LegalEagle50

Color-Pre. One of those terms that makes me gag.

I would think the people who not longer find it entertaining want something back they will never get, i.e. old school drum corps, Which is fine. But I would hate to think there are any corps who would bow to those that wished that and not give their members more. I also would think that what those who make that claim would find entertaining, I would not.

Seriously doubt that. A lot of us who went year after year feel burned out on Rochester. Annapolis had a lot of things to do in the immediate area. I never felt that way about Rochester. Of course when I mentioned that on another board I was told I was bullying the city of Rochester. That one still confuses me. I didn't know you could hurt a city's feelings.

thank you :)

Having never been to BOA finals, I couldn't tell you.

If you don't see more entertainment options available as an outlet for both participation and observation, you are hiding under the proverbial rock. Seriously - you cannot think that what was available BITD even comes close to comparing to today. And while I have heard of the family gathering around the radio for FDR's fireside chats, I guaranty you that kids were dying to get to drum corps rehearsal to get away from what they viewed as lame, or whatever the term was back then. Now, they can go up to their room, to watch their tv, play on their laptop, IPad, tablet and phone, all at the same time. There is no need to sit in the same room with mom and dad for entertainment. There is no need to have to leave your home for entertainment. And that right there is the huge issue that you are choosing not to see.

No. But if one day they do I won't be bashing my head on a rock repeatedly either. Let's be honest, do you see any woodwinds competitions? Or an audience going nuts because of what they are performing? Have you been to a winter guard or winter percussion show lately? If you haven't, I can tell you the audience goes crazy, it's not just fellow performers either, nor solely parents. People are going to those things because they see them advertised and they are happening in the winter, when you aren't going to the beach, or the lake, or the park.....I'd love to see that translate to drum corps too, but with so many more options and so less available free time, I don't know if that will happen.

It is to a point. DCA shrunk again too. Many less corps than 2005 for a variety of reasons. Winter guard and winter percussion groups are flourishing. The guards can join a corps and be doing similar things, the percussionists, not so much. This put them on equal playing fields. To some that may not matter much, but for others, most importantly. caption heads, techs, and fellow instructors, it does make a difference.

When he wrote: "Yeah you know what - you're all right and I'm completely wrong. Nothing bad will happen to DCA as a result of all this." Color me silly for getting one from the other.

I have always been under the impression lack of nearby shows was what made TPTB close up shop at Empire. Could be wrong.

I didn't make up a story about you. I took everything I wrote based upon your own writings. You haven't written anything open minded, so why would one suddenly feel you were such a thing? And my name is in my signature, unlike your choice to be anonymous. Please address me accordingly, thank you.

I read this and see that you want it to fail ~ and in the process see DCA fail. Not even give it a chance to see whether or not it works, works well, squeaks along, just all out fails. I'm sure others felt that way with previous rule changes. While I was not around at the time when I hear people speak of allowing women in corps, that this was the closest to the same feeling of all out failure, drum corps is ruined forever, type of response. Yet here we are close to 50 years later..... I don't have a crystal ball and I don't think I stand any chance of being around 40 or 50 years from now to see what happens, but my gut instinct is that people will look back on this and think that in the end it helped the activity, not hurt it. The adults ARE deciding what they feel is best for the activity. They are looking towards the future, not the past. The only people looking at the past and expecting it to stay where it was are you and people like you. I once sat in a friend's basement and watching him trying to hook up his computer with music running it through his amplifier and lights. I thought he was nuts, that it would never really work or be something someone would want to spend so much time with. The man is a millionaire and you see his work every time you arrive at a casino, a stadium, and such. I didn't see the big picture, just what was going on at that moment. That is really how I see people look at all changes that I have seen in drum corps. Some people are still stuck on the giant downsides of those changes, others begrudgingly accepted them and moved on, a few gave up completely and never came back to see what happened, if they worked or they failed. And many, they watch what is going on today, recall the past fondly and yet look at the current product and think OH MY GOD! That is AMAZING!! Who would have though we would be doing this now?!? Thankfully I think there are far more people who fall into that last category than then others.

Let's see. I still hear people complaining about the color guard dancing and they have been doing it slowly but surely for close to 40 years now. Guard is more popular now than ever. What is one person's opinion on a bad decision can and often is another's thought of "that's a great idea". You have a Merry Christmas Grandpa

That's good Grandpa ~ you stay home and soak your dentures. The rest of us who still buy tickets will be enjoying ourselves and having a great time. Honestly, the last person anyone wants to sit near is the one who sits there and complains through the whole show.

I read how people were going to walk out of DCA shows due to pit amplification. Never saw anyone do it. Some people are much bigger with their writing than with their actions from what I have observed.

it has to do with people choosing to live in the past and being against change regarding corps

HairBear for the win!!!

Which is seeing record levels of participation. How dare DCA want a piece of the pie.....

Sorry. 41 years ago I had no idea what drum corps was or that I would ever be a part of it. So that problem as you say it is not a problem to me. That is exactly how kids feel about Bb's. The 3rd valve on a G horn. Guards that dance are completely the norm. They don't want to know why some guy is complaining on line that there is no color pre, how adding this or that, how taking away this or that, no more tick system, that it destroyed the activity. It is so before their time that it is a fairly useless conversation to be a part of. They can't relate. So you might not thing it is right, but frankly they they you are completely wrong. And it really is just that simple.

I don't expect every change to be greeted warmly. What I do expect is that if you say you are done, really, be gone with you. Coming back to tell us all over and over again, sometimes every year, for years on end, just how done you are gets old. Really old. Which then leads to the use of the word old in regards to the poster in many cases, and it just never ends well. Sometimes I find that we hang on to 'traditions' as an excuse to give us something to complain about. I never see people on a sports forum complaining about the lack of leather helmets these days. Why? Because sports are ever changing and there are more than enough things to complaint about. I see people still complaining over things that happened in the 60's and 70's occassionally. So 40-50ish years ago. That is what makes me scream let it go already folks. I have family feuds that resolved in that amount of time from people who swore it wasn't until they were all dead and buried that anybody in the family would dare make amends. In my case it had to do with seeing their own mortality and realizing that some things needed to change before 'that time came'. In drum corps I see it as the reverse. Changes make people think of their own mortality. By recalling fondly about how it was 'back in MY day', suddenly you can see yourself young, vital and carefree on the field..... Just my observations.

Some are, but many are and have made it overly clear that they are not. By overly clear, posting the same worn out arguments for years, annually, monthly, weekly *and weakly* about how it isn't drum corps anymore. I have said it before and I will say it again, if you don't like something walk away from it and let the people who still do like WHATEVER it is enjoy it. I don't understand why if you don't enjoy something anyone would spend so much time complaining about it. Life is too short.

As a few of you know I had my own problem with someone on DCp a few years ago that was eventually dealt with with a permanent ban. The administration here does not chose to do a permanent ban lightly. Nor does every complaint result in a suspension. There are many chances for whomever to redeem themselves. What you consider whining may be anything but as the person who reported whatever is not under any obligation to share with anyone of us why they chose to report something. Aside from what was public and reported by others, there are only a couple of very close friends on here who know what was said in private messages between me and said person. I get that you all love Don, but really you don't know what went on behind the scenes *and in this case neither do * but from experience, the DCp admins walk a very fine line with suspensions and banning and are not the people some of you are accusing them to be.

That was the show that made me decide to take a ride the following weekend. Went on Saturday, couldn't find anyone to go with on Sunday.

90 was the first year I attended championships, and then only prelims. what the heck did I miss?

Trouble