Drum and Bugle Corps

(www.casperstartribune.net)

By CORY MATTESON
Star-Tribune staff writer

n 1972, after over a decade of being known as “America’s Corps,” the Casper-based Troopers Drum and Bugle Corps, became a founding member of Drum Corps International. Today, the DCI governs the world of competitive drum corps, where 14- to 21-year-olds spend their summers sweating through hundreds of practice hours, traveling thousands of miles and playing in some of America’s grandest stadiums.

Over the weekend, though, the DCI gave the Troopers their marching papers. Now the Casper group’s competitive marching is at risk for 2006, while it hurries to get back in good graces with the governing body it helped create.

The DCI held its annual fall meeting in Chicago, which the Troopers executive director Mat Krum could not attend due to a stomach virus. On Sunday, he received a call from Dan Acheson, executive director of DCI. Acheson told Krum that the Troopers’ membership had been revoked.

Monday morning, Krum visited the home of Ted Gilbert, president of the Troopers board of directors, and resigned.

“At this time I felt that I was unable to provide the service the organization needed,” Krum said.

Acheson did not return calls on Tuesday, but the final sentence of DCI’s report on its fall meetings read, “Pursuant to the DCI By-laws the board of directors voted unanimously to terminate the membership of the Troopers from Casper, Wyo., due to internal and external compliance issues, spanning several years.”

“I was not expecting that to be an outcome of the weekend,” said Krum. The Troopers had known before the summer season started in June that the DCI was considering such an action, though Gilbert said it happened faster than he thought it would, especially considering that Krum and three bus drivers had just returned from Houston, where two of the Troopers buses were being used to transport victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Gilbert did not expand much on the DCI’s reasoning for the termination, other to say that the ban “has to do with our organizational background, our staff, our finances.”

“I don’t think (this kind of DCI sanction) happens very often,” he added. “It definitely is something to get somebody that’s slacking, and unfortunately the truth is (we were), and it gets our attention real fast.”

The Troopers are seeking an interim executive director to help comply with the DCI, and, eventually, a full-time replacement for Krum.

Krum, who has been involved with the Troopers since playing in the corps in 1988, said he still plans to help the group.

Gilbert said he hopes the Troopers will be back under the DCI’s umbrella by November, though they may have to march at the Division II level, which would place them in fewer competitions. If they don’t earn reinstatement by next summer, the Troopers will march independently.

But they will march.

“We’re still a drum corps,” Gilbert said. “We just don’t have the auspices of Drum Corps International, and they’re the umbrella organization that arranges for tour schedules, for the various drum corps and their members. As of right now, Troopers are not going to be included on the tour schedule. We are working hard to get all that information that we need to (get) to DCI so that we can be reinstated.”

Not being a sanctioned drum corps could affect recruiting, Gilbert said. The Troopers seek musicians from all over the country, and those who participate spend basically the entire summer together. It might prove to be a difficult draw to woo top talent to a corps not involved with the DCI’s contests, but Troopers drum major Mark Crimm said he has received calls from many current members saying they’ll be back in 2006, no matter what.

“It’s gonna work out,” Gilbert said. “It’s too good of an organization. It’s too good for the kids.”

(www.lacrossetribune.com)

The La Crosse Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps is back in the big time.

The Blue Stars will join the Madison Scouts, the Cavaliers of Rosemont, Ill., the Cadets of Bergen County, N.J., and 20 other elite drum corps in Division I or open class in 2006. Drum Corps International’s board of directors voted Saturday to accept the Blue Stars’ application for Division I after 23 years as a Division II or III corps.

“I was ecstatic with the announcement and grateful for all the work some 20 years before me,” said Greg Struve, the Blue Stars’ executive director. “I’m in awe. It’s a big day for the Blue Stars and La Crosse.”

The Blue Stars were the only corps accepted as a new Division I member for next summer. Struve said the Blue Stars are the only veteran corps to ever fold and then return to Division I.

“This is unprecedented, and it’s like moving from college football to the NFL,” Struve said. “Moving back to Division I rarely happens anymore, and we’re the first founding member to come back.”

The Blue Stars were a charter member of Drum Corps International and eight times were Division I finalists from 1972 to 1979, including a second-place finish in 1972. The Blue Stars folded after the 1982 season due to financial problems after they finished 37th at the world championships.

The La Crosse corps was reorganized as a small corps in 1983. The Blue Stars became one of the most successful Division II/III corps in drum corps history. They qualified for the Division II/III world championship finals 21 straight years and won four Division III world championships.

Struve, who was also named 2005 director of the year for the DCI Central region, said the DCI board was impressed with the Blue Stars’ 2005 travel schedule and show and their third-place finish in Division II at the world championships.

“The board was impressed with our growth and improvement in performance as well as we are financially stable,” Struve said. “But the biggest thing we had going for us was we are the Blue Stars.

“We have a long track record of being a respectable and successful organization, which has led by example whatever division we have been in,” he said.

After the Blue Stars were reorganized in 1983, Brad Furlano of Onalaska, Wis., was the first drum major and served for 12 years. His two brothers, Bruce, and Brandon, followed him as drum majors.

“It’s the greatest thing ever for the Blue Stars,” said Brad Furlano, now a Blue Stars’ board member. “It’s a realization of a dream for so many Blue Stars who marched in Division II/III.

“But even more so, it’s a great day for La Crosse because this corps now will have a bigger national stage again,” he said. “That means a big stage for La Crosse, too.”

Struve said the Blue Stars will perform at more major shows next season and share the national stage with the top 20 elite corps in the world.

Dawn Christianson, a La Crosse native who marched with the Blue Stars from 1972 to 1975, said the return to Division I is a milestone for the Blue Stars.

“I had tears of joy, and I’m so excited,” said Christianson, who has been one of the most committed corps volunteers. “We just kept plugging along over the years, and we never said die. It’s a dream that has come true.”

Struve said he already expected most of his 130-member corps returning next season, but now a return to Division I will help recruiting.

“We’re going to have a big, big corps, and we’re going to get even better,” Struve said.

Struve and his staff more than doubled the size of the corps the past two years, and the Blue Stars became the fastest-growing drum corps in the country. In 2005, the Blue Stars had their largest corps in almost 25 years.

“We’re going to rebuild the alumni base, and being back in Division I will help big time,” Struve said. “I’m excited about it.”