Rifuarian

I think you're a little confused. I love all drum corps.

Yes, all the people who've called BD boring over the past few years have been given a free pass. For example.

LOL. Remember, people, this is the guy that wanted to register his disgust with the G7 proposal by haranguing souvie stand volunteers. Have fun with him don't waste too much trying to engage him in a serious argument. DrillmanSop06 summed things up pretty well. Even a self-congratulating academic like myself couldn't have put it better. Really should get to sleep though. I have a long, hard day of self-congratulating ahead of me.

Well, if you love America then it's your patriotic duty to report DCI to the IRS immediately. These SOBs have gotten a free ride on the back of the American taxpayer for far too long. You do love America, don't you?

"501c3" and "charity" are not interchangeable terms. Charity is only one of the purposes that can earn an organization an exemption under code 501c3. The complete list of exemptions are "charitable, religious, educational, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, fostering national or international amateur sports competition, and preventing cruelty to children or animals." I think we can squeeze drum corps in there somewhere, even in its modern form. Don't agree with danielray on everything, but he's right on the money here. And he's only agreeing with what many on this forum have been saying for years, which is that junior corps has become an elite activity geared mostly towards musically talented, well-to-do kids rather than the old "take kids off the street and teach 'em to play" MO of the old local and regional corps. Which is unequivocally true. But rather than doing the impossible and trying return to the old way of doing things, he's urging drum corps to embrace its new identity and move forward. Seems sensible to me. The real question is what "moving forward" should entail. I for one don't believe it should entail cutting off the lower-placing corps. The big boys already get the lion's share of benefits from DCI, as they should. The pittance handed out to the OC and lower WC corps is well worth spending.

On the left: Big Bad Bari. On the right: danielray.

Is there a non-G7 corps, other than the Scouts, that is a bigger draw than a G7 corps? I can't think of any. That's not a say a non-G7 corps couldn't become a top draw (as compared to the middling G7 corps, not the top corps), if some of these corps prioritized entertainment rather than fielding dull, insipid shows and doing everything possible to squelch their identities (if they ever had one) and making themselves as forgettable as possible. There's not any statistically significant way to quantify which corps draws how many people, but you only have to compare lines at souvie stands to see that some are more popular than others.

Words can have more than one meaning. "Modern" is one of those words. It can mean either the period we're living in now, or to the period in the 1800s and early 1900s when the birth of industrial capitalism fundamentally transformed our world. Weird, huh? Postmodernism refers to a reaction to the certainty of the "modern period". Some of my fellow academics talk about moving beyond postmodernism, but I've usually stopped paying attention long before they get to that point so I can't really tell you anything about that. Postmodernism is a real and serious, uh, thing . . . but in most cases it really is a byword for BS. That's the case in this article. I love musicians to death, but when they try to get all intellectually, as in the case of this article or with some of the more overwrought drum corps shows(especially with drum corps) it ain't pretty.

As someone who actually brings kids to drum corps shows, talks to them about drum corps, etc. (unlike most of the people on here and elsewhere who presume to speak for "the kids"), I'd say you're underestimating them a bit. A good many of the kids I work with today know about and love Star of Indiana and the old Velvet Knights. Not that they love them more than current corps . . . not by a long shot . . . but saying they wouldn't go for a Bridgemen alumni performance is presumptuous. Assuming that alumni performance is well done. That's beside the point though. High school kids don't really make up much of the audience on Friday night at semis. It's typically a bit older. You won't even find that many recent ageouts. The crowd you typically find there would go ape for a Bridgemen alumni corps.

Watch it. I think this may be one of those "grownups only" threads.

It gives my mind a short break from grading papers. I try not to make many throwaway posts, though.

I don't necessarily miss the broadcast, but one thing it did that DVDs, BluRays, and the Fan Network don't do is produce new fans. I count myself as one of many who became devoted drum corps fans after watching the PBS broadcast. The Fan Network, BluRays, and theater shows offer better viewing experiences, but they're for those of us who already love drum corps. DCI shouldn't go back to TV, but they desperately need something that can reach non-fans in the same way the PBS show did. An official YouTube channel, for example.

I already contributed a couple of what I thought to be sensible posts to this thread. Just like you and many others. Each time the OP comes back and says the same thing. Again and again and again. Not much point in responding seriously to this thread if he won't even acknowledge and respond to what the rest of us are saying. Anyways, if you read the sig line of the poster I responded to you'll see why I responded the way I did.

Try not to get mad, it's just marching band!

Fighting the obnoxiousness of dinos with an obnoxiosness that's ten times more irritating solves nothing. Just let em ramble on. Period. The end. Over. Done. Finis. The end. Period.

I'm sure it must be painful to see the version of drum corps you grew up with loved fade away. But don't blame the survivors for the demise of the type of corps you knew and loved. DCI didn't kill it . . . sure, DCI has made some unfortunate decisions, but DCI isn't large enough or powerful to kill off the hundreds of little competitive corps and the untold numbers of non or partially competitive corps that once existed. DCI found a way to survive. When all those organizations that once sponsored drum corps were shrinking and dying, and were cutting corps loose left and right, the corps that joined DCI found a way to endure. Sure, it was inadvertent, but they did it. Just be glad that drum corps has managed to endure in some form or fashion. Without DCI it wouldn't have. And, though you may not like to here it, there are thousands of competitive corps style bands that share 80%-90% of the qualities that you loved about those old corps.

Well, except for those G(7)8 events down in Texas, right? I thought that was too hot for some of the more delicate corps in the G7, and the bus rides too long? And the shows sucked because the corps had only had a mere several months to prepare? Right?

DCI didn't kill drum corps. It preserved it by transforming it. Sure DCI is flawed, and it's made many, many mistakes. It may even be time for the competitive junior activity to move on to something new. Nonetheless, DCI has kept at least a few corps alive while all those organizations that sponsored the little weekend corps were shrinking and dying. And if you really miss all those little local corps, you may be in luck . . . if you live in a state where competitive corps-style band is popular. It's not quite the same but it's close. Locally based and funded. Limited practices. Travel and competition mostly on the weekends. Sense of dedication, belonging to something bigger, and forging friendships that last a lifetime. Takes kids that knew nothing about music and shows 'em the ropes. Neighborhood corps lives on!

Consistency is important, but it's not a magic bullet. If you have a consistently good staff you'll have a consistently good corps. If you have a consistently crappy staff, well . . . I don't have to say the rest. Sometimes turnover is necessary. BD and Cadets are fortunate in that they have some of the top minds in the business willing to commit to an organization for decades on end. There aren't too many guys out there like that.

Nah. When June 20th rolls around the top 8 have had plenty of time to prepare the programs. Showing the top 8 altogether in theaters at the beginning of the season is a great way to get fans hyped for the rest of the tour. Showing last year's shows? Not so much. Show the new stuff, even if it is ragged and incomplete. Too hot in Texas? There is no "too hot" in drum corps. Tell your corpsmates not to be such shrinking violets. It's drum corps. As for the classic countdown itself: It was a great idea. The first one was really something special, and the entire audience - young and old - enjoyed it. But it's not something that can be sustained year after year. Maybe they can use the original format every few years or so, but otherwise I'd stick with showing the newer stuff interspersed with highlights from the older shows.

Maybe they don't lurk on DCP . . . but multi-billionaires lurked on RAMD. Bill Cook was a regular contributor in the mid-90s. Look up his posts. Some interesting stuff there.

It's always tempting to resurrect the past. But it usually ends up being a disappointment. Sure, you could slap the name U.S. Open on a new show, but it would never be the same. The magic is in the past . . . treasure the memory of it, but don't try to bring it back. Focus on the present and future instead. Just don't focus on a future that's as magical as mythical as the rose-colored past, no matter how much meaningless business jargon you dress it up in, and no matter how "simple" it supposedly is to realize. That's as irrational and as emotionally charged as those who look back on the "Golden Age" and want to bring it back.

You're overstating this a bit. I've lived abroad extensively (in western Europe and elsewhere) and encountered incidents similar to this one, where the teacher resigns or is fired. The main difference (as it so often is) comes with media coverage, or the lack thereof. I'm also aware of many similar incidents in the U.S. where this sort of thing has been settled quietly . . . too quietly, as the case often is. I know as expats it's tempting to puff up foreign cultures as foils to the perceived flaws in our own. Sometimes we're correct, but usually it's complete nonsense.

Well, if it weren't for the news we wouldn't know about this at all, would we? Anyways . . . I've said it a few times already: This guy is not a pedophile, he's not a child abuser. Is he a predator? I dunno. Is he creepy? Seems so. Is what he did highly unethical? Yes, and that's what we should be concerned with here. He resigned before he could be fired. He'll have a hard time getting any sort job in a school system from here on out, and rightfully so. The question is: Since drum corps now view themselves as educational organizations, should they not hold their employees to the same ethical standards used by schools?

It would be no more a violation of free speech than the NFL salary cap and floor, the luxury tax in MLB, and so on. It would be silly though. So long as members are paying to play there should be no caps or restrictions of any kind (excepting the obvious things like age limits). Let the most successful corps reap all the benefits of their success, and let the less successful corps find a way to emulate it.