TBGO Marching Band Flies South to "The Valley of the Sun" at Phoenix, Arizona!!!

December 1 – 4, 2022.   Come join us for a fun-filled trip to Phoenix, Arizona to march and be a part of the 35th Annual APS Electric Light Parade presented by The City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation.   Each year has a theme and this year's theme is "Light Up The Night". How fun to be able to wear shorts on the plane going somewhere at that time of year!!   

The parade takes place on Saturday, Dec 3. It will be televised on the local ABC affiliate and is recognized statewide as the highest-attended Christmas parade with over 250,000 people watching along the parade route.  BTW, the Greater Phoenix Area has a population of over 4.6 million people, about 2 million more people than the Portland area.  Parade leadership is excited to have the TBGO Marching Band in their parade. There will be plenty of great marching bands in the parade, plus a twirler only group. 

We've planned a 3-Night trip based on your feedback. As usual, we've planned a few outings while in Phoenix including the Musical Instrument Museum in North Phoenix with over 8,000 instruments from over 200 countries.  Tom says "this place is incredible and you will want to put it on your bucket list for sure!"  Click here for the detailed itinerary.

Uniform:   DRESS uniform: TBGO polo shirt, black long pants/belt, black socks, black shoes. We are adding the following items to the uniform for this parade since this parade is all about and we'd like to add some consistency to our look:

• Everyone except twirlers and dancers will wear the PURPLE FLASHING FEDORA for this parade (not the usual TBGO hat). If you do not have a fedora or if yours no longer flashes, see Janet at the November 20 rehearsal for a new one.
• We have purchased LIGHT UP WRIST BANDS for all marchers (including dancers and twirlers). These will be distributed at the November 20 rehearsal.
• You're encouraged to add additional holiday decorating and lighting (including the lights Sue Lamb handed out at the picnic and Nov 6 rehearsal) to yourself and your instrument.

Parade Music:  

1. Santa Baby
2. Jingle Bell Rock STREET EDITION
3. Overjoyed
4. You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

Parade:   Parade steps off at 7 pm on December 3, 2022 from North Phoenix Baptist Church; see route map. The all-flat route is about 2.5 miles long.

Phoenix APS Electric Light Parade Route

Meet:   In Pioneer Courthouse Square at 11:30 AM.

Uniform:   DRESS uniform: TBGO polo shirt, TBGO hat, black PANTS/belt, BLACK socks, BLACK shoes. TBGO Letterman Jacket encouraged if you own one. If you don't own a TBGO Letterman Jacket, the uniform shirt is fine, or add a black turtleneck beneath the shirt for additional warmth. We do have a limited number of letterman jackets available to borrow for $5 each (contact janet@tbgo.org for details). Santa hats and other holiday decorating strongly encouraged!!!

Jingle Bell Rock Singing Edition: Be sure you have the UPDATED 2-page version of Jingle-Bell Rock SINGING EDITION. The UPDATED version has 88 measures, is subtitled "TBGO Singing Edition", and says "Updated November 21" at the bottom of the first page. If your copy has 89 measures and ends with a fermata, YOU HAVE THE WRONG VERSION.. See this link if you need the updated JBR Singing Edition.

Music:

Star Trek TNG

Confident

We Need a Little Christmas

Santa Baby

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

Happy

Jingle Bell Jam

God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

Bang Bang

Call Me

Santa Meets Sousa

Jingle-Bell Rock SINGING EDITION (see above)

Uptown Funk

Overjoyed

Frosty the Snowman

Shut Up and Dance

We Like to Party

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

Sweet Caroline

Fireball

Nutcracker Christmas Parade

Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Pioneer Courthouse Square

Australia Moves to November 2023 (sigh!)

It's certainly disappointing to defer Australia for one more year, but reality intrudes. Both Australia and New Zealand have kept their borders tightly controlled to contain the spread of Coronavirus. The two countries are just beginning to carefully/slowly open up. Qantas flights started flying out of LAX last week but only for a limited audience beginning with Australia citizens who are spread around the world and have been unable to return home because of the border closures. The next group will be college students and visa holders with work permits. USA/Canadian citizens may start to make their way back in early March, although re-opening dates are subject to change. In addition, airfares are still expensive at this time.

The other worrisome element is the parade itself. Both last year and this year the National Pharmacies Christmas Pageant has been reduced to a lap around the track at the Adelaide Oval. This is still pretty fun if you're a kid watching the floats etc from the stands, but not so much if you're a marching band who's trekked 8,261 miles to perform. Given that the speed of things reopening is unpredictable and Australia has been quite conservative so far, we can't predict what the Pageant will look like in 2022.

Overall, it's pretty clear that we should plan for 2023 rather than 2022. The good news is that our investment is still protected: all our deposits will be honored by those holding them. And if we reach 2023 and you decide NOT to make the trip, we should be able to transfer your deposit to newcomers in the band who want to go. In summary: Kind of a bummer, but we have to work with the world we've got rather than the world we wish we had.