JimF-LowBari

OK thanks, reread the O.P. and think I understand now. There was a thread a while back about why corps don't move up and somehow thought this was a repeat. Good topic as corps I was with went from last place at DCA Prelims (inactive year before) to 5th place at Finals in a 7 season span. Reason for improvement was mainly long term planning by corps BoD. Also #### good luck when a close by corps folded and lot of talented people joined us and greatly improved a weak part of the corps.

If by develop you mean move up a Division how do we know if a corps wants to move up? When I marched there were a lot of smaller Sr corps that wanted to stay small. These corps chose long term survival instead of taking a chance of getting big and breaking their budget. If you look at DCA today it appears to be going the same way again.

How about as subtle as a railroad Mail Car. :P (What my grandfather did on the Pennsylvania Railroad back in the 20s/30s.)

But remember the important part is the experience ^0^ Just saw Bluecoats88s "cluttered" post. My college had Charles Casavant (son of drill guru A. R. Casavant) as band director. His quote was something like"I won't have more than 150 people in the band. Any more than that, they get in the way of my drill". :)

Guess people can remember back last year when crap started hitting the fan about finding a site for 2006 DCA. Let's see, Hershey was written off after the DCI/DCA show fiasco, Scranton getting small for expanded number of corps (my room was 12 miles away and I wasn't with a group), Allentown is ripping up the stadium seats, Raleigh supposedly wasn't ready yet. Then it was pick Rochester or.... oh crap, there isn't any other choices. Guess my timing was better John.. ^0^ :P

Typical horn player, I really over estimated the cost of the keyboards in the pit. Thanks Bluecoat88..... Anyone with "life expectacy" of pit instruments?

Thanks, still getting used to the idea of high school owning their own equipement. In my area (many years ago) the school only owned percussion and Sousaphones. Mmmmm, wonder how a corps budget plans would be affected if they didn't sell as much equipment as expected.

Two brain cells connected (happens once in a while) and thought of another big-butted event I volunteer at once in a while. Every October the biggest Antique car show and car parts flea market (hundreds of acres) in the world is held for a week at Hershey, PA. Event is too big to be moved so each year the club that sponsors (which I am a member) has to deal with Hershey Company (HERCO) to rent space, facilites, services, etc. If anyone remembers the fiasco with HERCO with the DCI/DCA show from two years ago you can imagine the headache with this mess. Worst part is the show cannot be moved and HERCO knows it so the club has the "take it or leave it" choice each year. And since the car show has gone on for 50 years (kinda like the corps show) there ain't much choice. Hate to see DCA get stuck in a similar situation where there is one bid a year and it's either "Bend over and take it up the...." or not have a full Finals Weekend.

Thanks but any idea who buys? Looks like a piecemeal sale for Blue Stars and how many years in a row can that go on if a bunch of corps sell each year? Unless there are a boatload of MBs that buy used equipment every few years. IOW, I still don't see that big of a group of potential buyers out there. And BD Fan, why do you think I put "Bells" in quotes. :P Take some pity on a horn player who never saw marimbas and vibraphones in corps when he marched. Come to think of it the people smacking the "keyboard percussion" instruments were marching too. b**bs J/K I didn't know the real terms and figured someone would correct me.... thanks. B)

Wish you better luck than I had finding out. :P Will have to dig up that thread some time.

Yeah, I keep hearing about those sales but never hear from/about anyone buying a crap load of horns at one shot. But that was another thread I started that never generated any real info. :( Anyone have an idea of a full pit $$$$ cost. And how long do those "bells" last with the beating they appear to take.

The corps that can afford to buy the most toys wins.... Or Who needs talent when you can tweak the sound coming from electronic instruments. Sheesh, miss the days when corps had out of balance make ups (ie - too many sops, not enough snares, etc) and had to make up the difference with creative arrangements or plain old gonads to the wall playing.

Yep, the corps with the ability to keep paying bigger and bigger bills will be the only ones left. I'd say some corps would drop down to Div II to survive but Div II/III is looking like Land of the D###ed lately.

One difference between DCA and DCI is more of DCAs growth is in smaller corps with not so deep pockets. Hoping this keeps DCA from going for the expensive changes.

And what is the usual number of bodies in both? Betcha my house costs less than either. B)

And no one had to ground the Tymps and bells in a pit when that started either. How long has it been since "da Pit" :P has been on the judging sheets?

Be a while until I plow thru all this. A 10-15% percent increase in corps size with the ???% increase in cost to supply the extra marchers. Just how many ####### corps are hitting break even point now? Not to mention the cost of the extra electronic toys and rigs to carry the toys and equipment for the 15 extra marchers. Predict in another 10-15 years there will be two groups of Div I corps traveling together to share costs. Same corps will be at the same shows in the first half of the season. At mid-season there will be a "shuffle". Then new groupings will travel together until DCI. Predict in 15-20 years all Div I corps left will travel together and almost all shows will be "Regionals".

Should have seen Cadets at the pre-season exhibition at Gettysburg last year (2006). First 45 seconds was amped talking and singing with very little percussion. Reminded me of when we would run thru our show singing instead of playing the horns. Except you could hear us singing.

Hey that's right, I'd better check to see when the first Lancer practice is with "Mr" Moul. :P When the season gets closer we'll have to check if we will be going to the same show any where. Talked to my wife a little while ago and she would enjoy talking to another "Hopkins customer". And she remembered Drs Wang and Williams name (I sure didn't).

The thud you heard was my jaw hitting the ground Chalet. My wife also has water on the brain but had a shunt put in years before. She didn't have any seizure problems until the age of ten and it's been med city ever since. She sees Dr Krauss and we have no complaints about his work or manner. Kris usually has a lot of questions each visit and we always leave with them fully answered. Another example of the "small world" in Drum Corps.

That's the floor and to the left outta the elevators. And good luck to you also as it is a tough go. Kris has a seizure condition and thanks to JHU she has it pretty much under control with the newer meds. Nothing like having an Associate Professor as your Neurologist as he is a <bleep> of a lot more up to date on things than the local Harrisburg docs. And I picked up my Ball-mer "accent" watching Brooks Robinson call O's games on TV years ago. :P

Now how could I (a Gov't employee) not remember the Holiday Thinking about what Gary posted. Feel it is time DCA starts looking instead of waiting for a bid. Day might be coming soon when the bids will not be there or, more likely, be less than desirable.

Time for the sacrilege. Has DCA or anyone every looked into what whould happen if Finals weekend was held the weekend before Labor Day? Lotta places (Scranton/Allentown) have big things going on the Holiday weekend which screws up hotels. Member corps are getting younger and schools are back in session (HS) or moving in (college). Edit: How does the return trip time for the (new to DCA) distant corps screw up school? Plus how many fans don't go to DCA because of family obligations that weekend?

LOL, in the late 80s/early 90s my sister was going with a guy whose father was a Marine officer (general?) at Quantico, VA. The father had a heart attack and had following conversation with the service doctor while recovering. Doctor: No riding on the DC Beltway at rush hour for the next six months. Father: I was already told not to drive for six months. Doctor: Sir, I said no RIDING for six months. Knowing you, you'd work yourself up into a another heart attack sitting in traffic. And we'd never be able to get your ### out of there. PS - Sigh, Fran just reminded me that my wife is due for a neurologist checkup down at Johnny Hopkins... Time to leave Ball-mer at rush hour again.. :( Step 1: Get in center lane of I-83. Step 2: HOLD ON TIGHT.

Thanks for the info, that's the third corps I heard of that played Duratones of any type. The other was mid 70s Rochester Phoenix which I found out by accident watching an old film clip. Supposedly the Duratone horns were originally regular finish (aka shiney) horns that had imperfections in the finish. The finish was then lightly sandblasted for the flat finish and then sold at a reduced price. (Can't find the post with that info.) Considering Westshores finances at the time I can believe buying for the cheaper price. Think the corps bought about 2 dozen Baris and 4 or 5 Contras within a years time. *ouch*