Back to Reality

I am a HUGE fan of reality television. I have not had much choice since the writer's strike has delayed the quality programming, that usually occupied my Tivo. My latest favorite is The Unbeatable Banzuki. Incredible.

Today, as I was switching channels, I noticed a new show, that I had not heard of.

My Big Redneck Wedding

Hosted by Tom Arnold, I knew that this was going to be something, that had to be seen. When the bride told her "Momma" that she had forgotten her teeth, her mother asked her if she wanted hers. I was hooked. From the beer can trellis, to the camoflage bridesmaid dresses, this show is a classic. Granny was helping her grandson with his vows. He came up with "I wish I could put your love in a locket because you are hotter than a hot pocket." Granny said, "I love hot pockets!" The bride had ordered her dress "on the World Wide Web", as she put it, and instead of a size 28, they sent a size 8. Watching she and her fiance trying to get her into that dress, was a scream. They were married at the local flea market, complete with a mechanical bull, where the bridesmaids and groomsmen wore John Deere shirts. The bouquets of red and orange, were set inside Bud beer cans, highlighted with raffia. If your Tivo is starving for attention, due to repeats on all of your favorite shows, be sure and catch an episode or two of this little gem. It beats the tar out of My Super Sweet 16.

Oh Danny Boy!

Music selection is one of the most enjoyable parts of putting together a new show concept.

It is truly disappointing when you find that perfect piece of music, only to find that it is impossible to license. Even after being told to choose another selection, we pressed on, with high hopes, only to have them dashed by the performer, who basically told us the same thing that WGI had. Not much chance of getting a license unless you were "somebody".

Deflated and defeated, we turned to our favorite composer, Danny Elfman, who is always at the top of our list. When we found his Serenada Schizophrena, we fell in love with it. The selection "Piano" was perfect for our show concept and we were dead set that we would use that piece.

Then came the editing. What parts to use? What parts to cut? Many hours were spent playing with the music, only to find that it was just too complex for mixing, and it was just too long for our purposes. We continued our search of soundtracks, a great source of show music, when we came upon the music that we ultimately chose to use. We decided to put Danny on the shelf, for future use. We thought our new selection was beautiful and had never heard it used before. Boy, were we wrong. Turns out it was mixed into the music of a World class guard in 2006, AND another guard in our class was using the movie soundtrack as their concept. OH NO!

THEN...Code Black debuts their show using the Danny Elfman piece which we loved. Wow, we had dodged a bullet, although sad that our future use of the piece was dashed. Today, I saw that yet another guard is using Piano from Serenada Schizophrena.

What are the chances? Creative minds think alike.

Are we there yet?

Days until our next rehearsal = 2

Days until SCGC Clarksville = 10

Days until WGI Atlanta Regional = 17

Days until SCGC Championships = 38

Days until WGI World Championships = 43

Counting the days!

WOW!

Heath's Blog

Be sure and check out Heath's new blog. It is now listed in our "Favorite Places".

Yay for blogging buddies!

http://colorguardMD.blogspot.com

WGI Atlanta Regional Schedule Posted

Here is the schedule for Ind A class at the Atlanta Regional.

Jay Independent 01:50 PM
Moxie Visual Theatre 01:58 PM
Elysian Winter Guard 02:06 PM
Nautilus Winterguard 02:14 PM
Vivace of Huntsville 02:22 PM
Attraction Winter Guard 02:30 PM
Fuel 02:38 PM
X Performance Ensemble 02:46 PM
Amor WG 02:54 PM
Aureus Independent 03:02 PM
Capella Winterguard 03:10 PM
Northgate Independent 03:18 PM
Aria Winterguard 03:26 PM
Bassett Independent 03:34 PM
Atlantis Performance Ensemble 03:42 PM

And the Oscar goes to........

James Newton Howard, composer of Capella's show music, has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score, for the motion picture, Michael Clayton.

Go Jim!

National Tortilla Chip Day

A staple of the pageantry arts, the tortilla chip has earned its place at the top of the concessions stand list of must have treats.

Happy Birthday George!

Happy Birthday George Washington. Born on this date in 1732.

An avid fan of the sock bun, and quite the snappy dresser in his modish, yet classic, Capellaesque trousers in hues of goldenrod, he was the Father of our Country.

George was famous for the line, "I cannot tell a lie." This was his reply when his Mother asked who had chopped down the cherry tree. In the spirit of George's honesty, here is a truth from the Madam:

If you hate what you do, it then becomes a job, and if unhappy in that job, you should look for employment elsewhere. This way, you do not punish your co-workers, who love what they do, with your negativity. Don't worry about leaving a vacancy, because you know what they say? If the organist dies, someone will play at their funeral. Confucius has got NUTHIN on the Madam.

Today is also:

22 Be Humble Day = "I have no redeeming qualities."
22 For The Love Of Mike Day = "I love Mike Ditka."
22 National Chili Day = "Chili makes my stomach hurt."
22 Thinking Day = "I think I need a drink."

Madam

Go Tigers!

The Sock Bun Throughout History

Curses! Foiled again!

My evil plan has been thwarted by a highly advanced, and worthy adversary. I will press on and find a way around this small obstacle.


"The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person's determination."

Tommy Lasorda

Weekly Box 5

1. 84.1
2. Red shiny plaque
3. Seeing old friends
4. Gorgeous pictures on Jolesch
5. rePlay

Hello?

Here is the review of our show at the WGI Nashville Regional as seen on www.wgi.org.

Independent A class was taken by Capella Winter Guard- Cordova, TN (84.1). The 14 ladies were fitted with a modish black classic unitard that showcased the unit’s lyrical intensity and abilities. The program was entitled “The Shadow Within” to the chilling musical selections from ‘The Village’ soundtrack.

Jose, you better work it, girlfriend!

mod·ish (mō'dĭsh) adj. Being in or conforming to the prevailing or current fashion; stylish.

clas·sic (klās'ĭk) adj. Formal, refined, and restrained in style.

No mention of our I Dream of Jeannie - MC Hammer pants? So disappointed.

Fame and Fortune

We stopped for dinner on the way home from Nashville. THIS was in Drew's fortune cookie.

My Nashville Adventure

I just arrived home from our weekend at the WGI Nashville Regional. Here is my recap:

We rehearsed on Friday night, and it was a little rocky, but we were still psyched and ready to go. We decided to leave straight from rehearsal at 9:30pm, so we loaded up and pointed the car towards Nashvegas, with our trailer in tow. We had planned on leaving early on Saturday, but with all the spackling that is required on this ole gal, we thought it better to get there, before heading to Antioch at 8:00am to do our sound check and get situated.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites, and had a very nice room with comfy beds, and we were quite happy to finally be there, and hit the hay before our big day. The alarm went off, at what seemed like, one minute after I finally fell asleep. It was the beginning of our long day. Omelette guy was box five. After breakfast, we left for the school, with high hopes and Rolaids.

WGI Regionals are always a little bit intimidating because there are so many guards from all over the country, and we had 11 guards in our class, all of which, had outstanding reputations. Honestly, we did not really know what to expect, since we had not had a performance since Field Day in January. We all had the case of the butterflies.

It was a costume extravaganza, with so much color and glitz, I did not know where to look first. Who doesn't love sequins and stretch velvet? The smell of vinyl and hairspray brought on a feeling of euphoria, which helped me relax, and I was ready.

Prelims began, and we figured out the flow of the competition, after some panic, profanity, and running in circles. The members all arrived, on schedule, and we headed in to help Bartlett pull their floor. After their performance, we went to our personal warmup time for some quiet stretching and focus. We made our way through the formal warmups with great anticipation. It was time to perform, and we were all so excited, and maybe just a little nervous.

The prelims performance was fine, but not our best run, which we attributed to nerves, but we were still hopeful, that the show had pleased the crowd and the judges. We retreated to the stands, for our first round of junk food and winterguard consumption. One of the girls brought everyone a bag of candy, which I proceeded to strap on, like a feed bag. As the scores were posted, we waited with great anticipation. When our score of 81.2 was posted, we could not have been more pleased.

We had earned the first place score and a place in finals. We were so excited and began to prepare for another run. The show in Finals, was much better than in prelims, and we were satisfied that we had delivered. Retreat is always a nervous time, and we waited for the placements to be announced. We were lucky enough to hold onto our first place finish, with a score of 84.1. We were honored to receive such a great score, wonderful crowd support, and a lovely plaque. Thank you to Bartlett and Houston, for their help with our floor.

We were able to watch quite a few guards, before and after our performances, and there were some amazing shows. What a great year this is going to be in WGI. I cannot wait until the Atlanta Regional, and ultimately World Championships.

High Points:

Performances/Scores - Yay!

Carmel - mylar balloons? Whodathunkit?

World Guards - OMG

Low Points:

Gymnasium Butt

Lady rolling down stands - Her dismount scored an 8.5.

Battle of the Boom Boxes

The Time Has Come

I have my bag packed and I am sitting on the curb, waiting for time to leave for Nashville. Excited much?

I hope that the Nashville crowd loves this show as much as I do. The members have worked so hard to make this show the best that it can be, and deserve some applause and admiration.

Good luck to all of the guards competing this weekend. May your shows be dropless and without sails.

I love you Capella. Break a leg. Madam

I Got Mail!

I received a notice from the post office a few days ago, stating that I had a letter there with .39 cents in postage due. I just figured it was a piece of junk mail that someone forgot to put a stamp on...I don't even know what a stamp costs, these days.

Today, I had a package to mail, so I took the notice with me, fully intending to have them "return to sender" if it was not something that I really wanted. To my surprise, it was our WGI World Class Finals tickets! Yay!

Boy, did I feel stupid.

Wanna Play?

Who's Excited?

Can you stand it? 5 days until Nashville. The anticipation is killing me. Great guards on tap for a spectacular day of crying, clapping, and eating nachos.

I am looking foward to seeing my gang in its first WGI appearance this season, as well as some of the other guards that will be competing. I cannot wait to see Regiment, Pride, Onyx, NEI and Fahrenheit, of course. Not to mention Carmel, The Cast, Kickapoo, Lassiter, and Gates Chili. Yay!

Good luck to our friends from Eklipse, The Mark of NSA, Houston, Bartlett, Clarksville, Hart County, Independence, Oak Grove, Amor, Vivace, and Mt Juliet. May the SCGC represent this weekend!!

Look for me this weekend...I will be the one crying, with nacho cheese on my shirt.

Weekly Box 5

1. Having our entire show on the floor.
2. rePLAY is up and running.
3. WGI Regionals have begun.
4. 9 days until our next performance.
5. Waffles.

Ya know what I think?

A man who does not think for himself, does not think at all.

Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

Wow, what an interesting evening! We literally watched the tornadoes skipping around town. So scary. Lots of damage around town, but we made it through fine. I hope everyone else is okay.

I find it interesting that the people in Memphis were more interested in why American Idol was not on, than the weather conditions. They were actually faxing the station, asking them why their show was not on. I am simply amazed by people. AND...looting at the Hickory Ridge Mall?? Come on. Luckily, Channel 13 read my fax, and American Idol was on at 10:00pm! Gotta get my Simon on. :)

Guard Buzz

Check out the link in Our Favorite Places, for Guard Buzz. They track the scores from the WGI Regionals and do a ranking system after each weekend. It is a fun way to keep track of the progress of all of the guards. They only track those guards who have performed at a WGI regional, not circuit scores.

Yay for Pics!

Bateman Photo has pics up from Lawrenceburg and Antioch! Here is a link to our pics at Lawrenceburg: http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/ThumbPage.aspx?e=3474071&g=00SA015S03

REPLAY!!

This will raise my stalking to a higher level!!

You asked for it. You got it! You wanted FULL PERFORMANCE videos of ALL FINALISTS in ALL CLASSES from select WGI regionals available online.

For the 2008 regional season WGI introduces an online video channel which will do just that, titled rePLAY. rePLAY will offer subscribers access to streaming videos from select color guard and percussion regional competitions. The full performance videos will be posted during the week following the Regional event. You can log on and watch them anytime you want, as much as you want!

rePLAY subscriptions will begin to be accepted once regional video footage is available next week.