mjoakes

Would be arriving at the Omni about now (1:00) and having some lunch at Harry & Izzy’s so I can avoid LOS food. Then watch some shows starting mid afternoon. I would have seen all WC by this week, and would enjoy catching any changes or improvements.

Side bar: Anderson Highland was a dominating force in the track shows at the Indiana State Fair. They'd won twice in a row in 70 and 71 when my tiny high school, Shenandoah, won in 72 with the first "corps style" show. We had rifles and sabres, something most of the audience had never seen. Our band stepped off the line by playing the Highland school song – a Scottish thing I've forgotten – and then did a little Scottish fling with our feet to the Mickey Mouse tune. Followed by, of course, a marching version of Shenandoah. That was August 72 and I can still do that 20-beat fling.

I think the edit might have been related to the rule on maximum number of ellipses.😀

Just remembered why I have been staying away from DCP.

Any chance some small part of this is a new person, and bit of an outsider, challenging the old guard/status quo in drum corps and triggering push back?

You'll know better than most @garfield. The 990s show a few corps with strong balance sheets, many corps with weak balance sheets. No one has any major endowment that would cover all of operations, even though that would be good practice for a nonprofit. FWIW, what I've seen on the 990s suggests many corps will struggle to sufficiently reduce costs over the next several months. The tour itself, however, is largely all expenses. (That's a general comment. "Largely," not totally.) But I don't think it's obvious that several organizations must fail or fold. They should get creative about cash flow related to membership for 2021 programs. Some genuine disruption and pain for many individuals involved in the activity, however.

Don't give up! Seeing corps live is worth it even if there's a year's delay.

FWIW: Based on a mix of available 2016 and 2015 990s, a recent average total expense for 24 WC corps' nonprofit organizations was about $1.5 million. Revenue about the same, no surprise. The range is wide - from about $387,000 for Pioneer to about $5,577,000 for YEA. 12 WC corps' nonprofits recorded expenses of over $1 million. And if you take out the top five highest expense organizations, the average drops to about $961,000. You all likely know that differences exist in the nonprofit models. (BD's opening of more bingo operations in the past two years, such as at the Turf Club in Berkeley, may well push gaming revenue toward $35 million this year. They pay out almost all of that.) And so not all of the revenues and expenses for many of the nonprofits are directly related to corps activities. Certainly, the average budget for running the drum corps, and excluding other activities, is less than $1.5 million. But I'd guess at over $1 million. 990s aren't bad for large summary items. They can be messy if trying to make comparisons with details.

Even though LOS is an hour drive for me, I’d gladly travel elsewhere. But gotta have a dome: I’m not spending money on flights and hotels to get baked or soaked. But if this Fantasy Championships: Atlanta, San Antonio, Pasadena, Stanford. Also, let’s include 27th Lancers and an all-male Madison Scouts.

I like thinking about this, too. But there is always the follow up: who gets bumped? Hate to see someone drop out (though it will be deserved, most likely).

Buckeyes 51, Hoosiers 10 this weekend. If you think Ohio State sucks, you don't know the meaning of the word.

Butler is a top notch school. There are a lot of top schools around, however. Hope she gets in to a few that will work out for her.

Congrats. Lots of options. My thinking is always based on whether I want to see drill and big picture or catch music at its loudest. Generally, I think sections 239, 240, and 241 are good overall. Most seats are Friends of DCI, perhaps. I sat this year in the top row of 140, and I loved the sound. Plus, 140 is the section in which @Terri Schehr sits (I think). I’ve never met mega celebrities like her, but assume she knows the best seats! 😄

Try negotiating liability coverage for a group of 170 19 and 20 year olds in a social fraternity on a Big 10 campus.

Any organization that is well managed by thoughtful, attentive, safety-minded individuals could still experience accidents. Human action isn’t infallible. Hope the guy is well recovers, and that he and the corps work this out in a sensible way.

Here is how much an idiot I am: I continue to jump on here once or twice a day expecting info and discussion of staff changes. Alternative business models for drum corps is an interesting topic. Shouldn’t it prompt a new thread?

Browser-based email retrieval gave me the link, so maybe that wasn't a DCI problem. Thought the survey was average. Some questions and options could be improved. Also very long. But you know, it's not at all bad, and I suspect DCI gets some good info from it. Always glad when an organization requests feedback. Here's to 2020!

Wouldn't think the issue is age as much as talent. Why bother with breaking the rules unless there is something (wildly?) superior about an over-age performer. And if that's true, seems like a lot of band/corps/music ed insiders probably know the person.

The concessions near the southwest side of LOS - near the doors out to the lots - are almost always very short lines. Not sure I have ever had to wait more than a minute or two. But then, I often step out during the performance of a certain corps', the name of which I dare not mention in a public forum.

My email invitation had a proper address and subject, but no content. https://photos.app.goo.gl/AU8QCo9wYLFjqq6u5

Watched some performances of the 2019 show on YT, and I am kind mesmerized by the first several seconds of that opening drill. It's complicated. Or maybe sophisticated. Almost in BITD Cavies way. I don't recall seeing much mention or discussion of it here on DCP, though. I think some details of what was going on there might have gotten a bit loss in the noise of the uniform colors and design.

Would prefer not seeing rumors at all. But I like it when posters are explicit about something being a genuine rumor.

Is there a clean break in the educational staff titles noting someone that is paid a decent wage and someone that may get some cash but is basically volunteering?

I agree with you, too! By different results, however, I was referring to Lance’s comment about the specific scores. That’s what I thought Lance meant, anyway. Yes, the top corps would adjust and likely be very nearly the same top group. But the numbers probably wouldn’t be a simple reframing as the OP shows.

Excellent point, and I agree different criteria would create different results. I don’t agree these numbers are meaningless. For me, it was an interesting exercise by the OP.