(07-17-2020 07:11 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(07-16-2020 07:38 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(07-16-2020 07:25 AM)HyperDuke Wrote:  Thank god someone posted WCU before me.

Fun facts:

ECU is closer to the Naval Academy in Annapolis than it is to WCU.

WCU is closer to Alabama in Tuscaloosa than it is to ECU. It's closer to Louisville and Cincinnati too.

Yeesh. Never knew that.

Lots of people don't realize how far east-to-west North Carolina is, and WCU and ECU aren't even the farthest extremes. Murphy, NC to Manteo, NC is a 546-mile, 8 hour 40 minute drive according to Google Maps. It's just a hair longer than Memphis to Mountain City, TN (544 miles, 8 hours 13 minutes).

There's something weird about human psyche and east-west directions versus north-south. The distance from my home in the Chicago area is 542 miles and a shade under 8 hours from Memphis and the fact that's shorter than your NC city distance seems ridiculous upon first glance. Such is geography.

(07-17-2020 07:11 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  Lots of people don't realize how far east-to-west North Carolina is, and WCU and ECU aren't even the farthest extremes. Murphy, NC to Manteo, NC is a 546-mile, 8 hour 40 minute drive according to Google Maps. It's just a hair longer than Memphis to Mountain City, TN (544 miles, 8 hours 13 minutes).

It's a long ride, but still not as long as I-10 within Texas: 862 miles. That the equivalent of driving from St. Louis to Washington DC.

(07-17-2020 07:47 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(07-17-2020 07:20 PM)Cyniclone Wrote:  

(07-17-2020 07:11 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(07-16-2020 07:38 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(07-16-2020 07:25 AM)HyperDuke Wrote:  Thank god someone posted WCU before me.

Fun facts:

ECU is closer to the Naval Academy in Annapolis than it is to WCU.

WCU is closer to Alabama in Tuscaloosa than it is to ECU. It's closer to Louisville and Cincinnati too.

Yeesh. Never knew that.

Lots of people don't realize how far east-to-west North Carolina is, and WCU and ECU aren't even the farthest extremes. Murphy, NC to Manteo, NC is a 546-mile, 8 hour 40 minute drive according to Google Maps. It's just a hair longer than Memphis to Mountain City, TN (544 miles, 8 hours 13 minutes).

Virginia has that same deal where it borders North Carolina. When I was a sports reporter two lifetimes ago, I covered a regional softball playoff involving a school that drove eight hours from the deepest most western part of the state; it was further west, in fact, then all of West Virginia. I talked to the coach a bit before the game and he said that they were closer to 12 state capitals than Richmond, their own. Virginia used to hold the smaller schools basketball tournaments in Norfolk, and some schools had to drive 12 hours in a big yellow limo for that one.

It's actually nine state capitals, coming from the extreme southwest county.

Frankfort, KY, Nashville, TN, Charleston, WV, Atlanta, GA, Columbia, SC, Indianapolis, IN, Columbus, OH, Raleigh, NC, and Montgomery, AL are all closer than Richmond is.

I did not realize and that is fascinating.

(07-16-2020 11:53 AM)HyperDuke Wrote:  TSU Band was my favorite when they played at the last Queen City Battle of the Bands in Charlotte (before the event rebranded and moved to NRG in Houston). I miss going to that event every August!

Thanks for the kind words about the Tennessee State band. The Big Blue Tiger marching band is a special group for me (I play the drums as a hobbyist and enjoy marching bands, and I both taught at and took classes at TSU).

(07-19-2020 08:17 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  

(07-16-2020 11:53 AM)HyperDuke Wrote:  TSU Band was my favorite when they played at the last Queen City Battle of the Bands in Charlotte (before the event rebranded and moved to NRG in Houston). I miss going to that event every August!

Thanks for the kind words about the Tennessee State band. The Big Blue Tiger marching band is a special group for me (I play the drums as a hobbyist and enjoy marching bands, and I both taught at and took classes at TSU).

Aristocrat of Bands stood up well in the stand “battle” that year. Gin & Juice was a big hit with the crowd.

(07-19-2020 06:01 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  It's a long ride, but still not as long as I-10 within Texas: 862 miles. That the equivalent of driving from St. Louis to Washington DC.

Yes, I only made most of that drive once, a long time ago, but you drive from East Texas to El Paso, you see the trees get shorter and shorter and then finally it's scrub.

I'm not sure I've seen a better performance in person than when Bethune-Cookman played UCF a few years ago. Just the drum major entrance alone was worth it (skip to about 0:40).

(07-20-2020 03:53 PM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  I'm not sure I've seen a better performance in person than when Bethune-Cookman played UCF a few years ago. Just the drum major entrance alone was worth it (skip to about 0:40).

A strong entrance, indeed!

(07-19-2020 11:10 PM)HyperDuke Wrote:  

(07-19-2020 08:17 PM)bill dazzle Wrote:  

(07-16-2020 11:53 AM)HyperDuke Wrote:  TSU Band was my favorite when they played at the last Queen City Battle of the Bands in Charlotte (before the event rebranded and moved to NRG in Houston). I miss going to that event every August!

Thanks for the kind words about the Tennessee State band. The Big Blue Tiger marching band is a special group for me (I play the drums as a hobbyist and enjoy marching bands, and I both taught at and took classes at TSU).

Aristocrat of Bands stood up well in the stand “battle” that year. Gin & Juice was a big hit with the crowd.

We are proud of the TSU band here in Music City.

(07-20-2020 03:31 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(07-19-2020 06:01 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  It's a long ride, but still not as long as I-10 within Texas: 862 miles. That the equivalent of driving from St. Louis to Washington DC.

Yes, I only made most of that drive once, a long time ago, but you drive from East Texas to El Paso, you see the trees get shorter and shorter and then finally it's scrub.

I've driven that I-10 through Texas 3 times round trip, going from Baton Rouge to Phoenix and then back again. When you cross from Louisiana in to Texas around Orange, TX, the Longhorns try to intimidate you with a sign that says something like "El Paso, 860 miles".

I've never driven it straight through though, always stop for the night in San Antonio - which IMO is the real divider - east of SA and it's trees and ordinary terrain, looks like bayou and deep south country. West of SA and it quickly becomes a John Wayne movie, scrub, desert, tumbleweeds, incredible rock formations and all that jazz.

(07-19-2020 06:01 PM)DFW HOYA Wrote:  

(07-17-2020 07:11 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  Lots of people don't realize how far east-to-west North Carolina is, and WCU and ECU aren't even the farthest extremes. Murphy, NC to Manteo, NC is a 546-mile, 8 hour 40 minute drive according to Google Maps. It's just a hair longer than Memphis to Mountain City, TN (544 miles, 8 hours 13 minutes).

It's a long ride, but still not as long as I-10 within Texas: 862 miles. That the equivalent of driving from St. Louis to Washington DC.

Texas is even farther north to south, by about 30 miles.

There are Texas towns in the northernmost panhandle, near Oklahoma, that are closer to parts of Minnesota than they are to Brownsville Texas in the deep south along the gulf.

Haven't heard anyone mention Indiana University or Ball St. Don't really know about their bands, but high school band is BIG time in Indiana. Annual high school band competition (now this was many years ago) would draw 25,000. Bands in Texas where I went to high school were rinky dink compared to Indiana.

(07-20-2020 05:25 PM)bullet Wrote:  Haven't heard anyone mention Indiana University or Ball St. Don't really know about their bands, but high school band is BIG time in Indiana. Annual high school band competition (now this was many years ago) would draw 25,000. Bands in Texas where I went to high school were rinky dink compared to Indiana.

My brother played in the marching band (French horn) in high school in Nashville, one reason he decided to attend Indiana University (with its strong overall music program). He did not play in the IU band, though he was a music major. I saw the Hoosier marching band a few times at some football games and I recall they did good work. IU offers an excellent all-around music program. I'm not sure about Ball State but my brother (just talked to him) said he thinks it might have a solid marching band.

Maybe somebody on the board will know.

(07-20-2020 03:53 PM)CitrusUCF Wrote:  I'm not sure I've seen a better performance in person than when Bethune-Cookman played UCF a few years ago. Just the drum major entrance alone was worth it (skip to about 0:40).

While Southern is the biggest HBCU standout, BCU is the standard of consistency. They ALWAYS sound great ALL THE TIME. They catch hell from fans of other bands for being a little too repetitive in their yearly selections, but they are one of the standard bearers for the style. I have never seen/heard a Bethune performance that had any major defects. Big fan.