Carolina Gold

[Jimmyjames]

Anyone have an information concerning what happened to them? They were approved for open class competition then the pandemic happened and they seem to have disappeared. 

[YellowBrickRoad]

Hey Jimmy.  Thanks for asking about us!  After the initial “approval” we found we have a lot of financial and administrative work to do to make that transition successfully.  We know we have an interested membership base and conversations are being had in the background regarding reviving the corps and what it will take and also the viability of such an endeavor at this time.  We do not have a definite timeline just yet. 

Now, with DCI All Age, there is even more interest from former members to potentially come and make a go (back) in that direction.  Whichever form we eventually take, DCI Open or DCI All Age, rest assured, we want to do this right and set ourselves up for success, not just for one season, but for many seasons to come.   Again, thanks Jimmy for the inquiry!  We hope to see you on the 50 soon! 

[totaleefree]

I was involved with Carolina Gold in 18 and 19. One thing is as a weekends only corps we had a staff that was way better than what we paid them. many staff members basically worked for gas and lunch money but did a great job because they like Drum Corps and Marching band and they liked teaching kids who were ready to learn. However when switching over to DCI a lot of those staff members had regular jobs to pay the bills or made decent money doing band camps over the weekdays. When it came around to taking maybe three weeks off to live out of a duffel bag on the road with DCI  a lot of them could not afford it, so staff that had time to travel had to be found, and they were probably not as good teachers as the part timers.  The Corps Director Jesse wrote the brass parts and I think he was one of the best brass arrangers out there. But again a whole summer doing DCI making almost nothing was not an option for people with families to support.

  A big thing was also a reserve fund in case something happened as the corps was on the road. DCI recommended 50k be held in reserve to make sure kids did not get stranded somewhere, and to make sure there were no bills left to be paid after the corps left Indy after finals. I thought they was too large a requirement but I don't think that CG had a very large reserve at all. 

 

    One other thing that happened was that DCi put out some requirements for Board of Directors members and what they needed to do and CG had a tough time finding board members who did not clash with the Exec director.  When DCI finally came out to look at the books in 2021 they just closed shop and I don't think they ever got a review. So who knows what DCI would have found. I do not think anyone was malicious or did anything illegal it is just that at time the books had been neglected and no one ever did a thorough audit to bring everything up to date.  There were times when bills from 5 years prior would suddenly pop up and no one on the current staff had even been with the corps then.   I personally had several clashes with the exec director we did not see eye to eye, and he did not take criticism well.  His personality burned some bridges with local organization whose help we really needed.   I think that lot of the board members thought that he was moving too quick.

    I favored to move to DCI but had too many disagreements with the Exec Director that I stepped away, though I expected them to call me for help once they hit the road. 

          I had hoped that they might come back in some form and lots of people have said they would love to do it again. I don't reallu see much hope in it being restarted though.

[Jimmyjames]

That makes me sad. The last area they were located had/has a lot of successful band programs. I was hoping they would have been able to access that pool of talent to help them out. 

[Jeff Ream]

On 11/1/2023 at 12:10 AM, YellowBrickRoad said:

Hey Jimmy.  Thanks for asking about us!  After the initial “approval” we found we have a lot of financial and administrative work to do to make that transition successfully.  We know we have an interested membership base and conversations are being had in the background regarding reviving the corps and what it will take and also the viability of such an endeavor at this time.  We do not have a definite timeline just yet. 

Now, with DCI All Age, there is even more interest from former members to potentially come and make a go (back) in that direction.  Whichever form we eventually take, DCI Open or DCI All Age, rest assured, we want to do this right and set ourselves up for success, not just for one season, but for many seasons to come.   Again, thanks Jimmy for the inquiry!  We hope to see you on the 50 soon! 

perfect answer

[NewToPosting]

I wonder who would teach the guard, since the last guard CH is not eligible.

[Jimmyjames]

There are plenty of qualified instructors in the area. Hopefully it wouldn't be too hard. 

[Brian Tuma]

8 hours ago, NewToPosting said:

I wonder who would teach the guard, since the last guard CH is not eligible.

Was that CH a member of Crown ca. 2008-10ish? Spill the tea

[Jimmyjames]

9 hours ago, Brian Tuma said:

Was that CH a member of Crown ca. 2008-10ish? Spill the tea

I believe he is referring to the one that broke rule number 1. 

[NewToPosting]

2 hours ago, Jimmyjames said:

I believe he is referring to the one that broke rule number 1. 

Yes, allegedly (and to my knowledge, that person was not affiliated with Crown in any way, ever).

There are DEFINITELY students in the area who would want to do drum corps and either an Open Class or All-Age corps (who treated members correctly) would do really well. 

Honestly, the location lends itself to a shorter DC season, as well. Do your "Summer Training" in July, meet up with the tour as it rolls through Charlotte/Winston-Salem, and head up to Indy for Finals. A total tour of ~3 weeks or so.

Would love to see it happen!!