Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

Hey what's the band up to for the game this year? Travel, itin., lodging, etc.

we flew a charter plane down here, are staying in the Ashbury Suites just off 65, I believe, and we're pretty much doing the same stuff as before...sitting around the hotel cuz it's in the middle of nowhere, playing for the mayor of the town's dinner, exploring with our free time, playing in the mardi gras parade tonight, then doing some other random stuff tomorrow before the game and flying home soon after.

all in all...this town still kinda sucks.

It may be mildly boring, but it's warm. As in I'm wearing sandals right now warm.

hey, at least it's not the sleazy hotel we were at last time... you guys have it made. haha

billchase2 wrote:hey, at least it's not the sleazy hotel we were at last time... you guys have it made. haha

that's a true story. this hotel is MUCH nicer than that!!

we drove by the other hotel last night and those of us that were here got up and clapped for it. haha...it was a good time.

the one nice thing about that hotel is, though, that were were all pretty much in one place...we're spread out all over this one but it has an INDOOR pool

BTW. How's the Tulsa band? Thoughts?

Oh yeah, I heard that Dr. Hayward isn't with the band right now, as she's in Texas. Any idea what's going on?

SaxyGirl85 wrote:but it has an INDOOR pool

What?? No swimming in the in the rain on the first day of Winter???

bgmaggot00 wrote:BTW. How's the Tulsa band? Thoughts?

I don't know about the Tulsa band, but I did get to see a few other college bands for the first time this past week. I was in Dallas/Fort Worth for both the Armed Forces Bowl between Air Force and Cal, and the Cotton Bowl between Mizzou and Arkansas.

Air Force's "drum and bugle corps" was very mediocre. They attempted to play music with a lot of difficult runs that weren't anyhwere close to clean. They marched ok, but the band was so small that they couldn't really do much. The band seemed to be a bunch of individual sounds that didn't really mesh well.

Cal's band might have been one of the worst college bands I've seen. The drill was sloppy and their sound was a mess. Basically just blasting and they didn't play together at all. To give you an idea of how bad it was, at one point in their show, my brother who isn't a musician at all and knows nothing about marching band, looked at me and said "even I can tell that this is BAD!"

Arkansas' band on the other hand was pretty impressive. I sat on the Mizzou side, so I didn't get to hear their show from the right side, but they marched very well, and had a great sound from what I could hear. In the stands, I could hear them quite well, and they have one of the best low brass sounds that I think I have ever heard in a college band.

To this point the football team might be a disappointment, but hey, the band sounds great on TV. Much better than Tulsa.

jlozer8 wrote: Arkansas' band on the other hand was pretty impressive. ... and they have one of the best low brass sounds that I think I have ever heard in a college band.

Well, that's probably because they have a BG grad as their tuba/euph professor.

http://www.benpierce.com/bio.html

Ben is an absolute BEAST.

bgmaggot00 wrote:

jlozer8 wrote: Arkansas' band on the other hand was pretty impressive. ... and they have one of the best low brass sounds that I think I have ever heard in a college band.

Well, that's probably because they have a BG grad as their tuba/euph professor.

http://www.benpierce.com/bio.html

Ben is an absolute BEAST.

Yeah, I was going to mention that as a possible explanation but was unsure of how many members in the marching band are in the studio there. The Arkansas faculty quintet played a recital at Mizzou that I was at, and Pierce's playing was very impressive!

bgmaggot00 wrote:BTW. How's the Tulsa band? Thoughts?

The Tulsa band was...well...interesting, considering for their pre-game they did a show piece followed by their alma mater and fight song. Their half-time show wasn't that good either. They were small compared to the FMB, but loud and obnoxious. Just my take on it, by the way, half of the FMB is back in BG, made it back around 6am. The other half is scheduled to return around noon.

bgmaggot00 wrote:Oh yeah, I heard that Dr. Hayward isn't with the band right now, as she's in Texas. Any idea what's going on?

this is why she was gone for the beginning of the trip
http://www.ay-ziggy-zoomba.com/phpBB2/v ... hp?t=18630

The Asbury was far and away a superior hotel to the Ramada(n) of 2004. However, I actually would have preferred the Ramada to where we were this year. In '04 there was plenty of time to head out and explore and be free of the group. This year was great, but we almost felt like prisoners because there was absolutely nowhere to go.

My only other complaint: eating is important. I don't care if we are provided or if we have to pay. Many people NEED to have 3 meals a day if we are expected to perform up to calibur. As far as I know, the food situation is no fault of the band's at all. University planning vetoed everything the band department had planned out and things went a little crazy at the pep rally.