When it's time to walk away-

[Gator Eagle]

So, a buddy of mine (who won a medal in '96) and I were in Atlanta this year. Club seats on the 45. We've met for at least one major show for many years since the yonder days. Good times! Many flights and bar tabs to catch up on old times. This year was the first year we both looked at each other after the show and said - next year let's just catch the broadcast later at a bar on ESPN and get college football scores on the ticker. We no longer think that the focus in DCI is on what we participated in when we were on the grass.

Has anyone else realized the same opinion we have? I don't think we'll buy ATL or INDY tickets next year. I might find an early favorite corps on YouTube and use my frequent flyer miles to catch a home show, but that's it. Of course, I am also becoming cynical in my older age, so maybe that's it. But I hate narration. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Am I alone in my feeling?

[PercussiveEric]

So, a buddy of mine (who won a medal in '96) and I were in Atlanta this year. Club seats on the 45. We've met for at least one major show for many years since the yonder days. Good times! Many flights and bar tabs to catch up on old times. This year was the first year we both looked at each other after the show and said - next year let's just catch the broadcast later at a bar on ESPN and get college football scores on the ticker. We no longer think that the focus in DCI is on what we participated in when we were on the grass.

Has anyone else realized the same opinion we have? I don't think we'll buy ATL or INDY tickets next year. I might find an early favorite corps on YouTube and use my frequent flyer miles to catch a home show, but that's it. Of course, I am also becoming cynical in my older age, so maybe that's it. But I hate narration. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Am I alone in my feeling?

Well...the cadets are really the only corps to use narration throughout the entire show. It makes me sad that some one is so turned off by DCI in that kind of way though. Maybe it was just an off year where you couldn't get into any of the shows. Try next year maybe?

[Mickk3]

So, a buddy of mine (who won a medal in '96) and I were in Atlanta this year. Club seats on the 45. We've met for at least one major show for many years since the yonder days. Good times! Many flights and bar tabs to catch up on old times. This year was the first year we both looked at each other after the show and said - next year let's just catch the broadcast later at a bar on ESPN and get college football scores on the ticker. We no longer think that the focus in DCI is on what we participated in when we were on the grass.

Has anyone else realized the same opinion we have? I don't think we'll buy ATL or INDY tickets next year. I might find an early favorite corps on YouTube and use my frequent flyer miles to catch a home show, but that's it. Of course, I am also becoming cynical in my older age, so maybe that's it. But I hate narration. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Am I alone in my feeling?

I would guess you're not alone. I felt the same way some time ago (and by that I mean a LONG time ago). If you think the focus of DCI has changed since '86, you should have marched in '76. Fact is - it has changed. I think there reaches a point when you can identify directly with whats going on on the field and it kinda hurts when that point passes... like drum corps has left you behind.

This year I was in Pasadena .. first DC show I've been to in many a year. At first I thought 'This isn't the Drum Corps I know' but after a while, I thought, 'I am of this. This was and is an important part of my history and an important factorr in who I am today.

I'll wager you something - I'll wager you if you watch finals on T.V. next year.. even if it's on a big screen with mega speakers, you'll (maybe even secretly) wish you were there live.

but maybe I'm wrong.....

[gimpy]

On the contrary, I fell out of interest with drum corps for a big portion of the 2000's (only saw one show in 6 years) and the shows this season (well, 4th to22nd anyway) got me excited for corps again in a big way. Too each their own, I guess.

Edited August 25, 2007 by gimpy

[George]

wow - I am really different than folks who feel "out of touch" after ten years

I want change.

Things are great / let's make them even better!

I can't imagine listening to the same music as I did in 1996 or 1986 or back in my HS days of 1980.

But when I meet up with old friends from those days - they are doing exactly that!

Strange - IMO

Why go on living if the goal is to experience the same thing over and over and over?

PROGRESS = POSSIBLITY

[niteblaze102]

People are always resistant to change. I'd say give it a chance.

If you don't like it after giving it a chance, then I will respect your choice in not wanting to go to a show again.

[JimF-LowBari]

I walked away for ten years and I want to get one thing straight: Not everyone who walks away does so because they do not like change. I followed corps from 1974-1992 and saw plenty of change with pits, marching bells, upright valves, more dance, asymetric drills, etc, etc, etc.... To made a blanket statement of "you want DC to stay the same" is over simplistic and IMO shows the laziness or ignorance of the poster.

Lot of shows I saw in the early 1990s as best didn't excite me or at worst bored me. I walked out in the middle of a show and didn't come back until 2003. Only change from 1974-1992 and 2003-today is I don't watch Div I shows. I'll follow what Div I does in DCP but just don't care to watch what s beign done today.

Edited August 25, 2007 by JimF-3rdBari

[27/soa]

Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.

Been a fan since '80, marched three summers '82, '84, '85.

Loved it then and still do. Will buy tickets every year.

Now, do I sit through every corps all three nights? No.

[IllianaLancerContra]

I walked away for ten years and I want to get one thing straight: Not everyone who walks away does so because they do not like change. I followed corps from 1974-1992 and saw plenty of change with pits, marching bells, upright valves, more dance, asymetric drills, etc, etc, etc.... To made a blanket statement of "you want DC to stay the same" is over simplistic and IMO shows the laziness or ignorance of the poster.

Lot of shows I saw in the early 1990s as best didn't excite me or at worst bored me. I walked out in the middle of a show and didn't come back until 2003. Only change from 1974-1992 and 2003-today is I don't watch Div I shows. I'll follow what Div I does in DCP but just don't care to watch what s beign done today.

I do not believe for one second that it is "laziness or ignorance of the poster." If one was a fan of symphonic music, and all the only live music to experiance was rap, the answer would not be 'change happens, enjoy it.' I think if that were the case, the symphonic music fan would just not spend their money on attending live musical events, in that example, rap concerts.

I really miss old-time drum corps. I loved the peel paint aspects of the horn lines. I miss spot-on color guard execution. I miss the 'mission' to get kids something healthy to do in the summer and to see some stuff they wouldn't see otherwise. But, drum corps has changed. Sure, there are a few shows each year that catch my attention, this last season Troopers, SCV and Phantom. But it was back in the late 80s that I really enjoyed every corps in the top twelve. And that is why I don't spend much money on DCI any more.

Rant off

[HockeyDad]

Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.

Please don't go there. Don't equate not liking today's drum corps to "not growing." That's cheap and disrespectful of a heartfelt opinion.