"dance one year in, kiss one goodbye."
That's a line from the Bushwackers' corps song "The Perfect Year," and it absolutely catches the spirit of this time of the year.
For 14 consecutive years now, I have ended my drum corps season Labor Day weekend, sulked around for a couple of weeks, and then got right back into the swing of things for the next season. 2010 has already started for both the Bushwackers and for me, and now it's time to really get this thing groovin'.
Last year was a difficult year competitively due to the fact that we were small, and there were some chemestry issues on the staff and within the membership to a certain degree. A lot of that stuff has been dealt with so far, and a lot more is being worked on behind the scenes. The corps is going through a metamorphosis, if you will, that is going to put us in a better position to have sustainable success.
Sustainable success should be the aim of every organization. You can get a bunch of hired guns in there for one year and win, but what happens after that? At what cost did victory come? No...I want to help build a solid foundation here on which we can build sustainable success.
Drum corps has fundamentally changed. I don't think that's news to anyone who's been in the activity for a while. It used to be that you could have equipment held together with duct tape and willpower, uniforms with stains and tears in them, and dents in horns and whatnot and still be competitive. You simply can't get away with that anymore. Drum corps has become too corporate. There's a lot of money that goes into each competitive season. Staff salaries and equipment prices have gone through the roof...even in all-age corps.
Like I said, there's a lot of work being done behind the scenes to help ensure that the Bushwackers will continue to ruin drum corps for many more years beyond 2010. :) I'm looking forward to being able to make some of the announcements that will be forthcoming from the corps. It's an exciting time to be a Bushwacker.
If you're interested in more information, definitely visit http://www.bushwackers.org/ or just message me. I have a lot of great plans in store for BUSH BRASS this year, so jump on board. This is definitely the year you want to march here!
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