MTV visits my house

Well, it's been an interesting turn of events. I got a call on Sunday from a film producer for MTV who wanted to come over to my house to film my daughter and her friends as they chat.

It's for a reality show coming up about the kids in the high school marching band, called "Band Geeks". Unfortunately, it turned out that not enough parents at the school signed up for it, because they thought it would be a distraction and would affect the school's competitive ability, so it's not going to happen with our school. They may move on to try another school now. It will still have to be in Texas though, because MTV has checked around the rest of the country and the schools outside Texas don't take band and band competitions as seriously as they do here. Here, it is probably a bit over the top. Texas schools actually buy their band shows from professional companies. The music, the arrangements, the themes, the choregraphy, the whole works. You have to see them to believe it.

With our school, there are 300 kids in the band this year. They have their own tractor trailer with the School band logo on the side. When they arrive at an event, it's 6 large busloads plus the tractor trailor. There are elaborate props, gear, hydraulic lifts for solo platforms, etc. The drumline has won the national championships 10 years in a row, and so this year they are not allowed to compete anymore as a drumline. These kids practice from 7:15am to 7pm in 105 degree heat in the summer - for a month before school even starts. They play in heat, cold, and pouring rain of biblical proportions. The extreme absolute discipline they show in the performance and before and after the show is astounding and impressive. They're more like US Marines than teenagers. They are also respectful, polite, and all advanced level, first rate students academically. I was never a fan of high school band music, but this band gave me a sound appreciation for it. This is my daughter's 3rd year, and I have grown to really like it.

The directors of the band are first-rate as well. Highly professional and knowledgable, and from my experience, I would say they come across as true leaders in every respect. This is the school I wanted my daughter to attend. And this is the group within that school I wanted my daughter to belong to. These are the 'good' kids. The polite kids. The top achievers. The lessons she learns here and the standards she sets for herself here are absolutely invaluable for her for the rest of her life.

But now MTV will probably have to move on to another school because they didn't get the support and agreement they needed from this one.

Too bad, because they said some things to imply that my daughter and her friends, who all hang out at our place, would possibly be the 6 stars of the show, and some amount of the series would have been filmed at our house.
When they came in, they noticed my live band stage setup upstairs, with the large PA system, and the lighting stands, smoke machine, etc. And they noticed my recording studio, and they were asking me about that stuff, asking about my band and my music, etc.
Since the parents of the 6 would have been involved, I guess I would have been involved. I don't know if I would have been painted as the crazy dad with 20 guitars and a rock band and a recording studio, etc. or if they would have painted me as the cool dad. They could go either way and time would tell. But it's not going to happen now anyway, so the question has been rendered academic.

It did make for an interesting Sunday. Well, that and the fact that the airline lost my mother-in law at the airport last night - ah, but that's another story....