The Staff Merry-go-round

[musicteacher]

Bossa,

Some of your early Star history is off. Jim Mason was not the brass arranger. Larry Kerchner was. Mason was management, with possibly a hand in design. I don't recall Michael Cesario being part of that team, although I could be wrong. DeLucia was indeed part of that team, but he was hardly poached. Bridgemen were done or nearly done by that time.

Not mentioned in your comments, but Prime and Hannum came later. Prime hadn't written for Cadets since 1984. Both Hannum and Zingali (as well as Sylvester) were with Cadets as late as 1988. I don't know if you could call them landing in Star a poaching. I believe they left of their own accord from Cadets. Brubaker wrote for Star early on.

[scheherazadesghost]

30 minutes ago, contraguard05 said:

Adam Sage

[Jurassic Lancer]

Yes, I refer to Boston as Cadets of New England with my tongue planted firmly in my cheek. Referring to Boston as Crown North is beyond ridiculous … and petty.

Edited September 5, 2023 by Jurassic Lancer

[contraguard05]

51 minutes ago, scheherazadesghost said:

Can't disagree. But seeing that staff list definitely made me very interested in seeing what would end up on the field.

[Daave]

1 hour ago, scheherazadesghost said:

Is that... yummmm tasty

Or... can't get that nasty taste out of my mouth?

[horndevil]

https://cavaliers.org/news-blog/announcing-the-2024-design-team?fbclid=IwAR1Q1wm1rIlOWvRV4j7WYj4lh1AqiRp0RkqG7C2qtS9zrLt9TgrtTmgPpe4_aem_AaWDkG5H1wO-bE5JETmMbidhE3jOt9uNBLnX8uZ7JMkClSWKSmYw7dsjk3vxYAFz7Ls

[kdaddy]

5 minutes ago, horndevil said:

https://cavaliers.org/news-blog/announcing-the-2024-design-team?fbclid=IwAR1Q1wm1rIlOWvRV4j7WYj4lh1AqiRp0RkqG7C2qtS9zrLt9TgrtTmgPpe4_aem_AaWDkG5H1wO-bE5JETmMbidhE3jOt9uNBLnX8uZ7JMkClSWKSmYw7dsjk3vxYAFz7Ls

Honestly, I haven't heard of Mason Daffinee. Anybody know anything other than what's listed in this announcement?

[rmurrey74]

20 minutes ago, horndevil said:

https://cavaliers.org/news-blog/announcing-the-2024-design-team?fbclid=IwAR1Q1wm1rIlOWvRV4j7WYj4lh1AqiRp0RkqG7C2qtS9zrLt9TgrtTmgPpe4_aem_AaWDkG5H1wO-bE5JETmMbidhE3jOt9uNBLnX8uZ7JMkClSWKSmYw7dsjk3vxYAFz7Ls

Interesting choice

[Boss Anova]

1 hour ago, musicteacher said:

Bossa,

Some of your early Star history is off. Jim Mason was not the brass arranger. Larry Kerchner was. Mason was management, with possibly a hand in design. I don't recall Michael Cesario being part of that team, although I could be wrong. DeLucia was indeed part of that team, but he was hardly poached. Bridgemen were done or nearly done by that time.

Not mentioned in your comments, but Prime and Hannum came later. Prime hadn't written for Cadets since 1984. Both Hannum and Zingali (as well as Sylvester) were with Cadets as late as 1988. I don't know if you could call them landing in Star a poaching. I believe they left of their own accord from Cadets. Brubaker wrote for Star early on.

  Its a distinction without a difference re. Jim Mason, imo. He was " poached " from Colts. His role at Star in that " poaching " is secondary, albeit I agree in retrospect that he served in Mgt there when he first came on at the end of 1984.. Kerchner was there when Mason arrived. Mason, Prime later took over brass writing there.  Zingali  was " poached " originally by the Cadets from 27th Lancers, although most back then never used the term as it was understood that staff moving from Corps to corps happened all the time. Zingali going to the Star of Indiana, I believe happened in the year I mentioned above ( end of the 1984 ). Cesario moved around a lot back then, and Mason brought him on, ie " poached " him to Star from Cadets.  I mentioned in my comments above that it was not unusual for in demand staffers to work 2 Corps simultaneously. I am aware that Zingali was designing visuals for Cadets thru 1988. But I believe ( could be mistaken on this) George Z. was also writing for start up Star in 1985. Delucia came over from the Bridgemen to Star for 85 season. Bridgemen went 3 more seasons and went belly up in 1988.

 My central point is that Star of Indiana, right from the get go for their inaugural 1985 season had brought in, ie " poached " an All Star cast of show designers and big names in Drum Corps staff circles, all of whom were working with the elite Corps in DCI, or had been 2-3 years earlier. I find nothing wrong with this on the part of the well funded Star of Indiana.  They were entirely unlike any other start up corps in Drum Corps history. From day one in the fall of 1984, they had 1 million dollars of seed money in the bank ( that would be over 2 million dollars in 2023 money ).  They utilized that ( and the rent from purchases of a few real estate holdings ) to go out and bring in, ie " poach " some of the best staffers in the business that were working other corps.  I don't any issues at all with what they started out with. Good for them.  As a matter of fact, I wish DCI had a dozen more multi millionaires like Bill Coats starting up Drum Corps today..

Edited September 6, 2023 by Boss Anova

[littlejaw]

12 minutes ago, kdaddy said:

Honestly, I haven't heard of Mason Daffinee. Anybody know anything other than what's listed in this announcement?

I don’t, but the credentials are impressive. Hebron and Ronald Reagan are some of the names in Texas band.