mjoakes

DCP is like one never-ending faculty meeting.

I was briefly involved in a start-up corps from Indiana aiming for Sound Sport status. The organization had some members, bought some horns, and practiced a show designed for them. But there was no credible business plan. It was the brainchild of someone passionate about drum corps and music and educating young people. Good. But you need some business people heavily influencing what is done. The cost? I don't know. I think the founder maxed out credit cards and sucked dry their savings. But I can't verify that.

Another year with shows like a couple this past year. Those shows went off the drum corps rails for me. I know others liked them, and they were performed well. But regarding my personal preferences prompting me to spend money on DCI shows, no thanks to more of that mess. Already, this is my first year since 2013 that I did not go Friends of DCI or put my name in early for August seats.

It's fine with me. And if there's a repeat of some of the gimmicky junk from 2022, cut the shows to 5 minutes. Maybe we'll get at least a full 4 minutes of live, member-played music.

I'm sad about SCV. They'll recover as smart people eventually help make key decisions. Or they won't, and drum corps will still go on without them. Maybe changed. Maybe not. Some of you probably will be able to add to this, but I'm kind of trained to ignore the talk of more shoes to drop or last days of DCI. The Cadets and Hopkins scandal was going to explode across other corps, too, possibly bringing down DCI as we know it. Then the pandemic was going to be the end of DCI as we know it. Now finances at SCV is another canary in a coal mine. There are some interesting perspectives to consider from these 51 pages. But much unhelpful drama to wade through.

There is no magic required to be a financially healthy and viable nonprofit.

Below is my note posted in yesterday's thread. Need to add Troopers to the list. Cavies, Phantom, BD are the only reasons this isn't a fully jump-the-shark season for me.

Cavies, Phantom, BD are the only reasons this isn't a fully jump-the-shark season for me.

Severin Bar at the Omni is open late, close by, and filled with drum corps people.

Quality, visionary leadership is the first step to dealing with all the other issues.

Good point. A lot of people are very sloppy with the language, and it's been going on for centuries. Maybe here on DCP we can improve things just a little by writing more precisely and stopping use of "hate" and "haters" to describe everything we don't particularly care for.

I'll donate. But I think I did this 3-4 years ago for a corps also announcing they were in trouble during tour (truck accident?), and then subsequent reports made me feel like I might have gotten a little scammed. That probably wasn't literally true, but I recall some discussion at least about the fuzziness of the request. I donated to Pioneer, too. And I think it is arguable about planning. Things change from the date of projections, of course. All forecasts are wrong. But for this tour, organizations ought to have set out only with very healthy reserves on hand. Maybe JS had reserves. I don't know. So I am not at all attacking JS management, since I know no details. I'm just making a general point: There has been enough uncertainty for enough months that good boards had all they needed to understand risks. All kinds of businesses and nonprofits are dealing with great uncertainty and much of the same economic conditions.

To my eyes via Flo, there is a lot of solid marching and drill in many of the shows this year.

Cadets and Phantom with the first shows in a few years I can thoroughly enjoy.

Very enjoyable run from Cavies.

Love watching Phantom.

Great Troopers. Kind of bold and daring. Love a modern take on their traditional look.

I agree. Different leadership might have had a different vision of how to move on. But if they stay sustainable, it’s great for them and drum corps.

I miss the old Scouts. But this was a fine show and effort.

I find him distracting and adding little value.

Bumping the Cavies. Sad to see the corps having COVID issues preventing them from competing. Still lots of time left.

Just my usual objection to overuse (and casual use) of the word hate. I don't see much genuine hate on here at all.

Good guessing.

Summer after high school graduation in 1970s I worked trumpets for three Indiana high school bands. Attended three band camps in late July and early August. (If anyone is interested: Winchester, Anderson, and Edgewood high schools.) I remember it being so super cool for me to be on the other side of the marching band, teaching and drilling students when I was just recently taught and drilled. There was definitely a sense of power. Again, I felt cool, part of the staff, eating with the staff, doing staff meetings. Then getting in front of students and feeling a bit of a big shot at 18 years old. Don't believe I was a jerk at all. I wanted to impress that I could genuinely help the trumpet section. But I get how some young (and old) staff members must feel after putting in good time and effort as MMs themselves. There's a power trip involved. And that can lead to excess and really sh**y behavior. As a BTW, Anderson did great at fall competitions, and while I was a freshman at IU, I received a bonus check from the band director. Maybe $25 or $50. That was a HUGE amount of expected cash flow back then.

There was a time when I would quickly call this overreacting. Sad to realize now that @Poppycock isn't. Was just at a large Kroger in Bloomington and wore a mask. Several others + many of the employees had masks on. (As a BTW, this huge Kroger near campus is referred to as KroGucci by IU students.)