November 14, 1999 - Plymouth-Canton Marching Band is the 1999 Grand National Champion Although Portsmouth East did not compete in the 1999 Bands of America Grand National Championships, they would like to offer their extreme congratulations to the Plymouth-Canton Marching Band from Canton, Michigan, the 1999 BOA Grand National Champions. It takes a lot of talent, devotion, and a good attitude to receive this honor, and Plymouth-Canton deserves all of the praise associated with this title. Also, we would like to congratulate all of the bands that competed in this annual event in Indianapolis, Indiana. For more details on
the 1999 Grand National Championships, go to Return to the News Archives Headlines November 08, 1999 - OMEA Season Ends for All The close of the second weekend of OMEA State Finals on Sunday, November 07, marked the end of all OMEA marching contests for the fall season. Portsmouth East would like to congratulate all of the bands that competed in OMEA competition this year, as well as those that qualified, and performed, in State Finals competition. A special congratulations goes out to the local bands that graced the fields in Dayton, Massillon, and Akron, throughout this two weekend, multi-citied event: Northwest High School, Rock Hill High School, and South Point High School. Congratulations!!! Return to the News Archives Headlines October 31, 1999 - Portsmouth East's Competition Season Ends After canceling their performance in the 1999 Marshall University Marching Band Competition, the Portsmouth East Marching Band has completed its 1999 competition season. At its close, Portsmouth East has bested its previous single season Grand Champion record, by winning top honors at 6 of the 8 competitions that they competed in. They also finished on a very high note by achieving their fourth Superior Rating at OMEA State Finals in five years. Congratulations on a truly remarkable season, Portsmouth East. For full 1999 awards information, click here! Return to the News Archives Headlines October 31, 1999 - Trip to Marshall Competition Cancelled The Portsmouth East Marching Band has decided to make the extended trip to Massillon, Ohio their last competitive event of the 1999 season. The band will no longer be attending and competing in the 1999 Marshall University High School Marching Band Competition in Huntington, West Virginia. Good luck to all the bands that are still making the trip Saturday!!! Return to the News Archives Headlines October 30, 1999 - Portsmouth East Has Great Time in Massillon, OH The students from the Portsmouth East Marching Band celebrated their sixth trip to OMEA State Finals in six years by taking an extended field trip to the Canton/Massillon area of Ohio. The band enjoyed such activities on this 3 day, 2 night trip as viewing the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Home of O.J. Simpson's bronze bust), the President McKinley Museum, and a Dinner Theatre featuring The King and I, amidst other activities. The trip was topped off with their best performance to date of their 1999 field show at OMEA State Finals, where they received the coveted Superior Rating, which is arguably the highest honor possible in OMEA. Return to the News Archives Headlines October 19, 1999 - Portsmouth East to Compete in Green High School's Competition Saturday, October 23rd, the Portsmouth East Marching Band will be competing in Green High School's Marching Band Competition. The band will be competing in the largest class, Class AA. This weekend will be the final weekend for OMEA sanctioned competitions around the State of Ohio, before OMEA State Finals. In addition to wishing our own Portsmouth East good luck, we would also like to give a huge wish of luck to those bands that haven't qualified for State Finals competition this season. This is their last chance, and there are a lot of deserving bands that haven't been qualified, yet. Return to the News Archives Headlines October 19, 1999 - Driving Directions to Green High School By using MapQuest.com, you will be able to find exact directions to nearly every address in the United States. In a service to people wishing to attend the Green High School Marching Band Competition, here is the address: Green High
School When you get to MapQuest, click on the "Driving Directions" link. Once there, you will need to enter your address and Green's address. Once you have done that, and submitted the form, you should receive door-to-door, detailed driving directions, plus informative maps, to the High School, where the field is located. Click Here to Go to MapQuest.com for Your Directions to Green Return to the News Archives Headlines October 16, 1999 - Portsmouth East Successful in the North The Portsmouth East High School Marching Band was awarded 1st Runner-Up Grand Champion at the 1999 Miami Trace Competition. The band also took top honors in their own class, Class A. Return to the News Archives Headlines October 09, 1999 - Portsmouth East Compete and Host in Same Day Today, the Portsmouth East Marching Band competed in the Portsmouth West Marching Band Competition, once again, winning Grand Champion honors. Later that day, they traveled to Portsmouth's Spartan Municipal Stadium to host their very own competition, The 17th Annual Blue & White Invitational. Click Here for In Depth Details on the 17th Annual Blue & White Return to the News Archives Headlines September 28, 1999 - Charleston Civitan Competition On Saturday, October 2, 1999, the Portsmouth East Marching Band will be attending the annual Charleston Civitan International Marching Band Competition for the second consecutive year. This competition will take place in Charleston's Laidley Field. Last year, Portsmouth East finished at 1st Runner-Up to Grand Champion, being narrowly defeated by the military styled Parkersburg High School Marching Band (the margin was .9 to be exact). Return to the News Archives Headlines September 28, 1999 - Driving Directions to Laidley Field (Civitan) For precise directions from your address to Laidley Field in Charleston, West Virginia, you can use MapQuest. This is Laidley Field's address, which you will need to remember when you are getting directions from MapQuest: Laidley Field Click Here to Go to MapQuest's Website for Directions Return to the News Archives Headlines September 25, 1999 - Apologies A couple of quick apologies are in order for some misunderstandings and confusion during the awards ceremony at Cabell Midland. First of all, as all of the bands waiting on the visitor's side of the stadium were cheering, the awards started. Unfortunately, the sound from the PA system did not carry well, and the cheering that all of the bands were doing (including us) caused the band not to hear the first announcements. The band commenced in cheering a few seconds into the ceremony due to the chaos that persists after the host band performs and before the judges order the placement. The band is terribly sorry for the misunderstanding. Secondly, Portsmouth East offers its apologies to Huntington High School Marching Band (The Highlanders). The band didn't realize that you were in the same class (Class A) as they were, and cheered after third and second place band awards were announced to other schools, wrongly concluding that that definitely meant that they were the first place band. The band did not mean to display apparent condescending attitudes - they just didn't realize that you were in the running for the same award (1st Place Class A). The band offers its humblest of apologies to you. Return to the News Archives Headlines September 22, 1999 - Cabell Midland Competition this Saturday This Saturday (Sep. 25) the Portsmouth East Marching Band will be competing in Cabell Midland High School Marching Band's competition. This will be the third consecutive year that the band will compete in this competition. On the first two occaisions, the band won Grand Champion at this competition, which normally is one of the largest competitions in the Tri-State area, often having nearly 20 competing bands performing. Return to the News Archives Headlines September 22, 1999 - Driving Directions to Cabell Midland As always, we will provide the address to the school, which is also adjacent to the field of competition. Using Mapquest you will be able to find driving directions to the event from almost all addresses in the United States. Make sure that you go to the "driving directions" section of Mapquest. Cabell Midland High School Return to the News Archives Headlines September 18, 1999 - Welcome, Minford Portsmouth East would like to offer a warm welcome to the Minford High School Marching Band. Their participation in the Dawson-Bryant competition marks their first venture into competition in countless years. They will definitely be a welcome addition to the many talented groups from the local area. Return to the News Archives Headlines September 16, 1999 - East to Compete in Ironton and Dawson-Bryant Competitions On Saturday, September 18, the band will be participating in Ironton High School's "Buckeye Classic", and Dawson-Bryant's "The Spirit of Southern Ohio Marching Band Festival", marching band competitions. The "Buckeye Classic" at Ironton is scheduled to begin at 11:00 AM, and "The Spirit of Southern Ohio Marching Band Contest" will start at 4:00 PM. Portsmouth East is scheduled to perform at the following times: Ironton - 1:00 PM Portsmouth East is performing close to the end of each competition, so, in order to support the other great bands that will perform, I would suggest arriving at the start times for each competition. Return to the News Archives Headlines September 16, 1999 - Driving Directions to Ironton and Dawson-Bryant Competitions For directions to each of these competitions, here are the addresses for each school. Both of their football fields are adjacent to their respective school, so these addresses should come up with near precise driving directions if you use MapQuest. Ironton High School Dawson Bryant High School To find directions, go to http://www.mapquest.com, and find the "Driving Directions" area from the main page. Just enter your starting address, and the addresses above, and you will get step-by-step directions to the competitions. I have tested both, and they will get you to the competitions. Return to the News Archives Headlines September 8, 1999 - East to Compete in First 1999 Competition at Rock Hill On September 11, 1999, the Portsmouth East Marching Band will be competing in its first competition at Rock Hill High School's annual OMEA sanctioned competition. If you are interested in cheering the band along here, or just attending to see all of the great local bands, please attend! Return to the News Archives Headlines September 8, 1999 - Driving Directions to the Rock Hill Competition To find directions to the Rock Hill Competition online, I highly recommend using the popular MapQuest site. By providing your starting address, and a destination address, MapQuest can provide you with step-by-step driving directions. Here is the address for the upcoming event : 4676 State Route 93 Once there, click on "Driving Directions", and everything should be self explanatory from there. Return to the News Archives Headlines August 26th, 1999 - 1999 Kickoff Carnival The band made its first performance of the year at the annual Portsmouth East Football Kickoff Carnival. The band performed its pre-game show, which consists of the school song "Stand Up and Cheer", the alma mater hymn, "East High Forever", and the playing of "The Star Spangled Banner". After the pre-game, the band gave a little taste of the music from the competition show by playing the powerful closing piece, "Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity". Return to the News Archives Headlines August 01, 1999 - 1999 Season Begins On July 26th, the Portsmouth East High School Marching Band began rehearsals for the upcoming season. Although the band is fresh off of the heels of its most successful competition season in recent history (1998), East is not taking its Summer practice schedule lightly. Once again, the band is participating in 40 hours per week of intense drill learning, and music cleaning. I'm sure that the big question on everybody's mind is what this year's competition show, in musical and conceptual terms, will be. Check out the new 1999 Competition Show page for in depth details on the 1999 production of Gustav Holst's The Planets!!! Return to the News Archives Headlines 1998 News October 31, 1998 - Superior Rating at OMEA State Finals The band's competition season ends at Cooper Stadium in Columbus, OH, where OMEA State Finals were held. The band, once again, received the highest honor of the State of Ohio, the Superior Rating at OMEA Finals. Congratulations on the I rating, and your most successful year ever, band! Return to the News Archives Headlines October 24th, 1998 - East Awarded Reserved Grand Champion at Green Portsmouth East receives their third Reserved Grand Champion (1st Runner Up) of the year at the Green High School sponsored OMEA competition. Two school records were broken at this competition. Ryan Keys, Field Commander for the 1998 East Band, received a score of 98.7 out of 100! There have not been many Field Commanders in the history of OMEA competition to receive a score this high, so extreme congrats go out to Ryan. The other record broken was the Color Guard score. The color guard received the ungodly score of 96 out of 100. Congratulations guard! Needless to say, both the Field Commander and the Guard took the overall awards for these captions. The band also received 2nd place Class A Band, 2nd place Class A Percussion, 1st place Class A Field Commander, and 1st place Class A Color Guard. Return to the News Archives Headlines October 17, 1998 - Successful Venutre into Bands of America Competition Portsmouth East competed in the Cincinnati Bands of America Regionals Championship. Bands of America competitions host the very best bands of the nation, and this was truly the case at this competition. In the mind boggling competition, Portsmouth East finished in the middle of the field at 16th of 32 bands. Unlike normal OMEA competition, a 16th place finish at Regionals Championships is absolutely fantastic. Extreme congratulations go out to Portsmouth East, and all of the other bands at Regionals. A very special congratulations go out to all of the finalists (top ten bands at Regionals), and especially Harrison County, Ky., who came away with the championship! October 10, 1998 - Grand Champion at Portsmouth West, and a Fantastic Blue & White Portsmouth East competed at the annual Portsmouth West Competition. East took the Grand Champion award, as well as the following awards: Best Class B Auxiliary, Best Class B Percussion, Best Class B Band, Best Overall Auxiliary. In addition to competing in the West Competition, the band also hosted its own, the annual Blue and White Competition. For more information, follow this link: 1998 Blue and White Competition. Congratulations to all participants and winners at Portsmouth West, and Portsmouth East! Return to the News Archives Headlines October 03, 1998 - Reserved Grand Champion at 1998 Charleston Civitan Portsmouth East competed in the Charleston Civitan International Competition, in Charleston, West Virginia. Competing in Class AAAA, which is the largest band sized class (although smaller bands are allowed to compete in it), the band recieved a 2nd Place Band award, becoming 1st-runner up to Grand Champion. The winning band was the military styled Parkersburg High School, who won by less than one point (.9 to be exact). The band is extremely happy with its placement in this very close competition. Congratulations to Parkersburg, Portsmouth East, and the rest of the competing bands at the Civitan. Return to the News Archives Headlines
September 26, 1998 - Two Grand Champion Awards from Dawson Bryant & Cabell Midland Today, the Portsmouth East High School Marching Band participated in two competitions: one sponsored by Dawson Bryant (Coal Grove) High School, the other by Cabell-Midland High School (West Virginia). At Coal Grove, the band had to perform first in the field from class C, but managed to overcome the competition there by taking Grand Champion, as well as MANY other awards. At Cabell-Midland, the band would once again face the huge Spring Valley Marching Band, as well as most of the best bands in the local area (of Huntington). After competing in a class where all of the other bands were well over two times larger than Portsmouth East (Spring Valley being over THREE TIMES LARGER!!!), the band received Grand Champion honors once again, scoring higher than all other bands at the competition in all major captions except percussion. It just goes to show that SIZE DOESN'T MATTER. Special Congratulations go out to Adam Forshey for receiving the outstanding soloist award for his trumpet solo in "Sing, Sing, Sing". Adam and the rest of the East soloists were in fierce competition for this trophy, so it was well earned. Return to the News Archives Headlines September 19, 1998 - Grand Champion at Ironton's Buckeye Classic A much improved East Marching Band received the coveted Grand Champion Award at Ironton High School's competition. The band had some very tough competition coming from two of West Virginia's better bands: Spring Valley (190 members) and Cabell-Midland (140+ members), and a greatly improved local field of bands. Although Spring Valley was scored higher in the regular captions, the Field Commander and Auxiliary scores put Portsmouth East over the top for Grand Champion honors. Congratulations are definately in order for the Blue and White today! Special congratulations are in order for Ryan Keys, the 1998 field commander, who recieved a score of 96 out of 100, which ties a Portsmouth East High School record! Return to the News Archives Headlines September 12, 1998 - First Field Competition Results in Reserved Grand Champion The Portsmouth East Marching Band begins the competition season with a BANG. At the Rock Hill sponsored competition, East received 1st Runner-Up to Grand Champion, only closely getting beat by the gracious Meigs High School. East did, however, receive Best Overall General Effect, Best Overall Field Commander, and Best Overall Auxiliary (Colour Guard). They also took 1st place in all captions except percussion in Class C. Return to the News Archives Headlines August 01, 1998 - 1998 Season Begins The East Band Begins their furious 40 hour per week schedule. The 60 piece unit will be performing a patriotic conceptual piece entitled "Homefront - 1945" which includes music from the era of World War II. Many swing and patriotic tunes are featured. Return to the News Archives Headlines
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