Odessa – The New York Times

I expect you boys to execute.

Yes, sir.

Expect you boys to play football.

Yes, sir. [MUSIC]

Go out of bounds at the 35-yard line! [INAUDIBLE]

And that’s a mojo touchdown!

Clear eyes, full hearts.

Can’t lose.

Let’s hear it, gentlemen. Clear eyes, full hearts.

Can’t lose.

Let’s go play some football! Let’s go play!

Third down.

Good evening, and welcome to ECISD Live. My name is Scott Muri, and I’m the superintendent. And it’s a pleasure to welcome each of you this evening. We have a pretty exciting lineup as our main topic tonight is “Friday Night Lights.”

And what more of an important topic could there be in West Texas right now other than “Friday Night Lights“?

We’re seeing some data that is a bit disturbing. The learning is not happening in a way that it should.

The motivator is a teacher in the building, or it is the social interaction that they have in the building, or is the extracurricular that they engage with in the building. And for some of those kids that are at risk, that doesn’t exist.

We know, statistically, that students that participate in extracurriculars, whether it’s athletics, or the band, or cheerleading, et cetera, they do better academically.

And so anything that we could do to positively keep our kids engaged in the learning process, we’re going to do.

[CHEERING]

[CHEERING]

I have a question for you. How important is football to you, Joanna?

It’s not important at all to me. [LAUGHS] Like, the sport, it’s not important to me at all. I don’t understand it.

Honestly, I’m not going to lie, O.H.S. football kind of — they’re not great.

We never win a football game.

That’s right. Time for a battle over at Ratlif Stadium. Odessa High looking for its first win of the season.

So we kind of just go for the entertainment. We know we’re not going to win.

Odessa High back to punt, can’t handle the snap. [WHISTLE] And it would be down at the second quarter. How’s that for a short field? A penalty — O.H.S. with negative 78 rushing yards according to the stats.

They’re running, but the football slips. I’m like, how can that happen? You literally have it in your hands.

— beating Odessa 49-0.

45 to 7.

62 to 17.

I was so close.

I was really pulling for them tonight. Man, Odessa High had a halftime lead. We have a few Odessa High Broncos in our newsroom. They were so pumped, but man, [INAUDIBLE].

And it just makes me mad, so I just don’t even watch it at all.

Tough loss for Odessa High right there. [MUSIC]

Well, the football team kind of doesn’t like us, because we kind of steal their attention. I’ve seen a lot of tweets, or something like that, like, I just go for the band, or I just go for the drum line.

Because we get more wins than they do. We have a lot of trophies, more trophies than they do. [LAUGHS] I’m bashing my own school, but it’s OK.

[MUSIC] When it comes to a successful band programs in the basin, there’s one name you can’t leave out, the Odessa High Broncos. And after last night’s UIL competition, they made sure you knew why.

The first band in conference [INAUDIBLE] is the Odessa High School band.

Odessa High School, division I. [CHEERING]

Odessa High School, division I. [CHEERING]

Odessa High School, division I. [CHEERING]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I was hearing that people are losing their jobs. And so I didn’t think it would happen to us, but it did.

Yeah, sometimes I would forget that I would have school, so I would have to go to the bathroom and try to sign in and everything quick as possible, and then rush back outside to work.

[PLAYING MUSIC]

Please have your music out. I know you’re still learning.

One, two, three, four. Where are we going? [INAUDIBLE] And it’s Monday morning. Where are we going?

[INAUDIBLE] [MUSIC]

Listen and lock in, snares. Got to listen.

Four, three, two, one.

Yeah, online school is very, very stressful. But I love band so much.

You got to let that football team know you’re out here just like they are.

Have them say to each other, God bless, I’ve missed our band. I don’t think they’re saying that right now.

Well, Mr. Olague, he’s the coolest person you’ll ever meet.

[INAUDIBLE] you’re not scared of anymore. Good for you, sweetheart.

He’s really funny —

Diggity-diggity, bop, boom, stop.

He jokes around a lot.

Thomas knows where it’s at.

So he’s kind of made an impact on everybody, especially on me.

One, two, three!

Jimmy?

Hi, how are you?

Hey, good, we’re doing good.

Awesome. Sorry about my hair, I need a haircut, ladies.

You sort of have a faux hawk thing going on.

[LAUGHS] Yeah, it looks better when it’s cut right. Yeah.

Like, you got snares going — [SCATTING] And bass drums. [SCATTING] And tenor [SCATTING]

You know, these guys, boy, they put that drum on and they think they’re God’s gift to this earth.

Thomas Chavez.

Thomas Chavez.

And I’m known for doing stupid stuff.

This kid is my clown.

My name is Zachary.

Zachary Bode is my senior.

I’m known for being the one that’s always messing around.

When he speaks, he speaks so darn loud.

Yeah, I know, I heard him.

So we’re always going, Zach, why are you yelling, man, why are you yelling. And, oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know [INAUDIBLE]. Zach, any idea where Braulio’s (sp) at?

John Alex is very soft spoken, very quiet young man.

I’m known as the shy guy in the band, basically.

When he plays, he looks down a lot. So I’m always on him to get his head up, to look out at the crowd, and so forth. We were all excited a couple of years ago when he finally got a girlfriend. We were like, oh my gosh, yay, good for you. You know, hopefully that’ll open you up, and get you talking more, and so forth.

I’m a man of few words.

I want them to learn how to work hard and continue striving and pushing themselves so that they could have a better life than what maybe they have now.

I just I really enjoy the family that we have made here.

We spend a lot of time together, and mostly everyone’s your family.

It’s time to go home, And man. I’m tired of seeing these kids. Put your stuff up, please, and stand.

We met with our school, and our administrators were like, look, can you figure out something to do so that the kids are still participating, and also have a little something to present at a football game?

So that’s when we knew, OK, looking at our schedule, wow, we only have four home games.

Why is that worth the risk? Like, with only four games to prepare for and to play at, why is it worth having the marching band at all?

Well, we still have a job to do. There’s a lot of kids here who really love this. Some of them really need this. We knew we had to keep them involved, and we wanted to plan something to work towards. I mean, some of these kids, this is all they have. [MUSIC]

So I have never had friends growing up. Girls were mean to me in elementary. Everybody had their own groups, and I was just kind of by myself.

My brother was in band, and so I would go to the rehearsals in the mornings, because I didn’t have a ride because my parents would have to go to work. And so he would take me with him. And it would be 7:00 in the morning, and I was still half asleep sitting outside and just watching them, you know, goof around and just have a good time. And I guess just the whole environment was just — I just wanted to be in that type of environment where your friends are basically your family. And that’s what I kind of saw.

I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say this because I don’t know if Olague’s going to hear this, but I don’t really know how to read music. [LAUGHS] I kind of just look at the music and I have an idea. And then once I start playing it, I kind of just get a feeling on how it’s supposed to sound like.

I remember hitting some notes, but most of the notes I kind of missed. And so that’s when I was like, I blew it, so I’m not going to make it. So that’s when I missed even more notes, and yeah.

I remember, yeah, she didn’t make it. So she was very concerned and disappointed. She wanted to be on one of those drum positions.

Well I wanted to cry, because I was embarrassed. No, I thought it was a bad instrument. You know, it’s kind of embarrassing to be in cymbals.

[CYMBAL LINES]

I said, and let’s learn those visuals. You know, let’s borrow from these groups.

I never thought you can flip them and do all these crazy tricks with them.

[BAND PLAYING]

And sure enough, they had a list of different videos that they saw that they enjoyed. And so they were showing me. I said, OK, so did you understand what they’re doing? What kind of — I believe that move is called this, let’s look this up.

The start of this visual will have you initiate movement from your right shoulder and elbow just as if you were —

It’s all in the wrists. And so you kind of usually hit yourself, so you pinch yourself, and so you get a lot of bruises. But it’s worth it.

They became the flash and the color of the drum line.

I just fell in love with cymbals.

My first year in drum line, when it was our first drum line get-together, I guess I had the group chat on mute because it would get pretty annoying. They’d start blowing up. And so I got a private message from Mario, and he was just texting me like, hey, are you coming to the party, we’re all going, and you’re not answering. So we are just all wondering if you’re going. So that kind of made me, you know — it felt great to finally feel like people actually want me there.

So the next year, it was time for auditions, and I said, Joanna, what are you going to try out on. She says, I want to stick on cymbals, I want to stay on cymbals. I’m like, OK. So that, in turn, has become — you know, this is the third year now — it’s what they have been doing. So guess what, Joanna? You’ve just made something that’s going to become tradition for us.

So it taught me a lot, not just about music and band, just about life. And Olague’s been really good about that. He’s given me a lot of life lessons and yeah.

What do you think he taught you?

He taught me about self — self-worth. Is that how you say it?

Yeah.

Yeah. [MUSIC]

That first row, guys.

Get your hands up. I need to hear the drum.

Yeah, that baritone is still late for some of you.

I can’t believe that you can’t hear and play in time, buddy. I don’t understand.

I’m very nervous, yeah. I think we’re all stressing.

You know why you missed it? Because you were out of step. I told you. I don’t know how to tell you how — that you need to get this learned.

I’m yelling at him because I know that they’re not giving me their all, that they’re not trying their best, that they’re just going through the motions. That’s what I’m focusing on. If they perform well, it’s going to make them feel better. And when we’re together, we only have a certain amount of time to get it there. And when they start not giving us their best, that’s when I get really irritable.

One note at the end.

Oh, “Lose My Breath?”

Who made this song popular?

You?

No. This is from an actual song. Ever heard of a female singer named Beyonce?

OK, she was in a group before she was Beyonce. What was the name of that group?

Destiny’s Child.

Joanna, say it louder.

I hate these frickin’ masks.

It’s like you have music in front of you, but you’re not reading it. Do you have it upside down, or what? Did you flip it inside out? You’re not that good.

Today went so much better. We were able to stop and actually clean now. OK, let’s work on this section because it’s not sounding very good yet. So we got to spend time to clean certain sections of versus. All right, go to the next move. Go to the next move. And it’s gotten a lot better. Thank you for your time. Pick everything up. Don’t leave anything here. Yes, sir. [INAUDIBLE] tomorrow morning.

How do you feel about the fact that tomorrow is the first game?

I’m excited. I’m ready for it. I don’t want the night to end.

There’s this one tradition that we have. We actually hide gummy worms, sour gummy worms, in our hats.

We had to go through the whole show without eating it. [LAUGHS] And so after the show, it’s all soggy and kind of just in these small pieces.

You have to be there, I guess.

And so I’m very excited for that part. [LAUGHS]

OK, good luck.

Thank you.

We can’t wait to hear it.

Bye.

Ratliff Stadium in Odessa will be empty tonight. If you were headed out for Odessa High’s game, we have some bad news. The game against Lubbock Monterey is canceled, and that’s after a Bronchos football player tested positive for Covid-19.

No actually, people might call me dramatic. But I kind of did tear up, mainly because I thought about — we already don’t have much of a marching season, our competitions. I was just thinking of how much has been taken away from us. And then yet another thing. I was very excited, so —

I’m so sorry about that, Joanna.

Yeah, I was sad because we actually bought the gummy worms for later in the game. And so we had already bought everything, so —

Well, at the smoothie shop, I would get paid $8.50. And so Best Buy, they start you off at $15 an hour. So if I get good hours, I would make pretty good paychecks.

My dad, he was trying to get his unemployment. But he had a lot of trouble with it.

Well, my grades aren’t looking good right now. My mom got in the mail today. And I got in trouble.

But —

What do you mean she got in the mail today? What did she get?

One of my teachers sent out my grades. So he kind of told on me. But that’s OK. [LAUGHS]

I feel like I haven’t learned anything in school. And I feel like it would be hard for me to go into something that I don’t really have an idea what’s going on. And so I kind of just want to have an easy path and study cosmetology. That’s always been my plan B. So I feel like that’s kind of turning into my plan A.

Well, I guess I kind of started looking at the reality of how hard it is to get into good colleges and how expensive it is. That’s another thing. I know I wouldn’t be able to pay for my college all by myself. And I would need help from my parents. And I don’t want to ask that from them because they’re already struggling enough.

Last year, do you think that you would have thought maybe they could help me?

Yes, I did think that. [LAUGHS]

Hey, we’re all here.

Good morning, ladies.

Tell us what happened.

Well, we were adding some different choreography to the show just to spice it up and so forth. And we’re rehearsing right now. In fact, I’m sitting in the truck looking at them go through different sets with music and so forth. And so yeah, I mean we were in the middle of rehearsal. I don’t know if I can hear the band playing in front of me.

No, we can’t hear.

OK.

Can you hold up your phone?

Yeah, I will roll down the window a little bit.

So when I turn around, I see that it’s the ECISD police. And she quickly grabs my attention and waves me to her car. So I said, yes ma’am. And she says, the nurse is trying to get ahold of you guys. Y’all need to call the nurse. I’m like, OK, so quickly, mentally, you’re like, all right. I think I know what this is about. And then you’re like, damn it.

We had a student who tested positive for Covid in the band and was in rehearsal last week.

And then she asked me questions. Do you think this person has been in close quarters or close in spacing? And I said, no. Our drill writer wrote six feet or more for each kid so every time we move, they’re keeping a safe distance.

Do the kids know anything about what just happened?

No, they don’t know anything.

And so what happens next?

Now, we release them. If they are going to school on campus today, then they go to the main building, to the band hall, put up their stuff, and get ready for their second period class. And if they’re going home, then they wait for their parents or whoever’s picking them up to take them home. Some of these kids drive on their own. Now, you’re just crossing your fingers hoping that it’s just this one person and not a group in the band.

So you don’t know who exactly this band member who has tested positive has been in contact with, but —

No.

— still kids are going to class? I’m just wondering with that in mind, why not just tell the whole band, do remote school for the next two weeks?

For the next two weeks? Yeah, well, I mean, that’s the thing. If they do remote school, then they wouldn’t be able to come to rehearsal as well. So I understand your question.

Yeah.

But the nurse has or will contact these kids being exposed. They’ll go ahead and them home or whatever and do what they need to be doing.

Right. Thank you, Jimmy. Good luck.

You’re very welcome. Thank you. All right, ladies. Y’all have a great day.

All right.

OK.

Bye-bye.

All right.

Bye.

Welcome, Bronchos! [CHEERING]

[INAUDIBLE] of the year. Let’s go! [CHEERING]

Now, let’s hear from our Broncho band. Here we go. [CHEERING]

(SINGING) Oh say, can you see —

Good morning. We just ask that you show up tonight, you be loud, dress warm. Let’s go kick some bulldog butt. [CHEERING]

Bronchos 6, Bulldogs 0.

[INAUDIBLE] end zone for the Bulldogs touchdown.

Well, we’re losing. [LAUGHS]

Bulldogs, 14. Bronchos, six.

Pass the gummy worms, bro.

Don’t bite it. Don’t chew it. Just [INAUDIBLE]. Keep it in your mouth the entire game.

There’s really no purpose, but I don’t know. It’s fun. [LAUGHS]

Ladies and gentlemen. the Ector County Independent School District and Odessa High School are proud to present the award-winning Odessa High School Broncho Marching Band.

They start moving their first movement. And we were like, OK, everybody remember to move. Nobody stood still, so thank God. So far so good.

The drum line starts sounding good. OK, they’re together. And the band’s sounding really good. They’re playing nice and loud. And then the soloists start coming up and start playing. And they’re getting a good crowd response after each soloist. So I’m like, OK. They’re doing it. They’re doing what we’ve been working on.

Seeing the drum line move to their formations and then line up in the middle of the field. And I’m like, OK, they’re about to move up forward, which means here comes the drum break. So that’s when I get excited because that’s my baby right there.

So the snare drums do their little thing and play. And then the bass drums do their thing and play. And while that’s happening, the cymbals are back there doing twirls and visuals and so forth.

When you’re down there in front of it, right there in the middle, and it’s just hitting your face, you’re like, oh this is — life is good right now on Friday night in Odessa, Texas.

was a lot of good things, man. I’m proud of you. Good job. It’s great to play for people [INAUDIBLE]

And they did great, did great. For the first one, it’s really neat. They had a great response, man. That’s what we’ve been waiting for, for them. So they feel good.

And stop. They just scored. Keep an eye on the [INAUDIBLE]

It looks like we’re going to lose this one.

It’s the spirit that counts. That’s all that matters.

[INAUDIBLE] tonight’s game. On behalf the city of Odessa —

Good evening, my fellow Americans. Tonight, I’d like to talk to you about where we are as we mark one year since everything stopped because of this pandemic.

Let me be clear. That doesn’t mean everyone is going to have that shot immediately. But it means you’ll be able to get in line beginning May 1. Every adult will be eligible to get their shot.

After this long, hard year, that will make this Independence Day something truly special, where we not only mark our independence as a nation but we begin to our independence from this virus.