The 1993 Phantom Regiment

[Tsar Nikk]

Good morning ladies and gents...with the last week of summer classes upon me, my first year of Ph.D. study is at an end. It was a successful year for me, lots of new knowledge gained, and lots of hard work as well: This year alone, I taught two sections of "Brass Techniques," TA'd/conducted the Graduate Chamber Winds, TA'd/conducted the Campus Band, worked with the Marching Chiefs, organized the College of Music's four Prism concerts...and somehow found enough time to take 27 credit hours toward my degree.

Usually my summer is full of drill writing and music arranging...but for some reason, this summer is slow, with only 1 school to write drill for, and 1 school in Baton Rouge to write music for (an old drum corps buddy of mine, Duane LeBlanc, who I am sure is lurking around here). All this means that I have some time to relax and enjoy myself.

In two weeks I will be taking my new girlfriend to Orlando to hit a few theme parks and introduce her to live drum corps...that should be fun for both of us. If any of you are in Orlando and you see me wandering around, stop me and say hi. The first year of Ph.D. study hasn't totally killed me...I have a few grey hairs, but I look mostly the same: My Mugshot

Anyhow, I thought I would kick off the year with a yarn...something I found recently that I wrote about the 1993 season, which I will clean up and put on my website with all the other columns/stories sooner or later. Hope you enjoy:

The 1993 Phantom Regiment

What can I say about the 1993 Phantom Regiment that has not already been said -more eloquently than I could hope to manage- by many of the fans who braved the hot, muggy weather that Finals Night back in August of 1993? I've heard many people say that if DCI judged on the merit of the show on Saturday Night (not taking into account the entire season in its Finals judging, and let's face it, sometimes it appears that they do…"any given night" is not a phrase we can apply to DCI anymore), Phantom would have been the 1993 champion.

I am not going to get into that argument. Certainly, I agree that we were #### entertaining, and very high-energy, especially compared to Star, whose production was much more about subtlety than about "in-your-face" power. But I cannot ever remove myself far enough from the 1993 Phantom Regiment to make an unbiased opinion about what occurred Finals Night. Suffice it to say that the 1993 edition of Regiment was the best one of the 4 years I marched. Not only was it the best one, it was my favourite as well, just squeaking past the 1991 production. Unbiased opinions don't work too well for me, especially where this particular year is concerned, so instead of opinions, let me tell you a little about the season that gave us the show many people still include in their "Top 10

Favourite" lists.

The 1993 season was supposed to be the death knell of the Phantom Regiment. Remember, we had just had that disastrous 8th place finish at the 1992 Finals (disastrous to us at the time…how spoiled we had become!). Many members who were not aging out decided they were not going to return. The funny thing (not funny ha ha, but funny in an Alanis Morisette ironic type of way) is that I can't remember any of the vets who sat out that year going to march somewhere else…yet after the wildly successful 1993 season, which saw Phantom get one of its highest scores ever, more than half a dozen Regiment members fled the corps to march with Blue Devils. You'd think this kind of exodus would follow a lousy year like 1992, not a great one like 1993. Go figure.

In any case, we were looking at a lot of rookies that we shouldn't have been looking at. Vets should have been filling some of those spots, and I've often wondered what would have happened had we had their leadership and experience there with us to guide their sections through that amazing show. Then again, maybe we succeeded because they didn't come back…but I digress.

As the 1992 season wound to a close, many of the members of the Horn Bus found ourselves in the back of the bus, composing a "List of Demands." You see, so much had happened during that 1992 season, so many ups and down, that we decided to put together a wish list of things we wanted done or changed to get Regiment back into the Top 5, or even to win us that elusive title. It was your typical drum corps member's egotistical thing to do…so who were we to argue against tradition?

Included in the list were such requests as "more sleep" (many disorganized stretches of our 1992 tour featured 3 or 4 hour downtimes), "more organized practices" (rehearsal behaviour in 1992 was atrocious), tougher warm-ups, tougher music, different uniforms, new horns, etc. I remember especially well one of my contributions to the list: "Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony." Ever since I arrived at Regiment Hall in November of 1990, I had been pleading with the staff to play the Shostakovich Fifth. Dan Farrell, currently the Program Coordinator of Regiment, probably remembers how much I bugged him about playing it. Boy, was I miffed when they finally did play it, and ended up winning the title 2 years after I aged out!

Anyhow, since I was writing the corps' diaries at the time, I was nominated as the editor/creator of the list, and was put in charge of getting it to David St. Angel after we all got home. Sure enough, after a few weeks home, I heavily edited the list, made the "demands" into "requests," and forwarded the letter to Mr. St. Angel, corps director of the Phantom Regiment at the time (and I might add, during some of its most successful years as a corps, from 1989 to 1993, and again in 1996.) I like to think that somewhere in Rockford, among the piles of PR-related stuff Dave keeps in his abode, lies the letter I wrote to him, our "Request List" from the members of the 1992 Phantom Regiment. That's just the Debussy in me, I suppose.

As the Audition Camp for 1993 approached, we all heard rumours about the planned repertoire, staff changes (John Brazale, our drill designer, had passed away, and Marty Hurley, our percussion designer, had left the corps), and many others. We were excited, because we had heard a rumour that the Shostakovich Fifth was indeed to be our show. At the alumni season banquet, we learned that sadly, this was not the case. We were a little baffled by the choice in music. While some of us had heard of "Estancia," no one within my circle of friends had ever heard of "Fire of Eternal Glory" or "The Death Hunt." We dreaded the music, because it was unfamiliar to us. We could not have been more wrong.

The first tinges of excitement came during the playing of "Fire." After that huge chord at the end, many players in the horn line could be seen looking around at each other, nodding their heads in approval. When we first played "Death Hunt," dirty as it was, we began to believe that this hodge-podge show could work. Of course, we were still a little apprehensive about our new drill writer Tony Hall. His drill designs were very different from Brazale's, whom we had come to love despite his gruff, abrasive demeanor. He didn't talk like Brazale. He didn't act like Brazale. And he certainly didn't chain smoke like Brazale did. Many vets had serious misgivings about Tony, myself included. Some called him a "drama queen" for his antics. Some called him far worse names. We questioned the matter of the pit being on the field, instead of in...well...the pit. We questioned everything. Why anyone would want to work with a bunch of kids like us is beyond me. We were ruthless.

But we were improving. And pretty soon, we saw how Tony worked. His drills, which didn't seem like much on paper, were augmented by his random, out-of-the-blue ideas. "What if we take 2 steps to the right on the last two counts of this move?" he would ask. "What if we do a full horn line crab step?" "What if we march an entire number with our helmets on the field?" I'll never forget the reaction that greeted the announcement that the horn line was going to crab step: "Stupid," "We'll look dumb," "Horn lines aren't meant to crab," "They're going to laugh at us," "Tony has flipped his gourd this time." And I also remember the reaction after we did it for the first time, and the crowd gave us a standing ovation: "Tony is a genius!" "Man, I KNEW that move would work." "What a great move!" What can I tell you…we were a fickle bunch.

But that show kept growing on us. And we kept improving. Unlike 1992, we had a vehicle that we were fond of, excited by, and challenged with. The 1993 show featured just the right amount of energy, tradition, and 'newness" to satisfy all the members. Socially, 1993 was my favourite year as well. Sure, I had broken up with "Hoosier Girl" from the previous year, and that heartbreak was still fresh in me, but there was so much more going on. Two of my best friends, Grant Dawson and Aaron Ozminski, were drum majors. The euphonium line was smoking hot that year, with Tim Gray and I winning I&E titles. The rookies were good kids, fun to be around, and without a rebellious attitude that doomed previous Regiment editions. And I did eventually make some romantic discoveries.

We took a very challenging show to some incredible heights of performance. Was it as clean as Star of Indiana? No. Was it as sophisticated as the Cadets? Probably not. But it had a tremendous raw edge to it, and this was reflected in the reactions of the audience as well as our own reactions after run-throughs and performances. It is gratifying to often see Regiment 1993 in people's "Top 10" lists. We put a lot of hard work into that show, and I truly believe we changed the face of the Phantom Regiment for a while. Certainly, it was the success of that show that paved the way for the amazing 1996 production, and the ambitious 1997 show.

In the end, shows that win rings and DCI titles are the ones most often discussed...however, I wanted to talk about and recognize the fantastic group of members and staff that made up the 1993 Phantom Regiment, if only for a little while.

[CorpsPhan]

'93 was an incredible show and I was fortunate to be able to see it many times over the summer, including 3 times at Jackson. If I remember correctly, there were 5 standing O's during the finals performance.

Again I say

[sburstall]

Good morning ladies and gents...with the last week of summer classes upon me, my first year of Ph.D. study is at an end.  It was a successful year for me, lots of new knowledge gained, and lots of hard work as well: This year alone, I taught two sections of "Brass Techniques," TA'd/conducted the Graduate Chamber Winds, TA'd/conducted the Campus Band, worked with the Marching Chiefs, organized the College of Music's four Prism concerts...and somehow found enough time to take 27 credit hours toward my degree.

Usually my summer is full of drill writing and music arranging...but for some reason, this summer is slow, with only 1 school to write drill for, and 1 school in Baton Rouge to write music for (an old drum corps buddy of mine, Duane LeBlanc, who I am sure is lurking around here).  All this means that I have some time to relax and enjoy myself.

In two weeks I will be taking my new girlfriend to Orlando to hit a few theme parks and introduce her to live drum corps...that should be fun for both of us.  If any of you are in Orlando and you see me wandering around, stop me and say hi.  The first year of Ph.D. study hasn't totally killed me...I have a few grey hairs, but I look mostly the same: My Mugshot

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Lord help up all. :P

luv ya Nikk....

[arno0940]

I visited Phantom's rehearsal site prior to their performance at the Lake Erie Fanfare. I think the year was '93 or '94? (the year the pit was on the field and outlined in black) Anyways...I was amazed at their strong work ethic and energy. That was the first time I was up close and personal with a Division 1 corps. Awesome experience!

[cage]

I saw you guys at Bensalem, PA that year. It was a standstill in the rain. I must say that is the only time I have ever held my ears to any extent. That hornline literally was making my head hurt with volume, especially during Grace. I went to my first NASCAR race last week and the volume, at least in my mind, was comparable.

[festive]

As the 1992 season wound to a close, many of the members of the Horn Bus found ourselves in the back of the bus, composing a "List of Demands."  You see, so much had happened during that 1992 season, so many ups and down, that we decided to put together a wish list of things we wanted done or changed to get Regiment back into the Top 5, or even to win us that elusive title.  It was your typical drum corps member's egotistical thing to do…so who were we to argue against tradition?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ahh, yes. The righteous indignation. :P I can only imagine how that was at the end of 92.

Great read, though, as usual. Thanks for posting that. :)

I heard from Moose that the corps sounded really great at the dress rehearsal last night. The guard is featured heavily in this show, from what he said.

Good luck with walking your new girlfriend through the world of drum corps. B)

Edited June 13, 2005 by festive

[Guardguy89]

I taught Academie Musicale that year - we toured with Phantom alot that year.

I couldn't believe how hard their rifle line worked that year. Wheather we were at a show, a standstill or a parade - I would always see Phantom's rifle line rehearsing. They would literally use every single opportunity to practice. Lets just say that they were less than stellar in June, and I believe that it was the first rifle line that they had had in many years (the last time being - I think - 1986).

But by the time they hit DCI - I was amazed at how great that rifle line had become - and you can see it on the video -wow what an improvement.

Later,

Mike

[Marc66]

I only saw the '93 show on the live broadcast on PBS. My first reaction still stands: This show should have won it. Yes, it's my opinion, but I still think this show was absolutely awesome (and, is one of my all-time favorites).

Nikk...GREAT PIECE. Wonderful reading, and excellently written.

Thank you.

[huskerman15]

Phantom 93 is absolutely on my Top 10 list. It was such an incredible show.

I know Tim Gray! He's a great guy...he writes drill for us at Millard West (even though I graduated...whatever). We got to talking a few times. Do you still keep in contact with him?

Edit - Also, Tim told me he wrote drill for The Death Hunt, or a portion of it. Thanks a ton for writing that piece, by the way Nikk :)

Edited June 13, 2005 by huskerman15

[mnscoutfan]

Welcome back Nikk!! I always love reading your posts. '93 Regiment is one of my favorite shows as well. "Fire of Eternal Glory" could be the best ballad in DCI history. It was like taking a bath in....caramel? ;)