Band director dies suddenly on CIAA trip
February 27, 2009
Students and faculty at St. Augustine’s College in Raleigh are mourning the sudden death of Director of Bands and Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts William Woods.Woods, who joined the college in July 2005, was with the college band at the CIAA tournament in Charlotte when he died Friday.
“Mr. Woods made a significant impact on the St. Augustine’s College community and our band program, from the program’s implementation and founding to the supervision of the jazz and pep bands,” President Dianne Boardley Suber said. “He will be greatly missed.”
Officials with the school said Woods’ funeral arrangements will be made soon.
SU’s Inactive Status Self-Imposed by Band Staff
February 16, 2009
Lawrence Jackson, Director of Bands at Southern University, has placed the Marching Band on inactive status for the ’09 Spring Semester. With the exception of accepting one or two Mardi Gras Parades in the spring, the marching band is usually inactive anyway during that semester. Mr. Jackson indicated that this decision was in no way punishment for the incident that happened at the end of the fall semester; however, this move is only another proactive measure to ensure that the policies and procedures of Southern University are never compromised.
“Every section of the band will be examined so that the safety of the band students, integrity and great legacy of the Human Jukebox is NEVER in question” stated Jackson.
“For all our concerned fans, YES we still have a marching band!!” exclaimed Jackson as he noted that and part of the marching band will be traveling to Los Angeles, California on February 20, 2009, for a performance on ESPN the next day. Be looking for bigger and better things from the Human Jukebox Marching Band in the fall of 2009.
“THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!” Jackson declared.
Southwest Dekalb Students’ online video disappears after disses
February 15, 2009
Source The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
First a movie, then reality TV. Next, a raunchy rap video on YouTube that made clear several Southwest DeKalb High School students don’t think “MARTA is Smarta.”
The public transit system got the diss —- along with female riders —- in a video that included several drum majors from the SWD marching band. The video’s title: “B—— You Ride the MARTA Bus.”
Officials with the DeKalb County school system would not comment, saying they had not been aware of the video. The video —- which appeared to have been put up in January —- got taken down last week, a day after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote about it in an on-line story posted on ajc.com.
The video featured young men dancing and rapping about how cool they are —- too cool to let women who use MARTA into their car. Read more
Pine Bluff High School Assistant Director Dies.
February 15, 2009
Cornelius Pickens
Affectionately called “Tank” by those who knew and loved him, Cornelius Pickens died Monday at his parents’ home at Memphis. He was 34.
A native of Memphis, Pickens joined the staff of Pine Bluff High School as assistant band director in August 2000. After volunteering 1,138 hours with the band during the 1999-2000 school year, he was honored as the Pine Bluff School District VIPS Volunteer Person of the Year.
Carl Lott, director of bands at Pine Bluff High School, said Pickens’ presence in McFadden Gym and Jordan Stadium will indeed be missed.
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