Minneapolis Corps Directors Meeting

[BRASSO]

Jeffrey!

With a sousaphone!

What a great way to marry drum corps to "scholastic music"!

by the way, as an aside, does he spell his theme character's name " Jeffrey ".... or... " Geoffrey " ?

Iv 'e seen the poor guy get his name spelled both ways.

Edited July 25, 2010 by BRASSO

[Fran Haring]

" I"NT would. We're talking about the Ohio State- Michigan game.

The performance is done afterall,..... at INT.

Yes.... and as a Michigan fan, I must say that, unfortunately, the game has been over at INT the past few years.

[BRASSO]

Yes.... and as a Michigan fan, I must say that, unfortunately, the game has been over at INT the past few years.

" In Rod we Trust " ?

Edited July 25, 2010 by BRASSO

[Fran Haring]

" In Rod we Trust " ?

Yeah.... great move there by the Michigan folks, hiring him to replace Lloyd Carr. Yikes.

[sonew24]

by the way, as an aside, does he spell his theme character's name " Jeffrey ".... or... " Geoffrey " ?

Iv 'e seen the poor guy get his name spelled both ways.

First time poster, long time lurker!

His actual name and character name is Geoffrey. His sister is a good friend of mine.

[BRASSO]

First time poster, long time lurker!

His actual name and character name is Geoffrey. His sister is a good friend of mine.

Cool... didn't know the character's name and his real name is one and the same. He's a versatile performer. As I mentioned before, I like The Cadets show this year.

[garfield]

Again, I suggest the mature circus business model. If the Cirque du Soleil people had thought like BRASSO does, they would have looked at the Shriners and looked at Ringling and said, we can't possibly do it our way and break out of the box we're in. He is thinking way too traditional show biz and methods.

Every few years, someone comes along and breaks through with a new format that sells tickets. In reality, the format is not always totally new. For example, a few years back AirShows were huge. They have cooled a bit recently, but for a while they were super hot. Obviously, it wasn't as if someone suddenly invented the airplane. It merely was an example of reinventing and repackaging the product. I think drum corps can break out and experience a similar stadium spectacular. I don't think all the pieces are necessarily in place yet, but they are getting closer.

I personally don't think woodwinds are the answer. I don't think competition is the answer. But taking a sponsored pre-packaged show by top performers to major market stadiums on prime weekend dates is an idea headed in the right direction. As for understanding 19-22 year-olds and what makes them tick? Gosh. I'm hoping they enjoy feeling successful and self-achieving. Would they like to make money or earn scholarships too?

Mr. Dry Cleaner (yes, I get your cute sig. Clever veil for your real identity),

There's a contention here that's been bothering me, and a recent discussion with a friend brought the error of your ways into focus.

The comparison of the G7 to Cirque is flawed for a singular reason: the politization of the "cruelty to animals" angle. As time went by the attitudes towards perceived mistreatment of innocent animals outgrew the attraction of the circus coming to town. I would contend that people have always enjoyed going to the circus because it rolled into town only once every couple of years. But even that novelty wore off as stories of animal cruelty spread and news dissemination via the internet grew.

Cirque took an old idea with a lot of appeal and got rid of its worst aspect by trading in stupid animal tricks for stupid human tricks. (No, I'm NOT calling Cirque stupid so don't get distracted!).

The point is, Cirque did not create something new. They took something old with a severely negative aspect, changed some acts, and referred to it by a different name (except if you know the translation is "Circus of the Sun", that is). That Cirque is widely successful is a function of playing off the uniqueness of the old medium.

This is in stark contrast to what the G6 want to do, namely, kill the old model completely, create something else entirely, and market to a completely different audience. Is there something akin to chaining and beating elephants, terrorizing chimps, and cattle-prodding lions, tigers, and bears ("Oh My!") in the drum corps activity? Is there something so awful about drum corps that makes people conciously say "No" to the kiddies who want to go watch?

If you had convinced the circus to stop using animals the circus activity might have well survived.

The Cirque comparison is flawed when considering the G7. The G7 activity won't have the competition, the instrumentation, the attributes, the fan base, etc, etc, of the old DCI. It will be brand, spanking new - except that it will look like something very old indeed: marching band USA.

What the G7 wants to do is take a circus and remake it to be a NASCAR race. IOW, other than a few brass instruments and drums, the new product will look nothing like the old product.

This isn't Cirque-ish (or circus-ish). Even Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams had a significant draw of "uniqueness" to validate his "Build it and they will come" belief. What does the G7 have?...

...Summer marching band? That's not jugglers juggling other jugglers or ghost baseball players either, by a long shot.

[JimF-LowBari]

This isn't Cirque-ish (or circus-ish). Even Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams had a significant draw of "uniqueness" to validate his "Build it and they will come" belief. What does the G7 have?...

Good luck with an answer, I'm still waiting for a response on how the NFL and NBA make money on gambling.

And the answer has a lot to do with the guy Costner thought he was building the field for.

Not to mention some CCNY students a few decades later......

[Dave]

" In Rod we Trust " ?

[dustyboo]

Mr. Dry Cleaner (yes, I get your cute sig. Clever veil for your real identity),

There's a contention here that's been bothering me, and a recent discussion with a friend brought the error of your ways into focus.

The comparison of the G7 to Cirque is flawed for a singular reason: the politization of the "cruelty to animals" angle. As time went by the attitudes towards perceived mistreatment of innocent animals outgrew the attraction of the circus coming to town. I would contend that people have always enjoyed going to the circus because it rolled into town only once every couple of years. But even that novelty wore off as stories of animal cruelty spread and news dissemination via the internet grew.

Cirque took an old idea with a lot of appeal and got rid of its worst aspect by trading in stupid animal tricks for stupid human tricks. (No, I'm NOT calling Cirque stupid so don't get distracted!).

The point is, Cirque did not create something new. They took something old with a severely negative aspect, changed some acts, and referred to it by a different name (except if you know the translation is "Circus of the Sun", that is). That Cirque is widely successful is a function of playing off the uniqueness of the old medium.

This is in stark contrast to what the G6 want to do, namely, kill the old model completely, create something else entirely, and market to a completely different audience. Is there something akin to chaining and beating elephants, terrorizing chimps, and cattle-prodding lions, tigers, and bears ("Oh My!") in the drum corps activity? Is there something so awful about drum corps that makes people conciously say "No" to the kiddies who want to go watch?

If you had convinced the circus to stop using animals the circus activity might have well survived.

The Cirque comparison is flawed when considering the G7. The G7 activity won't have the competition, the instrumentation, the attributes, the fan base, etc, etc, of the old DCI. It will be brand, spanking new - except that it will look like something very old indeed: marching band USA.

What the G7 wants to do is take a circus and remake it to be a NASCAR race. IOW, other than a few brass instruments and drums, the new product will look nothing like the old product.

This isn't Cirque-ish (or circus-ish). Even Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams had a significant draw of "uniqueness" to validate his "Build it and they will come" belief. What does the G7 have?...

...Summer marching band? That's not jugglers juggling other jugglers or ghost baseball players either, by a long shot.

That is pretty much what has happened since the 2000's anyway. Kill the old model, add new instruments, electronics and market to band kids....