Has the time come?

[MikeRapp]

54 minutes ago, drumcorpsfever said:

More corps would certainly be good - providing they are financially fit (another topic).

Wonder how you could get the 50 to seed another corps?   Perhsps DCI could scholarship members as an incentive.  

More corps from stable organizations is better than more corps from unstable organizations that don't have secondary revenue sources, or educational talent sufficient to be competitive. It seems for every Carolina Crown there have been a dozen Glassmen. 

I would imagine Blue Devils would have to struggle philosophically with how to do auditions for two world class corps. You don't call one Blue Devils A and Blue Devils B. You call one Blue Devils and the other something entirely unique. Would that work, sharing staff? In theory, yes, but in practice, maybe not.

[Stu]

1 minute ago, MikeRapp said:

I'm suggesting it would be better for the kids and the corps if food were a collective effort.

But in practice history shows that never works; because with collectivism you always, and I mean always have the end result of poor quality in both food and service being akin to that of general soup kitchens and bread lines.

[MikeRapp]

1 minute ago, Stu said:

But in practice history shows that never works; because with collectivism you always, and I mean always have the end result of poor quality in both food and service being akin to that of general soup kitchens and bread lines.

It's all about scale, and perhaps DCI now has enough scale to make it work. Food trucks didn't really exist even five years ago. Now it is a thriving business concept. 

DCI isn't the first live event tour to need catering services. But it is a unique one because of logistics. The good aspect is, you have an absolute set number of mouths to feed, you know exactly what the food requirements would be, and an absolute known time frame for every single event. No doubt DCI corps make up financial ground with volunteers, but those volunteers also come with their own expenses and liabilities. 

Just about everyone here has more info and background on this than I would, but it continues to be the one aspect of touring that would seem to be improved with a creative approach to a collective solution.

[Stu]

45 minutes ago, MikeRapp said:

It's all about scale, and perhaps DCI now has enough scale to make it work. Food trucks didn't really exist even five years ago. Now it is a thriving business concept. 

DCI isn't the first live event tour to need catering services. But it is a unique one because of logistics. The good aspect is, you have an absolute set number of mouths to feed, you know exactly what the food requirements would be, and an absolute known time frame for every single event. No doubt DCI corps make up financial ground with volunteers, but those volunteers also come with their own expenses and liabilities. 

Just about everyone here has more info and background on this than I would, but it continues to be the one aspect of touring that would seem to be improved with a creative approach to a collective solution.

Food is not an aspect best served as a forced collective solution; again just look at the history of the degradation of quality the more and more any organization moves toward collectivism. And while I am not a fan of the G7 proposal, neither do I believe BD and SCV, for example, should be forced into a collective pool in order to feed youth of other corps; some of which should not financially be out on the road in the first place.

If BD and SCV want to go into together independent of the collective, fine.  But, let's say BD and SCV were able to afford something like Bluefin Tuna, they should be left alone to buy it for their own youth.  If another corps cannot afford fish sticks for their youth they should probably not go out on the road.  But in the realm of collectivism, BD and SCV would not have the resources to help collectively buy Bluefin Tuna for the entire collective, so they would end up helping buy catfish for the entire collective; and the youth of BD and SCV would then be forced to eat that catfish along with everyone else in the collective instead of Bluefin Tuna.  Since that is the reality of collectivism, not theory, but reality, I therefore have no desire to punish a financially successful corps by forcing them to help feed the entire collective.

Edited July 24, 2017 by Stu

[FTNK]

2 hours ago, Stu said:

I just got to thinking about what a 'wonderful' concept this is. Start an orginazation 'for the kids'; build in massive ever increasing costs withn the organization including performance equipment, extensive travel, and paying the adults for their artistic designs; grow those expenditures well past what development can handle; then put the brunt of that burden on the dues paid by the kids. An organization for the kids, paid for by the kids, while a few adults get paid for their creative designs, with a hall of fame for the adults thrown in for good measure. What a concept.

ding ding ding! 

[MikeRapp]

40 minutes ago, Stu said:

Food is not an aspect best served as a collective solution; again just look at the history of the degradation of quality the more and more any organization moves toward collectivism. And while I am not a fan of the G7 proposal, neither do I believe BD, for example, should be forced into a collective pool in order to feed youth of corps which should not financially be out on the road in the first place.

By this I mean: If BD was able to afford say Bluefin Tuna, they should be left alone to buy it for their own youth.  If another corps cannot afford fish sticks for their youth they should probably not go out on the road.  But in the realm of collectivism, BD would not have the resources to help collectively buy Bluefin Tuna for the entire collective, so they would end up helping buy catfish for the entire collective; and the youth of BD would then be forced to eat that catfish instead of Bluefin Tuna.  Since that is the reality of collectivism, not theory, but reality, I therefore have no desire to punish a financially successful corps by forcing them to help feed the entire collective.

This seems like a straw man argument. Blue Devils don't provide Blue fin tuna. World class corps don't offer fish sticks. But regardless, the entire activity revolves around the health and well being of the marching members. All of the marching members. Nothing would stop Blue Devils from adding food and other edibles to the menu ad hoc. I'm not suggesting dci dictate things to create a level playing field. But rather to lessen the administrative burden, and financial risk, on its members.

Im not suggesting corps should share French horns. But there are already things all members get as a benefit to being a dci member. I'm no socialist, believe me. But food seems to be a huge issue that must be provided.

This situation with Legends really bothered me over the weekend. If I were a parent of a kid in that corps, it would greatly concern me that there wasn't food for the kids beyond that night. We can argue that maybe legends shouldn't have been on tour were they so poorly managed, but we are talking about food here, not uniforms, not instruments, not tickets to the local aquarium. Kids on a dci tour should not be at the mercy of the admin of their corps to eat.

[Fran Haring]

5 hours ago, xandandl said:

 

But Fran, who will listen to your jokes or chuckle at your shirts. The visiting grandmas just wouldn't understand.

 

Well... since I haven't announced a DCI show since 2011, don't see any on the horizon, and have cut back my overall schedule this summer (and perhaps for summers to come)  for various reasons... it's not like those DCI MM's, or DCA ones for that matter, are listening to me anyway. 

Edited July 24, 2017 by Fran Haring

[Fran Haring]

55 minutes ago, MikeRapp said:

Food trucks didn't really exist even five years ago.

 

So... I'm guessing you've never visited the Rutgers University campus.  LOL.

Food trucks... called "grease trucks" by the locals... have been operating, and thriving, there for decades. 

"Salt... pepper... ketchup???" 

Seriously.... I do understand your point.

Edited July 24, 2017 by Fran Haring

[Stu]

18 minutes ago, MikeRapp said:

This seems like a straw man argument. Blue Devils don't provide Blue fin tuna. World class corps don't offer fish sticks. But regardless, the entire activity revolves around the health and well being of the marching members. All of the marching members. Nothing would stop Blue Devils from adding food and other edibles to the menu ad hoc. I'm not suggesting dci dictate things to create a level playing field. But rather to lessen the administrative burden, and financial risk, on its members.

Im not suggesting corps should share French horns. But there are already things all members get as a benefit to being a dci member. I'm no socialist, believe me. But food seems to be a huge issue that must be provided.

This situation with Legends really bothered me over the weekend. If I were a parent of a kid in that corps, it would greatly concern me that there wasn't food for the kids beyond that night. We can argue that maybe legends shouldn't have been on tour were they so poorly managed, but we are talking about food here, not uniforms, not instruments, not tickets to the local aquarium. Kids on a dci tour should not be at the mercy of the admin of their corps to eat.

Of course I was using hyperbole with the Blufin. But the idea of forced collectivism does not allow for ad hoc food to be served by any one group, that is grossly unfair to the others in the collective. And historical reality, not theory, shows that the only way to bring up the quality of food for the underprivileged in a forced collective is to take away the resources from the successful and distribute it evenly amongst the collective. Thus the quality which was initially provided to those involved in the successful will always go down when they are forced into a collective, and with enough time it always moves into the quality realm of general soup kitchens and bread lines. I BD and SCV want to band together on their own, fine. If they want to help others on their own accord, also fine. But they should not be forced into a good collective for all corps. Each corps is responsible for itself.

Edited July 24, 2017 by Stu

[MikeRapp]

4 minutes ago, Stu said:

Of course I was using hyperbole with the Blufin. But the idea of forced collectivism does not allow for ad hoc food to be served by any one group, that is grossly unfair to the others in the collective. And historical reality, not theory, shows that the only way to bring up the quality of food for the underprivileged in a forced collective is to take away the resources from the successful and distribute it evenly amongst the collective. Thus the quality which was initially provided to those involved in the successful will always go down when they are forced into a collective, and with enough time it always moves into the quality realm of general soup kitchens and bread lines. I BAD and SCV want to band together on their own, fine. But they should not be forced into a good collective for all corps.

This is not at all what I am proposing. Likening this to a forced soup kitchen and bread line, come on man.