Heat Wave of Orlando

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Heat Wave of Orlando Welcomes New Percussion Staff

PRESS RELEASE – January 10, 2004

After 11 years of guiding the Heat Wave percussion section and having helped them to win 2 DCA Class A Championship Percussion Trophies and numerous other accolades, Vic Kulinski, Jr will step down as Percussion Caption Head/Arranger to focus on the Directorial duties of Heat Wave for the 2004 season.

With that we are pleased to announce the following appointments.

Joe Southard will assume the responsibilities as Percussion Caption Head/Arranger, Ray Donato will arrange and instruct the Front Ensemble/Latin Section, Ron Lambert will be lead Battery Technician and Zak Bond will assist as Technician.

Joe Southard comes to Heat Wave after having been the Percussion Head/Arranger for the Kiwanis Kavaliers the last 2 years. Joe’s drum corps experience started with the Florida Wave from South Florida, he then marched with the Blue Devils of Concord Calif. in the early 90’s. After aging out, Joe started his teaching career with the upstart Florida Guardsmen. In 1995 he worked with Suncoast Sound of Tampa Florida, then when the Corps went inactive, was hired by Spirit of Atlanta in 1997. Joe was also the arranger for Southern Pride Winter DrumLine. After a few years off to attend to marriage and a new baby, Joe was hired in 1999 by Tampa Bay Thunder to lead and build there Percussion line. When Tampa Bay and Kiwanis merged forces in 2002, Joe took over the arranging duties. Joe studied music at University of South Florida, has performed at Tokyo Disneyland and currently performs with various percussion ensembles in the Orlando area Theme parks as well working for Primerica Financials.

Heading up the Front Ensemble as Arranger/Instructor is Ray Donato of Boca Raton, Florida. Ray also started his Drum Corps marching career in Florida Wave in 1990 and then went on to perform with the Blue Devils of Concord,Calif. front ensemble in 1991 and 1992. Upon returning back to Florida, Ray returned to school to receive a BA and MA in Music from Florida Atlantic University. After instructing numerous Bands along the SouthEast Coast of Florida where his drumlines consistently garnered Superior ratings, Ray accepted the position of Assistant Band Director and Director of Percussion at his Alma Mater, Florida Atlantic University in 2002. Eager to build the percussion program, Donato will oversee the percussion ensemble, jazz drum set, winter drum line and concert band. Ray is also the Program Coordinator/Music Arranger for STRYKE Percussion, a 2003 WGI Independent Open Percussion Finalist.

Lead Battery Technician is Ron Lambert. Ron currently serves as the Caption Head for Marching Percussion at the University of South Florida as well as the Director of the HOT (Herd of Thunder) Show Band and the HOT Indoor Percussion Theater. His duties include arranging for the Herd of Thunder Drum Line (HOTDL) and the Indoor Percussion Theater (IPT), as well as serving as ensemble technician and equipment specialist. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois and is a former marching member of The Cavaliers Drum & Bugle Corps and Marching Illini Band. The USF Indoor Percussion completed a successful inaugural season in 2003 under Ron, that included trips to Naples, Countryside, and other parts of Florida, and the group is primed for its first year of full WGI competition in 2003-2004. He is also an active educator on the high school level and arranges and instructs numerous percussion lines in the Tampa area. Ron also served as snare line technician for the Tampa Bay Thunder in 2000 and 2001. He is also a professional drummer who covers many musical styles at church, in the studio, on stage and on the road. Ron spent nine years establishing a career by performing in many Chicago venues and can be heard on recordings by Chris Greene and New perspective, Lauretta Tagli, The Tommy Bradford Quintet and many more.

Also serving as a Battery Technician is Zak Bond. Zak started his Drum Corps career as a snare drummer with Heat Wave and in 2001 was a member of the Blue Devils of Concord, Calif. In 2003 he returned to Heat Wave to head the Front Ensemble. Zak is also a private instructor in both marching percussion as well as drum set, and teaches around Orlando as well as performing with numerous percussion ensembles and Rock and Jazz bands in and around the Orlando area and performed for 6 months at Tokyo Disneyland as part of the JAMMitors group. In 2002 Zak was a performer with Shockwave at Epcot Center.

Heat Wave welcomes Joe, Ray, and Ron to the Heat Wave family as they begin to move the Heat Wave percussion section to the next level of DCA competition. We invite you to stop by our next camp, January 17 and 18 at the Bahia Shrine Center to meet our newest additions to Heat Wave.

For more info visit www.heatwavecorps.org

This post has been edited by HeatWaveDir on Jan 11 2004, 05:10 AM