Galen

Form something new. Happened in '72, who's to say it couldn't happen again? In fact, with all the disrespect that open class has been getting lately, maybe they might be better served trying to start their own circuit that better serves their needs.

Repeat after me, everyone: "The organization is not the activity"

In by default as I don't have time to attend shows any more, but this action cements it for me.

Well, there's our explanation. Still think it's a horrible call by DCI, but we have a clearer picture anyway.

I posted that from personal experience. A couple years after I aged out, I got involved with a group called Hypnotix for a very brief time. The director at the time was quite young, hyped the corps up big time but at the end of the day, didn't have the sort of connections, experience or financing to pull it together and the drum corps effort very quickly flamed out. There was even a little brouhaha about it here:, for anyone who feels like hopping into the Wayback machine. And with respect to directors from the 70's, I would think that starting a drum corps from scratch is a MUCH steeper hill to climb in this day and age than it was then.

I'm more eager to hear more from the corps director, myself. As abysmally bad as this makes DCI look, there's got to be more to the story. Presumably the director is in more of a position to provide more details. And this may be an unpopular opinion, but from personal experience, 23 is AWFULLY young to be running a drum corps.

Great gesture on their part!

You raise a good point but one that may be moot. If Pioneer is his means of income, then he's not going to be getting any more of that from DCI now that his corps won't be getting performance fees from shows or dues from members. The corps has sponsors but how many of them are going to stick around now that the corps isn't giving them any return? And who knows what sort of debts he may have if assets are titled in his name or in a nonprofit structure that he's liable for? He may have done himself more harm by not agreeing to step down or negotiating some kind of buyout with someone else who may want to step in and run things.

There is an "apology" post on the corps' Tumblr page, but best I can tell it was written by either a member or alumn. It most certainly is not coming from corps leadership: https://pioneerdbc.tumblr.com/post/181911634305/as-many-of-you-have-heard-this-afternoon-at-the

Yeah. A pretty mea culap but no indication that any action will actually take place.

It's sad, but it's not at all surprising and as I've said before, it's absolutely necessary if that corps is ever going to set foot on a marching field in DCI ever again.

How so?

Actually, now that I think of it, I'll bet KG knows.

To clarify, I meant will DCI just leave the suspension in place until Pio comes up with a solution that they'll accept (essentially leaving the door open and saying "Come back to us again after the 2019 season with a better plan that doesn't involve anyone named Blenski involved in the operations of your corps") or do they take more definitive action and say "That's it, you're done, no soup for you and and you don't get to ask to be let back in".

Seen live? Phantom Regiment 2008 on finals night. Nothing else I've seen comes anywhere close.

The question there is how free people are to share what they may know. Somebody may have inside knowledge, but they may not be at liberty to share it publicly and may actually be exposing themselves to legal liability if they disclose it. especially if they're not supposed to have that information in the first place (ie it's classified, subject to an NDA, etc.). For instance, here's a theoretical situation. Suppose DCI plans to take particular actions against a corps that would result in them not being allowed to participate in competitions, losing membership status, etc. A person learns of this and then posts that information on a public forum, such as DCP, Reddit, etc. Maybe they disclose it to a major newspaper which printed an article. As a result, word of the corps' impending punishment (whether suspension, full ban, what have you) gets back to that corps' financial sponsors, who decide to take their money elsewhere. The corps, now lacking that base of financial support, isn't able to support its operational costs or pay off debts, and is forced to declare bankruptcy as a result. The person who disclosed this information could well be sued for tortious interference with business (and possibly other things), because their disclosure of information they were not entitled to disclose publicly caused actual financial harm to that corps because their sponsors ended their sponsorships. And that's not taking into account any possible claims of libel/slander/etc. Moral of the story, watch what you say on public discussion forums because they can have real consequences and get people in a whole lot of trouble. Loose lips sink ships, as the saying goes. Again, that's purely a theoretical situation, but it's an example of how casually or carelessly posting "inside information" can have very real consequences. Yeah, we'd all like to know what DCI is planning on doing. I'd love to be a fly on the wall in Indy next week, but at this point, it will become evident in a week or so anyway. Personally, I'm willing to wait- I do have other things going on in my life that are FAR more important that what DCI decides to do with one individual drum corps.

Yep, and the question will be whether they decide to take further action regarding Pioneer at this point or kick the can further down the road.

Regardless of latest news stories, I don't think his health would let him take up any role like that ever again, sadly.

Yes, that was a hallmark of theirs. Roman has/had connections with a field band association in South Africa for a while and would get a few people from there each season. When I marched we also had a few people from Japan and I think the Netherlands as well.

Pioneer was formally suspended for 2019 in August by DCI and were given terms to meet to be reinstated in good standing after that point. Their future participating status may be decided at the Januals.

DCI did provide them a list of requirements, specifically to restructure the corps' leadership to exclude anyone named Blenski, to have better financial footing and to put other safeguards for member safety in place. Pioneer has shown that they are not able or willing to meet all of these requirements, and now DCI is going to have to decide whether to take harsher steps against them. As for the "loss of a low-cost drum corps", Pioneer's loss will be an opportunity for open class corps in the area to step in, fill the gap and recruit those members who will have to go elsewhere anyway. If I'm in charge of, say, Legends or Colt Cadets, I'd already be focusing my recruiting efforts in that region knowing that I'm likely about to have a big chunk of potential members who will need a corps to call home in the coming years.

To be fair, uniforms like that would help members conclusively prove that they are indeed on their dot. 😊😀

I'm not going to speculate on that and I don't think it's really meaningful to discuss something like that in a public forum without proof to substantiate it. Frankly, I don't think there's a point to keeping this thread open or discussing Pioneer until the Januals roll around and DCI does whatever they're going to do, short of any significant developments before then.

Back to the topic of the actual parade plans, they had been planning an event like this for a few months. And honestly, announcing that they're marching a parade, which is a non-DCI function, really isn't newsworthy and certainly not worthy of ridicule, the corps' other serious issues notwithstanding. And yes, Roman is still "in charge" and will be until he dies or until someone finds a legal way to remove him from his position. He's not going voluntarily, their IBOD has no real leverage to remove him and no amount of DCI arm-twisting will convince him to leave either, even if/when they revoke their DCI status permanently come January. Trying to save this corps from itself is, imo, a lost cause. Efforts would be better spent supporting other groups or working to start up another corps in the Milwaukee area if people are truly keen about promoting the activity in that region.

That's exactly why I haven't gotten involved with the "rebuild" efforts at all