brassomaniac Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 (edited) NOT blaming ANYTHING ON ANYBODY - so don't start. But, it seems to me that this one day (prelims) has an awful lot riding on it. Important enough to have a plan in place if it is washed out. (maybe there was one - I don't know). Maybe having the three shows in one day in NEAR impossible - but still better than most of the 23 corps (I understand it was better, at some times, than it was at others) enduring the conditions that they did when so much time, effort, milage and money have been expended by so many to get to this all important day. AND, to miss out of the huge crowd that surely would have seen them under better conditions. And yes, the forcast looked bad for Sunday as well, but it bad enough on Saturday that it would have been worth delaying the show on the CHANCE of better conditions; which, by the way would have turned out to be a good bet. I don't know all the negatives that would have arisen out of moving to Sunday; and they may have been insurmountable ones. But, I would think that prelims is an EXTREMELY important day, and I would have a back-up plan that assumed the worst (and how much worse could it have been?) I, for one, was looking forward to seeing the entire show, and sat in the parking lot right up until start time. I admit, I just wasn't willing to spend 6 hours sitting in an open stadium in those conditions. Call me a sissy, but I'm old, and I'm done performing OR "spectating" under those conditions. As a performer who only made it to Finals once, and finished his season at prelims MANY times; I think that it's possible that not everyone may realize the importance of this day to corps (and their members) who know this will or may be the culminating day of the season. Not to mention that many of these corps now travel from far outside the Northeast for this day. Just my opinion. Again, NOT a knock on anyone. And I do respect the performers AND the fans who toughed it out. Wish you all could have had better conditions for your big day. Edited September 11, 2006 by brassomaniac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IllianaLancerContra Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 ya know.. they could move the event away from the east coast.....senic Racine Wisconsin comes to mind..... about 30 min from six flags... and about 45 from Blarney Island... which is a wonderful place to visit.. Just a thought... How about someplace west of Pennsylvania? California, anyone? Skyliner's (Garbarina) went to AL in Los Angeles in 1950; & it was a lot harder (& I bet more expensive in standardized $$) back then to travel. I'm sure there were other examples. Renegades suck it up and come east, sometimes > once/season, & I know aircraft fly both directions. Racine is good too, how about St Paul? Dallas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultimate_cab_fan Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 Who says you have to have a prelims and finals? In all fairness to the performers, especially the ones who knew they were not going to make finals, it would have been better to hold out until Sunday to see what the weather held. I don't care who says it, I know it was not fun to perform in that kind of weather. There's no way you were having your 100% best performance. Yea you toughed it out; good for you, but I'm sure you didn't enjoy it as much as you would have had the weather conditions been favorable. DCA should have had one big show on Sunday. Thats right, I said it. Prelims is gone and all you have is finals, and everyone should have been in it. That would have been fair to all the performers who spent the summer perfecting their art. It would have been fair to all the performers who spent tons of money to compete that weekend. Yes DCA, and when I say DCA I'm talking about the management and corps themselves, don't be so ###### cheap next time and bite the bullet; cancel prelims, refund the prelims tickets and make it a one day show the next day. Those of you that don't think this can happen don't want it to happen. Those that want a better DCA for all will find a way to make it happen. yea... i just did it. Thats my first ever Rant on DCP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brassomaniac Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 Who says you have to have a prelims and finals? In all fairness to the performers, especially the ones who knew they were not going to make finals, it would have been better to hold out until Sunday to see what the weather held. I don't care who says it, I know it was not fun to perform in that kind of weather. There's no way you were having your 100% best performance. Yea you toughed it out; good for you, but I'm sure you didn't enjoy it as much as you would have had the weather conditions been favorable.DCA should have had one big show on Sunday. Thats right, I said it. Prelims is gone and all you have is finals, and everyone should have been in it. That would have been fair to all the performers who spent the summer perfecting their art. It would have been fair to all the performers who spent tons of money to compete that weekend. Yes DCA, and when I say DCA I'm talking about the management and corps themselves, don't be so ###### cheap next time and bite the bullet; cancel prelims, refund the prelims tickets and make it a one day show the next day. Those of you that don't think this can happen don't want it to happen. Those that want a better DCA for all will find a way to make it happen. yea... i just did it. Thats my first ever Rant on DCP. Hey... Why Not? One big show (in the event of prelims being washed out that is). Seems like a reasonable back-up plan. I have to believe that this has been discussed before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scerpella Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 (edited) How about someplace west of Pennsylvania? California, anyone? Skyliner's (Garbarina) went to AL in Los Angeles in 1950; & it was a lot harder (& I bet more expensive in standardized $$) back then to travel. I'm sure there were other examples. Renegades suck it up and come east, sometimes > once/season, & I know aircraft fly both directions.Racine is good too, how about St Paul? Dallas? Nice sentiments but DCA is not moving West of even Rochester until there are more than a handful of non Eastern corps that are in finals. The fan base is still largely East based. This is why it is incumbent on DCA Central and DCA South to expand their membership and create viable circuits. At this point there arent enough All Age fans in the midwest or South. But I do feel that are plenty of great fans in those areas and once theyve been introduced to All Age they might prefer it over the ever more hard to enjoy DCI corps. Edited September 11, 2006 by Scerpella Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jth1206kp Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 Just to make sure all the information is out there:When Frontier was told the show was being delayed, and that our performance time was going to be moved back at least 20 minutes (it ended up being longer than that) - this was communicated to us by a DCA guy with a clipboard who said it was because they'd cleared the stadium due to a "tornado warning". Don't know where the DCA guy got this info, but that's what was said to us as we were standing out warming up in the rain (blowing sideways btw). That's probably why people are using the term "tornado warning" in regards to last Saturday's events. Something that hasn't been mentioned here. The show was actually not stopped because of tornado warnings. The stoppage was because the rain was so intense the field was not draining fast enough and was becoming hazardous to the performers. The corners of the field, where the water was draining to, were almost completely under water at the time of the stoppage. At the time, I was under the tents on the right side endzone speaking with some of my friends from Alliance. A few minutes after the stoppage, we were told by DCA that there was a possibility of tornadoes in the area and we should move from under the tents to under the actual stands for our safety. My guess would be that the mass of people moving under the stands from the tents merged with the mass of people already under the stands and became one giant "telephone game", with the story evolving as it was passed along. But again. The show was stopeed because of unsafe field conditions due to drainage, not tornadoes. Don't know if this changes the dynamic of this argument, which is pretty dumb anyway. But that's what happened. Carry on. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scerpella Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 Something that hasn't been mentioned here.The show was actually not stopped because of tornado warnings. The stoppage was because the rain was so intense the field was not draining fast enough and was becoming hazardous to the performers. The corners of the field, where the water was draining to, were almost completely under water at the time of the stoppage. At the time, I was under the tents on the right side endzone speaking with some of my friends from Alliance. A few minutes after the stoppage, we were told by DCA that there was a possibility of tornadoes in the area and we should move from under the tents to under the actual stands for our safety. My guess would be that the mass of people moving under the stands from the tents merged with the mass of people already under the stands and became one giant "telephone game", with the story evolving as it was passed along. But again. The show was stopeed because of unsafe field conditions due to drainage, not tornadoes. Don't know if this changes the dynamic of this argument, which is pretty dumb anyway. But that's what happened. Carry on. :) Are you citing a distinction between Tornado Warnings (where one has been sighted) and just fear of the possibilities of tornadoes developing (Tornado Watch) as a reason? Kilties were waiting in our bus a couple blocks over and our director informed us there had been a tornado warning, but I didnt take it to mean there were actually tornadoes in the area. All I knew was that it was raining pretty hard and I was glad not to have to get out of the bus for awhile. Conditions were crappy by any measurement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ducttapedgerbil Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 1984...DCI Finals...Atlanta, GA...it rained on us in prelims or finals (can't remember which). Granted, it was only a little rain and it stopped after a few minutes. But I don't recall any discussion of delay due to the weather front. Suck it up...... In my 3 years in DCI I remember doing a show once in our corps jackets because of the weather....Troopers home show as I recall... but we still performed. I have a list of things for DCA to do for next year but rescheduling due to those conditions was not one of them. Yup, I was wet. Yup, it was cold. But from the moment we got the the gate to the moment we left the field I never noticed the rain or wind or hail or cold. The only thing I was worried about before we got on the field were puddles and slippery surface...neither of which were a problem. This is Drum Corps....what does not kill you makes you stronger....this is one thing that separates us from....bands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ducttapedgerbil Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 We all experienced DCA weekend the same. If weather was a problem and you wish it rectified I suggest.....www.god.com......but I wouldn't wait for an answer for to long.... We are not on speaking terms (devout athiest)..... I ask him if that was all he had.....sorry about that White Sabers. ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vibraphonusrex Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 You guys also got the only 30 seconds of sunshine that fell on Rochester the entire weekend! :P Yes, it was amazing!! I don't know how George arranged that with the weatherman, but way to go! Actually, I think YR-Rudi was remembering the Tournament of Stars show in Bayonne on June 10th. Wow, the wind was incredible. The real heroes that day were the colorguard members--I don't know how they put up with that much wind. On one gust, my vibraphone actually blew out of position and started to roll across the parking lot! Bob Blomberg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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