It’s been John Philip Sousa Week over at Old Picture of the Day blog. He’s been featuring old photos of the March King, and some of his marches. Yesterdays march was one I was not previously familiar with, but it’s fabulous for one of Sousa’s lesser known marches:
If that doesn’t supplement your morning coffee, I don’t know what will. I have an interview late afternoon today, with a company that makes a network monitoring product. This job would involve more low level programming, basically writing, analyzing and debugging device drivers under FreeBSD. I’d also be doing a lot of performance analysis, and development work on high-performance storage arrays. If I understand what they are looking for correctly, which I’m not sure I do, this job would take me back more into the engineering realm, My last position was more high-performance computing, general IT, and some high-level programming, supporting pharmaceutical research.
I’m trying not to pigeon hole myself. I’m willing to look at jobs that are different, even if it means a substantial pay cut, if it gets me into an interesting career path. We shall see.
Ah, Mr Sousa. I hadn’t heard that one before either.
On the job front. NYS has an ad out proclaiming the up to 50% of applicants can’t pass the pee test. I’m not suggesting this is your problem but more of a general warning to others looking for work.
With all 4 of my kids coming or going through school bands, I have heard them all! He was quite the musical genius.
At this point of a bad economy, a bad job is better than no job. Plus they always say it is easier to get another job when yo already have one! Good luck!
Best of luck with the new opportunity. As a software performance guy, that sounds pretty appealing.
Ahh, JPS, the man that wrote 100 marches that all sound the same.
Good luck with the interview.
My favorite Sousa march, since we’re under the Obama administration these days, is this one. You will recognize it as the theme of a particular TV show. That show was comedy at the time, but has since come to be seen as prophetic. We’re there now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6Dd0EaEbqg
My commute always included tapes of pipes, drums and military bands. Sousa would play a major part in any commute.
Once my Smarter Half (NOT a morning person) started commuting with me I quickly chose a more sedate genre.
My Smarter Half kindly repays me by buying tickets to Regimental band tours.
“Nobles of the Mystic Shrine” is the March.
Ah, yes! I used to own the Mercury recording of the Eastman Wind Ensemble playing that! Frederick Fennell conducting, I believe. That “Jingling Johnny” part will wake you right up, for sure.
I think my favorite Sousa march is “Fairest of the Fair”, though.
There is a Sousa march for any occasion. I believe that on Clinton’s Inauguration, a band marched past playing “The Bride-Elect.”
W. missed an opportunity on his Second Inauguration when he failed to have The President’s Own play “Daughters of Texas”, one of Sousa’s best.
I absolutely refuse to listen to, or to play, the Washington Post March.
Semper Fidelis, and The Stars and Stripes Forever, I will be happy to hear until my ears hurt.
P.s. That band, could they have gotten away with it at the Clinton inauguration, might better have played “Our Flirtations”, another excellent Sousa march.
ISTR that JP Sousa is in the Skeetshooting Hall of Fame. Or maybe Trap, I can’t tell the difference…