The Get A Life Marching Band made a return visit to San Antonio for Fiesta in 2003 and discovered it was at least as much fun as our 2001 visit. The digital cameras were going berserk on this trip — we ended up with over 1500 photos among us — but luckily for you we've cut it down to about 200 photos and a few video clips. Join us for some of the sights and sounds of the trip.
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Mike and Dan scope out
the new music |
If ya wanna look good, ya gotta rehearse. Click here to peek in on GAL's preparation. To go with old favorites All Right Now, Soul Finger, and Messin' With the Kid, we debuted two new tunes for this parade (Wooly Bully and our third version of Louie Louie -- "Newiest Louiest"); they all got plenty of work. And at long last, we decided to brush up our marching, and especially to work on turning corners (not exactly the strongest attribute of the band!). Dan brought giant traffic cones to act as street corners, Stephanie drilled the band into shape, and we became a finely-tuned, er, somewhat better, er, no longer embarrassing marching group. Did it pay off? Stay tuned!
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Bob preps for Fiesta at the airport
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Wednesday April 23 ... departure morning — well, barely morning! Most people were on an oh-dark-thirty flight, with many people at the airport well before 5AM. Band people seem to be a lot like Computer Science people: "If you see one at six o'clock in the morning, you can bet that they're heading home, not arriving!" Still, we managed to get everyone safely aboard for the trip. Click here to see some less-than-wide-awake folks. John Sanchez — great friend of the GALMB, Fiesta Ambassador, Flag Bearer, and World's Most Persistent Parade Junkie — met us on arrival with Lone Star bandannas for everyone.
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A band boogies down at the Battle
of the Flowers Band Festival
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We settled in at the Red Roof Inn and got ready to have a good time. Our first major "optional excursion" was to the Battle of the Flowers® Band Festival at Alamo Stadium on Thursday April 24. They've found an interesting format that lets lots of bands participate without making the show interminable. Most of the 25+ bands performed a single tune while marching down the track in front of the stands, with a selected handful performing a full field show. The organizers handed out little American flags by the armful, and one young lady in the crowd took full advantage of them to create a stunning new 'do (video). The evening was capped with 3,000 kids on the field in a mass band performance, accompanied by fireworks. Click here for the pageantry and color, and to ponder the question "What the heck is a Vok?"
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Tom chills out at the Wave Pool
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While we've been told many times that we're all wet, we usually try not to take it literally. But when the temperature is climbin' and pasty-white Oregonians haven't seen the sun for months — well, whaddaya gonna do. On Friday April 25 lots of us headed out to Splashtown San Antonio to spend an afternoon. Following a performance by the Power Pep Band (our sister organization), we jumped into trunks, got wet, and stayed wet. C'mon along for the twists, turns, and death-defying drops. And don't miss Heather showing us the effect that long, fast water slides have on swimsuit wearers (video). Even better, watch it over and over and ....
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Jon tucks into fried green tomatoes
at Night in Old San Antonio
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Have we given you the impression that we saw only a little of the city and only en masse? Nah — we had groups both large and small wandering the whole downtown area at all hours of the day and night. Jazz clubs, Irish pubs, Hemisfair Park, the Alamo — we saw 'em all. The Power Pep Band played the Mexican Market, where Wayne and Janice rolled out the barrel with great enthusiasm (video). And how could you possibly expect to keep this band away from all the comestible delights that San Antonio offers? We vied to find the restaurant with the best Mexican food, the biggest margaritas, and beignets for breakfast. And naturally, the food of A Night In Old San Antonio was too big a draw to pass up. Join us for an eclectic GAL look at all that San Antonio has to offer.
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Janet and Steve wailin' on the streets
of San Antonio
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We finally made it to parade day (Saturday April 26), and just in time; if we had much more fun we'dve been too pooped to march! Actually, we were all itching to go; our recollection was that Fiesta Flambeau was the best parade we'd ever marched in and wanted to see if the reality matched our memory. Let's see, the parade is due to step off at 7:30PM, so we should get there, oh, about 3:30. Yep, we arrived four hours in advance since that's the best way to get into place before they start closing all the streets for the parade. That does require you to be good at killing time ... not too tough if you're as easily entertained as we are! Ken found a limousine meant for parade royalty and got the driver to take him on a spin as he stood and waved through the roof. Rick juggled water bottles. Helen entertained us with Stupid Human Tricks (video). If Wayne was thrilled to discover that the special Port-a-Potties were back again this year (the ones that cost a buck but get cleaned up after every use), imagine his delight at discovering that for three bucks he could get in-and-out privileges all afternoon. Everyone got their photos taken Kristal Rose Gracia (Miss Fiesta San Antonio 2003) and her court.
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Which is the bigger hot dog??? (Click
to enlarge)
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But all of these entertainments were mere bagatelles compared with ... the arrival of the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile! Yes, fate brought together a band whose motto is "We'd rather miss a note than a meal" and a vehicle shaped like an enormous frankfurter. We flocked to the Weinermobile, sang several lusty choruses of "I'd like to be an Oscar Meyer weiner", collected some very special Weinermobile pins as souvenirs, and went back to killing time. Finally it's close enough to parade time to begin warming up. Steve tells the band "Take it easy, it's gonna be a long night, keep it mezzo-forte" and we try a couple of tunes. Hmmm, Wayne seems to be playing at the top of his lungs. Quick reminder from Steve to ease, followed by Wayne's sheepish reply: "Can't do it, there's military guys over there listening to us so I can't back off." The easiest way to fix that problem: Invite 'em to come play with us (and a good time was had by all).
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Wayne lookin' good on TV
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Finally, we're on the street and laying into All Right Now. The crowd is unbelievable;
400,000 party-ready parade watchers line the 2.6 mile route. They're 8-10 deep
on both sides of the street and screaming so loud they can almost drown out
the band! We surf the adrenaline wave down the street. A few blocks before we
reach the TV area, we turn our first corner. What's this? Why, the first few
ranks are in line while turning the corner. And what's this? The tuba
rank does a great corner! And ... no ... it can't be ... even the drums are
in line as we swing around and head towards the Alamo!!! Hey, maybe that practice
paid off! Then there's the glare of the TV lighting and we're on — yeeee-haaaaaa,
the band looks and sounds great! We've still got a long way to go - maybe a
third of the parade is left - but we're still pumped. By now it's really starting
to get dark, so the band looks like the Vegas strip coming down the street:
flashing necklaces, glow ropes in every shape and configuration, flashing LEDs,
Christmas lights, pins - if it lights up, somebody in the band is probably wearing
it! The energy is still high but the lips are starting to go, so the sight of
our bus is not entirely unwelcome. And yes, it's
still the best parade we've ever done!
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Band settles in to watch the videotape
after the parade
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The evening's not over yet, however. We load up and scurry back to the Inn,
where it's party time. Pizza, soda, and ice cream for everyone - and best of
all, we've got the whole parade on videotape. We
start by watching the local TV coverage from earlier in the evening - not
bad, pretty good air time! And then we load up the "private coverage".
Joe filmed the entire parade, walking up and down through the band the whole
way, which means he probably covered twice as much ground as everyone else.
Great video - everyone gets a "star turn", and the part where Joe
gets accidentally whapped by one of the flags earns a command-performance replay.
And so the party broke up, with some yawning off to bed and others rolling out
the door for one last night on the town.
After that, there wasn't much left to do but pack up and come on home. Most of us were flying out of Austin, so we loaded the bus and headed up the interstate for our flights home. That is, almost everyone boarded the bus; part of our group was flying directly out of San Antonio, so they had a separate shuttle to the airport at 5:13am.
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Brian and Sue use the bus trip to
Austin to catch up on sleep
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Jon French takes over the story: "At 5:20, I called the airport shuttle service to see where our ride was. The dispatcher said they were downtown picking up other passengers and would be to the Red Roof in about 7 minutes. I said, "Other passengers??? We’ve got 8 folks with instruments and luggage!" The dispatcher said he’d have to order up a new shuttle and it would be another 15 to 20 minutes. As we only had a little over 90 minutes before departure of our flight, we began to get a bit antsy. I called again in 15 minutes; finally the shuttle showed a couple of minutes later. Instead of going to the airport, it went back downtown to four other motels/hotels to pick up passengers!. We finally got to the airport less than a hour before departure. There were very long lines, all folks leaving town from the Fiesta I guess. We waited 15 minutes at the United counter to get our luggage tagged, then took it to the one and only scanner for all the luggage leaving San Antonio. Then came the stress factor, as all the folks leaving were in a line stretching three quarters of the length of the terminal building to go thru the security scanner.
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The United Air bunch ready to leave
the Red Roof
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By cheating a bit at the line, three of us managed to get on the plane (boarding
had begun long before) and wondered if the rest would make it. I asked the flight
attendant to let the Captain know that three from our party were stuck in the
long lines. Jon B arrived and kept watch at the boarding gate. Turns out that
Robin had been stopped for a full search, and Bill had stayed with her. Those
two came thru the door as they were closing it." Whew!
And so we closed the books on a really great trip — or so we thought.
The postscript came a few days after we got back home. "Dear Bob",
the letter began— and went on to congratulate us on our 1st
place selection for Best Out of State Band in the parade. See what a little
practice on corners will do for you?
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Our Best Out of State Band letter
and plaque
(click each to enlarge) |
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