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Who are the Phantom Regiment drill designers over the years? I have a few but who can fill in the blanks? ?-92 John Brazale 93-94 Tony Hall 95 ? 96 Greg Cesario 97-2002? 03 Johnny Sanchez 04 ? 05-07 Jamey Thompson 08-09 Nick Scotella 2010 Myron Rosander 11-14 Jamey Thompson 15 Jeremy Hunt 16 Mark Moreno I think? 17-19 ? 20 would have been Jeremy Hunt

I noticed Cumberland Valley HS had a 10 point penalty in finals. Anyone know what happened? Did someone kick the T&P judge's puppy on the way onto the floor or something?!?!

Wow, I did see that. I wish them the best. Did they announce a replacement?

New drill designer for the Cadets?! I thought they signed Jeff for several more years?!?!?!

I think Jamey is extremely underrated. I really enjoyed his late 90s / early 2000s Glassmen shows. While he may not be flashy, he sure is extremely musical and stages both the musicians and guard beautifully. My favorite Regiment show of his is 2011, with 2005 and 2006 pretty close behind.

Does anyone know if O3 is coming out this season? I saw a while ago that they were coming out in Open class but since then have not seen them signed up for any regionals or WGIs in A or Open. Their website has their 2015 calendar up with WGI shows filled in but indoor think it's been updated in a while. Anyone know any more info?

I think it has to be ratified but don't these proposals that pass usually get ratified?

They'll need a seperate commitee just to review the whole middle of Sch A! Let's do it Jeremy, along with Carol!!! Lol I have a feeling that this is just the beginning of developing a whole new class all season down the line, which of course will open a whole big can of worms both nationally and locally. It also opens the door for more of those middle of the road A guards to want to go to WGI since they feel they will now have a better shot at competitive success. I do like the premise of it though. For now I assume the number of guards making semis and finals would follow the rules already in place. Does anyone know since the inception of the current 3 class system, when did Sch A's numbers explode? I remember near 120 in the mid 2000s, a little dip down to just under 100 during the recession, and then the jump back up to our current 120ish. What were they in the early 90s when the 3 class split started? Izzy

Can you imagine being # 60 out of 120? I can see it now....."why did we get a 78?! We needed a 77.7!" I too am on the fence. I'm glad they are breaking the class up. No need to place in the 100s. I also see why it would be tough for classification purposes to separate classes all year round. But it does lead to a whole lot of uncertainty of where you are for those middle guards. I would have loved to be in that room for that discussion! While I am leaning towards liking it, I wonder if the proposal would have even been close to passing if someone of Karl Lowe's stature hadn't submitted it. Izzy

What does everyone think about the new rule that passed this weekend regarding splitting Sch A into A and AA at WGIs? I think this is huge news and am surprised I haven't seen any opinions yet on it.

I believe you're referring to Northview HS, possibly around 1998? The original Blast show did a take on the same idea.

I agree that Jay's work isn't what you would normally go check out on high cam like say a Michael Gaines' show would be. But even with all the accolades the corps has received and the success Jay has had, I do believe he is one of the most underrated designers ever in DCI. His staging is standard setting, especially within the color guard. I know his last handful of shows have not been popular, but part of that is because he (along with Scott Chandlier's input) is doing things that no one else in the activity does and very much out of the norm when it comes to "drill". Jay along with Scott at one point won 9 consecutive WGI Ind World titles between two different guards (4 with San Jose, 5 with the Blue Devils, or maybe the other way around?). They set the standard in that activity and changed how things were done. I believe lately they have done the same here with influence from their indoor history. I thought this year was a good mix of staged effects and actual drill, and they really amped up the demand. Again I know that is not popular but it's happening and they are getting credit for it. A lot of credit does have to go to Scott Chandlier. There are times where guard is written into an area of the field, and Scott does everything else in terms of playing with and mixing things up along with the choreography. It's a true team effort in that way and goes back to their long history together. It's also important to understand that just because the drill itself may not always be demanding, it does not mean that other things they are doing visually are not demanding. For example the playing while moving up and down on the chairs required a whole lot of body control to pull off. The weaving in and around the chairs blindly at a good tempo while playing was also not a piece of cake to pull off. He seems to get a bad rep for lack of demand and I think that's not always fair. I haven't even gotten into how great his instrumental staging is along with his musicality. His attention to detail in his musical staging mixed in with the color guard while still being effective and extremely musical has been a huge influence on my writing. As for my favorite designs of his in chronological order, I'd have to say 1994, 1995, 1999, 2000, 2003, and 2013.

Very interesting, thanks for the insight and the great shows!

Great, thanks for the insight! I do remember seeing the 2008 show live and enjoying it very much! 91 and 92 are actually my favorite shows as a fan. I didn't know Zingali was involved with the guard at one point. That must have been a great experience! Why was the guard getting booed in 92? I didn't think anything was controversial about it.

Hi all, this is more a question for Mike but all are obviously free to chime in with their favorites. Mike, as someone who has been involved with Sonnor for so long with so many great shows, what is your favorite Sonnor show and what about it or the season itself was so special?

I found this very interesting and made me look at this topic in a totally different way. Thanks for a cool read!

Cool, I'm looking forward to seeing them! I also enjoyed the O2 A class show from 2009 that was mostly all flag except for a small section with 2 rifles, Art 101 with a very similar lay out in that same year, and O3 this year. All Michael Lentz shows that were predominately flag with some rifle in the middle.

West Orange's show is really beautiful. I was waiting for it to be promoted. The layering and skills the members are achieving are definitely not A class. Good to see them in Open again.

West Orange made finals and finished 7th (and has even medaled in Open some years back), while Southern just missed finals by like a tenth which is definitely still saying something with so many groups in that class. So yes, both had success. And I can see how both have shows that would probably be more successful in Open than Jamestown. I'm curious to see what happens with Cooper City.

So it looks like Southern Regional HS and West Orange HS have been promoted to Sch Open. Both seem well deserved to me after seeing them live. What does that mean for Jamestown and Cooper City? Jamestown had a similar score to those other two a week before, but are still listed in A. I do know that they beat Greater Johnstown by about 3 points, while even though the scores were lower Southern and West Orange beat Greater Johnstown by over 5 points. Cooper City got an 84 at the regional this past weekend. With the amount of Sch A guards this year versus the amount of Opens, I would think that a decent amount of guards could be moved up. After seeing some of these top A guards, I think the classifications should really be looked at. If A class is basic skills, then what exactly is considered basic skills these days?

While I am a big fan of Onyx and Pride, I just can't get it into this year. I am a much bigger fan of Cypress Ind and Blackwatch than the shows which will medal this year. I understand why the top guards will finish where they will, but I have been much more entertained by the latter two programs so far. Blackwatch live is just pure entertainment and very unique for the time. And is it bad that I enjoy O2 more than Onyx this year? Again I recognize how great Onyx is and I can't ever imagine trying to put something like that together, I guess I just don't enjoy where the envelope is being pushed to and at this point would rather watch the middle of World over the top clump of guards that are pushing to change the activity. I've started to feel like this over the last few years. And yes, I know that I sound like one of those older drum corps guys that long for the days of G bugles and little to no dance.....but I swear I'm not!

Cool, thanks for the info! Does anyone know if Chippewa Valley HS from Michigan is still an all flag unit? I know they are coming back to Dayton this year and had made finals in Sch A in 2006 with an all flag show. Quite honestly I'm surprised more groups haven't taken this approach.

I have always been a fan of San Marino's shows and all flag shows in general. I was wondering if anyone had any background story on them? Like were they a dance academy that had a winter guard? Anyone know who their designers were and if they have been associated with any other big programs? Thanks!

Hey, I know this is a marching band question but I don't know where else to ask and am curious... Does anyone know who writes the drill for Marcus High School in Texas? I think John Leonard is the guard designer, but I don't know who the drill designer and overall visual guru is there. Anyone know who arranges the music? Thanks!

Juliet is one of my favorite shows ever, as well as my favorite Phantom show ever. It was powerful, beautiful, and told a nice story all while being pretty simple in design compared to what was around it in World Class. The color guard was just so elegant and classy. The color guard and musical staging was pretty much perfect to me. As a visual designer myself, I'm all about doing everything possible to enhance the music and tell a simple story without trying to reinvent the wheel. I think Phantom's visual designers are great at this and this show is basically a blueprint in how to achieve this. I think this show could have placed maybe one spot higher than it did. Turandot was clearly 3rd this year in my opinion and probably cleaner than Juliet. It also had a very similar formula. I just wasn't as emotionally pulled in by it as I was by Juliet. It actually was a little bit of a let down to me early on compared to Juliet but it definitely grew on me as the season went on. I'm not dimishing Turandot in anyway, it's just that Juliet is now one of my all time favorites and was hard to live up to for me. That being said, the last two years of Phantom has made their style my favorite, and Jamey Thompson one of my favorite drill designers.