First Essay for Orchestra - Barber

On tour now, residing currently in beautiful Bloomington IL at the Bands of America Summer Symposium. The past week or so has been a whirlwind - here are some highlights.

• Tuesday, June 20 - Was offered and accepted the head director position at Waller High School - I will miss all my children at Klein Forest, but am very excited about working out in Waller!
• Thursday, June 22 - Flew to Saint Louis, rented a car, drove to Owensboro Kentucky - but not before experiencing the fun that is rural Kentucky... replete with people who have never heard of debit cards and strangely marked toll roads. Hung out with my friend Holly (a cast member of Blast 2 : MIX), ate some Steak and Shake, good day.
• Friday, June 23 - Wrote drill, visited the paragon of southern living that is Wal-mart, watched Blast 2 : MIX (which, by the way, is GREAT - if you are in Japan this fall, you should check it out - great, great, great, great show.) Had some drinks with members of the cast, turned in for a long drive back to Saint Louis.
• Saturday, June 24 - Drove the long 4 hours back to Saint Louis Airport, finding out about halfway there that the Cavaliers wouldn't be able to pick me up until 6pm that evening (it was 10:30am, so you know). After turning in my rental car, I found many ways to occupy my time (including observing the worst customer service ever at the Burger King outside security) until picked up and transported to the show in Columbia, Mo. Met the boys in warm-up - they sound pretty damn good - and finally got to see Machine. Very good day.
• Sunday, June 25 - Drove to Lexington, KY - got to the housing site - went for a run - rehearsed, became more familiar with the show, showered, changed, went to the show, good day. Left for Sevierville, TN
• Monday, June 26 - Rained out show, the first time Cadets were seeing us. Had a standstill - we did well, and sounded pretty ridiculous for late June. Cadets performed as well ... they were loud. That is all I shall say about that. Packed up and left for Bands of America, all of 12 hours away.
• Tuesday, June 27 - Arrived in Bloomington - went for a run - found out that the brass staff had nothing to do until after dinner, so we went bowling. I am a terrible bowler, but almost won the second game I played... with a score of 108 (a personal best, I must add). Pathetic? Yep. Worked with the tubas in sectional, made "Wired" sound some better - ensemble rehearsal, snack, shower, lame bar, bed.
• Wednesday, June 28 - Rehearsed, gave a clinic, ate Burger King for lunch (yuck! but there was nothing else around) and blogged. Don't think we have to be back to teach the boys until dinner or slightly before - nice, lazy afternoon.

Eventful week, if I do say. Also, here are some interesting links you will appreciate:

Cadet's uniforms (which they performed without at the standstill - glad they did that, for it would have made no sense at all out of context).

Cavalier's Guard Uniforms - these look great in the show. The entire effect is very convincing and I think will go down as many people's favorite when all is said and done.

And finally, a recap from the show in Evansville, IN last night - Cadets and Bluecoats, duking it out. I sense something rather amazing in the offing. Mark my words. :)

All right - that's all for now. Think I need to get a digital camera, since my friend Sarah's post of a similar nature looks so much better with her visual aides. Time to go to Wal-mart. Donations? :)