St. Aug Deserved Better Coverage Than It Got

About that weird ass article Keith Spera wrote about St. Aug for NOLA.com. Yeah. That was…what’s the word…weird.

In case you missed it, St. Aug’s band, formally known as The Marching 100, was in France for a week. They were performing in a week long D-Day celebration.

This is a historic honor for the school and the band. Clearly worldwide recognition of the band this city  knows and loves.

Spera, who apparently traveled with them, initially wrote complementary articles. He wrote articles about the band’s perseverance, about appreciative parents, and the historic significance of the trip.

Then something changed. The aforementioned weird ass article took on a different tone. The persevering Marching 100 devolved into a weary bunch that couldn’t handle a week of performing in France. And even worse, they had no appreciation for fine art.

Teenage boys just doing teenage boy things

Let Spera tell it, the kids stayed up too late. They ate poorly, spurning fine French dining for McDonald’s and Domino’s. Alleged “hot spots” within ranks popped up (because of the bad food?). Without elaborating, Spera called those spots “points of potential conflict.” Those spots required monitoring.

At one point not enough band members could be corralled to take a picture in front of the Eiffel Towel. That enough of them could be gathered for a photo op at the Louvre was described as miraculous. At one point, a lowly equipment manager had to stay up until the wee hours of the morning getting gear together.

To be fair, Spera did note that despite all the behind-the-scenes drama, the band did what the band does. They got it together and put on a hell of a performance when it was their time to shine.

But why were all those messy details necessary? Isn’t this a celebration? The city’s most prominent high school marching band is on a historic international trip. But the culminating article devolved into Enquirer type details.

Was cultural difference the issue?

Would Jesuit or Brother Martin articles contain the same negativity? Whether the details were true or not, that shouldn’t have been the assignment. Promote the band. Promote the city. Especially if the performances were on point.

If you missed Norman Robinson’s Off The Top segment on WBOK, you should check it out. That’s an example of how you commemorate the significance of the city’s most prominent band being invited to participate in a historic commemoration.

By the end of the article and the trip’s end, Spera sums up all the weariness with more weirdness. He notes that the band is set to fly home on that Tuesday. “They are ready,” he says. One can only wonder if he’s talking about the band or himself.