Monday, October 31, 2005
Halloween Wishes!!
Hello Banders!! Im here to wish you all the Best Halloween and Day off Tommorow!!Remeber the few tips i have put together! Tubas are not where you store your candy! Thats what Pillow Cases are for!! Drill Masters are Great to where for Trick or Treating!! If you go out dressed in a gold dress with blonde wig, and your a guy... you WILL GET HURT!!! Also just a tip!! Look over all of the Music and Drill!! I hope your Not all playing "Where in the World are my drill sheets" (Get it... Adrienne costume humor)... Remeber, Lots of candy leads to more energy! Energy is not always a good thing! (sheesh.... never thought you would here ME say that would you!! Well Happy Halloween all your costumes were BOO-tiful!!! Have a Spooktastical Day off and Happy Halloween!!! Signed: His Supreme Ruling Johnship, the great and powerful John!!1
Sunday, October 30, 2005
BEST DRUM MAJORS!!!
CONGRATS to NICK and ADRIENNE for winning BEST DRUM MAJOR today at GL!!!
Hip hip HOORAY!!!!!!
Hip hip HOORAY!!!!!!
Saturday, October 29, 2005
Post- Old Bridge Competition
I can't really express enough how proud I was of everyone tonight.
We did really well after an extended vacation from the field.
And that field was bad. I had the great opportunity of walking on it for retreat.
You guys really did a great job keeping everything together.
If anyone is, in fact, checking this: remember. 9:30 AM
remember all your gear again.
In the words of a wise percussionist named Shawn Mack :
"Don't think. Just do."
Shawn said that to me after championships last year.
I had almost tanked the last phrase of the show.
Why?
Because I second guessed myself and almost played completely wrong notes.
But I went with my gut and got it right.
It's all about trusting your instinct.
Guys, what you know is what you know.
We've all worked. It's in our brains.
And you need to trust in God, or a higher power, to get you through.
If you don't know something, He does.
So yeah. Um. The point of this post is to say that it's all cool.
Keep it real.
-S.A.M.N.
We did really well after an extended vacation from the field.
And that field was bad. I had the great opportunity of walking on it for retreat.
You guys really did a great job keeping everything together.
If anyone is, in fact, checking this: remember. 9:30 AM
remember all your gear again.
In the words of a wise percussionist named Shawn Mack :
"Don't think. Just do."
Shawn said that to me after championships last year.
I had almost tanked the last phrase of the show.
Why?
Because I second guessed myself and almost played completely wrong notes.
But I went with my gut and got it right.
It's all about trusting your instinct.
Guys, what you know is what you know.
We've all worked. It's in our brains.
And you need to trust in God, or a higher power, to get you through.
If you don't know something, He does.
So yeah. Um. The point of this post is to say that it's all cool.
Keep it real.
-S.A.M.N.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Hello everyone.
Great show on Saturday night, everybody! I hope everyone had a great show.
Congrats, especially, to Carl, Mary, and our wonderful guard dancers!!!
_____________
In other news, however...I must bring up something that isn't very fun.
I know that a major theme of the practices lately has been "FOCUS" (or lack of).
I did some research into this apparent problem, and I asked two marchers.
Both agreed that the "social conversations" don't really exist.
In fact, the source of the extra banter is people correcting each other after a set.
For instance:
Subject A marches 16 counts.
Subject B corrects A, telling them to move left, up forward, etc.
Subject A becomes confused and asks Subject C if they are in the right place.
Three people are now involved in Subject A's problem.
So therefore, if everyone is correcting each other, of course there is extra noise and confusion.
I'll mention this issue to Mr. Powers later today.
REMEMBER: it's no one person in particular.
Since I don't march, my task is to make sure the pit is quiet.
So I'll concentrate on that for now.
This problem will be fixed as soon as we all understand what's actually going on.
Thanks for your cooperation,
Sam
Great show on Saturday night, everybody! I hope everyone had a great show.
Congrats, especially, to Carl, Mary, and our wonderful guard dancers!!!
_____________
In other news, however...I must bring up something that isn't very fun.
I know that a major theme of the practices lately has been "FOCUS" (or lack of).
I did some research into this apparent problem, and I asked two marchers.
Both agreed that the "social conversations" don't really exist.
In fact, the source of the extra banter is people correcting each other after a set.
For instance:
Subject A marches 16 counts.
Subject B corrects A, telling them to move left, up forward, etc.
Subject A becomes confused and asks Subject C if they are in the right place.
Three people are now involved in Subject A's problem.
So therefore, if everyone is correcting each other, of course there is extra noise and confusion.
I'll mention this issue to Mr. Powers later today.
REMEMBER: it's no one person in particular.
Since I don't march, my task is to make sure the pit is quiet.
So I'll concentrate on that for now.
This problem will be fixed as soon as we all understand what's actually going on.
Thanks for your cooperation,
Sam
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Food!!!
Hey Guys,
The plans for this weekend were so up in the air and everythings changing...
My mom was supposed to prepare the long awaited meatball subs, but that will be saved for another day...
BRING MONEY to feed yourself when we get a break
The plans for this weekend were so up in the air and everythings changing...
My mom was supposed to prepare the long awaited meatball subs, but that will be saved for another day...
BRING MONEY to feed yourself when we get a break
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Friday Night
I'm not one to lie about things, and I'm the first one to admit I'm wrong.
I was wrong for a number of reasons on Friday night.
First, my wire wasn't properly plugged in. Therefore, there was no sound for "Get Ready" and the all important intro (and more) of "I Want You Back". I thank Greg for playing that part well by himself.
I was the last one to adjust the amp and probably knocked my own wire loose just enough to not have sound.
So that was my own fault.
Second, I apologize for drowning you out when I did come in.
Greg and I were way too loud last night. It's hard to imagine how the amp got turned up accidently to 10. But it happened. It could have been when someone carried it. It could very well have been me. We don't know for sure. But it got cranked up. No matter what, it's our responsibility to check cause... STUFF HAPPENS.
***Just a reminder to everyone not to go two feet near any electrical equipment before a show. I try to stay away from my own equipment. I know how things go wrong a little too well.
Could anything have been done to make this situation better?
Answer: Absolutely.
After I tapped a key and nothing came out of the amp, Greg and I got Nick's attention by telling him not to start the show. Nick thought it'd be better to start because in a competition setting we can't wait around.
This is true.
HOWEVER, we did not have to rush into it like we did.
We talked to Mr. Powers after the show. It was established that in a game situation, especially, it would be okay to wait a minute for the pit to finish setting up. We did things a little differently last night. We came onto the field from the opposite side. I had to set up the entire keyboard on the field and not in advance like I normally do. (I will always set up in advance before a competition)
The drum majors now know that they can't say that the band is ready when they're clearly not. Even if it makes us look bad. It's 10 times worse when an instrument isn't playing at all because we didn't wait an extra minute.
So back to apologies.
Most importantly, I'd like to apologize for being sarcastic to Adrienne before we started the third number. This is kind of what happened.
Adrienne : "Pit are you ready?"
Sarcastic Sam: "OH YES. GO AHEAD. IT'S A GREAT SHOW!!!"
By this point I was very angry with everything that happened, and I was venting my frustration. Unfortunately it was at Adrienne. And the show, actually, wasn't too bad besides my obvious problem.
But I can't do that during a competition. The judges will be like, "Okay, why is your keyboardist flipping out???"
So I'm sorry. I just got caught up in the moment.
And I apologize to Juls too, who had the great advantage of playing drums those first two numbers and seeing me rush around trying to find what was wrong, and just seeing me act like an idiot, in general.
I just wanted to discuss all of this so everyone is clear on what happened and what could have been done about it. Hopefully everyone learned that such a thing can happen during the show, and that you need to work around it. Find out what's wrong and fix it if it's your problem. Continue the show at all costs. At the beginning, I was playing an unplugged keyboard. It took me a song and a 1/2, but I finally came back. (good thing, too, because it was in time for ABC !)
It's better to make these mistakes now and not later. Get them out of the way and move on.
It's in the past now.
Let's get ready for Sunday.
I was wrong for a number of reasons on Friday night.
First, my wire wasn't properly plugged in. Therefore, there was no sound for "Get Ready" and the all important intro (and more) of "I Want You Back". I thank Greg for playing that part well by himself.
I was the last one to adjust the amp and probably knocked my own wire loose just enough to not have sound.
So that was my own fault.
Second, I apologize for drowning you out when I did come in.
Greg and I were way too loud last night. It's hard to imagine how the amp got turned up accidently to 10. But it happened. It could have been when someone carried it. It could very well have been me. We don't know for sure. But it got cranked up. No matter what, it's our responsibility to check cause... STUFF HAPPENS.
***Just a reminder to everyone not to go two feet near any electrical equipment before a show. I try to stay away from my own equipment. I know how things go wrong a little too well.
Could anything have been done to make this situation better?
Answer: Absolutely.
After I tapped a key and nothing came out of the amp, Greg and I got Nick's attention by telling him not to start the show. Nick thought it'd be better to start because in a competition setting we can't wait around.
This is true.
HOWEVER, we did not have to rush into it like we did.
We talked to Mr. Powers after the show. It was established that in a game situation, especially, it would be okay to wait a minute for the pit to finish setting up. We did things a little differently last night. We came onto the field from the opposite side. I had to set up the entire keyboard on the field and not in advance like I normally do. (I will always set up in advance before a competition)
The drum majors now know that they can't say that the band is ready when they're clearly not. Even if it makes us look bad. It's 10 times worse when an instrument isn't playing at all because we didn't wait an extra minute.
So back to apologies.
Most importantly, I'd like to apologize for being sarcastic to Adrienne before we started the third number. This is kind of what happened.
Adrienne : "Pit are you ready?"
Sarcastic Sam: "OH YES. GO AHEAD. IT'S A GREAT SHOW!!!"
By this point I was very angry with everything that happened, and I was venting my frustration. Unfortunately it was at Adrienne. And the show, actually, wasn't too bad besides my obvious problem.
But I can't do that during a competition. The judges will be like, "Okay, why is your keyboardist flipping out???"
So I'm sorry. I just got caught up in the moment.
And I apologize to Juls too, who had the great advantage of playing drums those first two numbers and seeing me rush around trying to find what was wrong, and just seeing me act like an idiot, in general.
I just wanted to discuss all of this so everyone is clear on what happened and what could have been done about it. Hopefully everyone learned that such a thing can happen during the show, and that you need to work around it. Find out what's wrong and fix it if it's your problem. Continue the show at all costs. At the beginning, I was playing an unplugged keyboard. It took me a song and a 1/2, but I finally came back. (good thing, too, because it was in time for ABC !)
It's better to make these mistakes now and not later. Get them out of the way and move on.
It's in the past now.
Let's get ready for Sunday.
Last nights game
So I thought that the show last night wasnt the greatest, but my friend from Squan thinks otherwise. I was just talking to one of the drummers in the Squan band who goes to school with my sister and he said that we played really great last night.
I think we could have done better, and I hope we play our very best tomorrow. Goodluck to all of you! and remember, GO OVER YOUR MUSIC AND DRILL TODAY/TONIGHT! I KNOW I AM!
I think we could have done better, and I hope we play our very best tomorrow. Goodluck to all of you! and remember, GO OVER YOUR MUSIC AND DRILL TODAY/TONIGHT! I KNOW I AM!
Friday, October 07, 2005
Proper Care of the Flag of the United States Of America
Flag Etiquette
STANDARDS of RESPECT
The Flag Code, which formalizes and unifies the traditional ways in which we give respect to the flag, also contains specific instructions on how the flag is not to be used. They are:
The flag should never be dipped to any person or thing. It is flown upside down only as a distress signal.
The flag should not be used as a drapery, or for covering a speakers desk, draping a platform, or for any decoration in general. Bunting of blue, white and red stripes is available for these purposes. The blue stripe of the bunting should be on the top.
The flag should never be used for any advertising purpose. It should not be embroidered, printed or otherwise impressed on such articles as cushions, handkerchiefs, napkins, boxes, or anything intended to be discarded after temporary use. Advertising signs should not be attached to the staff or halyard
The flag should not be used as part of a costume or athletic uniform, except that a flag patch may be used on the uniform of military personnel, fireman, policeman and members of patriotic organizations.
The flag should never have placed on it, or attached to it, any mark, insignia, letter, word, number, figure, or drawing of any kind.
The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything.
When the flag is lowered, no part of it should touch the ground or any other object; it should be received by waiting hands and arms. To store the flag it should be folded neatly and ceremoniously.
The flag should be cleaned and mended when necessary.
When a flag is so worn it is no longer fit to serve as a symbol of our country, it should be destroyed by burning in a dignified manner
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
NOW THAT WE'RE MEN
back by popular demand ( or because i was bored ) .. here are the lyrics for all of us band ladies .. our new catch phrase & theme song :
NOW THAT WE'RE MEN
Now that we're men, we can do anything
Now that we're men, we are invincible
Now that we're men, we'll go to shell city
Get the crown, save the town and Mr. Krabs
Now that we're men, we have facial hair
Now that we're men, I change my underwear
Now that we're men, we got a manly flair
We got the stuff, we're tough enough to save the day
We never had a chance when we were kids, no no no
But take a look at what we've already did, ha ha ha
Now that they're men, we can't bother them
Now that they're men, they have become our friends
Now that they're men, there'll be a happy end
They'll pass the test, and finish the quest for the crown !!!!!!!! WHO'S COOL?
XD bye.
