Carson's own Carson High School, plus five other local Southern California schools to compete at The Home Depot Center

Carson's own Carson High School, plus five other local Southern California schools to compete at The Home Depot Center

CARSON, CA (Monday, August 27, 2012) - Tickets are on sale now for the 2012 Battle of the High School Marching Bands Drum Off, powered by Edison International. The national competition features eight finalists who will compete on Sat., Oct. 27, 2012 at The Home Depot Center.

Tickets for the $10 general admission event are on sale now at AXS.com, AXS by phone at 1-888-9AXS-TIX and at The Home Depot Center Box Office, open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

After a one-year hiatus, the national competition produced by The Home Depot Center Charitable Foundation returns to Carson. Of the eight finalists, six hail from Southern California, including Carson's own Carson High School. Joining Carson High is 2006 and 2008 champion Inglewood High School (Inglewood, Calif.), Granada Hills High School (Granada Hills, Calif.), Dominguez High School (Compton, Calif.), David Starr Jordan High School (Long Beach, Calif.), Compton High School (Compton, Calif.), 2010 champion Stephen F. Austin High School (Houston, Texas) and Rickards High School (Tallahassee, Fla.).

For the first time ever, the event, sponsored by Edison International, will exclusively feature high school drum lines in a 'Drum Off' at the 8,000-seat outdoor stadium in Carson, Calif. on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills. The finalists will be judged by a panel of celebrity and music industry executives, and will battle it out for $5,000 and prizes.

\"Edison International is proud to sponsor the 2012 Battle of the High School Marching Bands Drum Off,\" said Lisa Cagnolatti, vice president, Business Customer Division, Southern California Edison (SCE). \"We recognize there is a clear connection between the development of critical thinking skills and the arts. For that reason, we've given almost $24 million since 2009 for the implementation of education programs in the areas of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and fine arts initiatives like The Home Depot Center's Battle of the High School Marching Bands.\"

The 2012 event marks the seventh battle in nine years, which has attracted artists and students from all over the U.S. Making a special performance in this year's event is the Percussion Kings, from the international show DRUMline Live and the creators of the music from the hit movie Drumline. The show will also feature a special tribute to the legends of hip hop and will open with a special address from the president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Recording Academy and one of the world's most iconic female hip hop artists, MC Lyte.

The drum lines will be judged by award-winning celebrity drummers Shelia E., Nisan Stewart and Pop Pice, as well as band directors from Norfolk State University, Central State University and Coppin State University.

All proceeds from the Battle of the High School Marching Bands benefit The Home Depot Center Charitable Foundation. Since 2005, the foundation has donated more than $120,000 in support of music and arts education to local and national high school marching band programs. In addition to SCE, other sponsors for the 2012 event include the U.S. Army, Doubletree by Hilton Carson, Embassy Suites Los Angeles International Airport and BCE Apparel Company.

About The Home Depot Center

The Home Depot Center is southern California's home of world-class competition and training facilities for amateur, Olympic, collegiate and professional athletes. The $150 million, privately financed facility was developed and is owned by AEG and operated by AEG Facilities on a 125-acre site on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) in Carson, California. The Home Depot Center features an 8,000-seat tennis and boxing stadium, a 27,000-seat stadium for soccer, rugby and other athletic competitions and outdoor concerts, a 2,000-seat facility for track & field and a 2,450-seat indoor Velodrome for track cycling. The Home Depot Center is home to two Major League Soccer teams, the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chivas USA. Named an Official U.S. Olympic Training Site, The Home Depot Center is also home of the United States Tennis Association's (USTA) High Performance Training Center, the national team training headquarters for the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) and Athletes' Performance, an international training center for elite and professional athletes. For more information, please visit www.homedepotcenter.com.

MORE INFO

--www.homedepotcenter.com on the campus of www.csudh.edu--

Contact:

The Home Depot Center Communications
Alison Salcedo // (310) 630-2032