>> 10. Harvard roadtrip - it was so cold that the doors on the bottom of > the bus froze, and we couldn't get our instruments out until right before > gametime. We huddled together in one of the endzones before halftime, and > when it was time to go on, we all decided to bag the written entrance, and > just shuffle onto the field as a big blob (with Oonie Ryan, the flag bearer, > in the middle). We figured it would look OK, and we could stay warmer for a > little while longer. >

> > 9. Another Harvard roadtrip - we had written a really bad halftime show > that week, and decided on the bus on the way to Harvard that we would do the > entire show in Spanish (long story, but it was based on a funny series of TV > commercials that were popular at the time). We had a clarinet player in the > band who spoke fluent Spanish (Jasmin Schwartz), but the voice (Andy > Winston) didn't speak a word of Spanish. He was also very, very drunk on > Friday night when Jasmin tried to teach him the show phonetically. Come > Saturday morning, still pretty hungover, Andy took his best shot at phonetic > Spanish, and eventually gave up and read the show in a weird combination of > English/Spanglish/Spanish that the crowd found absolutely hysterical. We > could not have written it funnier. Anyway, here's the kicker: I'm told > that years later, the Harvard band is still performing halftime shows at > Penn in different languages - all because we were out of ideas and Andy was > too drunk to get it right in the first place. Classic. >

> > 8. Princeton basketball at the Palestra: the first game after Claude > White (the band director at the time) had banned "Hang Jeff Davis" from the > band's repertoire because the students' cursing was audible on the radio, > and the FCC had complained. I was conducting that night. Before the game, > the Princeton band came over & "borrowed" a copy of each instrument's part > for the song. When Penn scored their first basket, the Princeton band (who > wasn't under any restriction due to Penn policies) played Hang Jeff Davis, > and the entire crowd yelled "Fuck You!" in the loudest unison you're ever > going to hear. >

> > 7. Alumni Weekend, 1990 - Penn's 250th Celebration (featuring speeches > by Ronald Reagan, symposiums by Ted Koppel, performances by Bill Cosby, > Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, New Orleans' Preservation Hall, etc.). We were > marching down the middle of Spruce Street to an event like we always did, > and all of the sudden, two cop cars pull out onto the street - one in front > of us and one behind us. We had a police escort! We toyed with the idea of > marching all around West Philly for an hour just to see if they'd really > follow us, but we were late for our gig. >

> > 6. Football homecoming vs. Princeton: We had rehearsed lying down on > the field to spell out "Pennsylvania" like we always do. The Princeton was > performing first, and they were their usual, boring selves. A bunch of us > lied down on the sidelines and spelled out "BORING" and got a huge ovation > from the 30,000+ fans, right in the middle of their show. They must have > figured they were really "on" that day. >

> > 5. The Band's 90th birthday (1989? 1990?) As part of the halftime > show, Adam Sherr appeared on the field in a diaper. Ask him for more > details. >

> > 4. Yale Football, 1989 or 1990: A few seconds to go, Penn has the > ball, up by three or four points. All the quarterback has to do is take a > knee and Penn wins the game. The band is playing "All Right Now," (as was > the tradition then when a game was locked up). The quarterback fumbles the > snap, Yale recovers, runs the ball into the endzone and wins the game. The > next day, the Daily Pennsylvanian implied that the quarterback fumbled the > snap because the band was making too much noise during the play. After > that, the tradition changed to playing All Right now after The Red & Blue. > > >

> > > 3. Also Yale Football. We're in New Haven, Ct beating up on Yale, and > the Columbia football team has lost 46 straight games (that means four > seasons of 0-10, and a current 0-6 record in the fifth season. Kids entered > Columbia & graduated without the football team ever winning a game). They > announced near the end of the Penn game that Columbia had beaten Princeton > 16-10. We also heard (I'm not sure how - this was before cell phones were > popular) that the Columbia band wasn't at the game - they were at some other > function on campus), and that the students had torn down the goal posts and > were marching it down Broadway in Manhattan. We had convinced our bus > driver to take us to Manhattan, so we could lead the Columbia students in > their celebration. We ever took out the music to "Roar, Lion Roar" and > practiced a little on the bus. We were almost there, when the driver heard > on his radio that the NYPD had closed off Broadway and all the surrounding > streets to traffic, so he couldn't get us anywhere near the parade. A great > moment that never happened. >

> > 2. Cornell football, 1990: Penn was 9-0 and Cornell was 8-1. A Penn > victory would give us the Ivy Title, and Cornell victory would result in a > tie (we had already tossed the goal posts in the Schuylkill River the week > before against Harvard for clinching a tie). The last formation in our > halftime show was going to be "10-0" if we were winning at halftime and > something else if we were losing. As turned out, we were tied at halftime. > The drum major, Brian "Skippy" Stifel called an audible - we were going for > the "10-0" formation. The Cornell seniors rushed the field during halftime > for their traditional "Senior Scramble," so we had to do the entire show off > near the sideline, but the crowd loved the "10-0" formation. Also, it was > my responsibility that year to throw the football to the drum major. Skippy > caught 10 passes in a row, and the team won every game. Very, very cool. >

> > 1. Not to get all mushy on you, but this really is my favorite band > memory: First band rehearsal, Freshman Year. Back then, they called it the > "Ivy Marching Seminar." Having just arrived at college, feeling the normal > anxiety about fitting in, meeting new people, etc., etc., I walk into > Annenberg 511 and am greeted by roughly 200 people who instantly considered > me a friend, simply because we all had something in common and we all knew > exactly what it was. That night, I met several people who are still among > my best friends today. And there are literally dozens of them who I would > gladly take out for a beer if I met them on the street today (and they, me). > Everything about the transition to college got easier after that night. > That is what the band is all about.