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Why is George Hopkins a punch line?


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Then, again in full and fair disclosure, is one of his guiding principles of the G7 report (dated May, 2010):

"The premier corps are critical to the organization's success. As such, the opinion of these same corps is most important and needs to be valued. It is not wise, or appropriate, that each of the current world class corps have a vote that holds equal influence. Those who sell tickets, those who generate sales, those who are most marketable -need also to control a larger portion of the vote on business and adjudication issues."

"Governance needs to be weighted to allow those who drive success to affect decisions."

In other words, he and his 6 compatriots ARE the show, want more of the money that DCI generates from the tour for themselves, and want organizational and business decisions weighted towards their opinions because, as the "Premier Corps", they have demonstrated superior knowledge, foresight, and understanding of what it takes (and will take) to drive the drum corps activity successfully into the future.

This narcissism is one of the reasons why Hop is consistently a punch line.

I'm split 50/50. I think the above statement reads alot like a desire to have a "House of Commons" and a "House of Lords", rather than a unified decision making group. What he seems to forget is that a large portion of the people who make up those top corps... get training in the Under 13 and Open crowd. So, those corps really should have a say.

It wasn't that long ago that our current World Champs were at the BOTTOM. Same with Troopers. Same with Mandarins. And spirit almost folded about 13 years ago. Boston wasn't always in the top 12 either, so to say that no one else except the "Greedy 8" should have as much say is pretentious at best and pompous at most.

That being said, no one - and I mean NO ONE - should question his desire to make that corps succeed, and by success, I don't just mean a championship as a deciding factor. Much respect there.

I think what we also see is that some of these innvations get a big trendy push, get accepted.... and at first are used at an extreme. Eventually, it settles out. How much narration do you see now? Nota s much as you did when it was first accepted and cool. The same shall happen for electronics and amplification. Eventually people will figure out that some of the top corps are microphoning the field from the pit, or leaving out the 3rd of the chord in the brass writing to have it done in the synth parts in the pit to figure out the smoke and mirrors. (yes, both were done this season... and I think by multiple corps).

The question is , how much of this is "speaking on behalf of other directors who can't speak for themselves" or just pushing the activity into places that make it less of a drum corps and more of a "SuperMarchingBand"? That's where you have to decide where this falls. Some of the claims are on the money and a few are ridiculous. Somewhere in between lies the truth.

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I think most of the time, he says things and puts ideas out there that the other directors want, but won't put their name to. You can't tell me that no other director wanted Bb horns, or electronics in drum corps. He went and put his name on it though, so that means that people will target him because his name was the one put out there.

I agree though about his dedication. My corps shared snack with Cadets once in '09, and he left halfway through to personally go pick up a prescription for a few sick members at a 24 hour pharmacy. Didn't send the admins, went himself and personally checked on every kid before he left. Even asked if anyone needed anything while he was out. That's dedication right there to your kids.

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...I agree though about his dedication. My corps shared snack with Cadets once in '09, and he left halfway through to personally go pick up a prescription for a few sick members at a 24 hour pharmacy. Didn't send the admins, went himself and personally checked on every kid before he left. Even asked if anyone needed anything while he was out. That's dedication right there to your kids.

Why, that lowdown, good-for-nothing, yellow-belli...wait...WHAT?

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Why, that lowdown, good-for-nothing, yellow-belli...wait...WHAT?

Yeah, that jerk.... wait. Yeah, looks like he is actually a great guy, not some evil villain from an old-timey silent movie, twiddling his handlebar mustache and tying the DCI damsel to the train tracks.

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Yeah, that jerk.... wait. Yeah, looks like he is actually a great guy, not some evil villain from an old-timey silent movie, twiddling his handlebar mustache and tying the DCI damsel to the train tracks.

Psst...I won't tell anyone if you don't.

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What did he say about the south?

He made some comments about the poor housing the Cadets occasionally receive in... I think it was Mississippi. I think he said something along the lines of "we won't be back", or that they'll just try to avoid the south in the future. OPWI (Old People With Internet) discovered said comments and caused a bit of online attention despite the fact quite a few commenters didn't even seem aware drum corps existed. The fact that George and the Cadets are so easy to reach via facebook probably just magnified their attention a little bit.

http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2013/07/pa_band_directors_insults_infu.html

Just a dumb situation all around from both sides.

Edited by NR_Ohiobando
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