Ever been to a band show? You ought to try getting to at least one. They are something else. If you are not into band music, you might be just impressed by the spectacle of the thing–the organization, the planning, the volunteers, the choreography, the themes,… the concession stands.–they have everything for sale, commemorative programs, T-shirts, you name it.
JAG just went to one in Solon (Usually the BIG schools host these things; they have the space and the volunteers to manage it. They also very frequently have giant TV screens where you can watch the shows just like you do at home–electronically; why bother with actually seeing what’s in front of you.). Quite the big deal. Everything now-a-days has a theme; theirs was “Shatter the Silence”. Did they ever!
There were seven invited schools and, of course, the host school, the Solon Comets. James A. Garfield was the smallest of the lot. The Marching Pride can hold its own just about anywhere, and they did it again, with plenty of “movin’ and shakin’ “. The Solon Band Bash is always a welcome step on the march, although it has, a couple of times, been rained out–autumn weather, you know. And not just rained out, inflicted with a total downpour. You have not experienced pandemonium until you’ve been stuck inside a school complex–hallways & gymnasiums–with eight bands in full uniform & instrumentation, soaking wet and keyed up.
Nothing like it, trust me.
There was at least one school that I had never heard of–the Lakeside Dragons–which doesn’t happen all that often, after all those years I spent riding team buses, band buses, equipment trucks to God-know-where; they’re from the Ashtabula Area School District, and had been on the road forever that day, having played & marched in some sort of a fandango down by Columbus (the Intel ground-breaking? Nope, an OSU Skull Session down in “the Horseshoe” with TBDBITL) earlier that day. Whoa !! Talk about your “road trip”! Anyway, they had snazzy green uniforms, only a year old (no concession stand drips on them yet) and a cool dragon logo/mascot. They’ve even had TV appearances.
They were followed by the North Olmsted Eagles, in Orange & Black, whose bio included Disney World and the Cleveland Columbus/ Indigenous Peoples Day Parade. Then came the Chardon Hilltoppers in Red & Black. The marching band is separate from the symphonic band, the wind ensemble, the jazz orchestra, the pit band (for musical productions?) and the percussion ensemble. We’re talkin’ music here–with a capital “M”. They take their talents to the Great Geauga County Fair, the Lake County Captains games and Disney Magic Music Days. The Long Distance Award went to the Twinsburg Tigers, who came all of the way up St. Rte. 91 (about ten minutes, tops) to strut their Navy & White routines in front of the assembled multitudes. Next up was Orange High School (Guess what their colors are.) Lions, another well-traveled outfit which has appeared on Fox 8, the Chicago Thanksgiving Day Parade and the New Orleans Sugar Bowl. They’re gearing up to travel to Orlando/Disney World–no flies on this crowd. The Madison Blue Streaks–that’s Royal Blue, not Navy–wowed ‘em up in Lake County, the band show and the Geneva Grape Jamboree.
Final performance of the evening, of course, was by the host band (Blue & White), the Solon Comets, three hundred strong. Strong? They were amazing. This ban had sixteen–count ‘em, sixteen–tubas out there. Whoa! Excellent choreography, the band itself, the Starlettes, the whole shebang, lookin’ good…and SOUND. Their blurb in the program (which was full of all kinds of stuff, from ads to contributors lists, pix, the year’s performance calendar, thanks to various enablers, parent congratulations of all sorts, clubs and committee lists…not to mention an invitation to visit the concession stand) averred that the band was “trying its best to live by the motto, ‘Peace, Love and Music.’ The band believes the world can be a better place when living by these words.”
Darn right !
Anyway, the Marching Pride has got at least one more of these extravaganzas, in Aurora on September 24. “Thunder over Aurora” might be the theme Likely to be following the same sort of format, though with a different cast of performers, of course. Great stuff. I had an unfortunate experience there once with food poisoning–totally unconnected to the concession stands–and I can assure everyone that Aurora has excellent facilities of all sorts.
Try it. You might like it.
