2010 BOA shows to watch for, BOA shows to watch for Options

[november rain]

I posted this on the Indiana marching forums, but I thought about bringing this to you guys to.

I'm thinking about using this as a base for a 2010 BOA guide.
What I want to base the guide on are (ideas suggested are welcomed):

Grand Nationals (Who will finish in the finals)
Grand Nationals Dark Horses
Shows worth mentioning (something like Greendale with that amazing opera voice)
Regionals (who will finish in the finals)
[TENTATIVELY] Opinionated Music, GE, Visual for each Regional and Grand Nationals.

I'm not exactly a hardcore veteran (more like enthusiastic novice...), but I am willing to swallow any ...(how do I put this?)... straight-out comments to make the list better.
(I'm not very good with words, sorry..) I enjoying learning, and will swallow any bitter-coated pill to learn.

Thanks for reading this anyway. (And please help!)




DEFINITE MUST-WATCHES
no explanation needed

Avon HS
Carmel HS
LD Bell HS (Hurst, TX) (heard they're doing a patriotic show this year. Should be a nice breath from all those story-driven shows, and from what I heard about the previous years, it should be more blowing-the-snot-of-their-noses-marching-extremely-fast show )
Plymouth-Canton Educational Park (Canton, MI)
Marian Catholic HS (Chicago Heights, IL)
Lake Park HS (Roselle, IL)
Lawrence Central HS
Center Grove HS
Broken Arrow HS (Broken Arrow, OK)
Kennesaw Mountain HS (Kennesaw, GA)
Stephen Austin HS (Sugar Land, TX)
Tarpon Springs HS (Tarpon Springs, FL)



Several Dark Horses....

Brentwood HS (Brentwood, TN)
They marched 4 parades, and placed as a semifinalist before.

Adair County HS (Columbia, KY)
Previous class A champion......

Cedar Park (Cedar Park, TX)
Regional Finalists since 2002

Edgewood HS
Something tells me that, following up on their runner-up state finish, Edgewood willl blow it open this year......

Lafayette HS (Lexington, KY)
They almost got into the finals, just 2 spots out the 12th place.

West Johnston HS (Benson, NC)
I don't know about you, but I thought they almost had it with their show. Some parts didn't exactly work, and it's pretty much clear that they won't get into the finals, but hey, you never know.

Franklin HS (Franklin, TN)
Marched in 6 parades (which is impressive by any count)

Lafayette HS (Lafayette, LA)
Lafayette finished in the 2008 Grand Nationals finals, and seems to have continued that success into the 2009 St. Louis Super Regional, taking the class AAA title, the outstanding GE Effect for AAA, and a respectable 7th finish in the finals.



Events to watch for...

Edgewood HS
Indiana band making debut. Every Indiana band brings something new to GNs, and I wouldn't miss watching them for the world.

Bourbon Con. VS. Adair Con.
Battling for the class A champ.

New dark horse finalist...
With Wando, James Bowie, The Woodlands, and Marcus not participating this year, this will leave a spot or 2 to a dark horse...

2008: Ben Davis
2009: Wando (SC)
2010: ? ? ?

Will Avon 3-peat?
I'm guessing very likely... and

Is Marian Catholic finally getting the Eagle this year?
We can't rule out this. They finished 3rd, but TIED with LD Bell. If you ask me, they are getting very close.

Indy Regional
Not really GN-related, but as Dan said, the Indy Regional is the bloodbath this year...



I'm pretty sure I missed some bands (or events), so please free to voice your opinions.
Thanks!

This post has been edited by november rain: Jun 30 2010, 08:34 AM

[november rain]

oops accident post

This post has been edited by november rain: Jun 29 2010, 10:38 AM

[trumpetplayah]

Lafayette HS (Lafayette, LA)
Lafayette finished in the 2008 Grand Nationals finals, and seems to have continued that success into the 2099 St. Louis Super Regional, taking the class AAA title, the outstanding GE Effect for AAA, and a respectable 7th finish in the finals.

Haha sorry, this just caught my eye

[takigan]

Pro-Indiana bias just bleeds from this post...how fitting that it originated from the Indy forums .

I'm having trouble following your logic on the "dark horses" concept. There is a core of bands that compete year after year at GN that always make finals; the local Indiana's finest (Lawrence Central, Avon and Carmel), Broken Arrow, Illinois good ol' boy: Marian, and the shining hope of Texas: LD Bell. This leaves a 6-slot pool for everyone else attending. A dark horse would be a band that has little exposure in BOA or never made a trip to GN having potential to nab one of these 6 spots.

Allow me to insert my own bias here with a bold, sweepingly generalizing statement. The remaining finalist slots are more or less determined by how many Texas bands decide to show up. Yeah, I said it... Whether it's Marcus deciding to make the trip, or the Woodlands or Richland or SFA or Churchill or Bowie or...the list goes on. In 2008, Indiana fans raved on about how Ben Davis was making this awesome comeback with their appearance back in finals. The reason Ben Davis was in finals in 2008 was because only 1 Texas band decided to show up; LD Bell. The reason perennial Plymouth Canton didn't make it this time around was because 3 additional Texas heavy hitters made the trip that are better than ol' 3-eyes: Marcus, the Woodlands and Bowie.

2009 would have been a pretty lame finals if there weren't so many new faces in the mix in addition to a great showing by Texas.

Btw, the Indy regional does look pretty insane. But the contest isn't until November, so who knows how the final roster will change. Also, I start to wonder if Harrison signed up for the wrong contest . I love Harrison (GA)....I want to see them back at Grand Nationals again .

[november rain]

Sorry if its a bit biased.

What I mean by dark horses is just an unexpected appearance in the finals. Case in point: Wando.

Somehow, (and it still baffles me to this day) Wando beat both PCEP and American Forks. Both were heavily expected to make the finals. Dan Balash said himself that he had PCEP solidly ahead of Centerville, Wando, Bowie, and (duh-duh-dunn) the Woodlands. He said it here.

http://www.indianamarching.com/community/f...d=10464;start=0

American Fork, with their story of tradegy, and a very strong emotional show to boot, was expected by many (including me) to make the finals.


If you want to put this in a little perspective:

Definite finalists--

Avon HS
Broken Arrow HS
Carmel HS
Cedar Park HS
Kennesaw Mountain HS
Marian Catholic HS
Tarpon Springs HS
LD Bell HS

That leaves 8 spots, as you can see (LC and CG are not included because compared to these the shows were a bit mediocre)


Bubbles:
Lawrence Central HS
Center Grove HS
PCEP
the Lafayettes HS (KY & LA)
Lake Central HS
Winston Churchill HS
Lake Park HS
Ayala HS
William Mason HS
Dobyns-Bennett HS
Stephen F. Austin HS

Outside bubbles:
Fossil Ridge HS
Rampart HS
Ben Davis HS


4 spots left, and there are a good amount of bands to surprise us here.
You never know, huh? (RR 2005)

EDIT: Bye, West Johnson. Sorry you guys couldn't come. best of luck to you!
And AAAH!

how did 2099 get there? Nice catch trumpetplayah!
I made the change. again thanks..

This post has been edited by november rain: Jul 23 2010, 05:50 PM

[dmbalash]

Btw, the Indy regional does look pretty insane. But the contest isn't until November, so who knows how the final roster will change. Also, I start to wonder if Harrison signed up for the wrong contest . I love Harrison (GA)....I want to see them back at Grand Nationals again .

Harrison (as well as Norwin) signed up for the Indy regional this year to get a feel for LOS before they make their return to Grand Nationals in 2011.

I'm hearing rumblings that BOA's return to the Pontiac Silverdome could be in danger (thank God) due to a possible monster truck race.

It'd be nice if BOA would update the attendees.


I'll have more thoughts after a nap.

[november rain]

It'd be nice if BOA would update the attendees.

Music for all did in fact update the list.

http://www.musicforall.org/Programs/GN/2010bands.aspx

In: Indian Hill, Metamora Township HS,

This post has been edited by november rain: Jun 30 2010, 08:47 PM

[dmbalash]

Sorry if its a bit biased.

What I mean by dark horses is just an unexpected appearance in the finals. Case in point: Wando.

Somehow, (and it still baffles me to this day) Wando beat both PCEP and American Forks. Both were heavily expected to make the finals. Dan Balash said himself that he had PCEP solidly ahead of Centerville, Wando, Bowie, and (duh-duh-dunn) the Woodlands. He said it here.

http://www.indianamarching.com/community/f...d=10464;start=0

American Fork, with their story of tradegy, and a very strong emotional show to boot, was expected by many (including me) to make the finals.


If you want to put this in a little perspective:

Definite finalists--

Avon HS
Broken Arrow HS
Carmel HS
Cedar Park HS
Kennesaw Mountain HS
Marian Catholic HS
Tarpon Springs HS
LD Bell HS

That leaves 8 spots, as you can see (LC and CG are not included because compared to these the shows were a bit mediocre)


Bubbles:
Lawrence Central HS
Center Grove HS
Fossil Ridge HS
PCEP
the Lafayettes HS (KY & LA)
Lake Central HS
Winston Churchill HS
Lake Park HS
Ayala HS

Outside bubbles:
West Johnson HS
William Mason HS
Dobyns-Bennett HS
Rampart HS
Ben Davis HS


4 spots left, and there are a good amount of bands to surprise us here.
You never know, huh? (RR 2005)

Switch William Mason to a bubble band, as well as Dobyns-Bennett. Fossil Ridge probably Outside Bubble. Add SFA to Bubble.

[Xenon]

Switch William Mason to a bubble band, as well as Dobyns-Bennett. Fossil Ridge probably Outside Bubble. Add SFA to Bubble.

From the changes that have happened there recently, I would personally move Fossil Ridge to bubble for Semis, not Finals. I would love for them to prove me wrong and get way up there, though.

[november rain]

Made the changes.

And I knew I was forgetting SFA. Thanks dan, once again, you came to my rescue...

[Indianamarchingf...]

Not to sound biased towards the Indiana bands, but Lawrence Central as a bubble band in my opinion is stretching it. They have an awesome music program, always in the hunt for the Indiana state championship. Just my opinion but they are not a bubble band, they will be there for the Grand Nats. finals. I must say how impressed I was with Marcus last year, too bad they are not coming back once again?

[lilswimdude1]

Pro-Indiana bias just bleeds from this post...how fitting that it originated from the Indy forums .

I'm having trouble following your logic on the "dark horses" concept. There is a core of bands that compete year after year at GN that always make finals; the local Indiana's finest (Lawrence Central, Avon and Carmel), Broken Arrow, Illinois good ol' boy: Marian, and the shining hope of Texas: LD Bell. This leaves a 6-slot pool for everyone else attending. A dark horse would be a band that has little exposure in BOA or never made a trip to GN having potential to nab one of these 6 spots.

Allow me to insert my own bias here with a bold, sweepingly generalizing statement. The remaining finalist slots are more or less determined by how many Texas bands decide to show up. Yeah, I said it... Whether it's Marcus deciding to make the trip, or the Woodlands or Richland or SFA or Churchill or Bowie or...the list goes on. In 2008, Indiana fans raved on about how Ben Davis was making this awesome comeback with their appearance back in finals. The reason Ben Davis was in finals in 2008 was because only 1 Texas band decided to show up; LD Bell. The reason perennial Plymouth Canton didn't make it this time around was because 3 additional Texas heavy hitters made the trip that are better than ol' 3-eyes: Marcus, the Woodlands and Bowie.

2009 would have been a pretty lame finals if there weren't so many new faces in the mix in addition to a great showing by Texas.

Btw, the Indy regional does look pretty insane. But the contest isn't until November, so who knows how the final roster will change. Also, I start to wonder if Harrison signed up for the wrong contest . I love Harrison (GA)....I want to see them back at Grand Nationals again .

This year, I assume that LD Bell and Marcus and the Woodlands are returning and this year Cedar Park will be in attendance, and being a consistent finalist and high scoring band for BOA and UIL events I'd say they have a good shot of making it pretty far (probably finals, but don't want to be too assuming or anything, just hopeful because they have the talent to make it all the way.) into BOA Grand Nationals. Also potential contenders to looks for (just not sure if they'll be going to Grand Nationals this year: Bowie (Austin, Texas) Copell (Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas) Duncanville (Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas)

[november rain]

This year, I assume that LD Bell and Marcus and the Woodlands are returning and this year Cedar Park will be in attendance, and being a consistent finalist and high scoring band for BOA and UIL events I'd say they have a good shot of making it pretty far (probably finals, but don't want to be too assuming or anything, just hopeful because they have the talent to make it all the way.) into BOA Grand Nationals. Also potential contenders to looks for (just not sure if they'll be going to Grand Nationals this year: Bowie (Austin, Texas) Copell (Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas) Duncanville (Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas)

Do you have a source on this?

[aaron067]

I'm betting it's just conjecture. While Cedar Park has a strong chance of performing well enough to earn a spot in GN Finals, I'm positive Marcus will not be attending this year (a 5A State Marching year). If I'm not mistaken, I also believe that The Woodlands will not be attending due to having a new director among other things.

I can also assure you with 200% certainty that neither Coppell or Duncanville will be making an appearance at Grand Nationals while the current staffs are in place. While it's possible that Duncanville might make an appearance at a Regional now that Dr. Shine has retired and the show design is going in a more contemporary direction, I still wouldn't count on it.

Coppell is also expanding it's show design concepts to include an actual theme, but they still sit firmly in the UIL camp. Just because they stretch a toe across the line every once in a while (BOA SA in order to perform at the Alamo Dome on non-State years and BOA Arlington in order to be part of the most competitive DFW contest) doesn't mean they have any intention of making the trip to Indianapolis.

[bandnerdforever1...]

i dont know if anybody has mentioned this as a bloodbath regional but lets look at the Arlington Regional while everybody is discussing how band in Texas is brutal, This regional will prove only that you have you of course Marcus and LD Bell, but there are also a great combination of great 5A and 4A State Finalist that will be at the shows this year for instance 4A State Champion Dripping Springs you also finalists like Hendrickson and Connally, also you have 5A Finalists Berkner, and also new comer Vandegrift who will be a force to recon with, this regional will be amazing, just saying just saying, im not trying to be biast, im just saying

This post has been edited by bandnerdforever1989: Jul 22 2010, 11:46 AM

[Mellophone77]

And James Bowie went last year. I'm guessing they're aiming at every three years (2006, 2009), such as Churchill's every four years (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010), though they've only been twice so that doesn't back anything up

This post has been edited by Mellophone77: Jul 23 2010, 01:25 PM

[lilswimdude1]

Do you have a source on this?

I honestly didn't know if Bowie Coppell or Duncanville are going I was just putting it out there to see if perhaps anyone else knew if they were. However, I found a list of bands going recently attending from http://www.marching.com/events/boa-grand-n...-championships/ so here you go


Adair County H.S., Columbia, KY
Archbishop Alter H.S., Kettering, OH
Archbishop McNicholas H.S., Cincinnati, OH
Avon H.S., Avon, IN
Ayala H.S., Chino Hills, CA
Bellbrook H.S., Bellbrook, OH
Ben Davis H.S., Indianapolis, IN
Bishop Fenwick H.S., Franklin, OH
Boiling Springs H.S., Boiling Springs, SC
Bourbon County H.S., Paris, KY
Brentwood H.S., Brentwood, TN
Bridgewater-Raritan H.S., Bridgewater, NJ
Broken Arrow H.S., Broken Arrow, OK
Brunswick H.S., Brunswick, OH
Cape Fear H.S., Fayetteville, NC
Carlisle H.S., Carlisle, OH
Carmel H.S., Carmel, IN
Carroll H.S., Dayton, OH
Cary H.S., Cary, NC
Cedar Park H.S., Cedar Park, TX
Center Grove H.S., Greenwood, IN
Centerville H.S., Centerville, OH
Columbus North H.S., Columbus, IN
Daviess County H.S., Owensboro, KY
DeSoto Central H.S., Southaven, MS
Dobyns-Bennett H.S., Kingsport, TN
Edgewood H.S., Ellettsville, IN
Fossil Ridge H.S., Keller, TX
Franklin H.S., Franklin, TN
Godwin Heights H.S., Wyoming, MI
Greendale H.S., Greendale, WI
Herscher H.S., Herscher, IL
Jenison H.S., Jenison, MI
Kennesaw Mountain H.S., Kennesaw, GA
L.D. Bell H.S., Hurst, TX
Lafayette H.S., Lexington, KY
Lafayette H.S., Lafayette, LA
Lake Central H.S., St. John, IN
Lake Park H.S., Roselle, IL
Lakeland H.S., White Lake, MI
Lawrence Central H.S., Indianapolis, IN
Lebanon H.S., Lebanon, OH
Lewisville H.S., Richburg, SC
Loganville H.S., Loganville, GA
Marian Catholic H.S., Chicago Heights, IL
Marietta H.S., Marietta, OH
Meade County H.S., Brandenburg, KY
Monrovia H.S., Monrovia, IN
Moore H.S., Moore, OK
Morton H.S., Morton, IL
Mount Gilead H.S., Mount Gilead, OH
Northmont H.S., Clayton, OH
O'Fallon Township H.S., O'Fallon, IL
Plymouth-Canton Educational Park, Canton, MI
Rampart H.S., Colorado Springs, CO
Ravenwood H.S., Brentwood, TN
Shawnee H.S., Springfield, OH
Stephen F. Austin H.S., Sugar Land, TX
Talawanda H.S., Oxford, OH
Tarpon Springs H.S., Tarpon Springs, FL
Thomas Johnson H.S., Frederick, MD
Thousand Oaks H.S., Thousand Oaks, CA
Tippecanoe H.S., Tipp City, OH
Union H.S., Tulsa, OK
Utica H.S., Utica, OH
Victor J. Andrew H.S., Tinley Park, IL
Walled Lake Central H.S., Walled Lake, MI
West Bloomfield H.S., West Bloomfield, MI
West Johnston H.S., Benson, NC
Western Brown H.S., Mt. Orab, OH
William Mason H.S., Mason, OH
Winston Churchill H.S., San Antonio, TX

[november rain]

Thanks for the list, but I'm sorry to tell you that the list is pretty much outdated.
Music For All has the complete list that was updated several days ago.