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Trip Photo Album Now Online. PDX 2 LGB, Anaheim 2009 Photo Album If you have more photos you would like to share, see Mr. Budge. nb - April 7, 2009 - 1:43pm
One More Thought I would like to ask the parents and students to take a few moments and write some thank you notes to our chaperones and trip planners. They spent hours and hours worrying about important details so I could focus on the music and the musicians who were around me. Everyone lifted a load, but these people carried the most. Trip Planning: Scott Overton scottod@aol.com Chaperones: Kyle Cook babbcook@comcast.net Helen Babbitt babbcook@comcast.net Bev Gleason gleasonb@comcast.net Ralph Erwin ralphinpdx@msn.com The future members of the Grant Band would also appreciate it if you would pass on something you learned from your experiences to Mr. Malone. He is extremely supportive of our program and this may help support his efforts to help us. Again, thanks to everyone involved. nb - April 6, 2009 - 1:40pm We're Back What a wonderful time. We all made it back, and we made it back 40 minutes early. Thanks to all of the parents for the time, money, support, concern, and interest they put toward this trip. The students were amazing. I was so happy to see how all of the members of both ensembles worked together whenever it was asked of them. You might have been a bit surprised to see 50 high school students working together so well on so many occasions. I am positive that every member of the ensembles, the chaperones and myself have a memory that will be with us for the rest of our lives. I saw some real magic being made, and as I told the musicians this morning, they were the ones making it happen. To the parents: Thank you for allowing me to work with your children. It is a responsibility I don't take lightly. Now it is time to get back to work and take everything we learned this week into our rehearsals, and into our lives. That's it for the 2009 tour, can't wait until next year. nb - April 6, 2009 - 11:49am Click, Click, Click, Click, Click, Click, Click, Click. The Jazz and Wind Ensembles worked with two world class musicians on our third morning in California. The Jazz Ensemble went first. The group was instructed by Sal Lozano. Sal is a founding member of Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band. As well as being a father of two and a great woodwind player, he also has a wonderful sense of humor. He let the band leave a message on Gordon Goodwin's answering machine, but most importantly talked to the musicians about making mistakes and how great it was to do so. " Every mistake is an opportunity to get better." - Duke Ellington. The Jazz Ensemble recorded the Pink Elephant walk from Dumbo. The Wind Ensemble worked with Bob Feller, a man who has traveled the world as a professional musician, has received multiple music performance degrees from the most pristegious music school in the country and has ended up being a teacher. It was a real treat seeing Bob again. The Wind Ensemble recorded music from "The Emporer's New Groove", "Return to Neverland", "Dinosaur", "The Little Mermaid", "Fantasia 2000", and "Fantasmic". Mr. Budge Rode or went to: The Disneyland Train The Blue Bayou (lunch) The Haunted Mansion Turtle Talk with Crush The Tower of Terror Alladin Toy Story Midway Mania (I scored a ranking of Beaver. I'm not making this up!) California Screaming Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters Star Tours Dreams Do Come True (fireworks spectacular) WOW! Only one more day left. See you soon. nb - April 5, 2009, 7:45am Down Beat Two magical performances highlighted our second day in California. The two performances were bookended by some great service and cooperation. Due to our tight schedule the musicians who are only members in the Jazz Ensemble stayed behind to load our equipment van with all of the instruments, music and performance attire. While the van was being loaded the Wind Ensemble made its way from our hotel to the gates of Toontown inside Disneyland. The Wind Ensemble performed for a small, but most appreciative audience. Two custodians stopped us backstage and wanted to let us know that our performance was "very professional, musical, moving and relaxing." They said that the second movement of our first piece made them stop working. They also say that they see performances everyday and this one was "at the top." Mr. Budge rode: Pirates of the Caribbean The Haunted Mansion Indiana Jones The Jazz Ensemble took the stage in the afternoon. The tore the roof of the place. A larger crowd was treated to some great solos and swinging ensemble work. Mr. Budge rode: Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters (Ranger First Class) Finding Nemo All the students made it back to the hotel for some pizza and a great thing happened. We had to unload the van and instead of 2 or 3 students stepping up and taking a half hour to unload our van, a spontaneous bucket brigade broke out. 30 kids cleaned out that van in 4 minutes. Of course, the threat of no pizza until the van was empty might have helped a little. About 35 kids are in the pool, the rest are back at Disneyland. Got to get back to work. nb - April 3, 2009 - 8:00pm Checked In The flight landed in Long Beach about twenty minutes early. Amazingly, all of our luggage (and more importantly all of our musicians) have stayed with us. Our tour guide met us at the airport and we were off to Sony Entertainment, the home of Columbia Pictures. We had lunch (Sandwiches from Wolfgang Puck), three chamber ensembles and a soloist performed in the office building across from the studios. We had a crowd of about 100. Some where there for lunch, and some were there for music. Matthew Slaughter even got a standing ovation and a "BRAVO!" for his performance of a Mozart Concerto. Congrats on all of the fine performances. Then we were swept away to the Columbia Pictures back lot. We saw some cool things. Sets being constructed for upcoming pilots and a movie: "Waiting to Die" (a comedy), "Death at a Funeral" (starring Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan) Adam Sandler's Hybrid Cadillac Escalade (we were told he is a very nice guy). A parking spot reserved for Richard Dreyfuss. The actually "folly" stage where the sound effects for Spiderman 3 were recorded. (two years too late) And the ADR room where the voice tracks for "Gigli" were recorded. (we didn't see it either) A crazy woman who apparently works for Columbia and appeared to be dancing as she walked down the street. A BONIFIED MOVIE STAR SIGHTING! Bob Balaban was seen having lunch on the back lot. Next we traveled to Cal-State, Long Beach. We met Dr. Robert Frear. He gave the Wind Ensemble a great 90min. clinic. He was very impressed with there musicianship and had some great pointers for our improvement. Dinner at Bucca di Beppo. Delicious. Ate very fast. Checked in at the Best western Stovall's Inn. Made it just in time for the kids to stand out on our balconies and watch the amazing fireworks show. Can't wait to see it tomorrow night. Time for bed. nb - April 2, 2009 - 11:02pm
In Flight Update! Thanks to Alaska Airline's new satellite network, we are experiencing the first ever grantband web site update to occur at 10,000 feet. An historic day for the human race. Proof that 5:15am isn't too early: Everyone made it, we are all on board and we are soaring somewhere over California. I wonder if the ride (Soaring Over California) at California Adventure will also involve 50 young musicians trying to keep their eyes open. Thanks to Scott Overton for overseeing all of our final details. We wish you were all here. (Maybe not, the plane might get a little crowded. See you soon. nb - April 2, 2009 - 8:35am Updated Trip Itinerary PDX 2 LGB, Anaheim 2009 --- Final Itinerary Thursday, April 2, 2009 Friday, April 3
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