The weekend of December 1-3, 2000 marked the opening of Carolina Crown’s 12^th season with the organization’s new student audition camp at Ft. Mill Middle School. Some 150 students from throughout the United States attended the event, all hopeful of landing one of 128 coveted spots in the 2001 Carolina Crown. The success and enthusiasm of the event could not be dampened even by the threat of a major winter storm in the Carolinas that caused Director Kevin Smith to close down the camp early on Saturday afternoon for the safety of the students, faculty and volunteers. (As it turned out, Ft. Mill didn’t see one flake of 6-12 inches of snow predicted by the weather reports, however, other portions of Carolinas were hit with up to six inches of the white stuff!) Faculty members in all four captions (Brass, Guard, Percussion and Visual) were very impressed with both the numbers of students attending the camp and the quality of their auditions. The logistics of the entire camp went off without a hitch (including the sudden mass exit!) thanks to the administrative team of Brian Bambauer, Terry Valentine and Paco Taylor, and a great (and very large) crew of volunteers lead by Support Service Coordinator, Teri Brinson!

The entire Crown team can hardly wait for the two weeks to pass before the corps’ first regular camp (December 15-17), where returning corps members ("vets") and additional prospective members who could not make the audition camp will be attending! With Crown’s "no cut" audition policy, these "vets" and the additional new students will be joined by all of the students who attended the audition camp for what could possibly be the largest and most successful camp in Crown’s history! So, if you know of an interested student, tell them to check out the membership information on Crown’s website (www.carolinacrown.org) and plan on attending the December 15-17 camp!

Carolina Crown is pleased to announce yet another milestone in their Partnership in Education program in hosting the first annual Union County NC Middle School Honor Band. The two-day event will be held at Wingate University on February 23 and 24, 2001. Participating Middle Schools include Weddington, Parkwood, Piedmont, Sun Valley, East Union, and Monroe.

Nominated students from each school will combine to create the 80-100 piece "Best of Union County" ensemble. The weekend will include twelve hours of intense rehearsals and culminate with a free concert on Saturday afternoon. A grant from the Union County Community Arts Council will help finance the event.

Renowned music educator Bernie Hall will serve as the event’s guest conductor/clinician. Bernie is Band Director at Southwestern Randolph Middle School in Asheboro, NC. A native of Greensboro, SC, he graduated from Grimsley High School in 1975. In 1979 he graduated magna cum laude from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), with a Bachelor of Music Education degree, and was a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity and Pi Kappa Lamda Music Honorary Society. In 1981 he received a Masters of Music from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Bernie has taught band in the North Carolina public schools for twenty years, and has been on the staff of the UNCG Summer Music Camp since its inception in 1983. He is a Past-Chairman of the Central District Bandmasters Association, which voted him "Band Director of the Year" in 1990-91 and the "Award of Excellence" for 1995-96. He was elected into the American School Band Directors Association in 1990, and was named "Teacher of the Year" at Asheboro High School for 1991-92. He attended the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching, and toured Europe with the Philharmonia of Greensboro in the summer of 1994.

Bernie is active in North Carolina as a guest conductor, clinician, and band contest adjudicator, works at the North Carolina Zoological Park during the weekends and summertime, and is an competitive age-group triathlete, having just completed an Ironman. He resides in Asheboro with his wife Gwen, a pianist, organist, and soprano; daughter Kathleen, 14, an oboist; son Steven, 12, a percussionist; and "Nutmeg," 8, a miniature dachshund.

Six new directors were added to the Carolina Crown board at their annual meeting held in Ft. Mill on October 29, 2000. The entire Crown family would like to welcome each of them to the board and thank them for their commitment to advance our mission.

Chris Buck of Columbia, SC is a Crown faculty alumnus, having worked on the visual team in the early 90’s. He graduated from Irmo HS in 1997 where he participated in their band program. He was also active in the University of SC band programs, both with the Marching Band and Symphonic Band. He marched with Cadets of Bergen County ('88-90), and was their Drum Major '89-90. Chris is the show promoter for the Columbia Summer Music Games each year where he has coordinated the efforts of the Columbia show with Crown’s NightBEAT show on different fronts, as well as housed Carolina Crown on several occasions. Recently he has also worked with Bands of America at their Regionals and Grand Nationals. Chris is the owner of Buck's Trucks, LLC, a company that buys and sells used beverage trucks and trailers to and from the beverage industry. Chris has been married to Caroline for 7 years with two wonderful children, Aaron (4) and Anna (1).

DeAnn Ellisor was born in New Mexico and now resides in Columbia, SC. She is the owner of a business that consults with emergency physicians and codes data for 19 hospitals in three states. She has been a drum corps fan for a number of years, but is quick to point out she can not play a corps instrument and has never marched! She is the very proud parent of a Crown front ensemble member, Jamie. During her time with Crown the past 2 years she has been involved with cooking, sewing, selling souvenirs, camp operations, and the NightBEAT reception, to name a few. She is currently co-chairperson of the newly re-organized Sponsorship Committee.

Joe Gulledge, originally from Wadesboro, NC, is Director of Bands at Rock Hill High School in Rock Hill, SC. Joe currently resides in Rock Hill, SC with his wife Suzanne and children, Daniel (6) and Katie (3). Joe marched mellophone and aged out with Crown in 1991 and has continued to be associated with Crown in various capacities including on the brass faculty in 1992-93. In addition, through Joe’s support Rock Hill High School has served as host school for corps attending NIGHTBEAT, a WGI Regional housing site for Crown’s partner Carolina Visual Productions (CVP), and winter home to Carolina Thunder Percussion Ensemble. Joe is Crown’s 4^th alumni on it’s Board of Directors, with the others being Keith Miller, Mekel Rogers and Philip Rainer.

James Turner grew up in Lincolnton, NC, where he still resides, and attended Lincolnton High School. He attended Appalachian State University and earned Bachelor degrees in both Music Education and Music Performance concentration in tuba. He then returned to Appalachian and earned a Master of Music in Music Education. James is currently band director at Lincolnton High School. Before moving the Lincolnton HS, James had been director at Lincolnton Middle School and

Cherryville High School. His marching experience includes Lincolnton's band and at Appalachian for three years. He has been following drum corps for over ten years and toured with Crown serving in our souvenir sales operation.

Angie Slatton was raised in Fort Mill, SC, but currently lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina where she teaches Special Education at Rock Hill High School. After graduation from Fort Mill High School, where she participated in the marching band, Angie went on to march in the color guards of several drum corps. She started with Suncoast Sound for two years, and then spent a year with Magic. She spent her last two years with Santa Clara Vanguard, where she aged out. Angie became involved with Carolina Crown soon after aging out in 1992. Since then, she has cooked, painted trucks, sold souvenirs, pinned flags, and anything else current Crown President Chip Smith could "trick me into doing"! Angie notes that "being involved in drum corps was a big part of who I am today as a teacher, wife, and mother. I enjoy giving back to the activity that was so important to me."

Kirk Godbey graduated from Radford High School in Virginia in 1982 and from James Madison University in 1986 with a Bachelor's in Music Ed. Kirk then earned a Master’s in Music Education degree from Winthrop University in 1993, and is currently working on a second Master's degree in administration from Winthrop University. Mr. Godbey is in his 15th year of teaching in the Fort Mill School District, having spent the first thirteen years a Fort Mill Middle School and then opening Gold Hill Middle School in 1998. The band program at Gold Hill has grown from 175 to over 300 in 3 short years. Kirk has worked in many schools in the Southeast as a woodwind clinician and is the site chairman for the South Carolina Junior High concert festival, as well as a member of the marching committee for the South Carolina Band Director's Association. Mr. Godbey is a member of MENC, SCBDA, SCMEA, NBA, and is an active marching band drill writer, having written marching band drills for several award winning bands in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The renown University of North Texas 2000 drum line, under the guidance of Director and Arranger Paul Rennick, were again crowned PASIC Champions at the annual event held each year in mid-November. This marked UNT’s 12th PASIC Championship win!

Besides being lead by 4^th year Crown faculty member Rennick, the group also has many other members with ties to the corps as follows:

Sandi Sheuerman (faculty ‘98-00)

Mark Teal (member ‘96, 98, 99, 00)

Bobby Romano(faculty 98-00)

Jeremy Noyes (member ‘00)

Jimmy LaBrecque (member ‘00)

Andy Akiho (member ‘95, 96, 97)

Anthony Capalad (member ‘95, 96, 97)

Eli Johnson (member ‘99)

Jeremy Gomez (faculty ‘98-2000)

Butch Smith (member ‘00)

In addition to their group honor, the award for Keyboard Individual World Champion went to Crown age-out Mark Teal. Mark performed Rhythmic Caprice by Leigh Howard Stevens, scoring a 97.0 to take the title!

Congratulations to Paul, Mark and all the other members of UNT’s 2000 drum line for their tremendous accomplishment!