Old Geezer Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 I was just thinkin' about who is in the stands now-a-days ? I started going to drum corps shows in the mid-70's on up throught the mid 80's. I took a long break from 1984 till 2004. Wow , what a change Drum Corps shows !!!! I'm not saying one era is better than another, just really differant. Back in my day the average Joe off the street can to drum corps shows and most were entertained. Something there for everybody,jazz-BD,classical-PR,G-men,SCV, everyone had their own style. Corps seemed to really go for the crowd. Tickets to finals were 2/3/4 bucks a pop. The guy off the street could take the hole family for $20.00, and the whole family would have a great time ! At the local shows the crowds were made up of at least 50 % of these type of fans. Now-a-days I bet that number is more in the 2 or 3 % range. The rest of the crowd is made up of friend's , family , alums of corps at that show. ( Oh, I forgot the 200/300 high school band kids. Their band dir. brought them to learn something and their came to socialize. ) Have we not forgotten the ave. person off the street ? I think so !!! $20.00 gets you 1 crappy seat on the 10 yardline, along with all those high schoolers who are more worried about their cell phones or hormones. Meanwhile watching, for the most part, the same show over and over again. ( The ave. Joe can only take so much jazz dancin' and marimba playin') All I'm saying is that until we get these people back in the stands we will never grow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bstar82 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 (edited) As for the kids at the local shows, I can agree. I go to San Antonio every year and the 1st couple of years I would fly to Texas early and catch the Lake Highlands show. But I stopped going to that show even though I'm on their mailing list every year for tickets. Now I know the show sponsors cannot control the high school kids in the stands, but it was impossible to enjoy that show. The stadium has a great view and the acoustics are above average when the kids are not socializing and talking on their cell phones and then have the nerve to everybody to be quiet around them as they are on the phone. You would think the band directors could advise the kids to turn their cell phones off for a couple hours and show some respect to the corps and fans who came to the show in the first place. I personally love going to local shows around the country i.e Dallas, Ankeny, Mankato, Cheyenne, Omaha, Stockton etc... and have noticed myself the people I sit around with are usually former members or parents. It is more of a rarity lately that I sit with newcomers or locals off the street who were brought in by the local advertising. That being said, how would drum corps continue to survive w/o the hard corps fans, parents and local schools bringing the kids into a show, you would probably have your choice of primo seats at every show. I really do worry the direction that DCI is headed. And I am not somebody who has been involved for 5-10 years. I marched in the 70's and 80's and the last 32 summers of my life have been devoted to drum corps either as a member, staff, volunteer and now a jet setting fan. Somebody please wake up and see the direction this activity is taking! I remember being at the Friends of DCI breakfast in Denver in 2004 and one for the first things Dan Acheson said was " A lot of folks feel they run drum corps, but it is you people in this room that really pays the bills and who we listen to that make DCI what it is". I am para phrasing here, but I found that interesting at the time now that amps, electronics and woodwinds are or will be a part of this activity very soon. Edited January 29, 2007 by bstar82 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raphael18 Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 Funny story, I was at a div 2/3 focus show with my corps in 02, and after we had performed our show some of my corps mates and myself were stiting in the backstands (still in unis - we had retreat still). I saw this guy with his daughter, and they looked kind of confussed as to what was going on - so we started talking. Turns out they had been driving by and saw the show, and decided to check it out. They were having a blast - but were confussed because we run things a little different than the marching bands that they are used to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimedrummer Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 (edited) I was just thinkin' about who is in the stands now-a-days ? I started going to drum corps shows in the mid-70's on up throught the mid 80's. I took a long break from 1984 till 2004. Wow , what a change Drum Corps shows !!!! I'm not saying one era is better than another, just really differant. Back in my day the average Joe off the street can to drum corps shows and most were entertained. Something there for everybody,jazz-BD,classical-PR,G-men,SCV, everyone had their own style. Corps seemed to really go for the crowd. Tickets to finals were 2/3/4 bucks a pop. The guy off the street could take the hole family for $20.00, and the whole family would have a great time ! At the local shows the crowds were made up of at least 50 % of these type of fans. Now-a-days I bet that number is more in the 2 or 3 % range. The rest of the crowd is made up of friend's , family , alums of corps at that show. ( Oh, I forgot the 200/300 high school band kids. Their band dir. brought them to learn something and their came to socialize. ) Have we not forgotten the ave. person off the street ? I think so !!! $20.00 gets you 1 crappy seat on the 10 yardline, along with all those high schoolers who are more worried about their cell phones or hormones. Meanwhile watching, for the most part, the same show over and over again. ( The ave. Joe can only take so much jazz dancin' and marimba playin') All I'm saying is that until we get these people back in the stands we will never grow. I started going to corps shows in the 60's, which were mostly VFW and American Legion shows. The band connection to drum corps hadn't been made yet.The actual interest at theses VET conventions pales by todays standards. While I appreciate what you're saying about band students to a point, IMO, you do appear like an OLE Geezer. I find most band kids to be polite and attentive, although there's always those exceptions. Your point about inflation can be applied to almost family activity, from MLB, to a trip to Disney. IMO, the future of DCI rests with the connection to the HS marching band activity. It's the logical next step for todays well trained performers. Edited January 28, 2007 by oldtimedrummer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Geezer Posted February 9, 2007 Author Share Posted February 9, 2007 I brought this back up. I think it go's with the " Why don't crowds go nuts anymore " topic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A27Lancer Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 I always found band kids (especially in the South) to be extremely enthusiastic - to the point of being groupies!! They loved both 27th and Avant Garde when we toured the Southeast, and asked for autographs and stuff. Yeah, the last couple of local Division 1 shows I've been to have been mostly the people others have mentioned. I remember the Revere shows at the old Paul Revere Stadium, which is in the middle of a heavily populated neighborhood, where the neighbors would set up lawn chairs outside the fence! "Noise pollution" drove a lot of those shows out of the neighborhood stadiums though. I guess there are some folks who don't find it as easy as I do to fall asleep to a drum line warming up outside their bedroom window! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PageantryVisGuy Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 When the price of feul goes back down to 50 cents, then we'll talk... With the economy like it is, drum corps wouldn't survive on $2 a ticket... And that's...well...my $2.16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 I always found band kids (especially in the South) to be extremely enthusiastic - to the point of being groupies!! They loved both 27th and Avant Garde when we toured the Southeast, and asked for autographs and stuff. I agree. When we were on our way dowbn south in 1971, we were housed by a band in South Carolina. Turned out they were Garfield groupies...we did an exhibition for the town at their HS...the local radio station came out and broadcast our show. When I got to the home I was staying at, in the band members room was a photo of our tri-tom section...so there I was, hanging on the band member's wall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancerlady Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 (edited) My husband and I drove a long way from Kissimmee to Kennesaw a couple of years ago to see the show and meet up with some drum corps friends. I was surprised when there was a group of VERY rude kids persistent on talking throughout the shows and giving their opinions on the shows, during the show. They were also talking on cell phones. I looked around to see parents by them and thought, "surely they'll say something to them about talking during the shows". They didn't. I asked them nicely not to talk during the shows please. They looked at me like I had asked them something awful. They ignored me and continued talking. I told them I didn't pay to come and hear them talking during the shows. I'm the kind of person who doesn't have a problem speaking up (as if I had to tell y'all that). :P They wouldn't stop. I went to go ask the show coordinator, who happened to be a friend of mine, what was up with this group, during a break. He told me they were band kids. I was like, "why doesn't the band director get them under control"? They were really incredibly rude. I was surprised. Anyway, I believe my husband got fed up and went and asked security to assist him with these kids. They finally got the message. But the point is, why should we have to be subjected to that? Why does DCI cater to them and give them price breaks for groups, when all they do is sit there and talk to each other and on cell phones during the shows, making everyone else miserable? I don't see alumni fans who go to shows getting price breaks. (But that's another topic). There is a big problem with that. Kids are incredibly inconsiderate at these shows . I know alot of parents go to see their kids and some of these kids could care less, but that doesn't give them the right to mess it up for the rest of us PAYING full price fans who want to see a show. On a side note. While in Foxboro at finals, my husband and I sat next to a guy who told me he saw it on the tv and had been in drum corps once upon a time. We began to have a conversation before the show, and he told me he hadn't been to a show in a very long time at least 10 years but wanted to see what was going on. This mans favorite corps was Blue Devils. He was very disappointed with the show and said he wouldn't be back. He didn't understand what was going on. I think that was the year they did the marathon show..I can't remember. We talked during corps. That's when you're supposed to talk. Yeah, there is a problem with kids at drum corps shows, another reason I don't want to pay good money if I can't sit through a show and enjoy it without these kinds of interruptions. I swore we'd never drive that far again for a show to sit through that kind of hell. Edited February 9, 2007 by Lancerlady Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walter Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 (edited) My husband and I drove a long way from Kissimmee to Kennesaw a couple of years ago to see the show and meet up with some drum corps friends. I was surprised when there was a group of VERY rude kids persistent on talking throughout the shows and giving their opinions on the shows, during the show. They were also talking on cell phones. I looked around to see parents by them and thought, "surely they'll say something to them about talking during the shows". They didn't. I asked them nicely not to talk during the shows please. They looked at me like I had asked them something awful. They ignored me and continued talking. I told them I didn't pay to come and hear them talking during the shows. I'm the kind of person who doesn't have a problem speaking up (as if I had to tell y'all that). :P They wouldn't stop. I went to go ask the show coordinator, who happened to be a friend of mine, what was up with this group, during a break. He told me they were band kids. I was like, "why doesn't the band director get them under control"? They were really incredibly rude. I was surprised. Anyway, I believe my husband got fed up and went and asked security to assist him with these kids. They finally got the message. But the point is, why should we have to be subjected to that? Why does DCI cater to them and give them price breaks for groups, when all they do is sit there and talk to each other and on cell phones during the shows, making everyone else miserable? I don't see alumni fans who go to shows getting price breaks. (But that's another topic). There is a big problem with that. Kids are incredibly inconsiderate at these shows . I know alot of parents go to see their kids and some of these kids could care less, but that doesn't give them the right to mess it up for the rest of us PAYING full price fans who want to see a show. On a side note. While in Foxboro at finals, my husband and I sat next to a guy who told me he saw it on the tv and had been in drum corps once upon a time. We began to have a conversation before the show, and he told me he hadn't been to a show in a very long time at least 10 years but wanted to see what was going on. This mans favorite corps was Blue Devils. He was very disappointed with the show and said he wouldn't be back. He didn't understand what was going on. I think that was the year they did the marathon show..I can't remember. We talked during corps. That's when you're supposed to talk. Yeah, there is a problem with kids at drum corps shows, another reason I don't want to pay good money if I can't sit through a show and enjoy it without these kinds of interruptions. I swore we'd never drive that far again for a show to sit through that kind of hell. Why cater to kids who don't care to what is going on. If a band comes to a show give them a group rate, I have no problem with that but the band director should keep them quiet and under control. I don't know why DCI doesn't cater to the people who got them to where they are today, THE DRUM CORPS ALUMNI !!!! I think we've EARNED it, don't you ??!! Edited February 13, 2007 by ODBC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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