NCCU Sound Machine selected to perform at the 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade
November 17, 2009
Honda Announces Participants for it’s 2010 Battle of The Bands
November 10, 2009
Three months ago, 45 marching bands from the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) began the journey down the “Road to the Honda,” all competing for a spot in the 2010 Honda Battle of the Bands (HBOB) Invitational Showcase.
Out of 45 competing marching bands from the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), eight have been chosen to perform in January at the 2010 Honda Battle of the Bands (HBOB) Invitational Showcase.
Representing varied music and performance styles ranging from precision to high-stepping, the eight headlining bands are:
• Albany State University “Marching Rams” (Albany, Georgia)
• Clark Atlanta University “Mighty Marching Panthers” (Atlanta, Georgia)
• Florida A&M University “Marching 100” (Tallahassee, Florida)
• North Carolina Central University “Marching Sound Machine” (Durham, North Carolina)
• Prairie View A&M University “Marching Storm” (Prairie View, Texas)
• Southern University “Human Jukebox Marching Band” (Baton Rouge, Louisiana)
• Tuskegee University “Marching Crimson Pipers” (Tuskegee, Alabama)
• Virginia State University “Trojan Explosion Marching Band” (Petersburg, Virginia)
On January 30, 2010, the bands will perform for a crowd of 60,000 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta and prove why they are the best of the best.
Marking its eighth year, the Honda Battle of the Bands is the only national scholarship program that showcases an important facet of HBCU heritage and culture – music education.
The eight winning band programs chosen to participate in this year’s Invitational Showcase will be awarded $20,000 by American Honda for their music programs in addition to the $1,000 grant they received for participation in the pre-qualifying fall campus event tour. Through this program Honda is awarding a total of $205,000 in scholarships to HBCU music programs for the 2009-10 academic year, and since the beginning of the program, has awarded grants in excess of $1 million.
SU band hazing victim sues school
November 10, 2009
Southern University marching band hazing victim Marcus Heath of Georgia and his mother, Marilyn, are suing the college for liability in last year’s off-campus initiation event.
Heath and two other freshman band mates were struck repeatedly with 2-by-4-inch boards during initiation in an off-campus East Baton Rouge Parish residence prior to last year’s Bayou Classic football game, according to arrest records.
Heath and one other fellow French horn player were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries and later released, police documents stated. The third victim withdrew from the hazing before injuries escalated.
Documentary ties bands to presidential election
November 10, 2009
Documentary about marching bands opens film festival at University of Virginia
By Rob Hedelt
Fredricksburg.com | Source
–Monica Anderson and Stanley Edmonds go to different universities in Virginia. But at the opening of this past weekend’s 22nd annual Virginia Film Festival, a unique documentary on their schools’ bands and last year’s presidential election brought the Fredericksburg-area youths together for a special night.
Anderson, a Massaponax High School grad and junior who plays the cymbals in the University of Virginia marching band, performed in front of the theater with other members of the drum line.
Stanley Edmonds, a North Stafford High School grad and a sophomore who plays trumpet for the Virginia State University Marching Band, performed with a select group from the band, the Trojan Explosion.
The pair, music and music education majors who both hope to direct a high school band one day, said being involved with the documentary “Marching Band” was a fascinating experience.
“They were around us for a long time, several months up to the election,” said Edmonds, who was featured in a segment of the film. “They were interested in what we did as a band, but also in how we all felt about taking part in our first presidential election.”
Read more
NCCU Sound Machine to sound off in 2011 Rose Parade
November 10, 2009
By Neil Offen (The Sun-Herald)
DURHAM — When Roy Ector, drum major with the N.C. Central University marching band, got the news, he called his mom.
“We weren’t supposed to tell anybody at first, but I had to tell her,” Ector said. “Now she’s telling me, she’s going to go to California, too.”
That’s because Ector and the rest of the NCCU Marching Sound Machine are heading for the Golden State and the Rose Bowl. The band has been chosen to march in the 2011 Tournament of Roses Parade.
Read more
13 Injured When Grambling St. Band Buses Crash
November 10, 2009
Fordyce, Arkansas - A dozen students and a driver where hurt when three buses carrying members of the renowned Grambling State University marching band were involved in a pileup on a highway in southern Arkansas.
Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said four buses from the school in north Louisiana were near Fordyce on Friday afternoon when the second bus slowed, resulting in the two trailing buses each hitting the bus ahead.
Sadler said none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening. In all, 126 students were aboard. The injured were taken to a Fordyce hospital.
Grambling is scheduled to play Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 1 p.m. Saturday in Little Rock.
Fordyce is about 65 miles south of Little Rock.
http://wkrg.com/514114
Grambling marching band involved in Arkansas crash
November 6, 2009
Two or more buses carrying members of the renowned Grambling State University marching band were involved in a traffic crash in southern Arkansas, injuring at least a half-dozen people.
Dallas County sheriff’s dispatcher Rory Tucker said Friday the Grambling buses were northbound Friday afternoon on U.S. 167. Tucker said it wasn’t known if any of the injuries were life-threatening.
Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said six people were hurt, with none of the injuries believed to be grave. Tucker said a dozen people were taken to a hospital in Fordyce, just south of where the crash occurred.
Grambling is scheduled to play Arkansas-Pine Bluff at 1 p.m. Saturday in Little Rock.
Fordyce is about 65 miles south of Little Rock.
Movie featuring an HBCU marching band to debut
November 4, 2009
“Marching Band,” a documentary film that chronicles members of the Trojan Explosion Marching Band at Virginia State University (VSU), will make its U.S. debut at the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville on Thursday, Nov. 5. On Friday, Nov. 6, the film will be shown at Virginia Hall on the VSU campus, located at 1 Hayden Drive in Ettrick.
The movie, which showcases band members’ personal stories against the background of last year’s presidential election, was made by a French production team. Members of the band and the production team will be on hand for the VSU screening.
The screening is free and open to the public.
You Know you’re a Bandhead
November 1, 2009
This Entry is a the end result of a thread posted on our forums at Bandhead,org Started by Member Anthony Amos (BigBass).
You Know You’re A Bandhead…
Morehouse giving thanks following bus crash
November 1, 2009
By George Mathis and Mashaun D. Simon
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Morehouse College students are now praying for the recovery of an injured band member and giving thanks that no others were seriously hurt in Saturday’s bus crash.
The campus is holding a 6 p.m. service "focusing on gratitude" following a crash that injured more than a dozen members of the marching band. One band member was kept overnight at Grady Memorial Hospital, but none of the injuries were life threatening, police said.
