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Broke-down buses, Ibuprofen and a sex offender: on the road with Pioneer


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"In the regular world, you know, that's snitching," said Blenski, 77, who founded Pioneer in 1961 and is among drum corps' longest-serving leaders. "Whistle-blower sounds much better for it, of course."

 

Aargh. Sweet Baby Jesus, and this isn't because he's old/old fashioned, I know folks older than him that would call him on this in a blunt way

 

Another

 

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56 minutes ago, MikeD said:

Absolutely true. Many good-hearted adults with the very best of intentions ran the hundreds of corps back in the day, but in many cases they had no real idea how a business should be run. As society changed, those same people ended up way over their heads, which caused the failure of most of those hundreds of corps. They had no idea how to cope with things like insurance requirements, creating a solid financial foundation, and making sure their infrastructure was in good shape for the members. 

Again, these were marvelous people with incredible dedication. My gut tells me Roman is a holdover of just that culture, living in the  modern world.

 

I agree with your opinion and description of many of the good people that did not have the wherewithal to cope with modern day requirements to run corps as they are today.  It is so much more than what one, two, or three people are able to do now.  Yes, an entire staff is needed now. I seriously doubt there was any intentional dereliction with Pioneer ( on the other hand I am not privy to it all)

I now think that damage control may be the issue. Although I am not in any position of influence, I have made observations after driving equipment trailers since 1996 in World and Open class.  Money of course has always been the problem with small corps.  This year the corps I was driving for had full medical staff, and an RN on the entire tour.

DCI has its hands full , and are going to have to guarantee the show operators, municipal, and school directors that they are not dealing with a Pandora's Box by letting corps stay at their facilities.  An earlier poster Tim K mentioned that the housing issue may be the main problem that the chaos within DCI has or will have caused.  Some serious PR is going to be needed to surmount this situation 

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7 minutes ago, BigW said:

"In the regular world, you know, that's snitching," said Blenski, 77, who founded Pioneer in 1961 and is among drum corps' longest-serving leaders. "Whistle-blower sounds much better for it, of course."

 

Aargh. Sweet Baby Jesus, and this isn't because he's old/old fashioned, I know folks older than him that would call him on this in a blunt way

 

Another

 

donald-facepalm.jpg

 

 

 Blenski with these remarks seems to prefer" a CYA" over " snitching ". In the regular world, you know, everybody knows what " a CYA " is. But in the old days " a CYA " used to be called the fancy phrase of " a cover up ".  But its the same thing. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck..... CYA..... cover up... its the same thing. Usually the cover up results in finger pointing toward others. In the end though, it rarely works.

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1 minute ago, BRASSO said:

 Blenski with these remarks seems to prefers" a CYA" over " snitching ". In the old days " a CYA " used to be called the fancy phrase " a cover up ". But its the same thing,

Or "Keep it within the family", in other words Shut up, suck it up, and deal with whatever it is, even if it's reprehensible and unacceptable. That never did cut it, even in the "good old days".

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 Some people's definition of " a snitch " on wrong doing is other people's definition of someone with a spine and a backbone.

Edited by BRASSO
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58 minutes ago, BRASSO said:

 Blenski with these remarks seems to prefer" a CYA" over " snitching ". In the regular world, you know, everybody knows what " a CYA " is. But in the old days " a CYA " used to be called the fancy phrase of " a cover up ".  But its the same thing. If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck..... CYA..... cover up... its the same thing. Usually the cover up results in finger pointing toward others. In the end though, it rarely works.

When I read CYA, my mind went to Catholic Youth Association.  I'm old.  

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6 hours ago, Terri Schehr said:

Well, I sent them money once and the only way I knew they received it was the cancelled check. 

I sent twice to help member dues with no response and second time emailed to see if they got it. RB emailed back and blamed the marcher for no response. Included in the response was the marcher personal email which my security training tells me is just wrong. Last time I even THOUGHT about sending money to them.

Edited by JimF-LowBari
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6 hours ago, MikeD said:

Absolutely true. Many good-hearted adults with the very best of intentions ran the hundreds of corps back in the day, but in many cases they had no real idea how a business should be run. As society changed, those same people ended up way over their heads, which caused the failure of most of those hundreds of corps. They had no idea how to cope with things like insurance requirements, creating a solid financial foundation, and making sure their infrastructure was in good shape for the members. 

Again, these were marvelous people with incredible dedication. My gut tells me Roman is a holdover of just that culture, living in the  modern world.

 

But... but... I thought DCI singled out those corps and forced them to fail!!! :tongue:

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17 hours ago, George Dixon said:

Hopkins was blammed G7, Bb, amplification and electronics etc. when there were in each case many involved

Absolutely.  But the specific idea being discussed (the idea of establishing a smaller subset of corps) originated from George Hopkins.

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7 hours ago, MikeD said:

Absolutely true. Many good-hearted adults with the very best of intentions ran the hundreds of corps back in the day, but in many cases they had no real idea how a business should be run. As society changed, those same people ended up way over their heads, which caused the failure of most of those hundreds of corps. They had no idea how to cope with things like insurance requirements, creating a solid financial foundation, and making sure their infrastructure was in good shape for the members. 

You must have experienced this firsthand - so sorry your experience was unsatisfactory.  Painting the entire generation with that broad brush, however, is not entirely accurate.

Some corps ran their businesses as long as there were interested customers (marchers).  When the community they served no longer had that interest, they shut down.

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