NDNation

Softly as I Leave You - Cavaliers 81, 82 and 83, I think.

I know this is really limiting my chances of finding tickets, but I'm hoping to find one ticket to all three nights (quarters, semis and finals) in Section 240 row 7 or higher. Thanks!

Hm... Same area of CA in the sense that NYC and Pittsburgh, PA are the same part of the country. Riverside and Concord are 425 miles from each other. That said, there's been a good number of BD members and staff who have spent their academic years at RCC. No formal relationship, though. RCC's performance style probably has most to do with the fact that Gary and Sheila Locke, long LONG time directors, have roots in drum corps. Another huge factor, though, is that Wayne Downey arranges and instructs for the band. You can see all the connections with BD at their website... http://www.rccband.org/ Gary Locke is probably one of the most influential people in California marching band history. He took over John North High School Band in the late '70s at a time when drum corps had relatively little influence on the Southern California high school band scene. Under his direction, JN became a powerhouse in their division almost overnight. (How well I remember since I marched in a neighboring HS band that had dominated the division to that point but suddenly found itself consistently losing to John North.) At a time when many if not most SoCal HS's were still wearing fur shakos and using Big 10 high step marching technique, Gary infused a drum corps approach at JN and saw quick success with it. Though it may not seem like a big deal now, it was truly revolutionary at the time. They became not only a huge competitive success but a fan favorite too. What was even more remarkable was that he only spent five years at JN but the program continued to be successful long after his departure. I'm not involved in the SoCal band scene any more, but I hear JN continues to be very competitive. It's pretty impressive that he was able to build that solid of a foundation in just five years. He left in 1984 to take over a brand new band program at RCC. At the time, I couldn't imagine why he would want to take on this challenge. RCC was (and really still kind of is) an after thought in the CA community college system in a service area that is a LONG way from the cultural hub of LA. To put it kindly, Riverside is kind of Cow Town, California-style. (Sorry if you're from Riverside. I'm from the Inland Empire too, so I'm not criticizing from the outside.) But just like John North, he almost immediately built a winner. I don't know that I would call Gary or Sheila visionary from a creative standpoint. They borrow heavily from a variety of other performing groups. I would say they are visionary, though, from an organizational development and management standpoint. What they've accomplished in their professional lives is truly amazing. And they're good and nice people too. I'm definitely a fan, as you can tell.

I do love me some Barbara Maroney. I miss those days. *Sigh*

Spot on and thank you, Kathy G.

"Close to You."

Gonna have to go with NY Phil. Or SCV '97. Light years better than Cadets or Bloo.

Madison Scouts Boston Santa Clara Vanguard Phantom Regiment Cavaliers Blue Knights Blue Stars Cadets Bluecoats Carolina Crown Glassmen Blue Devils

Strawberry Soup or Concerto for Guitar and Jazz Orchestra

I agree. Spontaneity has its time and place.

Boy, I am surely a dinosaur. I grew up in the midwest in the late '60s and early '70s when it was still common practice at many YMCA pools to require suitless swimming. Filtration systems were bad and fuzz, lint, strings, soap, and dirt off suits would muck up the pool pretty bad. The answer...you literally HAD to swim naked. (No coed swim sessions were even offered, of course.) We were required to take a shower before getting into the pool, and then all entrances from the locker room into the pool (which was indoor, of course) had this 3" deep little wading pool with disinfectant you had to step through to make sure you weren't dragging any grossness in via your feet. I was five when I took my first swim lessons, which is of course an age most kids have no body consciousness issues, so swimming naked was really no big deal at all. The Y pool was renovated sometime when I was in HS, and the filtration system must have been updated because they started requiring suits during newly offered coed sessions. For quite a while though (I can't recall when they stopped) they continued to offer all boy or all girl swims where suits were optional. And believe it or not, lots of kids still chose to go skinny dipping. It was just part of the culture. The Y was really the only place I swam, other than the river, so being naked in front of friends was pretty much normalized from the get-go. That really helped make summer camp and PE showers be no big deal a few years later. So, getting back to the subject, by the first time I marched drum corps, showering with friends was something I'd been doing for a decade. And looking back, I think almost all of us during that era grew up that way.

So, admittedly I have been asleep at the switch, but I'm trying to get up to speed. I've found plenty of info about the G7 proposal, as well as pro/con analysis. Mostly, I'm curious how it happened that the G7 reps on the BOD were either removed or resigned. I apologize up front for not keeping up on this news. I did go back through DCP and read everything I could find about resignations, but there are information holes I'm having a hard time filling in. Specifically... * When did the BOD resignations/recalls happen? * Who was recalled and who resigned? From what I can tell, there were five reps who were recalled, including Fielder and Valenzuela. But I saw other posts that said that Fielder and Valenzuals resigned. I'm confused... * What process was used for recalling BOD members? I've read that there are 9 board members, and 5 were recalled. Assuming the 5 members were recalled by majority vote, something's not working with the math, unless the 5 who were removed actually voted to recall themselves. * Any speculation on the strategy here, both on the parts of the removed/resigned members and the other members? Did the G7 reps come into the May 19 meeting presentation assuming that they would be removed? * Are minutes of BOD meetings posted anywhere? Most non-profits choose to do this (transparency, mitigating audit risk, yada yada), but I can't find anything on dci.com. I'm just a bit stunned. I did a two-year stint as President of a non-profit and have volunteered with this and other non-profits for over 20 years. I've never seen anything like this. Thanks in advance for any info provided...

So, admittedly I have been asleep at the switch, but I'm trying to get up to speed. I've found plenty of info about the G7 proposal, as well as pro/con analysis. Mostly, I'm curious how it happened that the G7 reps on the BOD were either removed or resigned. I apologize up front for not keeping up on this news. I did go back through DCP and read everything I could find about resignations, but there are information holes I'm having a hard time filling in. Specifically... * When did the BOD resignations/recalls happen? * Who was recalled and who resigned? From what I can tell, there were five reps who were recalled, including Fielder and Valenzuela. But I saw other posts that said that Fielder and Valenzuals resigned. I'm confused... * What process was used for recalling BOD members? I've read that there are 9 board members, and 5 were recalled. Assuming the 5 members were recalled by majority vote, something's not working with the math, unless the 5 who were removed actually voted to recall themselves. * Any speculation on the strategy here, both on the parts of the removed/resigned members and the other members? Did the G7 reps come into the May 19 meeting presentation assuming that they would be removed? * Are minutes of BOD meetings posted anywhere? Most non-profits choose to do this (transparency, mitigating audit risk, yada yada), but I can't find anything on dci.com. I'm just a bit stunned. I did a two-year stint as President of a non-profit and have volunteered with this and other non-profits for over 20 years. I've never seen anything like this. Thanks in advance for any info provided...

I'm wondering what attendance is like. We voted with our $$$ this year. Didn't go, and the stadium issues weighed in heavily on that decision. Thought it was interesting in the cinecast that they put out two pleas for people in the area to come to semis or finals. "Plenty of seats left." "Get in the car and come down here." Could mean nothing about attendance, but their tone seemed a little anxious. I could be reading something into nothing.

How do you guarantee self-protectionism and insular thinking? Make sure there's no one other than in crowd on your BOD. I think it would do a world of good to change the composition of the BOD to include a generous number of non-corps management appointees. It's hard to imagine why the corps directors would give up that power. But as someone else noted, this G7 thing is either going to kill drum corps or make it stronger. I truly believe that. My sense is that a can of worms has been opened. I'm hoping that the corps directors are forced into such a tight corner that their only choice is to make sweeping changes, and not the ones Hoppy is imagining. Then again, I never thought the NCAA conference reallignment debacle last spring would end with no sweeping change. Who knows... Maybe they'll bandage DCI up again and we'll hobble forward for another 5 years before the lid gets blown off again.