UPDATED: September 2, 2010

The California Experience winners are announced at the link on the left. Those not selected have been sent an email from me. I want to take this moment to thank everyone that participated and only wish more spots were available.

Since I will be traveling to Indiana for the Notre Dame game, there will be no updates here until Monday 9/6. But, then, I'll have lots of material from the bands performance in South Bend.

A quick hello to our bandfan followers from Terre Haute. After the Lafayette area and Indianapolis, you are next in the most number of visitors here.

Merribeth Cox, our Golden Girl, is one, if not THE BEST. Here is a video of her performing at the band camp Saturday performance.

IBTW, if you ever need some web design work, I can strongly recommend the lady that designed this format. You'll see a link to her web site at the bottom of each page on this site. It is www.heckawebdesign.com. She is very competent about anything involving the internet. This site uses Dreamweaver, but she is knowledgeable about others.

Here is another video from the band camp Saturday performance.

Meet Meaghan: You'll see a link on the left "Meaghan's favorites". Meagan does work with me both when I'm on campus, and more importantly, when I cannot make the trip to Indiana. I just posted a few band camp photos she took on her link. Expect more; check them out as she is a very good photographer. Meaghan is another BANDFAN and is a junior at purdue.

Here is a video of the band demonstrating a marching fundamental at their band camp Saturday performance.

Purdue University All American Marching Band from james wallace on Vimeo.

The band plays Hail Purdue on its way to its Saturday band camp performance while marching down 3rd street on campus.

Here is a video of the band marching down 3rd street to their Saturday evening, band camp performance. Every Friday the band wears this uniform, black shorts, their official band baseball hat, and their gold day shirt. This is what they will look like each Friday during the season.

California Experience: If you applied, you can get updates and info on the link at the left of this front page. The deadline has passed for applications.

Some random photos from band camp

Here are a few photos of the Trumpets at their fountain concert. What a way to "cool off" while playing Hail Purdue and Hail Fire.

August 23rd: Soon now I will be cleaning up this front page by deleting text and photos so if you see any photos you like, download them now.

Friday the band went through their game day routine starting right after lunch. They walked from the drill field to Slayter Center, then to Ross-Ade stadium and to the Engineering Fountain where they hold their post game concerts. The day was hot, and humid and so, after practice, as is their tradition, many cooled off under the cool water of the fountain. Here are some photos that I think are fun. (BTW, trumpets, I have photos of your fountain fun as well which I'll be posting here soon)

August 22nd: This site had 556 visitors yesterday. They came, in descending order, from these Indiana cities: West Lafayette (no surprise huh?), Indianapolis, Lafayette, Fishers, Warsaw, Zionsville, Kokomo, terre Haute, Notre Dame (I assume that means the university and not the town of So. Bend) and Bloomington (hello IU).

I'm working on photos and videos from yesterday, and many still from during the week. Expect lots of updates this next week. I'm going to start posting nine new photos each day here on the frontpage, so check back everyday to see a new group. As well, I'll be posting photos albums on the photo drop down menu above later in the week.

Someone asked, can you expect updates to this site more than once a day, and the answer is yes, sometimes, depending on my schedule.

On Friday, the band went through their game day routine, from their pre- game concerts at the Slayter center to the North Stadium concert, then into Ross-Ade and finally the post game concert at the fountain. Here is a video of them playing Hail Purdue at Ross-Ade stadium, and for those parents who have never been there, a 360 degree look at the stadium at the same time.

Saturday evening the band will perform at the drill field for parents and interested spectators. For those parents whom, because of distance cannot attend the performance, I will be videotaping most of the show so you can see it here at purduebandfan.

Here is a video of all of the 2010 band camp members marching back from the drill field to Elliott Hall of Music. Sadly, some of those marching will not make the band and this will be their last marching band experience for 2010. Many however will choose to play in the many other band ensembles that Purdue offers, and an elite few will be back next year even more determined to make the AAMB. I can tell many stories of those who would not quit.

August 19th update: I'm close to solving the photo resizing issues. Problem is, while I'm doing that I'm not out with the band, but no worries, I've got tons of good photos to work with. And, I'll continue to upload videos. There are three photos on this page, just scroll down, and you should be able to expect more later today for sure.

(Later that day). The sad part of camp is about to begin. Friday morning some students will find out that they did not make the band. My heart goes out to them. It wasn't for lack of effort. I saw the perspiration on all of their faces and the backs of their shirts. I can tell you many stories of students who did not make the band their first try and went on in future years not only to make the band, but to become student leaders. And, it is the student leaders that make all of this happen. The number of band staff is miniscule compared to the 400 plus students at camp. Not to take anything away from all of the competent band staff, but the student leaders make this happen. That should be evident from the many videos I've posted on this site to date, with more to come.

(later even: these are long days. I should mention that if you want a larger resolution size of a photo posted here send me an email to jim@purduebandfan.com and I will send you the larger resolution photo. I will need the properties id of the photo. And, at the end of the season, send a hard drive as mentioned elsewhere on this site.

Here is a fun video of the clarinets introducing themselves.

In the meantime, here is a video of the band playing "Strike up the Band". They are practicing their music under some large oak trees as there are too many band members this year to fit into their normal inside rehearsal room. Unfortunately, that is going to mean that the number that won't make the band will be higher than normal, and this even when jay is expanding the number of members in the AAMB.

Meet the members of your 2010 Golden Silks (aka flags). The band began playing, which makes it difficult to hear the last few members introduce themselves. So, I have a separate video of them that I'll post later.

Okay. I am close. These photos are not all resized correctly, but its a start. More to come.

PHOTOS. PHOTOS. WHERE ARE THE PHOTOS? I was asked that question today from a veteran of this site. Good question. The answer is the software I use to resize the photos so they are suitable for the web is giving me fits; I can't get the photos resized such that they look decent and this is the same software I've used for years. Anyway, I'm trouble shooting same and am confident the 1500 photos I've taken can be posted soon. In the meantime, I'll continue to post videos.

Today the weather continued to be great. The morning started out at about 68 degrees with a slight breeze. It warmed up to about 85, but the humidity was acceptable and given some previous uncomfortable band camp days in prior years, this was delightful.

A few notes:

I'm aware that when you click on the photo drop menu above and start looking for 2010 photos that that page is not yet functional. It will be soon. In the meantime, I'll post photos here, or elsewhere.

When I take photos and videos, at times, I'm just trying to let someone know what it "looks like", as if you were there, as opposed to a work of art with the video or photos. Especially those parents who cannot attend but want to see what their son/daughter is going through. Often I post a video for that reason alone.

this is a video of the Lee Hazelwood song "Proud to be an American" that the band is rehearsing for their 9/11 half time show.

Here is a video of the entire band on the first day returning students returned to campus. This video is at one tempo; I'll post another of the same formation at a different tempo.

Here we have Hail Purdue at a different tempo

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DID YOU KNOW: If you type the words band fan in Google what the number one result is? Try it.

First, let me welcome all those new visitors to this site. During band camp, you can expect daily updates of photos and videos. The only problem I have is the current hotel upload speed to the internet is very slow, so I'm looking for a better, faster solution so I can put more content here. That shouldn't be a problem. (Edit: I continue to have difficulties uploading more than one video at a time ....I'm hoping this gets solved soon)

If you are a first time viewer, you might want to poke around the site to see what is here, as well as the link on the left pertaining to first time visitors. This front page will change often, so I always encourage people to check in daily to see if there are new photos/videos posted. I try to leave photos on this page a day or two, but I can't guarantee same. Also, this site is not dial up friendly, for which I apologize, but it would be too limited in size for me to satisfy those needs.

thanks for stopping by and I look forward to another GREAT marching season for the Purdue All American Marching Band.

I continue to have difficulties uploading videos at the hotel, but not at Starbucks. Here is a video of freshmen learning marching techniques.

You'll see here some of the freshman clarinets working on their marching drills.

Here the freshman and student leads work together for the first time. Not bad, considering this was at the end of the very first day of camp.

Here is a look at the Golduster Dance Team and the Solo Twirlers as they introduce themselves at the Golden Steps Dance Studio

Now, here is a fun look at the same thing. In past band camps, because I've been on the drill field most of the time, I've often missed the dusters as they are off elsewhere practicing their dance routines so thought I would start this year off with a bit more coverage of this great dance team. Also in the video this is your chance to meet all of the solo twirlers as well.

Here is a video I took Sunday night of some of the freshmen at their first marching practice.

Here is a video of the new freshmen and, in some cases, their parents attending orientation Sunday evening.

I Just posted some new info on the California experience. click on the link on the left of this frontpage. You will find the application at the bottom of that page. Application dates are also indicated on that link.

Just a FYI, if this site ever crashed, I would be posting information on my twitter account, which is purduebandfan (surprise!). You would need a twitter account to follow purduebandfan, but its free and easy to use.

Want to travel to San Francisco during the October fall break? If you are a Junior or Senior and are interested, check the link on the left.