Yep, the Honda BOTB is back home in the peach state after a year’s hiatus. As excited as I am as a bandhead for its return, I’m also interested in seeing how the event will be received again after being gone from the scene for a year. With the growth of other regional and national showcases and events, there are more opportunities for more programs to perform in front of large audiences. 2019, in particular, has seen the visibility of the craft continue to grow and spread into other areas of mainstream entertainment in the U.S.
That increased familiarity and exposure to audiences has also resulted in what could be perceived as the craft reaching a plateau, in terms of creativity. THAT topic in itself is something that’s gonna be tackled in earnest in another edition of VFTS. Right now, Honda is the next big thing on the calendar for fans and band heads alike, so let’s take a closer look at this year’s event.
For the folks that aren’t familiar with the Honda BOTB selection process, here are the cliff notes:
It’s fan-driven.
Every year, the folks at Honda dust off their website, open it to the public and invites fans and supporters to vote for their favorite band programs. It’s entirely subjective, of course, but it’s been a driving factor behind the event’s popularity. This year’s finalists for the shindig are as follows:
Each of the listed programs has had an incredible 2019. Each of the listed programs is more than worthy to make up this year’s field.
Of course, there’s always some consternation when it comes to the final draw for Honda. The very nature of the selection process for the event kinda fuels the endless debates over who ‘deserves’ to be repping there and who doesn’t. At the end of the day, the showcase is a prime exhibition for the legacy and culture of HBCU Marching Bands. That being said, maybe it’s high time that we take steps to creatively take our performance art to the next level for audiences, as well as future bandsmen. We’re competitive by nature. The uniforms we put on every Saturday are no different than pads and a helmet when it comes to the competitive nature of what we do. It just might be time for purveyors of the craft to embrace our collective competitive history a bit more.
Vehicles like The Honda Battle Of The Bands are still extremely important to the spread and exposure of HBCU Band Culture, but the Honda (and events like it) may very well be enhanced with a baseline present to drive the standard of performance up. The Undefeated’s weekly program rankings are a step in that direction. The future may very well see events like the Honda part of a greater framework to establish a competitive medium for the craft to evolve and flourish.
In this humble blogger’s opinion, that evolution is something that’s way overdue.
Until Next Entry
#ProtectTheHistory
#PreserveTheCraft
Awesome!!