AvonDad

Interesting.... my son and I was there on the 50 and watched them live. We said the Eagle was flying to Texas this year after their show. Lots of long notes and another soloist, but the sound was not what we expected after an earlier class B smaller band actually surprised us more with their sound. Its all early with plenty of time to clean and change for everyone. Carmel's score was a 69.0 tonight, 10+ over 2nd.

Listening to The Woodlands clip the first thing that came to mind was Blast! Officer Krupke for some reason based on the style. It sounds like an upbeat fun show and I can pick out the Bluecoat vibe and now very curious on the visual for this as well. I've always like catching a band's show at the beginning of the season and watching how it progresses to the end. The changes, improvements and cleaning as practice after practice takes hold and the show develops and matures. Looking forward to this at SA and GN.

Of course I'm watching whatever videos get posted..... I heard Leander's ballad and brought back memories of Homestead getting back in BOA after 20 years in 2014 as I loved their show.... had completely forgot Castle 2017 used it in their tribute show until after I was re-watching Homestead and remembered Castle in the middle of it. My kiddo had traded sticks with Castle during break ranks that night. Its going to be powerful. You know you're a band geek when you recognize the music and who/when played it, but can't name the tune.

I stumbled across a YT video series where Irish people try different things. Yesterday I found where they tried Beaver Nuggets for the first time. (disclaimer: some PG language). After stopping at a Buc-ees on the way to SA in 2017, and having a daughter stop on the way back from Dallas to stock us up on Beaver Nuggets.... I felt I had to share the video to you who don't have to stock up on these things. I'm hoping this is a proper post being in Off-Topic.

Found it interesting that the front ensemble (pit) is angled out in the field on 2 of those videos. After a season chasing DCI, I'm catching different things than I normally would have. Looking forward to hearing these live in a couple months.

Quote from my wife after I read these to her..... "Please do."

Current weather condition at my house is 77 degrees and 51% humidity with winds around 10 mph and sunny. Passed by the band practicing on the field. Don't worry, in 2 months I'll be jealous of the rest of you.

What are your recommendations for the best seating in the Alamodome? Two years ago we were front row of 312 and thought they were great seats. Is it better going into the lower section? We were there for semi's and they seemed OK at the time. Hotel reservations in place, next come the tickets. Kids are are alumni now so SA bound this year.

Avon 2013 Statuesque has probably been the most emotional one they have put on in past years. Heard a lot of people getting choked up at the end of the show..... "...before you turn to stone".

Hey you all stopped posting... I'm sitting at a free hotel breakfast looking for thoughts from last night's SA and y'all stopped posting! I didn't get a chance to watch online as we were at our kiddos community show last night. I'm pulling for the Blue Coats as I'm a Beatles fam, they pull off those iconic riffs and are amazing live. We worked the Whitewater show 2 weeks ago helping push props up up the ramp after each show. Every kid we interacted with was polite, thankful for the help and looked like they had given it all on the field. So.. SA comments we you can digest the awesomeness is appreciated.

Maybe because they are so good that people get so hooked on watching that they forget to record it? I've seen them live a couple times now and they are good. My wife calls them her favorite and we have a school connection with their, i think, center marimba.

Thanks Majellan! And to CaliGirl96... I found out there really is Texas Hospitality here. Our group was treated very well by the Texas fans while in SA and I'm confident they will roll out the red carpet for VM as well. They were so good to us, well so was the insane competition, that I'm planning on being at SA this year just for the fun of it with no particular dog in the fight. Welcome to the boards!

I'm a little late here.... at the show in Madison this past Saturday we had a lady sitting behind us who had never been to a DCI show before. We chatted a bit during intermission and she told me that this was nothing like what she was expecting . It was all so theatrical, colorful and all the props. I asked her what was she expecting and she pulled up a video of the The Swiss Top Secret Drum Corp and showed me. After the show I asked her if thought she'd ever come back to another one and I got a DEFINITELY from her. When someone asks my wife what DCI is she answers Marching Band on Steroids.

I don't think they are going to be on FloMarching until the Open class championships. We already have plans to see them live in a couple weeks when they get going and of course my wife has been sewing on uniforms. They started this past weekend with a local parade but beginning to learn the field show today after already memorizing their music. Their first competition is not until 7/11. I guess things are a bit different with Open class as he only has a 7 week tour and they were less than half the cost of the big boys, which is next year's goal.

I was at the Madison show on Saturday night and loved the Crossmen show. They were on right after Colts and my first thought was the big boys have come to play. The Colts never seemed to "lock in" with the beat but maybe we missed something as were over on the 10 yd line in the cheap seats, so it sounded a bit muddy. The Scouts were having uniform issues so marched without their coats and a Scout parent said they were concerned about them making finals this year. I'm learning the DCI side of things after years of marching band, but found it interesting that my placements of the evening were close. I would have flipped the Blue Stars with Crossmen. Crown had their sound that you could feel. The space between all that tonguing was unreal this early in the season, not sure if that is normal or not, but that was clean and impressive. We got back home in time to watch a bit of the Zionsville show last night on FloMarching, (too tired to hit the stadium) and my wife and I both think that Crown was a better the night before. Going to be an interesting season and looking forward to figuring out how judging works in this circuit.

Now for some real fun, go back to the "nerd in" and "cherry on top" for the SA contest in 2017. Those got me hooked on his podcasts and have actually listened to them a few times for good memories.

Life outside of band is going to change this year after a few years volunteering. My wife and I are amateur radio operators and trained weather spotters. We help with our counties Skywarn activity as radio operators and/or spotters (not chasers) and have volunteered at the National Weather Service during storms to bring in reports for the counties they serve. I tend to be on the computer more than I should be with automating water treatment plants at work to reading band forums at night or using weather radar in the middle of the night to position spotters. Enjoy traveling and seeing new sites and have been in 42 states so far, for both pleasure and business. Next season of life will include drum corp as the youngest heads off to Shadow DBC for the summer. ....and I used to be able to solve a 3x3 Rubix cube in under a minute...but not anymore. Go Colts.

Its a little off the original topic, but the way this has morphed.... Something I've learned these past few years is that every kid on the field deserves to see a standing ovation. Each one of them has put in multiple hours of practice, memorization, perfecting technique, be it in the hot sun, rain, snow and yes, hurricane remnants. It doesn't matter if the show wasn't your thing or if you wanted to jump around like your favorite team scored a touchdown. These kids are out learning life lessons on how to get along with each other, work toward a common goal, see the highs and lows of their band mates, work through adversities....all to be the best they can with the show they have been given. So next time you see the horns down and the drum major turns around, get up on your feet and give these kids a hand. They deserve it. I now return back to your original scheduled postings.....

Nope wasn't my son, but there was one of his classmates who did. They and one other are all marching with Shadow this season.

Now that I've "seniored out" here it goes.... My name is Garth, and I have a marching band addition.... - Marched trumpet at Springboro, OH a long time ago. Parent to Avon drummer who has now graduated. Former prop parent and candy stash supplier. ...and LeanderMomma, I have returned to my orignal handle...I thought, why change?

I'm afraid I couldn't tell you which Bon Iver songs as I hadn't heard of him until then. If you search YT for "Copeland Bon Iver complete" you'll find the concert that I think the show was a take off from. There are also videos that describe how the arranger put the two styles together which will hook any music type person.

I figured since we've seniored out, it was time to update it? Maybe I should change it back, but now we are on the outside looking in, just like everyone else.

Avon 2016 “Go Forth” was a blend of Copeland and Bon Iver music. Simple Gifts was part of the closer.

After experiencing both SA and GN live in 2017, IMHO SA was the better contest. It seems like the winner for GN is known and hyped well before the actual contest. At SA I didn't see/hear any of that kind of talk....more like pick names out of a hat and you'd have the same chance of picking finalists as you would who actually wins. I fully expect a Tx band will haul the eagle home with them this year. I loved the SA contest so much that I already have vacation scheduled to make the trip back down there for nothing but pure enjoyment of the show, with no dog in the fight. And TWHSParent is right that Avon is not from Tx, but they did compete at SA and moved up a slot at GN. I wish CTJ had made the trip to GN that year as I think they would have had the eagle with that show.