Wadep66 Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 (edited) 7 hours ago, blakman7 said: Am I the only one in the dark about the 2007 quarterfinals incident? What happened? You may not be the only one, but Cadets followers all know. George wouldn't let the Cadets take the field in quarterfinals until the hash marks were re-lined on the field. He argued that without them, there was a safety issue for the Corps due to how fast their drill was in parts of the show. They were originally penalized 1 or 2 points for delaying the competition, but they were re-instated after some negotiation. Folks who dislike George Hopkins felt like he was grandstanding. Why anyone thinks delaying a group that is ready to perform is an advantage is beyond me. George refers to it as "Hashgate". Edited June 7, 2017 by Wadep66 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabMaster Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 1 hour ago, cowtown said: Seriously, many corps have 3 semis? Like how many, which ones? It’s madness, all this crying poor and then another semi to carry ‘accessories’. Just kills any want to donate funds to pay for gas for prop semis. It feels like wasteful mismanagement, excesses and an attack on smaller corps not to mention a burden of show sponsors. Whats the price tag to rent an extra semi for the season, including gas, driver an insurance? Boston has 3. 2 for brass, percussion and guard equipment and props, and 1 is their kitchen. This allows corps tone fully self contained and have safe reliable transport of a couple of hundred thousand dollars worth of instruments and food all summer = 8 plus weeks of ST and shows. Also this is for 150 plus mm's and staff. And add in 5 busses and other fleet vehicles. Touring ain't cheap! This is likely typical of the top 17 corps? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 1 minute ago, LabMaster said: Boston has 3. 2 for brass, percussion and guard equipment and props, and 1 is their kitchen. This allows corps tone fully self contained and have safe reliable transport of a couple of hundred thousand dollars worth of instruments and food all summer = 8 plus weeks of ST and shows. Also this is for 150 plus mm's and staff. And add in 5 busses and other fleet vehicles. Touring ain't cheap! This is likely typical of the top 17 corps? This year 8 corps will tour with 3 tractors and 3 trailers. Last year was 7. Five years ago it was 0. The normal kitchen truck and normal equipment truck plus a prop truck as a rented tractor/ trailer. 3 of those 8 own the third trailer. 5 rent. Most rent all the tractors 5 years ago and prior a few corps each season used a 24' rented truck for "props" - there isn't a huge difference in expense between that set up and the 3 semi set up if anyone has more specific questions let me know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabMaster Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 2 minutes ago, George Dixon said: This year 8 corps will tour with 3 tractors and 3 trailers. Last year was 7. Five years ago it was 0. The normal kitchen truck and normal equipment truck plus a prop truck as a rented tractor/ trailer. 3 of those 8 own the third trailer. 5 rent. Most rent all the tractors 5 years ago and prior a few corps each season used a 24' rented truck for "props" - there isn't a huge difference in expense between that set up and the 3 semi set up if anyone has more specific questions let me know It's amazing to think in the 70's Boston used a used bread delivery truck. lol 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfirwin3 Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 It seems that this is one of those evolutionary things that actually has a limit... it will top out. Groups will come to a place where there just isn't the field space to afford set pieces bigger than a limit, people over a certain number and the willingness to risk time and man-power to set it and tear it down before and after each show. I don't see this trend in increasing transportation resources going much further than it has. Some of the things that necessitate all the 'cargo ships' will bloat to the point of being a hassle, detriment and a liability rather than the assets that they are at present. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blakman7 Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 1 hour ago, Wadep66 said: You may not be the only one, but Cadets followers all know. George wouldn't let the Cadets take the field in quarterfinals until the hash marks were re-lined on the field. He argued that without them, there was a safety issue for the Corps due to how fast their drill was in parts of the show. They were originally penalized 1 or 2 points for delaying the competition, but they were re-instated after some negotiation. Folks who dislike George Hopkins felt like he was grandstanding. Why anyone thinks delaying a group that is ready to perform is an advantage is beyond me. George refers to it as "Hashgate". Thanks for filling me in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 5 minutes ago, cfirwin3 said: It seems that this is one of those evolutionary things that actually has a limit... it will top out. Groups will come to a place where there just isn't the field space to afford set pieces bigger than a limit, people over a certain number and the willingness to risk time and man-power to set it and tear it down before and after each show. I don't see this trend in increasing transportation resources going much further than it has. Some of the things that necessitate all the 'cargo ships' will bloat to the point of being a hassle, detriment and a liability rather than the assets that they are at present. Well within a couple years they will probably raise the top corps size limit to 200 or so Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blakman7 Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 8 hours ago, crownisking said: Hoppy finally spoke openly about it just a few weeks ago. Much appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfirwin3 Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 Just now, George Dixon said: Well within a couple years they will probably raise the top corps size limit to 200 or so It's certainly possible... But it seems that when this has happened in the past, there was a rationale that involved increasing the field 'block' size due to increases in the front ensemble instrumentation or the guard. I supposed that an increase in diversity of instrumentation could provide a rationale for larger numbers... but consider that since the 90's the wind voicing has decreased substantially from approximately 6 or 7 voices to only about 4 or 5. The use of trombones, horns, or other transposed solo instruments as a momentary novelty of 'color' doesn't seem to meet the rationale of increasing the diversity of voices beyond what it was 25-30 years ago. Now if this gets pushed into the marching band idiom by adding whole woodwind groupings (which I doubt would happen any time soon), then there might be an argument to make. Additionally, there is only so much space on the field to work with and still be able to have moments of focused, compact drill and staging... in the midst of increasingly big set pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 where was that link to the cadets playing some of their show music? i saw it yesterday, but couldn't watch it because i was in the middle of class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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