From: xklh@kimbark.uchicago.edu (Krista Lyn Haggert)
Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps
Subject: Re: The Star of Indiana, HATE
Keywords: The Star of Indiana, why do they hate them?
Date: 18 Aug 92 19:59:37 GMT
Reply-To: xklh@midway.uchicago.edu
Followup-To: Star
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Chicago Computing Organizations

In article <1992Aug18.185848.8020@beaver.cs.washington.edu> dci@cs.washington.edu (Donald Chinn) writes:

>-        I'm just itting here reading all the hatred of them, and I heard all
>- the booing, etc, all season. WHY? Is it just because we have corporate
>- sponsorship, and will allow all types of people into our corp, based on their
>- abilities not their pocketbooks? (sorry, couldn't help but ask that question
>- since someone told me "The Star of Indiana" was filled with low-class people))
>
>>I really didn't want to get into this subject but since
>>you asked.  Most corps, big and small, had (have) to work
>>to get started and to get new members and good instructors.
>>Star *stole* the best instructors all around the country
>>by flashing money.  And yes, Star is talented, but they
>>have the best instructors for the wrong reason.
>
>I'm a little confused.  What exactly are the right reasons for
>an instructor to work for a particular organization?  It seems
>to me that if I were an instructor or designer and I wanted
>to have my drill or whatever realized, then I would go to a corps
>that offered me some money, especially if I were a starving artist
>trying to go to school and make ends meet, etc.

>I probably would not want to work for a corps whose environment is
>not conducive to being creative or where egos amonsgt the staff
>gets in the way of being productive.  I probably wouldn't work for
>a corps whose management or philosophy advocates the slaughter of
>whales, etc. (so far what I have said applies to any kind of work,
>not just drum corps).  But there's nothing about Star (yet) that I
>violently object to.

Just out of curiosity, have you ever marched drumcorps?
>
>From a corps management point of view, why not offer lots of money
>to get talented people?  I'd do it if I were running a corps, because
>if I didn't, I'd be robbing my kids of a better musical experience by
>not exposing them to great instructors.

The circumstances in which they *stole* these instructors
was wrong.  That is all that I am saying.

>
>I don't get this "underdog" mentality, where we (the generic "we") think
>that because some corps works twice as hard to get where they are that they
>deserve first place.  No one can take away the achievement of any of the
>corps, no matter what their final placement.  Judging and the final rankings
>are supposed to be about the performance, not about the behind the scenes
>stuff.  Now I realize that nowhere in the post is there mention that
>Star should not have won (all that was said was that you hated Star), but
>it does seem to be implied.

I never made any mention about the fact that whoever works
harder should win.  I dislike the people in and associated
with Star.  If you want to know if I think that Star was
good enough to win this year?  Looking at their show only?
No, I don't think so.  I think that The Cadets (Garfield)
should have won with Star in a very close second.  Cavies
didn't deserve to win but I'm glad that they did because
I think that they should have won last year.  Star's show
didn't move me too much this year.  Stars and Stripes rah, rah
got boring very fast.  I don't like Star but like I said
before they are talented.  
>
>>Star does not let all people of all shapes and sizes into
>>their corps.  You have to be a certain weight and height.
>>And your ever so precious wonderful staff told me that!!
>>Also, how much to Star members pay a year in dues?  Could
>>it be only $200?  YES!  You don't work for the money
>>you get.  Mr. Cook just hands it over.  That is not
>>drumcorps.
>
>This is a situation where the idea of drum corps as a youth activity
>and drum corps as a music education medium comes into conflict.  At the
>top levels, drum corps have to be extremely selective, which means not
>only do they have to be able to play an instrument or spin a flag well,
>they even have to have a uniform look for the right visual effect.

The major problem that I have with this is that 1.) it is
descrimination and 2.) they do not do this very nicely,
from what I understand.  They basically say" you're fat
and you think that you are going to march with Star."

>This may sound a bit racist, but I find it hard to believe that a white
>person could make it big as a rapper.  I'll believe it, however, when I

White people can be rapper's too.

>>Yeah, yeah.  I know that the Star people think that everyone
>>else is jealous.  Well, that is not it.  I wouldn't march
>>in Star if they paid me, which I understand is not all
>>that uncommon.  Every single person that I ever tried to
>>speak to from Star was rude and walked around with this,
>>"I am better than you" attitude.  Which is really a shame
>>because it would be nice if DCI could be one big happy
>>family.
>
>I doubt if EVERY single person in Star is like this (although I do not
>know this first hand).  And if you go from corps to corps, you probably
>get a significant number of kids who think that they are hot shit because
>of whatever.  These are kids being kids.  What's worse is that these
>attitudes are propagated by (guess who) the parents and alumni.  A vicious
>circle indeed.

I agree with you, but that does not excuse it.  I actually did
find an exception to the statement that I made above.  One
girl that I met at Finals in '87 said that she was embarassed
to have marched with Star.  

Krista
Newsgroups: alt.drumcorps