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Teal Sound Ends Tour


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I think my answer would be "who knows". I suspect we'll never find out the actual order of events.

Yep, another day of silence on the way. Do they think their stakeholders will forget about it? I'd be willing to support Teal at future events if there were a leadership change and/or rational explanation. Until then this remains a serious stain on their image.

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I remember when gas was $1/gal back then. Ahh what a difference 25 years makes. ;)

In some parts of the country anyway, gas was as cheap as 75 cents/gallon as late as 1998/1999. :shutup: Things didn't get truly insane until 2005 or so. Pretty sad when I was excited to pay only $3.25 on my way back from the Waukee show the other night.

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Transparency and accountability with regards to the past few weeks is what will save Teal.

If the organization isn't transparent about their issues and plans for resolution, they won't be around next year. Simple as that.

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If you read the news section of Teals' site, there is an article about the new Corps Director. The article and corps director reference the corps fiscal challenges and increased focus on reaching stability. As much as drum corps is a non-profit youth activity and sport/art form, it must be managed like a complex business operation with the experience, credentials and strategic direction to move the organization forward. This is not an easy thing to accomplish. In organizations such as drum corps, continuity in management is important.

This reminds of a vignette from the 1988 (?) DCI broadcast about Ted Swaldo (we'll see how good my memory is), who was the Bluecoats corps director through their ascent to finally reaching the coveted Top 12 in 1987. I remember him remarking how he was there focused purely on the business aspects (as that was his expertise), while the creative staff addressed the show. "I don't even hum," he jokingly said.

Business guy running the business.

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This reminds of a vignette from the 1988 (?) DCI broadcast about Ted Swaldo (we'll see how good my memory is), who was the Bluecoats corps director through their ascent to finally reaching the coveted Top 12 in 1987. I remember him remarking how he was there focused purely on the business aspects (as that was his expertise), while the creative staff addressed the show. "I don't even hum," he jokingly said.

Business guy running the business.

Yes, and Ted always said when the corps finally made top twelve that they should get another director because he wasn't cut out for the competetive aspect of what it would take to run a top twelve corps. For the record Ted stayed on as corps director through the 1992 season and then the position was split into 3 roles (he stayed in the business manager role, Bill Hamilton took over the corps Director Role, and someone else became the transportation manager)

One of the reasons the corps was able to stay afloat and grow after Ted took over in 1984 (after our second time folding (1979 & 1983) was that he ran the corps like a business and made sure the money was taken care of while letting the staff he hired worry about the show.

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Yes, and Ted always said when the corps finally made top twelve that they should get another director because he wasn't cut out for the competetive aspect of what it would take to run a top twelve corps. For the record Ted stayed on as corps director through the 1992 season and then the position was split into 3 roles (he stayed in the business manager role, Bill Hamilton took over the corps Director Role, and someone else became the transportation manager)

One of the reasons the corps was able to stay afloat and grow after Ted took over in 1984 (after our second time folding (1979 & 1983) was that he ran the corps like a business and made sure the money was taken care of while letting the staff he hired worry about the show.

That's a great system. More corps should adapt a system like that, or how SCV has a CEO/Director, CFO, transportation manager, and tons of other jobs so one person isn't handling everything

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I rarely post here, but a few things:

1) All the best to Teal Sound's members, parents, and management. I cannot imagine how disappointed I would have been if this had happened to me during my marching years.

2) I have read most every one of the 36 pages of this thread, and have not learned any substantive or verifiable facts that were not contained in the original press release. It's your right to discuss and certainly my privilege not to read, but dear lord drum corps interwebs....

3) Not to add to the speculation, but the problem in part appears to be not that Teal Sound did not have the money to tour, but that they did not have the money to complete the tour the management scheduled with DCI. Remember this the next time you post a whiny rant about why a corps has not competed in 2 weeks. It's a good bet that corps will be back the following season, and the one after that.

4) The vast majority of the discussion on these boards deals with the top corps. That's fine, they are pretty impressive and I enjoy watching them too. But the old adage is that the health of a society should be judged on how it looks after its weakest members. The same can be applied to drum corps. Drum and bugle corps has always featured high turnover, it's been a part of the activity since the 1920s and 1930s. But there were a lot more back then, not so much now. The top groups may very well be getting better and better every year, but does that make this a healthy and sustainable activity? I'm not so sure.

/sermon

Chris

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If anybody would like to find out any of the facts as to what happened I would suggest talking to Cary Byrd, the corps director (and interestingly enough, the President of the 5 member Board of Directors as well), and Astro Travel- the original bus company. You will hear quite a different story from them than what Cary "released" to the public.

List of the BOD

Astro Travel

Edited by TonyDanza007
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Sorry crest, until the facts arise the rumors will continue, and it doesn't seem like Teal cares about making sure their side of the story gets out - I will speculate that it's because the real story does not reflect well on them.

I feel deeply for the kids and parents, but not their management. If you read some of the parents comments, it looks like the admins cowardly bolted. I guess they don't care about the future of the corps which is a shame.

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