garfield Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 (edited) Kudos to John Novi for assigning this to a corps not from the top 6 usual suspects. The whole activity has talent and great people to share. Well done, Surf. Dear xandy, It's John DeNovi. (...best served cold) And yes, kudos to all of them for pulling this together. Edited April 9, 2015 by garfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroopAlum12 Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 Kudos to John Novi for assigning this to a corps not from the top 6 usual suspects. The whole activity has talent and great people to share. Well done, Surf. DCI's been getting a little better at this. Like choosing the Troopers to represent DCI in the Indy 500 parade for the last few years. There is quite a bit of love for the not-top-6 corps from DCI HQ. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xandandl Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 (edited) Dear xandy, It's John DeNovi. (...best served cold) And yes, kudos to all of them for pulling this together. Thanks. Not being a zillionaire like yourself, I don't get to interact with those front office financial big wigs like you do. In fact, this year I'll be lucky if I can get to any DCI contest unless I scale a fence to get in past the ticket sentries. Now since I called him John (New things), and you called him John (of the new things) is he related to Mike New, our versitile DCP poster? Edited April 10, 2015 by xandandl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 DCI's been getting a little better at this. Like choosing the Troopers to represent DCI in the Indy 500 parade for the last few years. There is quite a bit of love for the not-top-6 corps from DCI HQ. They might just be the only corps close by and doesn't mind shutting down their early training. Other corps would have to take more time off and put more wear on the corps and equipment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xandandl Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 (edited) Nah Ghost. When Troops first took this gig, Blue Stars were still Spring Training in Greater Indy area. Bluecoats were less than three hours away to the east, Cavies at Eastern Ill. to the west about the same. Troopers, with consultant Donnie Van Doren from Bloomington, IN, saw a national platform possibility and grapped it. One version of the story I heard was that the corps moved Spring training to take the gig. It also made fly-ins for Spring training easier when matched to the same airport for fly-outs after DCI Finals. America's corps for sure. Edited April 10, 2015 by xandandl 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted April 10, 2015 Share Posted April 10, 2015 (edited) Thanks. Not being a zillionaire like yourself, I don't get to interact with those front office financial big wigs like you do. In fact, this year I'll be lucky if I can get to any DCI contest unless I scale a fence to get in past the ticket sentries. Now since I called him John (New things), and you called him John (of the new things) is he related to Mike New, our versitile DCP poster? You're welcome. I would describe my interaction with DCI as being very similar to what other TEP's have. John was at our show at the inaugural drum line battle. I'm not sure if John would classify himself as being a "big wig". I've always found Dan to be interactive and receptive. I've not had any interaction with Mr. Sacktig, except to be dazzled by his amazing talents and designs. That's always been enough for me. I'm sure DCI would welcome your involvement no matter what avenue it takes. Well, almost no matter. I learned long ago to not judge people based on who they say they know. Edited April 10, 2015 by garfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 Nah Ghost. When Troops first took this gig, Blue Stars were still Spring Training in Greater Indy area. Bluecoats were less than three hours away to the east, Cavies at Eastern Ill. to the west about the same. Troopers, with consultant Donnie Van Doren from Bloomington, IN, saw a national platform possibility and grapped it. One version of the story I heard was that the corps moved Spring training to take the gig. It also made fly-ins for Spring training easier when matched to the same airport for fly-outs after DCI Finals. America's corps for sure. These events are paying gigs, I presume, so there must be some payback to shutting down spring training. I wonder which corps would NOT agree to do it if asked. Talk about an experience for the kids. I'd suspect that many would consider it a great trade-off to give up a little rehearsal for that. Not to mention any pub that might come to the corps and the activity overall. And on an even wider scale, I wonder if these commercial showings of drum corps are, in fact, the one outside business activity that all corps can do. And I wonder if there are enough such gigs to support all the corps who want to do it. It's probably reasonable to presume that DCI is very aware of the possibilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xandandl Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 (edited) As I mentioned previously, besides the money the corps can earn from devoting a weekend to parades (4-10K total, minus the gas, food, etc.for the weekend) there is other education going on which is different but still part of Spring training. Corps do not instantly tour successfully overnight. They use experiences like this to work out kinks and gain experience with that corps' travel method rather than the static show up at camp process which has been happening the months before. Take Regiment last year with so many, many, many rookies. In his Jim Jones acceptance speech/Haftime magazine article/and comments with DCI, that winning Conductor (DM for the rest of us) points to the molding of the 150 individuals into a cohesive unit. Learning tour jobs, adapting to different housing situations, discovering which personalities blend well with touring (members, staff, faculty, and volunteers), etc. is all part of the learning curve. Without these "asides" or whatever you call the gigs, the corps education doesn't advance beyond dot pages and the electronic teaching tools utilized today. The travel skill is necessary to tour successfully. While the possibilities of many such gigs arise in some areas (for instance Spartans, Pioneer and Surf seem to thrive on them), it is not a MAJOR financial income. Plus today's drum corps exist for competition first by corps' own priorities of schedules and budget. Lower tier corps often use these opportunities for recruiting opportunities and networking for other types of involvement such as sponsorships and media relations. Your questions harbor back to a previous age but may well need further discussion for the present financial dilemma. I suspect the top dozen corps may have different answers from those not making Finals as the view of the future seems to split along that divide. Edited April 11, 2015 by xandandl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garfield Posted April 11, 2015 Share Posted April 11, 2015 As I mentioned previously, besides the money the corps can earn from devoting a weekend to parades (4-10K total, minus the gas, food, etc.for the weekend) there is other education going on which is different but still part of Spring training. Corps do not instantly tour successfully overnight. They use experiences like this to work out kinks and gain experience with that corps' travel method rather than the static show up at camp process which has been happening the months before. Take Regiment last year with so many, many, many rookies. In his Jim Jones acceptance speech/Haftime magazine article/and comments with DCI, that winning Conductor (DM for the rest of us) points to the molding of the 150 individuals into a cohesive unit. Learning tour jobs, adapting to different housing situations, discovering which personalities blend well with touring (members, staff, faculty, and volunteers), etc. is all part of the learning curve. Without these "asides" or whatever you call the gigs, the corps education doesn't advance beyond dot pages and the electronic teaching tools utilized today. The travel skill is necessary to tour successfully. While the possibilities of many such gigs arise in some areas (for instance Spartans, Pioneer and Surf seem to thrive on them), it is not a MAJOR financial income. Plus today's drum corps exist for competition first by corps' own priorities of schedules and budget. Lower tier corps often use these opportunities for recruiting opportunities and networking for other types of involvement such as sponsorships and media relations. Your questions harbor back to a previous age but may well need further discussion for the present financial dilemma. I suspect the top dozen corps may have different answers from those not making Finals as the view of the future seems to split along that divide. I think it might point to the "mission" of the individual corps. BD takes kids around the world because they have the funds, the contacts, and the organization to do so. Pio or Spartans or OC may not have those funds but they can substitute these "extras" to add some experience besides the typical tour issues. I think you're right - BD may not hook up with the Indy 500 because their appearance fee is a small (very small) part of their budget, regardless of what it is. But the smaller corps can use the income, and the experience for their kids is worth the effort and the rehearsal costs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroopAlum12 Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 Nah Ghost. When Troops first took this gig, Blue Stars were still Spring Training in Greater Indy area. Bluecoats were less than three hours away to the east, Cavies at Eastern Ill. to the west about the same. Troopers, with consultant Donnie Van Doren from Bloomington, IN, saw a national platform possibility and grapped it. One version of the story I heard was that the corps moved Spring training to take the gig. It also made fly-ins for Spring training easier when matched to the same airport for fly-outs after DCI Finals. America's corps for sure. The story with spring training is half-true. The prior year (2011) we had done half of spring training in Casper, and then drove and did the second half in Indy (that was the year one of our busses crashed outside of Omaha, on our way to the new rehearsal site). For 2012, Troop got offered not one but two gigs in Indy for spring training (the Indy 500 parade and the opening of a new civil war exhibit for a museum). The corps admin also really loved the facilities and great deal we got with the 4H fairgrounds we housed at. Throw in the fact that the weather in Indy can be more forgiving than Wyoming, and the deal was sealed. The corps has done all days in Indy ever since. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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