1. THREE YEAR PLAN NUMBER ONE = MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. All in all, 2001 was a great season for the Renegades, especially since it represented the successful completion of the first three year plan, which was laid out in 1999 shortly before the corps first ensemble rehearsal, which had two horn players in attendance. Yes, you read that correctly. The Renegades had TWO lonely horn players on that winter day at San Francisco's Washington High School, but we held an ensemble rehearsal anyway. Needless to say, the drums (3 snares, 1 quad, random bass drummers and a ham sandwich), overpowered the horns. No one cared, as the corps was on a mission to hold the first ensemble rehearsal in its history. The amazing thing was that the rehearsal went well, and the corps got a great deal accomplished playing the horn charts of then-arranger Larry Girard. Faaaaaast forward to 2001, and the Renegades are performing a very LOUD victory concert last weekend in Santa Clara with 52 brass, 8 snares, 4 quads, 6 bass drums, one cymbal player and the evil anti-pit. Watching this concert was one of the proudest moments of my entire drum corps career -- proud of all the men and women that believed in their heart from day one they could pull this off, and those who stuck it through some very bleak and chaotic times along the way.

2. THREE YEAR PLAN NUMBER 2. So the Renegades can continue to grow and improve, it is now time for Three Year Plan Number 2, which the team is currently in the process of putting together. As we found out this season, the downside of a corps doubling in size two years in a row is that it is very difficult to keep up with that rate of growth from an infrastructure standpoint. Thus, step one is to expand the Renegade's business operations and infrastructure. When the corps started, its business and marketing operations consisted of a guy who carried around a checkbook and the corps banner. Although the Renegades were able to put many of the pieces into place over the last few months (marketing and promotions people, a professional web development team (check out www.renegades.org) evil lawyers, finance people, a maniacal publicist, recruiting and operations team), it still has many positions to fill to accomplish our goals. To be clear, the organization's only long-term mission is not for the drum corps to score a 100 in DCA, DCI or whatever. The Renegade's long-term mission is to become the most prolific non-profit performing arts organization in the United States, and to bring an unprecedented awareness of the drum and bugle corps activity to the mainstream public. And beer. Can't forget the beer. ;-)

3. SEVEN AMAZING EVENTS FROM THE RENEGADES 2001 SEASON -- i) The heart and soul of the 2001 Renegades was the third baritone section. Go figure; ii) Chris Nalls' mellophone breaking right before his solo at the last show, subsequently grabbing a horn from a stunned soprano player and flawlessly playing his solo on a soprano; iii) Renegade Sports-Auction hosted by Oakland Raiderettes, who asked for Renegade evil-chick shirts; iv) Renegades holding rehearsals at "Rehearsal Location X" (Treasure Island); v) Selling over eighty "Drum Corps is Evil" and "Get the Hell Out of My Way" shirts at Stockton and Concord; vi) The out of control kid with the Evil 7 tattoo (temporary) on his forehead screaming "Drum Corps is Evil" at the Santa Clara show; vii) The infamous "Renegade Colorguard Incident" which occurred on the bus on the way to Los Angeles (which I am told is on video, and will be used to blackmail people should they ever get famous :-).

4. SEVEN AMAZING THINGS ABOUT DIVISION 2 CORPS THIS SEASON - i) 10 Snares (SCV Cadets); ii) The Volcano (Impulse); iii) A Show Design that looked or sounded nothing like BD, Cadets or SCV (Seattle Cascades and Impulse); iv)Amazing pit writing (Pacific Crest ... yeah, I know they are Division 1 now, but whatever, it was cool); v) Uniforms that look nothing like BD, Cadets or SCV (Mandarins and Impulse); vi)10 Snares (SCV Cadets, worth mentioning 2x), vii) Loudest gong in the free world (Blue Devil B).

Speaking of Division 2 corps, on behalf of the Renegades, I would like to express a sincere and heart-felt thank you to George Brown, Director of the SCV Cadets. George made it possible for the Renegades to play their season-ending victory concert in Santa Clara last weekend, and this meant a great deal to the corps, especially as it was a celebration of a "mission accomplished," and the last time the 2001 corps would all be together. George, if you are reading this - THANK YOU x 1007 from the San Francisco Renegades. And thanks for letting your drum line have 10 snares too, that was cool. :-)

5. FOR THE RECORD -- The performance order that DCI set for DCI Pacific this season was not good for drum corps, fans or show sponsors. Why? DCI recently implemented a de-facto rule whereby senior corps go on first, despite the fact that senior corps inherently can not rehearse during the week, and can only rehearse on the weekend. Thus, when the senior corps are on first, it is almost pragmatically impossible for them to rehearse (thus, improve) once the season starts. The Renegades found themselves doing weekend tours with less than three total hours of rehearsal -- which represents the corps only rehearsal time of the entire week. This is not a good, nor rational approach to fostering the growth of senior corps on the West Coast, and we repeatedly tried to address this issue with DCI throughout the winter and early season. It is my sincere hope that Drum Corps International can do what is best for the activity on this issue on 2002, and arrange the performance order in a rational fashion that will help the senior corps activity grow and improve on the West Coast. If you feel like discussing this issue, or any other important issue, with DCI please contact them at Drum Corps International, 470 South Irmen Drive, Addison, IL 60101 Tel: 630-628-7888 Fax: 630-628-7971 Email: dci@dci.org. It is important that you (the fans) of this activity make your voice heard to the people running the show, so to speak, as drum corps will only ultimately become successful if its leadership truly represents the interests of its fan base (read that 2x).

6. BUZZ THE DOG -- Rumiko and I got a new puppy recently, his name is Buzz. He is an miniature Australian Shepherd, and we love him dearly. He is pretty smart, but sometimes he goes berserk if you don't pay enough attention to him. The Dog Training for Dummies book's solution to this issue was simply to buy another dog. Right after I read that, I threw the book out the window. What kind of wacky solution is that? If your dog is lonely, buy a whole herd? Or pack? whatever. Anyone that knows how to keep a small intelligent beast amused while I work on the computer, please drop me a line. And don't tell me to buy more dogs... :)

7. Seven.