Monday, November 12, 2007

Night of the Band Geeks 2007

Two years ago I posted about the USSBA Championships that takes place at Giants Stadium and our little band's experience there. Last year we didn't go but this past weekend we performed again. Once again we only went as an exhibition band that marches at the end of a group of bands during the final tabulation of results. Fortunately, this time around we marched at the more sensible dinner hour as opposed to the wee hours of the morning.

It was funny to listen to the kids on the buses as we neared the stadium. Several of the new band members who haven't done this before were beginning to have the nerves hit and the 'old-timers' were trying to play it cool. I'm not sure it the cases of jitters were helped or exacerbated by us driving around and around Giants Stadium trying to find the entrance. It was not unlike the Griswold's visit to Big Ben in National Lampoon's European Vacation. "Look kids! There's Giants Stadium! Look! There it is again! Hey wow! Here comes Giants Stadium once more!"


We finally found our way in and got parked. The competition goes on for 2 full days. Hundreds of bands come over the course of the competition. It's quite interesting to see the differences as some of them pull into the parking lot in the most ramshackle looking vehicles and others roll in on sleek, personalized buses and equipment trucks. I think we leaned a bit more toward the ramshackle end of things but we looked sharp enough when we lined up.


I also have to say some of the uniforms, band fronts in particular, are seriously weird. One band marched in all wearing identical sunglasses, trench coats, and bobbed black wigs. The band front carried briefcases and the performance was a very strange homage to the Matrix films. Other band fronts looked like they had run through a spandex factory and grabbed whatever remnants they could to safety pin together for makeshift costumes. Those poor girls also looked like they were going to freeze their butts too because it was COLD!


As I said, our band doesn't compete. We are more or less like the rodeo clowns who come out after the really tough cowboys take their beatings. We whip the crowd up into a frenzy of fun and have a ball doing it. After the other bands do 'serious music,' we come in and do 70s rock and roll and get the crowd dancing and singing. We covered Van Halen, Steppenwolf, Chicago, Jimi Hendrix, and the Knack. Here's part of the band stirring up the crowd during 'Wild Thing.'




Ok, we also play Kenny Loggins and I don't know why they added him with the other groups we covered, but in case you're interested here is about 3 minutes of the performance. The cool thing about only being an exhibition band is the judges don't have to pretend to be impartial. The judge in the black trench coat high fived a couple of our members after the performance and said , "You guys were GREAT!" the kids floated out of the stadium after that.

21 comments:

G-Man said...

Hahahaha...I wonder if they would still play "My Sharona" if they ever listened to the words?
Sounds like you had a great week-end (not)
Oh!!! Am I first?

Melodie Norman Haas said...

Ohhh that was absolutely fantastic! Since I am a music geek, plus dating a band geek, and friends with more band geeks this was a fun post to read! I love the selection your group played!

Kudos to the band members!!!

S said...

Gotta love the bank geeks!

Lapis Ruber said...

A great performance. I am full of admiration for your band and its members. I found it difficult enough to play and march at the same time let alone all those complicated maneouvres. They were so good.

Moosekahl said...

Band geeks of the world unite! That's awesome. While we had an amazing high school band we never had a marching band, wished it was something I could have done.

Anonymous said...

What a fantastic experience for the band kids, glad they got a high five from the judge.
tc

Anonymous said...

They are awesome! Love that video. I bet it was blast! :)

Keyser Soze said...

OK, you suck. I'm a total band geek (lead snare drummer in high school and beyond thank you very much) and had I know this was going down I TOTALLY would have been there ESPECIALLY since it would have been a chance to meet you and the family. Bad. Lime. Bad.
Punished.

Charles said...

I'm not musical at all, and my ex-girlfriend was a band geek so bad, she became a band director. So excuse me if I'm glad I didn't know and especially that I couldn't go. I don't miss that scene at all.

I'd be proud to have a kid doing that stuff, though. I know they stay out of trouble better than most kids, and have lots of fun doing it.

Gledwood said...

Exceedingly entertaining!!

airplanejayne said...

great stuff! Although I wish you had video of "Wild Thing."

Lime - you truly do make my heart sing.

:)

EmBee said...

Now g-man has me on a search for the lyrics to 'My Sharona'...
What fun Lime, Thanks for sharing!

SignGurl said...

*sigh* makes me wish my Orch dork was a band geek. I do have one coming up. Can't wait to be the band mom.

Jacob said...

2nd chair B-flat cornet, Baby! I was THERE! I LIVED IT!!!

Ok. I'm back. I get a little excited when I see my musical relatives out on that field. Brings back great memories. Like feeling up Susan Gloeckler under the bloomers. I mean bleachers. Sorry.

Jacob said...

And wasn't that a cute picture of your ever-loving Gawpo from his cell phone today, Honey?

Cooper said...

That's fun....didn't keep the Giants from getting their asses kicked on Sunday tho....grrrrr I hate the Cowboys....

Commander Zaius said...

I'll take Van Halen, Steppenwolf, Chicago, Jimi Hendrix over more serious music anytime. The video was fantastic.

jillie said...

Ok now I have "Cut Lose" going on in my head. Looks like it was a great time. I love watching marching bands. Does that make me a geek too?

Mother Theresa said...

I used to be a band geek too -there, I said it. That was fun to watch. My Sharona and Cut Loose, now that's interesting. We used to do stuff like Star Wars and the theme to Superman.

barman said...

Oh thank you so much for that post Lime. I am a huge band geek ... wait, that did not sound right. Anyway I love that they are doing more than just marching. Nice routine, nice collage of songs. You have made my day.

You know I know exactly how everyone felt. We did Band Day at the Big House (University of Michigan stadium) several times and I must admit it felt awesome to do that. That, Band-A-Rama, a trip out of the country, the J L Hudson Parade and band camp are some memories I will never forget.

Congratulations.

(M)ary said...

oh. i used to have a friend named Rodney who was a Band Geek. he was 30 and still interested in bands...Seriously, there needs to be an adult version of High School Band for those people who want to keep marching!