MoKeefus

I know your pain. If I lived within a couple of hours drive from Bayonne I'd still be with them. I may have made it to 2nd and a half mellophone by now, oh the fame and prestige!

Thanx for the well wishes. You're right, it should be fun and as simple as possible. I believe if it looks like you're having fun and you have a decent product it'll grow on it's own. The local DCI show is usually well attended, there must be some interest in the activity.

So... Does anyone in the Hampton Roads area of VA feel like getting together? I just want to play again. It's been a couple of years for me since I was in the arc and I really miss it. I just can't do the four hour drive North or South. I can't put into words how much I miss my Carolina Gold and Bridgemen Family but I just can't do the drive anymore. If anyone is interested, please email me.

I took a break from DCI this year. It was easier than I thought. I can afford the tickets but I just don't relate to it anymore. I believe DCI started shifting their product away from the blue collar fan a while ago. (I define the Blue Collar Fan as someone who is not a music or performance major and may have participated in the the activity as a hobby, or a little more than a hobby.) I enjoy listening to the CDs but with the shift to a greater visual performance I have not enjoyed the last few years as much as I have in the past. MoKeefus

If they have the same folks working the concession stands, eat before you enter the stadium.

On the way back from Florence, SC I checked the travel distance from Rocky Mount to Newport News, VA. It's a lot shorter than the ride to and from Benson, NC. If momma lets me break away Saturday, maybe I'll ride down. I wonder if my mellophone will fit on the back of my bike??? It would be nice to be in the arc again.

Man this work stuff is killing me. I hardly have time to go to any drum corps sites. I miss the good natured give and take of the forums. I'll be back when things slow down. See Ya Tomorrow, MoKeefus

Did you know… Red Sox fans joining the Bridgemen are beaten bloody and unconscious by Yankee and Mets fans only on their initial rehearsal? That’s right, the handful of candidates that survived the beatings were allowed to pay their entire years dues, plus a non-refundable 10% processing fee, upon regaining consciousness. When they are able to hold a horn, drum or flag/rifle again, they are treated no different than anyone else suffering from advanced symptoms of leprosy. It’s all part of the Bridgemen tradition of welcoming new members into the “Black and Gold” family unless of course you’re a Red Sox fan. Then you can be a member of the “black and blue, red-headed step-child” clan and you have to eat at the small table off to the side at all major family get togethers. :P This is the year the Red Sox go all the way!!! (again)

A couple of thoughts... First, having worked with both European and Far East suppliers and vendors, I can say with the utmost certainty, the men and women in North America (I didn't want to leave out our friends to the North) provide a higher quality product and do it more efficiently. A German owned company in my area frequently sends reps to their facility to see how a product designed and developed in Europe can be made cheaper and better here. Many of the assemblies in the products they sell to us as “German” made were manufactured here in the states. The Toyotas and Hondas made in the United States regularly receive higher quality ratings than the automobiles made in Japan. Americans (and Canadians) do great work, probably the best in the world. What makes it cheaper for companies to move out of North America is the cost of labor and operations. By labor costs I mean social security and health insurance not the actual pay of the workers. In Europe and Japan the majority of health care and retirement funds are subsidized by the government, a cost which is killing our auto business right now. By operating costs I mean energy costs, local and state taxes and any other perk not given to them that will be provided by the new underdeveloped nation. I won’t even bring up child labor and environmental issues. We may not be burning coal for our industries but all the coal leaving the Newport News Terminal in Virginia is being burnt somewhere (China). Second, the actual cost to make a horn or any manufactured item becomes cheaper each year. I’m willing to bet anyone a bunch of cash that a $1,500 Yamaha trumpet costs less than $150 to make. I’ll make another wager, the cost to manufacture the trumpet in the Asian country will cost right around $150 after they have been manufacturing there for a few years. At first it will cost much more than it did in the United States. Why is it cheaper for Yamaha to move the factories? They’ll be able to sell directly to you through the internet or their distributors. Even though it will cost them $300 to make the horn now, the will be able to have UPS deliver it from China to your door. They have skipped two or three steps in the supply chain. As a rule of thumb, every time an item reaches the next step closer to the consumer, the price will double. It has nothing to do with cost. (The exception is the local music store owner who has a tremendous amount of overhead costs, which is why they are disappearing.) It is all about what we are willing to pay. To prove my point, look at the cost of a Baritone versus the cost of a Euph. Is there that much more brass and chrome in a Euph to justify the price difference? Yes, if brass costs around $900 a pound. If we as consumers, especially Americans, want to fix things, stop buying stuff. I’ll say it again, stop buying stuff. It is that simple. Use whatever you buy until it is no longer serviceable. Replace what has been consumed with the best value, not what is cool or trendy. Demand service from the seller of the product. We shouldn’t have to call India to find out why we just lost our internet connection. If we all did this, we would find the best value comes from products locally produced and locally serviced. I'm sorry about being long winded but we need to take a stand.

Tomorrow starts the spring training games. I'm sooooooo looking forward to this season. I bought a new Red Sox cap (don't tell my wife). I think you'll approve of it Jim. You know, if that truck was 10 feet or so longer, we could get almost half of the 2nd bari's on it. If the truck was 20 feet longer we could get 3 or 4 of the lead sopranos heads on it. (The gloves are off and they are circling near center ice.)

Dude, I've been working at least 10 hour days for weeks now. I hope things slow down a bit. My wife and daughters will be gone this weekend. I'll have the house to myself. You know what that means....Break out the horns and the drum corps DVDs. It's time to for a drum corps fix. I need to move to Bayonne or find something local. I absolutely hate going so long between practices. (I miss my buds too.) see ya on the 11th

I heard the other side of the truck is just going to be the mellophones. Larry said "They may not be the loudest, they may not be the biggest, but they are the least ugly section of my horn-line." It made me feel good all over. He has a way with words.

Has this issue ever been resolved? I would like to purchase a soft case for a Kanstul mellophone. Any help would be appreciated. MoKeefus

I watched it while drinking a few cool ones in a small VFW post in Bayonne, NJ. It was awesome. The scouts were pretty good too! :) Actually the Scouts were Fan Freakin Tastic!

Sara, we need music majors. In life and in drum corps. Generally, I like like them. The point I was trying to illustrate is the lack of non-music major types in drum corps now as opposed to the way it used to be. I was lucky enough to come back into drum corps with a corps that was willing to help me learn. Although I feel the cattle prod was a bit harsh. I hope we see a change in DCI where DIV 2 and Div 3 corps are given a little more help. Where people can learn and enjoy the activity as an outlet for their artistic side. Where kids that may not have all the talent, education, time and money it takes to perform in a Div 1 corps. If DCI wants to create an Elite division where there are less restrictions and more of what they have been doing that's fine. I find myself enjoying DCA more and more each year. I just hope we can learn from what DCI is doing and guide our activity to where it can be. thanx

MikeD, are you for real? Or are you just being contrary to have a reason to post? Drum corps used to be cool. As cool as anything else we did before Nintendo, the internet, organized soccer, padded dashboards, and warnings labels telling us not to use our hair-dryers in the bath tub. I've been marching the last three years. Trust me, you can't swing a soprano (oops, sorry) a trumpet around a competitive corps without hitting half a dozen music majors. You're right, most are not in a music career but, they do have the degree. "Yes, there are auditions...just as there are for many top-level music performance ensembles such as all-state programs." If I was a prosecuting attorney, I'd be walking back to my seat saying "Your Honor, I rest my case, MikeD has just proven DCI is an elitest activity." It's not all about visual? - Were you able to type that with a straight face? Mike, they changed the scoring system to make visual more equal. More equal as in Animal Farm "more equal." "but lots of folks flock to shows and love hearing modern drum corps" Not as many are flocking. Friday night in Allentown, I was not the only one in my section quietly thinking about what I just paid to see. I heard a lot of polite applause. I've heard louder clapping at a golf course. MikeD, If you're happy with DCI the way it is now, I'm glad for you. It just doesn't get me excited like it did just a few years ago. It makes me kind of sad. Not angry, but sad.

Money is a big part of it but it is not the whole story. A lot of it has to do with who we are as people now. We, adults and kids, work more than we ever used to. My kids have more homework than I ever had, and I went to a catholic school. Most kids today only participate in one or two activities. It's all they have time for. If our kids are in band they may consider drum corps if not, the probability of them partaking in this activity is very small. Most kids and adults we see in DCI or DCA are somehow related to the music field. I'd like to know what percentage of 2006 DCI marching members were not music majors, trumpet performance majors, visual arts majors and so on. I'd like to know what percentage of marching members will go on to be plumbers, carpenters, auto mechanics or anything other than a career in the arts. Drum corps has become so demanding you better show up to auditions, yes auditions, ready to perform. Is drum corps cool? We think so but then again most of us were in band. Not exactly the mecca of cool. Drum corps today don't even play songs we can recognize. We sit and watch/listen and we say yeah Madison played that in 19XX, or the Bridgemen played that back when, or 25 top Div 1 corps have played WSS. How often do we hear a current hit. How many corps have played "Simple Things?" For the most part drum corps play for drum corps members or judges. We do this for ourselves. We are not inviting. We are snobs. Look at this years Cadets show. Could you take someone off the street, that has not been exposed to drum corps or band, and expect them to enjoy that crap without taking a hit of acid? We behave (perform) like a bunch of inbred snobs. Why are audiences at classical music concerts so much smaller than at a pop show? Because it takes a fair amount of musical knowledge to really get the full value of classical music. I'm not saying dumb down to the masses but let's play something they can enjoy. Oh yeah, since the visual judges have taken over this activity, it has gone to HE11! I say we send a special forces unit into the prison where they are holding the percussion and brass judges, free them and re-attach their go-nads before we lose what small following we have left. It wasn't always like this. Long ago in a far away galaxy everyday kids and adults did this activity. Sure they played a couple of the same songs for two seasons but they were regular everyday folk. Sure it sounds dated to hear "Going to Fly" from Rocky on your old DCI CDs but at the time it was pretty cool. Not only was the tune still played on the radio but the corps played the entire song! Parades; as a kid I marched in a bunch of parades. They were all local. Our town knew who we were. We sucked but they knew who were were. Does the average person in, Rockford, Rosemont, Canton, Concord or Boston know who their drum corps is? In Bayonne they know who the Bridgmen are. In Hawthorne they know who the Cabs are. I think that is something DCI should look at. I don't think DCA is as bad as DCI but it could get out of hand if we keep up this DCI pace of competition. This activity will continue to decline until we stop playing for ourselves and start playing for others. I went to a DCI show this year and the National Anthem was a recording. I totally embarassed my wife when I yelled out we had six corps performing and not one of them could perform our National Anthem. The old-timers around me started snickering. Folks, that's how we started. We played for people. Play for the people and the people will want to play. When you only play for yourself, it's a lot like masterbation.

Nice video, I'd sign up today if I could find: A form of ID that could erase 25+ years Hair coloring, actually I'll need some hair first Wrinkle remover and a pair of lungs the size of Hefty Bags.

If you haven't sold the horn yet, could you tell me the price and send some photos to spadlead@yahoo.com. thanx, MoKeefus

Well, I'm glad you knew how the whole crowd felt last night. That's a real gift. I do know how it rained here in the Tidewater area yesterday. I did know that the field was going to be under water. AND, I do know about rainouts. I also know about marching on a marginal field after a downpour (Orlando, DCA South 2004). As far as a financial bath goes, that's why you have show sponsors, to mitigate the loss a booster organization may experience. If a booster organization is depending entirely on ticket sales to generate a profit, they are going to take a bath. It's a business. It's a business for DCI, Boosters, Corps, and anyone else getting a dollar off the performance. There is risk in business. I should be happy I got a show of any kind? The next time you go out to eat, be happy with anything they throw in front of you. After all you don't want them to take a bath.

The good news is I got to pay $80.00 so me and my family could sit with a bunch of Western Branch High School (Chesapeake, VA) bandos and watch six corps do a standstill show! <**> Give me a BLEEPIN' break! If it is too bad to march, give me my money back! I'll make a decent donation to watch a standstill show but don't charge me for a full meal when all I got was an appetizer. Why did the Crossmen go on after Boston? I don't want to hear anymore crap about Boston recruiting from FL. It looked like the Crossmen had set up party headquarters in VA. I really like the Crossmen but when did this love affair begin? Yeah, yeah, yeah, sour grapes, I know. The one DCI show in my area and it's a rain-out. Oh yeah, one more thing, the hot dogs were cold. Bring the show back to Hampton, VA.

The judge's tape mentioned this set. I can't remember the specifics but it was something like... "The formations to my left and center are well defined while maintaining equal and uniform intervals." "The color guard work, which is integrated nicely into the program, greatly adds to the whole visual presentation. Good job people." B) "The formation to my right, made by the people with the big bells, has the definition of a splatter, this sort of free form does not match what the rest of the corps is doing. The white lines on the grass are there for a reason folks. I'm sure the staff will continue to improve the show as the season progresses but, I would make this thundering herd a priority." :( I thought he was kind of harsh on the BMO but who am I to argue.

A Chech hockey player for the NY Islanders silly! Miroslav Satan #81 | Right Wing | New York Islanders

Overall I had a very good time. 1. I was a little disappointed they were not selling beer at this event. 2. The 93 Star color guard was the hottest color guard I've ever seen. (Except for every year of the Bridgemen.) They looked like an advert for the FIRM. 3. When kids started giggiling at the 27th guy trapped in the chimes and the ladies in the guard, I politely reminded them it was 1975. Sometimes you have to help X-Box generation with thier time references. 4. Upon getting through my front door I ran to the den to get the baseball scores. I cried when I saw what Cleveland did to the BoSox.

There even more impressive when you're actually in Bayonne and you see a dozen or so guys in standing in front of the VFW post. It's like a scene right out of the 50s or 60s. I showed up early a few rehearsals ago to help load equipment. As I was heading in thier direction I considered crossing the street. Then I remembered I'm marching with these guys. They still beat me up and took my lunch money.