of known issue - like a restraining order from the license holder or something. That seems far fetched. If the DM switched right away to a vocal cadence to keep things together, then yes, what poise and good leadership.
Nice idea.
-
6 minutes ago, c.l. said:
Apologies for being that “actually” guy 🙃
Glad to have this corrected. I took the rankings from CorpsClash, which has The Academy at 11th, Madison 12th, and BAC 13th. 2016.
-
1
-
-
Yes, getting there early is good. There's plenty of spaces to hangout.
I'm not there this year, but attended all three days 2011 to 2019. I usually took a book and sat in the way sidelines reading and watching people. My thing, probably not for many others.
-
1
-
-
- Popular Post
- Popular Post
It's been a good year for drum corps overall, though I am sad for any struggles by individual corps.
It's worth noting that in 2016 - five competitive years ago? (ignoring 2020 and 2021) - Mandarins, Troopers, Colts, and BAC were finished on Friday night.
-
10
-
1
-
BD's performance last night was super (as was several other corps'). My response to their show when it ended was to drink the last of my wine and take the dog out for her last tinkle of the day. Now prompted by the OP, I am properly ashamed of myself.
-
4
-
The Cavaliers 2024
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
Didn’t do that. Instead, I watched the 2019 show playing on a friend’s MacBook but as seen through Apple Vision Pro. No way to describe what that was like. Partly it was awesome - I mean, in the literal sense of this word, not the casual use of it so popular today - to see this huge field in front of me with the Cavies on it. Partly, it was my first VR experience, so everything was giving me goosebumps. It wasn’t my Vision Pro, by the way.