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

[Terri Schehr]

3 hours ago, JimF-LowBari said:

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.

Every corps to whom I’ve ever donated has always thanked me.  Except one. 

[cixelsyd]

 

1 hour ago, Jeff Ream said:

Amps started with blue knights 

 

1 hour ago, Liahona said:

...and electronics started with Boston in 1985...lol

And ultimately, the any-key brass proposal that passed was authored by Dave Gibbs.  As was the portion of the G7 proposal devoted to TOC show format.  

But once again, the subject I was responding to - the idea of a smaller subset of corps having greater status - that was originated by George Hopkins, starting over 20 years ago.  Remember "stratification"?

Edited August 24, 2018 by cixelsyd

[BRASSO]

7 hours ago, LoveKathyG said:

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

   The CYO ( Catholic Youth Organization ) used to be VERY big in our neck of the woods ( N.E ), Kathy. They had lots of activities for Youth. Drum Corps, Marching Bands, CYO Circuit Shows ( CYO Nationals too brought in elite Drum Corps from all over the Country to compete each season in their CYO Nationals  Championship Competition in Boston ) ), Basketball, Dances, Field Trips, etc..

Edited August 24, 2018 by BRASSO

[BRASSO]

3 hours ago, cixelsyd said:

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.

 Back in the 50's, early 60's. most Drum Corps were community based. They received just about all their marchers from the local church parish that sponsored them, or from Veterans Organizations sponsorships in the local communities that sponsored them.

 However, as Corps decided to become better in competition placements, increasingly more and more Corps decided to take in Marchers that were either not in the Church Parish, or not even from that local community, but instead from 3-30 miles away communities. Well, can't ask Parishioners to continue to fund Corps that increasingly had fewer and fewer " Parishioners " in the Corps. And once DCI started, and Corps increasingly no longer participated in Veterans sponsored Drum Corps shows, units no longer could receive sponsorship funds from the local VFW's and American Legion Organizations. Some Corps back then relied upon funding from both church groups, Veterans Organizations. They competed in local based circuits ( maybe 10- 20 shows each season in their own states ), and went national maybe once or twice a year for competitions. But when DCI started in 1972, the local circuits died out as Corps joined DCI. DCI had a National Touring Model it developed for most Corps. This required FAR more travel expenses than they were previously accustomed too. So without the local Parish financial support, without the Veterans Org. financial support,  without the local community grounded support, the loss of Corps that had already begun before DCI's formation accelerated rapidly in the early 70's under DCI's watch. Add in the military Draft initiated for Vietnam, and the economic downturn, double digit interest rates, and the quadrupling of gas prices for Corps bus travels in the 70's, and all this combined sunk Corps in a tsunami of unanticipated events.

 The Corps during this time were run by people no more, nor no less competent than what we see now running Drum Corps. This caricature ( heard  many times before ) that Corps BITD were badly managed, is an assessment not shared by me. Today's DCI Drum Corps are by and large ALSO run by mostly " non business oriented, and trained " people. Back in the day, Drum Corps was run by MORE business oriented people, and less people from the Education realm. It is inaccurate to conclude that the people from the Education realm over the last 3 decades have expanded the number of Drum Corps, or stopped the loss of Drum Corps, shows, or fan loss under their expertise honed in the Education and " non business realm ". So as we set out to criticise the BITD Corps for their " lack of business experience in running organizations ", it might be best to revisit the unprecedented challenging and altogether changed environments and funding sources these Corps Managers were confronted with back then, coupled with the reflection on whether or not DCI Corps and DCI itself are operating any more efficiently today from a Best Businesses Practice perspective. Given the events of the last few months, DCI today, lets face it, has a lot of work to do to begin to look  like a competently run Organization,  and is in no position for its supporters to criticise previous generations on how it operated its Drum Corps circuits and its Drum Corps.

Edited August 24, 2018 by BRASSO

[JimF-LowBari]

1 hour ago, Terri Schehr said:

Every corps to whom I’ve ever donated has always thanked me.  Except one. 

There is a Class A DCA corps that accepts donations for meals on show days. That meal they take pics of members with a white board that has thanks to ..name.. written in it. The pics are posted on the corps fb page. 

[Bal00ga]

On 8/23/2018 at 6:48 AM, corps8294 said:

The remaining members should go to Shadow. They will receive much better care in a much better environment. Moreover, they will be better prepared should they choose to advance into world class. The remaining instructional staff should update their resumes and get the hades out of there. For any alumni that still have fond memories of the organization; get together and form an alumni parade corps.

Time to pull the plug on Pioneer. It's been existing on life support for too long and the time has come to let it go.

Shadow is an excellent alternative however they are academically (school sponsored) restricted to only allow members that are currently in high school through the summer after their senior year. I live less than a mile from Pioneer land and had my son march Shadow because I have knew better than to expose him to a sub par experience. Shadow is throttled by the academic restraint and I hope that they can someday find a way out of that restraint. The staff there is world class and the organization is way ahead of the rest of DCI in member safety. All that said it is still a sad day for DCI or rather a day of reckoning that needed to come for a while. I'm sorry for the alumni that have pride in the corps they love they should know that the community will never hold anyone whom marched in shame. When I competed against Pioneer back in the day they were a well oiled machine.

[Terri Schehr]

3 hours ago, JimF-LowBari said:

There is a Class A DCA corps that accepts donations for meals on show days. That meal they take pics of members with a white board that has thanks to ..name.. written in it. The pics are posted on the corps fb page. 

We donated a lunch to a open class for over DCA weekend.  

Edited August 24, 2018 by Terri Schehr

[Bluzes]

To some on DCP this will be nothing more than an animalistic approach to addressing the medical issues facing touring drum corps. Journalists breathing down dci's back addressing the medical deficiencies they see from afar, activity seeking info, from the fans no less. It is criminal to duck our heads in the sand.

Richer corps can afford a medical staff on tour and others can not. Does even having a medical staff on the bus help prevent anything. Doctors don't carry a black bag and a stethoscope anymore. They use technology, forewarning systems, but mentioning that here just loads up ones member score counts throwing cabbage at me, go for it if that's what helps you, doesn't phase me. Keep your head in the sand, are you trying to get a job at dci?

Full corp "fit bits" provides the medical staff on site or from afar real-time information. A medical dashboard of the MM's to monitor vital statistics in an effort to prevent medical injuries. Maybe an MM is pushing themselves too far, are on the brink of a heat stroke. The medical staff would be alerted and have the ability to stop a run through if they thought that was necessary. A stomach virus would benefit from an early warning getting out ahead of sanitary issues. In a medical emergency vital information can be relayed in real-time to other medical professionals specializing on the issue at hand.

Edited August 24, 2018 by Bluzes
typo

[xandandl]

1 hour ago, BRASSO said:

   The CYO ( Catholic Youth Organization ) used to be VERY big in our neck of the woods ( N.E ), Kathy. They had lots of activities for Youth. Drum Corps, Marching Bands, CYO Circuit Shows ( CYO Nationals too brought in elite Drum Corps from all over the Country to compete each season in their CYO Nationals  Championship Competition in Boston ) ), Basketball, Dances, Field Trips, etc..

Actually, the biggest CYO in the nation was not Boston but Chicago. But Chicago CYO didn't do drum corps, leaving that to the parishes like Our Lady of Angels or Weber High School. NY and Philadelphia were the next largest. Brooklyn CYO (covering 2 boros of the City of New York) had extremely large, mostly winter and indoor, drum corps, color guard, and I&E programs; the Archdiocese of NY (Staten Island, Manhattan, THE Bronx and several counties of Upstate just shy of Albany and Binghampton areas) felt chagrined that they were being outdone by Brooklyn, so they started indoor contests. Long Island CYO (Rockville Centre Diocese of Suffolk and Nassau counties with 3.5 million people) had one outdoor festival for marching bands and drum corps; they also hosted one indoor color guard contest which was a forerunner to WGI using judges and guards from many circuits with a minimum of rules. I helped chair that contest which saw several elementary school guards take the floor for the first time.

Edited August 24, 2018 by xandandl

[BRASSO]

9 minutes ago, xandandl said:

Actually, the biggest CYO in the nation was not Boston but Chicago. 

 Ok, but so theres no misunderstanding, I stated above that CYO was " big in our neck of the woods ( N.E.  "), and never claimed, nor implied that CYO in the Boston region was " the biggest in the the nation ". Just sayin'  X.

Edited August 24, 2018 by BRASSO