thirdcoast Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Don't expect any press releases from the G7....but my understanding is that the TOC corps (less Boston) followed through with their original intent of creating their own "drum corps experience", which has ALWAYS included just those seven corps. They have rebranded the TOC (which, for the last two years, was based on actual top 8 placement) into a separate group known as "Music in Motion"....a self-proclaimed subclass which does not include corps like Madison or Boston, and probably never will. I do NOT know what the end game is, however. Will they be content to do their thing in the G7 shows and still participate in DCI? That actually might work. Or will they leave the activity altogether, ala Star of Indiana, and do more of a traveling, touring "Stars on Ice" roadshow? It is difficult to imagine a circuit comprised of only seven corps having the capacity to travel and perform with only each other all summer...and, although they seem to be well-funded as a group, as you look at it more closely, there is NO financial parity between the seven. This could get real interesting really fast, especially given some of the explosive personalities who are at its core. As I said in my earlier post, Boston was never a part of this original proposal several years ago, and, along with Madison, Blue Knights and the rest of DCI member corps opposed it. The most interesting thing to me, however, is that while corps like BD and Cadets seem to be always in the top 1-4, there are several G7 corps who cannot make any such claim....as 2009 Phantom or 2012 Cavaliers are evidence of. Wil the "Elite" really be the best 7 in the activity?? Probably not. For my money, there's nothing wrong with a Spirit/Madison/Boston/Crossmen/Blue Stars/Blue Knights/Colts/Troopers/Academy etc finals..... For my money also, there is nothing wrong with a Finals that would look like that! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexL Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 It was interesting watching some of the Blue Stars' fans dance the past few years...we love the g7, opps I dont recall many blue stars fans loving the G7 thing.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grumpy Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Whatever the reason Boston has been shafted. Their home show in August has only 4 open class corps. Boston's home show each August usually only has 4 or so world class corps. There are usually a couple of open class corps and alumni corps usually round out the schedule. There are generally 7 or 8 corps performing in total. I have a feeling this comes down to primarily two issues...first, money. I was part of a group that hosted a DCI show several years ago, and looked into hosting a DCA show. At the time, the more top corps you had, the more it cost. The cost for corps was based on that corps' placement at the previous years championships. In other words, having Blue Devils and Crown at your show would cost significantly more than having Troop and Jersey Surf. Alumni corps, and in particular Boston's own alumni corps, don't have a huge impact on the cost side either. The second issue is logistics. Where are the corps coming from? The next stop after the Boston home show is Allentown, so depending on where they are coming from it may not make sense logistically for them to go to Boston then on to Allentown. IIRC, many times (though not this year) the Boston show takes place the same night as the first night in Allentown, so in those instances the corps in the Boston show are always corps from the second night at Allentown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumcorpsfever Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 One possible reason why the field was cut to 7 is because the instant encores were cut from the 2012 shows. Presumably due to the length of time of the 2011 TOC's. This, IMO, was a great feature that was lost for the 2nd year of the TOC's. Having been to a few of the TOC's, we really enjoyed the instant encores. Hopefully, they will be able to add them back in 2013. As for the real reason, we can only speculate. If I was DCI, I'd probably provide an explanation. Hopefully they will sooner than later. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 One possible reason why the field was cut to 7 is because the instant encores were cut from the 2012 shows. Presumably due to the length of time of the 2011 TOC's. This, IMO, was a great feature that was lost for the 2nd year of the TOC's. Having been to a few of the TOC's, we really enjoyed the instant encores. Hopefully, they will be able to add them back in 2013. As for the real reason, we can only speculate. If I was DCI, I'd probably provide an explanation. Hopefully they will sooner than later. it has nothing to do with instant encores or the "entertainment" portions of the show. it's all about the G7 making their move 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 (edited) philospohically, BAC never bought into the G7 thing and in fact opposed the original idea in a very public way. And if I'm not mistaken, the G7 architects that wanted to kill off the Open Class Corps ( among other things )were replaced on the DCI Executive Board by the membership Corps of DCI in an emergency meeting once the scheme was revealed. Elected by DCI membership Corps for replacement on the DCI Executive Board ( with others ) was Tom Spataro, Executive Director of the Boston Crusaders. Tom apparently had the strong support from the DCI membership despite his young age. I believe that Tom is the youngest member ever to be elected to the DCI Executive Board of Directors bythe DCI Membership at large. Boston,according to what I heard, made it quite clear early on that they believed that the G7 was a potentially disruptive and divisive measure and counterproductive to the stated collaborative mission and charter of DCI since its inception that all Corps agreed to. (Recall... this G7 was done in secret and behind closed doors at the behest of 2 Corps Directors). Meeting behind closed doors with what was perceived by 50 other Corps as extortion demands did not go over well at all by all the other Corps in DCI. The fact that the Boston Crusaders are not scheduled for TOC shows this season, when understood in this context, is thus not all that surprising. I think from a distance it appears to me that the Boston Crusaders, good, bad, or indifferent are fully committed to DCI.... not to a subset of a handful of self ordained Corps within DCI. I personally find this enobling from the Boston Crusaders Corps. They have abided by the mission statement that ALL the Corps of DCI initially agreed too. As an Original Charter Member of DCI they have remained steadfast it appears to me to that Mission Statement, when some, it appears, have lost sight of what the Mission Statement among ALL members Corps has been agreed to. Ironically, and not lost on some, is that if this G7 was adopted in the first few years of DCI, the self ordained Corps of today would have been left out, as they were nowhere to be found in the top 12 in placement in those years, let alone the TOP 7, top 8. But the top Corps in those days... Troopers, 27th Lancers,Anaheim Kingsmen, Kilties, etc would NEVER have done this behind closed doors to THEM. And my guess, this is probably why the Boston Crusaders want no part of this now either. Edited November 25, 2012 by BRASSO 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liahona Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 And if I'm not mistaken, the G7 architects that wanted to kill off the Open Class Corps ( among other things )were replaced on the DCI Executive Board by the membership Corps of DCI in an emergency meeting once the scheme was revealed. Elected by DCI membership Corps for replacement on the DCI Executive Board ( with others ) was Tom Spataro, Executive Director of the Boston Crusaders. Tom apparently had the strong support from the DCI membership despite his young age. I believe that Tom is the youngest member ever to be elected to the DCI Executive Board of Directors bythe DCI Membership at large. Boston,according to what I heard, made it quite clear early on that they believed that the G7 was a potentially disruptive and divisive measure and counterproductive to the stated collaborative mission and charter of DCI since its inception that all Corps agreed to. (Recall... this G7 was done in secret and behind closed doors at the behest of 2 Corps Directors). Meeting behind closed doors with what was perceived by 50 other Corps as extortion demands did not go over well at all by all the other Corps in DCI. The fact that the Boston Crusaders are not scheduled for TOC shows this season, when understood in this context, is thus not all that surprising. I think from a distance it appears to me that the Boston Crusaders, good, bad, or indifferent are fully committed to DCI.... not to a subset of a handful of self ordained Corps within DCI. I personally find this enobling from the Boston Crusaders Corps. They have abided by the mission statement that ALL the Corps of DCI initially agreed too. As an Original Charter Member of DCI they have remained steadfast it appears to me to that Mission Statement, when some, it appears, have lost sight of what the Mission Statement among ALL members Corps has been agreed to. Ironically, and not lost on some, is that if this G7 was adopted in the first few years of DCI, the self ordained Corps of today would have been left out, as they were nowhere to be found in the top 12 in placement in those years, let alone the TOP 7. But the top Corps in those days... Troopers, 27th Lancers,Anaheim Kingsmen, Kilties, etc would NEVER have done this behind closed doors to THEM. And my guess, this is probably why the Boston Crusaders want no part of this now either. I can't agree with you more BRASSO. I'm not sure where my other post disappeared in this thread (was deleted so I apologize for the repeat to those who read it), but I will reiterate that I will not be attending the show at Giant's stadium this year. This is not because I don't enjoy the corps participating, but because I have a bad taste in my mouth from the actions of the G7 over the last couple of years and recently with Boston as well. I am truly heart broken. I have championed drum corps over the last 25 years and I am am ashamed as to where the activity has gone. I will continue to attend shows, donate, buy souvies, watch fan network as I do every year. I am just not too sure if the drum corps family will ever recover. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 (edited) I can't agree with you more BRASSO. I'm not sure where my other post disappeared in this thread (was deleted so I apologize for the repeat to those who read it), but I will reiterate that I will not be attending the show at Giant's stadium this year. This is not because I don't enjoy the corps participating, but because I have a bad taste in my mouth from the actions of the G7 over the last couple of years and recently with Boston as well. I am truly heart broken. I have championed drum corps over the last 25 years and I am am ashamed as to where the activity has gone. I will continue to attend shows, donate, buy souvies, watch fan network as I do every year. I am just not too sure if the drum corps family will ever recover. I intend to see how this all plays out, but I too am disappointed in the apparent loss of collegiality that once existed among all the Executive Directors of Corps despite the on field competitiveness of this enterprise. The G7 that was cooked up in secret really was a trust shattering experience for those not afiliated with the G7. I do know that Mr. Warren, one of the original founders of DCI, and still a Father Advisor to the Cavaliers was not too pleased when he heard of this scheme, despite the fact that the 2 Corps Directors that are the driving force behind this ( Gibbs, Blue Devils and Hopkins, Cadets )included his Cavaliers initially in this proposed grouping. I don't believe that any of the remaining founders of DCI, ( Jones, Bonfiglio, etc ) if they were alive today, would support this.They would never attempt to subdivide groups by giving themselves 3 votes, others 2 votes, and others NO VOTES on proposed measures... and other divisive proposals. Edited November 25, 2012 by BRASSO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quad Aces Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 I can't agree with you more BRASSO. I'm not sure where my other post disappeared in this thread (was deleted so I apologize for the repeat to those who read it), but I will reiterate that I will not be attending the show at Giant's stadium this year. This is not because I don't enjoy the corps participating, but because I have a bad taste in my mouth from the actions of the G7 over the last couple of years and recently with Boston as well. I am truly heart broken. I have championed drum corps over the last 25 years and I am am ashamed as to where the activity has gone. I will continue to attend shows, donate, buy souvies, watch fan network as I do every year. I am just not too sure if the drum corps family will ever recover. What has Boston done recently that has left a bad taste in your mouth? If what Brasso says is true (and we are all speculating on everything here), than Boston's actions regarding the G7 may even be quite noble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRASSO Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 (edited) . although they seem to be well-funded as a group, as you look at it more closely, there is NO financial parity between the seven. This could get real interesting really fast, especially given some of the explosive personalities who are at its core. My concern would be... do I go off with Gibbs and Hopkins Corps, knowing that they cut themselves off from dozens of other Corps ? If theze two called for the killing off of a whole class of Corps ( Open Class ),they sure as heck can't be trusted(imo ) to not cut me off at the knees if I don't measure up to their demands. What if I was ( say) the Phantom Regiment and I went off with these 2... and like a few years ago,the Phantom Regiment Corps ran into financial debt ? Would they allow me... as DCI did... time to recoup those debts ? or would they cut their ties to Phantom Regiment in the G7 and caste us afloat ?.. the same way they did to the others ? and if Gibbs and Hoppy did this, where does my Phantom Regiment, or Cavaliers, or one of the potential G7 castaways go ? Back to DCI ? What guarantees are there that if the G7 went out on their own, it wouldn't become a G5,or G4 in short order ? Do you really trust 2 guys that cooked up a scheme behind the backs of their fellow Corps ? That they wouldn't do that to YOUR corps some day if you followed these 2 guys Corps out the door of DCI ? Well.. I'd say good luck with that, and make sure you've got your lawyers telephone number handy, and be careful what documents you sign with these two, should they want your Corps to follow them out the door of DCI to God Knows where. Edited November 25, 2012 by BRASSO 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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