Valley Fest

So, ValleyFest was this weekend. (For those of you who are not Iowa Band Geeks, ValleyFest is an all-day band competition. First a day show and the the night competition referred to as Showdown. Shannon and I performed for a total of 6 years in Des Moines.)

It was freezing. Literally. We woke up to snow. In my 14 years of ValleyFest experience as both a performer and a spectator, I have never been this cold.

Here's a little run down of our day:

Weston got all bundled up (it's all about the layers) and watched 4 bands during the day competition. He was a little rowdy during the breaks, but he seemed to really love the actual music part. And he actually sang along with a few shows. It was awesome. Shannon has the best pictures. Scott and Weston headed home after the day show. After all, Iowa beat Michigan Saturday night, and kick-off was at 7:05. Shannon and I back in the stands for Showdown. We had stopped by Wal-mart for more blankets and other necessities. We were freezing. She put heat packs in her shoes, we each had some for our hands, and I had put one on each knee to defrost my legs.
Waukee (I think) performing their "Africa" show. They placed their entire Pit (for the novice, this is the Mallet Percussion section consisting of bells, marimbas, timpani drums, accessories, etc. Mine and Shannon's section) on the field. So, that was unusual for Shannon and I. Then imagine our surprise when the entire band marches off the field onto the sidelines! It was crazy. Apparently its also legal now... so long as the Pit is on the field.

Urbandale... a Des Moines school did a 007 James Bond show... it was pretty cool. This was the one Weston sang to during the day competition.

Unfortunately, the freezing cold air of the night wrecked havoc on one soloist's Soprano Saxophone and her clarinet... the reeds kept freezing and she couldn't play. It was incredibly sad and frustrating because she had done so well during the day show.

We had a blast... but we left early. A family squeezed (literally) next to Shannon and that was uncomfortable and whatever fragrances they had showered in before coming were so potent that even in the freezing cold, they were giving Shannon and I headaches. Combine that with the cold weather, and we left. Which sucked. We missed some of our favorite bands: Waterloo West, Ankeny, Irondale (Minnesota) and of course Valley High. But, IPTV filmed everything, so we hope to catch up as soon as it's televised.

On a sad note... for some reason, this year was more theatrical than musical. 2 or 3 schools used recordings (eew) and another actually had the drum majors perform and narrate the entire show to a loosely-based theme of the Twilight Zone. double eew. If I wanted to see Off-off-Broadway, I'd buy tickets to a high school play, not sit in the freezing cold wanting marching bands.

I actually preferred Des Moines Roosevelt's massacre of a John Williams' show to any of the theatrical performances. And that was an awful show. (I know, I performed John Williams, but I love his music, and it just was not a good performance. Maybe they should have marched with music or had a different arrangement. But it was still preferable to the narrations.)