Third Thursdays at the Jefferson Parish Library!
In This Issue
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A Little History… – Our feature story
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Notes from the Lakefront – Updates
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Ad of the Week – advertising blasts from the past!
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How you can help NOLA History Guy – Things you can do right now!
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NOLA Six Word Writing Challenge – Exercise your imagination!
A Little History… Prep Football Culture
The officers of the Brother Martin Crusader Band and Dominican Debs dance team await their ratings at the LMEA District Six Marching Festival, Fall, 2010. Bands from across the Metro New Orleans area gathered to perform for judges at East Jefferson High School, where they were rated Superior, Excellent, or Good. Brother Martin maintained their string of Superior ratings that night.
Football Fridays
So, what does a band event have to do with “football culture?” While some school band programs perform competitively in “showcase” events across the Gulf South, most school bands turn out to support their football teams. Not only do they perform at halftime, they play in the stands to boost crowd enthusiasm.
Like many schools, Brother Martin has a strong football culture. Even though other teams have won more state championships than football, the “Friday night lights” tradition remains strong. Students, parents, and alumni come out to support not only the football players, but also all the team’s auxiliary components. There’s the training staff and statisticians, along with the band and the cheerleaders. So, adults in the crowd come to football games to see their sons and daughters, even if they don’t don helmets and play in the actual game.
Social events
Naturally, football games are opportunities for social interactions at many levels. Since most of the Catholic League schools are all-boy or all-girl, football games offer casual opportunities to put the students together. While the kids actively participating in the event don’t have a lot of time to just hang out, everyone else gets to mix and mingle.
Naturally, many parents do more than just drop kids off at the stadium. They stick around, and that means they buy tickets. Those gate receipts finance the support groups. While some schools charge fees for students to participate in band, BMHS only requires a modest uniform fee. No booster fund-raisers necessary, thanks to football.
The Debs
Co-ed schools have an easy time adding a dance team to their band programs. Brother Martin sponsored its own girls dance team, the “Saderettes,” in the 1970s. That evolved into the school partnering with one of the girls schools. For the last twenty-ish years, the Debs dance team from St. Mary’s Dominican High School join the band at games. The band directors prefer this arrangement, as it reduces a good bit of the drama. In the last couple of years, the Dominican Color Guard also join Crusader Band at games and for festival.
Performance Adjudication
Mr. Marty Hurley (may his memory be a blessing), long-time director of Crusader Band, developed a build-up strategy for halftime performances. The band started the season playing one number, maybe two short pieces. Given the heat of late August and September, this is a logical approach. The band added to the program as the season progressed. By the last game or two of the Fall, they performed the full show, all ready to present it for adjudication in November. Bands are rated in several categories: Overall Band, Auxiliary, Drum Line, and Drum Major. Units that earn Superior ratings in all categories receive recognition as “sweepstakes” winners. It’s important to note that the bands don’t compete directly against each other.
It’s not just about football, but so much more!
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Notes from the Lakefront
The Marching 100
Big shout-out to the St. Augustine Marching 100, and in particular, their social media team! The Purple Nights played in Da Dome last weekend, which is an exciting thing for players and musicians alike. While a lot of folks only see the Marching 100 on the parade route, the band’s social media guys are bringing so much more of the program to the world this year. Check out this video from Da Dome.
Deutsches Haus!
A big THANK YOU to everyone who came out last Sunday to the Deutsches Haus for “When the French Quarter Was Sicilian.” The folks at the Haus reported 208 of y’all attended! That’s up there with the audience we had for the original presentation at the Jefferson Parish Library. As the Romigs say at Saints games, Thank you for being in that number.
Vintage Ad of the Week
Ad for Krauss Department Store, 1201 Canal Street, corner Basin, in the Times-Picayune, 24-September-1983. The city-wide “Community Bargain Days” program was long dead by 1983, killed by suburban shopping malls, but Krauss kept the tradition going, offering “Old Fashioned Bargain Days.”
How You Can Help NOLA History Guy
Things you can do RIGHT NOW to help us out!
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Buy my books! Edward Branley is the author of six books on New Orleans history. They’re available from local booksellers and all the usual online suspects.
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Book NOLA History Guy to speak at your event – Edward speaks to groups ranging in size to local groups like Kiwanis and Rotary to major conventions and trade shows.
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Buy me a Coffee on Ko-fi dot com. I just love this concept as a way to say thank you/tip creators you enjoy. Our idea of monetization is buying books and having us come to speak. If you see me at a coffee shop, stop and say hi. Otherwise, I’ll raise coffee cup to you if you treat me.
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Become a patron. Yes, we’re on Patreon. A lot of creators use the platform for direct monetization, and that’s great for them. We don’t have “exclusive content” for patrons. Still, if you think our history stuff is worth a dollar a month, go join!
NOLA Six Word Writing Challenge
In six words or less, write a story about this image.
Post your story to NOLAHistoryGuy.com on BlueSky, or to New Orleans Uncovered on Facebook. You can also email yours to nolasixwords@nolahistoryguy.com.
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