LA County Fair Bands 2011

[Luis]

Congratulations to 1st time competitor Santiago HS Sharks Marching Band for winning the 2011 L.A. County Fair Marching Band Competition. They will march in the 2013 Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade.

2nd place went to King
3rd place went to Kaiser

Great job and congratulations to all groups. You all put on great shows!!

-Luis

[laurab]

Congrats Santiago HS! it must have been quite a display of talent today with those three groups. I'm sure you all represented our little pageantry world well!

[corkie]

Congrats Santiago HS! it must have been quite a display of talent today with those three groups. I'm sure you all represented our little pageantry world well!

Thanks Laura and Luis! The Santiago High School band and colorguard arrived back at school tonight just in time to perform halftime at their first home football game. The crowd erupted as the band entered the field, and got louder as the trophy and giant cardboard prize check came down the 50!!! I think everyone who has been "just a band geek" on campus can relate to how great the Santiago band and colorguard kids felt to have that much support from their school at a football game. Kinda choked me up to watch it happen!

The Rose Parade Music Committee chose the right kind of band to march in the 2013 Rose Parade. The community, school district, school, members, and band boosters will treat it like the honor that it is! I am thrilled for the Santiago band to have received the invitation!

Corkie Keys
Santiago High School Color Guard Instructor

[dmcoach]

First videos are up!

Santiago HS @ LA County Fair FINALS 09/30/2011

Ground View
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQKilVE9gWc

Aerial View
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceqNmvHy ... ideo_title

[mr.rod]

deleted by Hostrauser

Justification: Don't be a dick

[Luis]

I have more footage, which I'll post later this weekend. For now, here are the bands right in the competition zone:

Santiago HS Sharks Marching Band
Riverside King HS Kingsmen
Kaiser HS Catemount Pride Band & Pageantry

-Luis

[cmrbaritone11]

Wow! Mr.rod your too! down to put that stuff up!!! Good job speak your mind whoop whoop kaiser high school your the best you guys did really great! You will get them next time!!

[RCMusic]

Mr. Rod, your an idiot! Thanks for blasting a great band and great judges! We, in the band world know how amazing both King and Kaiser are, but your comments are naive and just stupid!

[allmaj]

Thanks for the compliment RC. Mr. Rod please don't use this forum to malign other bands. All three bands have mutual respect for each other and are taught too let that respect extend to the winner of the competition. The Santiago band deserves nothing but our praise for winning that coveted spot in the Rose Parade and quite frankly proved to be a much worthy competitor. Bandmaster please remove that imflammatory post.

[Band Fan 82]

Let's call this "competition" what it is. It is a hokey, meaningless marketing tool designed to make money. How much money do you think the kids, parents and boosters for the 36 schools who competed dropped at the fair? Do the math, it has got to be a huge sum.

It is not about picking the best band.

How sad that this is the only way for a So Cal band to get an invitation to the Rose Parade. It is a disservice to the band community as a whole and to the kids who participate in this woeful excuse for a parade.

[maxpowers]

Simply put Santiago had what they need for the Rose Parade. Some gimmicks, but well appropriate for this venue. Music is solid, strong guard and a large enough band. Music theme fits well into the type of style the Rose Parade looks for........a western style music selection for a band from California and that is something the general viewing audience will appreciate. In a band review competition, things might be different, but overall Santiago did an excellent performance.

[Luis]

deleted by Hostrauser
Justification: Don't be a dick

Yeah!

[allcowseatgrass]

Thank you allmaj for saying that all groups have mutual respect for each other. Although we may go "toe-to-toe" on the hotline, there is a considerable amount of respect between many of these competitive groups. And although feelings may be hurt and emotions riled over who won/who lost, etc., I know all directors will find this situation as a "teachable" moment to teach their students how to be gracious.

Great performance and congratulations to each and every group for putting on a great performance this early in September and congrats to Santiago.

[Bandmaster]

deleted by Hostrauser

Justification: Don't be a dick

Sorry, I missed this one... Was busy updating the line ups in the calendar last night and didn't check here.

Let's call this "competition" what it is. It is a hokey, meaningless marketing tool designed to make money. How much money do you think the kids, parents and boosters for the 36 schools who competed dropped at the fair? Do the math, it has got to be a huge sum.

It is not about picking the best band.

How sad that this is the only way for a So Cal band to get an invitation to the Rose Parade. It is a disservice to the band community as a whole and to the kids who participate in this woeful excuse for a parade.

Aren't all performances just a way to make money for somebody? Schools make money from the tournaments they host, travel agencies sell travel packages to bands to visit Disney, Hawaii and points around they world. Money makes the world go round...

Being that I spent five years judging this event I can say from experience that YES they do try their very best to pick the best band! They just don't use they same standards for comparison as a band review. With Rose Parade folks it is totally about audience appeal. They don't care what music you play as long as the audience will enjoy it, you perform it well and it will look good on television. Nobody wants bands to march by the camera on January 1st performing a competitive routine. It is about the show first and precision second, while band reviews tend to put most of their emphasis on precision. If you can understand the difference it all makes sense. Santiago put on the best show from what saw in the videos!

But I do agree that it is sad that this is the only way to get into the Rose Parade and that only one SoCal band makes it. The parade used to be a showcase for all things California and 4 local high schools bands marched, now they want to make it more international. But some might remember that there was a period several years back that some local band directors poo-pooed the whole Rose Parade thing as too much of an intrusion into their holiday time and some were actually turning down invitations. That might have soured the Rose Parade Committee on local bands a little, who knows.

[corkie]

But I do agree that it is sad that this is the only way to get into the Rose Parade and that only one SoCal band makes it.

How sad that this is the only way for a So Cal band to get an invitation to the Rose Parade.

This.