Jeff Ream Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 oh, I wanna play, I wanna play. As a previous tour manager, I can give an example or two... maybe.2004, New Mexico. D 2/3 show. This show had actually gotten cancelled due to rain, but that's only the end of long problems for this show. There were 3 corps housed at the show site, Yamato, OC, and Fever. However, for one reason or another, the gym was not available for use. The hosts who I was talking too really weren't sure why, but that is what the district told them, or something. So instead, we (all 3 corps) had to use the performing arts building. Fever in one room, OC in the choir room, and Yamato in the band room. The show hosts originally wanted the drivers of all three corps to be in one room, and the staff of all three corps in another. However, none of the corps agreed to this. I ended up sleeping in a practice room with two other drivers. This was also when I dropped my phone into the toilet during a late-night relief effort. I think the biggest specticle came with rehearsal facilities. Originally, the hosts wanted OC and Yamato to share a baseball field, taking turns per say. Again, neither corps would go for it, so our brass caption head at the time asked in his own way if Yamato could instead use the football stadium. I say "in his own way" because we ended up getting it... more or less due to... well, that'll stay in the corps. Anywho... the hosts were having a bad weekend, plain and simple. After everything finally got settled in regards to sleeping and practice areas, one host came up to me and started complaining that they had tried to contact the DCI offices in regards to their situation well before any of the corps arrived, but no one would talk/listen to them, or suggest alternatives, or give help... or do anything I guess. So they pretty much said that they would never host a corps or show again during the summer because of this, and I don't believe there was a show last year, or is there one scheduled this year at this site. Okay, I'm done yikes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluecoats88 Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 I marched Div I my whole career and we had the same or worse housing horror stories. It's not just Div II & III who get bad housing. We once were housed in an elementary school in Michigan for the Ypsilanti show. The school had no locker room facilities (ie: no showers). There was no practice field anywhere near the school. We had to bus to showers and a practice field. I could go on, like the time we were housed in Lynn, MA in a location which had a guard platform, complete with razor wire, above the entrance. We all slept on top of tables for fear of being carried away by the giant cackroach gangs. We were told after dark that no member was to go outside the building for any reason, the razor wired guard station will probably explain why this rule was in effect. In St. Louis we stayed in another location where no members we allowed outside the building after dark. We heard gunfire during the night, and one of our buses had a couple bullet holes in it the next morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluestarsmello Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 I marched Div I my whole career and we had the same or worse housing horror stories. It's not just Div II & III who get bad housing. We once were housed in an elementary school in Michigan for the Ypsilanti show. The school had no locker room facilities (ie: no showers). There was no practice field anywhere near the school. We had to bus to showers and a practice field. That is standard in 2/3. I did that many times. It's not a big deal when there are already arrangements for you to go to the YMCA for showers and have a field set up for you. It's the times where obviously no effort was even made to find facilities for you. I don't think that would ever happen to a member corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hipposduck Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 lol, this is the only topic touched on in these forums for the past two days. The worse your facilities, the better stories you have to share afterwards. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbassman5 Posted February 24, 2006 Share Posted February 24, 2006 That is standard in 2/3. I did that many times. It's not a big deal when there are already arrangements for you to go to the YMCA for showers and have a field set up for you. It's the times where obviously no effort was even made to find facilities for you. I don't think that would ever happen to a member corps. that, and also the fact that he marched 20 years ago.... for our finals week housing this past year, we had TWO working showers per locker room. it was no surprise half the corps perfered the freezing hose water. i've stayed at at least 6 schools in my 3 (really, 2 1/2; we didn't do a full tour in 03) years of marching where there was absolutely no hot water. there were two schools i can remember where the water was extremely hot the whole time. at our finals week housing in Denver, we had to walk (or in the drumline's case, do basics) to our field from our housing site 8 blocks and two dangerous street crossings away. it was even worse when we had to try and get the equipment all the way back to the housing ASAP during the rain storms... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 The thing to remember here though, the responsibility of putting housing sites together are those of the show hosts. Inbetween sites (no show days) are the responsibility of the corps. At least, that was my understanding. Finals week though is a different scenerio... I think (but I am wrong a lot). But who isn't to say that there should be regulations or guidelines for what is considered a "decent" housing site? A possible inspection of sites prior to tour? I remembered discussing a shower situation with the principal of a junior high school we were staying at, as she only wanted us to use 2 of the 4 available showers. I just looked up at her and said, "Now what am I supposed to do when I have to think about the Hygiene of my kids?" hehehe, she just looked me and sighed..."yeah..." We got the other 2 showers after that, thankfully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelloHorn13 Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 Would drum corps be drum corps without cold showers, long hikes to practice fields and situations that are convenient. I think div 2/3 being ignored is when the 2/3 aren't promoted... Ever did a show with ZERO people in the shtands, or did a show with abotu 10 people in the stands. Most of the time the crowds at the 2/3 shows are made up of members of participating corps. Being ignored...... When DCI do public broadcasts and DIV 2/3 isn't mentioned. We all know that DCI does thier fair share of keeping div 2/3 going, may not seem like it's enough, but it's enough to keep us going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrumCorpsRadio Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 Something to think about... It's easy to complain on message boards that DCI should do more for Division II/III. My challenge to every DCI supporter out there is this: GO WATCH DIV 2/3! Yes, you might have to get up early on Saturday morning to get to finals. You might have to go to an out of the way high school stadium. But you will be entertained by great kids doing great things (and it's pretty cheap too!). DCI will not ignore large crowds of people buying tickets to Div 2/3 shows. So when you take the trip out to Madison in August...make the extra effort to take in the 2/3 shows. You may be surprised by what you see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 i agree. however, in many cases, D2/3 shows arent in the major centers like D1 shows are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gbassman5 Posted February 25, 2006 Share Posted February 25, 2006 they aren't in the major centers because major crowds aren't expected to show up to watch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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