UPDATE x2

I hope you all got a chance to see the MRDs march in the Macy's Parade. Their appearance was short, but good. The nearly 500-strong band was the largest in the show, and proved to be a great PR asset to us after this minor annoyance.

Also, you can X the previous X-Mas list I posted here for convenience. My bro, Jeff, has devised an even simpler system, one that works for me as well.

Repost from jmu.edu!

JMU's Marching Royal Dukes Perform in Macy's Thanksgiving Parade

From: Public Affairs

The Marching Royal Dukes perform a football halftime show

Nov. 21, 2008

HARRISONBURG – The largest marching band in the history of James Madison University will represent the school in the 82nd Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade® Nov. 27 in New York City. The 474-member Marching Royal Dukes marching band is one of 10 bands performing in the Thanksgiving tradition.

The JMU band will perform "Sing, Sing, Sing" in Herald Square and other selections along the parade route. NBC will broadcast the parade beginning at 9 a.m.

The band is slated to perform between 11 a.m. and noon.

“With JMU’s centennial, what better way to celebrate on a national scope than to feature the band program on TV,” said Scott Rikkers, assistant director of bands and director of the Marching Royal Dukes. “We’re looking forward to it. It’s good for the school, it’s good for the state, it’s good for the kids.” JMU, established in 1908, is the only university in America named for James Madison, the fourth president of the United States and the Father of the U.S. Constitution.

This year’s performance will mark the marching band’s second appearance in the holiday classic. In 2001, the Marching Royal Dukes represented JMU in the 75th anniversary Macy’s parade.

The Marching Royal Dukes date to 1972 when JMU established a football program. Membership in the Marching Royal Dukes is open to all JMU students, regardless of their academic majors. About three-quarters of the band members are not music majors.

“We’ve been revitalizing the program over the past couple of years and I think there’s definitely renewed excitement about the program,” Rikkers said. “I also think, of course, the Macy’s trip is a big draw.”

Contributing to the record-size band are 320 returning band members. “I’m glad to have that because they’re the strength of our program – they are the tradition,” Rikkers said.

All 474 band members will depart the JMU campus at approximately 8 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 26, en route to New York City.

Shortly after viewing the Marching Royal Dukes in their New York appearance, local music lovers will have an opportunity to see the band live and up close in the Harrisonburg Holiday Parade Dec. 5. The band will march in the 6 p.m. downtown parade and will present a free public concert afterward on Court Square.

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Christmas List!

Ok, so I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I have been getting asked left and right what I'm hoping for this Christmas. So then I got the brilliant idea of putting a X-Mas list on this blog, so all interested parties can see it at the same time. As of yet, it is not complete, nor is it really that specific. What I'll throw out there right now are some general ideas. I'll update as my greed increases the closer we get to the holiday. Here's what I'm thinking so far:

Books: The Great Gatsby and/or Tender Is The Night--Fitzgerald has been lauded by many as producing what could be most closely considered the Great American Novel. These may be a good inspirational starting point for me beginning to write my own; One of pop-sociologist Malcolm Gladwell's books--Blink, The Tipping Point or his newest offering, Outliers. I haven't read any of these, and I'm hesitant to indulge in yuppie conventional wisdom, but his common sense views of societal phenomena appear to be in the same vein as mine; or, as always, more Vonnegut.

Music: Way to Blue--An introduction to Nick Drake, the English singer/songwriter whose ill-fated existence is, similarly to Gladwell's rise, now becoming the stuff of legend among hipsters. That's ok, the music is pretty good, very mellow, great for work--but don't listen to too much or you may wind up as depressed as he was; lastly, perhaps something by Stan Rogers(, Sarah Mac).

Useless consumer products: An electric razor/beard trimmer--I'm thinking about keeping a near-perpetual 5 O'Clock shadow, and a beard trimmer will be a must for that, but don't worry, Sarah K, having a convenient shaving instrument might inspire me to do the act even more ;). Wet-dry might be a nice feature, too.

The Office

So, we moved in to the new office right downtown on Court Square today. It went pretty smoothly, and since I had relatively little to move in, I was the first one all set. Here are some shots so you can see where I'll be working. Of course, I took these using the built in cam on my laptop, which is always difficult. I'll also be putting up a vibrant calendar and hopefully a bulletin board and some art, so the walls won't look so plain. They are a little drab as of right now, but that's ok. At least my office is well lit, even if I only have a support column and no window or closet. The photos:

It's a gravitas-off!

Now most people after the historic election we've all just witnessed would probably blog about the candidates, analyze who won and why, etc. But there's plenty of that already. Also I'm not an expert, and I don't really care about all that hootenany. What I thought would be more fun would be a gravitas-off! In this post, I'll pit my two favorite commentators of the election (not including anchors/reporters), David Gergen and George Will, and let you decide who's got more of that serious substantive je ne sais quois we seek out in our talking heads.



I find my own perspective during the election season interesting. I used to hold the view that opinion pages of newspapers and pundits on TV were worthless and, if anything, inhibitive to what media outlets are supposed to do. I ferociously opposed reading editorials and columns; I used to think, why would I want to read someone else's opinion? Just give me the facts, and I'll come up with my own.

But recently, I've found myself skimming or skipping entirely the news sections of papers and gravitating right to the opinion page (I mostly read the local DNR, the Washington Post as well as CNN.com, MSNBC.com, whatever looks interesting on Google News and, of course, the South County News). I even started occasionally reading some of Bernie Miklasz' sports columns. That's scary.

Now this could be that news reporting has gotten so nearly instantaneous that reading a full-length story in a paper or even online has become tedious, compared to quick online news blurbs or videos. (For an example of the type of presentation I think most news outlets will gravitate toward soon, check out my co-worker's news blog. Or it could be that I just find them more interesting at this point in history, or maybe something has happened in the core of who I am, like maturation. Nah, that can't be it.

I chose to watch, primarily, CNN for daily coverage and ABC's George Stephanopoulos on Sunday mornings. Upon reflection, I believe this is at least partly because the two analysts I liked to listen to most were CNN's Gergen and ABC's Will, who is a regular 'roundtable' member.

So anyway, check out the vids of each, and vote in the comments section on who you like more (though I'm sure Jeff will support a write-in candidate). If this is successful, maybe I'll do a similar post on anchors. But there's already been research on that.

And this is why my ex-boss is awesome

I have enjoyed reading the columns of my former editor Dave "Scoop" Ambrose since I first started working for him while still in college. Don't get me wrong, he is a fine news reporter and layout editor as well, but it's been the opinion of me and a few others who know him well for quite some time that he could be far better off financially if he just found a gig as columnist somewhere and did freelance or consultative graphic design for other papers. His writing and design skills have mostly been honed through decades of experience in newspapers, and they are his best skills.

But I think he just loves running all aspects of a small-town paper far too much to abandon it (despite said financial difficulties, political annoyances and managerial swamping). His 'Scoop Sez' column this week displays not only his superior writing ability but also his 'unique' personality and willingness to report and/or write about things many in rural Central Illinois might consider too "edgy."

OBAMARAMA

So now, the story you've all been waiting for--my delve into the world of national politics. Let me begin by saying I worked 23 hours over Monday and Tuesday, and I am feeling a little under the weather, so if this is in any way disjointed or confusing, that's why, and I apologize. Where to begin?

I got a call at 10:30 p.m. Friday night (Oct. 24) from my boss telling me that Mr. Obama was coming. He told me to come in early on Monday, because we'd have lots of work ahead. Monday morning, we game planned the work each member of our office would be doing. It was then I was told that I'd be writing a story for our Web site which would be accompanied by a brief video. Wanting to stay above the political fray, the story was supposed to be geared toward about how the Obama rally and a separate event, a pre-planned presentation by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) were helping to engage JMU students and community and opening a dialogue among our students, no matter their political affiliation. Our office was only allotted 5 press passes for the event, so I was very lucky to get one. I spent most of the day Monday getting a leg up on the story, conducting interviews with students and faculty, researching some local history, helping put together a fact sheet and coordinating with our video guy. My former colleagues back at COUNTRY will also be pleased to know that I spent some time stuffing swag bags for about 100 media members who would be attending. That included peeling price stickers off of JMU-branded mugs, which were terribly stubborn.

I then attended DeLay's speech, which was hosted by the JMU College Republicans. That was held from about 8-9:30. I had to be there around 7 to get some more student interviews. Thankfully, I was able to grab some rest and food between 5 and then. The speech was about how he believes the Constitution is largely informed by Christian values and how the U.S. is a Christian and blessed nation. Some of it was believable, but a lot was a little hard to swallow. I didn't really get his point, but for us in PR, it was good to have him there as a counteragent to Obama, and I did get some good soundbites from students there. Not exactly the nightcap I was looking for after what was already a long and stressful day.

Then, the big day. Let me begin by saying it didn't turn out exactly as we'd hoped, but it was still an undeniable success for JMU. We wound up on the front page of most Virginia papers and got tons of national and international exposure. Just do a Google News search for "Obama JMU." So here was the plan as it pertained to me: Go to work at around the normal time, do a little more legwork on the story and coordinating with the others in the office, including video and those who were stuck behind to answer phones, communicate with the outside world, etc. Then, around 10, the video guy and I were to head over to the arena where the rally was to be held, get our equipment set up and get the lay of the land before evacuating at 11 from a Secret Service sweep of the building. At that time, I'd planned on grabbing something to eat, getting some more interviews with students outside waiting for the event (many had begun lining up as early as 5 a.m. for the event set to open doors at 3:30 p.m.). Then, in the afternoon, head back in and get ready for the rally, handle some post-event media and get set to finish up our materials Wednesday morning. A long day in its own right.

Now, let's go to how things turned out. Morning went fine until about 10. At that time I was informed the video guy and I needed to haul the roughly 100 swag bags to the arena--not a huge deal. We did it, got there, and then I was looking for a spot to park most of my gear. That's when things soured, a bit. I was told that there wasn't any secure area set up yet for my stuff, and that I needed to leave the building, because they didn't want anybody just 'hanging around.' That was fine, as I was going to head out and get some interviews anyway, so I brought my gear (laptop, tape recorder, padfolio, notebook, general reporter's stuff, plus glasses, emergency Tylenol, etc.) outside and started chatting up some of the people outside (by this time there were already hundreds if not more than 1,000 lined up, even though according to the campaign, they would begin lining people up around 1:30). That was fine for a while, but the temperature was near-freezing with a biting wind. Having planned on being inside for most of the time, then taking a quick jaunt to a restaurant for lunch, I didn't think it necessary to bring my coat, just extra stuff to have to haul.

By 11, the crowd was flat-out large. There was no security or even roping/barriers set up to corral the growing crowd, much of which was assembling on a recreational soccer field behind the arena. Due to the lack of security, and since we were there and employees of the university, it fell to me (160 pounds on a good day), the video guy Brent (even more wiry than me) and my two middle-aged bosses to contain the crowd, growing both in number and agitation. I was helped by the fact that I was wearing my dark suit and tie and aviator sunglasses. On numerous occasions I was asked if I was with the Secret Service. I told them no, but they still seemed to listen to me whenever I told them to do something. Eventually, we got some orange road cones from the nearby rec center, and set those up to try and form some semblance of a line pattern. To make a long story short, we wound up having to do that for 4 hours. After three hours, we recruited some other (and equally poorly-suited for security work) employees from our office to lend us a hand. One was kind enough to bring me my coat, which I'd left in the office. Finally, exhausted, frozen and sore, my boss made the call that we'd done all that could possibly be expected of us and that we needed to head inside so we could do the jobs that we were actually supposed to be doing.

That's where the next mild problem occurred. The three other men from my office were able to get in the press entrance fine, just a few minutes before me. Somehow I got stuck back of them for a little while and was forced to stand in line with several other members of the media. Mind you, I had a rally-specific press pass issued to me from the advance team days before, but I did not appear on the list maintained by the volunteers running the entrance. I was told to stand aside with a group of about 20 other media people who had to wait and have their credentials 'verified.' Knowing that secret service was crawling all over, I did as I was told. For about 20 minutes. At that point, and with the encouragement of another disgruntled reporter in the same predicament as me, I "tailgated" on the back of a TV crew that was sent through to the floor. I flashed my pass and was let through without incident. In other words, I made a run for it past security--and I made it. Now some of you may be thinking why didn't I just call my boss and have him get me down there--the problem is my phone gets no service in the arena, so that was worthless.

However, once I got down there, it was undeniably exciting. I interviewed some JMU students in the crowd and a few journalism students who were in the press pit as well. After pleasantries such as the national anthem and the pledge of allegiance, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and former governor and current Senate candidate Mark Warner were introduced. They did well. Then, the man himself was introduced. Needless to say, the crowd went wild. It was electric. He opened with some pleasant and personalized joking about JMU, including the school's homecoming theme of "Duke Dog for President" (Duke Dog is JMU's mascot). But the rest of his speech was pretty much the same stump speech he's given at every one of his rallies. I probably could have recited it. NOTE: I had planned on posting the audio I recorded at the event here, but am having technical issues with it. If I can, I will update it later.)

I did not get to meet him (his people had him in and out quickly and with very little contact with our people), but I did see Richard Wolffe of Newsweek and MSNBC as well as CNN's Candy Crowley at a distance of about 2 feet, as well as several other recognizable local media figures. I'm sure there were many more I didn't see. My experience was markedly better than most of those who had hopes of getting in to see Obama, including my brother.

Believe me, JMU has been getting grilled on local blogs and our office has received many angry phone calls from people who didn't get in. Being rightfully upset but uninformed as they are, they have been blaming JMU for the deficiencies. And there were deficiencies. A few:
-Previously mentioned lack of crowd control devices/personnel
-Lack of any crowd count or cut-off point (I should mention that the venue holds about 7,000-8,000 people, and I would estimate the crowd outside to be more than double that)
-Lack of adequate restroom facilities and trash cans
-Blatant misrepresentation, by the Obama team, of requirements for entrance to the event. From the time the rally was originally scheduled, the campaign had said people wishing to attend should RSVP online. As it turns out, there was literally no use for those, other than for the campaign to get people's personal information
-Blatant lying about "tickets" for the event--This one needs some explaining. I'm not sure if they were campaign volunteers or people from a different group, but some group of people begun handing out forms to the thousands in line, asking them to fill in personal information and telling them it was their ticket in. Again, the tickets were meaningless other than to gather personal information for the group handing out the papers.

Now, both as a university PR person and as an honest person, I must state that JMU should not be held responsible for the deficiencies. Here are a list of facts about the roles of the different groups involved:
• Sen. Obama's rally was completely organized and managed by his campaign.
• The Obama campaign leased the Convocation Center and adjacent parking lots for the purposes of holding a rally.
• The Obama campaign refused to contract with JMU's Guest Services to manage the event instead saying they would use campaign volunteers.
• The Obama campaign did not provide personnel or volunteers to manage the crowds outside the venue. When it became clear things were getting out of hand, JMU employees attempted to minimize the confusion by attempting to form and maintain lines leading to the Convocation Center.
• JMU was in no way involved with the Obama campaign's event RSVP system nor do we condone the manner in which this was conducted.

So, there you go. If the story hasn't been posted to the JMU Web site yet, please check back tomorrow. I know for a fact the video is up on DukeDogTV, JMU's YouTube channel. Also check out some other stories in the JMU Newsroom if you want to see some other stories I've done so far.

Sorry for the huge story. Only fitting for a long couple of days.