Bands charged up for bowls

Have band, will travel.

A handful of area marching bands and ensembles are heading for bowl games and other festivities this holiday season.

Getting ready for the big trip, however — including what's packed and how it gets to the final destination — is a little more complicated for students today.

First, there's the technology.

Instead of packing extra batteries and cassette tapes for a Sony Walkman, students will be carrying iPods, cell phones, handheld electronic games and portable DVD players — and their chargers.

“When we do a meal stop or something else, they all run for electrical outlets to recharge everything,” said Tony Falcone, director of the Cornhusker Marching Band at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The same goes when the group hits a wireless Internet hot spot: Students rush to log on with their laptops. Others have smartphones and tweet or check Facebook from the road.

The Cornhusker band, veteran of many road trips, was to follow the football team to the Holiday Bowl, but an old-fashioned problem got in the way: weather conditions that made it unsafe to bring in students scattered for the holiday break for a road trip west.

Papillion-La Vista South High School's Titan Marching Band rolled southeast Saturday, but only after a 10-hour delay, waiting at the school for buses to arrive.

Bands flying to their destinations face the realities of airline travel in the 21st century, including airline industry changes and post-9/11 heightened security.

The Lincoln Southeast High School Marching Knights' airplane tickets to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 30 initially included baggage. But they were subject to change, and the change came in the form of a $30-a-bag fee.

Band Director R.J. Metteer opted not to collect it, because students already had paid more than $1,600 apiece for the trip. Instead, students brought in their packed bags a week before departure so they could be trucked west, with the instruments and uniforms. “It's what we've got to do to make it work,” Metteer said.

The early packing meant Paul Dorenbach, a senior and the band's drum major, had to wear ratty jeans for a week. “It's a little inconvenient, but it's okay,” he said.

Meantime, performing still means squeezing in some old-fashioned rehearsal, even amid nasty weather and final exams. The Papillion-La Vista South band braved temperatures in the teens two weeks ago and came back for two more sessions last week after school was out on break.

“It was 11 degrees out and we were out in the parking lot with some recorded music, trying to at least go through the footwork part of our show,” said Bill Kellett, the band's director.

The Titans — about 200 students, plus 20 parent chaperones — were riding five travel coaches south to Jacksonville, Fla., for the Gator Bowl. The band will march in the Gator Bowl Parade on Thursday and during the bowl game's halftime show. They'll also compete for a chance to participate in the pregame show.

Kellett said he's seen students' technology use increase in the four years since the band took its last major trip. Last time, not all of them had cell phones and other such gadgets. “Now, every single student has something,” he said.

In fact, Kellett checked with the bus company before the trip and learned the vehicles have power strips that students can use to recharge electronics. The company is retrofitting its buses with Wi-Fi Internet access, he said, but he didn't know whether the work would be done before the trip.

The ability to talk or text instantly isn't always a good thing, Kellett said. On the way home from the Holiday Bowl four years ago, a student stuffed tissue in a vent to block air from blowing down. The tissue came in contact with a hot light and started to smolder, producing smoke. Though it turned out there was no danger, some parents got phone calls indicating the bus was on fire.

“It's humorous now,” Kellett said, “but, unfortunately, those poor parents were panicking.”

John Keith, director of bands at Millard West High School, said he decided ahead of time to truck luggage with the Wildcat Marching Band's other equipment, to avoid baggage fees as well as the hassle of schlepping it through airports on the way to the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif.

Dorenbach, the Lincoln Southeast drum major, will carry on an iPod touch loaded with music and a cell phone. “I guess I don't need too much to entertain myself,” he said.

He's particularly excited the band ended up at the same bowl where the Huskers will be playing, in San Diego. That wasn't part of any plan; the band started planning for its trip more than a year ago.

Lincoln Southwest High School's Silver Hawk Marching Band and other groups avoided baggage fees for their trip to England for the London New Year's Day Parade and Gala Music Festival. But there are plenty of other changes to keep them hopping.

Packing for air travel is a challenge. The band has to prepare an equipment manifest — complete with weights and dimensions — and stick to it. If organizers say they're going to bring seven sousaphones, they can't bring eight. And the equipment has to be packed carefully. On their last such trip, an airline destroyed a $3,000 sousaphone, said the band director, Terry Rush.

He packs uniforms separately, not marking one off the “packed” list until the student has checked in everything from socks to gloves. And the staff collects passports and hands out tickets a leg at a time to make sure important documents don't get lost.

Overseas, technology is another matter. Students have to bring watches, he said, because they can't use cell phones to keep track of time. Some simply won't work abroad. Those that do may include big roaming charges. And some hotels in Europe charge for Wi-Fi.

While the bands will be busy performing, they'll still have time for fun — and some education. The Lincoln Southwest group will visit Bath, Stonehenge and Windsor Castle, take a sightseeing tour of London and ride the Millennium Wheel, the huge Ferris wheel the Brits call the “Eye.”

The Papillion-La Vista South contingent, which will reprise the Civil War music show it presented at home this fall, hoped to stop at Fort Sumter, site of the war's first engagement. The band is scheduled to perform in the Night Parade at Disney World.

“These are opportunities for a lot of them that will be first-time experiences,” Kellett said.

Contact the writer:

444-1223, julie.anderson@owh.com

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