1982 Rose Parade Rebroadcast

[JCYS]

I was watching the re-broadcast of the 1982 Rose Parade this morning on KTLA (yes, we get KTLA on DISH up here in the wilderness of Nor Cal), and was struck by several things:

1. There were SEVEN HS bands from California in the parade. Compare that to the last 15 years or more. Thanks Rose Parade, way to support your home state. That being said, there were a lot of bands period, and no shortage of out of state bands.
2. This was before the Rose Parade committee went through it's "bigger is better" phase and some of the bands were "only" about 100 kids (ie, Orange Glen HS). Nice to see good bands in the parade that were just GOOD, not ridiculously large.
3. Even the bands from other states usually played a march, along with their field show music.

It was really apparent that the entire focus of the "what and how" that was used to qualify a band for the Rose Parade has changed drastically, and not necessarily for the better, over the last 30 years.

[vore]

Well said...

vore

[Brich]

Along those lines, I viewed some of the Rose Parade Bandfest videos today, and was saddened to see the Avon Indiana band (despite its multiple BOA wins) display really lousy marching when moving past the grandstands at the end. There must have been a dozen or more kids out of step! And, the large Lubbock, Texas band was possibly worse than that.

I guess this confirms that the ability to put on a challenging field show (and I dug Avon's classical repertoire) is no guarantee that a band with some high quality musicians can find their left foot in a simple block.

[JLGORMAN]

I agree that the quality of Bands for the Rose Parade has been cut down over the last 30 years. The fact is that the Rose Parade is not about great Bands, as much as it is by BIG BANDS. As for no longer having many CA Bands in the Parade, one of the things I was told by TV producers is that the sponsors want to get a "Worldwide Audience" ?, They could give a hang less about CA Bands. If you do not think so, only on Home and Garden Network, do those of us outside CA see the CA Bands. NBC & ABC go to commercial when the CA Bands appear. It is all about the money folks.

[Cardinal Regime]

And sometimes they cut away from a band to show the B-2 bomber fly over, even when it's about 45 minutes late.

[bandfan88]

Along those lines, I viewed some of the Rose Parade Bandfest videos today, and was saddened to see the Avon Indiana band (despite its multiple BOA wins) display really lousy marching when moving past the grandstands at the end. There must have been a dozen or more kids out of step! And, the large Lubbock, Texas band was possibly worse than that.

I guess this confirms that the ability to put on a challenging field show (and I dug Avon's classical repertoire) is no guarantee that a band with some high quality musicians can find their left foot in a simple block.

I'm curious as to what video you were watching. I was there, with one of the best seats in the house, and I only saw a cymbal player from Avon out of step.

[Trumpet Man 05]

I'd be really interested to see (if no one's posted this already...vore? dr?) some sort of database of all the bands that have done the Rose Parade. If there's one on here, or somewhere else, please let me know.

[Hostrauser]

I'd be really interested to see (if no one's posted this already...vore? dr?) some sort of database of all the bands that have done the Rose Parade. If there's one on here, or somewhere else, please let me know.

http://www.lakotawestbands.org/PDF/Rose ... 20Year.pdf

There's a few errors in here, but it's the best you're going to find online right now.

[Trumpet Man 05]

Yes, I remember this...thanks for finding it for me!