Austin Prime's Blog

I’m getting excited! The big concert is on Friday! This is not something you want to miss! This year we have had so much practice, and even played a concert at the Landmark Theater.

Here’s the deal. $5… 7:30 pm… Cosby High School. Buy tickets early, they are known to sell out! There are still plenty left as of right now. Get them at the front office of the school.

Broadway’s Ivan Rutherford will be singing his signature tune from Les Misérables, and two Michael Buble songs! We have 10 tunes we will be doing, and of course, our patriotic finale! …Oh, and your’s truly… will be narrating some lyrical text while the band plays American The Beautiful.

RSVP on Facebook!

The Fifth Annual Concert of The Titan Band will be held on Friday May 20, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. in the Cosby Theater. This show will be a Hollywood-styled production that promises to be a memorable evening for the entire Cosby community. A celebrity guest master of ceremonies, a professional soloist from Broadway, and the bands patriotic finale will make this a truly special evening. Tickets are available at the school beginning May 16and sell for $5.00 a seat. Due to previous sell-outs, it is highly suggested to get them early.

Our featured soloist for the evening is Ivan Rutherford, star of the Broadway smash hit “Les Miserables”. He will perform his signature “Bring Him Home” from that show, as well as “Sway” and “Feelin Good” as recorded by Michael Buble’. In addition, a wide variety of other musical styles will be covered by the band. Additional highlights for the evening include “Inchon” by Robert W. Smith—a spectacular tribute to Korean war veterans, “The Crosley March” by Henry Fillmore—from the bands unanimous “Superior” rated State Concert Festival performance, “Selections for the Wizard of Oz”, “Song for Lyndsey” by Andrew Boysen, “Sedona” by Steven Reineke, “Pachinko” by Paul Yoder, “America the Beautiful”, and the bands’ traditional and well known patriotic finale featuring the Service Songs of the Armed Forces of the United States and our National March, The Stars and Stripes Forever.

Mr. Rutherford will have his own CD’s for sale and will be available to sign them after the show.

The band will also be presented with their plaques for SUPERIOR ratings at the State Marching Festival (2 years in a row), State Concert Festival (5 years in a row), and their second Commonwealth of Virginia Honor Band plaque.

Mr. Andrew Brock, Director of Bands at Tomahawk Creek Middle, and Mr. Christopher Fens, Director of Bands at Bailey Bridge Middle will serve as guest conductors for the evening. Photos of the band and of the guest artist are available on request.

 Alright so here’s the deal… I entered CW Richmond’s VJ contest. I am now in the top 20. Tomorrow I’m going to Buffalo Wild Wings on West Broad from 6 to 10 pm for the elimination/top 4 part of the contest.

There is an audience vote for part of this contest… and I need those votes. The more friends and fans I can have there… the better. I’d really appreciate all the support I can get!

Plus… it’s no fun to be at a contest and trying to do something with no one you know. Makes it a little awk. Ya know?

RSVP on the Facebook event!

Thanks!

So let’s see. The Landmark Theater is a pretty cool place. It’s where I saw Lady Gaga a while back. It’s also where John Phillip Sousa’s band, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and many others have performed.

I’m pretty hyped about this… my high school band, The Cosby Titan Band, is going to be opening for the University of Virginia’s band at the Landmark on April 9th. The cool thing is… I’ll be doing a narration of some text with the song, America The Beautiful. Pretty exciting to be able read at the Landmark.

Not gonna lie, this is going to be the best $5 concert at the Landmark. My high school isn’t your ‘average’ high school band. We’re pretty good. Rated ‘superior’ unanimously by all of the judges at our state assessment earning us our Virginia Honor Band title.

So, let’s recap. Awesome concert from 3 schools, Cosby (me,) Hanover, and then UVA all in about 90 minutes… and me narrating. Pretty cool. Come out and see us!

The concert is on April 9th and it is open to the public. Tickets are $5 at the door. Show starts at 7:30 PM

RSVP on Facebook. Click here!

The Cosby Titan Band’s holiday concert will be on Friday Dec 10, at 7:30 pm in the Cosby High School Theater.

We will be performing all kinds of great music, and of course, some classic Christmas songs. The Cosby Jazz Ensemble will also be performing 3 songs. The concert will be followed by a reception.

Tickets will be for sale at the door for only $5, while supplies last. You are encouraged to get your tickets in advance! In the past concerts have been sold out.

Press release:

The Cosby Titan Band will present its holiday concert on Friday, Dec. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Cosby Theater. All seats are $5. The 125-member Titan Band, Percussion Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble will be featured in this concert. The show should run about one hour and a reception will follow in the school commons.

A wide variety of musical styles will be covered. The “musical menu” consists of :”The Thunderer” by Sousa, “Jig” from “English Country Seettings” bu LaPlante, “Salvation is Created” by Tchesnekov, “Sea Songs” by Vaugh Williams, “Soaring” by Shaffer, “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson, “A Fanfare for Christmas” by Curnow as recorded by the Mannheim Steamroller, and “Christmas Music for Winds” arranged by James Ployhar. The Jazz Ensemble will perform some classic big-band styled selections.

The Titan Band, in their fifth year of existence, has again earned a unanimous rating of “Superior” at the VBODA State Marching Festival this fall and is half-way toward their second ever “Commonwealth of Virginia Honor Band” award. The band also performed by invitation at a home game of the nationally-ranked football team of the College of William and Mary, and is awaiting the release of “Game Day 2010″, the Titan Marching Bands’ full-length compact disc recorded earlier this fall.

BNI Success Partners and the Cosby High School band present A Concert To Benefit Toys For Tots. Tonight at 7pm at Space Mart Self Storage. Please bring an unwrapped toy and enter to win a $100 Apple Gift Card!! Refreshments will be served and SANTA CLAUS WILL BE THERE!

I’m a proud member of the Cosby Titan Band and I’d love your support! Come out and see us, and be a part of a good cause, Toys For Tots!

5300 Commonwealth Centre Parkway, Midlothian, VA 23112
View Map | Get Directions

 

Alright Richmond… this is my last year to travel with the Titan Marching Band.

My freshman year we traveled to Florida and we marched at Disney World and at Universal Studios. This was the first time I traveled with a big group and it was probably one of the best times of my life. I haven’t forgotten a second of it.

My sophomore year we took a cruise to the Bahamas. The Bahamas was by far the most amazing trip I’ve ever been on. The food, the dancing, the karaoke, and being with friends who love to make awesome music. Can’t get much better than that.

Unfortunatly, we were unable to travel my junior year due to low interest in the trip and funding problems.

This year the Titan Marching Band from Cosby High School is set to go to the Bahamas again and perform with over 80 members of the marching band on the Carnival Sensation cruise.

To help pay for this trip we are doing a raffle ticket fundraiser. I’m working hard to sell these raffle tickets to friends and family and I’m trying to get the word out to my social media friends as well.

These raffle tickets go towards 5 gift baskets that are being drawn for at the band’s Holiday concert. (Being present at the concert is not required to win, but you should go anyway!) The baskets all have different themes. There is a sports basket, a music basket, a chocolate  basket, a salon basket, and the big one… the vacation basket! Each gift basket is worth at least $150, and I’m pretty sure they’re worth a lot more than that.

So far the baskets have all kinds of good stuff in them. The sports basket has Richmond Flying Squirrels family four pack of tickets, gift cards, Richmond Kickers tickets, two tickets to Virginia Tech vs. North Carolina basketball game, and more. The music basket has tickets to see the Wizard of Oz at the Landmark Theater in March, gift cards, guitar lessons, voice lessons, and more. The chocolate basket is full of all kinds of chocolate and gift cards. The salon basket has massages, lotions, incense, a one night at Ridgeview Bed & Breakfast in Madison, and more. The vacation basket has a two night stay in Williamsburg, an oil change, and other traveling goodies. The bags are still growing, this is just to give an idea of what’s in them.

1 ticket is only $5. 3 tickets are $10 and 7 tickets are $20. Unfortunatly I can only sell tickets to my friends in the Richmond area because shipping would be difficult and most of the items in the baskets are for the Chesterfield/Richmond area. If you would like to make a donation to my trip though, you can still do that!

If you would like to buy a raffle ticket, please send me an email here and I will get back to you very quickly. Again, please note that I can only sell tickets to people in the Richmond, Virginia area.

Don’t want to be a part of the raffle but still want to contribute? Anyone can make a donation with the ChipIn widget at the bottom of this page.

If you’re a Richmond, Virginia company and you’re interested in contributing to the baskets that’s awesome and you can contact me here.

 

About a year ago I got to meet my long time internet friends @magicmattyo (from Massachusetts) and @laura_ashley (from California.) It was so much fun!

This year @magicmattyo is coming back! In fact he’s coming in 2 weeks! When he’s here we plan to broadcast on Justin.tv and make a vlog every day like last year. (Last year’s vlogs are below.)

Matt and I are so excited for the trip! It’s going to be so much fun.

Strange’s Florist in Richmond, Virginia currently does not have any support for handicapped and walking impaired customers. Many people in Richmond, VA have disabilities that make it difficult for them to walk around as easily as they would like and some can’t walk at all.

Today, most retail stores have motorized wheelchairs or at least some type of wheelchair for their customers to use while shopping their stores. Strange’s Florist does not have anything at all.

Strange's Florist West Broad Location

As you can see, the above location on West Broad Street is a big store. Without some type of wheelchair it makes it difficult to navigate the building.

On Facebook, a Strange’s customer posted a status saying she is really upset with them for not providing a wheelchair even after asking many weeks before! Some other comments on that Facebook status include:

“I’m gonna protest,” “Never did like Strange’s. Poor customer service,” “I thought for sure they would take care of that!”

What are your thoughts on Strange’s Florist? I think it’s important that this is brought to their attention!

—Update!—

William Gouldin from Strange’s Florist contacted us and said the following:

“I spoke with Mrs. Daphne personally in April concerning the improvement. We are currently communicating with the necessary people to make this happen. I can assure you the improvement has not been disregarded as the mobility of all of our customers and families are important.

We are in the process of remodeling our front entrance at the Broad Street location with automatic doors in order to better accommodate mobility assistance products.

The communities patience and understanding are very much appreciated as well as the open dialogue which allows these improvements to be addressed.”

Thanks for getting back to us William! We hope to see the changes soon!

Today Cosby High School was vandalized with sexually explicit images. Most high schools have a ‘senior prank’ but these seniors took it a little far. In fact they took it so far that this isn’t even considered a prank. This is being treated as a criminal act.

This morning a school janitor arrived bright and early for a day at work but when he arrived he noticed the drawings he wasn’t sure what to do. This janitor is one of those that loves his job, loves the kids, and loves the place he works. He was heard telling a teacher that he wanted to do something because he did not want the students to see it.

Unfortunately due to legal reasons the school could not take down the vandalism until school was almost over.

So how does this affect a school? Well in my opinion, I think we have a great school. At first I thought it was funny. But then I thought about it. We’re here all the time. Most of us have a lot of pride in our school. It’s an awesome school excelling in academics, sports, and performing arts. So while many people find it funny, it’s not at all. We are great at many things. Many schools in the area don’t like us because of that. Now they have more to say about us other than good things. Between this and the fight last week, we’re getting a lot of negative press.

One parent noted though that many students seemed mad and that made her proud! I agree completely. Many students were ticked. More so the juniors and some of the younger more mature kids. We don’t want to be seen as the bad school when we have such a great place.

The photos below are just a tiny amount of the vandalism. The vandalism goes all the way around the entire school. There were also reports of something written on the roof of the building with red spray paint.

(click photos twice for full size)

*Photos by Austin Moore, Kirstin Parynik, and Savanah Matin

Do you think the seniors should be allowed to graduate with the rest of their class?