Achilles

Cool. Good foundation being built. Troopers will return to the national stage, better'n ever.

yes good start...but you need to add some peeps as friends...

I can't do it now, but if some other tech savvy person who is checking in here will put up a MySpace account (or similar), we can start collecting names ('Friends') and start kicking around ideas, meet up times/places and the like, in a cleaner way than this forum thread. That's the best way I can think of to get this humma rolling.

We kicked this obvious trend around on here before. Yes - it's pretty obvious that the number of drum corps has declined - some say steadily, others say dramatically - over the period of time that DCI has been in existence. This is true almost however you choose to measure it. To suggest there is something inherent about the organization of DCI that is somehow at root the cause of this decline is in my mind a very questionable premise. Rather, I think we should be looking at the broad social changes that have occurred over that time, as the reasons for the decline. I think it would be safe to say, given the decline in the level of activity (due to aging) of the AFL and VFW organizations, as well as the decline of the CYO as an organization, that if it weren't for DCI, junior drum corps might not exist as an organized activity today.

In the interest of fair and balanced.

I hear good things on these boards and others about the number of horns in the line. And that fact that Donnie Van Doren (ex-Star of Indiana brass staff) is working with those horns says volumes to me. So my guess is, folks are in for a pleasant surprise.

Ah, inspections. What a throwback. I'm sure that they were somehow instituted due to the military backgrounds/associations of some of the sanctioning bodies - VFW, AFL. So, it's understandable. Just a little discipline, and they served their purpose.

I feel your pain but look at it this way: your wifey the 8 to 5 employee, gets paid, the governments take their cut(s) and she gets to spend whatever's left. You, as an independent contractor get paid by your clients, spend all that you can (on legitimate business expenses of course) and then pay taxes on whatever's left. I dunno about you but I'd prefer the latter. That's the beauty of the American tax system.

Gracias!

Here's a link: http://hometown.aol.com/lb425/page1.html Any one have any info on the 'Mason Dixon Drum Line'? Web site, etc.

If you're going to tell stories, you had better be prepared to name names (among other things) if you expect any credibility. Who is your 'very trustworthy source'? This isn't Watergate - what's the point of being secretive about a story like this - why won't your 'source' come forward on their own?

I think folks ought to post those questions anyway, DCP contest or no, just to see who knows what on this forum. Maybe in the Historical forum.

Nothin' to prevent someone from starting another circuit...kinda like the old World Football League...just need to start a few new corps, 'cause the top 12 is probably going to stay put with their 'franchise' memberships in DCI. How 'bout those 14 corps starting up in Wash'n DC? They'll be needin' a circuit.

Maybe this is Cadet's version of a 'trial balloon'....why do they feel the need to release a clip and send an annoucement letter focused on the vocal thing? If the response on DCP and from the YEA donors was less than enthusiastic, would Cadets have modified the show? If you think you're doing the right thing and doing it well, forget all the hype/buzz creation. Be proud of what you plan to do, and let the chips fall where they may.

Negative. That's Kim Lloyd, who later went on to work with Suncoast Sound. The slack-jawed yokel at the left end of the snare line and looking directly into the camera is his brother Doug, who later marched snare in Suncoast.

Golden Knights, Southgate, KY, 1979

Yeah I think you gotta be south of the Chesapeake-Delaware Canal to be considered DelMarVa. :P And it isn't such a small bit of land, either.

Yeah, I fished around to see if any old Blue Rock alumni were carrying the torch, but no luck. I'm in Wilmington. I think the guy who runs Paragon Winter Guard is ex-Blue Rock and of course a Delaware ex-pat, since they're based in Florida. He pretty much dismissed the idea of a Blue Rock resurrection.

DCI moving closer to the pro-sports franchise model...with centralized mgmt. structure. 3rd year corps review - Troopers - looks more like that model more and more.

ganbatte kudasai!

Mason's was by intent. Most if not all of the others were by some combination of apathy and incompetence. Hence the need for this University!

Way to go OHIO!!!

With that lawsuit/debt - it seems a bit odd to be buying new unis. But hey, I'm not qualified to opine on the advanced financial wizardry of a top echelon corps.

Bill Cook for Fundraising 101? Regardless that ought to be the first course everyone takes.

You're right. They'll be the test case for a copyright infringement lawsuit, not you.