From YEA! and Phantom Regiment press releases: The Cadets and Crossmen sister organization, the US Scholastic Band Association (USSBA), has taken the wraps off of the 100-event marching band season throughout the New England and Mid-Atlantic Regions and Texas for the fall of 2004, with more than 400 schools from 14 states participating in USSBA events from Maine to Georgia and Texas. Local schools throughout the regions are hosting 80 individual competitions and festivals sanctioned by the USSBA, while several major USSBA Regional and Championship competitions will be held at university and professional football facilities, including Villanova (Pa.), College of New Jersey (N.J.), Hofstra (N.Y.), as well as Giants Stadium (N.J.) and Ravens Stadium (Md.). The USSBA also is presenting several band competitions at the drum corps-friendly J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown, Pa. Local and Regional competitions are held throughout September and October leading up to the USSBA State Championship Series, with bands from nine different states competing for USSBA State Championship titles in their respective states. The USSBA season concludes November 6-7 and 12-13 with the largest marching band competition in the country, as 200 bands vie for the USSBA All-States Championship title in 12 classes of participation. The USSBA All-States Championships will be held this year in Giants Stadium in E. Rutherford, N.J., and in J. Birney Crum Stadium in Allentown, and will feature 20,000 young people in performance. The USSBA began in 1988 with a single competition in Giants Stadium in New Jersey and since has grown to service over 40,000 students annually through its marching, concert, and jazz band festivals and clinics. The USSBA looks to embark on an exciting 2004-05 school year, with significant expansion into the indoor percussion and winter guard arenas, under the direction of Estelle Gravois-Murr, the recently announced director of the USSBA. For more information on the USSBA, please visit the official USSBA Web site. Meanwhile in the Midwest, the second annual Fall Marching Band Festival, sponsored by the Phantom Regiment, will be held at 1 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 2, at Rockford College in Rockford, Ill. After a very successful first-year effort this past fall, Phantom Regiment is "excited" to once again offer this great opportunity for high school bands to showcase their programs. The Fall Marching Band Festival will be two events in one: A Festival portion for noncompetitive bands that are looking for judges' feedback and ratings only, and a competitive portion for bands who are looking for a score and ranking along with judges' feedback. Each band will also have the opportunity to attend an "instant feed-back" session, in which the band members watch an instant video of their performance and engage in a commentary and "Q and A session" with a Regiment design staff member. Last fall, these sessions were extremely well-received by band members and directors alike and we are excited to once again offer this enlightening service. Bands signed on to date include (from Illinois) Niles West, Watseka, Argo Community, Metamora Township, Illinois Valley Central, Lincoln Way East, Kaneland, Prairie Ridge and Huntley. Davenport Central from Iowa will also compete. For more information or to register your band, contact info@regiment.org or call 815.226.2835.