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We have three, and I think its to much for the size of our band. All three of them are in Varsity Concert band too, and none of them want to stop playing picc. There going to have to decide who plays picc during concert season. I remember last year during our Christmas, one alone covered our second band. Our head director had to go up there and tell her to chill out before the second piece. Oh, and so far I have completed applications to UNT and Stephen F. Austin. In the next weeks im going to apply to UT San Antonio, Texas State, Texas Tech, and University of Houston. And as a wild card...Louisiana State University.

Last night was a close call for me actually. A guy in my section ran into my saxophone, and the neck got jammed into my mouth. Luckily there was no bleeding, but there very well could have been.

Not to go too off topic, but since we've shifted towards the subject of cars... Last year during rehearsal in the schools parking lot, some guy, I guess to show off, floored it backing out. He ran right into one of the lamp post and left huge dent on his tail bed. I can just imagine the story "Yeah I ran into a lamp post, but get this...in front of a marching band."

Sounds like a very good contest. Everyone seemed to do very well. Looks like group IV was the group to beat. Taft has always had BOA style shows, but for some reason hasn't done BOA in a while. There really gunning to prove themselves after placing last at 2006 UIL State. And staying in my district, I don't know what happened to Tom C. Clark. Last year they were barely beat out by Westfield at USSBA, and took some captions from them. Now their finishing last in their group.

We finally won a district game last night 44-19 vs. SA Holmes. Improving to a 2-5 record, 1-4 district. Although I think we were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs last week.

We have special uniforms for this year that change color. However some people forget to change color at the right time. So audiences sometimes see a nice sea of yello...."is that red!!!" This should be fixed next rehearsal with them though. Although sometimes the velcro breaks. It happened at BOA Arlington to a snare. Being the resourceful guy he is, he stuck the flap in his mouth and continued the rest of the way, not missing a color.

Wow, looks like word got out about TXbands in the Cedar Park band Sandra Day O'Connor High School will be attending. It kind of surprised me when I found out because usually bands in our district don't go to competitions outside of local competitions and USSBA. But props to them for going to a harder competition.

Were 91 winds, 14 drum line, 6 pit, and I want to say 12 color guard. And were actually one of the bigger bands in my district. Although, more notably, we have a senior class of 19 people. And the Junior class is just as big. Almost 75% of our band is underclassmen.

We did get a warning though. Something to do with our pit. Our placing is depressing

Dang, a rehearsal after all that? Our band couldn't even stay awake in the stands. Even I started dosing off, and I love watching other bands.

Id say its more Black Album Old. Not Master of Puppets Old. And definitely not Kill em All old.

You and I are in the same boat. But its just the luck of the draw. I still find it funny, and a little maddening ( ) that Mansfield got to perform at 4:30 and being right down the street from Arlington. But they deserved a finals slot. We had pre-UIL tonight, at a comfortable (despite being a little humid today in SA) 7:30 time slot. It felt MUCH better than BOA, and we didn't even have a rehearsal before. Afterward we just looked at each other wondering why couldn't we do this at BOA?

Should be a great competition, like always. I hope our performance is on the second day, so I can go watch the prelims on Friday on my own time.

Just got back from the fun ride of Arlington to San Antonio. Overall, we weren't very satisfied with out performance. There was a tear from the beginning, which the Drum Major did a good job fixing, but it never really got back up to what we wanted it to be. Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Speaking of which, I hope my band didn't come off as disrespectful in the stands with so many of our people sleeping. Its just most of us were running on 2-4 hours of sleep. And sleeping on those buses are not very good sleep. There was some great stuff today. Marcus' show is very entertaining. Last year when my band watched BOA San Antonio, many people went away with "Sure Marcus is just about perfect, but the show lacks entertainment." Today, those people left thinking "Wow that is a cool show". Unfortunately, we missed Cedar Park.

I love cannonball's, especially the designs. Although Cannonball and Yamaha are pretty much the same price. I got a YTS 62II for as much as it would cost me to get a Cannonball tenor. Yesterday I went into my local Sam Ash to get reeds and I noticed they put up a Big Bell Stone Series Tenor in the Mad Meg finish for the same price as my 62. Man, I wish they had it up there when I bought my Yamaha, I would have really liked to play test them both. When I get into the market for an Alto, im definitely going to try out a Cannonball. But, I love my Yamaha, and it loves me. So it works out great.

In 1991 we lost to Odessa Permian in the state finals. Priest Holmes was 18 at the time in 1991, making him a senior. How old is she? Because everything Marshall has been going down the drain since the O'Connor split 8 or so years ago. Although the band seems to be on an upswing =)

Give it time....

Do you mean like Half time slow motion? Or matrix slow motion? We have a drill where the low brass and low reeds are playing an intense melody and moving in normal time, and the alto and soprano voices are playing a melody from the ballad earlier in the show and moving in half time. It should look pretty cool.

Our game is on a Saturday so there is no way were going to be there. And apparently the other band might not be there because they will be in Laredo for a competition. Can you imagine a bandless high school football game!?

I don't see why not. You guys could probably get in towards the first block if you wanted. Although im sure us in the first block would want to catch up on sleep . Were having to be at our band hall at 2 am. I definitely want to watch the last 2 blocks after we preform.

Wow, I wasn't expecting any sort of finals predictions for us. But if it came from anyone, I figured it would be from you because of your ties with Mr. Hildreth. And I definitely agree with the local contest. We went to the East Central Contest this weekend and placed 4th and won the Colorgaurd caption, definitely not a position a "Possible maybe finalist" should be at first glance. But watching the shows of our district rivals, there's not much more room for them to grow. Competing versus these bands for the past 4 years, I know that they all fit they're prototypical show and there wont be much more evolving from here to Area. But with us, our drill and music is at such a higher level than the other NISD bands, I'm not worried about this competition. I was talking with Mr. Hildreth on the way back to the bus, and he feels the same way I do. His main goal was to get rid of the first competition jitters out of the freshmen (freshmen actually make up around 30-40% of our band) before BOA Arlington.

Well, we took another beating from Tom C. Clark the other night 45 - 0. This has got to be the worst season on Marshall football in history. Gone are the days of Priest Holmes leading Marshall to the last 4 teams in the state.

I used to be an absolute die hard Metallica fan, not so much anymore though. However, judging by the single thats out, its pretty good. Although I've heard the digital mastering and production of the album isn't very good.

Not really great catches, just great plays. And Xenon, that is an amazing catch. If only it was on a bigger stage, it would be legendary.

Just go for all of it. Believe me, as a sax player, you'll appreciate our show.