Bandfest in Heavy Showers

 Bandfest
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Robinson Stadium - Pasadena City College
Pasadena, CA

My alma mater is in the 2022 Tournament of Roses parade!  Bro bought tickets for us to see them at Bandfest, and the event happens rain or shine.   The forecast would not change from "Heavy Showers" for 2:00pm no matter how many times I refreshed my screen in the days leading up to the event.  

Bro and I met outside the stadium.  I parked on the 2nd floor of the structure and tried to get him to to do the same so we could be beside our cars and watch from there in case the rain got bad.  But he didn't, and the rain never came down too hard for us.  It did shower most of the time, but we stayed at our seats, wearing our rain gear, for the whole show.  We don't know why the guys handing out the complimentary REMO drum and stick stared at us before we motioned that we would like one, please.  Boys, wake up!

For some reason we couldn't figure out, the drumline from the Santiago HS Sharks Marching Band was part of the warm-up group.  I think that our collective drumming really was just a rain dance because it just kept pouring down.

First up was the Tournament of Roses Honor Band.  They wore their casual uniforms under their Honor Band rain jackets.  I was jealous.  All we got when I was in that band was t-shirts.  We don't know when this happened, but there is now a rule that they are the only band allowed to play "Everything's Coming Up Roses" during the Rose Parade.  The announcer also said that the band is comprised of musicians from PCC as well as from all over Southern California.  What?  When did that change from just San Gabriel Valley area schools?   The announcer said that there were triplets in the band, from Norco HS.  Hey!  That's where my friend's son plays!  I'm sure she knows them.  They played several songs before going to the track to set up for their final pass in front of the stands.   I still like those herald trumpeter fanfares.  Their snare drummer is tiny compared to them. 

I wondered who the next band was when they were getting ready, because they weren't wearing uniforms.  Oh, it was Arcadia.  Do they not have casual uniforms?  Bro said they wouldn't match anyway because they have shirts for the different sections.  I mean, they weren't even wearing the same length of black pants.  Nor did they all have the same poncho color.  I don't know why they uncovered the banner: the feathers around each letter got all wet and droopy.  They played their competition march from this year, as well as "My Country 'Tis of Thee".  They looked sharp despite their no-uniforms, and sounded great, too.  Since they were supposed to play in the 2021 Rose Parade that didn't happen, they allowed the drum major from that year to march alongside this year's drum major.  Awwww....so sweet.

Next up were the bands from two high schools in Waukee, IA, which comprise the Waukee Schools Combined Band.  When they were invited to be in the Rose Parade, there was only one high school in Waukee, but since then, they've split into two schools, and got together to be in the parade.  I think that the guard skirts are supposed to resemble flowers, because of their pretty flags.  They played "76 Trombones", which, I learned, is because "The Music Man" was set in Iowa.  Their town has a population of 20,000.  Announcer guy said that there would be that many people just standing at the corner of Orange Grove and Colorado.  I think that's an exaggeration.  I thought that maybe the band member uniforms had treble clefs on the front, but I think that's wrong.  When they played their military medley, a guy seated a few rows in front of us got excited when they played his theme.  I think it was Army.  I remember that he was saluting during the National Anthem, so that made sense.  Yes, I took off my hat for the anthem, even though it was raining.  A bunch of people just stood at the left side of the field because they didn't want the woodwinds to play for some reason. IN THE RAIN. I would not have been happy with that if I was one of them, and I would have spent the rest of my school year trying to learn an instrument that would get me into a drum corps.   

Then Mira Mesa's "Sapphire Sound" took the field and I got really jealous on behalf of my school.  They had new uniforms, their TofR emblems, AND fancy ponchos!  Bro and I decided that their band boosters must be very involved and generous.  Also, their band director has won many awards, and Bro and I realized that this must be how Mira Mesa got to be so good.  Sorry, my friend who is an alma mater of the school, but MM wasn't that well known for their band several years ago.  They played their field show music.  I just briefly looked at the video from their performance and got all jealous of their ponchos again.  If I go to a music club meeting, I might start pushing the need for ponchos because climate change is REAL and we might need them.

Downington's marching bands came next, one at a time.  The first one from the West played their field show music, but it was odd because there were long breaks in music because the pit probably would have played during those times.  The four female drum majors wearing Latin-style dresses to fit the theme of their field show.  They had ponchos, too, but I was not jealous of them.  I'm telling you, those MM ones were FANCY.  The second band, from the East, also played their field show, but it was more lively, and the musicians moved a bit more while still marking time.  They had a majorette, whom was wearing a regular majorette uniform, which is practically nothing.  She was COLD.Then the two bands combined to make one big ensemble.  I asked Bro why some of them had hats that almost resembled Carolina Crown's, and he said that was how you could distinguish between the two bands, as their uniforms were the same in order that they could do events like this together.  They only played one song during their pass in front of us.  I hope that they have more songs to play on New Year's Day, because that's a long trek to just play one song.  As it was, we already heard it 3 times just on the track.  Maybe they'll trade off with one school playing their own songs while the other rests.

The Salvation Army band was small, but mighty.  They used music stands and Bro hoped that their music was laminated.  We think that the announcer called the tambourine players "timberwolves".  Maybe "tambourwolves"?  I don't know.  Anyway, they played hymns that I knew but couldn't remember all of the words, except for, naturally, "The Saints Come Marching In", because that's my family's song.

Last on the field for the day was Tennesseee State University Aristocrat of Bands (NOT The Aristocats).  They ROCKED it!  I liked watching the drum majors do their thang, as well as the drummers.  They did a full field show, complete with formations.  I wanted the Sophisticate dancers' hooded capes.  They were white with silver lettering, and they looked warm.  They're like the ones I covet at marching band awards ceremonies.  They had leggings that were one leg tiger, and the other leg was shorts.  I didn't really care for their uniforms, just the capes.  I did like the tiger flags, though.  The performance made me want to go home and watch "Drumline".  I got up to dance/march along with them at one point because the announcer told us to.  Not a lot of people joined me, though.  I'm such a dork.

That was fun.  Wet, but fun.  I hadn't eaten lunch, so I went to In N Out and discovered that they have hot chocolate!  That was exactly what I wanted to have , after all of that time in the cold rain.  I'm glad that New Year's Day will be the typical beautiful Pasadena weather for these bands.  They deserve it!

Video links above courtesy of Music213.  Thank you for your always awesome videos!  I only took one short video so I could post on Instagram.  Did I tell you that we were WET?!