67 posts tagged “entertainment”

Finally, we get to play our first non-region game. We were SO CLOSE to beating Oak Mountain a couple of weeks ago for a much needed region win, losing to them by 1 point was heartbreaking! Pelham creamed us last week (which was expected), so this week we have our first non-region game against Bob Jones high school....THE BIGGEST SCHOOL IN THE WHOLE STATE! Does them being the biggest school in class 6A automatically mean they have the best football team? Absolutely not! They had a couple of wins in their own region and a couple of losses. I'm sure, at first glance we looked like easy prey to them, our current record of 0-5 was uncharacteristic. But, upon further observation and a look at our records historically, I think their coach may have been just a tad nervous. The fact is any coach should be nervous when they are playing any team from Region 6, the Region of Death! As far as I know we've never played them so I really had no idea what to expect but, after looking at their current record I figured, they've been beaten, which means they can be beaten and if a team from another region can beat them, any team from Region 6 should be able to beat them, including us!

As far as the band goes, this was a VERY SPECIAL night! It was Senior night when all of the Senior football players, cheerleaders and band members are escorted out onto the field with their parents and recognized by the school. It was also 8th grade night. Every year, for one game, the 8th grade band comes to play in the stands with the high school band just to get a taste of what's to come when they are Freshmen the next year. I remember Hailey's 8th grade night like it was yesterday and now I was down on the field with her waiting to hear her name called as a Senior. Incredible how time flies by!

I took a couple of pictures before we went down to line up.

 

 

So they started calling out the names of the football players and the cheerleaders. The band members were lined up alphabetically, which put us dead last! Just as they called our names and we started walking arm in arm Hailey said "Mama, don't cry."  I did just a little bit, on the inside but she didn't see.

So we got the game underway and we easily scored a couple of touchdowns in the first quarter. We had a nice lead at the half.

Bob Jones has a band that is not as big as ours but they have a good sound. We have competed against this band before and beat them.

 

I didn't film any of our show at this game because I was going to film them the next day at the contest.

So we finally won our first game! I was so glad the 8th graders didn't have to come to their first game and see us lose.

The band was fired up in the final moments of the game and I made several videos because Hailey was right in front!

 

 I made these two videos just as we were winning the game! You can tell the kids were VERY excited! Notice Hailey sending a text message just as the fight song begins LOL!

 

The final score was 28-14 and we travel next week to take on the Thompson Warriors!

I guess some of you may have been wondering what became of me (or maybe nobody has even noticed that I've been missing on VOX). I've just had a lot going on and had some serious problems with my computer and high-speed connection which, after several troubleshooting sessions and a lot of work done on my own...it is FINALLY working normally again....

So, I'll make this short and sweet...Pelham blanked us and blanked us good! They are extremely good this year and we knew it would be a tough battle going into the game. Our guys played hard and we had a lot of 'almosts' but almosts don't count in football. I don't remember the score but the only part that matters to me is the big fat 'zero' on our side of the board. Pelham has a nice, big band that is absolutely comparable to ours. I got some good pictures and a couple of videos having solved my lack of battery problem from the week before. The most exciting part of the night for us was when a very popular local sportscaster named Rick Karle made his way into the stands and played snare with our band. He did a pretty darn good job. He's especially popular with the kids because he does the local high school football show that airs on FOX every Friday night during the season. I also filmed the 3rd song of our band-s show...Big Noise...So here's the goods...and we're home again to play Bob Jones next week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me start by saying that Homewood and Vestavia are neighboring towns. Many of the kids of both schools are friends. Homewood has a long, storied rivalry with Vestavia. Homewood owned the bragging rights to that rivalry for a number of years. There was a time, when we were in 5A, that Homewood traditionally scheduled Vestavia, a 6A school, as our final non-region game of the season. There was a time when it was almost a given that Homewood would win the game. We beat them easily in 2005 but with a team that went 15-0, won the 5A region 3 championship and the 5A state championship, beating Vestavia was just icing on the cake. In 2006 when we were bumped up to 6A and placed in region 6 (what the media is now calling the 'region of death'), we were now playing Vestavia in region. We unexpectedly beat them in 2006 and earned a 4th seed spot in the playoffs. They returned the favor in 2007 by beating us in region (at home) and squashing any hopes of a spot in the playoffs for the Homewood Patriots. But you must keep in mind that Homewood has 5 state championships in 5A and numerous runner-up trophies as well. Vestavia has none that I'm aware of. After putting 21 points up against Hoover last week and coming darn near winning the game, I thought we would have a pretty good chance of beating Vestavia or at least playing a respectable game.

Now let me talk about my daughter for a minute. She's been sick for the past 2 days and was out of school. She has some intestinal problems going on that I believe were probably caused by eating fruit without washing it. I've always reminded her about that but she did not heed my warning. Now I believe that she will remember. Hailey is one of the few Seniors in the band that has NEVER missed a game, parade or performance. The only game she or I have missed in these 3 (and fastly becoming 4) years of football was the 3rd round playoff game against Hoover in 2006. And the only reason we missed the game is because we were still in New York! The whole band missed that game! So we were seriously considering not going. Hailey wasn't feeling well and my Mom wasn't either. At first we decided that we wouldn't go. But Hailey did not want to be a no-show, she didn't want to break her perfect record of attendance and participation. So we decided to go and leave after halftime. She rode with me because she just wasn't up for the whole riding the bus away game thing. I was very glad we went and I was very proud of Hailey for sucking it up for the sake of the band.

 

 

Vestavia has a very nice stadium and a recently enlarged visitor grandstand. It is one of the few places we have been where we don't have to sit shoulder to shoulder. Vestavia is a loud, kind of arrogant, cocky group of people. They are the Rebels and show their Rebel pride. I can't fault them for that because I feel the same way about our Patriots. Since they have the same colors as us when Homewood and Vestavia come together the entire stadium is awash in red, white and blue!

 

 

 

 

The first half flew by and Vestavia scored a touchdown at the beginning of the 2nd quarter. With 8 minutes to go we began the trudgery that is walking around to the home side to watch the show. Stairs with no rails (on either side) mean it takes me and Mom a while so we wanted to go early and get it over with. Vestavia scored again right before the buzzer making the score 14-0 Vestavia at the half.

Vestavia is a very noisy crowd and I knew that going over there. This is the third time we've gone here and both other times people have made me mad by talking and just basically being rude while our band was playing. I decided this year to not even let it bother me. We were sitting where Vestavia's band sits and there was a mixture of Homewood and Vestavia band parents. They know and we know that our band is FAR superior to theirs. As our band was entering the field I heard a little girl talking to her Dad (who was a Vestavia parent):

Little girl: "Daddy, is that our band?"

Dad: "No, that's Homewood."

Little girl: "Where's our band Daddy?"

Dad: "They are standing down there. This is Homewood. They are going to the Tournament of Roses parade. Two years ago they went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York."

Dad: "Now be quiet and listen to the band".

Wow! I wasn't at all surprised though. Our band has a reputation and our numerous trophies and high profile parade invitations back it up. That phrase that the Rose President kept using kept running through my mind..."Entertainment value".  Our band has tremendous entertainment value. We may not be the very best musically, we may not march exactly perfect like little flocks of birds (which by the way I can't stand that kind of marching) but our danceline is the undisputed champs in Alabama as well as our percussion. We have a big sound and fantastic shows that entertain and move people. Some of this credit has to go to our band director who REALLY puts his heart and soul into this band and it shows when they take the field. The kids work their butts off, but if they worked hard on a show that sucked it would still suck. Our shows have never sucked! Far from it!

I filmed the first two songs and I'm going to save the final two (where it gets incredibly good) for another game.

My vantage point wasn't the best, there were people walking in front of my camera and A LOT of talking but you can still hear it pretty good. There will be more videos to come.....

 

We received a rousing round of applause and a standing ovation from the home crowd. That's always nice when you get a standing O at an away game.

We stayed and watched Vestavia's show out of respect and it was not very good. They just walked off the field with over 2 minutes on the clock. I'm not sure if that was the real ending or they didn't have time to do their closer or what. Oh well.

After halftime I got Hailey and we left. I learned on television after we got home that Vestavia won 30-7. Oh well, at least we scored.

Next week we're away again playing Oak Mountain who is currently 0-3. Maybe we can get a win there.

Well it's finally here! Our first game of the season and our night started out with some drama. Hailey was supposed to be there at 6pm to line up for stadium entrance. SHE was holding us up (as usual) but when she finally came downstairs to leave we would have made it in plenty of time. As we were walking out the door I said "Where's your clarinet?" She said "I don't know". "What do you mean you don't know? Where is it?" She said "I always put it on the table" Well we're both looking at the table and it's not there. My mind is racing thinking someone broke into our house last night and ONLY took a student clarinet? No wait, that's crazy. We looked in her bedroom, not there. We looked in the car, not there. Finally I said "Did you leave it in the bandroom?" (a big pet peeve of mine and I've always told her not to do that because I KNEW eventually this would happen). She couldn't remember (because the night before was just so crazy with the wreck and all). Finally she remembered that yes she left it in her locker in the band room. OMG! So I start driving to the school knowing that nobody would be there, it was almost 6 o'clock already (our stadium is NOT at our school). Finally we called the school and somebody answered (THANK GOD). He said we had five minutes before he was locking the doors. We made it and she got in and got her clarinet. The coach that was there was actually supposed to be at the stadium with the team but he had stayed behind because of 2 kids whose parents never picked them up from school. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?????????? I don't know what he did with those two boys. I guess he called child services or something. HOW CAN SOMEONE JUST NOT PICK THEIR KID UP FROM SCHOOL????????????? So Hailey got her clarinet and we got there in time for her to line up. New rule: she is NOT to leave her clarinet at school until football season is over!!

So we're playing the current big dogs of 6A Region 6, Spain Park. Spain Park is a new school. It's a spin-off from Hoover High School because the city of Hoover got so big they needed 2 high schools. For a while they were the red-headed step-child of Hoover until last year when they put Hoover out of the playoffs and went to the state finals to play the REAL big dog of the state of Alabama, Prattville High School. Spain Park took home the runner-up trophy for 6A in 2007.

Two years ago we beat them in a very exciting game that went into triple overtime! It was awesome AND their homecoming to boot! It was sweeter than sweet! Here's my video from that night:

 

Last year they retaliated by beating us at our homecoming.

This year I did not think we could beat them but I was hoping we could at least put some points on the board.

They came with the usual cockiness (which I guess is deserved because dethroning Hoover was a HUGE accomplishment) and signs.

 

We got a new sign and it's beautiful!

 

 

It's also reusable. I guess we're looking out for the environment so we don't have to waste all that paper making a new sign every week. This one is heavy duty plastic and has a velcro seam down the middle. How smart is that?

 

The band made their usual grand entrance and Hailey looked beautiful as usual.

 

(don't think she's upset or doesn't want to be there, they are TOLD to have a stern look on their face when they are marching at attention because they are supposed to be Patriots)

Our new Junior quarterback seems to have a really good arm but he and his receivers just weren't able to complete very many passes. There were a lot of good efforts and lots of 'almosts' but nothing that resulted in any points being put on the board. Our defense did an excellent job of holding back SP's powerful offense. The score was 7-0 SP at the half.

To be a new school and a young music program Spain Park has a small but impressive band. I've seen them several times over the years at games and competitions and although they compete in a smaller division than us they always take home lots of trophies. Their show this year was kind of a **yawn**. The most exciting part was when one of their dancing girls accidentally unhooked her halter uniform during one of their annoying costume changes and apparently it fell down to expose something? I didn't see it but I heard a man talking about it. I'm not sure what, if anything was showed but I guess you could call that a wardrobe malfunction.

 

So finally they were done and it was our turn. Even though I had seen the show twice already they were different circumstances and it just wasn't the same.  I had already decided I wasn't going to video the show tonight. I just wanted to watch and take it in. Wow! It was incredible! As I had blogged before, I knew it would take a few times before I 'fell in love' with this new show. Well I fell in love last night!  They were flawless, sounded great and had the entire crowd up on their feet (even the SP people)!

 

 

OUTSTANDING!!!

I was able to get down and catch Hailey in line to tell her how fabulous they did! She was very pleased herself!

 

Then I went over to the student section to film the post-halftime percussion cadence. It was awesome as usual!

 

Late in the game the bands started an ESPN battle that was completely out of hand! I hope I get a chance to film that again this year (we won the battle of course, hands down!)

SP scored two more touchdown on us to make the final score 21-0. Spain Park's band stayed in the stands until our band was dismissed and then they started playing ESPN again. I thought that was pretty funny!

So game 1 of Hailey's Senior season is over and we're 0-1 and I don't even care!

I'm going to just take it all in and enjoy it. I'm going to take every photo I can take and film the band as much as I can because when it's over this year, it's over, that's all folks!

We play Hoover next week at home....oh boy!

Wow! This has been one crazy and exciting week. After the preview of the show for the Rose Parade president on Tuesday evening the band was scheduled to appear on our local Fox morning show Good Day Alabama yesterday morning. Hailey had to be at school, in full uniform at 6am. Jeh Jeh Pruett is one of our most popular local news personalities and does a piece every morning called Jeh Jeh live. He usually features some local group or organization that has something going on. He comes on intermittently throughout the entire show which runs from 5am until 9am.

But first here's some media coverage by our local CBS station at the preview on Tuesday night.

There is a story and there are two videos. One is the piece that appeared on the local 10 o'clock news and the other is a video of the band's performance (which is green as I said in my previous entry).

HOMEWOOD BAND ON CBS42 NEWS

Now back to yesterday morning, we arrived around 6:05am and the Fox van was already there. Hailey went on in and I sat in my car for a bit. I saw Jeh Jeh run up the stairs. The first segment (in which Jeh Jeh donned a Homewood Patriot jacket and hat) ran live around 6:20am. I heard it on the radio in the car and finally decided to go inside. They were all set up in the auditorium and I found myself a seat sort of in the middle so I could see everything. I took a few pictures but I was hesitant because of the flash.

 

 

The next segment was just before 7am and I started filming the same time they went on the air. The live segment cut off just after the band started the second song but I kept filming until Mr. Pence told them to stop. You can't hear the talking very well but Jeh Jeh is just asking the Rose President and Mr. Pence some questions about the parade and then he throws it to the band. They perform their first song, America the Beautiful (a compilation) and their second song, Strike Up the Band (notice Jeh Jeh dancing off to the side until he drops his phone and starts looking for it).

 

Here's the link to the first two segments that appeared on Fox 6 (the first is first and the second can be found in a link called 'video' just below).

Homewood Band on Fox 6 Good Day Alabama - Jeh Jeh Live

 

We were also on the front page of the newspaper yesterday. All of this media coverage is very good and will hopefully help bring in some funds for the trip to Pasadena.  I'm so exhausted and excited and overwhelmed and proud as hell of my daughter, the whole band, the school system and my wonderful city. GO PATRIOTS!

The Tournament of Roses Parade president (hereafter referred to as "The Pres") is here for a visit. Every year The Pres travels all around the country visiting all of the high school bands who have been chosen to march in the Rose Parade. He gets VIP treatment while he watches the band perform and then presents the band with the Tournament of Roses flag they will carry in the parade. He also attends some sort of fund raiser (ours is tomorrow night and is a sort of meet and greet with drinks (cash bar), finger sandwiches and a silent auction. He also gives the band director ideas on how to raise money for the trip (which for us, will cost well over $100,000).

Even though the kids have worked hard I know that this was a 'hurried up' version of what our show will be in a few weeks. It was necessary to leave out a lot of the bells and whistles and slick moves (which require a lot of practice to perfect) in order to give a clean performance for The Pres.

We had a good crowd on hand to watch this preview performance. The stadium was over 1/2 filled to capacity and there wasn't even a football game! This is just a testament to the great City of Homewood and how it supports the school programs. The band and auxillary were all on the field broken up into their sections practicing and warming up for the show when The Pres arrived (because the show was VERY GREEN I did not make any videos....they never get it good until about mid-September anyway. I did make some pictures but my camera was on the portrait setting and I didn't know it so they don't have a lot of clarity).

 

 

The Pres arrived straight from the airport and his enterage had plates of salmon and other delectable foods as they rushed up to the press box ahead of him. Mr. Pence brought him in and he spoke briefly with some folks before going up to eat his dinner (that's him in the red jacket).

Mr. Pence gave him about 5 minutes to eat before the band all got on the field in their positions (they had not rehearsed a field entrance or exit yet).

 

The show was great but I saw some mistakes and the Freshmen were visibly nervous but they pulled off an amazing percussion run and a big finish!

 

Afterwards The Pres came down to the mike to give a short speech and present us with the parade flag.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What an honor it was to be there to cheer these kids on!

You know, after my daughter's first year in band I thought that I could NEVER love another halftime show as much as that one. Then in her Sophomore year (after seeing it a few times) I fell in love again....then I felt the same way at the beginning of her Junior year...then I fell in love again....and I'm sure this year I will fall in love again....one final time.

Tomorrow morning the band has to arrive at school at 6am in full uniform to appear on our local Fox morning show called Good Day Alabama. I will be there....camera in hand.

With the visit from the Tournament of Roses Parade president just next week the whole state is buzzing about our band and the media are starting to show some interest. Our local CBS affiliate showed up at practice yesterday afternoon and did an interview with our band director, Mr. Pence (with the band practicing in the background).

BAND IN DEMAND - HOMEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL BAND

The band will debut their halftime show in a special presentation next Tuesday evening at our own stadium. The Tournament of Roses president will be there to watch (and I will be there with my camera as well). Wednesday morning the band has to arrive at school at 6am in full uniform because our local FOX affiliate is going to do a segment about our band, including a performance, on Good Day Alabama (again, I will be there with my camera). I haven't seen much of the show yet because I've just been running like crazy and trying to work, but what I have seen is awesome!

More to come...

I didn't get to blog about this show last week because I was avoiding my blog for personal reasons...but Coffey was sent home and I think that was the right call...this week it was down to Shawn Mayer, Melissa Lawson and Gabe Garcia (my man)!

They quickly eliminated Shawn and (as predicted) Melissa and Gabe were the final two. After both performed Billy Ray did his very lame imitation of suspense invented and perfected by the brilliant Ryan Seacrest...so we waited and waited and waited...and finally he announced Melissa Lawson as the winner.

I don't agree, I wanted Gabe to win but whatever. It was a painful show to watch and I'm glad it's over. I was really hoping to see Gabe win because he has a unique look and a classic George Strait sound. I think he will (still) make it big in Nashville. Melissa is still just too unattractive to me and I think that will be her demise. As I've said before, we don't need another Winonah Judd. But I guess America has spoken. We will see how she fares.

In other reality news, I have just one more reality show finale to watch and that is So You Think You Can Dance. Last week I was shocked that Chelsey and Mark were eliminated. So Katie and Kourtnie, Joshua and Twitch will be the final four.

In other reality news, Adam, my fav on The Next Food Network Star has got his own show after all. It's called 'Will Work for Food' and it showcases zany food manufacturing and preparation jobs. Way to go Adam!

In other reality news, it's just a few short months until Idol!

 

OK, so we all know that Aaron McCargo Jr won TNFNS. We also know that a lot of people think FN wanted him to win all along to meet a quota they seem to be aiming for. That REALLY bothered me because that kind of stuff just bugs the crap out of me AND because I wanted Adam to win. But today, I watched Big Daddy's House (the curiosity got the best of me so I watched it during the pre-race show).

It was actually pretty good! I liked the set and the shows intro and the music. Aaron did really well in front of the camera. He was funny and relaxed and did a really good job. And I loved the food that he made! He cooked two dishes that were inspired by and named after his two sons. One was a pork loin sandwich with some broccoli rabe and some baked fries that looked incredible. The other was a chicken tender salad. Lots of restaurants offer salads with some form of fried chicken in them but he did something I've never seen before: instead of bread crumbs he dredged the chicken strips in crushed up tortilla chips! How ingenious is that?

Aaron seemed confident and very knowledgeable in his ingredients and cooking techniques. I didn't really understand why only one of his sons were there and the other was only present in a photo that was displayed several times, but other than that and a few words that I couldn't understand (seasoning for one), I thought the show was a hit!

I'll keep watching if I can remember when it comes on and hopefully Aaron will work on his diction and keep the grammatically incorrect slang terms (yo!) to a minimum.

Kudos to Food Network for picking the rightful winner. I guess they really do know what they are doing!

In hindsight, Lisa was just too snooty and uppity (and I could never watch her because of her bad posture, ugly haircut and squinty eyes). It was just SO obvious that she thought she was better than the other two contestants. Food Network fired Martha Stewart and I don't think we need another snooty patootie show! Adam, although cute, just didn't have the spark in his personality that Aaron does.

As soon as we take a break from our low-carb diet I'm so going to try making that chicken tender salad!

So the winner of this season's competition is Aaron McCargo Jr! Congrats to him.

For the final challenge each contestant had to do a 4-minute promo of their potential FN show. They used Rachael Ray's 30-minute meals set (which I know very well).

Lisa's show was called 'Beautiful Basics' (of course) and she made some kind of fish I've never heard of, with some kind of fancy sauce I've never heard of served with leeks (which I've heard of but never had). Despite the snooty menu, I actually liked her little show. She was relaxed and funny and dummied down the fancy names eluding to the idea that anybody could cook this stuff in their own kitchen. This was the first time that I've actually liked Lisa and thought she was down to earth. Her's was actually my favorite of the three but personally her posture was not good and she seriously needs a different hairstyle and some black eyeliner.

Adam's show was called 'Hungry in Philadelphia' (a play on the Sleepless in Seattle handle). His idea was to have someone e-mail him with a food idea or problem and he would create the dish in his own way. He had a computer monitor on the counter and connected with his e-mailer via a simulated webcam. He made a beer-butt chicken with some garlic green beans. He was very relaxed and funny and even let the chicken do a 'chicken dance'.  It was very cute and I thought Adam did a great job!

Aaron's show was called 'Big Daddy's Kitchen'. Aaron's theme the entire time has been 'big, bold, spicy food'. But everyone wants to cook food that is bold and has a lot of flavor. I've never really gotten that whole theme. He made a steak that was rubbed with a dry mix (I couldn't understand some of the ingredients because his speech is not always intelligible). He put the steak on top of some collard greens (??) and topped it with a plantain and honey sauce. His tag line that everybody thought was so funny "If that don't look good to you, you need to get YO eyes checked!" I found offensive and a very tacky use of bad grammar. I also found his last line about if we wanted to eat what he made we would have to make it ourselves kind of weird. Well duh!

I think FN made the wrong choice, but I think I know why. Oh well. Quota BS!

I hope to see Adam land somewhere good. He deserves it.

As for Lisa, she already seems to be extremely blessed in her live and I think she has enough on her plate. Go home girl, quit being so competitive and raise that little boy.

 

The End!