Gary Matczak

shows around the circuit, not sure,.......but every RCA championships held in Erie in those days drew well over 5000 fans,............

trolling,........with a heart buried in there somewhere,..........

actually, I have shared a few adult beverages with Lee over the years, and while I find his lawyerly approach to stimulating conversation targeted and somewhat purposeful,...........continuing the conversation on his part could really help his positions,.........he knows that, and my guess is that he finds enjoyment is making rash statements, then staying silent on these and similar boards to see what comes of it,............all in all, a good dude!

This is just a little samba,.................... oh, sorry,...............not yet?

while just back,...........Erie is 2 1/2 hours away

says you,............

another twist is that all corps must stay a minimum number of hotel room nights based on headcount,...............this is a major part of the appeal to the host community,...........

Not exactly sure, but I believe Sahlen stadium and the convention center comes to DCA at little to no charge,.............but the Rochester tourist and convention bureau does know the total economic impact of the labor day event is around 4 million dollars,............not chicken feed,................some larger areas with other things going on labor day weekend don't take nearly as much interest in attracting the event in contrast to Rochester,...................

This year the corps competed with people in their teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s,............................gladly most were in the younger age brackets! Over the years our biggest challenge to recruiting was that on surface, many thought you had to be an alum to participate, and we got tired of having to constantly explain it away,..............we estimated that for each person that approached us,..............3 to 4 stayed away for that reason alone. So we eliminated the problem.

Understood,......and have felt it first hand,............Thunderbirds were virtually inactive for a couple years until a major local event caused us to try a "one and done" for the whole year in 2013,...........it was tremendously successful, but we also kept our commitment to old and new participants of one and done,..............late that year a group of younger participants asked about starting on mission to a compeditive corps again,.............many members were supportive of the idea, many not. In hindsight, we have realized that the corps was bigger than the current board, staff and even many members, it was not about us, it was about the Thunderbirds, and even those that came before us that are now gone..............day to day control and egos needed to be put aside, and let this new idea for an old, established organization happen. Guess what?,..............it is happening, and it is all good! The Erie Thunderbirds are alive, well and growing! Jim, if you recall a conversation we had outside the hotel in Rochester several championships back, Thunderbirds wisely stopped refering to ourselves as an alumni corps long ago so that we could appeal to a younger age group,..... it has worked, well beyond what we even imagined..................

Okay, so in NJ area we have Cabs, Fusion,.......then Sky, Cadets,...............then further Bucs,.............then further? Submit a bid?

corps did not like Annapolis,.............way to expensive, horrible to get around,.........are you saying there are more young people there? or just different?

yup, and that is/will be the case wherever finals is held,................

I propose that staff be issued oven mitts and muzzles

Fred, There were way too many empty seats in the center in Maryland, and people that purchased cheaper seats simply walked over to the middle section undeterred,................not a good situation either

non-finalist corps members pay for tickets to finals...........while I believe many alumni and mini corps and/or members leave town when done, and do not attend prelims or finals,.................maybe the participating alumni and mini corps should have some sort of obligation in this regard. For an outside the box idea,............DCA could be a little more organizationally friendly to the exhibition and mini corps by way of having some structure for these groups to associate under the DCA umbrella,.........sub organizations if you will. Marketing could improve by this type of broadening of the base. The alumni spectacular could also be broadened to include other exhibition type corps. It really is a no brainer IMO. Many of these types of groups are relied upon for filling show bills during the regular season.

The problem with Allentown is that it is Fair weekend..................no room for DCA

our members had the seats in the same area, upper corner...................I sat 2 section in, upper level,...........wherever I wanted.............really!

we had many locals check us out at our rehearsal site wondering what was going on,..........which IMO a hugely underutilized outreach opportunity that host communities could/should capitalize on,............however, it is rather unlikely that Joe lunch bucket, non drum corps fan, from up main street would attend the championships simply because of the ticket price,...................... and, while many take advantage of the live feed at home,.................it will be a continued detriment to boosting the effort of getting butts in seats,............... we had more parents arrive prelims day than I had expected and purchased their tickets at the window,............a couple mentioned no need to purchase in advance, as earlier in the week there we tons of great seats still available when checking the website,............fortunately for then, Erie is only 2 1/2 hours from Rochester Seems to me that the first year at this facility attendance numbers were double what they were this past weekend,............... I know I am not offering much in the way of solutions, but someti8mes fact finding leads to them,........

I know,............musta run out of important people to name schools after?

Erie Thunderbirds are at School 45 - 1445 Clifford Avenue

First time back for the Erie Thunderbirds since 1984..............and as Matt said, it feels good to be back!

my quote feature does not seem to work from my tablet,...........but replying to Jeff's post: I saw their show from the back, up on the hill, seemed to me that feet is what is keeping brass from tightening down musically,............a ton of demand there that if achieved would really help brass overall,....................so in that sense, we tend to agree,.........

Their show was very strong in Reading, and I kinda agree that they could get a win,................IMO if guard/visual gets tightened down, that could do it...........they have all the GE needed with the recognizable material,............just gotta put the bow on the package!

how very supportive,.................