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The Return of Southwind (among others)


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Yea, like they are the first corps in DCI history to hail from someplace other than their mailing address...

Grumpy this afternoon? Sheesh just made a joke about not being about find Byesville, WV (that's the mystery) and you make it sound like I made a slap at the corps.

Hell I can even google Harveytown, WV and ya gotta be a real local (or related to someone who lived there) to know that place exists. Or be a technology fan as Museum of Radio - Huntington is in the old Harveytown school, good place to kill a few hours.

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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The number of new corps both last year and this suggests something strange is going on. And wonderful.

The low gas prices will help, but that couldn't have been known at the time these corps were getting started.

Marching Roundtable (see below) recently had some of the people associated with two of last year's new corps (Golden Empire and Louisiana Stars). One director said that they didn't have to spend much to get it started because so much was donated or lent from area schools, including instruments. Maybe someone has figured out a method to do this on the cheap (at least for a very limited "tour" model). But based on the history of the activity, I think we'd all be lying if we said we weren't worried about the financial stability of these units.

Links to the MR episodes:

Part 1

Part 2

Edited by Pete Freedman
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One director said that they didn't have to spend much to get it started because so much was donated or lent from area schools, including instruments.

And cheaper instruments (or members bringing their own) was one of the reasons given early on for going to Bb.

Maybe it didn't help much then but is helping now....

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Grumpy this afternoon? Sheesh just made a joke about not being about find Byesville, WV (that's the mystery) and you make it sound like I made a slap at the corps.

No, I think he was just observing that DCI often takes the mailing address of the acting corps director and uses it as their hometown, right or wrong. The most egregious example of this was when the Edmonton, Alberta, Strutters were announced as hailing from somewhere in Kentucky, where their tour coordinator resided.

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What are your thoughts? Could we be seeing the return of a larger competitive field? Could drum corps become more widely known once again?

Not expecting this to make drum corps a household name, but it is good to see new corps starting up. I hope we can retain this growth.

The DCI birth rate was declining over the decades as things got more expensive, and the hundreds of pre-existing corps and closely related organizations dried up. Around the turn of the millenium, DCI evaluation policy and rules weeded out startups of less than 30 members, further lowering the birth rate. I think the SoundSport program shows that DCI is reaching out to startups, providing an intermediate stage for new programs who do not yet have the full show, full membership or full travel range of a field competitor. That seems to be encouraging people to take that leap.

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No, I think he was just observing that DCI often takes the mailing address of the acting corps director and uses it as their hometown, right or wrong. The most egregious example of this was when the Edmonton, Alberta, Strutters were announced as hailing from somewhere in Kentucky, where their tour coordinator resided.

Which wasn't the point I was making so not sure what John was saying when he quoted me....

LOL Bushwackers from Thermopolus, WY back in the 80s for a season or so.....

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Grumpy this afternoon? Sheesh just made a joke about not being about find Byesville, WV (that's the mystery) and you make it sound like I made a slap at the corps.

Hell I can even google Harveytown, WV and ya gotta be a real local (or related to someone who lived there) to know that place exists. Or be a technology fan as Museum of Radio - Huntington is in the old Harveytown school, good place to kill a few hours.

it's WV.......you're not supposed to find it

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it's WV.......you're not supposed to find it

Since you used to work in this area..... :devil:

Last time I was in Huntington was for a relatives wedding. About the same time thinking of getting a cell phone so decided to buy one before we left. Go to a kiosk in the Cap City Mall and asked what was their coverage in WV. Was told all the major cities but nothing in between. Told the guy that wasn't what we needed and started to leave. In a REAL snarky voice he asked why we would care about non-major areas as "there is nothing to call anyway".

My response: "Well if a coal truck runs me off the side of the ####### mountain in the middle of nowhere. Being able to call 911 is a REAL good idea.".

Seriously that was one of the reasons why we bought the phone but man did this clown #### me off. Just too many trips before the Interstate went thru.

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