Jeff Ream

I am sure you have been beaten to death about this, but I have a life and I was out living it. But your corps gave up in March??????? Missing one member??? Sorry Shadow, DCA didn't quit on you, your corps quit on DCA.

that reminds me. whoever scores highest in both classes win

Shadow, how many years were the Renegades going before they came East? They focused on what they needed to. Sorry, but DCA isn't in business to be everything to everyone. as for DCI, notice I said SINCE the 80's. they weerent packing in 20k plus in the 90's. Oh and big bad evil has a 30 member limit. yet, which facet of DCI is shrinking the most? The smaller corps. And to be honest, some of them were small, and spent too much money trying to be competitive. If anything, DCA, like DCI, came up with a number, and hoped it help people build corps so they could be competitive AND financially solvent. but you just want to #### and moan because you can't go to finals. Maybe it';s the best thing for your corps to NOT go so they don't spend the money. The Sun Devils, while disappointed, seem to have the right attitude about building towards the future. Maybe you need to go talk to them, and any other corps who built from nothing to see what it takes to get there. it does your corps more good than playing victim on DCP. And hey, maybe you'll miss a hurricane this year.....just think, then you'll have less to ##### about

caring, and playing a flawless show don' always equal out. My corps cared like hell going into prelims, yet we made way too many errors one year. probably because if anything, we cared too much

I got to Albright early enough and set up I look forward to it tho. the move means I dont have to go all thru and past town.

1981, probably the biggest and most controversial DCA finals finish outside of 1972

can you guarantee you'll get 9-10k fans. really that's what you need so the corps make money. You won't get all the eastern fans out there...can the midwest bring up the slack? We were told Winston Salem would generate great crowds. 3500 people showed up in a 70k seat stadium. Given all that was shelled out to get corps there, did the promoter come close to making money? DCA can't afford to lose money running finals, because then the corps make nothing.

good thing I looked...i thought it was still at Albright. what's parking like there...I cant believe it's only been 8 years but I forget

hey Shadow...does the Legion have rules about membership? the Elks? The Library? The local softball league? odds are yes, and so does DCA. It can not be all things to all people. Like it or not, they are the rules, and yet again, you offer NOTHING towards the greater good of trying to possibly amend it or fix it. Sun Devils, who you keep defending, seem to be ok with it. In fact in their post, they already started planning towards next year...and you know what...i bet financially in hindsight they will be glad. Sayre is a guy who is in a corps always on that edge, yet he's throwing out idea after idea ( I do pay attention Sayre, even if I dont comment). but to expect DCA to just open up to any old corps is insane. Honestly, that they do have requirements is a great idea because it keeps people from being small, going hell bent to make wherever finals are, and then going out of action. go look at the 1987 prelims roster. how many of those corps are left of those below 12th place? as for "i'm just a member", IMO, that's a copt out. it means you're lazy. I was just a member of Westshore, and I got involved when hell came crashing down after 97. At times without corps premission I went out and started recruiting online or at band and indoor shows when they weren't. I was upfront and honest with the members about the time commitments with the members of the drumline that i offered to help teach for free. Yet, since I was honest and admin wasn't, I was the bad guy when they quit after SIB in 98. But I wasn't. I did the right thing. And even when my management...or lack of management tried to do anything that was successful, I kept trying. I finally gave up and walked away, and for a short time, I also said "i was just a member". With age and experience, and hindsight, I now realize I was saying " I was lazy, got fed up and quit". It pains me to this day. so quit being "just a member" and get involved with management and get bodies.

thet still let Lee in dont they? I am sure you have a lot more room than you think

have you thought about going over DCI-P's head and going straight to Indy and the head office? or get kids to start a petition to present to DCI-P.

having 20 or more corps over 2 days in August is something people with top flight football programs do not want on their turf. in fact, that's what a local band circuit was told about having shows at UD...not even finals, just a regional. people keep suggesting PSU at times over the years. Paterno wont even let his own band on the field if it sprinkles

bottom line, any corps having a bad show at prelims is in trouble. this show should sell out too...the real battle is on Saturday

you and all small corps should. ventures had years of success with this as well in DCI. the guys judging DCA percussion now are not just note counters, and they won't tell you you dont deserve points if you dont march. if you rotate the members around and make them master different disciplines within the percussion section, you have demand there.....ok you have technical aspects needed for snare. next tune on marimba...totally different set of skills needed. plus, you do have the option of moving the ensemble out on the field. this can help you out tremendously with staging guard equipment changes, as well as giving a smaller stage that helps make the rest of the corps look larger if done correctly.

by far the best thought out proposal to date.

here's what you should tell DCI. For years, they crowed about 7000 kids getting cut every year. so what do these kids do? How many of those kids will ever make it? Yet DCA is a way for these kids to get experience, learn how it works on a reasonable schedule and reasonable cost, and who knows...they could come back to try out as more prepared auditioners! I cant count how many people I marched with at Westshore that started there, went to Crossmen, Cadets, Surf, Bluecoats, BD and I think Phantom.....and credit their success to starting in DCA...and many came back when they aged out. It isn't a lack of kids that killed the amount of active DCI corps up here. It was the way GSC got sucked up, Hop sold off the Crossmen, and a lot of bad management.

in terms of programming and design, you're wrong. every year smaller corps, even the smaller open class corps try to play like a big boy and it doesn't work. it hurts more than helps.

maybe you need to lower the age to 18. you complain about not getting members...maybe you yourselves are turning away members due to the age rules. if corps did that up here in the mean old NE, you'd see a hell of a lot fewer corps

to paraphrase myself, in honor of your continuous #####ing yet never offering solutions, submit a proposal.

you need to see my reply in the other thread. God, you just don't get it. Mean old DCA is holding you down. hell even Lee told you, and he helped build a corps from nothing in a place that hadn't EVER had a DCA corps, to one that is now a perennial finalist and sometimes contender. I pray to God your managment doesn't think like you do.

I will disagree with your percussion analysis, and i'll give you an example of a DCA corps that shoots your theory all to hell. Les Dyanmiques in I think it was 97 or 98. Pitted percussion ensemble. ####### unreal. what they did was incrediby musical, yet got their licks in too. In fact, I wish more Class A corps would consider this. Having taught these types of ensembles in the marching band world, I can tell you, it gives you options you could never think of in the traditional battery/pit setup.

very cool. wish you could get that on Comcast

look at DCI Open Class. smaller every year. yet DCI is getting more fans than at any time since the 80's. But Lee's right. if you have to struggle to get 35 to get on the field, IMO, you need to focus on other aspects and get those bodies. And this is a guy who helped build a corps in a dead zone of DCA activity from 7 people and a ####### sandwhich. maybe, as opposed to #####ing on here, you go talk to those guys offline, as well as other corps who came from nowhere the last 10 years and see what worked for them?