The DCI board of directors wrapped up winter meetings this morning, voting on several rules proposals and amending previous decisions on retreats, caption awards and other topics that have been deliberated upon all weekend.

Pride of Bristol Senior Drum & Bugle Corps have appointed a new horn instructor and set themselves a target of marching 32 horns in 2005. The corps is delighted to welcome back Wayne Mundy as the new brass caption head.

The Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corps have announced their 2005 show. The program, entitled 'Dance Derby of the Century' is built around the dance marathons in the 1920s and 1930s.

On Thursday, April 21, 2005, the top 12 drum corps shows of all time will be shown at Regal, United Artists or Edwards Cinema, in explosive, remastered digital 5.1 surround sound. DCI fans will vote on dci.org to choose those top 12 performances. Fans will pick their favorite three performances from the 1970s, three from the 1980s, three from the 1990s and three from the 2000s.

Today, 26 movie clips have been added to the DCE website. The clips contain impressions of the corps performances at the DCE 2004 European Championships. All Finals performances are represented in the clip list.

Drum corps fan Timothy Jackson has started an online petition against the recent decision of the Drum Corps International board to eliminate the caption awards during the DCI World Championships. About 1000 people have already undersigned the petition.

The Cavaliers' 2004 '007' DVD casts the viewer as the same James Bond that each member portrayed during the summer season. Viewers have the opportunity to immerse themselves in every step of the 2004 action. Watch the full finals night production in any of four angles (hi-cam, multi-cam, percussion cam or guard cam) while using any of three audio tracks (5.1 surround/stereo mix/designer commentary).

The Drum Corps Europe contest in Dordrecht (September 3, 2005), has reached its limit of participating corps. La Vaillante from Saint-Quentin has signed up for the contest, claiming the last available spot for that show. The Dordrecht contest will feature 14 corps in competition.

Representatives of several European organizations have commited to explore the possibilities to form a European Alliance for color guard and indoor percussion. The organizations will soon meet to talk about this.

Music heats up the night as Memphis Sound presents an energetic fusion of Jazz, Funk, and Latin this season with a show entitled, 'One Hot Night'. Prepare to have your soul ignited with fast-paced drill, high energy percussion, jazzy horn textures, and ever-changing guard colors.

The first rehearsal of The Bridgemen Drum & Bugle Corps from Bayonne - New Jersey in 17 years was a resounding success as veterans and new members alike were excited to see the Bridgemen resurrected before their eyes. The halls of St. Andrew's were alive again with the sound and vitality of a new Bridgemen corps, determined to resurrect a form of entertainment beloved and missed by many in the activity.

To mark the start of preparations for the 2005 season, Pride of Bristol Senoir Drum & Bugle Corps have launched a new website. Up until now the corps has shared a site with its sister organisation Pride of Bristol Winterguard, but a dispute with DCUK has made this difficult to sustain.

Within six days after the presale started, the VIP tickets (seats within the 40 yard lines) for the DCE contest in Courtrai, on June 25th, have been sold out. Regular tickets are still available.

Paid attendance on Finals night (Saturday) at the DCI 2004 World Championships in Denver was 22,047, making it the best-attended World Championship Finals night in the last 10 years. Meanwhile, almost 50,000 people attended a World Championship week event (Division I Quarter Finals, Semi Finals, Finals and all Division II & III events).

Presale of tickets for the DCE contests in Middelburg - The Netherlands (May 28th, 2005) and Courtrai - Belgium (June 25th, 2005) is going very fast. Especially the show in Courtrai is 'hot' with hundreds of tickets already ordered. Please don't wait too long to order your tickets.

The Northern Star Group from Leeds - UK are pleased to preview their new look for the coming 2005 season. The new outfit will feature hats instead of shakos. Artwork of the new look has been published on the Northern Star website.

The DVDs of the DCE 2004 European Championships are ready. After some technical difficulties, DCE has started to ship the copies. This week all payed orders will be sent out.

The admission tickets for the DCE shows in Middelburg (Saturday, May 28th) and Courtrai (Saturday, June 25th) are now available. Orders are taken 24 hours a day in our webshop.

2004 was another exciting year for the European drum corps activity. On the last day of the year, the drumcorps.org.uk webteam has made a review of 2004. Since the English news page of drumcorps.org.uk was started in July, only news facts in the second half of 2004 will appear in this review. The Drum Corps Europe staff wishes all drum corps fans a wonderful 2005!

The Madison Scouts lost a valued brother last Monday. Alfred James 'Fred' Niccolai, 35, of Kenosha, died of of an apparent heart ailment at his home. Fred was born in Kenosha on October 21, 1969. He marched in the Madison Scouts from 1987 to 1991.

Presale of tickets for the DCE contests in Middelburg - The Netherlands (May 28th, 2005) and Courtrai (June 25th, 2005) will start this Saturday, January 1st. Tickets will be available through the Drum Corps Europe website.

The Spartans Drum & Bugle Corps from Nashua - New Hampsire has once again been selected to represent the state of New Hampshire in the 2005 Presidential Inaugural Parade. This is the 5th time that the corps has been selected in its 50 year history.

Wisconsin's newest junior drum & bugle corps has just been named. They will be The Chippewa Valley Brigade. The corps' sponsor, The Chippewa Valley Drum & Bugle Corps Association, has been in operation since September and has the successful developement and management of the corps as its sole purpose in life.

Ending a 40-year 'tradition', Drum Corps Associates has discontinued the use of a starter's pistol by the Timing & Penalties judge. The 'final shot' was fired by Timing & Penalties judge Tom Argy at the 2004 Campionship Finals.

The Northern Star Group and Dynasty are pleased to announce the formation of a formal partnership for the 2005 season and beyond. Northern Star will play Dynasty Bb brass and percussion instruments exclusively, including new battery and melodic instruments and all new brass.

Former Crossmen and Reading Buccaneers drum major Joseph Kempf was killed Sunday night after being struck by a car while helping a motorist on an Interstate in Pennsylvania. He was 23.

Court of Honor Drum & Bugle Corps from Atlanta - Georgia announces that it will not be touring for the 2004-2005 competitive season. There are several reasons for this step.

In 2005, the Crossmen will present 'Crossroads', a musical road trip built around the Mason Williams hit, 'Classical Gas'. The passions of the open road are explored using the driving blues melody found in 'Radar Love', originally written by George Kooymans and Barry Hay. The percussion section, led by arrangers Darren Hazlett and Jack Mansager will be featured in this aggressive, down-and-dirty production.

Funkin Brass is the Black Knights latest musical venture, consisting of eleven brass, one bass, and a kit player. The purpose of Funkin Brass is to heighten the awareness of the Black Knights Drum and Bugle Corps as well as raising much needed funds for the group.

Starting with the new European Drum Corps Season, Wölper Löwen Drum & Bugle Corps from Neustadt - Germany will become an official representative corps for Dynasty USA. In the summer of 2004 Wölper Löwen contacted Muremo, the European distributor for Dynasty USA products.

"With instrument companies waiting in the wings, with kids from all over the country wating until our auditions date arose, I received some devastating news yesterday." Executive director Brad Deason of Eklipse Drum & Bugle Corps tells about recent unfortunate happenings at his corps, causing Eklipse to go inactive in 2005.

The Drum Corps Europe website is still growing in the number of visits. Almost 20,000 people visited the website in November, a rise of 40 percent compared with the same month in 2003. The statistics show more than 95,000 pageviews last month.

Those who were in attendance at the 2004 Pontins Festival may remember the American instructor Joe who came over to teach for the week. He is visiting the UK again in a few weekends time and has volunteered his services to run a clinic completely free of charge.

'The Zone; Dreamscapes in Three Parts; with a Door' is the title of the 2005 production from the Cadets, the corps announced Monday. In a statement released on the Youth Education in the Arts website, the music will feature the works of such performers and compsers are Bjork, Jay Bocook, and Bernard Hermann.

In only six days, the Drum Corps Europe Championships have reached the maximum number of 26 participating corps. Six European countries will be present at the European Championships, to be held on September 24, 2005.

In the spirit of this oft-used adage, The Bluecoats are proud to announce their 2005 Program, 'Caravan'. Using the essence of Duke Ellington's big band standardâ??also a favorite from the corps' 1990 showâ??'Caravan' will take both the Bluecoats and its audience on an incredible voyage.

On November 20, 2005, InCorps will organise 'Masters of Percussion' in Antwerp - Belgium. Together with Percussion super stars Bill Bachman and Nick Angelis (USA), the complete team of InCorps Percussion Clinicians will host this big percussion event. The event will feature the European Individuals & Ensembles for percussion, master classes for snare & tenor, basic percussion clinics, and demonstrations. The venue of this mega percussion event will be the International Arts Centre 'De Singel' in Antwerp - Belgium.

In less than one week, Drum Corps Europe has received 23 registration forms for the 2005 season. Nine corps have returned their form this weekend, making a total of six English, ten Dutch, three German, one French and two Belgian corps entering the DCE competition.

Beatrix Drum & Bugle Corps from Hilversum - Holland will hold a second open rehearsal. After the very successful open rehearsal of October 23rd, Beatrix would like to give another opportunity to experience the 'special Beatrix feeling'. The open rehearsal has been scheduled for December 18th.

Drum Corps Europe has already received twelve registration forms, only one day after the start of the registration period for the DCE season 2005. DCE welcomes corps from The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Germany, France and Belgium.

The brand new young 'Federation for Drum Corps and Marching Bands of France', better known as 'Drum Corps France', has just organized the audition of its first 'instructor' candidates this Sunday, November 28th.

As of today, corps can register for the DCE competition 2005. Drum Corps Europe has added an online registration form to its website. Entries will be accepted in chronological order. Register your corps today!

The venues for the DCE regional contests in 2005 have been announced. The regionals will be held in Middelburg (The Netherlands, May 28th), Kortrijk (Belgium, June 25th) and Dordrecht (The Netherlands, September 3rd).

With rehearsals already underway for the 2005 season, next year is looking like an exciting year for Cadence. They will be competing in DCE in 2005 as well as DCUK.

The release of the DCE Championships 2004 is slightly delayed. Initially the release date was set for next week, but we have to move the release date about two weeks. But there is also good news: the DVDs will be featuring Dolby Surround Sound 5.1.