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drumstix909

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  • Your Drum Corps Experience
    Esperanza 2001-2005
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    San Diego, CA

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  1. Does anyone actually have attendance figures? I am curious, I was there Friday night and the place looked packed, but I don't even know how many Rose Bowl seats on concert side.
  2. Speaking as someone who was a member of Esperanza for 5 out if its 7 years of existence, and someone who still lives in San Diego county, I can agree completely that it was lack of promotion that led to low attendance at this show. I went to the Riverside show earlier in the season, and when I saw the San Diego show in the SoCal program I was surprised. I thought the show had been canceled when the corps folded. My family wanted to go to the San Diego show, but after looking on Esperanza's website and seeing no sign of it, and after talking to a few other people who used to be involved in the corps who also knew nothing about it, we concluded that there was no way the show was gonna happen. I didn't think anything more of it until today, because we have finals tickets and have been looking forward to championship weekend for a long time. So even as an ex-member of the "host" corps who was interested in attending the show, I had no idea that it was taking place and therefore did not go to it. Had there been so much as an anouncement on Esperanza's website about the show, myself and my family would have been there, likely with some other friends as well. In past years, when there was actually a corps to host the show, there was a lot higher attendance simply from promotion by corps members themselves. It was always primarily a local corps, and we all invited our friends, our family, our high school bands, etc. We put up flyers in local band rooms, we had special "Esperanza Family Section" tickets to sell to friends and family for the best seats in the house, and it was corps members' family and friends who ran the show itself (in terms of running ticket windows, concessions, etc). Obviously when the corps folded, all of that support and "free" advertisement was lost. I'm not going to point fingers because I'm really out of the loop and I have no idea who is in charge of the Esperanza organization now, or if the organization even exists anymore, but I'm sad that this happened this way nonetheless. I would like to be able to go to drum corps events wearing my Esperanza jacket and be proud that I spent 5 years as part of a respected drum corps...it seems now that the corps no longer exists our reputation is being smudged for reasons out of our control, and it is embarrassing. If the organization was not stable enough to host the show (which would be completely understandable), I wish they would have just canceled it, rather than making the name Esperanza look bad.
  3. It's one thing to be sworn at by instructional staff when you're out at rehearsal and you're screwing up. I never have and never will complain about that, if I mess up on the field enough to be getting yelled at by instructors, then I deserve it. It is something ENTIRELY different when you are outside of practice, minding your own business, hyped about the beginning of tour, and the corps director calls you into a room and proceeds to swear at you and insult you for 10-15 minutes. The first is a form of motivational discipline with the purpose of making members better players/marchers/etc. The second is just uncalled-for garbage. And for those of you encouraging me to march this year, it is a nice thought but it just isn't practical for me at this point. In the last year and a half that I have been out of drum corps I have found myself a job I really love that I don't want to give up and adopted a cat that I would not be willing to hand over to someone else for care for 2 months. In addition, I haven't played my horn since I quit marching and I'm not sure I remember how haha.
  4. I know I'm kinda chiming in late to a topic that has been discussed for weeks, but I don't frequent these forums anymore and both my mother and some of my corps friends told me I should hop over here and check out this thread. And being an ex-member that has witnessed first-hand so many of the unacceptable actions of the director of this YOUTH organization, I can't let myself leave without at least saying a few words. I marched with Esperanza for 5 years, and I have some amazing memories from the time I spent with the corps. But from the very first season I spent there (when I was only 15 years old!) it was clear to me that Alan Cox was NOT a nice man, and that he would cause the downfall of his own organization if he didn't change his ways. There were repeated incidents of him blatantly mistreating members and their families, as well as teaching staff. A PRIME example of this, and one that stands out clearly in my mind to this day, is something that occurred the day we left for our "big" tour in 2004 (I think it was '04...the years get mixed up in my head sometimes). The busses were waiting outside, we all had our bags packed and were excited and ready to go, but before we load up the busses, Alan Cox sternly asks all of the "veterans" in the corps to meet inside the corps' warehouse. We take a seat and he proceeds to completely REAM us because he heard that someone tried to pull seniority over a rookie in a lunch line somewhere (which was an incident that most of us knew nothing about). Now this may not sound that bad, but if you had heard the words coming out of this man's mouth, the words that he was directing at the 15 and 16 year olds sitting in front of him, you would be appalled. He called us all, among other things, "a bunch of ####### idiots" and informed us that WE needed to learn how to respect people like HE did. The adult who is calling a bunch of kids "####### idiots" is trying to teach us about respect? Other examples include the many times when Esperanza veterans who had moved on to other corps decided to stop by at rehearsals and show their SUPPORT for the organization, yet they were not only asked to leave, they were thrown out of rehearsals with nothing but rude words and disrespect by the corps director himself. I loved getting a phone call from a friend after practice "Sorry, we really wanted to watch you guys tonight but when we showed up Alan told us to 'Get the hell out' so we had to leave." Over the 5 years I spent with the corps I saw so many people come and go it was incredible. Every year I would have more and more friends who would choose to march elsewhere or quit marching altogether, and not one of them had nice things to say about Alan Cox, I can guarantee it. I also knew that we lost staff every year due to conflicts with Alan, though I didn't ever attempt to find out the details. I continued to return because as a student living in San Diego I didn't have the time or money resources to march elsewhere, but despite my passion for the activity after 5 years I just couldn't bring myself to support an organization run by such an ######## any longer. I decided not to march my last two years at all rather than spend another 2 years in Esperanza. So I know all of this is old news and none of you really care anymore, but it is something that I dealt with for the entirety of my drum corps career and I have ALWAYS wanted to be able to let the rest of the drum corps community know what kind of treatment the members and staff of Esperanza were receiving from Alan Cox. And now that I have had my chance to stand on the soapbox, I'll probably slip away from these forums and back to my busy life which (sadly) no longer includes any involvement in drum corps, despite the fact that this would have been my age-out summer :( I am sad that Esperanza will not be fielding a corps this summer. I put endless amounts of blood, sweat, and tears (not to mention hard work!) into that corps, and took home with me thousands of good memories that will last a lifetime. But it does not surprise me one bit. I saw this end coming even 7 years ago when Esperanza was still wearing recycled band uniforms and didn't tour any further than the SW regional in San Antonio. It is the result of a leader who took the support of so many members, parents, and staff for granted and did not return to them the thanks and respect they deserved.
  5. Hmm, interesting. The '04-'05 unis definitely grew on me, though I disliked them at first. But as long as the pinstripes STAY, I'll be happy B)
  6. It can't just be top 21. Pacific Crest and Esperanza were BOTH in the top 21 in 2004 and 2005. But they are still not considered member corps. Also the Troopers, Pioneer, and Kiwanis Kavaliers who have not been in the top 21 the past two years ARE listed on dci.org as member corps.
  7. Not necessarily. If you are like me, and you like two shows equally as much, voting for both will just help assure you that ONE of the two shows will be played!
  8. I think I am gonna go with the majority of you and say BD '76 SCV '74 Madison '75
  9. This one was hard. I'm pretty familiar with all of the stuff from the '90s, I have a ton of favorites! It came down tot his though: '94 Blue Devils '96 Madison '99 Blue Devils
  10. 1982 BLUE DEVILS!!!!!!!!!!! also... 1986 BD 1989 SCV
  11. Yay, I like SNAFU! GOOOOO Crown Point Crusaders! Wooooo!! Winning your first three shows is not bad...not bad at all :P
  12. Well, Crown Point Crusaders are a brand new corps this season, but their director used to be the director of the Homestarmy from out in CA :) The director was, well....rather absent from the scene over the summer due to a commitment with a REAL (non-fantasy) corps, but back in the first beta-season the Homestarmy ended up in 6th place out of about 50 corps, so the director probably knows her stuff, huh? :P Anyways, the Crown Point Crusaders would gladly take on a worthy rival, if one should appear.
  13. Sorry to bug you...but my first show is in Whitewater, not San Diego... Quite a coincidence, considering in real life, I LIVE in San Diego, lol.
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