Marching Bands in Bay Area April 22-29?

[b***@gmail.com]

Hi there, this seems like a good place to find some expert knowledge.

I'm from London, England and I've recently been obsessed with sound of
American marching bands and drumlines. I'm going to be in San
Francisco for a holiday from April 22nd to 29th and I was wondering if
anyone here could direct me to anywhere I could see a band playing in
that time?
I know it's a bit of a long shot but I thought I'd ask.

My favourite bands I've seen so far have mostly been the black college
and high school bands that incorporate funk and Hiphop polyrhythms and
syncopation into the the military style but to be honest I'd be well
pleased to see any band as its the SOUND more than the arrangements
that I want to witness live.

Another question is do college and high school bands still release
recordings of their playing? and if so where are the best places
online to find these?

Any help REALLY appreciated, this whole scene is a little hard to
infiltrate from the other side of the ocean.

:-)

thanks, beez

[j***@yahoo.com]

Post by b***@gmail.com
Hi there, this seems like a good place to find some expert knowledge.
I'm from London, England and I've recently been obsessed with sound of
American marching bands and drumlines. I'm going to be in San
Francisco for a holiday from April 22nd to 29th and I was wondering if
anyone here could direct me to anywhere I could see a band playing in
that time?
I know it's a bit of a long shot but I thought I'd ask.
My favourite bands I've seen so far have mostly been the black college
and high school bands that incorporate funk and Hiphop polyrhythms and
syncopation into the the military style but to be honest I'd be well
pleased to see any band as its the SOUND more than the arrangements
that I want to witness live.
Another question is do college and high school bands still release
recordings of their playing? and if so where are the best places
online to find these?
Any help REALLY appreciated, this whole scene is a little hard to
infiltrate from the other side of the ocean.
:-)
thanks, beez

Hi Beez,

Sorry, man, we here in Northern Cali won't have any marching taking
place. There may be a high school or two practicing for this coming
pass-in-review (parade) season in May and June, but no competitions or
performances that I know of.

As for music to buy, go to Bands of America, www.boa.org and Drum
Corps International, www.dci.org. You might be able to find something
you like there.

Feel free to email me directly if you have other questions about local
Bay Area happenings.

John

P.S. I used to live in Banbury, Oxon, taught a drum and bugle corps in
Sheffield and judged for DCUK.

[beezer]

Post by j***@yahoo.com

Post by b***@gmail.com
Hi there, this seems like a good place to find some expert knowledge.
I'm from London, England and I've recently been obsessed with sound of
American marching bands and drumlines. I'm going to be in San
Francisco for a holiday from April 22nd to 29th and I was wondering if
anyone here could direct me to anywhere I could see a band playing in
that time?
I know it's a bit of a long shot but I thought I'd ask.
My favourite bands I've seen so far have mostly been the black college
and high school bands that incorporate funk and Hiphop polyrhythms and
syncopation into the the military style but to be honest I'd be well
pleased to see any band as its the SOUND more than the arrangements
that I want to witness live.
Another question is do college and high school bands still release
recordings of their playing? and if so where are the best places
online to find these?
Any help REALLY appreciated, this whole scene is a little hard to
infiltrate from the other side of the ocean.
:-)
thanks, beez

Hi Beez,
Sorry, man, we here in Northern Cali won't have any marching taking
place. There may be a high school or two practicing for this coming
pass-in-review (parade) season in May and June, but no competitions or
performances that I know of.

Oh well. I'll catch some another time. Worth a shot. :-)

Post by j***@yahoo.com
As for music to buy, go to Bands of America,www.boa.organd Drum
Corps International,www.dci.org. You might be able to find something
you like there.

Those look geat. I can see myself spending some money. I'll definitely
be looking for older marching band stuff on vinyl in SF next week as
well.

Post by j***@yahoo.com
P.S. I used to live in Banbury, Oxon, taught a drum and bugle corps in
Sheffield and judged for DCUK.

Smallish world. I tend to think of British marching bands as being
very British and military at all times. Am I missing out on great
music in my own back yard?
I have some decent 60s records of marching bands doing half military
standards and half pop covers. I guess there was a trend in the late
60s here.

Thanks again, beez

[Shaggy]

Beez,

Too bad your trip wasn't a little bit earlier. Picnic Day is UC
Davis' annual open house, and on that day, several bands converge on
the banks of Putah Creek on campus to battle it out from 2pm until
there's 1 band standing. Picnic Day this year was April 14, this past
Saturday. This year, in addition to the Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh!
(UC Davis), we also had bands from Stanford University, Humboldt
University, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, and Oregon State
University.

Of course, the weather was wholly uncooperative this year - monsoon-
like rain at times, which wouldn't have made it very fun. Although,
since you're from London, maybe you wouldn't have minded? :-)

For future reference, the following URL's might help in case you ever
decide to venture over for a Picnic Day in future. Davis is located
about 2 hours from San Francisco heading east on Interstate 80.

Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh! homepage: http://camb.ucdavis.edu/camb/
Picnic Day homepage: http://picnicday.ucdavis.edu/
UC Davis main webpage: http://www.ucdavis.edu

Shaggy
Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh! Bass Sax '95

PS Another group I play in, the California Repercussions (http://
www.repercussions.com) will be playing at the Stockton Asparagus
Festival. Stockton is about 3-4 hours from San Francisco, so not sure
you'd want to make the drive. This band consists of a lot of ex-
college marching band members from CAMB, Berkeley, Stanford, etc. We
mostly meander rather than march, but we play a lot of marching band
stuff from those bands (in addition to unique tunes).

Hope some of this is useful for you...
S

Post by b***@gmail.com
Hi there, this seems like a good place to find some expert knowledge.
I'm from London, England and I've recently been obsessed with sound of
American marching bands and drumlines. I'm going to be in San
Francisco for a holiday from April 22nd to 29th and I was wondering if
anyone here could direct me to anywhere I could see a band playing in
that time?
I know it's a bit of a long shot but I thought I'd ask.
My favourite bands I've seen so far have mostly been the black college
and high school bands that incorporate funk and Hiphop polyrhythms and
syncopation into the the military style but to be honest I'd be well
pleased to see any band as its the SOUND more than the arrangements
that I want to witness live.
Another question is do college and high school bands still release
recordings of their playing? and if so where are the best places
online to find these?
Any help REALLY appreciated, this whole scene is a little hard to
infiltrate from the other side of the ocean.
:-)
thanks, beez

[beezer]

Post by Shaggy
Beez,
Too bad your trip wasn't a little bit earlier. Picnic Day is UC
Davis' annual open house, and on that day, several bands converge on
the banks of Putah Creek on campus to battle it out from 2pm until
there's 1 band standing. Picnic Day this year was April 14, this past
Saturday. This year, in addition to the Cal Aggie Marching Band-uh!
(UC Davis), we also had bands from Stanford University, Humboldt
University, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, and Oregon State
University.

That sounds great. I really should have gone a couple of weeks earlier
as there were a ton of bands and events I would have attended around
that time but none in the time I'm actually going :-)

Post by Shaggy
Of course, the weather was wholly uncooperative this year - monsoon-
like rain at times, which wouldn't have made it very fun. Although,
since you're from London, maybe you wouldn't have minded? :-)

I'll have you know it's been above 80f the whole last week here and
San Fran will seem distinctly cold in comparison. This is though freak
weather for a London April.

Thanks for all your info. I may try and get out to the states for one
of the big competitions or something like that at a later date.

Thanks again, Beez