What ever happened to the lessons drum corps supposedly taught us?

[Perry S]

Here's another perspective for the whiners...

In 1989, a 6.9 earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay area as the players were warming up on the field for the World Series, killing 67 people and leveling buildings, collapsing freeways, and taking out a section of the Bay Bridge.

#### MLB for allowing a World Series to take place in an earthquake-prone area. They should have had a back-up stadium in place just in case the Giants or A's (or in this case both) made it to the Fall Classic. But all the baseball fans lost out on seeing the game (or games), hotel rooms, and getting anywhere in the Bay Area for at least a week. Plus, they had to reschedule those plans and spend additional money to rebook hotels, airfare and rental cars when the World Series resumed 10 dys later.

So, does this make the situation in Indianapolis look small in comparison? Would you rather have them delay finals until the stadium is finished? Even then, it may be too close to the Colts starting their 2008 season to hold it then anyway.

Really. Relax, enjoy Bloomington, and have a great time watching some great performances. Actually, Bloomington would be kinda like going back to Whitewater...with a much bigger stadium! I'd love to go!

Garry in Vegas

I so agree I so Agree. I don't Blame DCI for trying for a little prestige of being the innaugural event at LOS. I'm just sorry it didn't work out. It wont hurt my viewing any though NOT ONE BIT!!!

Edited April 9, 2008 by Perry S

[TealEuph7]

As the saying goes, "Quit your b****in"

[mad_scotty]

Who cares? Are you there for nightlife or drum corps? Think of it as an immersion program and take a nice long swim.

Garry in Vegas

my point there wasn't that drum corps isn't enough for the hard core fan. i just don't think that dci does enough to draw in casual fans, and holding finals in a resort area, like major college bowl games do, with all of the extra facilities like hotels, restaurants, shopping, and entertainment opportunities outside of drumcorps seems like a better idea to me than holding it in some deadsville backwater like jackson, bloomington, or even indianapolis. i'd like to see the attendance figures from orlando, i know they were much higher than jackson mississippi (the stadium was practically empty), i'm just curious by how much. lets face it, casual fans aren't going to sign up for a drum corps immersion program out in the middle of nowhere, but if they have a friend or family member who is marching or a big fan, they are a lot more likely to tag along and go to a concert by a band they have never heard of one night if they can do something more mainstream another night, eat in a couple of nice restaurants, and maybe do a day trip to an amusement park, museum, arts district, or whatever.

[CrunchyTenor]

my point there wasn't that drum corps isn't enough for the hard core fan. i just don't think that dci does enough to draw in casual fans, and holding finals in a resort area, like major college bowl games do, with all of the extra facilities like hotels, restaurants, shopping, and entertainment opportunities outside of drumcorps seems like a better idea to me than holding it in some deadsville backwater like jackson, bloomington, or even indianapolis. i'd like to see the attendance figures from orlando, i know they were much higher than jackson mississippi (the stadium was practically empty), i'm just curious by how much. lets face it, casual fans aren't going to sign up for a drum corps immersion program out in the middle of nowhere, but if they have a friend or family member who is marching or a big fan, they are a lot more likely to tag along and go to a concert by a band they have never heard of one night if they can do something more mainstream another night, eat in a couple of nice restaurants, and maybe do a day trip to an amusement park, museum, arts district, or whatever.

I see your point, but that brings up the question of what was there to do in Whitewater? Or Ithaca? Or Birmingham?

People moaned and complained about the price of everything in Southern California last year. Were they spending that much time going to the beach, or eating at Spago's, or any other form of entertainment found in the greater Los Angeles area? How many "casual" fans were in the Rose Bowl? I'm thinking the percentage was really low. I think a lot of hardcore drum corps fans took the opportunity to go to a West Coast finals. I think most fans at finals are there for drum corps. Most "casual" fans are probably at local shows. They aren't going to spend the big bucks to go to finals anyway, unless they live close enough to make it a day trip.

Garry in Vegas

Edited April 9, 2008 by CrunchyTenor

[JimF-LowBari]

I see your point, but that brings up the question of what was there to do in Whitewater? Or Ithaca? Or Birmingham?

Or Scranton or Rochester for the All Age folks.

Waiting to see what arm chair quarterbacking is going to be worse. Will it be people this year gripin' about moving 55 miles away or the 2006 DCA Prelims Monsoon Fest.

Or would it have been if DCI had announced a move to Bloomington last year "just in case" and then the stadium would have been ready. You know #### well people would gripe that DCI should have known that's what would happen.

So what brand of crystal ball is DCI supposed to use to know what will happen to soething it has no control over. *sheesh*

[mad_scotty]

I see your point, but that brings up the question of what was there to do in Whitewater? Or Ithaca? Or Birmingham?

People moaned and complained about the price of everything in Southern California last year. Were they spending that much time going to the beach, or eating at Spago's, or any other form of entertainment found in the greater Los Angeles area? How many "casual" fans were in the Rose Bowl? I'm thinking the percentage was really low. I think a lot of hardcore drum corps fans took the opportunity to go to a West Coast finals. I think most fans at finals are there for drum corps. Most "casual" fans are probably at local shows. They aren't going to spend the big bucks to go to finals anyway, unless they live close enough to make it a day trip.

Garry in Vegas

like i said, i'd love to see attendance figures comparing smaller towns like whitewater, birmingham, jackson, etc., with larger towns that had something more than an available stadium to draw people like anaheim, orlando, hell, even buffalo (my first and only trip to niagara falls, excellent weekend there).

[Rifuarian]

like i said, i'd love to see attendance figures comparing smaller towns like whitewater, birmingham, jackson, etc., with larger towns that had something more than an available stadium to draw people like anaheim, orlando, hell, even buffalo (my first and only trip to niagara falls, excellent weekend there).

Orlando's attendance figures were some of the worst in DCI history, so I'm not sure if your theory holds water.

There may not much "nightlife" in Bloomington in August (though there's plenty right now, with the Little 500 coming up this weekend), but there are plenty of unique things to do -- it's a small town with the attractions of a much larger city. Frankly, it's a pretty comfortable place for urbanites, and you don't have navigate through some congested metropolis to get to anything. Keep an open mind about it, do a little research, and give it a try.

[silvertrombone]

There's one major problem with OP's line of thought...then we grew up!

Yes, DC taught us very good things and we even learned some things that DC had no intention of teaching us. But if you wanted to have clean clothes, you had to do laundry in a given amount of time. If you wanted to get to the next site, you had to get on the bus by a certain time. And as I personally learned, if you wanted to stay alive, you made sure to keep up with your music book and luggage all summer! Yikes!!

Only thing is, there's a whole bunch of stuff that the marchers have no control over, such as hash marks, stadium construction, quality of turf under world-class drum corps championships competitions and related matters. Unfortunately, this stuff happens to come up pretty often and DCI always tends to find a way for it to smack the organization in the face.

I don't mean to bring up "hash-gate" as a slam on Cadets, but to question why it even became an issue--simply stated, the hashes were darker after being re-painted.

The turf at the Rose Bowl was horrible--many have discussed it here, and it was bad enough that many of us noticed it on the big screen, Internet broadcast (semis) or tapes (finals). A few of us who marched in 94 at the old Foxboro Stadium mentioned conditions on that horrible field, and nobody said the new stadium was terribly much better a couple years ago.

And now Lucas Oil Stadium isn't going to be ready--nice. Sounds to me like perhaps DCI would have been wiser to have done a "so long" Finals in Chicago at the new Soldier Field this summer before bolting for the new digs at Indy next year. This would at least ensure a major stadium in a major market. Soldier Field looks GREAT! Saw it in summer 06. Nice area, too. Navy Pier and plenty of hotels right around the corner. The old airfield right next door is a great waterfront locale on Lake Michigan, and the entire area of Chicago is meant for outdoors activities, tourism, and special events like those surrounding a DCI Finals competition. Plenty of opportunities for a parade that wouldn't even slow down traffic since there are really no appreciable roadways between the stadium and the waterfront. I&E at Navy Pier. Shopping on the Miracle Mile. Pizzaria Uno.

Bloomington is a nice college town, but I've been there--it's a million miles from anywhere else, and there are nowhere near enough hotel rooms for a DCI finals. Come on, folks--college towns were fine for 1972...not 2008. Bad planning...heard that before.

This would have been a really great opportunity for DCI to bid farewell to Chicago after being based in the area for over 35 years, but rather than opening up to such public consideration, the organization decided to move to Indy and push right up against a deadline for construction that is now biting the organization in the butt.

Oops. One lesson DCI still needs to learn, that apparently wasn't obvious enough with Boston or Pasadena, was one that we were never taught while marching in drum corps. Always...I mean ALWAYS make sure you have the stadium, the lights are on, the gates are open...and the field is ready for a beating.

So much for having the stadium...

[silvertrombone]

Keep an open mind about it, do a little research, and give it a try.

I'm tired of trying small towns like Jackson, Whitewater and now Bloomington. I want NFL stadiums, big markets, and advanced planning that doesn't take us 36 years into the past because of shoddy planning. Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, St Louis and Nashville all have nice, new NFL stadiums and better "extra" attractions than exist in Bloomington.

Everywhere has Jimmy John's, and yes, Bloomington is probably pretty dead at that time of year due to being between summer session and fall semester, but Chicago has a lot more to offer...including Pizzaria Uno and about 30 other really great pizza places...including Pizzaria Duo. Not attacking you, Rif, but lets see some forward-thinking from this activity and the organization (DCI).

[dbc03]

So much for having the stadium...

But they have a stadium. A great stadium at that