glory Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 ...Who said he asked others to help him march finals? The idea was probably hatched in the back of the bus by the whole drumline, it probably wasn't his idea. Especially as part of a bass line, that was a community decision. You might say the kid could have said "listen fellas I was kicked out fair and square and I'm gonna go by the directors decision". I would say that would be a slap in the face to the bunch drummers who he drummed with for nine months and wanted to sneak him on the field for finals... Even if it's true, the "they told me to" explanation isn't an excuse. He should have taken responsibilty for his circumstance and not put himself and his corpsmates in that position finals night. We don't give members a veto on the choices of the staff. HH 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tariq.shah Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I applaud him, and renegade bass drummers everywhere. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 For what it’s worth, I’m not some sadist out to enforce the rules just to demean and to dehumanize the unfortunate kids who commit the occasional misdemeanor. Nor am I insensitive to the sympathy some have shown. What’s torqued me off is the fundamental unfairness of the situation. One member got to write his own chart. He got to smoke his weed even though it was against the rules. He got to march even though he’d been banned. We can argue until forever – and we probably will – about whether marijuana should be illegal, but that’s beside the point. Smoking weed wasn’t allowed on tour just as making your own travel arrangements weren’t allowed. Maybe he could handle a joint now and then. Maybe he could outplay the whole line. Doesn’t matter; he still has to follow the charts. That’s how we play. What lesson did the youngest, most impressionable Blue Devil learn from this? Perhaps that if you break the rules close to finals, you’ll still get to play the big show? Gibbs can make a fuss, but your corpsmates will turn a blind eye so you can do what you please? Please. No harm? No foul? Suppose it had turned out differently. Suppose Gibbs had noticed in time, dashed across the field and sent one drummer packing. Can you imagine how that would have played in the stands? There would have been a lot of questions. There would have been some misplaced sympathy on the part of those who thought maybe the kid was injured. There might well have been some bad publicity – maybe even some back at the school where BD stayed with all the potential harm that implies. What if some other member of the corps, one who wasn’t in on the plot, noticed and confronted the now non-member fearing that this bass drummer sought revenge rather than vindication? What if he tried to hustle the bass drummer off the field only to be yanked in another direction altogether by another member who knew the plan? How ugly would that have looked on the field? What if this bass drummer had accidentally tripped during the show and taken a rank out with him? He didn’t mean it. But who would believe that from someone who wasn’t supposed to be there at all? We spend a summer teaching – learning – discipline and sacrifice. If discipline and sacrifice were the right thing all summer, they were still right on finals night. The problem is one undisciplined drummer asked his corpsmates to sacrifice not for the unit, just for him – not just to play their parts but to play his too. Wrong. HH 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesandCassius Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 I actually feel bad for the staff members. Knowing that the infraction had to be a really big deal behind the scenes, kicking a kid out of finals and all, I'm sure it dominated the thoughts of the staff prior to the performance. Imagine what went through the staff's heads as they saw him run out onto the field. They must've been distracted the whole show, thinking about what this kid was doing as the corps performed. I feel bad for Mr. Gibbs especially. And it's finals. The video must be really hard to watch because it becomes the a monument to the moment. I dunno. I feel bad about it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Looking at the calendar.... January 2012? This horse was jerky a long time ago. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corps8294 Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 From the folks I talked to that marched there over the years, "reefer madness" is still a big part of the Blue Devils' "bad boy" image and culture; they even seem pretty proud of it. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 From the folks I talked to that marched there over the years, "reefer madness" is still a big part of the Blue Devils' "bad boy" image and culture; they even seem pretty proud of it. Yuppers.... I've heard that too... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elphaba01 Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 "Refer Madness": How I miss the "Good Olde Days" of (Legally) knocking back a few "Brewski's" after a long hot Firemans parade in Mineola NY, or relaxing at the Garfield "Beer Garden" before the annual Cadets Invitational..... Sigh...... Elphaba WWW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lincoln Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Looking at the calendar.... January 2012? This horse was jerky a long time ago. I had no idea this occurred and frankly, right now it has absolutely no effect on the fact that I love that show - it's one of my favourite from BD. To this day it stands up quite well against the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielray Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 I had no idea this occurred... Well, this exact same topic has appeared several times on here before. It is very old news, not much point to rehash it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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