Official DCP G7 Proposal Discussion Thread

[JimF-LowBari]

No, this just smacks of "DCI is in trouble financially", and if everyone sits by and pretends everything is all right, we may lose this activity forever. The expense of keeping this activity going is staggering, especially in an economy like we are experiencing. Can you imagine if this activity we love does vanish and the powers of DCI did nothing to try to save it? Folks would be screaming for Hopkins head and asking why the folks in charge did nothing to try and save the activity? The issue hear is actually quite clear. Some are just flat out cynical when it comes to the powers in DCI (mostly Hopkins though). Anything that is proposed by the likes of Hopkins is automatically considered to be self-serving, a power play or something intended to ruin the activity. I don't share that view, I actually respect Hopkins for the passion he has given to this activity and the Cadets. This whole G-7 thing is just another perceived opportunity to attack Hopkins. Some of the venom that has been spewed on this site in the past week is way more polarizing than anything Hopkins has said or done. I want to thank Hopkins and others that have made preserving this activity part of their life's work.

What I see Dan is making sure the G7 survive and if anyone else does.... well that's OK but we really didn't care that much. IMO, G7 surviving is not DCI or Juniors corps activity for that matter suriving. And it is a lot more that just GH in this mess.

Reasons why I feel that way:

1) Try to push out Dan A

2) The added votes described above

3) Having events two nights around the weekend that exclude other corps

[dans]

What I see Dan is making sure the G7 survive and if anyone else does.... well that's OK but we really didn't care that much. IMO, G7 surviving is not DCI or Juniors corps activity for that matter suriving. And it is a lot more that just GH in this mess.

Reasons why I feel that way:

1) Try to push out Dan A

2) The added votes described above

3) Having events two nights around the weekend that exclude other corps

I respect your views but disagree. I honestly believe all involved have good intentions and care about the activity as a whole. Thank you for the civil response to my post!

[adsigns]

No, this just smacks of "DCI is in trouble financially", and if everyone sits by and pretends everything is all right, we may lose this activity forever. The expense of keeping this activity going is staggering, especially in an economy like we are experiencing. Can you imagine if this activity we love does vanish and the powers of DCI did nothing to try to save it? Folks would be screaming for Hopkins head and asking why the folks in charge did nothing to try and save the activity? The issue hear is actually quite clear. Some are just flat out cynical when it comes to the powers in DCI (mostly Hopkins though). Anything that is proposed by the likes of Hopkins is automatically considered to be self-serving, a power play or something intended to ruin the activity. I don't share that view, I actually respect Hopkins for the passion he has given to this activity and the Cadets. This whole G-7 thing is just another perceived opportunity to attack Hopkins. Some of the venom that has been spewed on this site in the past week is way more polarizing than anything Hopkins has said or done. I want to thank Hopkins and others that have made preserving this activity part of their life's work.

Now Here is a Voice of Reason . . .

[Getintoyourcolor]

Now Here is a Voice of Reason . . .

i agree

[CuriousMe]

No, this just smacks of "DCI is in trouble financially", and if everyone sits by and pretends everything is all right, we may lose this activity forever. The expense of keeping this activity going is staggering, especially in an economy like we are experiencing. Can you imagine if this activity we love does vanish and the powers of DCI did nothing to try to save it? Folks would be screaming for Hopkins head and asking why the folks in charge did nothing to try and save the activity? The issue hear is actually quite clear. Some are just flat out cynical when it comes to the powers in DCI (mostly Hopkins though). Anything that is proposed by the likes of Hopkins is automatically considered to be self-serving, a power play or something intended to ruin the activity. I don't share that view, I actually respect Hopkins for the passion he has given to this activity and the Cadets. This whole G-7 thing is just another perceived opportunity to attack Hopkins. Some of the venom that has been spewed on this site in the past week is way more polarizing than anything Hopkins has said or done. I want to thank Hopkins and others that have made preserving this activity part of their life's work.

Yes, thank you

[Richard]

I respect your views but disagree. I honestly believe all involved have good intentions and care about the activity as a whole. Thank you for the civil response to my post!

Now Here is a Voice of Reason . . .

i agree

So are you choosing to ignore the points below or not believe them or what???

Reasons why I feel that way:

1) Try to push out Dan A

2) The added votes described above

3) Having events two nights around the weekend that exclude other corps

And I'll add one: The increased revenue these groups will receive by taking over the administrative duties of DCI. How does that help drum corps continue to survive again?

[JimF-LowBari]

Thinking over the "this is being done for the good of DCI" idea and came up with a comparision:

There were problems with the direction Sr corps/DCA was going in the early 1990s and the response was to become more inclusive of the Senior corps. With this proposal the resposne is Jr corps/DCI would become more exclusive of the Junior corps.

For DanS and the people who agree have a question: What do you see in the future for the non-G7 WC and the OC corps. Asking because IMO they (especially the OC corps) are being forgetten in this.

Edited May 24, 2010 by JimF-LowBari

[Matt_S]

Again, I dont care what Mr. Hopkins point is. He showed disrespect and a lack of class and he is entrusted to educate and teach in the field of music and he totally &%$# all over every deceased composer.......spin it any way you want, thats the fact.

G

Hopkins' own corps has played Bernstein last year, Copland the year before that, and Václav Nelhýbel in 2007. This decade they've played Benjamin Britton, Georges Bizet and Clifton Williams. This very year they're playing Samuel Barber, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Howard Hanson. Dead White Men, all of them.

That doesn't sound like disrespect to me. If playing their music is "&%$#"-ing all over a composer then I imagine most composers would be happy to have you do exactly that. We could start calling concerts "&%$#" storms! I could walk up to a director, clap him on the back and say "what a &%$#-y performance!", with a beaming, totally non-ironic smile!

If anyone can speak to how true it is that we play the music of dead white men, it's Hopkins. So let's stop and think about what he meant by it. There's a point he's trying to make, but by your own admission you don't care about that. You seem to care only about establishing a villain for your narrative, a villain who can do no right in your eyes. The mental gymnastics you have to perform to get there are stunning, all the more so when you then accuse others of needless spin.

[Plan9]

No, this just smacks of "DCI is in trouble financially", and if everyone sits by and pretends everything is all right, we may lose this activity forever. The expense of keeping this activity going is staggering, especially in an economy like we are experiencing. Can you imagine if this activity we love does vanish and the powers of DCI did nothing to try to save it? Folks would be screaming for Hopkins head and asking why the folks in charge did nothing to try and save the activity? The issue hear is actually quite clear. Some are just flat out cynical when it comes to the powers in DCI (mostly Hopkins though). Anything that is proposed by the likes of Hopkins is automatically considered to be self-serving, a power play or something intended to ruin the activity. I don't share that view, I actually respect Hopkins for the passion he has given to this activity and the Cadets. This whole G-7 thing is just another perceived opportunity to attack Hopkins. Some of the venom that has been spewed on this site in the past week is way more polarizing than anything Hopkins has said or done. I want to thank Hopkins and others that have made preserving this activity part of their life's work.

You nailed it!

Unlike our inept government (both parties) that stand by (with blank faces) watching the greedy ####### banks and then spilled oil do us in (presiding over our demise with great fanfare/senate hearings and excuses as to why they couldn't see it coming), these businessmen/artists (G7) are trying to get ahead of the market. They are trying to save a very savable activity.

As you suggest, there are some DCPers (particularly this thread) that will lead you to believe that DCI is doing a good job and that these greedy, power-hungry G7 Corps are planning to crush DCI and anyone who doesn't agree with their proposal. Like you, I see this proposal presented to DCI (which is basically a hired marketing firm) as a line in the sand: We are going to find new ways to bring Drum Corps to the public with or without you....so...lead, follow or get the hell out of the way!

[audiodb]

No, this just smacks of "DCI is in trouble financially", and if everyone sits by and pretends everything is all right, we may lose this activity forever. The expense of keeping this activity going is staggering, especially in an economy like we are experiencing. Can you imagine if this activity we love does vanish and the powers of DCI did nothing to try to save it? Folks would be screaming for Hopkins head and asking why the folks in charge did nothing to try and save the activity?

Sorry....this is not to single you out, especially since so many others are echoing your thoughts. But those of us who have voiced concern over the expense of the world-class drum corps model have been shouted down continuously for the past few years. Now look at how many people are leaping to the presumption that DCI, no, the entire touring drum corps model, is at cliff's edge....and without a single dissenting opinion.

Wow.

Let me be the first to ask those who now think the financial sky is falling - are you all inferring that from the G7 news, or do you have some actual information on which to draw that conclusion?