Can anyone please explain to me DCM

[Gold_Bond]

Jeez, talk about someone who doesn't "get it". <**>

Why don't we just get rid on any corps that doesn't hit Top 12 after a certain number of years. Div I included.....

I think this is where the "super corps" idea comes from. And will most likely become a reality.

[billj]

My only issue was the lack of housing - and the strange fact that there didn't seem to be showers anywhere other than the stadium. Sure, that locker room was amazing, and you could get several corps in at once, but it was a huge inconvenience for everyone.

Also, I recall times when you would have 2-5 div 2/3 corps staying in the same middle school. Entire corps crammed into a few classrooms, not nearly enough fields, etc.

So yeah, there were great things about DeKalb, and not great things. A highlight was the age-out party after championships. Sadly, I never got to partake, because DCM had already been severly weakened and we went to Cali my age-out year.

With the Chicagoland suburbs pushing father and father west, Dekalb really isn't in the middle of nowhere any longer. There are a number of schools within 30 minutes of Dekalb, so housing for corps isn't an issue. The reality is that there's probably more of an issue with spectator housing, if they really wanted to host a regional there. There's only a couple rinky dink hotels there. However, that didn't stop thousands of people from going to Dekalb each year for finals.

[JimF-LowBari]

I think this is where the "super corps" idea comes from. And will most likely become a reality.

Which fits into my prediction for DCI by 2020 or so. Due to increased cost and other reasons/excuses DCI goes down to either 12 or 18 corps. Corps broken down into 2 or 3 groups of 6 corps each. First half of season each group tours together to save gas, housing, etc, etc where DCI sets up all logistics. At midway point there is a major regional with all corps, then the corps "shuffle" into new groupings of 6.

[Hup234]

One prominent director told me that he couldn't see why many of the Div III corps should remain "in business." Those corps were "not getting any better." Those corps were a "detriment to the activity."

Thanks for reporting that. The reason those Div. III units with their limited resources are stagnant is that they're forced to play by the impossibly extravagant rules and expeditures that Mr. Prominent and his fellow Powers That Be set up for themselves.

That elitist philosophy, historically speaking, was the same exact concept espoused by the Combine organizers at the turn of the 1970s (behind closed doors, of course), and it marked - as we know now and as nearly no one suspected then - the beginning of the collapse of the then-great drum and bugle corps activity.

Actually, the exact term that the Combine back-room plotters were applying to every corps they'd adjudged to be below them - meaning every corps they excluded from membership in their lofty little cluster-muster - was "crap corps".

Read Ozymandias. You'll find it on the Web.

[Hup234]

Well, when I marched, there were so many small-circuit shows <snip> I agree that it's all about that top-six-survival mode nowadays. Like I said at the beginning...power grab.

But yet everyone still stays and plays the game as they're told, don't they, instead of doing a Reverse Combine and changing things. As nasty as the 1969 Combine plotters were with their motivations, they did something to change the things they didn't like. Made phone calls. Held meetings. Built support. And eventually, rewrote the rules.

[audiodb]

Lets face it..Div I's put the butts in the seats.

Ah yes, the old fallacy of the top corps being "the draw". One day, perhaps you will learn that without the other dozens of corps, the top six would be the bottom six, and not much of a "draw" at all. Would the New York Yankees be the "draw" they are today if baseball had never evolved past six teams?

Elitism, as already pointed out on this thread, has been slowly strangling the drum corps activity for decades. DCI and DCA both adopted elitist membership models, thus perpetuating the process. But for awhile, an amazing thing happened in the Midwest. In the era of regional circuits, DCM was formed. Visionary leaders like Roman Blenski, Scott Stewart, Dan Richardson, Jim Mason and others realized that drum corps needed competition on the field and cooperation off the field. They understood that "the draw" was the contest, not just any particular corps. For a time, these leaders worked in concert, understanding that it was in the best interest of the top corps to share the spoils of victory by giving back to the other corps "for the good of the order". And in that era, DCM grew stronger from top to bottom compared to the other regions, both on and off the field.

That era is over now. By a unilateral decision of the division I corps, that spirit of cooperation is largely subdued today. Some call that decision "democratic". Can't argue with that - hostile takeovers are part of the economics of democracy.

As for "the draw", some will still point to DCI division I, and the now-inactive DCM, and claim that DCI's top corps are "the draw". But by continually shrinking the size of the activity via such cannibalistic tactics, division I puts less butts in less seats as each year passes.

DCM was stuck in the dark ages. The corps were tired of crappy shows in small stadiums in the middle of nowhere. (Streator, IL anyone?)

Oh, how horrible. How dare they actually respond to a paying sponsor by providing a show date and a slate of corps.

Seriously, your disdain for this show sponsor is baffling to me. The Streator show put lots of money in the coffers of DCM's corps. Year after year, this show put up the money for a big slate of corps, despite the limit on revenue they worked with using a high-school venue (selling out every year helped in that respect). Long-time activity sponsors, including relatives of DCI hall-of-famer Ken Kobold, were part of the financial equation.

How has eliminating Streator made the activity better? I don't see these same corps getting into Soldier Field. They're just staging shows at other HS venues instead (and fewer of them). Personally, I'd rather see a show that isn't within a mile of O'Hare Airport, but I guess that's a matter of taste.

[morganhill]

And by moving onward and upward, the majority of the corps got left behind...but who cares, right? They have outlived their usefulness too, right?

Your interpertation, not mine!

[DrumCorpsFan27]

Your interpertation, not mine!

But that is what happened. The D1s knew darn well that their leaving spelled doom for the locals, especially seeing it happen with all the other regionals. Was it worth it?

[raphael18]

DCM was stuck in the dark ages. The corps were tired of crappy shows in small stadiums in the middle of nowhere. (Streator, IL anyone?)

Oh, how horrible. How dare they actually respond to a paying sponsor by providing a show date and a slate of corps.

I'm pretty sure that comment was more geared towards the water quality at the housing sites. It's disturbing to see signs on water fountains stating that the water is contaminated. We used to fill every container the corps had with water prior to heading to Streator. That's the only gripe I ever had with the place. Personally, I loved the intimate nature of DCM shows, and the sheer quantity of them. You didn't have to travel hours and hours to get to a show, chances are there would be at least one within a reasonable distance for everyone.

[Michael Boo]

Thanks for reporting that. The reason those Div. III units with their limited resources are stagnant is that they're forced to play by the impossibly extravagant rules and expeditures that Mr. Prominent and his fellow Powers That Be set up for themselves.

That elitist philosophy, historically speaking, was the same exact concept espoused by the Combine organizers at the turn of the 1970s (behind closed doors, of course), and it marked - as we know now and as nearly no one suspected then - the beginning of the collapse of the then-great drum and bugle corps activity.

Actually, the exact term that the Combine back-room plotters were applying to every corps they'd adjudged to be below them - meaning every corps they excluded from membership in their lofty little cluster-muster - was "crap corps".

Read Ozymandias. You'll find it on the Web.

Uh, the Division II & III directors have a say in their own rules creations. I've sat in enough of their part of the rules congress to know they can decide for themselves what their rules are and destiny is.

If you want to talk about closed doors, you need to go back to how decisions were made in the VFW and American Legion shows, where (according to Don Warren and Jim Jones, to whom I'm spoken about this) rules arbitrarily changed for no reason and corps could never be sure what the rules were from one show to the next, depending on the whims of certain people who were not involved with the corps.

It's amusing to hear the Combine organizers referrred to as "back-room plotters." Do you have any idea what corps were paid for participating in VFW and Legion shows? Even for the winner (earnings were often provided on a sliding scale from the top down), prize winnings often didn't cover the cost to get to the show. Someone made money on the corps being there...but it wasn't the corps.

The Combine was a one-year deal to see if such a banding together of the corps—by the corps and for the corps—could work. These corps took a tremendous risk, were totally at the mercy of whether anyone would show up for the shows, were excluded in some cases from participating in other paying venues and were jumping into the unknown. Check out this Fanfare column about the creation of the Midwest Combine.

The following months after the Combine proved it could be down, the concept was expanded to all and DCI was born in Indianapolis. Originally, it was going to be called "Drum Corps National" until the director of DeLasalle asked, "What about us?" Then the person at the chalkboard who had written "Drum Corps National" wrote "International" instead and DCI was off.

Don Warren is finishing a large book on his memoirs that will address this and will be available next year. I'm sure it's going to be a fascinating read.

I don't mean to get down on you, but we come from different perspectives.