By Awwww....dayum

October 17, 2007 1:24 PM | Link to this

Awwwwww dayum, not another reality show! Please, please, please DON’T DO IT!!!!!!!!

By Atlnites

October 17, 2007 1:38 PM | Link to this

Way to bounce back Dallas! Kids love the Reality show circuit and this will hithome onthe ATL front more than anything.

Pay the kids some big money too for their work. Surely your advertising will make bid dollars.

By Atlnites

October 17, 2007 1:39 PM | Link to this

Way to bounce back Dallas! Kids love the Reality show circuit and this will hithome onthe ATL front more than anything.

Pay the kids some big money too for their work. Surely your advertising will make big dollars.

By Yvette

October 17, 2007 1:40 PM | Link to this

So that’s why the film crews have been at the SWD football games. The band has lost a step but this should be interesting since it’s local. By the way,”Awwww….dayum,” when I don’t want to see something on televison, I pick up this little gadget called a remote and change the channel!

By Kimberly

October 17, 2007 1:42 PM | Link to this

I think this is a great idea. How often do local kids get to be recognized for their hard work and accomplishments. I hope the powers to be decide to move forward with this project. Kudos to SWD’s band members! I’LL WATCH IT!!!!!

By loanman225

October 17, 2007 2:14 PM | Link to this

Please pay the kids. One of the commadments should be: “Thou shalt not pimp.”

By t

October 17, 2007 2:15 PM | Link to this

I would watch it it were not a traditional band. The traditional style bands lack good tone and artistic value. It seems like all they care about doing is putting a hip hop video on the marching field. Put a band like Harrision, Lassiter, Kennesaw Mountain, or McEachern on there and I would watch. If you disagree, watch the bands, compare them and see which show is the most demanding. No comparison.

By Spanky

October 17, 2007 2:17 PM | Link to this

Wow. I’m so glad that we’re showcasing a dancing band and once again ignoring the real musicians outside of the perimeter. Dancing bands like SWD don’t deserve to be called a band with the sound that they put out. They should just have 300 airhorns out there, they would at least sound the way they were intended. Sousa rolls in his grave every time these guys play.

By GLH

October 17, 2007 2:25 PM | Link to this

Congratulations Dallas on your new show! And Way To Go SWD Panthers…

By sportsmommy

October 17, 2007 2:25 PM | Link to this

Spanky and T… drink any haterade lately?

By Leslie

October 17, 2007 2:26 PM | Link to this

I heard Perrynoid was joining this show

By LTC

October 17, 2007 2:33 PM | Link to this

It’s good they’re giving a local band in Georgia recognition. But why SWD. SWD is so overrated. There are plenty other talented band programs in Georgia.

By Phoenix

October 17, 2007 2:36 PM | Link to this

They needed to put the Mays High Marching Raiders on there. They are the best all-around band in Georgia.

By DC

October 17, 2007 2:40 PM | Link to this

Hey Dallas, I am glad to see that SWD will be on this new reality show. SWD has an outstanding band program and are always guaranteed to show up and show out. There are some other bands and percussion sections you need to consider. Some of the best that I have witnessed this year are MLK, Mays, Miller Grove & Columbia. Mays drumline has improved and is far better than they have ever been. Mr. Jackson is doing a fantastic job with those boys. I saw them perform when their football team played Stone Mountain & Columbia.

By SWD Alumni

October 17, 2007 2:43 PM | Link to this

To T and Spanky,

SWD is not a dancing band. As a graduate of SWD in 97, our first focus has always been musicianship. The band has always scored 1’s during symphonic season. I know I sat 1st chair in All-State Band all four years! Just because the band plays with a full sound, does not mean it is distorted. There are other bands that may sound distorted but I tell you it has NEVER been SWD! REAL MUSICIANS?… WOW!.. What a great comment. Your bands on the northisde are different. Different does not mean better! I put my house, my stocks, my investments that any musician from SWD can hold their own against any other band. Don’t talk about what you don’t know about. Congrats SWD. Continue to be the STANDARD!

By LDS

October 17, 2007 2:47 PM | Link to this

Congratulations SWD I saw your performance at a half-time game and you guys did a great job.

NOW Dallas you MUST take this a step further and check out MLK Jr. High School band. Taking about Drum Line…have you every saw the band performance or the drummers. They truly have a drum line act that needs to be seen by all the world! Much success!

By LDS

October 17, 2007 2:47 PM | Link to this

Congratulations SWD I saw your performance at a half-time game and you guys did a great job.

NOW Dallas you MUST take this a step further and check out MLK Jr. High School band. Taking about Drum Line…have you every saw the band performance or the drummers. They truly have a drum line act that needs to be seen by all the world! Much success!

By Cdiva

October 17, 2007 2:50 PM | Link to this

Meadowcreek High School would be a good choice.

By jes8

October 17, 2007 2:55 PM | Link to this

I was involved in band in high school and to this day the sound of a drum line makes me smile. I remember when the movie came out and while I liked it, the band style was totally foreign to me. (Sorry, went to high school OTP). I think if this initial run is successful it might open up the doors to showcase a “non traditional” band (even though to me, SWD is the non traditional one). I think it’s a great idea and I will watch it.

By dawgfam

October 17, 2007 3:10 PM | Link to this

T and Spanky….

Let me guess, you two are white, upper-middle class…right? Look, so am I and I don’t care for that type of marching band either and probably just won’t watch it.

Why come on here and take away the hard work these kids do to prepare for their fans? Are your walls so tall that you can’t handle anything outside your ALTA, wine clubs or whatever it is you have in your swim and tennis neighborhood?

I taught at Miller Grove MS for a few years and there are some great kids in that area of Atlanta…too bad people like yourself never give them a chance to show it. Now they have a chance through this TV show and again you are trying to bad mouth them. Why?

In closing, SWD is outside the perimeter…just not the portion your racist self call OTP.

By Russell

October 17, 2007 3:28 PM | Link to this

Any band that performs like the band in “Drumline” is a joke. Distorted tone, bad technique from the horns through the drumline, and then the awful booty shaking. Explain to me how this movie was good for marching band?

By llcoolj

October 17, 2007 3:35 PM | Link to this

As a member of the 1987 marching corps, I think this is a great idea! So many high schools focus on the football team and not the auxillary students who cheer, stomp, and yell through every rainy game, snow, freezes, etc. and still bang on the drum or twirl a flag. I will watch! BTW…I live OTP in the northern suburbs and love this form of performance/entertainment. Please don’t let the people who think Sousa would roll in his grave speak for all of us!

By GLH

October 17, 2007 3:53 PM | Link to this

Dallas Congratulations on your new show… Way To Go SWD Panthers!!! Make those Haters your motivators…

By mel

October 17, 2007 4:02 PM | Link to this

Demanding? Tell me, could Lassiter or Kennesaw put on a high-step show? Give me a break. Like a previous poster said, they perform different styles, but neither is better. They’re just different, and EQUALLY demanding.

I hated SWD when I was in school (I marched with the Redan Raiders Blue Thunder Marching Band, a SWD rival), but I believe they are deserving of this. I’m glad they will be representing high-step!

By SWD Alumni

October 17, 2007 4:26 PM | Link to this

I think that it is wonderful that someone is taking the time to recognize some of Atlanta’s best talent. SWD is deserving of this honor and stop trying to take it away from them. Congratulations Dallas and the Almight SWD Panther BAND. Keep up the good work

By ISIDINGO

October 17, 2007 4:28 PM | Link to this

Marching Bands are divided up into two categories “traditional” = the bands that glide heal-toe across the gridiron and typically perfom concert symphonic arrangements and move in abstract formations; “high step” = the bands that step lifting the leg to a 90 degree angel and typically perform more of your Pop, R&B, jazz, blues and more of modern music and Marches arrange by the likes of Sousa. Now that the those definitions have been laid down, let talk about Ethnicity. Your Traditional Marching bands are typically at your more Caucasian School and your High Step are typically from your Schools that have high African American populations.

High Stepping bands both on the high school and college level both have performed for dignitaries All over the world, they have performed for Royalty, emperors, open and closing Olympic ceremonies, Centennial celebrations, and not to mention Dozens of American presidents both Democrat and Republican.

I went to a High stepping high school and University and did summer camps for Traditional band playing Sousaphone. I appreciate both styles and have seen very very very bad traditional bands and Very bad high stepping bands. I enjoy the Abstract shapes of Traditional but the total experience, energy and pageantry of the High step. Both styles are not for everyone.

Dallas Austin has roots in the Historically Black College experience and that is why he chose a High Stepping Band that he is familiar with. I personally think SWD is over rated and are riding on a long gone legacy. It is more about who you know in Atlanta and SWD has remained a “friend” to Mr Austin. It is their size that gives people more of a Awe Factor more so then their music which has faded in quality over the last 10 years but I still enjoy watching them.

I hope they also cover not only the high school student struggle but they should also cover the Band Directors and the scandals that surrounds them. The mishandling of band funds, the Affairs they have with females IN HIGHSCHOOL as well as the offspring that results of those affairs If AJC really wants a story they should go deep into the administration of SWD band and see all of the extremely dishonorable behavior of its band directors over the last 15 to 20 years that has been ignored and swept under the rug by DeKalb County for Years. Just ask the Wives (both Ex and current) about the affairs with underage students, ask former students and band parents about the mishandling of funds.

Will Dallas cover the COMPLETE experience Good and Bad. The high drug use and drinking? the Hazing? The Sex? or just the Long practices and the euphoria of putting on a Crowd Pleasing performance. Not dishing dirt just want the COMPLETE PICTURE painted it is about balance of these so called Reality shows which are not so based in Reality anymore

By Archie Bunker

October 17, 2007 4:49 PM | Link to this

I’m so glad that they gave a show to a guy that almost got thrown in jail for life after he smuggled cocaine and ecstasy in his luggage. Lets continue to reward thugs, dopeheads, tramps, and heathens.

By raider

October 17, 2007 5:42 PM | Link to this

MAYS HIGH LETS GO!!! ALL WE WANNA DO IS HUMP AND SCREAM ALL WE WANNA DO IS PLAY A SONG FOR YOU!

Lets get Mays’ band a show. Have you seen our drumline this year?!!???!!!?!!!

By SWDc/o 1995

October 17, 2007 6:56 PM | Link to this

Way to go SWD band. I went to SWD in the mid ninties,and was in marching and symphonic band. Yes they have changed with the times but, I can bet my last dollar , that SWD band is still a hard working, and academic first band.Big ups to great teachers like Don Roberts and his team that made that band what it is today, A Dallas Austin’s number one pick.

By G

October 18, 2007 8:34 AM | Link to this

Kudos to SWD. Wish that Morris Brown’s band was still around so that america could see how it’s done on the college level.

I think Dallas should push forward with the band “competition” show. There too many band “exhibitions” on the high school and college level. Let’s see who’s really the best.

By Mo

October 18, 2007 9:09 AM | Link to this

I think the idea is great and I am alumni of SWD as well. I do hope that Austin highlites some other high schools since there are some other great bands. This has the potential to be a great show. And for those that are upset about his choosing SWD, watch the show and make sure it comes back so that other schools have a chance to be recognized as well. It was never said that this was a onetime deal and that SWD would always be the only choice. GEESH!! (And for those that dont know the band director at MLK is an SWD alum also)

By Mo

October 18, 2007 9:22 AM | Link to this

I think the idea is great and I am alumni of SWD as well. I do hope that Austin highlites some other high schools since there are some other great bands. This has the potential to be a great show. And for those that are upset about his choosing SWD, watch the show and make sure it comes back so that other schools have a chance to be recognized as well. It was never said that this was a onetime deal and that SWD would always be the only choice. GEESH!! (And for those that dont know the band director at MLK is an SWD alum also)

By OTS

October 18, 2007 10:15 AM | Link to this

Mr. Austin, why is this only showing on Peachtree TV and not the entire TBS broadcasting range across the country/world? I’m not big on this split TV thing (especially being a Braves fan). Being an original ATLIEN but living outside the state now, I would love to be able to see this show as well. Cudos to SWD, I attended many of their games when I was in high-school. Also, some of these other readers are right. There are other high schools & middle schools with good talent out there. My son who attends Miller Grove MS called me last week and told me the he gets to play with the HS band if they make it to the playoffs because their band was that good…..WOW!! So, please be thorough in your search for next season’s team….maybe even turn it into a band competition for a chance to be on the show!

By Dean LeTreane

October 18, 2007 10:37 AM | Link to this

Yet another overt example of the ever-present racial devide that defines the ATL. ITP is the “black” area, OTP is the “white” area. 72% of the black population of the 7 county ATL lives ITP. 85% of local media coverage (TV) is focused on the ITP. The AJC coverage of the ATL is almost entirely f******* on the ITP, with tabs for the other OTP areas (who’s coverage of those OTP counties in those tabs is pretty pathetic anyway, so why bother!). In short, it’s 2007, and the war still rages.

I’m happy for any high school, ITP or OTP, that gets any type of media coverage for the positive things that their kids are involved in. I just hope it has the end result of inspiring kids who see it to get involved, stay involved, stay clean, do the right thing, and make something of themselves.

It just sucks that nearly everything about this town has to be defined by it’s inhabitants in “black and white” terms.

By Dean LeTreane

October 18, 2007 10:37 AM | Link to this

Yet another overt example of the ever-present racial devide that defines the ATL. ITP is the “black” area, OTP is the “white” area. 72% of the black population of the 7 county ATL lives ITP. 85% of local media coverage (TV) is focused on the ITP. The AJC coverage of the ATL is almost entirely f******* on the ITP, with tabs for the other OTP areas (who’s coverage of those OTP counties in those tabs is pretty pathetic anyway, so why bother!). In short, it’s 2007, and the war still rages.

I’m happy for any high school, ITP or OTP, that gets any type of media coverage for the positive things that their kids are involved in. I just hope it has the end result of inspiring kids who see it to get involved, stay involved, stay clean, do the right thing, and make something of themselves.

It just sucks that nearly everything about this town has to be defined by it’s inhabitants in “black and white” terms.

By Bleachers Fan

October 18, 2007 11:00 AM | Link to this

Comcast Digital Cable customers can watch Bleachers On Demand. It’s the reality show all about high school football life in Georgia. Go to Get Local/High School Football/Bleachers to watch.

By bigdawg88

October 18, 2007 11:09 AM | Link to this

The reason why the musicianship is not quite as good for high-step/urban bands is that they usually have to learn a new show every week; whereas your traditional/surburban bands learn one show and run the same thing the whole season. BIG DIFFERENCE! And I marched in one of those suburban bands and there is no way most of those kids could learn a new show every week. I’d like to see a high step school learn a routine and stay with it for a whole month and then go compete at one of the traditional competitions.

By Mario

October 18, 2007 11:17 AM | Link to this

I predict it will get the same audience as “House of Payne” (excuse me, “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne”) and achieve the same low numbers. It’s a show made by blacks for blacks, and while they do watch a lot of TV, they aren’t the audience advertisers covet.

Bottom line: Some nice promotion for the school; free publicity and another huge paycheck for Dallas Austin.

And Peachtree TV still sucks.

By crass realist

October 18, 2007 11:35 AM | Link to this

As a white alum of SWD and its drum line before M2M, I am so pleased and proud of this program! I saw them in ‘Drumline’ and was highly impressed. I think it will be a great boost to a proud program!

Go Panthers!

By I'm just saying

October 18, 2007 11:38 AM | Link to this

I can’t believe some of these comments. Haters, Haters, Haters. SWD is an excellent band and those kids work extremely hard to be the best.

T’ I don’t think anyone wants to see a band walking fast, going sideways, backward, and forward. They want to see marching with high steps, anyone can walk fast.

By Bandgeek

October 18, 2007 1:41 PM | Link to this

Come on!! If you want to see a real performance, then they need to show some DCI. Drum Corps is the real deal. Forget high school “bands”…..show what “band geekgs” become after they graduate.

By SUPREME

October 18, 2007 2:00 PM | Link to this

S-W-D We Rock The House!!!!!!!!!!! Glad to see SouthWest finally get some recognition. Go Panthers!!!! Class of ‘98

By CGSaint

October 18, 2007 2:05 PM | Link to this

By Vee

October 18, 2007 2:47 PM | Link to this

T and Spanky, I pity your ignorance. I do have a question for you, though. When the Gwinnett County bands were featured in the AJC a couple of weeks (while a predominately black high school band’s picture was featured, however), you weren’t satified with that? Wow.

What’s interesting to me is that from my experience at various high school football game halftimes, I’ve observed that many fans seem to appreciate the “high-steppin’” shows more than the “traditional” shows. That’s across the racial board.

Even when I was in high school in the late 80’s as part of a predominately white band that was from a predominately black high school, our own fans booed our show after enjoying Southwest Macon’s band’s show (which was middle Georgia’s “SWD”). On our own field!

While you entitled to express your opinion, I am glad to know that everyone does not share your opinion—even those who “live outside the perimeter”.

To SWD, this non-native metro-Atlantan is proud of you!!! God bless you!

By drumdad

October 18, 2007 2:55 PM | Link to this

i’m just glad to see marching bands in general get any attention.

there are dozens of good ones around metro atlanta — both corps-style (traditional) and show-style (high-step).

in general they are filled with better-than-average students who work very hard toward a common goal of excellence. for that they ALL deserve our admiration and support.

By Brenda

October 18, 2007 4:18 PM | Link to this

Congratulatinos SWD on all of your achievements.

Mr. Austin, wouldn’t it be fair to showcase other bands that are either not as big as SWD and/or have a different style of band program? I’m sure there are other bands in Georgia, especially in the metro Atlanta area that are just as good and talented as SWD.

Let’s show the diverse metro Atlanta area everyone keeps talking about.

By SWD Band alum

October 18, 2007 4:43 PM | Link to this

I can tell u from personal exp, that SWD band program produces leaders. In addition to mastering our instruments, long evenings at practice, interacting with 300 people in close proximity, travel nationally, internationally…and still keep our grades up. We also were classical, jazz trained recieving top rankings in the county and state. The booty shaking on the field was just for fun…grab any musician from the stands and you will find high caliber talent.

The band program is a savior for many urban youth who would have otherwise been in the streets every afternoon.

Thanks Atlanta for your continued support as we have earned it! Big ups to the current band members…..carry the musical tradition.

By SWD Band alum

October 18, 2007 4:43 PM | Link to this

I can tell u from personal exp, that SWD band program produces leaders. In addition to mastering our instruments, long evenings at practice, interacting with 300 people in close proximity, travel nationally, internationally…and still keep our grades up. We also were classical, jazz trained recieving top rankings in the county and state. The booty shaking on the field was just for fun…grab any musician from the stands and you will find high caliber talent.

The band program is a savior for many urban youth who would have otherwise been in the streets every afternoon.

Thanks Atlanta for your continued support as we have earned it! Big ups to the current band members…..carry the musical tradition.

By Laughter OnToday

October 19, 2007 12:40 PM | Link to this

Let the gauntlet fall as it may. The powers that be behind this show will regret that they even let it go this far.

By Terrell Moore

October 19, 2007 12:57 PM | Link to this

congrats SWD IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING. GO PANTHERS!!!!!!!!!!!!