IMcom-Josh

A lot of the staff at Indianamarching.com watched the finals on a big screen T.V. and we were definitely entertained. A lot of great band shows coming from TX once again. It's great that our two states have a good (albeit sometimes heated) rivalry. My personal thoughts from the San Antonio SR: Ronald Regan - It's great to see that after so much that you have been able to start rebuilding this program. Keep up the hard work! Churchill - Lots of energy here. Definitely liked your drumline as the bands came back out onto the field. Great chops. Leander - Musically great! You had some noticeable errors in visual both individual and ensemble wise but the package is there. Looking forward to getting a recording of your show later. Colleyville Heritage - This show is much improved over last year when I saw you here at GN. Hope to see you producing more shows like this. Keller - Flashy uniforms and flashy show. Hebron - I had been told you all were having a bit of a down here but I think you proved otherwise. SFA - Every year I think, "The dancers just dance. How can they really portray a show without weapons or flags?" and every year you show me how. It's amazing how well you do your shows and how entertaining they always are. Personally would have scored you higher. Hope to see you at GN again soon! Spring - Oh yes! This was a great show and another one I would have scored much higher. The staff and I just loved it (some of us even voted for it as fan favorite in the text poll) and certainly one of my favorites of the night after I wasn't expecting much again. Richland - It's a shame you won't make it out to GN this year but the show is still really good. Definite errors here and there but those individual errors can be corrected. Good run overall. Cedar Park - It's been a long time since I have heard such a good arrangement and performance of that piece as you all put on. Please come to GN sometime because I would love to see you live! James Bowie - Your visual game has improved so much since you last came to GN. You're certainly a contender this year for a finals spot. Keep up the good work and look forward to seeing you in about 2 weeks. Woodlands - Gotta admit, Hide and Seek is still my favorite show you all have put on but this certainly doesn't let me down. Another unique show that is both good and entertaining. Looking forward to seeing it live! Keep up the improvements. Marcus - I had you down for the win here. Your playing is fantastic like always and the show is great fun! Can't wait to see what you bring in two weeks. LD Bell - We weren't expecting to see new uniforms but they do look snazzy. Anyone know if these are temporary or permanent? The show is very well designed like always and the drill looks to be up a notch from the past two years. Good luck at GN and look forward to seeing you there. As indianamarchingfan already pointed out, this is our State Finals weekend so we should get an interesting read on where everyone will be at this point. Don't read too much into the results though because anything could still happen in the two weeks after. After all, Lawrence Central beat Avon at state and then we all know what happened last year. Plus Carmel elected not to participate in ISSMA this year so we won't be seeing them at state finals so we can't get much of a read on them as well. This is just what makes it so exciting! It's still virtually anyone's game at this point. My top bands (in no order) are: Avon, Lawrence Central, Carmel, Centerville (they were barely behind Carmel at a recent contest), Center Grove, LD Bell, Woodlands, Marcus, PCEP, Broken Arrow, and Marian Catholic. Honestly at this point I could see any of those taking home the Eagle. Eleven bands! Sheesh! This is why I love this so much. Good luck to everyone the rest of the season and congratulations to everyone at the San Antonio SR!

Which is why I said it is very early in the season. Lots will change for every show and I'm sure for the best. Drum Corps is just awesome no matter what. Blue Stars also have a stand still performance recording from the Indiana State Fair Grounds on youtube if any of you would like to watch that. Should be another great year by them.

I agree too. I love Phantom Regiment. They put out amazing shows. True this is way early still in the season and more will be added and stuff will be changed, but it still feels like they have back pedaled to about 2005 (Rhapsody). I love that show too and I'm sure this show will grow on me as well but it just doesn't yell out "consider me for championship." It would be too much to ask for another incredible show like Spartacus though the year right after. Less than a week to go till opening weekend!

Sweetness. I always do like how they put out these type of website teasers. I look forward to another awesome year by them!

Disney

Tarpon Springs 2008 "Art at the Speed of Light" Okay Okay, perhaps not a "normal" song but who cares.

According to Bob Chreste bio page: "Bob Chreste started his first year as Associate Director at Cedar Park High School in 2006 school year. He is the director of the Concert Band and Cadet Band. Mr. Chreste received his Bachelor's degree in Music Education from the University of Houston and his Masters degree in Conducting from Sam Houston State University. While at Sam Houston, Bob was the graduate teaching assistant for the wind ensemble and the marching band. Aside from being a very talented saxophonist, Mr. Chreste has also become an accomplished euphonium player. He marched with the world champion, Cadets of Bergen County Drum and Bugle Corps, for three years (1996-1998). More recently, he spent a year and a half as a conductor and performer with the Tony and Emmy Award winning musical, Blast! Mr. Chreste has worked with many marching bands across Texas, as well as bands in Indiana and Oklahoma. Mr. Chreste is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia." And again at SCV's website it does say, "Bob has been involved with drum corps and marching bands for most of his life, both on and off the field. He was a member of the brass staff of Carolina Crown from 2003-2007." No mention of him being the head director of Crown but if you have information proving that he was, please let us know. Behold, the power of google.

Blue Knights present: Winter-Antonio Vivaldi Gilde-original music by staff members Russ Newbury and Jeff Ausdemore Landslide-Stevie Nicks Tarantella-Ethel Coronation from the movie "Stardust"-Ilan Eshkeri Don't forget that these Corps along with Open class Corps shows can be found at corpsreps.com although sometimes it can take awhile for them to get on there at times. Good source of finding the history of every Corps.

You weren't the only one to be alone in doing that. So were you really alone then if other people were alone doing that? One of the great conundrums of life eh

Just want to make a correction for you Dan. Avon was Class A State Champions in 2003-2007. In 01 and 02 they were Class B State Champions. Easy enough mistake so I won't mock you....this time. As for California bands, the three biggest names that I can think of are Ayala, Upland, and Etiwanda. Recently, Etiwanda seems to have been on a downhill slide. I don't see any CA bands planning on attending GN at this time either but I wouldn't be surprised to see if one was added later. Broken Arrow isn't the only great band from OK either. Owasso is planning on attending GN this year as well. The last time they attended they made finals as well surpassing their rival of Broken Arrow in Semi Finals. Union, while not attending GN this year (so far), also seems to have improved giving a tremendous showing last year making it into the teen placings during Semi Finals. Here is the breakdown of how many bands from each state will be attending Grand Nationals from the lists that they CURRENTLY have up (as of 5/15/09): Ohio: 22 Indiana: 11 Kentucky: 10 Michigan: 7 IL: 7 TX: 6 Oklahoma: 3 SC: 2 NC: 2 Missouri: 1 WI: 1 GA: 1 NJ: 1 Florida: 1 Mississippi: 1 Total: 76 More bands will be added later and of course bands will be removed. This list WILL change but for now, this is what they have. Excuse me if there are a few errors however because it is 3AM right now. I'm pretty sure that it is accurate however.

Despite Richland no longer attending GN (despite them still being on the list), James Bowie looks to have opted to go back once again as well. It is always a pleasure to see many Texas bands come and look forward to seeing all that you bring. It is a shame that Richland wasn't able to come since I have always enjoyed the shows they have put out (that I have seen anyway ). As for Texas domination, sure it COULD happen. Anything is possible. But don't expect us to roll over and not give a fight. Personally, Marcus is my favorite to win this year. Best of luck this year to all bands though!

For those of you who weren't able to make it to the DCI 2009 The Countdown in theaters last night, the new World Class Corps Jersey Surf announced their show as well. Entitled: The Mozart Effect. Sounds interesting and wish them the best of luck this year in World Class.