Lanah Kopplin will be contributing columns to DCI.org each Tuesday. Here's her ninth installment. It finally happened! At long last, Phantom Regiment has finally announced its show for the 2005 season. Our 2005 production is entitled "Rhapsody," and we will be playing George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" and "An American in Paris." How cool is that? Now I'm even more excited for the season to start!

Lanah Kopplin
Although the show was announced on Friday, we members were given a little treat. During the day on Thursday, a post went up on the member's portion of the site that told us to stay tuned, because we would get a sneak peak of the show later that day, around midnight. Word spread quickly throughout the Regiment network, so that everyone could have a chance to find out the show a few hours earlier than the public. Around 11:30 that night, a number of us met in a chatroom to await the announcement. That in and of itself was a great time. Unfortunately, I ended up doing a little trash-talking with some of my corpsmates from Michigan State. See, up until Saturday, the Wisconsin Badgers' football team (I go to the University of Wisconsin) had been 9-0. But then, the unthinkable happened. That's right, we got tromped by the Spartans of Michigan State. I didn't even watch the end of the game, because it was so embarrassing. My only consolation is that the men's hockey team swept North Dakota that same weekend. As time went by, we all became more and more anxious to see the show announcement. By midnight, there were over 35 people on the members' portion of the site, just waiting to see that one post. But alas, there was no post in sight. A little while later, someone put Regiment public relations guy Greg Newell's cell number up in the chat room, and we debated whether or not to call him to see what was going on. Finally, 2004's beautiful drum major, Kara Hoeflinger, took charge and gave him a ring. Apparently he decided to stop by the bar for a quick drink after work, and was just leaving to come home. What? The anticipation was nearly killing us! I felt particularly bad for my friends in the Eastern time zone, because it was already 1:30 a.m. their time. The predictions ran rampant, from Mahler to Barber, and anywhere in between. During this time, Dave Simon, our drum major from 2003 and 2004, pulled a really mean trick on us. All of a sudden, he started posting, "It's up, it's on the site!" So of course, all of us immediately raced to the members' page, just to find that he was pulling our leg. Thanks, Dave. It was quarter to one in the morning when Greg made his first post on the site. He apologized to us for the extended wait, and promised us that he was working on it right away. At last, the moment was almost here. We made our last minute predictions, and held our breath. And then, it happened. He posted a link to another site. And that, finally, contained the show announcement for 2005. At long, long last, we found out exactly what we would be playing this summer. Not surprisingly, as soon as we all found out, we all left. After all, it was already 2:00 a.m. for our friends out East, and we all had class in the morning. In just 10 days, I'll get to have my first taste of 2005. I am so anxious to hear JD Shaw's brass arrangement, because if it comes from his mind, you know it's going to be great. 2005, here we come! Lanah Kopplin is a third-year euphonium player in the Phantom Regiment, and previously spent a year with the Pioneer. Lanah is a political science major at the University of Wisconsin (she's a Milwaukee native), and will age out in 2005. Past columns by Lanah Kopplin: Amazing grace Are you ready? Get out there and vote Reflections from Whitewater Methodical hard work and passion Here's to the behind-the-scenes people Drum corps friendships A new column by the Phantom Regiment's Lanah Kopplin