San Antonio Crossmen

[3rd_Star_Brigade]

I just sat through that high school's 2005 BOA program through Google Video (YouTube lacks the very beginning, although the intro is relatively meaningless, IMO).

It did remind me that I would still be bored out of my mind at a BOA competition and that almost all the things I enjoy least about drum corps today are all over BOA programs. If these people are intending to take their BOA style to the drum corps idiom, I don't personally think Crossmen will ever entertain me again. I'm not trying to go on a rant here against BOA, but I really hope this crew wants to understand that drum corps is (hopefully still) different than marching band and requires a different mindset from the top down.

For those in the activity that would like to see DCI become Summer BOA (and there are some out there), adding a director that is all about BOA certainly would further that cause. I'm not saying that is the aim of this transaction, but it is definitely something to acknowledge.

It will be interesting to see what comes of this. Unlike some others here, I watch the BOA show from this school and I feel worse about this move, rather than better. It would excite me more to find out that Mark Chambers marched drum corps, as well as how much he loves the activity, and how much he has encouraged his members to march drum corps every summer.

I really find it hard to believe that Mark Chambers would follow that route with Crossmen. He's probably looking to try something more colorful with them, lots of jazz, probably late 90s style.

Isn't Richard Saucedo a BOA director?

[3rd_Star_Brigade]

Crossmen need to be an independent organization, and the TX home may do that. Were there other choices closer to their homebase of PA? I and many other would like to hear more.

Yes, there were several people in bid for the Crossmen.

Mark Chambers

Vivace Productions, inc. ~ Dr. John Villella (Narrowly Lost)

Thats all i know

Edited September 23, 2006 by 3rd_Star_Brigade

[Morgoth Bauglir]

I really hope BONES always = Bad ### and aggressive jazz. No instant GE fluff, just good music. That is so much more important to me than location.

But no matter what happens, the Bones remain.

[Invader]

A public school system will never us tax money to support a drum corps so the band director may be involved but the school is not. If the school starts spending money on the Crossmen it will be a lawyers holiday. The ACLU would throw a party. Since the marching band is seeking sponsors I doubt that the school is fully funding the marching band program.

My wife and I were 15 year volunteers with Crossmen and we had two children march in the corps. We love the Crossmen and this is very sad news for us but the deed is done and we can't do anything to reverse it. All we can do is wish the new management team well and hope they know what they are doing.

A lot of people have talked about all the kids in the San Antonio area who could be potential Crossmen members but membership was never the problem. The problem for every division 1 corps is money. The organization that knows how to raise enough money continues and the ones that don't die. It's a very simple formula and it's the only one that matters. The stadium doesn't matter and the school doesn't matter it's all about money. I hope the new management group understands that. If they don't the corps future in Texas will be a short one.

[EMStar85]

A public school system will never us tax money to support a drum corps so the band director may be involved but the school is not.

The organization that knows how to raise enough money continues and the ones that don't die. It's a very simple formula and it's the only one that matters. The stadium doesn't matter and the school doesn't matter it's all about money. I hope the new management group understands that. If they don't the corps future in Texas will be a short one.

Well said...

[Lancerlady]

You didn't answer though...what is "the bigger picture"?

Yes I did, a couple of pages back.

[geluf]

if you have all these top 10 DCI corps having camps and TX and #15 comes to town......will the fact that they are local be enough to draw kids like mad, or, as we have seen, the rich just keep getting richer and Crossmen are seen as damaged goods?

I dont see the other corps having Texas camps being hurt by this at all. I see it being hard for a corps with no local established identity and a recent rep for less than comeptitive success drawing.

up here, you KNEW the Crossmen. you KNEW people who marched there. you were tauhgt by people who marched there. I havent been to a band show in 18 years that I haven't seen at least 2 Crossmen jackets at.

Don't underestimate the connections that band directors in Texas have to each other.

Crossmen will get their members. No question.

[mbui]

I really find it hard to believe that Mark Chambers would follow that route with Crossmen. He's probably looking to try something more colorful with them, lots of jazz, probably late 90s style.

Isn't Richard Saucedo a BOA director?

Yes, Richard Saucedo is the head director at Carmel HS, IN. The 2005 Bands of America Grand National Champions.

[Bob984]

I too find the constant "get over it" "be positive" posts to be insensitive. The majority of Xmen faithful have to feel sad about this move. No matter how excited those in Texas may be, or how indifferent those in the Midwest might be, the fact remains that there are now only 2 Division I DCI drum corps in the NE, once a home to several drum corps. That is SAD!

I keep wondering:

If Texas is such a hot bed for drum corps, why isn't there a track record of a succesful DivI corps?

Does a successful marching band program really insure a successful drum corps? Other than YEA, I know of no current shared management affiliations between a high school band and any top 12 corps, is there one? Am I expected to believe that these Texas parents and volunteers have been willing to donate their time and money all along, but haven't been smart enough to figure out how to start a drum corps? I have seen in other threads that some top national high school band programs actually do not allow bandies to march in drum corps. Aren't most of the members of top 12 DCI corps high school grads?

Wouldn't long time Xmen volunteers, supporters and alumns rather donate money to keep the corps in their "home region" instead of supporting sending kids to Texas? Will they now spend their time and their support dollars on a different corps that is closer to home?

I live less than 1 hour from Allentown, and have two daughters, aged 10 and 12. They both had aspirations to march in Crossmen as soon as they could audition. They have joined their school bands, one a drummer and one a trumpet, simply as the first step in becoming a member of a drum corps. Even at their young ages, they know the difference between the two! I am annoyed that the YEA organization keeps taking drum corps more toward the band activity. All in the name of music education I suppose, but seemingly at the expense of the things that have made drum corps different from marching band. I just am not ready to embrace the marching band activity under the pretense that drum corps has to, or it will perish.

I appreciate the never say die attitude of some of the MM who have posted here, and sincerely hope that you can realize your dreams of marching. I also hope that the traditions that the Crossmen established will be revered by their new staff, and even revitalized, but I have my reservations.

Change is inevitable, and it is best embraced with optimism. But yesterdays announcement marks the end of a drum corps tradition as we have known it, and that is a sad day, regardless of what the future brings.

Great post....and IMO you are right on the money. I'm an alum and former staffer, and was on the field for the Crossmen's first appearance in finals. The Crossmen have been an Eastern corps since their inception in 1974. What many just do not understand is the corps just lost it's identity as an Eastern drum corps. The corps has provided many, many kids in the Pa./tri-state area an opportunity to drive/car pool ( 0 - 6 hours) and march in a division I corps. That's now over. Yes, Cadets auditions will be crowded, and many of these kids are good but maybe not good enough. Some will haul over 8 - 12 hours to try out for Bluecoats. Flying simply isn't an option for many of these kids fiscally. If they don't become a Cadet or a Bluecoat, they will not be able to be in a DCI division I corps. I know there are "alternatives" (div. II/III and senior, so please don't send the list again.....please, I am not dissing any of those programs, and they are good, but if you want to march DCI Open Class contests, it's not the same)

Yes, the new team has a good band program. But as you state, preparing a band for competition and preparing a world class drum corps to do battle with the Blue Devils, Phantom, etc. are not the same thing. Yes, there are talented high school kids in all corps, but far more talented COLLEGE kids, as that is the general makeup of most finalists, and college schedules mesh better than HS with drum corps these days. I have not seen much (any??) drum corps experience listed for the new administrative team.

I remember some years back when Notre Dame hired a legendary HIGH SCHOOL coach as head football coach......the term was a short one. Yes, some coaches will work out the transition and do fine (I hope so), but it certainly is a big gamble. I think kids from UNT, other colleges, and other Texas kids who went to (or currently aspire to) march with Phantom, Cavaliers, Blue Devils, SCV etc. are not going to suddenly leave those units to go to the Crossmen. That leaves rookies. Their best hope are kids who have wanted to march corps but couldn't fly/afford expensive travel (sound familiar??).

If the move to Texas was the ONLY option available for survival, it would be a bit more acceptable. However, from what I heard, there were other offers. If there was a viable offer from Vivace/West Chester/John Villela and it wasn't accepted, that is dispicable. The corps actually had it's base just minutes from West Chester at one time, and many corps kids from several corps go to and march at WCU. Many Crossmen alumni are WCU graduates. John's a great director, and also has been around drum corps for a very long time and knows what it takes. Some of those kids are Cadets.....................The Crossmen alumni would have been thrilled with this move.....the only reason I can understand turning away from it would be if the necessary finances weren't there.....I have also heard (again unsubstantiated rumors) that there was a viable group in Virginia. The Crossmen have had Virginia kids, and there is some pool to draw from there. It would have been more of a haul from Pa. and some NE areas, but still ok for camps and the corps still maintains it's Eastern roots. Even with the Texas move, would it not have been possible to hold Pa. tryouts and early rehearsals for the corps, and only require members to fly to one or two camps in Texas before moving in in the Spring? It seems that zero was done to maintain the Eastern connection/tradition. The corps is suddenly a Texas corps...period. Out of here. I do want to say that I think YEA and Mr. Hopkins did provide well for the Crossmen (in fact, saved the corps from bankruptcy/extinction). I also do not feel that they made this decision lightly and that they wish the corps longevity and success. I also realize the task of running TWO division one corps was monumental and the whole world was very critical of the process. I am just not sure every effort was made (maybe I am wrong here....) to keep the Crossmen in the Northeast US and thus it's maintain it's home base and tradition.

The Sky Ryders made their Texas move in the 90's. They made finals the first year, missed the next two, and then were done. I pray that history doesn't repeat itself. Why didn't Texas kids show up in DeSoto (not far from Dallas and within easy range of UNT) to march in the DCI FINALIST Sky Ryders????? That has always been a mystery to me. Yes, this move is now a done deal, and I can only hope the corps succeeds. I feel bad for kids in Pa. (like yours) who no longer have the opportunity to become Crossmen. These kids also may not become "Cadets" but were pretty good and wanted to bust their tail to march in the "local" Crossmen......that opportunity has just been yanked. If this Texas move doesn't succeed, I certainly hope that somehow the organization "returns home" instead of being discarded like an old shoe.

GB

:(

[ravedodger]

Gross mismanagement of the crossmen.

YEA was fully capable of achieving the top levels of success for one of its corp – so they have the ability, just not the desire or wherewithal to dedicate their efforts on the crossmen. Maybe they just could not handle managing 2 corps properly, seems to be the case

Did not notice the cadets lacking funds as the crossmen had the pink tables pulled from them

Maybe I should review a copy of YEA budgets; you got a link to their year end reports and finical statements?

Here’s one, seeing that YEA has been proven incapable of managing the crossmen, why should the cadets get a free pass…I don’t get how they can keep them so separate…if crossmen are in such bad shape, than why are cadets so healthy?

And maybe I was wrong about not supporting crossmen, maybe I should throw all my support behind them and send them a fat check, their success would show how inept their past management really was…but this is so much for them to overcome, they have been put in a huge whole

I never thought I would defend Hopkins, but here goes:

I wouldn't say that YEA! had been mismanaging the Crossmen at all. YEA! Has supplemented the income of the Crossmen and brought the corps out of major debt that other corps would have buckled under since the corps joined YEA!.

If you look at YEA! as a business, and it really is a business as it should be, the Crossmen seem to have been a strain on YEA! finances, no wonder Hopkins and crew would sell the corps--it helps YEA!.

Yes, I said crew. THere is no way that Hopkins would be allowed to make this decision on his own--YEA!, I believe, does have a BOD.

One last thing: Hopkins is an alumnus of the Crossmen. Do you think he would want to sell the corps to just anyone and watch it sink?

Last time I checked, not making finals for one year does not make a corps unsuccessful. Plenty of corps have slipped and have come back, which the Crossmen have done on more than one occasion.

Edited September 23, 2006 by ravedodger