Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Macy's On Peachtree

Updated: 11/26/08
I am headed to New York to chase my son down somewhere in Times Square. He called me Monday asking me where Ollie’s Noodle House is but I had to warn him it had moved to 10th Avenue. He and the rest of the Georgia Tech Marching Band are painting the town red trying to get as bleary-eyed as possible before they have to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

This is the 100th anniversary of the GT Band and they wrangled an invite to New York out of the occasion. It’s been a big season of prep work for them. When I was in Atlanta for Parent’s Weekend, they had coaxed the city officials to close the section of West Peachtree Street next to the Civic Center MARTA station.

The band needed to send the Macy’s folks a video of the performance so the talking heads could have a script written on what to blather on about. So the street closing doubled as a dress rehearsal. The event went so far as to paint a star in the middle of the road, measuring it out as meticulously as a freshman drafting class.

We had to catch a plane home before the big video production commenced, but I did snag this snippet of practice.



So, wake up early (or set the Tivo) and keep an eye out for my kid marching down Broadway. He’ll be one of the saxophone players on the left side (as they are marching). And wave to him if you are in the crowd. I know I will be.

Update:
The band will be on Fox and Friends this morning (Wednesday, Nov 26)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What! You didn't stay in New York City?

Watching the Macy's Parade is a fantastic experience that you need to do at least once in your life, and having your kid on the march is one of the best ways to do it. Bring a thermos of hot beverage, 'cause the bodegas are a little more sparse up there.

When I went a few years ago (first time I went was as a Baltimore resident, go figure), we staked out a spot in the 60s on Central Park West, so we got the whole thing about a half-hour before anyone on TV saw it.

yellojkt said...

This was just the dress rehearsal in Atlanta. We are definitely going up to New York.

Anonymous said...

That's so cool! I hate watching the parade on TV now that's it's turned into commercials for bad musicals - but I'll tape it in his honor.

mostlylurking

Mooselet said...

I don't think we get the parade here but that's really cool!!! Congrats and I hope he has a good time.

Anonymous said...

We will be watching.