From: wet...@bongos.EBay.Sun.COM (Brad R. Wetmore) Subject: UC DAvis Picnic Day Results. Date: 1995/04/24 Message-ID: <3nf4ek$d8j@male.EBay.Sun.COM> X-Deja-AN: 101218840 organization: Sun Microsystems Inc., Mountain View, CA reply-to: wet...@bongos.EBay.Sun.COM newsgroups: rec.arts.marching.band.college What can I say, it was Picnic Day after all. Traditionally, it's the longest day of the year for students in the Cal Aggie Marching Band, and to blow the axe until lips develop open sores and eventually fall off. However, it was no picnic for any of the other bands this year. The brave souls included the Cal Straw Hat Band, Stanford, The Marching Lumberjacks of Humboldt State, and the Marching Mauraders from a small community college in Southern Cal. (No relation to U$C.) Although several other bands expressed an interest in coming, only the Mauraders actually pulled it together. For those poor souls out of the circuit, the day begins for the Aggies at 7:00 am with dressing for the full dress parade, followed a 3-ish mile parade, then a run back to the dressing room to don the casual uniform to repeat the whole parade as a more casual band (dare I say scatter?). Other bands typically run through the parade once, but then wait for the Aggie band at the end for a warm-up to the Battle of the Bands. Following a BBQ lunch, the bands then head to the predetermined location (Putah Creek) at the appointed time (2:00 pm) where thousands of spectators are waiting and expect to be well entertained. The rules of The Battle are simple: 1) If you miss your turn, you're out. (Leaving counts as missing your turn.) 2) If you play a tune someone else has already played, you're out. (I don't know the ruling on medleys, it hasn't been an issue yet...) Previous Battles generally last between 4 and 6 hours. This year, the Mauraders took 5th place after 3 hours after a very impressive show from a first time entrant. Humboldt State dropped from their normal second place showing to fourth, leaving Cal, Stanford, and the Aggies to battle it out for the glory and honor that is bestowed at the end of every battle. Traditionally, the Aggies come out on top. This year, SOME PEOPLE JUST DIDN'T KNOW WHEN TO LEAVE! :) I knew we were in trouble when Stanford had a dozen pizzas delivered to the Battle after 4-1/2 hours (6:30 pm.) At 8:00, I jumped up on a hay bail and led the Aggie band in the cheer, "Hey Stanford Band, are you going to have breakfast delivered, too?" Little did I know that was almost the case. Finally, (mercifully?), at 10:45 pm, some little old lady called the police to remind them that the same noise ordinance that protects her from people who snore too loudly also applies to marching bands (this is Davis, after all). So we got the word that we had to close up shop at 11 pm without a clear-cut winner this year. Nine hours of alternating songs takes a lot out of a person. (Approximately 1 rotation every 5 minutes.) Needless to say, attendance at the post-Battle debriefing was sparse. Cal said it best, "Next Year. Same Time, Same Place!!!" ======================================================================== I'll see if I can come up with my annual list of awards: BEST ATTEMPT AT MAKING PEOPLE THINK WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF SONGS: AGGIES "The Star Spangled Banner." This was promptly followed by a one word cheer, "Psyche!" after the next rotation. MOST PATHETIC ATTEMPT AT A SONG: CAL "We Will Rock You." Ugh...Who arranged that one? BEST INSIDE JOKE CHEER: AGGIES "Hey Tree, only YOU can prevent forest fires." "Tree" is Stanford's mascot, and if you want any more information, you'll have to ask any of the Stanford lurkers to this group... BEST CHEAP SHOT: CAL As the cops were walking away after telling Cal's band that the battle was over, Cal rips out "The Imperial Death March" aka Darth Vader's Theme. BEST ATTEMPT AT BAND UNITY: STANFORD Winning this award for the second year in a row, the Stanford Drumz for inviting all of the other drummers to play an 8 bar drum solo in the middle of the Chicago tune "Beginnings." BEST KAROKE SELECTION: MARCHING LUMBERJACKS Bear Necessities, Rubber Ducky, 4-leaf Clover, etc. JUST SAY NO: STANFORD TREE Since I can't spell amphetimin...amfetinmines...am...You know what I mean. Uppers... Tree was dancing around like a mad man. Reminded me of a particular drum major from many moons ago...I was beginning to wonder if all of the flames were out inside that costume. I'm open for any additions... Why do I keep humming "Golden Bear" today? :) Brad Wetmore Cal Aggie Alumni Marching Band - Ex-Public Information Officer bradford...@EBay.Sun.COM http://everest.cs.ucdavis.edu/wetmore/ (408) 945-6576 eves (408) 276-5557 days
From: ael...@cs.stanford.edu (Adam Elman) Subject: Re: UC DAvis Picnic Day Results. Date: 1995/04/24 Message-ID: <aelman-2404950206280001@ev-94-mcf4c.stanford.edu> X-Deja-AN: 101448010 references: <3nf4ek$d8j@male.EBay.Sun.COM> organization: Stanford University newsgroups: rec.arts.marching.band.college In article <3nf4ek$d...@male.EBay.Sun.COM>, wet...@bongos.EBay.Sun.COM wrote: [...] > This year, SOME PEOPLE JUST DIDN'T KNOW WHEN TO LEAVE! :) > > I knew we were in trouble when Stanford had a dozen pizzas delivered to > the Battle after 4-1/2 hours (6:30 pm.) At 8:00, I jumped up on a hay > bail and led the Aggie band in the cheer, "Hey Stanford Band, are you > going to have breakfast delivered, too?" Little did I know that was > almost the case. Hehehe... [...] > I'll see if I can come up with my annual list of awards: > > BEST ATTEMPT AT MAKING PEOPLE THINK WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF SONGS: AGGIES > "The Star Spangled Banner." This was promptly followed by a one word > cheer, "Psyche!" after the next rotation. Oh, I dunno -- the Cal Band was doing a pretty good job of making people think they were running out of songs. The fact that they _were_ wasn't the point...;-) Actually, given that your library was only a few blocks away, I don't think anyone really was about to believe that you were that close to out. > MOST PATHETIC ATTEMPT AT A SONG: CAL > "We Will Rock You." Ugh...Who arranged that one? C'mon Cal folks, 'fess up -- that was improvised, right? > BEST INSIDE JOKE CHEER: AGGIES > "Hey Tree, only YOU can prevent forest fires." "Tree" is Stanford's > mascot, and if you want any more information, you'll have to ask > any of the Stanford lurkers to this group... Okay, so you DID know about that. We were wondering...how did you hear, anyway? [...] > BEST ATTEMPT AT BAND UNITY: STANFORD > Winning this award for the second year in a row, the Stanford Drumz for > inviting all of the other drummers to play an 8 bar drum solo in the > middle of the Chicago tune "Beginnings." Ahem -- I'll forgive you since you're a drummer and were probably too busy to notice, but the ENTIRE band basically invited members of ALL sections to join us on Beginnings. We had most of the four trombone sections running around with us (and yelling "don't jump in the lake, I live here, you'll die" when our sexion leader and a couple other people went in...), playing through our legs, playing our slides with our feet, etc. Not to mention that the mellophones formed a 3-level pyramid with about 15 people (6-5-4). Beginnings lasted for 25 minutes. Was AMAZING. Kudos to everybody for that one. [...] > I'm open for any additions... BEST USE OF SONG LYRICS TO MAKE FUN OF ANOTHER BAND: STANFORD After Cal played "My Girl" long after it was clear they were at the bottom of their barrel, some Stanford people (not me, at first) sung (to the tune of "My Girl", of course): "I guess/you'd say/we have no more songs to play/Bye Cal, Bye Cal, talkin' 'bout Bye Cal, Bye Cal." BEST SONGS TO DANCE TO: CAL YMCA and Time Warp pretty much did it. We were all disappointed that you didn't do Bohemian Rhapsody, though. North Carolina played it when we met them in the women's bball tournament, but they SKIPPED THE HEADBANGING PART!!! Cal's version is, of course, much, MUCH better. BEST JOINT SONGS: tie -- CAL/DAVIS and DAVIS/STANFORD Of course, both Cal and Davis play Paul Zinn's arrangement of "Story In Your Eyes", and both Davis and Stanford play Stanford's arrangement of "Livin' in the USA". Both sounded great with two bands behind them. YOUNGEST FOLDER: STANFORD Long after Cal was reduced to Sousa and old halftime medleys, and even Davis was beginning to hit the old stuff, we managed to pull out the nearly-new "Nearly Lost You" around 10 or 10:15. I believe (although someone correct me) we played only one song written before 1970: "Come Join the Band", a traditional school song. Maybe a couple from the late 60's, but that's it. I love rock 'n' roll. WEIRDEST STUNT: THE MARCHING MARAUDERS That thing with the bass drums where they were on top of each other for "Wipeout" -- very strange. Amusing, but strange. MOST AMUSING T-SHIRT: DAVIS On the front: "This is a t-shirt for (insert section name here) for Picnic Day 1995." Underneath that: "This is a witty sexual innuendo which the ossifers usually overlook." On the back: "This is the instrument we play in our section." Underneath that: "(poorly drawn picture of said instrument)" And something else funny underneath that that I've forgotten. MOST IRONIC REMARK: DAVIS Some woman who I don't know, around 10, said to a group of people including me, apparently somewhat annoyed, "This is all because of you guys. Stanford and Cal's egos are keeping us here all night." My response: "Well, you know, you're free to leave anytime..." Runner-up: also Davis, for the aforementioned "Hey Stanford Band, are you planning to have breakfast delivered, too?" Truly a Battle for the ages. Kudos to everybody who stuck out the whole damn 9 hours. My lips and my legs were hurting a lot today. Adam -- Adam Elman ael...@cs.stanford.edu <URL:http://rescomp.stanford.edu/~elmanad/>
From: ti...@uclink.berkeley.edu (Timothy Castro) Subject: Re: UC DAvis Picnic Day Results. Date: 1995/04/24 Message-ID: <3ngiu9$qm5@agate.berkeley.edu> X-Deja-AN: 101448015 references: <3nf4ek$d8j@male.EBay.Sun.COM> <aelman-2404950206280001@ev-94-mcf4c.stanford.edu> organization: University of California, Berkeley newsgroups: rec.arts.marching.band.college In article < aelman-2404...@ev-94-mcf4c.stanford.edu>, Adam Elman < ael...@cs.stanford.edu> wrote: >In article < 3nf4ek$d...@male.EBay.Sun.COM>, >wet...@bongos.EBay.Sun.COM wrote: > >[...] >> This year, SOME PEOPLE JUST DIDN'T KNOW WHEN TO LEAVE! :) >> >> I knew we were in trouble when Stanford had a dozen pizzas delivered to >> the Battle after 4-1/2 hours (6:30 pm.) At 8:00, I jumped up on a hay >> bail and led the Aggie band in the cheer, "Hey Stanford Band, are you >> going to have breakfast delivered, too?" Little did I know that was >> almost the case. Around 9:30 p.m., my housemate Al Petrofsky (Cal Band Bone '87-??) commented "You know, they're going to have to rename this thing 'Davis Picnic DAYS'". >> MOST PATHETIC ATTEMPT AT A SONG: CAL >> "We Will Rock You." Ugh...Who arranged that one? > >C'mon Cal folks, 'fess up -- that was improvised, right? Believe it or not, that was arranged by the same guy who did Bohemian Rhapsody (Dale McGowan, Cal Student Director '84). It was part of a Queen medley from a few years back, and yes, the placement of that song in the Battle could have been better. >> BEST ATTEMPT AT BAND UNITY: STANFORD > >Beginnings lasted for 25 minutes. Was AMAZING. Kudos to everybody for >that one. The mass band Beginnings was by far the highlight of the ordeal, er, Battle. I was dumbfounded by the sheer amount of energy and creativity displayed in the stunts. Did it really last 25 minutes? Could this have been the longest performance of Beginnings to date? >BEST JOINT SONGS: tie -- CAL/DAVIS and DAVIS/STANFORD >Of course, both Cal and Davis play Paul Zinn's arrangement of "Story In >Your Eyes", and both Davis and Stanford play Stanford's arrangement of >"Livin' in the USA". Both sounded great with two bands behind them. After Davis played SSB, I realized that Cal and Stanford should have pulled out the '93 Big Game Banner arranged by A. P. Barnes. >YOUNGEST FOLDER: STANFORD Yep, gotta agree here. Stanford had so much stuff they really didn't have to stoop to playing school songs or traditionals. It is Al's and my opinion that Stanford could have won this thing if they wanted to. Even when the Cal and Davis brass were starting to sound ragged, the Stanford trumpets kept on playing like there was no tomorrow. And, when Adam told me that Stanford had about ninety tunes in an "emergency packet", I knew that would pretty much do it. >WEIRDEST STUNT: THE MARCHING MARAUDERS >That thing with the bass drums where they were on top of each other for >"Wipeout" -- very strange. Amusing, but strange. Oh, but what about that bass player balancing the sousaphone on his chin? It had to be seen to be believed. Prime candidate for Stupid Human Tricks. Here are some of my votes: BEST SAX QUINTET: DAVIS This is a clever way to weasel out of a turn. BEST DOLLIE DANCE ROUTINE: WILLIAM TELL The one Dollie "Super-Soaking" the other Dollies at the end is a classic. BEST AFTER-DARK ILLUMINATION: DAVIS Come on Aggies! That's not really a parking spot! BEST MEDLEY: STANFORD'S MEDLEY OF OVERPLAYED SONGS THAT NO SELF-RESPECTING COLLEGE BAND WOULD EVER SERIOUSLY PLAY The bringing together of The Hey Song, Land of a Thousand Dances, and Louie Louie (am I missing anything?), all over a polka back-beat, was truly inspired. I believe this was arranged by their incoming Drum Major. It's not too often that you get Cal Band Director Bob Briggs to say he actually enjoyed a Stanford song. For the record, I believe it was some Davis folks who first started "unofficial negotiations" with the other Bands to end the Battle, but to no avail. A while later, some Stanford folks made an offering (of gelfite fish? Someone help me out here) to the Cal Band to get them to leave, but it was also turned down. >Truly a Battle for the ages. Kudos to everybody who stuck out the whole >damn 9 hours. My lips and my legs were hurting a lot today. Agreed. Did you notice that no one resisted when the cops showed up? Something had to put the Battle out of its misery. It's my belief that it was actually somebody in one of the Bands who called the cops. Nevertheless, it was truly an amazing day. Definitely to be continued ... --Tim Cal Band '86-'90 -- Tim Castro * There are two major products that came out of U.C. Berkeley * Berkeley: LSD and UNIX. We don't believe this ti...@uclink.Berkeley.EDU * to be a coincidence. ti...@eecs.Berkeley.EDU * -- Jeremy S. Anderson