thewho

Another regional in the books for this season! Saturday truly was a lovely day all around. The weather was such a rare pleasant event that everyone made sure that the mood felt sweet for all. I also had the lovely pleasure to finally bump into a few folks off the HR forums (4 years in the making!).Very rarely do I get competitions that are just really simply uncomplicated. Katy is such a great venue suited for band, not just because of the logistics, but also the ample amount of volunteers throw themselves into the role belatedly without question from the experienced (and excited) to the curious first-timers. Thank you to the Morton Ranch, Cinco Ranch, and Seven Lakes parents that gave their time to volunteer for this weekend (and sharing some of your stories with me. Some were very special.).A soon-to-be-favorite anecdote from this past weekend: In the morning, a father and his toddler appearing to be on a leisurely walk had strayed off their ordinary route after the toddler was curious about some of the bands near former stadium. They ended up watching bands for a decent amount go through their flow with the toddler wowed. The father was equally impressed too! I don't know if that kid will be in the activity one day, but I like to think the pop too would wholeheartedly jump in, head-first.

Cy-Fair: Knew the name, never gave another thought. Not anymore, holy smokes! Shenandoah might've been downplayed fairly early on in comparison to other competitions, but Cy-Fair this year brought distinguishment to this title on par with being a single-digit SA Super finalist. Many bands took their shot at My Body is a Cage, but I've found only Cy-Fair as iconic as the original SCV 2018 version. An absolute shame this isn't going to SA this year. CTJ: I'm a bit of a stick in the lake this year apparently, because I find this show to be quite pleasant this year. This feels more of a proper spotlight at the capabilities of the band instead of overwhelm with every relevant thread of thought into 13 min- something I thought the mid-'10s CTJ shows had a lot of tact and style with. Admittedly, the standard for those shows are so high that asking CTJ to meet that with this show is a bit too inappropriate. It is still a nice change of pace for the program. TWHS: Uh..... Holy smokes? Nah, holy blazes!!! You're telling me TWHS missed a majority of summer camp and still had this on the field??? What an absolute treat to get Chick Corea and treat the material with so much respect and detail not just musically, but the integration of drill, props, percussion, body choreography, color guard, and beyond. TWHS is hitting such high marks in achievement and performance in every aspect in this activity in ways other bands aren't. This is exactly why I'm a fan of this activity. What an honor to see TWHS 2023 live. We may be looking at yet another Texan dynasty if this design team keeps pumping up these shows over the next few years. It will be a travesty for this activity on par with the winless Hebron years if TWHS doesn't win any BOA SA, GN, or UIL comps or with this team. And.... That's it! That's all I got to see at Katy this year 😀.

Howdy! I'm headed from out of Texas to this regional this year again to help run the competition! Super excited to get my share of Texas again!

Great news: Marching Observer is conscious now and has made a safe recovery! He'll need some time but he'll back sooner or later.

This is thewho. I help moderate the Hornrank forums. It is with a sorrowful pittance to bring the news that our friend, MarchingObserver, has been admitted for emergency surgery today. You all have likely seen his readings over on the TxB blog, BOX5 blog, and GEM. MarchingObserver used to be part of the IndianaMarching.com team that worked alongside TxB in several events before the website closed in 2017 and had collaborated frequently with TxB teams over the years since. I cannot speak on the behalf of the TxB, but I know he has been considered a dear friend and valuable member of the team. I can only hope he will pull through with no complications. Please think of him as you move on about your day. Thank you.

Well, that's another one for the books. Congrats to Moe & Gene Johnson for the regional win. The improvement over the last few years has been astounding! I've ran parking before, but this was my first time in action, so to speak. Everyone was lovely and all ready for band. I've asked volunteers what they enjoy about Midland each year, and the most common response I've received was how laid-back everyone is and how well the rules were respected consistently. I've also received a few credible complaints about the difficulty of reaching the stadium for the disabled with the lack of disabled parking spots- I think this is a valid concern and will pass on the comments to BOA/MFA. Thanks to Midland Legacy for their hard work today to ensure the competition is ran well. We've had wonderful volunteers to help direct traffic and everything else in between.

Can't wait to see some of your lovely faces here this weekend!

Super late debriefing, but better late than never I suppose... Congrats to Cedar Ridge on the win! I am totally down for the new Wedar Widge for not only the vampires, but because it's a literal W. (And I got to see them live this year!) My apologies to Oak Ridge pit for jerking them around so much on competition day. When you're running a competition, one will just tend to lose track of things inevitably. Thanks to all the volunteers from Morton Ranch. The mild 85°F weather in Houston and the huge lots helped, but the volunteers made all of the BOA staff's jobs much easier. We also had a few Jordan volunteers show up too, and I'll say what I've said them- it's been a very long while since I had enough people to run the lots in finals when the first band showed up.

It's been a hot while since I've been in Texas. Can't wait!

Wakeland and Keller are #1 and #2 of Block 3 for me. The Colony, Keller Central, and Fossil Ridge were standouts. I think Brewer could've been up there if they haven't had the rough run they had.

It's great getting a small glimpse into Texas winter guard! I'm looking forward to the rest of your vlogs this season.

You're not alone in this. There were a few people in Indiana questioning the decision too. The performance at Indy Super when the soloist was by the front ensemble due to a sprained ankle was by far the best performance I've heard out of her. Running around and having to play such a difficult melody is a lot to ask from one. Shows can absolutely succeed on the backs of a single soloist, but it's a very delicate balance that Carmel struggled with. It really did grow onto me as the season progressed. The Who Wants to Live Forever ballad and We Are Champions closer were some of my favorite parts of the season- just so well written and terrifically performed by the band.

What an incredible event all around. Congratulations to all 6 bands. For those who had attended, I hope many of you were able to see why Carmel was held in such high regard for the past few years. The effect Carmel has in their shows is something to be experienced live. I regret that 2019 was the version Texas had to see in comparison to 2016-2018, but honestly, if you at least understand why Carmel does so well from this show alone, you'd understand how great those other shows were. Of course, Avon is Texas's adopted child, so I know many were excited to see them in action. Congratulations to all 6 Texas bands for making finals! That's a record number of bands from one state. I saw so many of the familiar CTJ parents from San Antonio that volunteered! It was wonderful just randomly bumping into some of you! Also, thank you @banddad84 for putting the gathering together on Friday- me having to skip out on the preliminaries was a bummer, so the gathering absolutely made up for it with being able to meet familiar faces and new. Finally, a hearty congratulations to Vandegrift for winning GN on their first trip. There's some actual first-timers in BOA history (Live Oak in '76, Murray '77, and Sylva-Webster '79), but all are so early in the formative years of BOA that the chances of the first-timer winning was likely going to happen several times. This is the first time since then- 40 years after the fact. Vandegrift is standing with some of the storied legacies in BOA history with this win. Time will see whether Vandegrift will pass them, but this historic moment can't be understated any further. In my eyes, this is the first time a band has truly won in their first trip. There's going to be an inevitable debate about whether Ronald Reagan would've won GN if they had gone this year. Well... with this performance, it's just split down the middle. Ronald Reagan may had the best show overall this year, but Vandegrift had the best performance this year. SA RR = GN Vandy and GN Vandy = SA RR. Don't construe this as me saying one is the other- they're equal.

I know you're joking here, but that's a little too direct.

Grand Nationals is this week! I hope you all are ready for the big day. I've seen them once, I'm ready to see the 6 Texan bands again! With this historic contingent heading north, I'm sure many of you would want to explore the city of Indianapolis while you can. There are some very obvious picks that you'd probably hear already, but the city recently added new transportation services that would greatly expand the scope of your trips. Indianapolis 4 years ago is not quite the same as the Indianapolis today. I made a post a few weeks ago on Hornrank about some new things in Indianapolis to take advantage of for Indy Super. This was a work in progress at that point, to be fully completed. Some people wanted some quick tourist advice, so I realized it would be best to expand on this post a bit further as it became a little too big for a forums post. I'm pleased to say that the full product is here. Another thing for the weather here: pack tons of layers. The day weather on Thursday, Friday and Saturday are looking to be roughly 40's with wind (ew). Forecast across those days have the wind dying down, but this is Indiana- the only accurate weather forecast is the one that's 5 minutes before. Pack wind-breakers and layers. It. will. be. COLD. Please take care to stay warm whenever possible, entering into the tunnel. If you'd like to stay in, there's a list attached with the walkways across the southwestern part of the Indianapolis metro area. Students, parents, and directors with the appropriate passes for the day will be allowed to access the stadium through the Convention Center- there will be security at that point and they have been instructed to turn everyone away. I'd be pleased to be considered your local Indianapolis expert, so if you have any questions or anything of the sort, feel free to reach out to me in this thread or by PM. Can't wait for the weekend! GN weekend Indy.pdf downtown-indy-skywalk-map.pdf

I've been more convinced by the day that Leander has an extremely strong shot at the top 3. They were sunk big time in music and visual performance captions... but they're 2nd in GE with manageable gaps between Vandegrift and Hebron. If they can pull in a much better performance than San Antonio, I think they'll get there.

There are many reasons why BOA staff will fly out to events..... but I can say with definite 100% that this is why. There's nothing like seeing firsthand the passion and drive on part of every single student, parent, and directors. It's just band in the end, but I know it's much more for everyone in the field and I've been blessed over the years to experience that up close. Thank you for your hours at the event! The CTJ band booster association + volunteers was incredible through the weekend. Believe it or not, every volunteer hour makes San Antonio THE San Antonio event. None of this would have been possible at all without any of your help. I met quite a few people in the txbands forums here at last- LeanderMomma, principalagent, LKendrick, Sanchez (again), AvonDad. It was wonderful meeting you all in the 3-10 minutes we talked- I hope you see you all down in Indy in 2 weeks (I know some of few have last minute plans ). Any Alamodome staff reading this, thank you all too. I only hope you enjoyed the event as much as we all did. All the bands in attendance made the whole event amazing. Special thank you to the finalist bands- San Antonio just got better by the hour as time passed. 2 tireless days, 30 degree weather, 6 hours of sleep across 2 nights, likely a marathon's worth of steps.... all worth it. What an insane event. I was arriving on Thursday from Indiana with massive expectations, and it has been so much more. I can't wait for next year. We are truly blessed to have a community like this.

The difference between 2018 and this year was how firm the top band in the country was #1. Too bad the other #1's aren't coming in November. This is an Indiana guy, just you all know.

HI! I forgot about Halloween! Maybe I should pack a costume...

This is my first San Antonio! Super excited to come down. I'll be touching down early on Thursday, so I'll have some time to check out the city a bit. Where should I go? What places should I eat at? Check out? (Transportation is not an issue for me).