The whistleblowers and survivors of abuse in this industry are tired...

[Brian Tuma]

11 hours ago, Mello Dude said:

What, the George Soros of drum corps..wow.

Aren’t there other forums where you can twist yourself into a pretzel to make a lame “ oooooohhh scary George Soros” post? DCP ain’t it

[Mello Dude]

deleted

Edited April 20 by Mello Dude
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[Vuitton]

On 4/18/2024 at 5:52 AM, craiga said:

You know, alot of this reminds me of that famous Hollywood director who raped a 13 year old girl, WAS charged and found guilty, and fled to Europe before he was due to "turn himself in".  There were tons of Hollywood actors and other elites who were saying he should be excused because he was an "artistic genius".  The ME T00 movement ended that.  

Just recalled his name...Roman Polanski.

Yes and Jim Steinman turned his movie The Fearless Vampire Killers into Dance of the Vampires (Tanz der Vampire in German), one hell of a great musical in Vienna. When they were bringing it to Broadway, they wanted Polanski to direct it, but all efforts to have him come to the US proved fruitless, thankfully.

While I appreciate and love Steinman's work (the reworked terrible Broadway version was a flop) I was always appauled by Polanski's involvement. 

There has always been a lot of abuse in drum corps and I am not exception. For me, it was by other members at times, usually when I made a mistake due to being unfocused (verbally, emotionally and physically) but I never thought of it as abuse back then, and I look back at my time in drum corps with undiluted pleasure. 

When the staff was tough on me, it only made me better. 

 

Edited April 20 by Vuitton

[Jeff Ream]

On 4/19/2024 at 3:59 AM, BigW said:

Jeff, there were things I knew that happened before that. The big Red Flag was when the Business Manager passed away suddenly and the Director took the role of both Director and Business Manager by convincing people that's fine. and getting voted in. Right there's a huge Red Flag. Loss of Checks and Balances in management. That alone should have been a concern from everyone, and it wasn't. Those are two separate positions for good reasons, and it should have been done by two different individuals in spite of the sudden emergency situation. Some responsible individual should have been found. Bad things usually happen when one person is given too much control and there's no one there to check them. No, I wasn't there. I ended up doing other things with DCA. And if I was there at that point, I would have voiced very serious concerns about that alone and been shot down in flames. Likely been laughed out of the room. I look back when I made an approach about coming back in 1992 and got shot down. I think it was because I was thought of by the certain person who shot me down as someone who was going to ask too many questions about too many things. 

 

There were other things I was privy too through contacts where things were shady and questionable before the Championship. It was why Mom had her questions. It's why that contact I had got the heck out of there before things got really bad and made sure the books on their end were tight. You can figure out who. Yes, the house got cleaned after 1the championship- but the damage was done in many ways before it, and there were enough clues there that even someone like me was concerned. Many folks were kind of oblivious or maybe they might not have wanted to look closer? There was a Championship to win, and if this stuff got dug up, it would have been a distraction. Folks wouldn't have been happy. As it was, folks were unhappy in many aspects. Was there an annual corps meeting some time around March where the corps' expenses were explained and itemized and how the income was raised and what the corps monetary balance was at that time after the Business Manager died? Just asking. That was done for 5 of the six seasons I was there, the Sixth was that whole insane six-week effort, and that really doesn't count. There's another red flag if the combination Director/Business Manager at that time didn't sit down and take the time to seriously discuss this with the membership like it used to be done. If that was done, all well and good, but I'm seriously asking you. Somehow, given who was the responsible person to lay out the accounting to the membership, I'm betting the answer is "no" and the excuse would have been that it wasted valuable rehearsal time, just trust me that everything is okay. Don't worry about where the jackets that were pre-paid for are, or the Rings. There's another red flag. Jeff- there were a lot of things that hard questions should have been asked about and got deflected, or folks were scared to go there.

 

Sometimes, when one is standing back from a distance and observing neutrally, maybe they're seeing more than someone that's right there in front of it about some of those things.

John Williams was business manager in 95 and 96. His kids were in the corps. Strike one.  Again you weren’t there. After the win John left and boom, as I said. 
 

and those of us there had no idea the red flags. Glad you heard things, thanks for telling people the . Coulda helped to save it. 
 

so again you weren’t there. You didn’t do what you could after 97 to undo the damage. I paid bills out of my pocket until the next management team proved beyond inept. I saw the books. The mail. The email. The legal papers flying around. Even the business manager that replaced JC didn’t know until afterwards. 
 

and I’m not gonna derail this thread further or debate this further online. But I know far more than what you think you saw from afar after the fact. 
 

 

[Jeff Ream]

On 4/19/2024 at 6:00 AM, BigW said:

Jeff, I couldn't sleep after I realized there was yet another Red Flag I was aware of that you wouldn't have been aware of for very good reasons. I've kept it to myself for 30 years and have only discussed it a couple of days ago with someone else. Since this thread involves abuse- That contact person within the corps that we both know that I mentioned? Well, someone took that individual where there were no witnesses during a rehearsal and struck them. Who, Mom and I don't know, we just know the individual was struck and was afraid to say who it was. 30 years is a long time, but I'm thinking that was when Mom hit me with the question as to what in Hades was happening there.  Mom and I don't know who it was. And whomever it was should be thankful I don't know. *sigh*

 

There was also the joint Bingo with the Fire Department where it was decided by the Management that it wasn't worth it. A loss of easy and steady income at the time. There's another Red Flag I remember.

 

A lot of times, I know more about many things that I let on, Jeff. I know to many I might come across as a total rube and a goof, but I figure I'm better off underestimated.

 

I know we agree on one thing, Jeff, and I believe everyone on this thread agrees:

We want the experience to be far, far better for young people who want to be challenged hard in this activity. It's an intense crucible where one finds out a lot about themselves. Without the discipline I learned and kept with me, I prolly would have given up in the hospital two Augusts ago. But I know I was determined and disciplined enough to fight hard from my corps experience.

 

We need transparency and professionalism badly. People need to stop running away from these things and try and bury it. Yeah, it's horribly embarrassing. Being called out and called a "Worthless sack of (insert colorful Noun)" like I was over the PA system at the Syracuse State Fair Grounds Stadium when I was 16 in the middle of a rehearsal was pretty embarrassing, and it still gets whole lots of great ho-ho-hos and chuckles when its brought up.  I just smile and chuckle along, so funny. I overcame it and then some. I was determined to make it in the activity. Some folks might not have overcame that.  The activity needs to learn from this stuff and do better.

 

 

Bingo lost money and we couldn’t get people to come out to help run it. Again you weren’t there. 

[BigW]

40 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

Bingo lost money and we couldn’t get people to come out to help run it. Again you weren’t there. 

I was told that was not the case by someone who volunteered there. Sorry. That wasn't the perspective of that individual. I'd be more far inclined to believe their perspective than the Director.

Edited April 21 by BigW

[BigW]

33 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:

John Williams was business manager in 95 and 96. His kids were in the corps. Strike one.  Again you weren’t there. After the win John left and boom, as I said. 
 

and those of us there had no idea the red flags. Glad you heard things, thanks for telling people the . Coulda helped to save it. 
 

so again you weren’t there. You didn’t do what you could after 97 to undo the damage. I paid bills out of my pocket until the next management team proved beyond inept. I saw the books. The mail. The email. The legal papers flying around. Even the business manager that replaced JC didn’t know until afterwards. 
 

and I’m not gonna derail this thread further or debate this further online. But I know far more than what you think you saw from afar after the fact. 
 

 

I wonder if the person who was struck was intimidated from speaking out by getting clocked. I honestly don't know but it would make sense. I believe John Williams was brought in after the person who was struck left.

 

Could I have spoken up? There would have been a "prove it and who the *Bleep* are you ruining everything?" response. The director is still regarded in some circles as a very charismatic individual in some circles in spite of everything and then, they were even more charismatic. And really... Was I in any real position? Possibly sued? Could I afford legal counsel at that time? In 1995 I was making 6:19 to 8 an hour teaching in a crappy private school or working nights. Hardee's employees made 7.50/hour. Maybe I get my lights punched out in the dark too behind the truck or somewhere else? A Mother in panic telling me to keep it hushed? I think that's not a very fair call. This isn't derailing the thread, really. Malfeasance went on. A volunteer exited the organization afraid and had been physically accosted. This is well part of the thread. Anyone who would have said anything would have been shouted down and taken the blame for wrecking the organization. Last time I knew that's a whistleblower by definition. That's part of the thread title. It's still happening out there with other Corps.

 

@50 years of this and I keep thinking for about 45 of it now- A lot still needs to be dealt with. I think since the arrests and jail time instead of quiet resignations and go somewhere else to teach at the Scholastic level has helped. I'm to the point where I'm becoming disillusioned as well.

 

A lot of good memories, but really, they say it takes ten good things to overcome one bad thing and I'm thinking I'm not hitting the 10:1 in my memories right now.

 

Maybe as a case study- a lot of programs end up where it has to hit the wall hard whether anyone liked it or not. There wasn't any other real option because of group think, intimidation and threats- and the how the perp manipulated everyone that expertly. We can insert many corps names into that category.

[greg_orangecounty]

If DCP was my only reference point to the activity, I might think it was a cross between Jeffery Epstein Island and the Sopranos. 

[scheherazadesghost]

If DCP had the descriptions from a fraction of the survivors who have reported to me,  MAASIN, and other proper whistleblowing channels...

... or if DCP knew about the young lives demolished by their drum corps experience...

... then there would be pitchforks from even the staunchest of detractors.

Downplaying that contributes to the problem.

For every 50 great experiences there may have been at least one adverse one. Through out history.

But whatevs, amirite?  Those reporting must just be weak or too sensitive... "not drum corps material." /s

[craiga]

I, for one, don't even know what drum corps are talking about anymore!