James Burleigh
Well-known member
I am a UC Berkeley ("Cal") alum who now has the good fortune to work there. One day during my usual lunch-hour walk around campus I spontaneously diverted from my planned route and wandered into the Cal marching band's rehearsal building. I approached a student and asked who the band director was, and whether the director was there now. An arm rose up to lead my eye to a tall, thin, pleasant-looking man sitting behind a desk who resembled Max Headroom....
The Cal Band Director:
I went over and introduced myself. The director shook my had and welcomed me with a big smile, motioning me to have a seat. I told him I worked on campus, but that on weekends I was an artist--and an above-average one at that. And then I told him I had a crazy idea I wanted to talk to him about.
"That's great!" he said. "I love it already! I love crazy ideas!"
I liked him immediately. So I explained to him that I wanted to create a large (something like 6-foot-square) oil painting of the Cal band to hang in the band room. I would do it completely at my own expense. All he had to do was provide access to the band and agree to hang the painting in the band room.
"Great! Let's do it!"
I continued to sell him on the idea, and persuade him that I could deliver the goods. This was too easy.
"Sounds good. When do we start?"
Well, as much as I wanted to persuade him that I wasn't a nut who walked off the street and really knew how to paint, he didn't want to hear any of it. He wanted to get moving on the project.
"I'll tell you what," he says, "I'll get you a photographer field pass to a home football game, and you can hang with the band and do all the research you need. How does that sound?"
"Great."
"Does the Big Game sound okay to you?"
Holy mackerel does it ever! Then I remembered my daughter, who is a painter, is now going to Cal, and is going to be my assistant on the painting. Just the previous week she was telling me she'd never been to a game and this was her last season to see a Cal football game (she graduates in June). I asked if she could get a pass too. No problem. So now she would be at the Big Game, on the field, on the 30th anniversary of, The Play!--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09kPcg8Hehg
The game was today. And although the outcome of the game warn't so good
, it was a GREAT father-daughter day. Pics follow....
The Cal marching band approaches the stadium:
The Golden Bears enter the stadium to the cheers of the band:
Father and daughter in the tunnel:
Tubas all in a row (actually, sousaphones):
The Stanford "marching" band took the field first before the game:
Followed by the Cal band!
I was trying to shoot the band, but these girls got in the way.... :yahoo:
The Cal band forms a gauntlet for the players' entrance:
Then into the stands to play for the fans and cheer the team on:
Go Bears!
My daughter: "I'm with the band":
The Cal Band Director:
I went over and introduced myself. The director shook my had and welcomed me with a big smile, motioning me to have a seat. I told him I worked on campus, but that on weekends I was an artist--and an above-average one at that. And then I told him I had a crazy idea I wanted to talk to him about.
"That's great!" he said. "I love it already! I love crazy ideas!"
I liked him immediately. So I explained to him that I wanted to create a large (something like 6-foot-square) oil painting of the Cal band to hang in the band room. I would do it completely at my own expense. All he had to do was provide access to the band and agree to hang the painting in the band room.
"Great! Let's do it!"
I continued to sell him on the idea, and persuade him that I could deliver the goods. This was too easy.
"Sounds good. When do we start?"
Well, as much as I wanted to persuade him that I wasn't a nut who walked off the street and really knew how to paint, he didn't want to hear any of it. He wanted to get moving on the project.
"I'll tell you what," he says, "I'll get you a photographer field pass to a home football game, and you can hang with the band and do all the research you need. How does that sound?"
"Great."
"Does the Big Game sound okay to you?"
Holy mackerel does it ever! Then I remembered my daughter, who is a painter, is now going to Cal, and is going to be my assistant on the painting. Just the previous week she was telling me she'd never been to a game and this was her last season to see a Cal football game (she graduates in June). I asked if she could get a pass too. No problem. So now she would be at the Big Game, on the field, on the 30th anniversary of, The Play!--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09kPcg8Hehg
The game was today. And although the outcome of the game warn't so good
, it was a GREAT father-daughter day. Pics follow....The Cal marching band approaches the stadium:
The Golden Bears enter the stadium to the cheers of the band:
Father and daughter in the tunnel:
Tubas all in a row (actually, sousaphones):
The Stanford "marching" band took the field first before the game:
Followed by the Cal band!
I was trying to shoot the band, but these girls got in the way.... :yahoo:
The Cal band forms a gauntlet for the players' entrance:
Then into the stands to play for the fans and cheer the team on:
Go Bears!
My daughter: "I'm with the band":
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