Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps

As summer approaches, twelve thirteen talented Santa Clarita high school students are anxiously awaiting their opportunity to spend the summer months on tour with several top-notch World Class Drum and Bugle Corps. While their shows aren't quite the same as the dance scenes in High School Musical, these students will be playing music, dancing, spinning, training and competing on a very high level for the entire summer preparing for shows that will absolutely knock your socks off.

Long, hot days, often with 12 hours of practice or more, will be rewarded by the thrill of competing against the best Drum and Bugle Corps in the nation for the ultimate prize: The DCI (Drum Corps International) World Championships in Indianapolis this August and a chance to perform in front of 60,000 screaming fans on Finals night.

Along the way, the members of these Corps will partipate in day after day of competitions as they tour the country. For the Madison Scouts, a World Class Drum and Bugle Corps, their schedule includes 12,000 miles of travel across 16 states and 33 performances before they reach the finals. At times, they will have 5 days in a row of competitions! Other World Class Corps will have similar schedules, while the Open Class Corps have schedules that aren't quite as arduous.

Santa Clarita high school students will be participating in a variety of corps, some local, some far away, some World Class, some Open Class. Here's a list of this summer's rock stars:

Drum & Bugle Corps	Location	Student	Instrument	School
Blue Devils B	Concord, CA	Brandon Gedalje	Snare	West Ranch
Madison Scouts	Madison, WI	Kevin Slocum	Color Guard	Valencia
Mystikal	Long Beach, CA	Jasmine Young	Color Guard	Valencia
Pacific Crest	Diamond Bar, CA	Ryland Schell	Snare	Valencia
Pacific Crest	Diamond Bar, CA	Robyn Kamp	Color Guard	West Ranch
Pacific Crest	Diamond Bar, CA	Jennifer Myung	Color Guard	West Ranch
Pacific Crest	Diamond Bar, CA	Matt Atkin	Contra/Tuba	West Ranch
Pacific Crest	Diamond Bar, CA	Carl Burnstein	Percussion/Djembe	West Ranch
Santa Clara Vanguard	Santa Clara, CA	Ronny Sunnaa	Baritone	West Ranch
Santa Clara Vanguard	Santa Clara, CA	Zach Christy	Contra/Tuba	West Ranch
Velvet Knights	Pasadena, CA	Kyle Ballard	Percussion/Pit	Saugus
Velvet Knights	Pasadena, CA	Naomi Kaswan	Color Guard	Saugus
Velvet Knights	Pasadena, CA	Dalia Berman	Pecussion/Marimba	West Ranch

The World Class Drum and Bugle Corps represented by our Santa Clarita youth are the Blue Devils, Madison Scouts, Pacific Crest, and Santa Clara Vanguard. The Open Class Drum and Bugle Corps represented by Santa Clarita students are Mystikal and the Velvet Knights.

Tour fees and schedules vary, but in general those participating in the non-local World Class Corps will be required to make a larger commitment, both financially and time-wise, to their chosen Corps.

For example, Madison Scouts members are required to pay dues in the amount of $2,000 and partipate in various fundraisers to help offset the overall costs of the summer tour. Their move-ins start on May 23, with all members living "in residence" with the corps (as in sleeping on gym floors together) for the entire summer. They have a full cook-crew to prepare all meals during their training camps, move-ins and on tour, with menu items including yummy-sounding ice cream cones with brownie mix in them. Santa Clara Vangard has similar requirements, with dues of $2,200 and move-ins starting on May 16. Both of these corps also have several required weekend camps (Friday night to Sunday afternoon) through the Winter and Spring months (November through early May), so airfare costs will also add up for these kids.

In contrast, Mystikal members are required to pay a tour fee of $1,000, and their schedule leaves most weekdays open for daytime work and summer school so they sleep in their own beds at night. Typically Mystikal will be away from home for the last 10 days of the summer tour. Pacific Crest has a schedule similar to Mystikal's, with weekday rehearsals from 2pm-8pm to allow for daytime jobs and summer school, plus weekend camps during April and May. They will tour for 3 1/2 weeks at the end of the season. Dues for Pacific Crest are $1,900 per summer.

Teaching Our Youth to be Productive, Motivated Adults

Most of the drum and bugle corps are now co-ed, with the exception of the Madison Scouts and the Cavaliers, which have boy scout origins and remain all-male corps. Each of the corps will have its own mission and objectives, but generally all corps will have a strong emphasis on education, leadership, confidence-building, accountability, goal setting and performance skills. While many of their members will not pursue careers in the music field, they do take with them these very important skills that will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

Frank, an alumni of the Madison Scouts, had this to say about his experience from 30 years ago: "If we apply the Madison philosophy to our every day lives when we are in the workforce, we will be successful. Meaning that if we all do what we are supposed to do and apply ourselves to our passion, even when we are tired and miserable, you will be successful. I can tell you that all these years later, I still push myself to my limits every day as a sales person because of my years in corps. I'll stop and make one more call or get in a little early to check on progress of my projects in production because my experience in Madison. It took a few years removed from corps but I finally realized how valuable my experience was in corps."

Think about it: We're sending 13 Santa Clarita students off to an adventure that can help mold them into successful, motivated adults. Many of these kids will remain with their chosen Corps for several years (minimum age requirements will vary by corps, but typically will be those who are age 16 by June 1 and they cannot be 22 before June 1 in their final year). My son will be the youngest member of the Madison Scouts this year, since he will be turning 16 only days before the June 1 cutoff. That means that he will have the opportunity to spend several years with the Scouts, improving on his leadership skills and building on his experiences year after year. Each fall he will return to school and be able to use his experiences to help motivate his fellow students, helping him to develop his leadership abilities, and helping his friends to strive for better results as well.

These Students are Asking for Your Help!

As you can see, each of these twelve students is making a huge commitment to the drum and bugle corps activity this summer. They are giving of their time, sweat, and possibly tears at times in order to participate in this life-changing activity. They have all requested that I do what I can to help get the word out that sponsorships are the key to allowing them to continue participating in drum corps and learning the leadership and other skills that will last them a lifetime. Dues for the World Class Drum and Bugle Corps run about $2,000 per year, plus most of these students also have travel (airfare) costs to bear. While dues and travel costs for the more local Open Class Corps are not as high, these students also need your help in meeting their financial commitments.

Annual costs for each summer tour run about $1,000,000 for a typical World Class Corps that spends almost the entire summer on the road. Dues usually cover about a third of this, with 150 members each paying about $2,000. The rest of the funding for each year's tour comes from fundraisers, alumni and sponsors. Costs for each tour include transportation (vehicles, fuel, and maintenance), housing (typically gym floors), food (usually prepared by a cook crew), salaries for staff (most of whom are underpaid), equipment (drums, horns, pit instruments, color guard equipment), uniforms, and other administrative costs.

If you can help out at all, whether with a $20 contribution or a corporate sponsorship of one (or some) of these students, you will have a huge impact on their lives. While I cannot give out their contact information in this format, I can give you the contact information for the various drum and bugle corps as well as the local band directors. In addition, I have the ability to contact most of these students directly, so I'll be happy to pass on any messages to them. Here's a directory of the corps and the local band directors for those of you who would like to assist our local "rock stars" this summer:

• Blue Devils
  • Website: http://BlueDevils.org
• Madison Scouts
  • Website: http://MadisonScouts.org
  • Fuel-A-Thon Fundraiser:
    • http://squidoo.com/madisonscoutsfuelathon
  • Raffle: Win a 4-night trip to Disney World in Orlando including airfare, a 42-inch plasma HDTV, $750 cash, and more! $10 per ticket, drawing to be held August 8. Only 5,000 tickets will be sold. More info here.
• Mystikal
  • Website: http://Mystikal-Corps.org
• Pacific Crest
  • Website: http://Pacific-Crest.org
• Santa Clara Vangurd
  • Website: http://SCVanguard.org
• Velvet Knights
  • Website: http://VKYAO.org
• School Band Director Contacts
  • Hart
    • Anthony Bailey: abailey@hartdistrict.org
  • Saugus
    • Robert Gibson: rgibson@hartdistrict.org
  • Valencia
    • Erin Stankey: estankey@hartdistrict.org
  • West Ranch
    • Jason Marshall: jmarshall@hartdistrict.org

Watch Your Favorite Corps From Home, 24-Hours a Day!

DCI has just announced thei new Fan Network program, which for a measly $69 allows you to watch your favorite corps 24 hours a day. This program will provide live streaming video for selected shows (currently Madison, Wi; Stanford, CA; Denver, CO; San Antonio, TX; Atlanta, GA; Bloomington, IN) as well as backstage videos from "embedded" corps video crews and access to mulimedia files from DCI's historical vaults. If you want to see what your kids are up to, or are just a drum and bugle corps fan, click here to sign up for the DCI Fan Network.

The Fine Print: I've attempted to include all Santa Clarita area high school students who will be participating in the Drum and Bugle Corps activity this summer by contacting all of the school band directors. If you (or your child or student) was inadvertently omitted, please forward me their info and I'll modify this post to give proper recognition to all of our Santa Clarita rock stars.

Students: If you learn of specific fundraising efforts that you'd like to feature, let me know!

Press/Media: These students would absolutely LOVE to be featured in the local media. Contact me and I'll help you to contact the students for interviews or statements. Thank you!

The Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps has announced its annual fund-raising raffle, with some very exciting prizes!

Madison Scouts Raffle Ticket Prizes

This year's Madison Scouts Charity Raffle Grand Prize is 4 nights at your choice of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas or Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort in Orlando FL, including airfare for two. You also get two 4-day park passes for Disney World with the Orlando trip.

Second Prize is a 42" Plasma HDTV; Third Prize is $750 cash; and there are many other prizes as well, including $250 cash, an iPod, gift certificates, and other cash prizes ($100 and multiple $50 prizes). The drawing will be held on August 8, 2008. Only 5,000 of these $10 raffle tickets will be sold, so the odds are good that you'll be able to win a great prize while helping an amazing organization with its fundraising efforts.

Who Are the Madison Scouts?

The Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps is a member of the World Class division of DCI (Drum Corps International). The drum corps activity in participation with DCI is a global youth activity with "far-reaching artistic, educational and organizational influence" and is Marching Music's Major League^TM.  

Those participating in the drum corps activity at this level, and particularly with the Madison Scouts, will have an opportunity to learn and grow under the direction of a world-class staff, as well as developing invaluable life skills that will truly help to shape their future. The Scouts pride themselves in their commitment to a strong value system, providing superior performance training, character building and leadership development, and training in the value of teamwork and good sportsmanship.

The 150 members of the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps will partipate in 27 drum and bugle corps competitions this summer in 16 states before reaching their final destination of the DCI World Championships in Indianapolis in August. You can see their complete tour schedule here.

They will travel over 12,000 miles, and in between performances they will be travelling via bus to their next destination and spend their nights on gym floors to keep tour costs to a minimum. Still, a typical summer tour costs upwards of $1,000,000, and raffles like this one help to cover the costs of each year's summer tour.

How Do I Purchase Raffle Tickets?

Raffle tickets can be purchased through me (Linda Slocum) or through my son (Kevin Slocum), who is a student at Valencia High and a member of the Madison Scouts Color Guard this year. Why not take this opportunity to win a fantastic trip to Orlando's Disney World or a 42" Plasma HDTV for a small $10 donation? You can contact me at 661.670.0349 or at Linda@SantaClaritaRealEstateBlog.com.

The Santa Clarita City Council is set to take action on its official opposition to Proposition 98, the California Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act, at tonight's City Council Meeting.

One of the issues that the Santa Clarita City Council uses as an excuse for opposing Proposition 98 is the fact that it phases out local rent-control ordinances. Why should the local City Council be concerned about this, since we don't have rent control in the Santa Clarita area?

The City also takes the position that the Proposition 98 provisions may prohibit the government "from constructing public water projects, enacting land use regulations to protect the environment, and invalidate regulations intended to protect the public's  health,safety and welfare." Say, what? This is certainly a unique twist to the wording of Proposition 98.

So what provisions does Proposition 98 include? The main opposition to this proposition are in regards to limiting a government entity's ability to seize private property via the eminent domain process. More specifically, it states that "Property may not be taken by government and then used for the same purpose that it was used for prior to seizure. For example, if residential housing is taken, the government cannot then use it for residential housing" according to Ballotpedia's summary of the propostion. And that, in a nutshell, is why the City of Santa Clarita opposes it.

Let's look at Downtown (Old Town) Newhall and the current eminent domain proceedings there. We have retail buildings along Spruce Street that are being "bought" by the City under threat of eminent domain (or pending ghost town, depending on your point of view), in order to build a proposed library there. There is no guarantee of a library, so in all likelihood the City will be building new retail and office space in the area once the current occupants are removed. In this case, the Proposition 98 provisions would come into play, since they would be taking retail properties and converting them to "new" retail properties instead of to another use.

Clearly the City of Santa Clarita wants to be able to exercise as much authority as possible when invoking eminent domain provisions, but is this what the taxpayers really want? Do we want to give our City Council carte blanche authority to take privately-owned properties at will, just to hand them off to some as-yet-unknown developer?

Given the recent FormsGate scandal and the many accusations flying about various City Council members (and hopefuls) about how much they seem to be in developer's pockets, I would think that the residents of the City of Santa Clarita would want to limit this "taking" of property to a more reasonable level.

If you don't want to give the Santa Clarita City Council carte blanche authority to seize property, attend tonight's City Council meeting and let your voice be heard!