MadisonBandMan1

I was just thinking about you and wondering how you were holding up, and if any positive changes have come your way yet. How are you doing?

I just saw crown....my oh my are they on fire. There is a clip of them online, not hard to find and not on the tube. They are TOTALLY doing chandelier justice. Can't wait to see how this changes and is cleaned up as the season goes on. Excited for all of the others as well.

I am glad that you have been able to continue to work through this and are doing okay for the moment. How is the recovery from that second surgery going?

Ah I remember him! I attended a school in NISD for middle school, he does really great with the district fine arts wise. There are some great directors in that district, some of those schools' programs are starting to grow really rapidly now, much of the district has stepped it up music wise over the last five years or so. For the longest time it was basically O'connor and Taft leading the district pretty far ahead of the pack. Now Brandeis, Warren, Clark and Brennan are really starting to come on strong, especially the first two. Happy to see the direction some of these programs are going in, hope to see them keep it up.

In all honesty, as bad as it sounds on paper, having been in both the crowd and in both parades, it honestly isn't that bad. Not as bad as some other crowds I've been in. The worst part about it is honestly the traffic, and this is coming from someone who is liking crowds less and less with age.

Every year San Antonio has a celebration called Fiesta, usually about 11 days long in total. Millions of people from around the world come to celebrate during this time period, culminating in a few major events that attract millions of people to watch together both on the street and on television. The other events will be in another thread. On Battle of the Flowers Day, there is a festival at Alamo Stadium in downtown San Antonio. On average around 32-33 bands enter into this festival every year. Every single one of them is a high school band. Pre-Covid, that consisted of over 5,000 students. Every band marches in a parade around the track and performs a short track show, usually like a minute or so's worth and moves on, save two bands. Three bands every year are selected through public vote to perform their fall show for the crowd during the intermission of the parade. My band was selected alongside Brandeis and Southwest in 2016, and this year is happens to be CTJ, Jefferson HS, and Harlan HS who were selected (All three from San Antonio). When one band is done with their part of the parade they go and sit in the bleachers on the backside, so by the last band the entire back side of the stadium is filled with bands, instruments still in hand. That stadium really starts to roar by the end of it its really cool. Reminds me of a college marching band atmosphere here at UNL. At the end of the Parade all of bands then line up in a very tight block formation on the field and back track. They fit ALL of the bands down there. They then perform an awesome show for the crowd (which I must say the students are absolutely suffering during but loving it nonetheless lol. That show HURTS lol. We still get excited nonetheless of giving you that second to none wall of sound that rattles your bones and pushes your hair back 😆) that is accompanied with a massive ending that I won't spoil. I will say that 5,000 bodies of musicians pumping so much energy at you is an exhilarating experience that you really just need to experience for yourself. There really is nothing like it out there. Reminds me a little bit of old school Drum Corps Retreats I must say, similar style. Still nothing like this out there. Anyways enough of my nerdy rant, here are the bands who are attending this year. PS. One of the local ABC affiliate news networks, KSAT 12 streams the event both on the local tv channel and online for free. I may not remember to hop on here to drop the link the day before or day of but I am sure one of our other locals here will be happy to do that if they are on! It isn't hard to find through google if you want to find it yourself by the way. Enjoy! Battle of the Flowers Band Festival - April 7th, 2022 Alamo Stadium 110 Tuleta Dr, San Antonio, TX 78212 Antonian College Preparatory HS Brackenridge HS Brennan HS Burbank HS Central Catholic HS Churchill HS Claudia Taylor Johnson HS - Feature Band East Central HS Edison HS Harlan HS - Feature Band Harlandale HS Highlands HS Jefferson HS - Feature Band John F. Kennedy HS John Jay HS John Marshall HS Judson HS Lanier HS Legacy of Educational Excellence HS Marion HS McCollum HS Memorial HS Nixon-Smiley HS Poteet HS Poth HS Robert G Cole HS Sam Houston HS (A crowd favorite every year!!!) Sandra Day O'Connor HS Somerset HS South San Antonio HS Southside HS Southwest HS Southwest Legacy HS Tom C. Clark HS Veterans Memorial HS Wagner HS

I think that I can speak for (nearly) everyone when I say that we are *more* than antsy for the this summer to come around already! Or at the very least move-in season.

Musically I think that Marcus had an outstanding run. I think there are some areas that will be cleaned up visually come finals. Going to be a tear-jerking one in finals I bet.

Not to mention that Hebron's entire show was a technical feature and not little parts of the show LOL.

I am sorry for the late response, but UNL has a front ensemble!

That felt like by far their best run to me, but our perspectives are different and I am not viewing this in person so I may not have caught what you caught.

Marcus has such an orchestral sound quality. I love it.

Nice run from them (CTJ). Some dirt in the percussion, but overall a great show. I love the show design.

Hebron. Greatest show of all time. Period. That is how you marching band.

I am really, really liking this CTJ show. Cleaning very rapidly from what I have seen. This my be one of my favorite all time when it is all said and done.

Yeah this show is very ballsy. Very drum corps style, even moreso than usual. Going to be a lot of fun watching them put it together. Going to be a force to be reckoned with in November. Show seems to definitely be designed for LOS.

CTJ does indeed have a full show on the field already (and CLEAN for this early), and they sound absolutely amazing. Truly incredible what they are doing this year. I think it has potential to be one of the all-time greatest shows, that is how much I love it. They are clear winners to me. Vandegrift is next. Watch them at the NEISD fall festival this year trust me. You won't be disappointed.

Just going to wake up from the dead and comment on how amazing CTJ is this year. Mr. Lipman just declared Claudia Taylor Johnson a world class Drum Corps, it's official I'm calling it. They as always have their full show on the field by this point but this year they also sound like a late-october ensemble. They sound amazing already. I am excited for the cleaning. CTJ going for the throat. I haven't seen too many of the shows from the big name shows but CTJ is definitely a contender for the eagle this year from what I can see. I need two investigations into the Claudia Taylor Johnson High School Marching Band: The first one into how much they practice. Make sure that t hey are following the eight hour rule. (/s) The second is if the students are really just a bunch of BAC members disguised as high schoolers. Whatever it is I am loving what is coming out of CTJ this year. I am very excited to see what they have for the field in LOS this year.

I see that Grand Nationals looks to be really interesting this year from the evidence we've received thus far. Color me intrigued, excited for the season to come and the emotions that flow from these students.

Wow, I am actually thoroughly surprised that even these schools will have the financial means, let alone the ability with district restrictions, to make the trip up north. I hope that marching band this fall runs strong! Yes, I know, it's as if you are seeing a ghost here. I think it is time I start being a bit more active in these parts again....

Yeah. I think they will. There is a really great leadership team set for next year and the band is still growing both in size and talent. Numbers are already over 350 for this year and that’s really great. This will be Mr. Perkins first true show that he had the time and ability to design and polish, so I know that it will be a million times better than last year, and I know that he’s well known for consistency. I also know he happens to be an amazing motivational speaker and his speeches are amazing. I am confident to say that I know that the Madison band is under great hands. Not to mention the great percussion instructor we have and the color guard instructor who isn’t a literal founding father of a winter guard circuit in Texas and always designs amazing shows. The Madison Band will be stronger than ever this coming season. I can feel it.

That’s so cool! I am glad that you get to see your daughter make an impact on other people now!

I know Madison hasn’t exactly been consistent, but given our new HBD I have sneaking feeling that is going to change very soon. They may not be in the next ten or higher this year, but I think that will change either next year or two or three years down the road. The Madison Band is going places now. Last year was just a really tough year.

Lol that was a funny one, but I didn’t fall for it. Vista Ridge’s announcements are designed much, much better (no offense) and their music selections a are specifically listed and not all over the place with some artists, some specific songs, and some general soundtracks. Sorry, if it were more sophisticated I maybe would have fallen for it lol. Good try, though, as it gave me a good laugh.

I would like to present the show for the 2020 Madison High School Band: "Dusk to Dawn" Featuring the following: A Kaleidoscope of Mathematics - James Horner A Child's Garden of Dreams - David Maslanka Rest - Frank Ticheli Dream on - Aerosmith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-LuEq9wTE8&t=28s I hope you enjoy! I personally am really excited to see this from the stands. I can already tell that this is going to be an amazing show to watch and I wish I could be there to perform it. I can't believe that I am not going to be out there for the first time in four years. Now that this is the first full show that our new director has had the chance to design for us I know that this band is going to go great places this season - assuming that we even have one. Go Mavs!