Glen

I'll tell you what ... we miss Kevin Gamin here in Rochester, because there are no #### MOON PIES in this press box!!

4

Erie Thunderbirds had a 59.60 in West Pittston.

I really doubt it.

The eatin' is good at Rhinos Stadium, that's for sure!

Your attention, please. There are no Moon Pies in the press box. That is all.

Boy, I wish I had a Moon Pie.

The effect award is based on total effect + communication

I'm happy to say that DCA will be formally recognizing Moe Knox for all his work in documenting the entire history of DCA through the last 50 years. Please come to the Bridgeport show on June 28 and cheer for him. http://www.dcacorps.org/?p=4475

Only amplification of acoustic pit instruments has passed and takes effect in 2014.

Scores are on the DCA web site!

Exactly

Right! Apples and Ducks. The relationship between DCI and DCA corps scoring is, well, there isn't one :)

Hmmm.. Does DCI lowball their scores? You're comparing apples to ducks, really.

Here's a commercial message. Buy one of these: http://dcacorps.3dcartstores.com/2013-Jacket-Patch_p_56.html . You know you want one. And all your friends will have one. And they're cheap and ship for free too. Thank you, and now, back to our show.

The Secaucus show has been canceled.

The brass judge is now upstairs, the percussion judge remains on the field.

Ding. Wrong! :)

2012 Rules Congress! Drum Corps Associates (DCA) held its 2012 Rules Congress in Baltimore, MD today and have the following to announce: The 2014/2015 DCA World Championships will be held in Rochester, New York. The Championship Committee received many bids and Rochester was selected. Plans are under way for a spectacular 50th year anniversary of DCA! Stay tuned for more information. You can order tickets for the 2013 DCA World Championships in Annapolis, Maryland by going to the DCA website. Additionally, the directors and executive board agreed to allow the use of amplification for acoustic percussion equipment, beginning with the 2014 competitive season. The change was approved after much deliberation through educational staff caucuses and debate on the membership floor. The rule will allow for amplification of currently approved concert and keyboard percussion instruments already utilized by DCA corps. This rule does NOT allow for the use of synthesizers, stringed instruments, or the amplification of voice or brass instruments. A fantastic summer schedule is about to be announced with shows in over six states with a possibility of Scranton, PA being a regional with ten corps competing!

Just to clear up any confusion... Kim Symonds is our merchandise manager. DCA souvenirs, including jacket patches, can be purchased in our store at http://shop.dcacorps.org . Glen

This is how it worked. It was very simple. When the stadium manager told us to stop the show, we stopped the show. When he gave us the all clear to resume, we resumed. They have rules. We followed the rules. PERIOD. We called the mayor and asked for permission to go beyond 10pm because of our circumstances. He gave us permission, we finished prelims. Done.

Ok, first of all, I just want to say, that this is my 200th post on Drum Corps Planet. Yay! See the confetti and stuff? I've been a member since April of 2002, so that means I average less than 1.5 posts per month. I am trying to catch up to Jeff Ream for the posting record :) I am not going to attempt to thank everyone by name that helped make the 2012 DCA Championship happen, because there are a H3LL of lot of people to thank, and I will forget people, and someone will notice that and beat me up for it :) But I do want to thank Bob Jacobs from Jersey Surf. He literally provided Drum Corps In a Box for the Kidsgrove Scouts. Kidsgrove played on Surf's instruments for their trip here this year, and had use of Surf's tractor-trailer. Bob is always there for DCA. Thanks, Bob. And of course, DCP's John Donovan, the crazy man that runs this place. Once again, he provided Moon Pies at Finals to all of us who spent countless hours locked in the press box. The press box is packed with cables and wires and video stuff and computers and tabulators and digital recorders and runners and DCA people and "Mike Symonds and his Video Rangers", and Eric Brust (the graphics genius) and stadium people and printers and papers all over the place and announcers and ... MOON PIES. We have come to expect and anticipate the arrival of the Moon Pies for finals, and once again, John did not disappoint! So now you know our BIG SECRET. DCA is powered by Moon Pies. Happy 200th post to me. Wheee!

Nope. Didn't sleep through it, but I wasn't at the stadium for it. That one I watched live on the Fan Network back at the hotel. That's another thing - the Fan Network was hoppin' too. I got an education there - I didn't realize that the FN broadcast was as good as it was. Except for the brutality of the weather late on Saturday, it really was a great weekend.

Just my assorted thoughts ... I can't tell you what a great time we had in Annapolis, Maryland for our 2012 Championship. Just a little background ... DCA ran its first competitive season in 1964, and our first season culminating with a championship competition in 1965 (long before my time in drum corps) . We have never had a championship this far south. All of our championships over the decades have been in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and believe it or not, only ONCE in New Jersey, the state that at one time, probably had more drum corps per square mile than any state in the country. This year was our first championship in Maryland - it has never been held south of the Mason-Dixon line. We started off the LOOONG weekend with DCA At The Dock early Thursday evening. This was a very laid back concert held right at City Dock, free to the public and right on the water. Minnesota Brass stood and played their whole show in t-shirts and jeans, against a backdrop of sailboats passing by in the harbor. The Kidsgrove Scouts from England did the same in full uniform. We also had an up and coming local corps, the Annapolis Drum & Bugle Corps come and play, as well as a number of ensembles and mini corps perform. The event was a big hit, drew a large crowd, and many people brought their own chairs to take it in. We brought drum corps right to the people of Annapolis, and they loved it! What a great event! On Friday, we had the Individual & Ensemble competitions and the Mini Corps championship at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Initially, we weren't sure how this would work out, as this event has always had a block party flavor to it. Not all the events were on the football field - if you have never been to Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, you need to go. This place is massive, and it is much, much more than a football stadium. It is a monument to our military heroes, and is quite something to experience. There are party tents and even banquet facilities there! We were easily able to hold all of our events there - there was something happening nearly everywhere, as we spread out dozens and dozens of individual competitors, ensembles, quartets and duets and mini corps all over the place. We were very happy to see hundreds of cars in the lots and hundreds and hundreds of fans walking around this beautiful complex, taking it all in. And of course, admission to all of the Friday events was free. You can read more about this beautiful place right here: http://www.navysports.com/facilities/memorial-stadium.html . Saturday. Wow, that was a tough one! We had gotten through three-quarters of the championship preliminaries when Mother Nature paid us a visit - she wasn't happy :) We struggled through downpours and very scary lightning that forced us to clear the stadium more than once. When we got the all-clear to continue, we had five corps left to go. We got two of them in, and then BOOM! More downpours, more lightning, more delays. It looked like we might have to stop and resume with the remaining three corps early the next day. The DCA Executive Board, Stadium Manager Bill Givens, and the directors of the three remaining corps huddled in an office, and we were glued to the stadium's state of the art radar display and lightning detection system. It looked like we might have one more shot to get those three corps in on Saturday before reverting to some sort of plan B. We got the green light from the stadium manager, and raced to get Minnesota Brass, Caballeros, and Buccaneers in. One more nearby lightning strike and that would have been it for the night. I can't tell you how relieved we all were that the lightning held off just long enough for those corps to do their prelims performance. All in all, we experienced a total of THREE HOURS worth of rain and lightning delays. AND OUR FANS HUNG IN THERE WITH US! When we announced that we were resuming with the final three corps, hundreds of fans raced back into the stadium. We were stunned to find out how many people were still there and waited it out with us. No question, DCA has the best fans on Earth! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED - PRELIMS COMPLETE. Sunday, our final day, was something special. We opened up the Championship Finals by recognizing the wounded warriors in attendance, and then the United States Marine Drum & Bugle Corps took the field, played their show, and brought the house down. They followed their field show with the UK and US National Anthems, and the conductor of the corps turned and conducted our FANS, urging everyone to sing along! And it seemed like everyone actually DID! The corps left the field playing the Marine Hymn to a standing ovation from a roaring crowd. It was an amazing emotional experience! Although the US Marine Drum & Bugle Corps has played at many DCA shows over the years, this was their first time opening our World Championships. And you can bet we will invite them back. Our finals competitions then got underway. The crowd at the stadium, many of whom had never seen a drum corps show before or hadn't seen one in many years, were treated to OUTSTANDING performances from the BEST all-age competitive drum corps in the country. And one from England :) When all was said and done, The Buccaneers were crowned the 2012 Open Class Champion, with a DCA record high score of 99.03 . Carolina Gold turned in a brilliant performance and captured the Class A crown, Fusion Core became an Open Class Finalist for the first time, Cadets2, a brand new corps from Allentown PA finished in the top 5 in their very first year of competition, and the White Sabers appeared in the Class A finals for the first time in 7 years. Congratulations to EVERY ONE of our corps! It was a weekend to remember FOR SURE. Annapolis is a beautiful city, and we'll be back there next year. Join us, you'll LOVE it! You can actually buy tickets for the 2013 Championships in Annapolis, MD right now!

Hi.