User talk:Trick trickster

Random Colgate Fan

I think it's awesome that Random Colgate fan in the green shirt who was being an asshole and pretend conducting when Dan was conducting the band is now a wanted page. Sarah 20:53, March 8, 2007 (EST)

500th Stub

You've received an award for creating the 500th stub! :-) HLPXX 21:58, April 10, 2007 (EDT)

File Uploading

If anyone could tell/show me how to put files on my RPI webspace, I'd be glad to post my progress so far. Trick trickster 15:06, July 25, 2007 (EDT)

Easiest way from off campus is to get a copy of WinSCP and point it at rcs.rpi.edu. Log in with your username and password, then drop the files in the public_html folder. James 00:31, July 26, 2007 (EDT)

Unnamed 2008 ECAC Championship Pep Band Event

I really like the idea of the "unnamed 2008 ECAC Championship pep band event". Let me know if there's anything that I can do to help out with making it happen. Bickfa 20:34, August 28, 2007 (EDT)

Right now I'm playing the waiting game - I need to hear from Rick Hartt and at least some of the other pep bands before we can proceed. But I'll definitely keep you in mind when we really get the ball rolling. Trick trickster 12:07, August 29, 2007 (EDT)

Password Question

James, when you read this can you please send Natalie a password (RPI email). Thank you. Trick trickster 18:18, September 12, 2007 (EDT)

Her account is 'semczukn'. Go to the login page, type in that account, and click 'email password'. A new password will automatically be sent. James 13:21, September 13, 2007 (EDT)

Proposed "Notes" Section

I just edited the Children of Sanchez page, and realized that I have information on what to practice for the sax part, but there really isn't a good place to put it on the current song page template. Could we have another section labelled "Notes" or something similar and subdivide it to the different parts? Trick trickster 15:25, September 17, 2007 (EDT)

This sounds like a good idea to me. I'd suggest inserting it after the "Roadmap" section and before the "Dances" section. Bickfa 16:13, September 17, 2007 (EDT)

Clarkson Is Still Clarkson

There *might* still be some bad blood between us and Clarkson over last year's ECAC Championship game. Call it a hunch. Trick trickster 15:36, September 17, 2007 (EDT)

"...unethical for bands who are not in the Championship Tournament to be present there." Gee, you get that feeling too? Shame that all the other bands will be there anyway, and we can have a big unethical band party while Clarkson mopes and makes pouty faces at us. Nevermind that the league, the arena, the rest of the bands, and the fans would all like to see this happen. Gary 15:38, September 17, 2007 (EDT)

Well, at least they're consistent. They've never shown any desire to get along with any of the other band's in the ECAC (except Brown supposedly) so it's not any huge surprise to me that they don't want to try to start now. Bickfa 16:10, September 17, 2007 (EDT)

Cluck Farkson. James 16:22, September 17, 2007 (EDT)

Everybody Knows.... Rockchops 20:17, September 17, 2007 (EDT)

Freeze Frame

Regarding Freeze Frame, you might want to contact Steele about it. When I put together Active Set 2003-2006, I started by pulling parts from the file cabinet with the originals. Mike Brown didn't explain until later that I shouldn't've gotten the parts from there, but instead from a safeguard he set up (when he overhauled the library) for librarian use. The only effect of my having gone to the drawers was (aside from generating a ton of extra work for myself) that there are/were two printings of Freeze Frame. As I understand it, Steele wrote the first draft to the recording - and as such it has all the intricate harmonies and background rhythms. Then some parts were re-written to make the tune more useable (rather than needing every part to be covered and balanced). By the time we found this, Mike Brown and I had already re-set that librarian's safeguard and the versions were mixed together (he didn't recall at the time that the first version was still in the drawers). You may save yourself some noticable time and effort by contacting Steele (through the Alumni group?) to see if he still has the original parts. TrekMuse 09:14, October 18, 2007 (EDT)

Most of the work's already done. Once one part is entered into Sibelius, for the most part the rest is cut and paste. All I'm missing right now is Trumpet 2/3, which is going to be collapsed into one part (as they all will eventually be, no doubt). Most of the work involved from here on out is going to be cleaning up the rhythms cosmetically to make them easier to read, putting in rehearsal markings, changing the instrumentation around to make more sense, and redoing the percussion parts (including adding a glock, tenor drum, and aux. perc. part). I'm also toying around with changing the ending, but I'll finish everything else before I try anything with that. Trick trickster 17:19, October 18, 2007 (EDT)

Natural Noise Intramurals

First off, I hope I clicked the right button and this works...but anyway. So for Natural Noise intramurals, I'm thinking a page describing the teams as the main Natural Noise Intramurals page (how long they've been around, who started them, that kind of thing - general stuff), with links to the different sports we have/have had teams for. On those individual sport pages, a quick description or overview of the seasons, and then list the past team captains and/or any notable things about the season (rosters would be cool too). I guess for hockey there'd be a description of the team before we spilt into two, and then a link to Red and Black from there, perhaps. Thoughts? Semczukn 13:21, April 25, 2008 (EDT)

Niagara Fiasco

Niagara Fiasco? Sounds entertaining. Story? - Rockchops 20:00, April 4, 2009 (UTC)

Well, last year Niagara's hockey team made the NCAA tournament. Their administration contacted the band about playing at the first round game, since it was being played at the TUC. At this point everyone on our end thought that Niagara didn't have a band, so we accepted. Oh, and they were offering us a sum of money for our services (hence Band for Hire). Anyway, leading up to the game there was no contact from their administration letting us know what they wanted of us. Finally, the DAY before the game some of their higher-ups met with Gary and Natalie, still without giving out many deals. At least by this point they knew where the band had to be and when. What happened from here on out was ridiculous.

We had a short rehearsal the next day to try to learn their fight song and one of their cheers. Niagara couldn't provide us with a complete copy of their fight song, "Our Director March", because they didn't HAVE one. Gary graciously made copies of the version in our library so we'd have full instrumentation, and gave a copy to Niagara to fill out their set. All I can say for the cheer is that it's a variation of Apeshit, and you have to listen to this. Now imagine playing that at the game and pep rally about 15 times during the day. Wait, pep rally? Who said there was a pep rally? Niagara sure didn't - but there was! At the hotel that their team and fans were staying, there was a short pep rally where the band was expected to play. To top it off, they wanted Mike Franke to emcee it. So he did, as best he could only knowing a day in advance that they wanted him to do this. The people associated with Niagara that were at the rally were fans by the loosest definition of the word, they didn't even recognize their hockey team until we started cheering for them. Mike Joseph and I spun around in sousaphones for their enjoyment. It was one of the most awkward things I've ever had to endure in my life. By this time I was thoroughly embarrassed for myself, the band, and the entirety of Niagara University.

This is just about where the shit started hitting the fan. We managed to get some free food out of the pep rally (the only perk of the entire day besides some FABULOUS purple Purple Eagle t-shirts), but that was as good as it got. We took a charter bus over to the TUC, and their mascot rode with us. He was the only Niagara person with the band, he was in costume, and he didn't say a word the entire trip. I mean, there's having your game face on, and then there's just being creepy. This was far on the side of the latter. Once we got to the arena we got set up in our usual spot, and the Michigan band set up opposite of us. And they were good. I can only imagine how good they would have sounded if they had a repetoire that included more than "Hail to the Victors" and BU (we counted over 20 times that they played BU, and they didn't play it as much as they played their fight song). Still, as a band we were overmatched (especially when they had a vested interest in the game and we, um, did not).

Before the game started, the Niagara administration had another meeting with the band officers. By this time it was clear that they wanted to get their money's worth out of us, and we were realizing that it really wasn't worth the money anymore. We were basically puppets in their hands. They wanted us to play a section of "Hang On Sloopy" and add to it a chant of O-H-I-O, imitating the Ohio State cheer (since Michigan has the Biggest Rivalry Ever with Ohio State). Being the good citizens that we are, we told them that it was the fucking stupidest idea we had ever heard. You have to remember, Michigan was a GOOD team, and Niagara never had a chance in the game. On our end, we were thinking that maybe pissing off Michigan and their fans wasn't the greatest idea in the world. Maybe NU could try to keep some level of dignity in losing. So we ignored their pleas to rile up the Michigan by playing "Hang On Sloopy".

Niagara's fans were terrible. It was quieter on our side of the rink than Folsom Library, and that place is where sound goes to die. Everytime the band did the Go Purple Eagles cheer, we were louder than the entirety of their fan base. You couldn't really tell if any of them had ever been to a hockey game before, it was that bad. Most weren't even paying attention to the game. In the beginning of the third Michgan had the rout firmly on, and Niagara's administration was getting bored. So they walkie-talkied Mike and ordered us this time to play "Hang On Sloopy". Begrudgingly we did, and it had it's effect immediately as we were booed by the sizable Michigan fan base. NU's admins called for it again, and after that playing Michigan promptly went on to score three goals in the third. Can't say we didn't try to warn them. We got out of there as quickly as possible, which wasn't quick at all - we had to wait for Niagara's fans to be shuttled across Albany to their hotel before we could get there, because that was where we were parked. Once we got to the hotel, I was passed by a drunken NU fan who said to me: "I didn't even know we had a band". What a shit show.

Then there's the issue of getting paid. To date, the band has received NO MONEY from Niagara. Their administration had said they didn't have any (then) current budget money to give to us, so once the new fiscal year came about they'd send the band a sizable donation. Nothing yet, and it doesn't look like there will ever be. So basically, the band got scammed by a Catholic school. And it turns out that Niagara does have a pep band. They aren't very good though - so their administration hired our band as a replacement band for them. Say what you will about Shirley Ann Jackson, but she would NEVER do that. Hence my hatred for Niagara University. Hence my hatred of "Hang On Sloopy".Trick trickster 02:13, April 5, 2009 (UTC)