MikeN

From a corps operations standpoint, this is awesome - good job DCI. Mike

She has a long, long, loooong history of scoring Phantom's guard below both other corps and what other judges would do in the same season. So much so that there has been public discussions (not from the corps, but from fans) about judging panel lineups at finals directly affecting their placement over the years. Mike

That was considered a "best practice" in 2019 DCI - glad to see it's become mandatory for most groups. Mike

A statement that the membership was revoked and why. A declaration of commitment to safety. An explanation of DCI's values and what the activity actually stands for. A demonstration of public leadership from the top down of what their priorities are and what member corps are required and and expected to do to protect minors and young adults. Off the top of my head. Sorry for the angry soapbox. Mike

Apologies - this isn't really aimed at you, but it absolutely did not come out of nowhere. There were literal decades of people alleging abuse, but everyone continued this weird social media "can't name names or provide details, or I might get sued" code of conduct. I remember reading this stuff on RAMD, pre DCP. The allegation was literally sent to DCI, who essentially responded with "well, what do you want us to do about it?" It was sent to the Board, (IIRC), who took the settlement request as a threat. The abuse was systemic and pervasive, and it absolutely defies belief that no other single adult, including some that are very much mandated reporters, ever saw a thing until it became national news. The only reason this all didn't happen sooner was because these women were almost all convinced that they didn't want to "hurt the organization" at the expense of their own welfare. Mike

The 2021 unjudged show was terrific - we got to hear RPH with a modern brassline (and recording equipment!), and it was awesome.

My policy at the time was to automatically exclude anyone with a misdemeanor related to sex, violence or youth, and any felony conviction regardless of charge. Anything else had to have a discussion. DCI may have since given more boilerplate guidance. -Mike

Sorry - didn't see if this was answered. During the "me too" era, NJ allowed certain exceptions to the statute of limitations for cases of sexual assault, and this one did fit that legal criteria. -Mike

Yes, the pointed language in it is very surprising to see, but they've been consistent about that all along the process. 😞 Mike

My personal Cadets favorites - 1989 - Les Miserables - the first Cadets show I ever saw, and an absolute masterpiece. They brought their incredibly sophisticated writing to more popular fare than what they had been known for, and the result was incredible. Not the cleanest show ever, but it had all of the classic Cadets artistry. 1990 - A Bernstein Celebration - The most appealing part of this show was that it was really just a "best of" compliation - Candide, West Side Story, Mass. What's not to like? They made the show look sneaky easy too, and it was anything but; that's what won them the title. 1995 - An American Quintet - John Williams on the field is never a bad thing, and the Cadets did justice turning a number of his movie scores into a cohesive whole. The drum feature is absolutely epic, and it was silly how effortless they made it seem (drummers know better). Also some of the first use of props in DCI. 2000 - A We Are the Future - an absolutely dominating show that felt like it steamrolled everything around it. You could tell watching them that it was just a corps at the absolute top of their game every time out. That drumline should be considered for the DCI Mount Rushmore. 2015 - The Power of Ten. Saw them in San Antonio and thought they were a legit dark horse for the title. The brass and drum books were so overpowering. It didn't keep up visually, but man that's one hell of a show to go back and listen to. Mike

Gonna have to do a Google search. I'm sure there's some school out there that has red Cavies jackets. -Mike

I'm guessing the All Ages are under the same rules as Open, which is non-member touring groups. We did have to BG check everyone. (Note, my info is several years old at this point.) -Mike

My kids were '01 and '04. The eldest did march 2 years DCI, but the pandemic ended that and they had no desire to go back. My youngest was a basketball player, and due to COVID rescheduling ended up playing almost 120 games across two varsity and two AAU seasons in about 18 months. That pretty much killed their passion for playing due to burnout. Mike

Expenses don't keep pace with revenue at scale. That's why scale exists. Mike

Drum corps is, yes. Drumline is not. The real push in the drumline activity has shifted away from drum corps over time and is now in winter percussion, as many, many more schools now offer that as an alternative that's cheaper and more convenient. I think you can make the fair argument that DCI has always inspired school marching bands to raise their game, but by the same token, they're a victim of their own success. School bands have largely filled the niche that drum corps did back in the day. The BOA San Antonio Super Regional last year had more than twice as many bands participate at prelims (65) than corps at DCI Prelims (32). Mike

DCI has posted these numbers for a few years - that feels about normal for this time of year. Guard is high since many corps don't lock down numbers until after WGI season ends. -Mike

Heck yea Christopher Tin. -Mike

ESPN was never going to be a long term solution, as DCI had to underwrite the entire production just to get it on the air once. And in the final PBS years, wasn't Cook Group pretty much footing the bill for it to get made? The problem has always been on the DCI side, not the TV side - with as many FAST channels are out there right now (and growing), you'd think there would be more avenues to get drum corps on TV if they wanted to. I can only assume the FloMarching numbers and money is good enough that they don't feel they need to. Mike

I knew it - someone's finally doing a Flash Gordon show! Mike

Funny enough for me, I felt the show was way better without the tag on the end. I like when it just ... ended. Boom. Mike

My kiddo has been trying to get me to watch through JoJo. Absolutely bonkers anime. Good theme, though! -Mike

I have a coworker who's going to see an touring version of Carmen. He was looking up source music - it took all of my control not to fire up Santa Clara's show. -mike

Cadets' encore in San Antonio in 2000. Only major show I've been on the upper deck for, and when they started playing the closer/drum solos practically everyone up there ran down to the front and crushed in by the rail to see. Never seen that happen before or since at a DCI show. Very "rock concert" vibes, and man if ever a battery *earned* that treatment... Mike

Working my way down a backlog of official DCI audio that I never got a chance to listen to - 2019 Crown is probably the best music book of the entire year. Funny enough, it's also probably one of the most "old school" in structure too. That closer is amazing. For that matter, the 2021 Right Here Right Now book is just as good - but man oh man I wish they hadn't hammered that phrase into us the entire show. Their closer that year was absolutely explosive, and they had the crowd in an uproar by the end - it was very, very cool. Anyways, just dropping some 🙂 thoughts into the thread as I catch up. -Mike

Much like member fees, it's only a relative value if you have the absolute cash to spend on it. I'm totally sympathetic to that. Mike