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vferrera

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  1. I'm an alum/donor. I wish them well as I would any group. The Cavaliers have 2 co-ed groups under their umbrella. I think that's a viable model for inclusion. Time will tell.
  2. Nonprofits are only exempt from corporate income tax. No net earnings, no tax benefit.
  3. Megan is the only one who was formally considered a member and I think she still has eligibility to march DCI, so not an alum quite yet.
  4. http://www.madisonscouts.org/2019/07/madison-scouts-adopt-inclusive-membership-policy/
  5. I'm starting a new thread for tributes to the founders of DCI. Don Warren of the Cavaliers Bill Howard of the Madison Scouts Dave Kampschroer of the Blue Stars Gail Royer of the Santa Clara Vanguard Jim Jones of the Troopers In 1971, they formed the Combine West that became Drum Corps International the following year. Please post memories of these fine gentlemen.
  6. I didn't say their efforts were adequate. I said they were plentiful. There's a difference. Here are a few things they have done: Christmas tree lots. Raffles. Playing at shopping mall openings. Mini car racing. A food concession at Brewers games. Mad-Dash 5K races. One BOD member owns a string of candy shops that donate some of their profits. These all take person-power and organization. Lots. The corps management has their hands full. If alums or supporters don't step up, these things don't happen. It's not a matter of having ideas. It's a matter of having the resources and experience to vet the ideas and turn them into worthwhile, sustainable income streams. You want my idea? Madison currently has no official alumni association (if they do, they're keeping it a secret from me, maybe intentionally ;) ) I think they could really use one. The Madison alum are very energetic and resourceful. On their own, the alums have put together several major performances (MSARP 2006, Macy's 2014 and Mardi Gras 2018). Each of those represents 200+ guys willing to pay their own way to fly in and do a reunion/performance. Money-wise, I would guess about 1 million $$$ was spent on each. I did MSARP and spent about 3k or so on air/hotel/etc. I also did Macy's and only spent a few hundred since I live in NYC. The alumni are also fragmented (generations not getting along), grumpy (you see it here), and alienated from the organization. This year, the divisions among the alums, and between alum and corps, are the worst I've seen. An alumni organization could help. Cavaliers went through something similar about 10 years ago (I'm also a Cavalier alum). Not gonna go into details. The CAA got on top of things and did wonders for alumni-corps relations. Great group of guys. Great leadership. Madison could and should do the same.
  7. The idea of using capital equipment (buses, trucks, etc) as revenue sources in the off-season has been around since corps started buying their own buses in the 60s. There are a number of costs involved: labor, licenses, inspections, insurance, supplies, gas, etc. It also depreciates the equipment much faster. Then there are the legal issues of having a for-profit business connected to a non-profit entity. My understanding is that most corps have found it's better to simply park their rolling stock for the winter. The Scouts are constantly developing revenue sources. There is a long list of things they've tried with more or less success.
  8. SCV also made top 12 72-79. In fact, I believe they have made top 12 every year of DCI.
  9. It's fun to imagine that we can solve problems by talking about them on the internet. The reality is that if you are not in close touch with the organization, it's useless to speculate on what the fix might be in any particular case. Here's an example: a few years ago a certain alumni group was calling for the head of a certain program coordinator. They got it. That person is now coordinating the program for another corps. Is he bringing them down? Nope. In fact, they are a lock for a medal this year and the odds-on favorite for gold. Obvious-but-truism: You really just can't analyze the dynamics of human relationships from a distance.
  10. These are the projections for the WC top 17 based on linear regression. Sorry for the bad formatting. "pred" is predicted score for July 7 "rate" is average improvement in points/day "rsq" is the proportion of the variance accounted for by a straight line. rnk corps pred rate rsq 1 BLUECTS 84.20 0.87 0.99 2 CROWN 82.45 0.80 0.98 3 BDEVILS 82.35 0.74 1.00 4 SCV 82.35 0.74 0.96 5 BAC 82.00 0.90 0.98 6 CAVS 80.65 0.71 0.96 7 CADETS 79.85 0.91 0.95 8 PHANTOM 75.55 0.71 0.98 9 MANDRNS 75.30 0.78 0.96 10 BKNIGHT 74.85 0.58 0.96 11 BLUSTRS 74.65 0.78 0.95 12 XMEN 74.65 0.77 0.93 13 SPIRIT 72.85 0.80 0.89 14 ACADEMY 72.30 0.69 0.96 15 COLTS 71.30 0.78 0.87 16 MADISON 70.70 0.67 0.97 17 TROOPER 69.35 0.70 0.96
  11. It was not the official corps or alumni page (I'm not sure there is an official alumni page). It was started by alums and, yes, it was closed. I don't disagree with the mods for taking it down. There are other forums for discussion
  12. I'm a madison alum, or "homer" as we're known on this board. I marched in the early-80s. I also try to support them financially when I can. What I want from Madison is not blind adherence to tradition. What I want is intelligent and innovative stewardship of the Madison brand. What is the brand? The brand is a recognizable set of concrete and abstract elements that form an overall aesthetic. It's a color scheme (green, gold, red, white, black), a set of symbols (FDL), a visual style, a musical "approach," and so forth. It's hard to define, but easy to recognize. There is nothing about the Madison brand that prevents them from innovating and being competitive. Since the mid-70s, innovation and competitiveness have been core aspects of the brand. I am not disappointed with the members or their effort, but I am disappointed with this year's product. I am disappointed that the members are not being given what they need to compete at the highest level. I am disappointed that they are not connecting with the audience. I don't think any of this is due to bad intentions on the part of the BOD or management. I think it is just a design team run amok. This happened twice during the Stewart era and was dealt with harshly. Under the current leadership, this is the third time in 10 years. There needs to be a clear-headed evaluation of how the organization got to this point and some strong corrective measures. The sooner the better.
  13. Since the Stewart era (1978-2002), MS has gone through: 2003-2006 Sal Salas era. These were all solid shows with 2005 cracking the top 6. Lots of alums criticized the uni, though. 2007. Not sure who was in charge, but a bit of a disaster. Started to come together toward the end 2008. Very nice Latin show with an "interesting" uniform and some innovative percussion. 2009. Relampago, which as far as I can tell is Spanish for "rock bottom." 2010-2014. Jim Mason era. Brought back the "look and feel" of the Scouts in a big way. Great show concepts. "New York Morning" was probably the highlight. 2015. 78th & Madison. Another New York themed show that was well designed and executed. Brought back the classic uni. 2016. JCS. Nice idea, lame design 2017. Crazy, but it worked (for me). 2018. I'll reserve judgment. If you're judging them against a "championship" standard, then, yes, a bit disappointing. But by the standards of normal DBC, only 2007 and 2009 were complete disasters. Everything else was pretty solid in the design dept. 2005 and 2011 could be considered classics.
  14. Gender composition is 99% about the culture of the organization off the field. It has little or nothing to do with talent or competitiveness.
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