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BrettJollyComedyHour
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Posts posted by BrettJollyComedyHour
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13 minutes ago, DeSmetBilliken said:
What happens if the band couldn’t scramble a group to all of these events?
I've heard at least one member was present at every event they requested. It was usually Austin, unfortunately.
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19 minutes ago, Bills By 40 said:
I bet at least one of them sees this message board post, too.
OldGuy is Chaifetz's burner account, lol.
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17 minutes ago, Soderball said:
We aren't talking about half. Desmet said they wiped out a 250$ per semester scholarship. The AD is also asking these volunteers to work booster events, nonrevenue sports and the like. It sounds like the AD does want live music for it's events. Cool. Pay people for it. It doesn't take a half scholarship at SLU(which is what like a million by now?)
From what I've heard they don't even offer food or appreciation if those events are at odd times. They just assume they'll be there.
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19 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:
Yep. Fun fact isn’t it. Jimmy Webb wrote it and Harris and Summers changed it. The artwork for both songs had it singular. They sang it possessive.
I've only ever known it as MacArthur Park. Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed have a great instrumental version on their Me & Jerry album.
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2 minutes ago, Soderball said:
The pep band is a necessary part of any game day experience at a university. Even SIUE has a pep band. SLU has way too much money to be this bush league and sad.
All they have to do is just not be jerks to the band. It's not really like they're asking for much. Give them back control over what they do and the problem is mostly solved.
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7 minutes ago, cgeldmacher said:
Myself, I would fall into the camp that I would be upset if we did not have our band playing at games. I would let my feeling be known to the school and the Athletic Department. That being said, I don't know about the rest of the folks who attend games.
I would let them know. They don't listen to the band. If enough people said something then maybe something would happen.
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1 minute ago, Westy03 said:
The guy who the arena is named after and his son are pretty active on twitter - maybe reach out to them there.
Not a bad idea.
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34 minutes ago, thetorch said:
I have a lot of problems with this program and now you're going to hear about.
Let me start with we are getting rid of the World's Greatest Pep Band but still employing the World's Worst PA announcer.
If you know any donors who can raise hell with Chris May, they'd be the first I'd go to.
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1 hour ago, Lord Elrond said:
If the band members want to have changes made, the only way to force those changes is by all of them not showing up for games
The worry here seems to be they'll just replace them with the DJ and not even bother trying.
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8 hours ago, dlarry said:
What sucks is that I am going to be just as pissed when they blow a late lead against Fordham as I am today.
Being a Billiken fan is like living in Groundhog Day.
Except we never reach enlightenment, lol.
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10 minutes ago, SouthSide_Billiken said:
Anyone considering continuing a bastardization of an institution that for many years provided more enjoyment to fans than the product on the floor needs to take a long hard look in the mirror. Fulfilling Chris May's stated dream of a small ensemble (of 20 or so people) is a tacit approval of his past actions towards the band and others who have poured their hearts and souls into everything SLU stands for.
This is unfair. The people considering continuing it have given just as much and do not deserve to be attacked.
E: I get the sentiment, but this comes off the wrong way in my opinion.
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2 minutes ago, SLU_Nick said:
SLU would hire the entire St. Louis orchestra before they would give in to “demands” of volunteer band members.
…or just not have a band (more likely)
Color me the eternal optimist on that front. I'm not a big fan of bastardization nor am I losing institutions, but the folks I know who are choosing to try to trudge on are doing it for the right reasons; AD be damned.
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38 minutes ago, Spoon-Balls said:
finding a replacement in the next 1.5 weeks. Most band members will not return.
To speak to this, a few current alumni are trying to keep it alive contingent on demands being met, but the people I know aren't optimistic about it. My thinking is always just to outlast the a$$holes even if new ones take their place.
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37 minutes ago, Spoon-Balls said:
Sigh.
There were many points over the years where I thought Austin would finally hang up the coat and call it a day, few SLU basketball fans have put their heart and soul into every single game the way Austin has over the last ~10 years since taking over for Mike Beskala. Beskala retired from the job early, for a variety of reasons, but probably was glad to be leaving when he did. Austin was the primary reason the band was able to maintain its enthusiasm and soul for the past decade, despite continual challenges from the people that should have been supporting him. Every year something was being taken away, like playing time, space, funding for new instruments, etc. And yet, Austin was there, every single game. His passion was to make SLU basketball games a fun atmosphere for everyone. He also had a full time job and this was more akin to a volunteer position with a stipend. As mentioned above, he often paid for things out of his own pocket, but it was because of his love for the band and SLU basketball.
I like to think Austin could just set aside the lack of appropriate compensation or respect from AD because he loved what he did, but every year seemed to be a new series of issues. There were a few points back in 2017-2019 where they threatened to fire him because he was causing too many "problems" for them by pushing back on various BS (like threatening to have scholarships removed, reducing funding, taking playing time during games away, micromanaging from AD staff who were non musicians, telling us what songs we should play and ones we weren't "allowed" to, etc.). Like I said, I am very surprised he stuck around for this long, not many would have. He always had the band's back, and we had his. I doubt really anyone will show up now without Austin at the helm. He was the heart and soul of the World's Greatest Pep Band.
1. Around 2011-2012, there were a ton of students signing up to play in the band. At our largest, we were about 120 band members strong in 2013. Since around 2016 the number of students signing up for the band gradually dwindled. But many alumni, even grad students, would stay on as volunteers to help fill much needed brass sections. Hard to say the exact reasons for fewer students getting involved in band. It just seemed like there was less enthusiasm among new undergrads for any extracurriculars that weren't viewed as significant "resume boosters."
2. Yes, but often in the form of a scholarship and was often highly variable from school to school. I appreciated the small extra scholarship money, but it was never really as important as just being part of a really fun and special group of people. It wasn't really make or break for most students, and certainly not the main reason most people joined the band.
3. We received a half credit per semester. Not bad when you added it up over 4 years.
4. Only a few schools have much more substantial budgets. Places like G Mason and VCU fund their bands fairly well and pay the directors full time salaries. I think VCU band actually protested a number of years back until the university agreed to pay their director as a full time staff member. They also have many band members who are students in the music school there. At SLU we don't have a music school and most of the players don't play anywhere besides pep band.
5. Key word being "requirement." For an all volunteer band, there should be no requirements. And if there were any being levied against Austin and band members then, well, I guess this is what will happen and we will see how AD squirms now that their good thing they took for granted is now gone. But in general, it varies from school to school. You have football and non football schools. Football schools usually have the marching band AND the pep band (I knew a guy who played in Notre Dame marching full time and then pep band in the offseason). The marching band members receive a substantial stipend and scholarship, and play at various functions around the universities. It's a full time job, and extremely intense during the season. Then you have non football schools, which only have a pep band. VCU and George Mason, for example, play at a good number of their sporting events, i.e. basketball (mens and women's), volleyball, soccer, etc. But again, they are pretty well funded by relative pep band standards. Most other places just play at mens and women's basketball games.
All in all, a sad day for SLU basketball. Austin was a treasure and hard to imagine them finding a replacement in the next 1.5 weeks. Most band members will not return.
32 minutes ago, DeSmetBilliken said:I don't have great answers to all of your questions since I can't speak too much as to how other schools handle things, but I did the best I could given my own knowledge and experience. See below each of your questions.
Couldn't have stated any of this better myself, guys. Thanks for this.
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3 minutes ago, The Wiz said:
It is college basketball history in the making.
Yeah, no matter how the team is doing, it's still fun.
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16 minutes ago, billiken_roy said:
hargrove is pretty much the same player he was as a freshman. the fact he never put in the work to improve ball handling, defense, his shot, etc is not good. but then again you have to ask why the coach hasnt worked on improving that aspect of his game either.
I'd have to imagine the same reason Hasahn never got better at free throws, lol.
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8 minutes ago, brianstl said:
She wasn't here long, but it is hard to argue with Debbie Yow's track record.
Would be nice to have an AD that isn't a businessperson playing as someone who cares about athletics. A former coach would be amazing.
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1 minute ago, BC1764 said:
Pestello…another incompetent goof who botched What Should Not Be Mentioned.
I was with you up until now. Pestello has plenty to be criticized for, but May plays Grima to his King Theoden when it comes to any non-donor complaints.
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6 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:
But it’s the constantly new and unique ways to shoot yourself in the foot that they keep coming up with that makes it so interesting. So they over the years they take away the small scholarships they used to give out, then take away the tiny credit they used to give, and now expect them to show up anywhere on little notice with no pay (despite the fact that it’s becoming more and more an alumni thing do to other changes mentioned earlier). And when the band director says anything, they sweep him under the rug, nothing to see here. And the band is great, always entertaining. This isn’t an issue for Chris May, this is an issue for Dr Fred Pestello himself to address. Otherwise…
I'm out of reactions, but yes I agree.
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52 minutes ago, SLU_Nick said:
So the band members told May they can only work basketball games, and May says, “no, you’ll do more for no wages and like it!”
Band director accuses slu AD of ignoring mental health and goes nuclear on social media.there has to be more to this. Some piece of info is missing.
I assume the band is a volunteer gig, but Is the band director a paid position?
Band Director is paid. Everyone else is volunteering their time for next to nothing in return. Students used to get a modest scholarship each semester until a few years ago when they discontinued it. Pep band is/was also a class one could take at the University to go towards fine arts requirements at 0.5 a credit hour per semester. The only requirement was to show up to a certain number of games.
E: I'll add here, too, that the director uses his own money for instrument repairs, new equipment, new drums, etc. He used to have a standing P.O. at a music shop which the athletic department used to cover. Most of what you see on the stand was paid for out of pocket by his director salary, which is not much.
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14 minutes ago, Lord Elrond said:
SLU finds interesting ways to shoot itself in the foot sometimes.
They try to make themselves look smart doing it, which is the kicker.
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6 minutes ago, dlarry said:
Do other schools bands play at other events or do they just have basketball or football only bands too?
George Mason, for instance, has a basketball specific band plus several other smaller groups/ensembles to play for other events/sports. The "Green Machine" as they are called, are basketball ONLY. SLU was trying to make what used to be the basketball only band do absolutely everything with the same distribution of personnel.
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3 hours ago, Tonka said:
I love our band. Can you elaborate on what type of mental health issues these scenarios caused? I'm assuming all the mental stress came from watching this team and having to deal with staying upbeat and positive when every emotion in your body wants to run away at times. If not, I'm curious what those issues are.
The majority of the band these past few years has been alumni. Alumni have full time jobs and families and can usually attend basketball games only. If you add in trying to schedule all kinds of things last minute, engagement goes down. Athletics doesn't or refuses to understand or appreciate this, so people just stop showing up and it makes it hard for them to play anything. Add in to the fact that Athletics didn't listen to a word of their concern and the director gets burnt out but AD tried to make it look like it wasn't their fault.
Source: Was in band when I was at SLU and am still tight with current members.
- Zink and BillTheCat
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12 minutes ago, willie said:
One of the great things about college basketball (and soccer) is that it’s usually over in about 2 hours.
Hockey, too.
Happy Festivus Airing of Billikens Personal Greivances
in Billikens.com Main Board
Posted
From your lips, etc.