A Plea to the Phantom Regiment Organization

[Michael Boo]

If you go five miles north of Chesterton, you end up drowning.

And if you go five miles south, you end up being friendly with cows.

[A Cavalier TDY]

I wish Phantom all the best in the years to come. ... Staff continuity means success. Get a great staff. Hold onto them. Watch the fun begin.

How true.

[A Cavalier TDY]

The greatest staff on earth can't make a bad show idea/concept work.

Lipstick on a pig ...

[A Cavalier TDY]

I'll tell you...holed up under in a bathroom waiting for the tornado warning to pass.

... or down on one knee proposing in the field house ...

[byline]

I can't address the issue of staff departures. But what I can say is that, having enjoyed Phantom's show in Erie, it's one of the few from this summer that's stuck in my head. I find myself thinking back to and humming the music over and over again. Yes, there were some problems in the visual caption. But it can't all be bad if the corps provided that kind of experience for its audience.

Wholesale housecleaning rarely works, though in the case of Madison, it did. But that's because they assembled a stellar (har!) staff with a longterm vision, and pretty much everyone seems to have bought into it.

[victorcoly]

My two centavos:

Only PR and Mr. Rennick, PR BoD, etc know the scoop, and they don;t have to tell anyone the "rest of the story" (Paul Harvey-ism of the day!!) if they don;t want to.

Now -- the bigger and larger issue that is not stricty limited to Phantom or anyone is certain designers/arrangers/etc "loyalty" to an organization -- or moreso to THE ACTIVITY and its sustaniability!! Personally (and I am NOT going to mention names) I think some designers/arrangers are too focused on their own "agenda" and also their own $$$$ well-being rather than the organization they're with or -- better yet -- the kids in their respective organization.

Need evidence? Ok then:

Star of Indiana: Their success can be mainly attributed to a consistent design / arranging staff for their entire existence. yes, I know some of you will say Bill Cook had money to burn, but honestly -- the folks who designed and put that product on the field for all of those years did not end up millionaires fpr the most part!!

Bluecoats: Doug Thrower has been their brass arranger for two decades, and their successs can be traced to some "stability" of his professionalism and ability to work with all kinds of staff personalities.

Blue Devils: Wayne Downey and Scott Johnson (plus Dave Glyde). Title #14 in 2010 (although I had issues with that) speaks volumes

SCV: When Jim Cassella, Dean Westman, Gordon Henderson were there in the late 80's - early 90's, the product was more solid than now.

There are more to mention, but suffice to say that many mentioned above cared more about the activity and the kids rather than their own noteriety and financial gain!!

[geluf]

Now -- the bigger and larger issue that is not stricty limited to Phantom or anyone is certain designers/arrangers/etc "loyalty" to an organization -- or moreso to THE ACTIVITY and its sustaniability!! Personally (and I am NOT going to mention names) I think some designers/arrangers are too focused on their own "agenda" and also their own $$$$ well-being rather than the organization they're with or -- better yet -- the kids in their respective organization.

Loyalty is earned. Not freely given.

[perc2100]

Sorry, I didn't think the departure time of Nick was in question with the addition of Rosander in 2010.

I can and will always respect someone leaving a political office or staff position for family reasons. I'm sure that was the case with Jamey.

I guess the big point is, all of these people are "leaving" ... not being fired or "let go".

Without going through all the responses, and at the risk of being redundant, I think we can safely assume a few things:

1) Just because the official press release says "leaving" doesn't mean that's the case. I've personally known a couple of occasions where a corps publicly said, "Staff member X is leaving our corps" when in fact that staff member was indeed fired (or more appropriately not hired back for the next season). I'm not saying this is the case with Phantom Regiment and any of the above mentioned staff, but this is common not only in drum corps, but in several other businesses.

2) Staff member turn-over is nothing new. Blue Devils have kept the core of their design/Caption Head staff for a long time, and Cadets had their key designers/Captions Heads in place. Sometimes staff members leave for a new challenge (arguably Rennick has built Phantom Regiment's percussion program to be a consistent contender, and maybe he wants the new challenge of doing the same with SCV), sometimes staff members leave because they don't get along with corps administration or other staff members, sometimes Corps X pays a lot better than Corps Y. Sometimes it's as simple as a different corps can accommodate a staff member's schedule better.

I guess what I'm saying is that to be honest, everything you say about Phantom Regiment can be said for just about every corps with the exception of Blue Devils, and maybe Crown. Even Cadets staples Tom and Neil left the corps to go to Blue Stars, and April left for at least a little while and spent time at SCV. IMO Rennick leaves Phantom Regiment substantially better than he found it (that might be the understatement of the year), and it's exciting to think about him rebuilding SCV into a percussion contender again.

[Fievel]

I often liken experiencing PR like a day of going to church. It's more than a drum corps, it's a religious experience. The problem is the Deacon is writing the sermon and picking out the music, the Preacher is lip synching, the orator behind the curtain has a speech impediment and the choir is the only reason people come to congregation ..... but they keep losing their choir director every year because the church's in the surrounding area have their stuff together and offer them a way out.

[nutshell]

only not behind a curtain.

[Register]

Rick Subel will not be returning to the Phantom Regiment 2011 via Facebook.