Rubisco

I'm just really, really happy with the scope of The Woodlands' show. They're using much more of the field than usual, and like you mentioned, the guard is just so much larger and so much better than it has been in years. It makes the guards from their 2008 and 2009 shows seem like a bad dream. Also, they appear to be taking pointers from some of their nearest competitors, like Broken Arrow, Avon, and Marcus, but while retaining their own flavor. I'm just very excited for them right now. They're going to have a fabulous season. Now I'm just waiting to blown away by Marcus!

I don't know if anyone has posted this yet, either. Enjoy it while it's up!

I should qualify my "breathing room" statement. I think the very last hit of the ballad needs to be extended a little bit. Even just the last chord. The rest is fine. (Obviously, I'm sort of nitpicking. Hahaha...)

My, what a difference a reasonably good video makes! This show is marvelously, marvelously strange, and in parts, like the entire opener, unfreaking real. I'd be surprised if anyone in Texas other than Marcus beats them this year, and who knows if that will even happen. It's clearly not finished, and clearly not clean yet, but holy crap the music and the effect are through the roof. I do think that certain sections could use some musical extension, particularly the ballad, which seems to come and go a little too fast (i.e. parts need more breathing room), but it's sort of a minor quibble in a show that isn't done yet and probably will be modified as the season progresses. But yeah, I think they'll win Conroe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJVGcwqEVVc

At this point, I've at least seen or heard a little something from each of the 1st place contenders (except for Reagan, who placed 2nd last year). I don't think Conroe will be as one-sided this year as it was last year, though I didn't think it would be one-sided last year, either, until I saw The Woodlands in prelims, and then it was pretty obvious who was going to win. Anyway, based on the fabulous videos of Cedar Park on YouTube, I think their show is typically strong musically and probably par for the course visually, but I don't think GE will pan out in their favor. (It's a UIL state year for them anyway.) I've only heard Hebron's music, so for me Hebron's a real wild card. They play wonderfully, but then again, so do their top competition. Claudia Taylor Johnson's show has some of the same rousing pop flair as last year. They play powerfully and sound really, really good doing it. Visually, it ain't bad either. For me, they're a contender for first place if The Woodlands hasn't improved much since that video I saw of them from mid-September (though in TW's defense, the video was from backfield and was pretty dreadfully recorded in general). Anyway, yeah, so for me it'll probably come down to CTJ or The Woodlands. If The Woodlands has reached a reasonable level of cleanliness, they'll win. If The Woodlands is still kind of a mess, CTJ will probably win. Late season, though, based on what I've seen and heard, I don't think the hierarchy will change much. The Woodlands will add something like 10+ points to their early season score like they always do (in 2006, it was 17 points) and will probably place first or second when San Antonio rolls around. The show design is just really, really elegant. With the shuffling around of those railroad crossing gates, I'm expecting some really clever visual stuff reminscent of their '06 and '07 shows. And really, at this early stage, I'm just looking for late season potential, which TW appears to have in abundance. Then again, there's always room for surprises.

Avon's show is called Statuesque, btw.

Yeah. This confirms it for me. This is the best I've heard Avon early season in a while. Aside from the woodwind chorus at the very beginning, which sounds excessively bright and brittle, the opener is scorchingly brilliant. I'm not as sold on the other two sections, particularly the one with the singing, but they could grow on me. Really, though, Avon is pretty much lightyears ahead right now. The only Texas group that I've seen (a small bit from) that I think could challenge them is The Woodlands, whose show is typically brilliantly designed, but performance-wise is a mess. Oh, Marcus. Where are you?

What a great resource! Vandegrift is really rocking it this year. I'm pretty much stunned by them right now. Cedar Ridge plays strongly, but could use a little more visual flair. Ditto for Hendrickson.

Hahaha... I'm rabidly searching for videos without much luck. Here's College Park. I think they're improving every year. I'm really impressed. They should be a strong contender for finals at Conroe and maybe at San Antonio as well. They were right there on the bubble last year if I recall correctly.

Don't you just love it when football season starts up? Treasure trove! I'm not sure how I feel about this one. On the one hand, it looks much more manageable than last year's show, so they should be able to clean it up. On the other hand, they still don't seem to have as much power in their sound as they used to have. It sounds kind of anemic, though it's probably not as weak as it was last year. (I'm sure the early season learning curve probably contributes to that.) Design-wise there are some neat elements. I love the rocks. They remind me of the Little Mermaid! When they opened with Saint-Saens' Aquarium I half-expected the Marcus crabs to pop out. Heh. Also, when they spill out of that condensed block for what seems to be the first big hit, it was pretty much visually orgasmic. On the whole, though, I think it's sort of a mixed bag. It still looks like they're trying to do the kinds of shows Wes Cartwright would do if he were still there. The problem is that he's not, so it could turn out sort of half-baked again. We'll have to reserve judgment until later. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bXnvlbGabM

Hmmmmm... Well, that didn't work. Let's try this. Go to Vimeo.com, add a slash, and type the number below. 74575588

Honestly, I was pretty impressed with what I could hear of Avon's music performance on the one YouTube video with the Football radio guys talking over the show. I thought they sounded a lot better than they usually do early season, which could bode well for them. Like... oh, I don't know... a fourth championship? (Of course, I'm going to reserve judgment for when I actually see a good video of them!) I always just assume they'll be visually spectacular. Here's a video that should interest a lot of people on here. I have to say, the opener looks INSANELY difficult. I mean, like, close to Avon difficult, which for a Texas band scares me. (Do they really have to move that much and that fast?) Right now it looks like a hot mess, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt since it's, like, mid-September. Also, from the backfield angle it was apparently recorded from, the music sounds pretty wonky in parts (though fabulous in others). I just hope the trumpet I hear sticking out every now and then is some sort of extra playing backfield. Hahaha... Again, it's probably best to wait for a better video. Design looks amazing. Lots of Wes Cartwright-esque flag stuff. http://vimeo.com/74575588

Coppell produced NINETEEN All-Staters this year?! Holy crap! Is that a record? It's nearly three times the number of All-Staters that Cedar Park produced. (CP produced seven, the second most in their area.) The other schools in Area D really need to step up their games. That is INSANE domination by Coppell! (A big old congrats to them!)

Someone's a bit touchy, eh? Sorry, I calls them like I sees them, although you do have a point about me not contributing jack to the two programs that went. I'm assuming you're affiliated with Bowie? Congrats. They did very well! Now, moving on to the more pressing matter of how one gets selected by Rubisco to attend nationals, it's a long application process, but usually a band can make the cut by being absolutely flawless! *insert biggest eyeroll ever* Please, dear, if you're going to attempt wit, try a bit harder next time!

Awwww, but GE is the best part! Except for maybe BA's show (which felt to me like The Godfather Part 3 compared to the Bell 06 show), I loved all the bells and whistles this year. I will say that visually, based on the high cam state vids, the two TX bands we sent did concern me. I knew Reagan would struggle in visual based on late season BOA scores, but Bowie was a bit of a surprise to me. Even more so than forms that weren't spot-on, sloppy transitions were abundant. I think Bowie's semis judging panel was something of a blessing as far as visual performance is concerned, considering Bowie got reamed in visual in both prelims and finals. On a side note, I think Marcus is still the cleanest band I saw this year. I wasn't really as impressed with the northern groups visually this year. At least not as much as usual.

Personally, I'd be thrilled if Texas outdid itself next year and produced 5 finalists. That would be epic! I think 4 is still the most we've produced in a single year.

While a more favorable individual music judge would have helped Reagan jump a few of the groups immediately ahead of them, it wouldn't have done much for Bowie. Unfortunately, those visual issues I was noticing came back to bite Bowie in finals. They got uniformly mediocre visual scores. They seemed to get a more forgiving panel in semis, when they placed 3rd overall! That was awesome!

I bet they will be. I think their show this year suffered from being too difficult in general. You could hear the difficulty of the drill in their music performance, where their scores were docked a bit. That sub-par Bell music performance couldn't possibly be the result of Wes Cartwright leaving. I'm sure if they do something a little more manageable next year they'll score very well at nationals, etc. Did anybody else find it interesting that Broken Arrow's show this year also featured creepy ladies in giant dresses? I wonder if this was an idea that Bell got from Cartwright right before he left. There did seem to be some leftover Cartwright-isms in Bell's show. Anyway, which Texans are on the list of potential 2013 GN participants? Marcus, The Woodlands, LD Bell, Round Rock, Hebron, Winston Churchill, Anderson, and Cedar Ridge? Anyone else?

I believe it was 2001 when the top 5 scores were within one point of each other. That's still my favorite top 5 ever at nationals. Man, that PCEP show! Programme One, was it? Their visual design = *drool*

I'm also happy to see this show from very high up, because I'm noticing a lot of forms that really didn't quite hit. This concerns me for nationals. Unfortunately, I'm thinking visual performance won't be as much of an asset to them this year as it was last year at BOA SA, when they scored fabulously in visual performance. Some of the music design is also a bit "schizophrenic", although they sound excellent for the most part. I probably should have noticed the "schizophrenia" earlier. On an unrelated note, I love, love, love the planets. The colors really brighten up the field.

This is the first time I've seen this show from very high up. I have to admit I was a bit baffled they tied Marcus in visual performance in BOA SA finals. After seeing this, however, it makes a lot more sense. They were much cleaner than I (and others) gave them credit for. Aside from that moving brass arc in the ballad (wtf was that supposed to be anyway?) and some spacing and other form issues during the end of the opener and a little bit in the closer, much of this looks way better than I thought it did earlier. Still, I don't know if I would have placed them ahead of Marcus in ensemble visual, although taking difficulty into account maybe I would have. In any case, I think the BOA visual judges are somewhat redeemed by this video.

Well, this is sort of what happened in 2009. Bell, Marcus, The Woodlands ,and Bowie all made the trip. What makes 2013 so exciting for me is the fact that even more bands than usual seem to want to go, and many of them have a shot at making finals for the first time. I like tallying up the total number of different national finalists Texas has produced over the years. I think it's at 13 or something right now.

So many awesome groups! I hope they all follow through with their plans. If all of these groups go and perform at a level similar to this year, we'll see at least one (maybe even more) new Texas group in finals. It's only fitting that on the 10th anniversary of the year Texas dominated nationals that we send most of our brightest stars! Of course, I'm not so naive that I think the top three will all be TX groups like in 2003 semis; the level of competition is too high these days. But maybe, just maybe, a new Texas national champion?

This is going to make a lot of spectators happy next year! Okay, so, Marcus, The Woodlands, Spring, Round Rock, Anderson, and maybe Hebron. Just add Bell! Just add Bell! I'm thinking about out-of-state bands that are for sure locks for finals on any given year. Those bands would be Avon, Carmel, Marian Catholic, and Broken Arrow. I'd like to include Lawrence Central, but they've been inconsistent recently, and CTJ demonstrated last year that it's possible for a first time Texas group to overtake a perennial finalist in national finals. Adding Marcus and TW as probable locks for finals, that leaves 6 spots available for groups like Lawrence Central, Center Grove, PCEP, William Mason, Union and Owasso (if they decide to go), and the other Texas groups. I usually give finalist edges to groups that sound better, since music contributes more to a band's score. I accurately predicted that Wando would be in finals last year and that Harrison would make finals (whenever they made it the first time) based on music alone. My advice to Texas groups wanting to make finals at nationals is as follows: sound as good or better as you've been sounding, and perform a show that has some demand, but is easy enough that you can get it cleaner than any show you've done so far. If anything will kick a borderline TX group out of finals contention, it is going to be visual performance. Oh, and maybe GE, too.

I think Marian Catholic will almost without question place in the top 5, and probably higher than Bowie. They scored very, VERY well at the Indianapolis regional several weeks ago. Given their regular trajectory, which always involves peaking right at nationals, they'll probably be in contention for the eagle. I have Bowie firmly around 5th or 6th. I don't see them medaling, since that would require beating three of these groups, all of whom are having fantastic years: Avon, Broken Arrow, Carmel, Marian Catholic, and Tarpon Springs. For what it's worth, Bowie *might* medal in music performance, but I'm not even sure about that. Something interesting to note is Andre Feagin's placement of Bowie at UIL state finals. He's also a frequent BOA judge as of recent, and if you look at his state scores near the top, they look *somewhat* like BOA placements. He had Bowie 5th, behind, in order, Marcus, The Woodlands, LD Bell, and Berkner.