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GmenBari78

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Posts posted by GmenBari78

  1. I wonder if the reason why DCI is not communicating well about this is because they are under some kind of gag order from their lawyers. And they don't have enough experience with a situation like this to help them communicate appropriately. I am worried this is going to diminish DCI quite a bit if this stays as is.

  2. caveats:

    (1) huge Bluecoats fan

    (2) if repeated elsewhere, sorry, admins please merge, etc.

    I was curious about the meaning of lyrics to the Hymn of Acxiom, and found the following links that explain it. That caused a huge "tilt" for me - stunning gorgeous music, backed by a meaning that gives creepy chills (to me anyway). Just another way that Blooo brought a "tilt" to the music. I still love the piece, hauntingly beautiful!

    http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/93517/internship-inspires-the-hymn-of-acxiom

    http://viennateng.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4031

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  3. And a note on the stadium -- awesome place! I was in the premium seats, well worth it! They fed us a buffet of food, high quality, air conditioned clubhouse area, seats were backed with armrests, and the view and sound were awesome. This is a championship or regional quality stadium. DCI needs to take note of it and move one of those here!

  4. I was at the show, and I can tell you Bluecoats were on fire tonight -- I saw them at Dublin and they were better tonight. I think it was a deserved bump up. The crowd was on fire for them too, and it think it kicked them into gear. The key for them is to sustain that when they are not in the home town!

  5. One advantage is that new field drains very well.....modern technology who knew, could be the thing that lets the show go on

    Ooo that's good to hear, I was worried about that... never know with these new stadiums if they would put in proper drainage or not to keep the roof open -- oops, wrong stadium.... :tongue:

  6. I think we'll be ok...according to weather.com it is supposed to stop raining between 5 and 6pm with a slight chance of rain between 8-9pm (20-30% chance).

    I've never been to a DCI show in the rain, do they only 'rain out' if their is lightening?

    Most corps directors usually call the show off if the field has any chance of causing injury due to the high velocity drills. This is artificial turf so if its wet I doubt the shows will be marched, likely a standstill tonight is my guess.

  7. Akron homer here-- yes, this would be a good local show site but not that great for a regional. Parking will be a pain as there are no nearby lots. I think the parking situation will be interesting to watch at the university and downtown this fall as games start up, probably going to be a pain. No easy nearby warm-up lots. This is a run-down downtown area, so a few wrong turns and you are in bad neighborhoods. The number of nearby local schools is going to be comparable to the Centerville show, or Bluecoats home show in Massillon just a half hour south of here - probably enough for 8 to 10 corps, but stretching that to a regional with 20+ corps is going to be very difficult to find places for everyone to stay.

  8. I'm kind of dodging your questions cuz I think (gasp hope) they're irrelevant.

    I just don't see how woodwinds could make it through the wear and tear of a tour...too many hours exposed to sweat, sun, and rain.

    Second, most likely it would require a very large increase in membership limits. I guess they could carve it out of other captions but that just doesn't sound feasible to me.

    Third, woodwinds are more expensive than horns...ie cost prohibitive.

    Fourth, would you have another caption to staff?

    I may be putting my head in the sand because I can't deal with the possibility, but I just don't think it will ever happen. If it's legalized, you may see Cadets and some other corps putz around with them the same way they did with over narration, and then reality will set in and they'll fade like many other fads in DC.

    I'm AGAINST WOODWINDS in DCI, so don't take this as I'm for it, but some of your arguments against just don't stand up....

    On your first point, there is plenty of evidence from my background and others who marched summer bands in the 70s and 80s that says woodwind instruments can take the heat, sweat, sun and rain just as well as brass instruments. I played clarinet through 4 years of 2 months of tour to the west coast and east coast each summer and never had a problem with it.

    On your third point, I don't think woodwind instruments are more expensive than brass in general. Even if they are, expense has never kept DCI from adding new instrumentation and visual stuff over the years (expansion of the pit, electronics, multiple equipment changes, props on the field, etc).

    My guess is, if you see woodwinds added, it will take on the form of solo or ensemble work amplified up front, as an enhancement to sound, but not primarily as marching members.

    DCI BoD have gone to the lengths of adding new sounds to drum corps over the years (G to Bb instruments, pit instrumentation, amplification, electronics). Its now a short step for them to add woodwinds. This would suck. Unfortunately its their next logical step.

  9. Maybe it's because of my youthful age that I probably didn't know there was ever a summer maching band activity that coexisted with drum corps? Tell me all about it. I am very interested in the stories about it's last days.

    Summer Bands International

    Garry in Vegas

    Also, Mid-America Competing Band Directors Association, currently still active. See my sig -- my HS band competed in this circuit in the mid 70s thru the 90s. We also competed with some west coast bands, including Van Nuys Royal Cavaliers, Whittier Cavaliers, etc. during summer tours to California.

  10. Since it's on my mind, how do you think people would feel about a web broadcast of finals? I'm pretty sure DCI could produce it quickly and pretty inexpensively, and they could even show the entire finals and add in some commentary from the team.

    It'd give the FanNetwork a little more to do during the off season, and might even give DCI money rather than them paying money to put it on the air.

    Not sure, but my guess is that DCI would still have to pay for this, because they would have to pay the video streaming company that they use for Fan Network for the extra bandwidth that would be taken up by the webcast. I expect they had to do that throughout the season for the other live broadcasts they did. So its not a freebie for them, but if they would sell enough extra "tickets" to the event, they may make some money on it.

  11. Well, that really stinks!

    Does anyone know if DCI's viewership was better with PBS or ESPN 2?

    I know that $$$ of course is a big factor. I am curious as to what the cost is to be able to put a show together to view. It would have to be a ton.

    Also, has the finals broadcast been used as a recruiting tool? I know that youth that want to march will march because they know of someone or a program somewhere already, but have there been any corps directors that can use it as a tool for recruitment or would it be more personal corps vids and such?

    Just curious.

    I think I heard somewhere on DCP that DCI had to PAY ESPN $250,000 for the broadcast. That is in addition to the payment to Tom Blair etc to produce it.

  12. I've never ONCE heard it played well in all my years of witnessing these retreats.

    Agreed.

    But even if we say, go back to the old style of retreat, where each corps plays its own signature tune while leaving the field, through the years (even back to my era of the 70s), even that has had mixed results. Some corps will do it right, others will not.

    In the end, I think it comes down to the traditions of discipline in each corps, and how well that is instilled into the members. Some corps are less disciplined than others when it comes to items other than the competitive performance. Other corps carry that discipline all the way through in every single aspect of appearance.

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