Galen Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Who am I kidding? It's for the money. A corps can make quite a chunk of change on the 4th of July. I think Reading Bucs are earning their entire operating budget for the next year this weekend- my friend Keith says they've got SEVEN lined up over the next few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soccerguy315 Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 DCI compiled a list of parades everyone is doing this weekend... http://www.dci.org/news/view.cfm?news_id=6...64-12f24b459486 standouts include: Racine Scouts July 3, 9 a.m. - Hoffman Estates, IL July 3, 2 p.m. - Twin Lakes, WI July 3, 7 p.m. - Menomonee Falls, WI July 4, 9 a.m. - Union Grove, WI July 4, 11 a.m. - Franklin, WI July 4, 1:30 p.m. - Brown Deer, WI July 4, 3 p.m. - Shorewood, WI July 4, 4 p.m. - Hales Corners, WI Pioneer July 3, 9 a.m. - Hoffman Estates, IL July 3, 7 p.m. - Menomonee Falls, WI July 4, 9 a.m. - Wauwatosa, WI July 4, 11 a.m. - Cedarburg, WI July 4, 1 p.m. - Cudahy, WI July 4, 4 p.m. - Hales Corners, WI July 4, 6 p.m. - Greenfield, WI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpsLife Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 What are you going to do , host a show? Practice? Why not make some gas money! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 (edited) Absolutely it is the money - but (dare I say it), "back in the day (72-76 or so)" our weekend shows usually revolved around some community festival which included a parade. The norm was to practice in the morning, march a parade, practice more then do a show. The next day was often the same thing again.My favorite? In 1976 during our July 4th parade marathon in northern Wisconsin, we had to drive from parade #1 to parade #2 (of 4) through a LITTLE town that had ONE main road....and it was closed due to a parade! We were able to break into their parade with our buses & truck! Given a little more notice, we may have broken out the instruments and marched the mile through this little burg, but instead all three buses broke into song (windows were open - no A/C) with the drummers banging on the overhead racks and playing anything they could find! We actually received a nice ovation for our impromptu efforts! jim haha.... funny ! Hey..ajedrummer... here's another Fourth of July parade fun story : My brother marched in this Corps back in the late 70s.... they are marching in this toney and wealthy seaside town's July 4th parade for the first time. They are at a break in the parade, and they play a tune to the crowd. They get a nice hand. A guy standing on the sidelines in front of his mansion house listening with a cocktail in his hand and a beautiful women by his side asks the DM to speak to who's in charge. The DM points out the Corps Director. The guy goes over to the Director and says " look, I'm having a cookout and a party for guests after the parade, would your Corps be available to swing by and play some tunes like you just did for us ? " The Corps Director says that the fee for the parade was X amount " ( I forget how much my brother said ) The guy doesn't bat an eye. He says " if you stay in town after the parade and come back at such and such a time, I'll double what this parade is paying you ". ... " Sure thing " says the Corps Director, but I'll need a cashiers check "... " No problem ", says the guy, " I'll give you half in cash when you arrive, and after you play, 'll pay the rest in cash "... What a deal !... The Corps hung around a bit in the beautiful community after the parade in the town centre, then went up and returned to the guys mansion. They assembled around the guy's big lavish pool, and played to his party going guests. They loved the Corps, and gave a nice hand for the playing. It was such a success that the guy and his wife made this their July 4th tradition and continued this later with another Corps and brought them to their house also to play for his July 4th party guests. ( incidentally, the guy made his millions with his father and himself selling pots and pans on TV infomercials for over 30 years, no less..... no kidding .) Anyway, my brother got a kick out of that impromtu opportunity for his Corps to make some excellent extra and easy money off a simple parade, and told me the story. So you just never know who's watching your Corps in these parades and what it might lead too.... haha ! Edited July 2, 2010 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Interesting observation about this thread: Drum Corps is touted as an American Institution; Independence Day honors the birth of America; Drum Corps has its roots in the VFW; Memorial Day honors those that died for our freedoms; and all we have boiled this down to is defining Independence Day just as July 4, and the reason corps do parades on those particular days is due to the modern defining term for America: Money. Sad, y’all, very sad indeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrillmanSop06 Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 The benefit of parades to the individual corps is money. I'd say the primary motivator is money, generally. Some parades/performances are held for the corps' community to foster good will and connect with the hometown which is usually supportive, financially or otherwise, of the corps. We split the corps in half so we could march two parades at the same time. It was an interesting tactic but when you consider that the average person will get the same value from 75 members vs. 150, it makes a lot of sense. I always enjoyed marching parades a great deal. Besides the lot, it was my favorite kind of "performance" just because it's more reflective of the military heritage of drum corps and I'm a sucker for acting all tough and marching over people in the way! :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abbevillekid26 Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 (edited) The way he told the story, yes. Alright thanks, I thought a gas station or something was a possibility. I can't even imagine knocking on someone's door in a "marching band" uniform asking to use their toilet lolol. Edited July 2, 2010 by Abbevillekid26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCSeymour Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Back in my Junior corps day we did 3 parades and 2 shows in one day. The cities were right next to one another.We'd get done with one parade and then walk a couple of blocks to do the next parade. The Kilties All age corps are just like rock stars in the Racine 4th of july parade. I have never experianced anything like it. In Burlington Wi. we had just got done with the parade and were getting ready to leave.Atruck with a flat bed pulled up and said the band that was supposed to show,didn't. The driver asked if we would ride on the flat bed and play Xmas songs.So to make a short story longer a bunch of us did,and we got paid twice. One other time with the Kilties our horn line was warming up next to a rock band that was riding on a flat bed.The rock band statred play Chicagos 25 or 6to 2 4.The band got a pretty good surprise when about 40 of us horns jumped in and started jamming with them. But to answer the original question it's about money and exposure. And in the case of the Kilties,for the Memorial day parade it's about saying thanks to those who supported the corps thru the years.Also paying Homage to the men and women of the services that served.We never asked or took a dime for that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumno5 Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Not bashing here, but what is the point of doing parades? Do corps get paid for them, or is it just for exposure? Don't get me wrong, I actually think they can be kind of fun, but I was looking on dci.org and saw that some corps are doing as many as 5 parades on the 4th of July. I just don't see any benefit in that. If you treat the 4th as a rehearsal day, cool, and if you treat it as a free day, cool, but parades don't accomplish either of those two things as far as I'm concerned. I do remember needing a lot of Gold Bond after parades, though, and I was too tired at the end of the day to even want to watch Fireworks, so as far as I see it it's just a waste of time and energy. But I could be missing something too....Thoughts? Likewise, no disrespect intended - but yikes, where did/do you march, the Silver Spoon Cadets? Parades have been, and continue to be, a significant source of revenue for corps at all levels of the activity. peace, Fred O. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
md60 Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 In 1977 In Fort Edward New York memorial day parade I was standing at the bottom of broadway hill and heard this huge sound and all of a sudden around the corner came Avant Garde drum and bugle corps playing Striesands People. I was amazed at the sound. I have loved drum corps ever since. Avant Garde used to have 30 to 40 people follow them along the parade route so they could here them more than once. They performed at a funeral for a big supporter finacially who gave the corps money and loved them so much. Where I grew up in Salem New York we had 4th of july parade every year. We always had at least 5 or 6 small junior corps in the parade. Green Sabers Troy Volunteers etc. The small town of 1000 people had several thousand 5 deep on the sidewalk. All those corps are gone and the parade has two small bands in it and maybe 1000 people. The music is gone. Drum corps are the greatest addition to any parade no matter how big or small. Finally it is the money that draws corps to parade. Pittsfield Mass payed STar over 5000 dollars to march in 4th of july parade in 92. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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