Lucas Sound

[Peel Paint]

Hi....the purpose of my post was not a debate....just to get see if others are going to Indy or not, and the fact that nothing has been announced as being done about the sound, with only a little over 3 months until June.........I agree that the efforts will most likely be futile.....I also believe that corps should be outdoors....I thought Bloomington was great........Do you think DCI will still be stubborn with this decision if attendance is down below 10,000 in a few short years? If so, then shame on them......then it will be "just another band show".................

GB

OK... then, since you asked: I'm not going to Indy again. I'm not going to an indoor show again. At least, that's the plan for now. I will give up championships, and I've attended more than half of them going back to the beginning of DCI. It's just not worth the $$$ that it costs now, to me, to have to accept the disappointing compromise of sound indoors. I too loved Bloomington, and I will cherish that memory. That was an awesome championships, a confluence of many positives that may not be repeated.

Maybe I'll go again in the off year that DCI goes somewhere else, assuming that one's outdoors. But I am done with domes... unless people whose opinion I respect here say: they really did fix Lucas Oil. The chances of that happening, IMO: 1 in 100. My crystal ball is murky on whether DCI will bail if attendance plots a downhill graph. But I don't take for granted that it will. They may be right. They may come out ahead financially doing this, overall, net, even if attendance declines. We each tend to assume that when we're out the door, everybody else is. It doesn't necessarily play out that way.

[Jeff Ream]

I planned on going last year...the job market changed my mind for me. because my wife has been there the last few years, i'm going this year just so we get a week together.

but if the sound sucks as bad as I have heard, she can go all she wants, i'll watch stuff in the theater or my sunroom for a fraction of the cost

[perc2100]

Part of your statement about ticket sales this I believe is false. I do not remember any details about ticket sales except for Bob Jacobs saying that ticket sales were strong this year... which they say every year regardless.

Here is exactly what Bob Jacobs said regarding 2010 advanced ticket sales:

Posted on: Dec 22 2009, 06:07 PM

– On the topic of ticket sales, a few quick bullet points: Friends of DCI memberships for 2010 have already surpassed 2009 totals. This fact is not intended in any way as a justification for the preservation of status quo, but is being stated here solely for the purpose of addressing those who are curious about the current status of those paying the most for championships week tickets. Ticket sales for other seating areas have also gotten off to a surprisingly brisk start as well. (For those interested, the DCI Eastern Classic in Allentown is also tracking ahead of last year's pace.)

* emphasis mine

From this discussion awhile back: http://www.drumcorpsplanet.com/forums/inde...p;#entry2712012

I guess you can argue that you don't believe that the DCI Marketing director might be wrong, or exaggerating, or lying or something. But I think that's either conspiracy theory nonsense, being naive, or whatever. And I would trust what Mr. Jacobs has to say in regards to DCI's advanced ticket sales than anyone else on here who has zero affiliation with DCI other than as an alumni or current MM.

Edited February 23, 2010 by perc2100

[kickhaltsforlife]

thank you for clarifying... but aren't Friends of DCI memberships separate from ticket sales at LOS?

and I'm not surprised Allentown is ahead of last years pace.

Edited February 23, 2010 by kickhaltsforlife

[Jeff Ream]

thank you for clarifying... but aren't Friends of DCI memberships separate from ticket sales at LOS?

and I'm not surprised Allentown is ahead of last years pace.

Friends gets you the option to buy seats in better areas. you dont get tickets just because you're a Friend.

signed, a former Friend

[kickhaltsforlife]

Friends gets you the option to buy seats in better areas. you dont get tickets just because you're a Friend.

signed, a former Friend

Okay... then Bob never actually said that ticket sales were up from last year, except for allentown... I'll go back and do some research myself.

[audiodb]

Out of curiosity, what did you expect to happen by this point?

Well, for one thing, I expected to see the articles promised in early December. Like it says in "DCI Direct":

– A series of articles outlining discussions with each of the experts from their unique points of view will be published on DCI.org over the next several weeks, and there will undoubtedly be additional discussion within the forums of Drum Corps Planet as well. Included in the interview series are perspectives from:

• Composer/Arranger and DCI Hall of Fame member Jay Bocook

• Percussion Arranger and DCI Hall of Fame member Thom Hannum

• Brass Arranger, Former DCI Judge and Judge Administrator and DCI Hall of Fame member Jay Kennedy

• Percussion Arranger and DCI Hall of Fame member Ralph Hardimon

• Program Designer and DCI Hall of Fame member Marc Sylvester

• Michael Fox, Stadium Director at Lucas Oil Stadium

• World Drum Corps Hall of Fame Member and Grammy Award-winning audio engineer Frank Dorritie

• DCI Adjudicator Curtis Costanza

• DCI Adjudicator Allan Kristensen

• DCI Adjudicator David Starnes

• Emmy Award-winning television producer Tom Blair

Interestingly, not even a majority of the promised experts have weighed in. It's been far more than "several weeks" now, and we've seen three articles covering five of the above 11 people.

DCI is not going to announce specific ideas they are contemplating, and will probably not announce anything until it is tested and approved. With the football season literally only having been finished about a month (Colts last home game was Jan. 24), I doubt there has been enough time to seriously try out any acoustic ideas.

DCI has already said they are investigating ways to help the sound issues, and frankly I don't need to hear every little "we're trying this now" and then three weeks later "we're trying that now." I expect to see an article after their findings are conclusive, but until then I don't think I need to hear anything else about the issue from DCI.

I would suggest otherwise. In particular, if DCI decides to conduct tests while Blue Stars and/or Madison Scouts are having all-days in Indiana, and they want an audience a la BOA's "sound check" event, they need to get the word out.

[audiodb]

This is hilarious. First you say:

1) you're assuming attendance is "dwindling," with little/no evidence. I've seen no official numbers, and while some choose to automatically take that as assuming the worst, I don't think it's that relevant.

2) it's been stated on here by one of the only people posting on DCP who knows what's really going on with DCI that ticket sales are above what they were last year at this time: i.e. they're not "dwindling," they are potentially increasing.

But then you point this out:

3) a fact we do know, direct from DCI: the 2007 Championships were the highest attended Championships since DCI started actually tracking attendance (which was sometime in the early 90's).

....which only underscores how DCI Championship attendance has dwindled since moving to Indy. Way to contradict yourself.

[audiodb]

Attendance was not great (and still unannounced) at Lucas in 2009, and that was before people realized how bad the sound is.....if pre-sales are allegedly going well for this year, then good for them. I'll eat crow if attendance goes up. However, I would be willing to put some cash down that by year 4 they will be lucky to break 10,000.

I'm not a gambling man, but for those who are....bear in mind that San Antonio and Atlanta (also dome shows) routinely break 10,000.

[bawker]

Meh.

If you can't be bothered to have the best environment possible for your Finals (and, yes, since drum corps is both visual and musical, both count), then don't plan on folks showing up for it.