Santa Clara Vanguard 2023 Announcement Thread

[Jeff Ream]

8 hours ago, 2muchcoffeeman said:

One can support, or not, the Rennick way of running the perc program at SCV, but I'm having a difficult time grasping how the perc program has enough mass to singlehandedly drive the VMAPA bottom line into the red.

It's not as if SCV was filling its line with kids from Modesto before the Rennicks came along.

And financially, it doesn't matter. Tuition money from New Jersey is just as green as tuition money from San Jose.

The perc section typically is the smallest of the 3. All this focus on the Rennicks' influence on the overall financial health of the organization feels like an attempt to see the tail wagging the dog.

 

i've been told today SCV prides itself on paying staff the most of any corps. so if i am a staff member, especially a name, and get offered $xyz....would i turn it down? hell no. blame the bean counters and offer makers, not the staff. trust me if another company came to me today and offered me way more to do the same thing I do now, i'm packing up my office!

[Jeff Ream]

8 hours ago, TOC said:

Do you think M. Gaines is at fault here also?

why? he was offered a contract and did the job he was asked. if they didnt put budget constraints on his ideas, it's not his fault. his job is to design and teach, not watch the ledger sheets

[Jeff Ream]

7 hours ago, OldSnareDrummer said:

Ok, I know it's a sad day, but...for a little levity...

1. Many corps now move up one spot in placement. 

2. A whole lotta DCPers need to go back to the 2023 Predictions thread and make some adjustments. 

yup. Now the corps with the highest score and balance sheet not seriously in the hole wins

[Jeff Ream]

7 hours ago, 2muchcoffeeman said:

As someone who regularly sees the financials of one WC corps, I don't see evidence of this. The combined costs of all camps, in all locations around the country, don't come anywhere close to the 14-week cost of running the summer tour. The difference is many orders of magnitude. We could eliminate all winter camps, and it really wouldn't move the needle much -- other than cratering the ability to put a corps on the field.

6 weeks of spring training costs more than the satellite camps and regular camps combined probably

[gbass598]

1 hour ago, TenHut said:

Almost everyone my age who I marched with BITD and still talk with have completely left the drum corps activity due to the change in direction, awful, weird, goofy uniforms and prop madness. The drum corps activity has done this to themselves. When fans no longer enjoy a product they stop attending/buying. Companies just don't completely abandon their tradition and legacy for obvious reasons, but that is exactly when every drum corps has done. 

Bad decisions from the corps, and bad leadership and decisions from DCI and here we are. 

 

There are bands from the 70's and 80's that still make their living on what they did in the 70's and 80's. Journey is a prime example. Those bands exists for people who like to live in nostalgia. Nobody cares about anything new they make.

There are also people who like 70's and 80's music who enjoy things made in the 2020's too.

As far as businesses go, The Chase Bank you know today has roots in a company (The Manhattan Company created by Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton) that's purpose was to supply clean drinking water to the city. Banking was a secondary venture.

My point is that time will lead to things evolving. Not everyone will like it but you can understand that you can't prevent it. We change, organizations change. everything changes. Just know that your thoughts and feelings don't apply to everybody. I'm sure some fans left Van Halen when David Lee Roth left but they gained new ones with Sammy Hagar. Drum corps can be the same.

[Jeff Ream]

7 hours ago, scheherazadesghost said:

You have two alumni telling you to please reconsider this stance.

We're saying that where you pull talent from (staff and members) is at the heart of the issue... or rather, that one factor cannot be separated from the other both in regards to morale and in a very objective, financial way. Should where talent comes from matter? That's a justifiable question, but unless we're in those alumni, board and leadership meetings, our opinions don't matter much. VMAPA now decides what matters.

We're also saying it's really dang complicated... so trying to identify the one thing that did us in is pretty moot at this point. No one's even come close to my understanding of the problems yet so I'm just sitting back, SMH, wishing people would stop poking at the carcass. If you have the ears to listen to what alumni are saying, it really hurts right now and has for a while. Many of us have been ignored or dismissed when we have any variety of legit, verifiable concerns. And still many of us have legit reasons to be mad at outsiders/non-alum, like it or not. Can we have the grace to process, given that we're still not 24 hrs from the news breaking?

ok serious question....before the Rennicks, how many kids came from SCVC to SCVA percussion? brass? guard? 

[Tim K]

1 hour ago, TenHut said:

Almost everyone my age who I marched with BITD and still talk with have completely left the drum corps activity due to the change in direction, awful, weird, goofy uniforms and prop madness. The drum corps activity has done this to themselves. When fans no longer enjoy a product they stop attending/buying. Companies just don't completely abandon their tradition and legacy for obvious reasons, but that is exactly when every drum corps has done. 

Bad decisions from the corps, and bad leadership and decisions from DCI and here we are. 

 

Ten to fifteen years ago I would have agreed with you and pointed to poor attendance at shows as a prime example, but attendance has been increasing at many major shows in recent years, especially in areas where drum corps shows are not long established traditions. It’s also not a new phenomenon that people who once marched do not attend shows. It’s also true many hardcore fans never marched drum corps. Growing up I never marched in a drum corps though I was in a band that competed in a circuit that featured drum corps and drill teams. I knew more about scores, repertoires, who did what drill, etc of different corps than kids who competed against these corps. A friend who marched in the 60’s claimed there were many in his corps who focused on their corps alone, rarely watched competitors, loved drum corps while they marched, but never went to a show after aging out. Others volunteer, donate, attend shows, buy souvenirs, but it’s probably a small percentage. 

I will say as someone who began following drum corps 48 years ago at age 12, I have seen the corps evolve, and while the late. 70’s to 80’s will always own my heart, I appreciate what I see today. Now if I had not attended a show since, let’s say 1990 and went to Indy last year, I would admit the kids are talented. Would I appreciate uniforms referred to as costumes, trombones, electric guitars in the front ensemble, themed shows, narration, props, and the like, probably not. Now if I had never seen drum corps and saw all these things this past summer, would I be impressed? Probably. 

[84BDsop]

8 hours ago, RiverCityAndTroopersFan said:

Blue devils 1979 and 1983

WTF are you talking about?

[craiga]

8 hours ago, Jeff Ream said:

i've been told today SCV prides itself on paying staff the most of any corps. so if i am a staff member, especially a name, and get offered $xyz....would i turn it down? hell no. blame the bean counters and offer makers, not the staff. trust me if another company came to me today and offered me way more to do the same thing I do now, i'm packing up my office!

For all the talk over the last several years of BAC allegedly overpaying its staff, it turns out that Boston's payroll isn't even in the top two.   Interesting. 

[Jeff Ream]

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