kansasDC

Scores?

Still no scores? Come on DCI. No love for Open Class at all.

Bingo laws are usually a State jurisdiction. Most have laws stating that an organization must be actively pursuing its 501c charter's "reason for being" in order to continue to run a bingo operation. In the case of a DCI drum corps, that usually means educating youth in music/ the arts. Without a performance group, it is kind of hard to prove that charter.

No, you are absolutely correct. Blue Stars were definitely better than their scores in 08, 09, and 10. The staff and members produced incredible shows that just never got the scores they deserved. I was in the activity for 48 years and knew all about "paying your dues". My corps faced it for years. We had to beat the so-called "big boys" by 5 points to beat them by .5 in the final scores. Just a fact of life.

That was an amazing drum corps. My son was in that mello line and it makes me so proud to watch the DVD and know how far all of those 14 and 15 year old members from 2006 came. The whole corps was filled with some incredible talent that year.

Serious: Eat well, but do NOT overeat. Being a volunteer for years, I saw so many rookies pig out on 6 or 7 pancakes at breakfast, and then spend half the weekend sick in the bathroom. Eat just enough to satisfy your hunger and keep your energy up. Tend to the fruits and vegetables. And drink lots and lots of water.

Didn't I also read that their alumni group performed at the SoundSport event in Indy with Surf and Star United? This would at least signal the existence of a pulse.

Best meal my wife ever made for a drum corps was a Chicken Parmesan dinner for 220 on the night of my birthday in Houston. She started working on it while we still at our housing site, then completed it in the parking lot at the stadium. It included the chicken parm, pasta, Italian salad, and garlic bread for all, plus seconds. The smiles on all the members' and staff members' faces were priceless. Another great one was the pasta bar she did in the packed parking lot at the first DCI show in Lebanon, IL that same year. She had six different types of pasta and five different sauces all spread out buffet style. YUM!

My father-in-law marched with The Grand Street Boys in the 1930's. My father marched with the King Park FD drum corps in the 50's, then formed the Kings Park / Long Island Kingsmen in 1964 and was Exec Director thru 1980. He also marched Sunrisers 1967 and 1968. He was the a volunteer with Avant Garde 1981-1982, 27th Lancers 1983-1986, and The Cadets 1987-2005. My mother was head of volunteers for LI Kingsmen, 1964-1980, then a medical volunteer with Avant Garde 1982, 27th Lancers 1983-1986, and The Cadets 1987-2005. She was a DCI Volunteer of the Year in 2005. I marched LI Kingsmen 1965-1980, volunteered with several DCI shows through 2004, volunteered cook crew with The Cadets for several years between 1986 and 2004, head volunteer with Revolution 2005, volunteer with Blue Stars 2006-2011. My brother marched LI Kingsmen 1964-1977. My sister marched LI Kingsmen 1977-1980, Avant Garde 1982, and 27th Lancers 1983-1986. My wife marched LI Squires and LI Kingsmen 1974-1980, volunteered with Drums Across Kansas 1997-2004, cook crew with The Cadets several years between 1986 and 2004, head volunteer with Revolution 2005, volunteer with Blue Stars 2006-2011. My son marched Revolution 2005, Blue Stars 2006-2011, and The Cavaliers 2012. My daughter volunteered with Revolution 2005, and Blue Stars 2006-2009.

BoyWonder, you really need to spend more time actively involved in some OC corps before making statements like that. My experience shows that most have volunteer management staffs, volunteer educational staffs, and even volunteer semi drivers. In a few cases, I personally know management and educational staff members who have spent their personal accounts to zero to get the members through a season. If anyone thinks they can make a great living off of OC drum corps, they really need to wake up to reality.

"The challenge going forward is the money and effort required to sustain a corps in the current format." This says to me that they cannot survive in the current DCI Open Class, with its lack of performance fees and total lack of exposure. When you compare most of the full time OC corps revenues (100K - 200K), to the WC corps revenues (600K - 3M), it is not hard to see the impact of these issues on operations and survivability.

I marched 16 years in "junior corps" (DCI). The summer after my age out, I took an overload at engineering school (21 credit hours). Between that and work, I didn't have time to get depressed or think about drum corps. It also helped that there wasn't Internet yet! 😃

Couldn't they just put some dry ice in their water coolers?

We always parked in the lot diagonally across from the Omni. Only a couple of blocks to LOS and it was connected by pedestrian bridge to the big downtown mall. Lots of good restaurants within a block. It was either $10 or $15, depending on what else was going on in the downtown area.

Holy crap, look at that lousy southern field they're having to use!! Oops, nevermind.

No, unfortunately. Lived there for 18 years, but moved to GA last year. Just always a fan of this show due to the great stadium and some of the nicest housing sites on tour (Maize HS, Andover HS, Andover Central, Augusta, Valley Center, etc.).

Currently 84 degrees and sunny. Drums Across Kansas had a nice shot on Facebook of the field, and Tony DiCarlo had a shot of a pretty good crowd.

Seems nobody is interested in this one. Shame. It's a great stadium (75 rows, all in one level), the weather is finally good for this show, and there are some pretty good corps performing: Cascades Pioneer Spirit of Atlanta Boston Crusaders Madison Scouts Blue Devils

There needs to be a "less-expensive" class. The current SoundSport effort is good, but hosting regional competitions and regional championships have to be a part of the formula.

My son has 8 years experience in DCI, with five as a lead mello in finalist corps. When he saw the $2000 fee, he just laughed. Between that cost, plus the money he would lose quitting his summer job, it just is not worth it to him. He got tired of always being broke from drum corps summers and wants to enjoy his senior year of college. If he marched, he would be broke again.

What is your maximum age for this group? I live in GA, have not marched in more years than I want to admit to, but still play.

My corps had our tymps using metal harnesses with counterweights sticking out the back in 1970. My Dad (the Director) had a local weld shop make them. They were reallllly heavy, but they were perfectly counterbalanced by the weights on the back (each tymp's harness was custom to the drum). Took all the bending stress off the back muscles. Here is a picture with two sitting on the ground on the left side and one on the right side:

Ask my son, Kris. He was in Blue Stars during that summer. He's done eight straight years and felt he really didn't miss anything critical during that "transition summer". BUT, I am sure he would have kicked himself if he had not marched the Houdini show.

I agree with Tim K. I am really glad my son is coming up on his age-out year and through his first semester junior year in college. Both drum corps costs and college costs have skyrocketed in his eight years of DCI and I do not know if we could handle many more. The money he spends to do corps, plus the lost summer income, are significant. And $20K tuition at state schools will only get higher.

Laid back = Cavaliers. My son marched there last summer and will be completing his nine-year drum corps career with them as a mellophone player again this year. No running around at rehearsals, no short sleep nights, no screaming staff. He said last summer was by far the best year of his drum corps career and he just could not imagine aging out anywhere else.