....I'm coming to you LIVE from Dallas/Ft. Worth International, just having devoured a Beef Brisket sandwich from a suspiciously nasty sounding joint called DICKEY'S. Yeah. At least I didn't have the sausage.... :-/ MOVING ON...
Now where was I?
--Belleville East HS, the band for which I came out to Illinois fortwith to clinic and judge their home show and then get on a bus and go to ANOTHER competition where they competed...this is a band as I described to them in my rather loud and motivating motivational "session" as being a "boiling pot of potential". I let them (the kids) know they could choose what direction to go. They have a pretty difficult show this season, full of LOTS of exciting music (props to John Meehan) and a pretty kicking drum line and a pit...OF 17 PEOPLE!! HELLLLLLLLLLLLLO!!! There's a whole lot of wood and metal in East's pit this year. But they're really good.
But by biting off a HUGE chunk to chew on with difficult music and challenging drill, well, instead of playing it safe and going with clean, they're experiencing the competitive reality of getting smacked around by the judges for "not being clean". I have gone through the same thing, most notably with Fountain Valley's Waterworld show and RBV's Kansas show, both VERY challenging and different levels. Both bands started slow, but both bands (in different years of course) roared to life by the end of the season, winning sweeps at the pseudo-championship mega-show Savanna Tournament. Belleville went into the competition last night with one goal--to simply do the best they can and soak up what happens with the audience. It was a typical high school stadium, not the tallest in the world, but it was a VERY long set of stands, so people were all the way out to the 10's. And it was PACKED. VERY cool to see that. And as we were walking over to the starting gate, the crowd was polite for the band before us (Oakville...HOLY COW...clean clean clean band), and gave them a nice round of applause at the end. But when "we" took field, our kids were pumped and right off the bat, the audience came alive. It was VERY VERY cool. Lots of clap traps built into the show (THANKS AGAIN MEEHAN!!!), and we've added a couple of doozy's. And with only 3/4's of a show on the field (they're still trying to figure out how to do my crazy rotating blocks...or how to arrange my death for writing them in the first place!!), they sort of got spanked last night. I mean...not HORRIBLY...lots of VERY positive comments with the admonition to clean the show (I agree obviously), but when they DO clean this show...watch out.
SPECIAL NOTE TO ANY SOUTHERN ILLINOIS MARCHING TECH PEOPLE...like they're reading this but hell, people know people so read on. If there are any tech people in the eastern Missouri southern Illinois area that want to hook up with a great band, search out Belleville East. They could use some eyes for the rest of the season--as long as you don't want to come in and change the world, you may be able to help this old man out and a GRRRRRRRRRREAT band full of some great kids. Director is on his own for the most part. Word.
--Guess what? Politics exist in the minds of band directors in the midwest too!!!
--Guess what?? Some judges have the unfortunate banner above their head in the midwest of being biased. GASP!!! That NEVER happens. ANYWHERE!!!! The shame...
:-/
--McAlister's Deli?? Midwest thing. It rocks. Thank you midwest for adding yet again to my waist line.
--To the manager at Starbucks in O'Fallon, Illinois just outside my hotel. Thank you for not making me feel like a complete loon for ordering (wait for it) a glass of milk to go with my apple fritter. Yes. A glass of milk. Isn't that sweet? Whatever Turner.
--Dallas/Fort Worth International is the most rockingest bitchin' airport ever. I think it gives Tampa a run for the money. This place is REALLY REALLY nice, with this elaborate "Skylink" metrorail system that gets you from gate to gate. And as I people watch frommy perch high atop a stool here in the dining area outside of DICKEY'S, I really am impressed with how nice it is here. Of course, I'm easy to impress. But it is what it is...RIGHT THOM WILLET!!!??? It is.
--Facebook is going to be the death of me.I'm just going to be so stuck on it that I will lose all sense of time and I will come to and my daughter will be 22 and married with kids on the way. Damn that Facebook. DAMN IT.
--OH OH OH OH!!!! BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm anticipating an email from a major marching band in the western United States that quite possibly is interested in entering into discussion about next year. This is actually such a shock that apparently it shocked it's way out of my memory. But seriously. It's a case of yet again being in the right place at the right time. And I have to rely on the old "If a door closes, another opens." I just didn't ever think it would be THAT door. For obvious reasons, I'm mum on who this is, but obviously I'll yap about it up here on The Observations of the H...
--Cool side note to the trip...one of the judges was a local band director by the name of Jo Smith. Didn't recognize her. She judged visual ensemble, and my happy butt was on visual G.E., you know, where I talk about THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE MUSIC TO THE OVERALL DESIGN OF THE SHOW AND IT'S EFFECTIVENESS (sorry...I was hoping someone in SCSBOA was reading this...DOH!!!)...where was I?...oh yeah, so we introduce ourselves and she says, "Sooooooooooooo you live La Brea, right?" Uhhh...no...that would be a tar pit. I explained where I really live. I live in the hills that used to be a huge oil find back in the 1800's. OHHHHH...she said her son lived in Van Nuys. Oh...that's cool. Is he someone I should know (non sarcastically stated of course...if you know me...I could be QUITE the OTHER way with a question like that). "Oh his name is Nathan Smith....he's the assistant director for The Cavaliers." OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...THAT Nathan Smith. That's exactly what I said. OHHHHHHHH...HIM! Still not quite connecting the dots, I said "Does he judge out in southern California?" And she said the keywords that activate the gray matter to remember things...she says, "Ohhhh he is more now, but he works in the movie industry, so his schedule isn't normal." DING DING DING DING!!! And in classic Ryan H. Turner, I bellow, "OHHHHHHHHH I KNOW YOUR SON!!!!" And I did. I met Nathan when I went and judged my very first show for SCSBOA 3 years ago at the Simi Valley Tournament. He was the guard judge. Thinking my crap didn't stink back then (and I still do of course), and thinking I knew EVERYONE, I had never met him before. Cool dude...we talked...I remember him telling me he was in set design or something blah blah blah for "the industry". So of course I checked IMDB and YEP, he's for real. So...cool...just wanted to share it. Jo gave me some 411 on DCI and judging and stuff. She's a VERY VERY nice lady and a VERY VERY good judge. I wilted in her presence as I could hear her while we were working. Anyway...cool side story.
That's my peeps...I'm winding down on my layover here, thinking it may be time to strategically place myself closer to gate C12 (I'm all the way down at DICKEY'S at gate C6 because I just had to go to DICKEY'S apparently. Hope all is well with the 5.3 people that read this tripe.
And now...for a little tradition...a sign off that I used to use all the time when I first started this blog...
Thanks for reading...now please...GET OUTTA HERE!!
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