Hawthorne Caballeros Announce 2007 Design Staff

The Hawthorne Caballeros are proud to announce the following members of the 2007 design team:

Dennis Argul – Brass Caption Head and Arranger

The Hawthorne Caballeros welcome Dennis Argul as the Brass Caption Head and Arranger for 2007. Dennis’s Drum Corps career began in 1973 as a member of the St. Andrew’s Kidets, the feeder Corps for the St. Andrew’s/Bayonne Bridgemen, which he marched with through the 1981 season. In 1982 Dennis became a baritone soloist with the Harrison Bushwackers. He was a member of the Bushwackers in various roles in 1982-1983, 1986, 1987, 1992-2003 and most recently as Brass Arranger in 2005 and 2006.

Dennis is a fulltime Music Teacher at Arts High School in Newark, NJ, the first high school of the arts in the country and works as a freelance Low Brass musician throughout the metropolitan area. Dennis also is a freelance composer and arranger, most recently receiving an award through the New Jersey Council on the Arts in composition.

Gary Gill – Percussion Caption Head and Arranger, Staff Coordinator

Gary Gill will return to the Hawthorne Caballeros as the Percussion Caption Head, Arranger and Staff Coordinator. Gary has been with the Caballeros since 2003 and 2007 will celebrate his fifth year as the Percussion Caption Head and Arranger for the Caballeros.

Gary’s list of accomplishments include Caption Head and Percussion Arranger for the Hawthorne Caballeros 2003 DCA World Champions, Percussion Consultant for Capital Regiment from 2002 to 2006, Caption Head for the Empire Statesmen in 2001 and 2002 and Bass Tech for the Reading Buccaneers, DCA Percussion Champions from 1998 – 2000. Gary has also arranged for, consulted with and won numerous awards with local high schools in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey and has been involved as a local and regional percussion judge. Lower Dauphin High School won the TIA Indoor Percussion Championship three years in a row with Gary as Assistant Band Director and Percussion Caption Head.

Bobby Jones – Visual Designer

Bobby Jones joins the Design Team as Visual Designer. For more than 13 years Bobby has designed drill and Color Guard for several DCI and DCA drum corps, including the Jersey Surf and the 2005 DCA World Champion Reading Buccaneers, several high school marching bands, indoor color guards and indoor percussion lines. Bobby joined the Crossmen Drum and Bugle Corps in 2006 as Visual Designer and Caption Head.

Bobby started his drum corps writing career with the Jersey Surf in 2001 and is currently the Drill Designer for West Chester University and many high school bands. Bobby is a free lance drill designer and spends his free time doing design clinics and adjudicating for USSBA.

Ray Rhodes – Color Guard Caption Head and Designer

Ray Rhodes will join the 2007 Hawthorne Caballeros Staff as the Color Guard Caption Head and Designer. Ray is a Florida native, where he was the Guard Director for the Hardee Senior High School Band from 1986 to 1989. In the early 90’s, he was Guard Director at Port Chester High School (NY), Greenwich High School (CT) and West Essex Regional High School (NJ). Ray has been the Guard Director at Trumbull High School Since 1994, and has led the THS Guard to many fall and winter championships over the years. Under his direction, the Trumbull Winter Guard has attained finalist status in the Scholastic Open Class at Winter Guard International World Championships 2004, 2005 and 2006. The guard won the Bronze Medal in 2006 and will be competing in the Scholastic World Class for the 2007 season. Ray is also the visual designer for the Trumbull HS Winter Percussion, a 2006 WGI Scholastic Open Finalist.

Ray currently resides in Port Chester, NY, and is a Human Resources Director in the financial industry.

The design team is completing the final staff assignments which will be announced in the near future.

Frank Gerris, President and General Manager of the Hawthorne Caballeros, has stated that “it is exciting to formally announce the 2007 Design Team. Our 2007 staff will be an exciting line up of Drum Corps professionals that will work with the members and support team of the Hawthorne Caballeros to present an engaging and dynamic show – a show that will entertain our loyal Caballeros fans locally and entertain the fans that we will meet on our tour of Europe. We are honored to have Ray, Dennis and Bobby join with Gary as they design and present the 2007 Hawthorne Caballeros competing program”.

The Hawthorne Caballeros, sponsored by American Legion Post #199 in Hawthorne, are in their 61st season of competition and have amassed a remarkable host of records. They have won the DCA World Championship 9 times, the American Legion National Title 16 times, the National Dream Contest 17 times, and the New Jersey State American Legion Title 43 times. They have completed 5 undefeated seasons, consecutively in 1984 and 1985. In 1989, during DCA’s 25th Anniversary season, fans voted the Caballeros their favorite Senior Drum and Bugle Corps of all time.

For information visit our website: www.cabs.org. The Hawthorne Caballeros will begin our 61st season of competition with our 2007 Open House. Join us on November 26th, 2006 at 12:00 noon at American Legion Post #199, 1 Legion Place, Hawthorne, NJ. To receive an email about our 2007 open house or to get additional information on membership contact Mike Ryan by phone (973) 709-0500 ext. 1532 – or email Mike at cabscontra [at] aol [dot] com.

For additional information on this press release contact: Marianne Kerr, Media and Marketing Manager, Hawthorne Caballeros, Marianne658 [at] yahoo [dot] com; 201-936-3372