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Posts posted by KVG_DC
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Our best band mom story from high school:
My senior year, after we got back from ISSMA state finals at dark-thirty, the band director awoke the next morning to find his house TP'd.
He. was. ######.
There was group of guys he suspected, called into his office, read them the riot act, etc. even though he didn't have proof. And it was largely thought that, "Yeah if anyone was gonna do it..." among the band and parents in general. I mean they were a collection of low brass and drummers....so....
Long story short, it was heated between them and him for a number of weeks, with like threats of going to the principal, the principal saying 'lay off them there's no proof' etc. Rumors FLYING around the band which were all idle speculation and the guys earnestly pleading innocence even though they (and the rest of us) were rather mirthful about the fact someone got the band directors house and on the night after Finals at that.
We get all the way to the Band Banquet in late November (about a month after ISSMA finals). There's a recognition ceremony for just about everything. It's a nice event. The Band moms come up to do their awards for students and such and call these boys to the front. The band director is glowering still about them while the rest of us begin to pick up on "ummm...something is happening."
They're up there and the band moms lay into the director DEMANDING he apologize to them in front of the whole band because he doesn't have proof. He's caught off guard by the public confrontation of it, it was sort of out of character for them to be that public about it. Some of us students start cluing in seeing some of the band moms start to crack grins....we're "NOooooooo waaaaaay."
Then the band moms pull out toilet paper rolls and toss them at the band director.....yup. THEY did the TP job.
Pandemonium in the banquet hall for a solid 10 minutes.
Finally they get everyone settled down. The band director is torn between angry at the moms and apologetic to the boys and laughing at being had. His wife is still falling out of her chair laughing at it.
Next morning he apologized to them again to the Concert band (seniors and juniors mostly) and while he took it in stride it was clear he expected his house to be off limits for such shenanigans still.
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Oh wow.
Crown: "We got Mackey writing original stuff specifically for our show themes"
Bloo: "Hold my beer"
I'm loving this trend of partnerships and creative collaboration.
[holds breath for what BD might announce]
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3 minutes ago, MikeN said:
My kiddo has been trying to get me to watch through JoJo. Absolutely bonkers anime. Good theme, though! -Mike
I super enjoyed Cowboy Bebop. But yeah JoJo's I just couldn't latch onto. I've latched onto a lot of bonkers anime but that one just... didn't.
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That was the best of all possible responses.
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Bloo introduced me to Vienna Teng, Andy Akhido, Tyondai Braxton, The Books, Bang on a Can All Stars (Michael Gordon's Gene Takes a Drink from 2015), and Anna Meredith. I knew of Bon Iver but Bloo showed me how incredible his music could be. I would throw money at a "Bloo plays the Bon Iver songbook" collection.
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Oh the Blue Devils doing Tommy in 1990 was good too. Blue Devils were all about the jazz idiom then so it was a real departure and surprise for many, but i dug it.
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"Musical Reform Schools" 💀
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Speaking of Jose/beFore John 5....if you've not seen the full original source of that do. There is SO MUCH MORE that can be done with that peice too.
4:05 is the apex of percussionists finding something and the first question is "what would it sound like if I drummed on this?"
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Given what Bloo did with Jose / beFore John 5 in 2016 and Bump last year. I can see it adapting well. And not just for Bloo.
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Oh 2000 too.
SCV 2000. I've shared this story before but my grandmother died Jan 1, 2000 and for a LOT of reasons, I was unable to truly grieve for a long time. SCV put Adagio for Strings out there Thursday night after a long hot day in the stands watching all the corps and that rifle toss from midfield to the end zone at the most dramatic moment is when I finally was able to 'feel feelings' more fully again. That night I was having the strains Barber float through my head. I woke up the next morning for my walk before eating and getting around to head in for Semifinals and I swear I'm hearing Adagio for Strings....but nah, it's still just in my head. As I complete my walk back at the end of the cul de sac in my apartment complex where there's a middle school. HOLY CRAP...there's SCV rehearsing the ballad still. I WAS hearing that. I sat by the fence at the back line and just listen and sobbed. Then went in and got lunch and ready to go on in for Semis.
Boston 2000 as well. Anyone who saw Red on finals night can tell you how special that show and performance was.- 7
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I forget which year in the 80s I think. Troop was doing Shenandoah and god it was gorgeous.
Edit: it was the 1990 show with the Centennial to the state of Wyoming show. I loved that show. Saw them at Ft. Wayne.
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SCV 2016 at Annapolis.
The bird calls and stuff were just so much more effective in person for Force of Nature. and it was when the vanguard yell as the corps did a snap about spin was catching on.
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Bloo 2014 at Ft. Wayne. This was the show Tilt caught fire. They had us eating out of their hand.
BD at that show too. They had a rough opener (for BD) but the ballad sucked the air out of your lungs with the silences and reentries.
Bloo got within a point of BD at that show and it was as close as anyone got all season
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Jersey Surf 2023.
Seems like a fair few skip Surf at the Annapolis show cause they’re not a “big name.”
I’d seen their show on Flo already and “oh fun”. But seeing just HOW MUCH fun they had performing that in their faces live was super neat.
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26 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said:
I did see them. I was in the first 29th place DCI corps ever!
That's a weird but awesome flex.
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Kinetic Noise (2015) is another show that doesn't get enough mentions in retrospect for me. That, more than the 'pitch bend' of 2014 was where Bloo's team started really exploring what they could do with the sonic landscape that has become their signature. The pitch bend was a gimmick, but 2015 was when they were making a whole palette to paint from. What they did with Mr. Maps and the percussion is still so fun to listen to.
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29 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:
this. plus if a corps is the host, odds are concessions are run by the school that owns the stadium, so they aren't getting any of that.
But if the program is the QR code type, you can get some sponsors for that to help a little
QR coded program stuff was done through banners and poster standing boards were on display at Annapolis if I recall. mostly down the hall as you went to your seats not in the souvie area. I remember being intrigued enough by how it was done to try some of the codes out and I suppose my eyes hit advertisements. That was a Cadets run show. I don't know know how much that actually generates but I found it cool as the old "paper books" would be costly to print for a single show and I'm not sure how much they'd guarantee sales anymore. But putting the stuff onto a digital format and hosting it on a domain a corps/host already runs would be doable. If done right they could also have corps buy in to place their social media and content within that 'program' too.
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21 minutes ago, Terri Schehr said:
I don’t make it through everyone those three days, either. I schedule to see everyone over three days. I am in my seats for the entire finals show. Except 2022 when chaos reigned the streets and I barely got in for Troopers.
Happy Leap Year Day, Everyone!
Woe to anyone who is in your seat when you return to it though!
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37 minutes ago, Lance said:
I don't think of Mozart as being that kind of throwaway garbage. A more or less straight arrangement is what I'm talking about. It's a fantastic piece of music, but dismiss it however you want if that's how you have fun.
What you're talking about is some orchestrator/arranger playing with a motif and adding arpeggios and double/triple tonguing where it was never meant to be. That can literally be done with any piece of music, not just the one I put up. And no, I wouldn't want that done to anything Mozart wrote. His music doesn't need embellishment for the sake of embellishment.
I am...sort of surprised you took it this way as its entirely NOT my intent.
I don't see those technical passages as 'throwaway garbage' when done right and concur that this would be a great way to have both the requisite technical show off sort of content but in a meaningful way that retains fidelity to the composition.
In the same way Bloo found a way to both have a technical show off element and retain fidelity to Anna Meredith's Bump last year, this could create a real "musical moment of the summer."
So...yeah, I'm still positive here and don't really understand where your guff is coming from. Some arrangers create throwaways, other find gems like this. -
I still wig out and how deftly and creatively Thrower wove those songs together. The way Eleanor Rigby sort of just moves the show in another direction and when She's So Heavy drops...man.
it was a good show.- 5
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oh hmm. That would lend itself to the whole 'articulation tonguing technical passage' that seen seems to be a compulsory element in arranging.
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16 minutes ago, Brian Tuma said:
I was attacked on here by a couple people for criticizing that prop’s integrity. I think I called it overbuilt yet surprisingly unsafe. It’s good to hear Jim thought similar. I feel vindicated.
Oh it was visibly shaky when they got up on it. Particularly later in the season. It made me increasingly nervous through the season.
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14 minutes ago, Jeff Ream said:
Plus judges i know that work there no longer get their check with a note asking for a donation
Oh that's 100% unsightly. I mean adding judges to the solicitation list, fine, but sending one with their pay?
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Ooh. now I can't wait for those late nights on the East Coast to stay up and catch the Cali corps
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Bluecoats 2024
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
I hope you got a "Granddad...you're doing it all wrong" look with that.