Arcadia Festival of Bands
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Arcadia and Monterey Park, CA
I met up with Bro in the morning and we watched most of the band review from the beginning of the competition area after following the Apache Marching Band back to the school in their last parade of the year. I like to hear the drum major speak to the band before they are dismissed, and she said, "One last time...Band." and they were at parade rest. "A Ten Hut!" "'PACHE!!!" I love that band too much. It always brings a tear to my eye to know that it's the last band review for the seniors.
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| Apaches |
It's nice to have Bro back where he belongs, now that he's back to being a So Cal resident. We walked back to the cars to get chairs, and I had a folder to give to the new Spaghetti Dinner chair person, so we did that before sitting down at the beginning of the competition area. We like to sit there to watch Mr. Landes, the former band director, give final instructions to the drum majors before their competition starts. We met a woman named Heddy whom has a daughter in the Glendora band. I made sure to yell, "GO, MARY!!!" for her when Glendora approached.
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| Mr. Landes and AHS Drum Major |
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| Mary's in this rank |
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| Bro and Heddy |
Bro didn't want to go to the field tournament, so I went to East LA College by myself. First, though, I volunteered for a couple of hours at the ticket booth, which I enjoyed. I tend to go quickly because I know that people are there to see particular bands, and they need to be in the stadium by a certain time, so they don't have time for dilly dallying. Also, I know how impatient people get when they're in a long line. Tip for those of you attending high school events: bring cash, because they don't always accept credit cards. We didn't know where any ATMs were, either, because this was a new venue for us. We are usually at Citrus College, and their stadium is currently under renovation. We did take checks, though, so I know now to take my checkbook to these events, too. Thanks, Bro, for loaning me cash! One of the people taking over when my shift was done was a guy with whom I had a cross-age training class in high school. I had met his wife last year, and we talked about him because I recognized her last name. It was good to see Doug again, and I'm glad he remembered me. We were 2 people out of a group of 4 that hung out together when we were teaching physical education to elementary school kids.
I made it into the stadium for the last group of bands, the 6A Division.
MIRA MESA HIGH SCHOOL SAPPHIRE SOUND
Show title: "Beyond Perimeters"
Their color guard outfits look like something Santa Clara Vanguard (or SCV Cadets) wore one year, with red velour pantsuits and bright orange stripes on their chests. The saxophone player had a lot of solo sections, and was quite good.
RIVERSIDE KING HIGH SCHOOL KINGSMEN
Show title: "Into the Woods"
They have trees on wheels. They have trees on flags. At one point, the color guard posed like they were trees. There was no Elsa or Anna, which I know aren't characters in the play, but they had women dressed like Anna and Elsa walking beside them (with the staff) during the band review.
EL DORADO HIGH SCHOOL GOLDEN HAWKS
Show title: "The Evolving Light"
They had cool LED lights that they used as lanterns and accents. It was really neat. The last color guard soloist's rifle was sparkly when she turned it around on her last throw.
RANCHO BERNARDO HIGH SCHOOL ROYAL REGIMENT
Show title: "In Blood, There Is Life"
OK, so when they started to bring their props into the stadium, they carried wooden boxes as if they were pall bearers. So I wondered if they were supposed to be coffins, but they weren't traditional show-coffin shapes, if that makes sense. They were rectangular. Anyway, I thought I heard some Feeney "Dracula" in there, which made me smile. (Feeney's "Dracula" is the show that got me hooked on Pacific Crest). The show is good, and I'm not just saying that because I like the whole vampire thing. One of their formations looked like a bat, but not like Batman Bat. An ACTUAL bat. The flute soloist was excellent, and the solo music really added a lot to the eerieness of the show. (I tend to think that flutes have an eerie sound when they're not playing happy parade music).
CHINO HIGH SCHOOL 77TH CALVARY
Show title: "Out of This World"
Pretty screens with bright colors for the planets. I also really liked their CG uniforms, especially because the dark blue matched the band. Very pretty flags, too. I liked their show much more than DCI's Carolina Crown show with the same name. Maybe because they actually played stuff from Holst's "Planets", specifically "Jupiter" and "Mars". Maybe because they didn't talk during the show. Maybe because they didn't have trampolines. The guy sitting in front of me really didn't need to sing along with "Starry Starry Night", because he's not what I like to call "in tune".
MT. CARMEL HIGH SCHOOL MARCHING SUNDEVILS
I don't know the title of their show. It's not in the program. However, the color guard walked onto the field in colors similar to SCV's Scheherazade colors, and they were wearing veils on their faces. Then I heard some of those familiar notes, and wondered why Bro didn't tell me that they were doing Zade. He didn't know, I guess. Their new red band uniforms look great on the field, but I don't like them for band reviews. Also, they didn't really match the color guard's colors. Oh, AND they start their show with the one CG gal in the middle, while the rest of the band is in circles surrounding her. Had they used pillows, I would have lost my mind. The show wasn't all Zade, but it had several elements of it.
Host Band in exhibition:
ARCADIA HIGH SCHOOL APACHE MARCHING BAND
Show title: "Follow the Leader"
I love that they march onto the field, unlike the other bands that just walk casually. It looks weird when they disperse to set up, but whatevs. Music was Beethoven's Toccata and Fugue, Dvorak's New World Symphony, and something else that I can't remember. Ooh, CG costume change! I would wear those red sequin tank tops. Well, maybe not to work, but you know what I mean. Nice to see the "A" of their uniforms on the field (they usually change to the red with gold bars for field shows). I like that they can put their pink flags into their briefcases, but some of them were sticking out a little bit. I enjoyed this show.
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| Apache Percussion |
I like to stay for awards for Arcadia's tournament because I get to hear their drum cadence. They never get the arc right for the student leaders, it's like tradition. I don't know why Arcadia's CG captains weren't wearing their capes, but at least the other bands' leaders wore theirs, because that's probably my favorite thing to see during awards. El Dorado's drum majors had LED lights on their uniforms during their salute.
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| Mt. Carmel Leaders Saluting Arcadia Leaders |
Results can be found on World of Pageantry's website. The Grand Champion (combined parade and field show scores) aren't there, though, but this is what I remember:
Auxiliary: Mt. Carmel
Band: Rancho Bernardo High School, continuing their 14-year winning streak, beating Mt. Carmel by 0.7 point. (187.2 Mt. C; 187.9 RB).
Rancho Bernardo is like the Blue Devils of the Arcadia Festival of Bands. Crazy good.
Congratulations to all of the bands participating today. Thanks for being there!
