There's not that much to blog about right now (other than Bush's frighteningly inexperienced Supreme Court nominee...is he trying to piss off real conservatives?), but here's a couple things I think are blogworthy:
1. I really have no idea who reads this blog these days, but if you're in or near Connecticut and are planning to go to the Syracuse vs. UConn football game on Friday night, be sure to stick around for halftime and postgame. Why? Because the athletic department, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that the Syracuse University Marching Band needs to perform at a couple of away games, and this happens to be one of them (the other is in Pittsburgh at the end of the month, which means I'll be within 20 miles of my house without actually seeing it...kinda ironic). We're doing an Earth, Wind and Fire show, complete with a drum feature that we stole from this movie
2. Speaking of music, it's now been almost two months since I posted the Suspended Agitation demo, and I've hardly gotten any feedback. Seriously, people. The entire thing is only half an hour long, and Ryan's been asking me if anyone listened to it yet. Just take a few minutes and let me know what you think.
...I guess that's it for now. I'll end with a quick public service announcement: If you have class at 8 AM, and you stay up until 4 AM writing a paper for your Constitutional Law class at 9:30, you will be incredibly tired.
Thank you.
Posted by CD on October 4, 2005 02:06 PM | TrackBackWow. UConn eh? You'll be a whole 20 minutes from me. Enjoy the UConn drunkards.
Posted by: Katherine at October 4, 2005 03:23 PMSoon as you said "Earth, Wind, and Fire" I knew which movie you were talking about. Is that movie accurate at all? Just curious.
Posted by: Army NCO Guy at October 5, 2005 05:19 PMIs that movie accurate at all? Just curious.
I'm assuming you've seen it, but if not, sorry for making this so long.
Anyway, since it's supposed to reflect the marching band environment of a Southern black university, I can't be sure how accurate it really is, but based on my own experience...no. I saw it on TV about a month ago, so just off the top of my head:
1) The music they play in the movie is ridiculously easy. Exciting visuals are secondary to good musicianship in real life. And the marching in the movie, on the rare occasion that they do march, is...holy crap. I've seen more organization in groups of people walking across campus.
2) Around here, freshmen are not hazed or forced to clean drums, and the drumline is probably the friendliest and most clique-ish section.
3) The high level of competition? Virtually non-existent in my experience. You try out once, and then everyone gets along.
4) Drumlines from opposing schools don't compete with each other. We politely watch their show and clap when they're done, and we usually exchange compliments at the end of halftime.
5) Did I mention how ridiculously easy the music in the movie is? I can do long rolls and backsticking too, but I don't get in the director's face and say "I'm the best drummer you've got!"
6) In corps style drumline (which may not be what they did in the movie), the snare drum doesn't hang from a strap. We have metal harnesses.
7) There is NO FREAKING WAY that the guy in that movie could've gotten to where he was without knowing how to read music. There was a guy in my high school drumline who almost got himself in trouble because he couldn't read well enough.
I'm going to band rehearsal in a few minutes, so I'll probably think of more then.
Posted by: CD at October 5, 2005 05:49 PMThat's kinda what I figured. I've seen it a couple times and I thought that stuff didn't really look all that hard.
Posted by: Army NCO Guy at October 7, 2005 11:17 AM...Well, bummer of a game, dude.
Posted by: Army NCO Guy at October 7, 2005 11:19 PMWhoa, NCO Guy...do you realize that your comments are almost exactly 12 hours apart? Trippy, dude.
(Note the time this comment was made...then never speak of it again)
Posted by: CD at October 8, 2005 06:13 AM...uh...
...If the game would've ended two minutes earlier, it would've been perfect...
Posted by: Army NCO Guy at October 8, 2005 06:15 PM