Jeffe77

Yeah, I get it. Perhaps the draw and the fact many feel, yours truly that BD and SCV had a more balance show from beginning to end, where as the Scouts show was carried by the closer factors into why the discussion is still had over 30 years later. Also Cadets, BD and SCV were contenders for years coming into the 88 season, the Scouts were averaging a 5th placement from 1977-87 and the year before they placed 6th, so yeah....it was out of no where so to speak. Then, they placed no better than 5th for years to come with the exception of the 1995 season placing 6th for the most part. While no one can take that championship away, there is no question it was an outlier.

Apparently, this morphed from the OT, to the 1988 Madison Scouts Topic, so DCP. LOL!!

To me from seeing this personally is the 1995 Blue Devils. Their show was complete fire out of the gate. By the Long Beach, Ca show, they scored 86 pts, nearly 8pts ahead of SCV. Now in retrospect, it may be that SCV fielded a weaker corps and had a slow start to the season, so in comparison, BD was light years away. That said, even following the scores and reports from others, they were firing on all cylinders. So to me, it was shocking they placed 2nd, then 3rd at Finals. I just think they peaked early and the Cadets and Cavaliers had room to clean up their shows. A few years back, the 1995 drum judges tape was released temporarily, it was not pretty. Just showed they needed to clean and/or their parts needed to be watered down. I noticed subsequent years, specifically 96-97, ScoJo would water down parts quite a bit as the season progressed. Who knows if there was a correlation.

Here is the article Slow to clean house, youth organization(DCI) wastes no time punishing critic(Arsenal CEO)

On one hand I agree about how much a judge can really ajudicate while running for their lives and also think that it's not their job to be a "scout and study film" to figure out how not to get run over. Their gig is to judge, plain and simple. That said, I feel this will change how books are arranged and it may water down the music the battery plays. Will this change staging of the battery? Yet, most of the DCI battery members compete in WGI where the playing is at a very high level and I doubt the members will be ok spending their summers playing water down music. Percussionist like myself, likes to be challenged and I know that part of the experience is playing on the lot. So I think and hope that not much will change for now. Based on judge critique and scoring this season could determine how arrangers approach how they write for 2020.

Or things not looking good for DCI? Slow to clean house, youth organization (DCI) wastes no time punishing critic (Arsenal CEO)

Makes sense, since she doesn't have the resources like the Spotlight team from the Boston Globe. Don't blame her for not going after big fish. Takes working for a big paper and resources to back up going after big fish like 60 minutes with the Tabacco industry or the Boston Globe with the Catholic Church. You got to start somewhere. If DCI rides this ship, and good comes out of it, perhaps she gets a gig with a bigger news organization, then she can go after the bigger fish

My hope is a restructuring of authority with more oversight, I don't mean to overstate this point, but it has to be something akin to the Bill of Rights. Some monumental in order to correct the course.

Makes me wonder if the timing of the article was done with Tricia's awareness of the January meetings so to have maximum effect, or just a coincidence. Either way, it's going to be top of mind and I have to think that big changes are coming. Obviously DCI and the Corps BOD are under a microscope and will have no choice but to make changes or else, this activity will cease to exist.

Exactly! When consensual inappropriate (Staff to Members) relationships exist in this environment where minors are present, it leads to this. With the pattern repeating itself and evolving to staff to minor corps member relationships which crosses the line. Then it spills over to the high school level. And unfortunately, it many instances, becoming a tolerated behavior, hence why it went on so long with unchecked.

Yes, agreed that Dan should go, even if an argument can be made that he had no control over the corps behavior or unaware of what was happening, the optics are bad right now. It would serve the activity if new leadership takes charge. I want to go at this from a different angle. I believe part of the cause of this toxic environment of sexual abuse that fester in Drum Corps was the acceptance of inappropriate relationships by all sides, corps members, staff, etc. Especially back in the 70's, 80's etc. Part of the reason is because the age of the techs, usually recent age outs. Some would engage in relationships with corps members. The problem, the lines got blurred when the relationships with members were minors. Yet, in my opinion, many just accepted and hence made this behavior normal. Then the pattern would repeat itself over and over. What I am about to say is not an accusation, just an observation. A certain legendary Percussion Caption who taught in the south and then the west ended marrying one of his former students who marched the corps he taught. Let me make myself clear, I have no idea if they dated while he taught, merely stating a fact. That's where they met. (Mods - If you feel what I just stated push the line in this forum, I understand if it's removed) I'm in no way condoning anybody who crossed the line, merely bringing another facet of this broad and complex issue in our activity. Regarding Mike Stevens, in our percussion subculture in drum corps, Tricia was right, he was a celebrity. Not only for writing a famous snare drum piece, but for being part of the legendary quad line in DCI history in the 1990 Blue Devil's Tenor Line. Then also a tech for on the legendary Tenor Lines DCI in the Cadets 1993-94. Reading the article, made me wonder if he saw the HOP culture at the Cadets and thought it was ok to cross the line. The other thing, I always thought it was strange over the years that after he became the caption head of BK in 98, got them to their highest standing in 2000, then the next year he was gone.Then resurfaced teaching at Churchill High School a few years later. Yes, I know he went to Louisiana to get his degree. Makes rethink what really happen at BK at the end of tenure.

SCV 92 may have been one of the best drumlines in terms of talent, Jeff Queen, Murray Gusseck, Nick Angelis, Walter Powell, Matt Altmire, Colin McNutt, and many others. The tenor line, one of the all-time best. The show overall is entertaining and fun.

Oh my gosh!!!! Everything dropped today. Wow

To me, this show was even and yes, it could have gone either way, that said, what makes this an easy choice on who should have won, comes down to one caption. Percussion. SCV top to bottom had a superior section in terms of the arrangement and execution. The writing was more musical, worked beautifully with the brass arrangement. Phantom Regiment's battery was not as clean as SCV that night and their arrangement was becoming dated, compared to what SCV was doing. Also look at the percussion score in the captions. SCV scored 14.9 out of 15 and Phantom Regiment scored 14.4 placing 5th. (Side Note) *Cadets started this trend in 87 with Hannum, writing the book to weave within the brass arrangement oppose to how BD and others in the past would approach the writing, which was more of a glorified rhythm section to complement the brass arrangement. Since Cadets took percussion in 87 (perfect score), look at who won drum trophies after that (SCV, Cadets, Star, Cavies, SCV, Cavies, Star), not BD until 1994, where their book was more modern in their arrangement than the past. What happen in 1987, whether the percussion judge sheets changed or that a trend manifested itself had an effect on 1989, maybe a stretch, just my theory.*