John M. Johnson

Lord knows I would love for that to happen. It means a lot to me when I read these types of comments.

HOLY SMOKES! What a great compliment! I am humbled by your kind words! It has been a LONG WHILE since I've logged onto DCP. Yes! I am involved with Solaris Drum Corps. NO :-( we are not getting a DCA evaluation this year due to timing constraints. But YES! We will be competing in SoundSport this year with performances at DCI Orlando, DCI ATL, and DCI Finals! And if anyone is still wondering, Solaris is the direct decedent of Sun Devils. As Anthony stated earlier, the admin/staff split off from the SD Board of Directors to create Solaris Performing Arts. SPA is an umbrella group that currently houses Solaris Drum Corps and Solaris Percussion (FFCC/WGI). If someone wants the whole story, I can tell you offline. I am an open book. Although we (Solaris Drum Corps) are disappointed that we are not getting evaluated this year, we are very excited to still be able to do this activity in front of the people that matter the most, the fans.

Wow! Thank you for those kind words! You just completely made my day!!!

If they do come back, it will be without any of the founders or staff that got the corps to that level of excellence. That was a really fun run of drum corps for me. Again, I am happy that DCA South is still thriving. All 3 corps appear to be doing well in this early season time. Edit - 4 corps. I keep forgetting that Cincinnati Tradition is a DCA South corps.

No idea about Shenandoah. Heat Wave is back...as a DCI Open Class Corps. It appears that this iteration of HW (DCI) is taking a different direction from HW of Orlando. (DCA)

<Sigh> I really miss my DCA South family I am happy to see that the flame forges on!

Agreed on the color comment. We are planning on adding an accent color (red) before our first performance.

It is a side skirt similar to those worn by the Blue Devils. Here is another look:

We are proud to unveil our first uniform! Some of you may recognize it as Atlanta Quest's old uniform. It fits the bill perfectly for Solaris! Its sleek lines and modern look are a testament to our core values. A very sharp look to set the foundation of our group. Great things are happening here with Solaris. If you would like to help donate toward the corps and the purchase of our uniforms and equipment you can follow this link: gofund.me/Solaris.

Solaris is in for mini corps 2015!

Correction - Sun Devils began in 2008

LOVE THIS! Congrats fellas. See you this summer!

Greetings from "Mini-oh-la", Florida! To clarify, we are NOT the Sun Devils. Solaris was formed by the founders of SD along with the same admin and creative staff that brought you SD for the last 2 years. We are no longer affiliated with the Sun Devils. If you have any questions, I am sure someone from their Board of Directors will be able to chime in as to the future of SD in DCA or DCI. Without going into a long dissertation on the exodus to Solaris; I will say that the family and team are all still together! Because we are essentially starting over, we have to pump the brakes, assess where we are, develop a multi-phasic plan, then implement said plan. We are very excited to try something new. This year, Solaris plans on debuting as a Soundsport/mini corps group. If the timing is correct, we will also dive into WGI winds. 2016 is our target to enter the field of competition on the DCA level. Once again, the same team from SD will be involved in that transition as well. As of right now, we are based out of the Orlando area. Minneola is 30 minutes west of Orlando. We have great flexibility in locations since we are not fielding a DCA corps this year. This is why I am being loose on where we are from. We are from everywhere in the state. PM me if you have any questions. I have been doing the DCA thing for quite a while now. This is a good move. Florida now has the following corps: Solaris Heat Wave Impact Florida Brass Sun Devils Plus a myriad of WGI winds groups. Looks to me like it is win win win all over the place. Have fun at rules congress!

Sun Devils Announce 2015 Executive Director and Corps Director FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – The Sun Devils Drum and Bugle Corps are excited to announce that corps founding member John “JJ” Johnson will once again return as the Executive Director. JJ’s leadership has been crucial to organization since the beginning. As a founding father of this drum corps his consistent involvement has helped to truly develop the personality of the drum corps. Anthony Parisi will be taking over the responsibilities of Corps Director. Anthony has been an integral part of the corps resurgence. He has worked tirelessly on both the design and administrative direction of the corps over the last 2 years. Anthony’s experience with the Sun Devils family has made him a natural fit to replace our friend Robb Van Eck who retired as corps director after the 2014 season. Anthony looks forward to continuing many of the standards that have been set over the history of the corps while helping the corps to grow and take our next steps toward success. Anthony had this to say about the 2015 season “The team of staff and members we have assembled over the last few years are a true family. We are in the process of adding some amazing people to further move the corps in the right direction, competitively, educationally and administratively. I am looking forward to working closely with JJ and the rest of the management team to reach our true potential while never losing site of the fact why we really do this, Family! ” More announcements about additional administrative and Creative staff will be coming shortly, so stay tuned! See the bios for JJ and Anthony below. John “JJ” Johnson, Executive Director JJ has been involved with the marching arts since 1989, starting with the 7 time BOA Grand National Champions, Marian Catholic High School. As a graduate of Marian Catholic, the lessons learned have spanned a lifetime. While at NIU, JJ garnered several accolades including, Rookie of the Year, Director's award, and he also was a two time recipient of the Marching Huskie of the Year Award. JJ started his drum corps career back in 2000. While with Heat Wave, which happened to be JJ's first drum corps experience, he played soprano, mellophone, and then eventually Drum Major. Utilizing the skills learned from Marian Catholic and Northern Illinois University, he excelled and eventually became Executive Director of Heat Wave and more recently, the Sun Devils. "I am looking forward to another fun and challenging season. We have every intention on building upon last year's successes." Anthony Parisi, Corps Director Anthony Parisi has spent most of the last 20 years deeply involved in many aspects of the marching activity. In high school and college he marched both brass and percussion. Anthony moved on and participated in junior corps for partial seasons with both the Bluecoats and Boston Crusaders. He began his DCA career with a year in the Sunrisers and then marched for the next 8 years with the World Champion Hawthorne Caballeros playing both baritone and euphonium. Anthony has been involved with the Tampa Bay Thunder drum and bugle corps as both a visual and brass tech and was also involved for several years with the WGI World Finalist Emanon Winter Guard as a visual tech/consultant. Anthony has been the Assistant Director/Drill Designer/Show Coordinator for several bands in the NY/NJ/PA area, including 4 time winner of the Yamaha Cup and Northern States/NJ Champions, Pequannock Township High School. Anthony has also worked with Riptide Indoor Percussion(RPT)Recently he was the Drill Designer for the St. Augustine Ancient City Regiment. Outside the marching arena Anthony works for Expedia Local Experts as a concierge in the Orlando hospitality market.

Good question! We out of Orlando now. On another note - thank you for the fair and honest review. Yes, we were not done with our show at our show. Now that we have the first show out of the way, we are looking forward to Carolina Gold's show in a few weeks. And a thank you for me for taking the time to write a review.

Sun Devils are in for all but Towson.

Here are the trophies from our show. St. Augustine is more of a destination show. There is a ton of history and local lore here. The Board thought it would be clever to hand out a "trophy" that had local significance. Each trophy color represents the respective corps.

Can't wait to see you guys tomorrow! CV and SD under the same roof! uh ohh

bump

Ok - funny posts aside. We are less than 2 weeks away from THE ONLY DRUM CORPS SHOW IN FLORIDA FOR THE SECOND YEAR IN A ROW!!! Sorry, had to yell that. Get your tickets HERE. Only 12 bucks online to see 5 fantastic corps. Get an early season look at Atlanta CV, Carolina Gold, and the Sun Devils! *donations accepted*

The following corps have declared themselves to be Class A corps for 2014: Centurions Cincinnati Tradition Excelsior Govenaires Shenandoah Sound Sun Devils White Sabers

The 2014 "State of the Art Drum Corps Invitational" is once again, Florida's ONLY drum and bugle corps competition. Hosted by the Sun Devils Performing Arts Group, State of the Art will be held in historic St. Augustine, FL at St. Augustine High School Stadium. Show time begins at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $12 online and $15 day of show. Corps in competition: Atlanta CV – Atlanta, GA Carolina Gold – Raleigh, NC Sun Devils – Orlando, FL Exhibition: Impact of Orlando Florida Brass and more to announce! Food! Raffles! Fun! and of course…Drum corps!!! We are excited to host this year's show and are looking forward to seeing you there! For tickets visit - www.sundevilsdrumcorps.org

In my best Barney Stinson voice: Challenge...accepted! LOL!

I have a voicemail from someone on their admin team. Unfortunately TBT will not be back in DCI or DCA. What stinks is that I really enjoyed the in state rivalry. It forced us to grow together, thusly bringing a better product to the masses. All the best to those who were involved. We'll see you down the road.