October 2007

Congratulations to the Lincoln Way East High School Marching Band on being the Illinois State University 2007 Marching Band Championship Grand Champions.

FINALS RESULTS
1st Place – Lincoln Way East
2nd Place – Lake Park HS
3rd Place – Marion Catholic HS
4th Place – Lincoln Way Central HS
5h Place – Victor J Andrew HS
6th Place – Napperville North HS
7th Place – Morton HS
8th Place – Wheaton Warrenville South HS
9th Place – Waubonsie Valley HS
10th Place – United Township HS
11th Place – Naperville Central HS
12th Place – Illinois Valley Central HS

42 bands participated in prelims, with the first band stepping off at 7am. The top ten scores advanced to finals that evening, along with each class champion if they were not already one of the top ten scores.

Class champions from the prelims were:

Class 1A – Illinois Valley Central HS
High Percussion – IVC
High Color Guard – IVC

Class 2A – Morton HS
High Percussion – Morton HS
High Color Guard – Morton HS

Class 3A – Marion Catholic HS
High Percussion – Marion Catholic HS
High Color Guard – Marion Catholic HS

Class 4A – United Township HS
High Percussion – Bloomington HS
High Color Guard – Normal West HS

Class 5A – Victor J Andrew HS
High Percussion – Victor J Andrew HS
High Color Guard – Victor J Andrew HS

Class 6A – Lincoln Way East HS
High Percussion – Lake Park HS
High Color Guard – Lincoln Way East HS

Illinois State has held this unofficial state championship in the state for over 40 years and is one of the premier events of the fall marching band season. Dr. Steele and Dan Belongia from the ISU music department, and their staff do a tremendous job giving each band a wonderful venue to perform in front of a packed stadium. Even at 7am the stadium was already starting to fill. The bands do an amazing job considering what their morning schedule is, with a morning of travel, stretching, warming-up and then performing so early.

A big thank you to Barb Schantzen, Kurt Brooks and corps member Scott Schumann for helping with the Phantom Regiment souvie booth in the fieldhouse at the stadium. They started their day bright and early and stayed throughout the prelim and finals competition selling our merchandise and handing out audition information throughout the stadium. It is an honor to have great volunteers so willing to help us not only in the summer season, but also helping us promote both the corps and music education in the state.

For more information about ISU Band Day and the music department at ISU go here.

The Phantom Regiment would like to thank Eric Sabach for his efforts with the corps as well as congratulate him on his new appointment as the Blue Stars Corps Director.

In the Fall of 2003, Eric first came to the corps as a visual instructor, then in 2006 became our Director of Business Development and Marketing. Though his efforts moved from the practice field to the office, his impact was none the less. Eric did a tremendous job working with sponsors on new programs, coordinating the merchandise/donation programs, selling our used instruments and getting out into the community to create buzz for our events. He could be seen and heard on local TV and radio stations on behalf of the organization.

Rick Valenzuela says, “Eric’s contribution will be missed, but I’m happy to see him move on into a role that will keep him in the activity. I look forward to working with him as the director of the Blue Stars now.”

“When I came to the corps, it did not take long for me to fall in love with the organization,” Eric said. “What the Regiment is on the field will always be close to my heart, but behind the scenes is an amazing organization that it has been a true honor to be a part of. Special thanks to Rick Valenzuela, Dan Farrell, Tim Farrell, Dr Dan Richardson, all of the board members, staff and supporters for your commitment to Phantom Regiment and in support of my efforts. Most importantly, thank you to the members for your dedication and the way you positively affect people’s lives. See you down the road! SUTA”

The Phantom Regiment souvie truck will be at the Illinois State University Marching Band Contest in Normal, IL on Saturday, October 20th.

The office staff will be packing the vehicle on Friday morning and Eric Sabach will be driving it to the show, where he will be judging that day.

We have one volunteer now and could use one or two people more to sell merchandise and hand out audition information from 7am to 11pm. You will be out of the elements inside the field house that is attached to the stadium and many of the marching members will be there over the course of the day.

The ISU band show has over 40 bands at prelims and 10 bands at Finals. The first performance of the day is at 7am and under the lights.

contact Eric if you are available to help that weekend.

We appreciate any and all help at the contest to raise money for the corps.

ROCKFORD (Oct. 2, 2007) – Phantom Regiment is pleased to announce the hiring of Nick Scotella as drill writer for the 2008 season.

Scotella, 28, has been involved in the drum and bugle corps activity for more than 10 years as a marching member, instructor and now designer.

He marched with Phantom Regiment as a mellophone player from 1997 to 2001 and was a member leader of the world-renowned hornline as horn sergeant in 2000 and 2001. He was a member of the visual staff in 2005 and 2007.

“We’re very excited to have someone who has come up through our corps, and who’s doing so well, now take the reins and move us into the future,” said Dan Farrell, program director for Phantom Regiment. “Together with the great people we already have in place, I’m confident that Nick will work out very well for us.”

Scotella joins the design team of Farrell, J.D. Shaw (brass), Paul Rennick (percussion), Adam Sage (color guard), and will work closely with visual advisor Tony Hall and visual caption head Dwight Emmert. He replaces Jamey Thompson, who resigned after three years on the staff.

“I’m really excited about this opportunity, especially since I’ve been a part of the organization for so long,” Scotella said. “I believe I bring a unique experience to the job because of that fact, and I’m looking forward to continuing the corps’ great tradition.”

Currently, Scotella is the visual designer and caption head for Douglas County High School in Castle Rock, Colo. He’s also been a visual designer and leadership instructor for numerous band and winter guard programs throughout the state of Colorado. Among his drill design clients are Douglas County, Western Branch High School in Norfolk, Va., and Rampart High School in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Scotella lives in Westminster, Colo. He has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from University of Colorado.

Phantom Regiment Winterguard Participates in WGI Spinfest Convention

Written by Adam Dalton, member

On September 15-16th, members of the Phantom Regiment Winter Guard traveled to Orlando, Florida to participate in a ground breaking convention presented by Winter Guard International. Spinfest, as it is called, is geared toward color guard instructors in A and open classes and is an educational event bringing together some of the best designers and educators in the activity including Regiment’s own color guard caption head Adam Sage who presented a clinic on the production value in designing a winter guard show.

The event also included a monumental session with world renowned choreographer Mia Michaels who’s work can be seen in Celine Dion’s Las Vegas show and Cirque du Solei’s Delirium. She is also a judge and choreographer on Fox’s hit TV show “So you think you can dance”.

Eight members and staff of the winter guard learned a two-minute piece choreographed by Michael James with equipment work from Adam Sage and Rick Subel. With minimal practice time, the group packed an entire (brand new) winter guard production into just a few short minutes to present for Mia Michaels and the Spinfest attendees. Along with five other world class groups, Phantom Regiment opened our color guard world up to Mia Michaels and allowed her to catch a glimpse of how we incorporate dance with our equipment and performance.

Regiment’s piece was a completely original work to “On My Own” by The Used and was meant to depict the pain of breaking up and trying to recover from a long-term relationship. After the first performance, Mia could not speak and simply asked the members to “show her again.” She spoke with Michael and Adam about the motivation behind the piece and then commented to us that she “didn’t even realize that we were spinning equipment” and that our production and performance qualities were genuine. To the staff and members, this was one of the best compliments Mia could have made. Inspired by her words, the members performed the piece again even better than the first time.   

Following everyone’s performance, Mia shared that when she gets truly inspired she feels nauseous, and she indeed felt sick after watching everyone’s performance. She even commented that she was “angry” that the performers could add equipment work to already difficult dance movements and said she would love to return to be involved with color guard.

The rest of the Mia Michaels’ experience included a two hour dance class where over 300 attendees learned a piece of Mia’s unique choreography and an interview session where everyone caught a glimpse of how she gets inspiration for her works and puts it all together in choreography and staging.

These moments with Mia truly impacted the attendees of Spinfest 2007 and the color guard community will forever be changed because of what someone outside the activity brought to color guard.

Phantom Regiment being asked to participate shows that they are an innovator in the activity and members Danny Acevedo, Coleen Bonislawski, Lindsay Brooks, Adam Dalton, Courtney Mills, Glen Panzerella, Annie Pelka, and Brian Winn were honored to represent Phantom Regiment and will take away a lifetime of memories.

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See video of the performance here.