HOW SAD!

[bandbuck]

"I hope everyone is happy about paying excessive airfares to the "Left Coast"

It sucks to be you!

I just got $200 r/t from Cleveland to LAX last week. That doesn't seem too 'excessive' to me.

P.S. I love Ave. Q! (-:

[silvertrombone]

I like Shiraz, personally. What variety was that whine, exactly? Perhaps a bit of cheese, too--no?

You've all got it wrong. Finals in Dallas every year. We've got as many bands as all the rest of you combined. (OK, exageration) And if band is in full swing in Texas in August, why not have finals here again?

Oh, yeah--it's too hot.

But that's OK, b/c Jerryworld is under construction and will be fully enclosed--air conditioning!!

And airfare here is just as expensive from Boston as San Francisco, Washington D.C. as Washington State.

[Cadetsnare]

CODI, when they invent a time machine, I'll personally donate 5,000$ to send you back....if they want you there.

GOD BLESS MODERN DRUM CORPS! At least the kids actually learn musicianship now.

[CODI]

Cadet Snare:

I see you are a "Rookie"! If it was not for the "kids" back in the 50's, 60's, and the early 70's, you might be walking around New Jersey with a "Wife Beaters Tee Shirt" like Tony Soprono!

I bet you have never listened to some of the great recordings of Fleetwood, "Ballet in Brass" or "Midwest Melodies". or The National DREAM show of 62,63,64 etc.

Yes, we may not have been afforded the opportunity to receive a music scholarship, and be able to travel miles around the country for "6" weeks, since we had to secure a job to pay for tuition, or if you were twenty-one, you had a full time job, but we built the

foundation for drum and bugle. I bet you don't even know what it is to pull a slide to be able to play a sharp or a flat?

So please don't insult me or or the others who aided in you enjoying this activity, which will soon be a "band" activity.

"Just thinking of the good old days"!!!!

JOHN

[ScribeToo]

CODI, when they invent a time machine, I'll personally donate 5,000$ to send you back....if they want you there.

GOD BLESS MODERN DRUM CORPS! At least the kids actually learn musicianship now.

I'll pitch in.. but I have a feeling they'd get him and raise more to send him back. Then we'd just be out the money and still hearing about how we don't appreciate our roots or all the sacrifices he and his corpsmates made all those years.. barefooted on the black broken-glass-covered asphalt for hours on end with only drops of water for refreshment..

/sarcasm

and John if you're going to make broad generalizations about people just because they LIKE what's on the field today, you might want to do your homework first. Guys like Matt helped pave the way for the kids who came after you left, too.

Stef

[CODI]

VK MELLO:

Yes, I am glad someone is able to remember shows from May to October!!

Some of the early shows were really great, and all corps had there shows done and ready to go.

The big one in Boston would be St. Anthony's show which was held annually at Boston College Stadium, now Alumni Field.

Then on Memorial Day Weekend, "The Preview of Champions" held at Roosevelt Stadium with at least 5 juniors, and 5 seniors.

Then in Sept. after the Nationals, you always had the circuit championships, and quite a few invitational shows.

I remember marching in a show in Tewksbury, Mass. in the 3rd week in October. The corps present were Boston, SKEK, St. Mary's Majestic Knights, I. C. Reveries, South Boston "Gatesmen", Braintree Warriors, St. Mary Cardinals. Not a bad line up, and every corps was at 100%.

"Just thinking of the good old days."

CODI

[Guard Diva]

I vote we move this to the historical thread, since it seems more apporpriate there...and Stef, you forgot that the drill was all uphill!

[LegalEagle50]

Cadet Snare:

I see you are a "Rookie"! If it was not for the "kids" back in the 50's, 60's, and the early 70's, you might be walking around New Jersey with a "Wife Beaters Tee Shirt" like Tony Soprono!

I bet you have never listened to some of the great recordings of Fleetwood, "Ballet in Brass" or "Midwest Melodies". or The National DREAM show of 62,63,64 etc.

Yes, we may not have been afforded the opportunity to receive a music scholarship, and be able to travel miles around the country for "6" weeks, since we had to secure a job to pay for tuition, or if you were twenty-one, you had a full time job, but we built the

foundation for drum and bugle. I bet you don't even know what it is to pull a slide to be able to play a sharp or a flat?

So please don't insult me or or the others who aided in you enjoying this activity, which will soon be a "band" activity.

"Just thinking of the good old days"!!!!

JOHN

you tell people not to insult you ~ yet you start a thread off with a 100% intention of insulting others? <**>

sorry sir ~ but the west coast corps' have long participated in the drum corps activity and it has been way overdue for DCI to give the west coast a turn hosting championships. i'm sorry it doesn't fit into your agenda or budget, and i'm quite sure that over the last 35 years the same could be said for many fans out there at the idea of going to Orlando, Buffalo, Boston, Maryland, etc.

from everything i've read and witnessed in the last 20 years, the good old days weren't always as grand as they now seem. those rose colored memory glasses always seem to color things better than they were. if you don't like the way things are now, don't support it. no one is saying you have to.

but think about it for just one second ~ there may be hundreds of fans that have never once had the opportunity to enjoy a DCI finals week who finally will. can't you find it somewhere in your heart to even remotely be happy for them?

because if you can't ~ all i need to do is look around and see other people who are willing to do so. and that makes ME happy. :)

[Cadetsnare]

Cadet Snare:

I see you are a "Rookie"! If it was not for the "kids" back in the 50's, 60's, and the early 70's, you might be walking around New Jersey with a "Wife Beaters Tee Shirt" like Tony Soprono!

I bet you have never listened to some of the great recordings of Fleetwood, "Ballet in Brass" or "Midwest Melodies". or The National DREAM show of 62,63,64 etc.

Yes, we may not have been afforded the opportunity to receive a music scholarship, and be able to travel miles around the country for "6" weeks, since we had to secure a job to pay for tuition, or if you were twenty-one, you had a full time job, but we built the

foundation for drum and bugle. I bet you don't even know what it is to pull a slide to be able to play a sharp or a flat?

So please don't insult me or or the others who aided in you enjoying this activity, which will soon be a "band" activity.

"Just thinking of the good old days"!!!!

JOHN

A rookie? Oh, I get it. Me putting in a quarter of a century in the activity as a member and instructor and having 2 music degrees makes me a rookie. Only if someone was around the activity in the 50s and 60s....THEN they have a valid point. Nice.

And no, I don't know what it is to pull out a slide to play a flat or a sharp note. I also don't know what it is to scratch on cave walls and beat my dinner with a club, either. I just know that there are much better ways of getting the job done. I respect what the people who went before me had to do to make their piece-of-junk instruments function...but it IS better NOW, period. Three valves that work well, pitched in a key that eases the learning of the instrument, and technique based off of universally-accepted concepts in the legit music world....versus...instruments that were built with archaeic tuning methods, pitched in a key that only guitarists can appreciate, and taught mostly by people without any pedagogic knowledge of their craft. Sorry....just glad it's 2007, that's all.

Also, I have heard some of the recordings you mentioned...they didn't move me musically at all. Give me a Star 1991 horn line any day. At least music educators don't cringe and run away when they hear a recording of a post-1985 drum corps. It reminds me of an old joke..."Why did the College Music Professor cross the road?....To get away from the drum and bugle corps competition!" Hornlines simply play better today, with more musicality and better technique....end of statement. That point is not debateable.

And I wouldn't be walking around New Jersey anyway...I'm originally from New Hampshire. But...I always wanted to walk around north Jersey in a wife beater like Tony Soprano...that would be kind of cool! And if I didn't do drum corps, I would have done what I did...prepare for a lifetime as a music educator, and audition for college as a functioning, sight-reading, competent musician. I'm glad I did drum corps for so many years, but it wasn't the pinnacle for me as a musician, that's for sure.

Don't worry about missing finals....it's okay. Keep your eye open for the email from DCI, apologizing to you for making it inconvenient for you. Just stay home behind your keyboard and bi**h. I'll have a cold one for you with all of the Vic Firth folks. :mmm:

"Just thinking of the modern days....and the fact that I now have a bed to sleep in since I just got off tour"......

[The Nagging Cough!]

It reminds me of an old joke..."Why did the College Music Professor cross the road?....To get away from the drum and bugle corps competition!"

Thanks, Neil Hamburger.