Legends of visual design

[GSNewell]

And brother Jeff is a professional comedian.

[jwillis35]

I think you put George Zingali and Steve Brubaker in the top spot.

Why, because I believe they changed the activity the most with their artful and intelligent design. They have more to do with where we are today than any other staff member or corps director. Yes, they both learned from some great designers/writers, but their artform was so signature that you could swear you never saw anything like it when you witnessed their corps in performance.

Pete Emmons really should go in the no. 2 slot and I would then put John Brazale in the no. 3 spot. At no. 4 I would put Bobby Hoffman. Many underestimate his impact on drum corps, but in terms of show design and charting Bobby could do it as well as anyone. He was often the breath of fresh air that drum corps needed to stay grounded in entertainment. We miss Bobby Hoffman very much in this activity.

Jeff Sacktig certainly deserves much acclaim as a visual designer, but perhaps the unsung heroe for the Cadets since the late 1980s is Marc Sylvester. As a drill writer, artist, program coordinator, and visionary I feel he is one of the most unique, talented, and trend-setting artists in the activity today. Marc is certainly one of the giants of this activity.

Greg Paklacki - Greg did pick up where Brubaker left off, there is no doubt, and therefore I would not rate him as high, although a great one no doubt. The same is really true for Mike Gaines. He is masterful at his craft and has brought so much to DCI, but his style is very similar to that of Brubaker. His set changes are simply much faster (more 4 count and 8 count changes, with lots of sub sets and sub-phrase sets). Both of these guys are certainly in the top 10 however. Incredible stuff.

Just some tidbits.

Jonathan

[Ryan H. Turner]

And brother Jeff is a professional comedian.

I WONDERED about that. I was just watching the top 100 memorable moments of SNL on E...and Jeff pops up every so often with his comments. And I JUST thought this morning, "I wonder...nah...but....COULD it...nahhh..."

Thanks for straightening me out Greg!

[ithacaguy]

I dug marching the drill of Mike Leofolhoelz, although I probably spelled his name wrong, sorry Mike.

Mike Loeffelholz is the correct spelling. Great drill design and a stand up guy.

[MiamiSun76]

Mike Loeffelholz is the correct spelling. Great drill design and a stand up guy.

And he can teach too. He has the potential to be the Gene Bennett of his generation.

[mchromik]

Ahh, the famous 'Cross to Cross'. So many stories and interpretations. I think alot of the confusion about this comes from the way George Z used to re-write and change drill. Often George would sit on top of a tower staring endlessly often with his head turned at odd angles. Then it strange bursts he would come out on the field and physically move people here and there. Basically he would write it 'on the fly'. Even the transition was left somewhat up in the air. You would run it and run it. He would tweak it here or there, or even tell you to go somewhere completely different.

That is how the stories of 'everyone figure your own thing out' come to be. Actually it was more like sketching. Broad wide strokes to get general form. Then detail and tweak here and there. Eventually darken and firm the lines. Often the techs and underlings did the charting after these wild creative bursts. It was all at once facinating, frustrating, and magical to be involved in one of these special sessions. But it seems that some of his most fascinating work came from such times.

To me it seems a bit short sited to just call folks Zingali, Sylvester, Brubaker, Hoffman, and to some extent Cesario meer 'drill writers'. They transended what was 'drill' and moved into the realm of choreography. Drill was but one part of a greater concept. There are alot of talented 'drill writers out there now, but one could argue we really haven't moved in any really new direction since the above geniuses moved us into our current realm. It has taken along time for the majority of programs to catch up with where George and Brubaker where. Sooner or later change will come. Maybe it will be a look back at what was great in the good ol' days. It will probably be in some direction we cannot predict. All we need is the next Zingali or Hoffman to rise to the forfront.

[tommytimp]

Many years ago I was at a show in Columbus, Ohio at Cooper Stadium.

For those that may not know, this is a baseball stadium. The

football field layout included the infield area, including the pitchers mound.

The spectators were seated on the 3rd base side of the field. I had an ailse

seat on the 50 at the top of the stadium.

I don't remember the year, but I remember the Cadets were just taking the field.

Just prior to the start of their show a man sat down next to me on a step in the

aisle. I had no idea who he was. Several times during their perofrmance

he would reach over and slap on the shoulder and say "watch this". The

corps would do something amazing and this man would jump in the air and

shout. I had never seen anyone get so excited about a performance. In

many ways he was as entertaining as the corps.

I remember him going bonkers for Alliance on the first day of Whitewater 1982 (they were great that day), and also for Garfield at Allentown in 1987. I usually sat at pit level, but it was fun to be up top and watch him going bananas.

[dckid80]

It was even more fun watching him go nutty in the intimacy of a small gym while watching Quasar.

He also liked SAC and St. Therese alot.

[LancerFi]

During many, many shows, especially in the disco era 77, 78 he would be warned by judges while we were on the field to stop. We could see him from the field and the people in the stands would be watching him. It was just normal everday Zingali. We may have won extra points by causing attention to himself.

They called it "coaching" equaling a 1 point penalty.

I loved looking up and seeing him dancing and doing so many other things that were just very funny.

I despised the pulling out of the eyebrows though! From one extreme to the other, that's what made him such a strong force.

Edited December 11, 2005 by LancerFi

[uncle z]

From Star of Indiana web site - click on the Drum Corps years and you can see the members and caption heads for each season

It's amazing how many of the "legends" show up on Star of Indiana's staff roll...............and what's even more amazing is that I would associate none of them with Star of Indiana......

Discuss!!!