The LSJUMB Blog

Hey, guess what, it's Springtime

2010-05-10T23:09:00.000-07:00

Yea, yea, it's been a while. Guess what? I have no sympathy. Here's what you've missed.

First of all, the band met Joe Biden. He promised all of us tax cuts, big ones.

We've got a new tree. We've got five new Dollies, they're pretty good, but I won't be impressed until Thunderstruck is choreographed.

At Dollie #1, with a heart of gold and an enthusiasm unknown to mankind, Alina "#1" Pimentel

At Dollie #2, CC and one more C, CC "#2" Chiu

At Dollie #3, with fiery feet of fire, Sarah "#3" Chang

At Dollie #4, Melissa "I'll be back '#4'" Schwartz

At Dollie #5, Alex, the tallest one, "#5" Nana-Sinkam

At Stanford Tree, you've seen him, you've certainly heard him, you may or may not have been high-fived by him...the one, the only, Ben "Bollox" Cortes

Our men's volleyball team decided that first in the MPSF wasn't good enough and that after going 3-25 in '07 the only appropriate finale was to be national champions. A noble cause indeed.

In other news we remain firmly planted as the second most controversial organization in the US.

The Final Two

2010-04-05T12:45:00.001-07:00

San Antonio, day 5, Oklahoma's grave is still warm and our sights have already turned to our final foe. In our time we've played for the little children, held open practice with the team, battled for domination in the Alamodome, floated down-river through the center of San Antonio, and watched Nneka obliterate the hopes and dreams of the Soon'ers.

We've set up shop right on the River Walk, only a few blocks from the Alamo. The weather is hot and humid, which means that the band has taken to wearing even less clothing than normal, unfortunately we have yet to find any laundry services in the area.

In one more day we face the Husky Women.

We were on a boat.

Trees & Matzo

2010-02-06T20:12:00.000-08:00

Having done a recent recap of 2009 we here at the LSJUMBlog think it only natural that we get everyone up to speed on our most recent activities.

Last week we were kindly invited to a tree re-planting ceremony on California Ave as crews labored under the stifling sun to give a silver lindens, southern live oaks, Freeman maples, Shumard oaks, valley oaks, and Chinese pistache trees. Turns out the sudden removal of the California Ave trees late last year caused quite an uproar among the citizens of Palo Alto. Above you can see the Toobz dancing with glee.

In other news the LSJUMB also made an appearance at a rally for campus unity at the Hillel House. They un-stereotypically offered us bagels, cream cheese, and lox. It is the recommendation of this particular blogger that you wikipedia "lox" before asking anyone what lox is, especially if that person is Jewish.

Dance Marathon, in a good faith gesture making up for last years miscommunication, brought us in early with plenty of time to play. The exhausted horde still mustered the strength to yell and rock out despite having danced for 23.75 hours straight. They also offered us copious amounts of food.

The day was made more complete by Tara and the basketball team going up 55-21 against USC. Unfortunately it was not to last and after a few glorious minutes Jayne went back to demolishing the Trojans.

Today (Sunday) marks one week until Dollie Day. Old fartz and young fartz alike should make haste back to campus where we wait with bated breath for this year's harbingers of joy and joyness.

Back and Bigger Than Ever

2010-02-03T21:36:00.000-08:00

Back from a long hiatus, the LSJUMBlog is back in action.

A lot has happened these past months. We watched happily as thousands of USC fans poured out of The Coliseum while over eight minutes remained on the clock. Also the USC band is now proudly going on sixteen years without having learned any new songs.

The Notre Dame AD decided that if you have Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate and you still can’t beat UCONN then perhaps you don’t have the schematic advantage that you thought you had. So five seasons of broken promises was enough and Charlie took his bowl o’ Lucky Charms and moved to Kansas City.

The Band went to El Paso and watched Arizona get completely demolished by Nebraska over our delicious enchilada dinner. At the Sun Bowl Battle of the Bands they tried to get us to stop playing but we were having none of that. We rocked so hard that the band following us stormed the stage to play ARN along with us. We won the Battle of the Bands by unanimous vote. Also, hello national television. Apparently the OU Band loves them some “Crazy Train”. They loved it so much they played it six times in one day (for the record that beats out UCLA’s five “Move Along” record set in 2008 at the Pac-10 Championship).

We celebrated New Years in the Stanford football parking lot. There were some laughs, some tears, and lots of enthusiasm. It was a time of reflection for the Band as we recalled 2009, a year filled with St. Louis and the Final Four, Martha’s Vineyard, an all expense paid Giants game, the end of Pete Carroll and Charlie Weis, and many other great memories.

2010 started with the administration making the enormous mistake of putting us up in the SLAC guest house, which for the record has terrible cell reception and all the coffee and bagels you could ever want, also the beloved birthplace of the microwave fo’tie.

In other news The Band has taken up men’s volleyball as a noble cause. Turns out it’s just as much volleyball as women’s but with half the red coats, and that makes it good.

Stay tuned for further developments. And for the first time ever, check online February 14^th for a live-blogging of Dollie Day, minute-by-minute updates with hard-hitting analysis and even harder-hitting limericks.

Hard'er?

Da scripts

2009-09-29T23:49:00.000-07:00

Le Pregame

Intro: And now...back from self-imposed quarantine in Safeway's walk-in beer cooler, it's The One, The Only, The Truly Incomparable Leland Stanford Junior...University Marching Band!

1. Pigs are deadly!

Well ladies and gentleman we thought we made it through the summer successfully, but swine flu is making a strong comeback. Throughout history, the pig has been an extremely controversial animal. Some, like Jews and Muslims, choose to eliminate it from their diets entirely. Others, like Texans, will eat nothing else. But with the outbreak of this bubonic bacon, America is taking a different attitude toward the pig, one of sheer terror! Not since Elvis's last trip to the cardiologist has lil' Babe struck such fear in anyone's heart.

The Band plays "Spoonman" by Soundgarden

The Band forms a pig that promptly dies

2. Stanford bubble

Here on campus, Stanford administration has been hard at work protecting us from this hellish ham hex, going so far as to surround campus with a giant, impenetrable bubble. Hopefully, we will soon be able to apply this technology to other aspects of campus life. Yes, the isolation of the Stanford bubble should keep us safe all flu-season long. Remember, nobody in, nobody out.

The Band plays "Welcome to Paradise"

The Band forms a circle with Hoover Tower in the middle, accompanied by a prop pig

Jumbotron: Have camera follow pig on the field as it tries to break in to the "bubble" of students.

3. Full Moon on the Flu

Freshman on the lookout for love will have to look a little harder this year. As you may have heard, porcine panic has stricken down Full Moon on the Quad. Rumor has it roaming bands of loveless Stanford seniors will take to the streets in search of unsanctioned make-outs. But beware, another lonely creature stalks the night in search of romance, the pigs! So be careful who you smooch Stanford, because those pigs are have something much worse than bad breath!

The Band plays "Question!" by System of a Down

The Band forms a moon with lips
Jumbotron:

4. Student Health

So what can you, the student, do to protect yourself against this swine scourge, the answer lies at the bottom of a bottle. After all, alcohol kill germs, that's why it burns going down, right? At least that's what my frat bro said, and he's humbio. Pure science! So remember to drink up when you're on the Row tonight. That next jello shot or kegstand could very well save your life.

The Band plays "Life in the Fast Lane"

The Band forms PORK which changes to PARTY

Jumbotron: "PSA: Partying can save your life"

5. Squirrel flu

But now that birds and pigs are contagious, everyone is waiting to see which cuddly animal will be the next to strike fear into the heart of the World Health Organization. Our bet is on squirrels. With their pointy little teeth and their bushy tails made for carrying bacteria, squirrels are a prime candidate. It's only a matter of time before CNN debuts an animated graphic titled "Squirrel Flu: A Nation's Nuts Under Attack."

The Band plays "No One Knows" by Queens of the Stone Age

The Band forms an acorn

Jumbotron: "Squirrel Flu: A Nation's Nuts Under Attack." w/ picture of squirrel

6. When pigs fly

Hubris is the downfall of all great civilizations, and swine flu will prove the United States is no exception. They say American power is eternal, that we'll surrender when the world stops spinning, when hell freezes over, when pigs fly. Well, with flotillas of flying swine assaulting our nation with airborne flu, we may have finally met our match. Goodnight sweet prince.

The Band plays "Steam" by Peter Gabriel

The Band forms FLU which changes to FLEW accompanied by a prop flying pig

Jumboron: Camera on pig as it deploys wings.

7. Animal Farm

But who's to blame for this porker pandemic? Why, it's Dick Cheney! Having stumbled upon a copy of Animal Farm 5 months ago, he became paranoid that a pig-led socialist revolution might force universal health care on the masses. Using his remaining power in the shadow government, he developed a foolproof plan to keep those petulant porkers in their place. Clever work Dick, but your cover's been blown now!

The Band plays "Hey Big Brother" by Rare Earth

Band forms ORWELL which changes to OH WELL

Join us at halftime when we give unsolicited advice about tax evasion and establishing brothels. Until then, you've been watching The One, The Only, The Truly Incomparable Leland Stanford Junior...University Marching Band!

Der Halftime

And now, back from listening to our advisors tell us for the last time that freeze tag is not a major, it's The One, The Only, The Turly Incomparable, Leland Stanford Junior...University Marching Band!

1. Troy->Ploy

Throughout history the Trojans have proven a formidable foe. Their corpulent egos bloated with self-importance present a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. Nonetheless, a handful of mighty heroes have proven throughout the ages, that Trojans are by no means invincible. With a steady hand, a crafty battle plan, and a healthy dose of lowered expectations even the most unlikely of men can become mighty conquerors.

The Band plays "Stuff Like That" by Quincy Jones
The Band forms TROY which changes to PLOY
Jumbotron:

2. Trojan Horse

After ten long years laying siege to the unyielding walls of Troy, the brave Greeks were growing weary. When at last all seemed lost, clever Odysseus dreamt up a most improbable plan. Side by side the Greeks worked in secret to construct a great wooden horse, an ostensible sign of their surrender. Knowing the Trojans would blinded by their pride, Odysseus hid his mightiest warriors within the great wooden beast, the seeds of Troys destruction. That night, with the horse within its walls, Troy was put to the sword. The Trojans, it seemed, were as foolish as they were formidable.

The Band plays "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" by Hotei Tomoyaso
The Band forms a horse head
Jumbotron: "Trojan Horse"

3. Trojan Condoms

Though long since burnt to the ground, the walls of Troy still serve as a symbol of all things impregnable. On tv and radio, the Trojan man stands firm against the advances of youthful indiscretion. And like the walls of Troy, they may hold up ninety-nine percent of the time, but that one percent failure quickly becomes the only memorable event. As it is with walls, as it is with condoms, so it is with Pete "the Trojan Man" Caroll.

The Band plays "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand
The Band forms PETE which changes to PWND

4. Stanford beats U$C

2007 seemed a doubtful year for the Cardinal to surmount undefeated U$C- coach Jim Harbaugh's first year rebuilding Stanford into the formidable force it had once been. And so, on a sunny October's day, Stanford's players strode boldly into the colliseum to the hateful sneers voices of eighty-five thousand Trojan fans, chins held high to stand their ground against the unbeatable juggernaut. With the last seconds ticking off the clock, Tavita Prichard launched a fateful pass over the heads of the unrelenting foe. With a mighty leap Mark Bradford pulled the ball from it's spiralling arc and as his foot came down within the endzone, the jeering fell to silence punctuated only by the sweet refrain All Right Now.

The Band plays "Our House" by Madness
The Band forms "24" which changes to "23"

5. UW beats U$C
Washington was coming off a downtrodden year. Whereas coach Tyrone Willingham had managed to lead Stanford to the Rose Bowl, he only led the Huskies to twelve consecutive losses. But redemption is always a Saturday away, especially when U$C comes to town. Taking down the Trojans is always good for what ails you. Oregon State can also attest to that. Just remember Huskies, we were ruining U$C's season before it was trendy.

The Band plays "Well All Right" by Santana
The Band forms BCS! which changes to BUST
Jumbotron: "We can all agree- USC Sucks"

Join us next week when we point out the secret socialist imagery hidden in the reliefs of Pauley Pavilion. Until then, you've been watching The One, The Only, The Turly Incomparable, Leland Stanford Junior...University Marching Band!

Stay tuned for some serious truth-telling.

Nice legs.

2009-09-28T16:52:00.000-07:00

It's terrifying how a wig, a dress, a razor, and some makeup can transform an ordinary man into Marilyn Monroe.

But I digress.

This last Saturday saw Stanford football dominate Washington, 34-14. LSJUMB was there in traditional style, this week sporting an armada of bright-eyed new freshmen. It was the second week for our new-and-improved-and-also-longer-and-more-tiring-but-still-pretty-sweet cadence, wherein we send off the football team, circle the stadium pre-game and play for some tailgaters, and then kill time drinking gatorade, eating powerbars, and rolling down grassy hills.

Due to some glitches in the system, we ended up with an extended nine minutes for our pregame show. Swine flu jokes? Check. Giant prop pig? Check. Wings for giant pig? Check. Giant prop Squirrel? Uh... check. Hot squirrel on pig action? Well... Shotgun will post the script details for you eventually. Halftime featured some jokes on the always great topic of how lame U$C is, something that Stanford and Washington fans alike could certainly enjoy.

As always, the game ended but the band played on.

A little clarity

2009-09-28T15:24:00.000-07:00

As you may have gathered from that link. There was quite an incident at Kal on Friday night. HOW-EVA, the article left out a few key details, chiefly: WE GOT THE LEAVES BACK. Kal fans went 0 for 3 in leaf theft thanks to Seth, the Band's advisor, CJ, our fearless Propz, and Bollox, our resident MMA fighter/snare sexion leader. Also, we liberated one the so-called lumberjacks' axe. We're still not entirely sure as to why they were there. They must have thought that they were at Humboldt State or something. Quite frankly, that was the angriest I've seen Kal fans in awhile, and they won too. Though they must have been alot angrier the next day.

The Daily Californian :: Three Arrested After Scuffle With Stanford Tree Mascot

2009-09-28T09:06:00.001-07:00

The Daily Californian :: Three Arrested After Scuffle With Stanford Tree Mascot

Posted using ShareThis

Scripts for San Jose State

2009-09-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

As promised here was our pregame show:

SJSU PREGAME: Welcome, Freshmen!

and now, back from a summer of keeping vigil at Neverland Ranch, it's TOTOTTILSJUMB...

1. Internet Piracy

Well Freshman, as Stanford slashes budgets to keep up with the dying economy, the school's been making changes, and we're here this evening to help guide you through them.

Some of you may have been looking forward to unlimited bandwidth to illegally download the complete works of Miley Cyrus. Unfortunately, Stanford has been forced to revoke all student internet access. So, if you want to engage in music piracy, you're just going to have to do it the old fashioned way: strap-on an eye patch and board ye nearest galleon to Best Buy.

Song: Shipping up to Boston
Formation: Pirate face w/ eyepatch
Video Board: "Piracy was more fun the old fashioned way!"

2. $$Vaden$$

Your RA has surely recommended Vaden Student Health Services for all for your "private" health needs. Most students visit Vaden once a quarter for their allotment of a dozen free Trojans, watch out! if you're Huskie sometimes they break! But, budget cuts have forced Vaden to levy a $167 fee on all undergrads, which means those dozen free hook-ups will now cost you more than 10 bucks a pop. You know, it's a lot cheaper to be just friends.

Song:
Formation: PAY->PLAY
Video Board: "It's cheaper to be just friends!"

3. Pest Control

Stanford's squirrel population has driven acorn reserves dangerously low; and budget cuts have left us unable to protect our precious nuts. Therefore, the freshman IHUM program has announced that all freshmen with names A-M are now assigned to IHUM 43a: Introduction to Pest Control. Slingshots are available in the bookstore; show up to your first section with a squirrel in hand. As a bonus, you can sell your squirrel meat to Stern Dining!

Song:
Formation: Slingshot, shoots tubas, possibly also shoot t-shirts into the stands
Video Board: "IHUM 43a: Intro to Pest Control"

4. SLAC

Stanford and the Department of Energy have always had a working relationship with SLAC: the Stanford Linear Accelerator, unfortunately neither the government nor the university can afford to maintain the two miles of pipeline needed to accelerate experimental particles. So now Freshman physics students will report to directly to SLAC and earn valuable extra credit holding atoms and running into each other at great speeds.

Song:
Formation: Box, bandies holding atoms run into one another
Video Board: focus on colliding bandies

Outro: Breaking news, a new round of of budget slashing has cut ALL funding from student activities groups. Guess you'll just have to join the Band, Monday nights, 7 PM, at the Band shak, see you there! YBWTOTOTTILSJUMB

And here was our halftime:

Mark: Aaaaand now back from...

Kanye: Yo, Mark, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish but Beyonce had one of the best halftimes shows of all time! One of the best halftimes shows of all time!

Mark: Shut up, Kanye, it's TOTOTTILSJUMB!

To deal with the many problems facing America today, we're going to look to historical precedents for solutions.

VIDEO BOARD, throughout show: "Warning: This show may contain satire."

1. The Great Wall

First up: illegal immigration! Looking to history, we realized that China's Ming Dynasty built the Great Wall to keep the marauding Mongolians at bay. Clearly, we too can just build a wall to keep invaders out. Wait… what’s that? The Mongolians conquered China anyway? I guess we should go back to the drawing boards.

Song:

Formation: Wall, people (wearing blue and gold?) running across the wall

2. King Solomon

Discussions surrounding Justice Sotomayor's appointment revolved around judicial impartiality. Arguments in the confirmation hearings that emotions should not be able to swing a Supreme Court decision. A valid sentiment, which dates back to the time of Biblical King Solomon, who, when presented with a maternity suit, simply decided to hack the neonate in twain. Oh… he didn’t actually hack a neonate in twain? Well, let’s just move on…

Song:

Formation: Stick figure splits in half

3. Prohibition

Next up, the War on Drugs. Drugs bring the worst out of us, tearing families apart and destroying our society. We can think of another substance that leads to this moral decay: alcohol. We find guidance in our own past in the Prohibition, totally banning all alcohol to fight the problems from the source. Oh, is that wrong as well? It led to unparalleled crime and rampant corruption? Well, maybe it’ll work out better this time…

Song: Drunken Lullabies

Formation: Bottle-> Syringe

Video Board: "This is your brain on drugs." (Focus on enthusiastic bandie)

4. Socialized Medicine

With the growing controversy surrounding health care, the nation has never been more divided. Some support a single payer system while others believe the government should just stay away from medicine. In looking for a historical precedent we realized France and Britain already tried the socialized option, and since then it's been nothing but forced euthanasia and brillo-pad sponge baths! What's that? Their life expectancies rank considerably better than ours, and they pay less? Hmmm... maybe we'll have to think about this some more...

Song:

Formation: Cross->Heart

5. Caste System

Tired of seeing people forced to live in the streets? Well so are we! Fortunately, ancient civilizations solved this problem thousands of years ago. All we have to do to cure our empathy is adopt a caste system! Feel bad for the man lying in the street corner? Well you shouldn’t, his previous life was one of sin and he finally got what’s coming to him. We don’t need social services to help them; they should find nirvana themselves.

Song:

Formation: HOBO->HAHA

Outro: Tune in next week for when we campaign for a retroactive Oscar for Patrick Swayze's autobiographical role in Ghost. Until then, you've been watching TTOTTILSJUMB

Awesome possum.

Midweek recap

2009-09-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

Hey there funksters, The Band's had a great time getting back together and beginning a year anew.

Saturday was Stanford's home opener (a resounding victory for the Cardinal against San Jose State) and coincidentally was also the Band's first football game of the year, halftime shows and all. Look for the scripts.

Monday was Frosh Rehearsal and over 200 people were there. That's right, the Band was ten score strong on Monday. We can only hope it will stay that way, to properly train a full army of rock for when we trek to Oregon State in October.

Look for more updates as football games and field rehearsals come and go.

Pahk the cah at Hahvahd squay-ah

2009-09-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

"You want us to play at your wedding? We play at weddings, where is it? Martha's Vineyard? Oh wow, that's kind of far away... you'll cover the entire travel expense? Wait, really? That's airfare for about 30 peo...oh, you're an investment banker. Ok."

I assume that one side of a conversation sounded something like this when our manager first got a call about this rally. If not, then it at least played through all of our internal dialogs for an entire weekend, when band traveled to MARTHA'S FREAKIN' VINEYARD to play at a wedding. Wait, did I say wedding? I meant wedding party. Oops, I meant REHEARSAL DINNER. That's right, somebody shelled out the big bucks to transport 30 people from San Francisco to Boston to Martha's Vineyard, and house us for two nights. A few stragglers like me flew in separately (I was home in Iowa), and we picked up a few locals along the way, but still. It was ridiculous.

We were so hyped up on the absurdity of the situation that even the rain couldn't dampen our spirits. And it rained a lot on the island. Even the awkward bus stop in the middle of a pitch-black field at night couldn't bring us down, although some began to suspect that this trip was an elaborate plot by a very wealthy enemy to assassinate the band. Thankfully the ninjas only managed to take out a few drums before band subdued them. We eventually made it to the rehearsal dinner, where we proceeded to rock the fancy pants off every member of the audience. Afterwards, the hosts treated us to some of their fine beverages while we socialized with the German dancers (Sie tragen Lederhosen). Eventually we made it back to our house(s) for the night, ate lobster, hung out with our awesome groundskeeper Spike, smoked cigars, and passed out.

We found our way back to the mainland the next day. We figured those poor bastards up at Hahvahd could use some funk, so we rallied around Cambridge and on their campus. They, of course, loved us. Punks chant : "It's not too late / To transfer schools!" Then we flew home. The end.

2recaps1post

2009-07-21T16:54:00.001-07:00

Hey y'all, this is gonna be quick and painless because me, as well as about half of the Band, are seeing Earth, Wind, & Fire with Chicago in HP Pavilion in less than three hours. Fuckin' psyched.

Anyway, on Sunday, the Band sauntered on up to the City to play for/entertain/provide a distraction to/clog up the AIDS Walk in Golden Gate Park. It was super serious but also super awesome.

Highlights included:

Serenading passersby with a rendition of "The HIV song" by Ween
Seeing all the different ways event organizers can give us coconut-related foods
Playing too loud to hear boorish Kal fans' grunts
Causing the AIDS Walk to dysfunction with all the people stopping to watch us instead of walking, cloggin' up the street and making us take breaks
Coming dangerously close to running out of songs to play, 4 hours is alot, especially when your songs average 2:00 in length.

It was largely a blast though.

About a month ago, but only about week ago was it telecast on ESPNU, the Band was called on to serve its country in the highest honor possible. We played at two USA Men's Volleyball team's games vs. China in San Jose. We're not gonna lie, it got tough out there on the front lines. Just exactly how were we going to adapt all our volleyball cheers/heckles for America? We found a way, yelling "One! Two! Three! Point Freedom!" whenever the Stars and Stripes scored, and doing a "United States of America, Organized 1776" spellout right before All Right Now. For the toobz, the games provided the perfect opportunity to resurrect the toob painted with the portrait of Mao Tse Tung. There was free candy, cool looking press passes, and confusing amounts of Chinese dancers. A truly serendipitous venture. And of course, to honor the recently passed King of Pop, our drum major Byron, that old scallawag, conducted in a red leather jacket, a black wig, and one white glove. What's that you say? Pix or it didn't happen? Well alright, some Bandies brought their cameras to the game. I'll scour through them, and maybe you'll see some on the Facebook page.

But now I really have to go. "Kalimba Story" is callin'. The time is nigh.

Repentance for our June abandonment

2009-07-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

Hey there blog faithful, if there are any of you left. It's ok if there isn't, we understand. This blog has treated you readers about as well as the Los Angeles Clippers treats its fan base, but we're promising to make it up to you. That's right, we're rollin out a brand new feature called "Approximately June: The Recap" where I, Shotgun, will be recapping all of the Band's goings on in the past month and a half. We'll be working backwards, starting with the Redwood City 4th of July Parade/Battle of the Bands where we put those Davis fools in their place.

The sun crept upwards on the horizon in a beautifully clear day. Bandies all over campus and other whereabouts rose from their bed, excited for the day to come. Some were commemorating the occasion with a ritualistic eating of a bacon cheeseburger and 40 oz of ancient hopgrain juice. But soon the ATS approached and the masters of enthusiasm started making their way toward the Shak, the air crisp and clean. They approached the door, and OH DEAR MOTHER OF GOD MAKE IT STOP! WHY DOES IT SMELL LIKE THERE'S A CORPSE IN THE SHAK? ON AMERICA'S BIRTHDAY OF ALL TIMES. QUICK EVERYONE, WE'LL BARRICADE OURSELVES IN MICH TERRACE.

Indeed the Band kicked off Independence Day by being punched in the nostrils with a brass-knuckles wearing odor. We searched everywhere trying to find a reason for this senseless crime. The answer came in the form of Joe Lewis, rib-maker and drinker extraordinaire. You see, a week ago the Drum Corps Invitational came to town and while normally fine to peace and let them use the house, Joe, one of our more senior Bandmembers with lots o' gonnengtions, wanted us to play for some of his DCI friends and as payment cooked us a great lot of delicious ribs before we headed off to a volleyball game, but I'm getting ahead (behind?) of myself. Long story short, he left some of the leftovers in a cooler outside the Shak and they marinated with the sun's rays and an odious blend of bacteria to deliver us that olfactory grenade on Saturday morning.

After we recovered and made it to Redwood City, the parade started, and we employed our typical parade-flummoxing play and rock out parked, run to catch up, then park and play, then run, repeat ad nauseum (literally) for a mile and a half. Those with weaker constitutions cried aloud to the heavens what they had done to deserve this feeling afterwards, while the stronger among us just sat in fear afterwards, waiting for their lungs to exact revenge. But we were rewarded, with Food Tickets! And waiting!

But then, it was time for the battle to begin. We heard Davis pretending to cadence into the spot and we knew our moment of combat was nigh. When Drum Major General Byron blew his attack whistle, we all rushed the spot and threw down a killer rendition of "Welcome to Paradise." And by killer we meant literally. By the end, three Davis trombone players were on the ground with their entrails splayed out in front of them. The whole thing was somewhat reminiscent of the Charge of the Light Brigade except we were the side that wasn't the Light Brigade. There was a Christmas-in-the-trenches type truce as we joined hands for "Beginnings" but we then returned to trading musical blows. By the end, it was obvious who had won, but Davis wasn't letting us take our prisoners back to the Shak to get the meat smell out, so we just declared victory and left.

After that we carried out the rest of our 4ourth like the rest of you schlubs with OMGWTFBBQs and fireworks aplenty. And we all rode into the sunset.

Epilogue: Dateline July 6, 2009. The Shak appeared to be safe. The smell demons were exorcised and everything seemed back to normal. Jill arrived. She walked to the room formerly known as Teamball, now recently colonized by the Tenrz. She opened the freezer portion of Shak fridge to put in her ice pack, and NO. WE GOT RID OF YOU. HOW COULD YOU BE BACK? WHY GOD?
But it wasn't back, Smelly McRotten had been chased out of the Shak, but it's little brother, Smelly McMolden had taken over the Shak fridge by way of making it not work. It claimed the remaining ribs and a bottle of apple juice as its casualties. No burial was held. Let us not forget the lesson these ribs sacrificed to teach us. The Tenrz take over the teamball room. The fridge dies. The moral is clear. The Tenrz lose at everything. And so the call goes out. Anyone got a fridge? Preferably one with a Capri Sun pouch painted on the friont?

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK or day or so, when we recount how the Band single-handedly defended freedom against an imminent scourge, ON THE VBALL COURT.

Some springtime distraction

2009-05-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hey there blog-sketeers, it's your old pal Shotgun again with probably some much needed blog supplements to your daily Internet diets. And as such, here is a quick update of what the Band has been doing in the month of May.

After the aforementioned Dollie Splash, Band in May is a loose collection of assorted rallies and rehearsals outside as we become more accustomed to our new monkey with a stick, Byron Vosburg. A differenter time than the other quarters, but here are the highlights.

We provided the entertainment at not one but TWO Special Olympics in the Bay Area, San Jose and Marin County, and even got Panda Express out of one of them. Fun stuff.
Our appeal is not only limited to the mentally handicapped, but also children. The Bing Children's Center had its spring fair or something or other and wanted us to serenade the children. We'd like to thank those folks for such a fun time, and for the approximately 350,000 extra pizzas they sent us back with, which proceeded to find a home in the Shak fridge. Needless to say, they were gone within a day.
Sometimes, though we don't really need an invite in order to provide people with our trademark symphonic cacophony. We reflected this on Friday, when we showered the Stanford campus with an impromptu celebration of fountains, playing in or around just about every one.
But other times, the Band just wants to relax, and exercised that desire with that old Stanford tradition, BEACH TRIP. A great time for listening to the ocean, bottles filled with sand, burying the drum major, and contemplating the nature of reality.
Also, the bass sax player from the Davis Band has provided us with the pleasure of his company at some of our rehearsals, which has been awesome, though we'll know something's up when at the next 4th of July Parade, we hear an eerily similar version of "Short Skirt/Long Jacket." Just kiddin' Shaggy, you're welcome anytime.

Well, that about covers it. What does the future hold? Well, June tends to be alot like May in Band terms, but kind of less so, whatever that means. See you in two and two.

Waffles is blowin up like nitro

2009-05-02T20:36:00.000-07:00

The saga of our intrepid Waffles taking on Condi just grows more and more epic. Here he is being interviewed for channel 5 news http://cbs5.com/video/?id=49621@kpix.dayport.com

And this even ended up as the lead article on the Chronicle website for a little while. Fancy that.

Just like velociraptors and Pepperidge Farm, we remember

2009-04-30T16:20:00.002-07:00

Hey there residents of Blogfrica, it's Shotgun again with some very much needed blog updated content. We hope that this information reaches you before the swine flu does (side note: I must say, though, that I find this whole swine flu mess very upsetting. As an avid bacon-o-phile, it's been very rough coming to terms with the idea that something so beautiful could also be so deadly. Pigs are the new Elektra)

We'll be delivering these updates with the most efficient form of information dissemination ever invented, the bullet point. Forward, ho!

Last weekend was Admit Weekend and, as it has been for many years running, Stanford decided that the best way to introduce people to Stanford was through a throughly distilled shot of rock n' roll, administered by yours truly. Many admits, including myself back in my halcyon days when I was a ruddy ProFro, found our gleeful combination of Green Day, flaming helmets, exploding guitars, and rubber penis suits to be the perfect fanfare to their weekend, and indeed Admit Weekend is designed to be the time when Band sings its siren song, luring the unsuspecting ProFros into our web come fall (except for the SLE kids, who had the foresight to tie themselves to ship masts). Also known as the number one reason to skip IHUM section, Admit Weekend is one of the Band's high points of Spring Quarter and this year was no exception.
With a quicker turnaround than a V-IV blues progression, the Band almost immediately started gearing up for the next high point of Spring Quarter, Dollie Splash. Known as the time of the year when the incoming Dollies finally break their cocoon of dance and emerge as white-dressed butterflies, Dollie Splash fills everyone with warm and fuzzy feelings (in the HEART, let's be clear). You can see more about this in that fantabulous story by the Daily located directly below this post.
In other news, the band continues to chug along in its support of non-revenue sports. We were scheduled to play for the synchronized swimming national championships, but the coach reneged because he felt our "debauchery" would be too much for the yung'uns in the audience. We honestly have no idea what he meant, but whatever it was, it's not too much for the women's rugby team, because the Band WILL be playing at that national championship on Saturday (oo oo!!!!).
Also, as it is assuredly spring quarter, that means SPRING FOLDERS! Twice a year we gots to reprint our music, and we usually take that chance to trim some of the dead branches (see: "Crazy Train" and "Dies Irae") and also plant a few new saplings. Our new songs this quarter are "Woman" by Wolfmother, which you may have heard if you've played Guitar Hero II, and "Brooklyn" by the Youngblood Brass Band, which you may have heard if you're a fan of brass bands from Wisconsin. The next time you hear our notes wafting through your ears, take a close listen, for it may very well be one of those two songs.
Finally, you politicoes may have been frequenting that other blogosphere and saw a video of Condi-dondi Rice talking to some Stanford students who approached her with a Mr.-Smith-Goes-to-Washingtonesque zeal. (If you haven't it's right here). We would just like to point out, with a tear in our eye and a chest puffed out more than Pidgeot's, that the first young man taking it to C.Rice like Clinton Snyder is our very own Altoz sexion leader, Waffles, and we applaud Waffles for taking that Band tenacity and iconoclasm right to 'Leezza's doorstep.

Well that's all the news from Lake Woe-be-blog. Tune in next week when give updates on our Capri Sun Car project, it's kinda like the Solar Car project but with one major difference...

All Dollie-d Up and Ready to Go

2009-04-30T16:20:00.001-07:00

All Dollie-d Up and Ready to Go

Posted using ShareThis

Man, am I tired.

2009-04-19T13:49:00.000-07:00

But for good reason. Band spent all of yesterday at the UC Davis Picnic Day Battle Of the Bands (commonly referred to as Davis Day, or even Mothafuckin' Davis Day).

This year saw 6 marching bands from various schools in the area join in for the fun. If my hazy memory serves me correctly, the roster was this:

UC Davis
UC Berkeley
UC Irvine
UC Santa Claus (or something like that, feel free to correct me)
Humboldt State
Yours Truly

Some of the bands can be kinda lame (Davis frequently steals our songs), but all in all, the day is pretty laid back and lots of fun. Humboldt is pretty sweet, with their anyone-can-have-a-solo rendition of Louie Louie, and some awesome fire-jugglers. Of course, none of them have as much energy and enthusiasm as we do, but you knew that already.

The general idea behind the day is that bands will trade off songs, playing until they either run out of music or get bored, at which point they leave and everyone remaining waves them farewell. Cal was the first school to leave this year (also the last school to show up). The past couple of years have seen Davis arbitrarily ending the event after only some 10 hours of continuous play, just so they can go party or something like that. Man, if this is a battle, I want to battle to the bitter end. Whatever. It's still fun.

Some other highlights:

-Beginnings, extra-long version: All of the bands join with us for our version of Chicago's Beginnings. There is an infinite loop drum solo break at the end that anyone can solo on, and with 6 marching bands and lots of drummers, it can last a while. Usually 40-some minutes. In the meantime, the other sections (from all of the bands) are off doing fun things like exposing themselves in public, and slapping each other.

-Watching stupid people swim in Lake Spafford. I hear you can practically get syphillis by just looking at the water.

-Every song Humboldt played. Seriously, it's like a classic rock radio station over there. FREEBIRD!!

-Having random strangers ask for pictures with you just because you're wearing a sexy nightie and pants that look like they were made from the upholstery of a couch out of the 60's

-Being carefree. Most people agree that Davis Day is one day in the year that you don't really have to do anything. Just chill.

Man, Davis Day is sweet.

aw shit, get ya towels ready

2009-04-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

Hey there folks, Shotgun here with an early morning bloggasm. Life/laziness has prevented me from doing a full recap of Honkfest, though if it's any consolation I've been feeling really bad about it. I just chimed in right now to say it's MOTHERFUCKING DAVIS DAY (this is the correct spelling), which for the wedged, is when the Band travels to UC Davis to be a part of it's ~~Battle~~ Exhibition of the Bands with all sorts o' bands from all over the West Coast. Highlights include hour long renditions of "Beginnigs" by Chicago and Line, an old drum, building stuff that everyone thinks is cool. All in all it's a wondrous day. I'll see you there, and if I won't, WHY AREN'T YOU GOING?

What a long strange trip it's about to be

2009-04-07T22:36:00.000-07:00

Hey there rabblerousers, it's been long, too long since your old pal Shotgun filled that blog void in your life and in this exciting time to be alive no less. Unlike those past blog posts, which were more functions of explosive diarrhea shrapnel hitting the keyboard hard enough to for something semi-coherent, this one has actual content in it, so let's take the red pill and see just how far down the rabbit hole goes (I can't believe that movie's 10 years old either. Speaking of which, it's got a fantastic drinking game that goes with it, but another time).

BULLET POINT ACTION

After witnessing the women's team assert its soul-crushing dominance over THE Ohio State University (a bit of a conflicting moment for this central Ohio native) and AN Iowa State University, the band gained enough experience points to level up to the Final Four in St. Lou. Those luckier than I can tell you what exactly went down. All I can tell you is that UConn's treachery even extends to the band arena where they paid off the "officials" to steal our rightful Battle of the Bands trophy that we had so gloriously conquered last year.
Right after, and we do mean right after folks, came the lovely spring tradition known as [Insert Drum Major's name here]'s First Rehearsal. This year, the lucky victim was Byron Vosburg, a wide-eyed, idealistic charge who ascended to the not-podium with visions of working "Aqualung" deep into the night and hammering the ending of "Boogie Down" into our brains to the point of submission, only to be woken up by that shrill annoying sound that either was the alarm clock of reality or the altoz attempting to start "Peace of Mind". Either way, the Band takes the first rehearsal of a drum major to assert that even though (s)he may have some imaginary military ranktitle thing, it carries as much weight with the Band as it would on pre-Napoleon Animal Farm. And so the Band sallied forth a nexus of songs that was as seamless (and impenetrable) as a MacBook exterior. Also we threw pickle juice at him.
WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG POST FOR A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT. Hi there folks, it's Shotgun again, but this time let me be frank with you (preferably of the Ball Park variety). For those of you that actually still attend this so-called university, you may have noticed that it's election season. Now normally, election season is a time for ironic detachment, damning the man, and secretly wondering if the sophomore class president slate is actually more popular than you, or just more adept at making flyers. I know this blogger is too busy making trite analogies to past presidential elections and sports teams to actually engage in the process, but unfortunately in order to continue to exist, the Band must bow and scrape at the altar of the masses in the form of asking for special fees from the ASSU. And so I must ask you, the students and those still pulling an Azia Kim, to vote for the Band for special fees, and give us that glorious money that we covet so much, I mean so we can keep on rockin' out. Another beseechment, please don't ask for your money back later. Otherwise we'll track you down and make you explain to little Billy why he can't have his saxophone fixed after some drunk frat guy ran into it at Band Run. Just look at little Billy's eyes! You know playing that saxophone is the only thing that keeps his cancerous grandma still breathing. The more you know! *cue wooshing star* AND NOT BLACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOGGING (and no that was not a typo).
And so I says to him "Wrecked him? Why yes that is the last part of the diges-oh wait is thing still on? Oh right, this weekend brings something of a rarity to the Band, a brand new experience. This weekend, the Band is road-trippin' it up some strange land known only to the natives as "Sea-attle" for something known as HonkFest West! HonkFest is apparently a festival for unconventional marching bands out in Mass. and last year the organizing folks must have learned about Lewis and Clarke because they decided to open up an ancillary on the Pacific side. Through a casual browsing of the Series of Tubes (or Tӧӧbz as the case may be) the Band stumbled upon their little shindig and thought we could find a home (look for yourself at http://honkfestwest.com/ You might see us right on the front page) and a few/lot of emails later BAM! we're renting vans and super-exclusive cliques are trying to claim their own. My brothers and sisters in the Band Members that Like to Eat PB&J Sandwiches Inside Out have already got our van (as we should, we're kind of a big deal). Will we be ready for it? Will they be ready for us? Do we all have sleeping bags? Is it a federal offense to drive across state lines without wearing pants? These are all questions that will be answered soon enough.

Until then though, I must bid you all adieu as my latest effort of procrastination draws to a close.

Oh, just one more thing. The Band now has a the Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leland-Stanford-Junior-University-Marching-Band/79838435759?ref=nf
Go look at it. Be friends with us. Listen to music. Go through the track listing of all of our albums. Leave us threatening wall message. Just please drive up our page views for God's sake. We thrive on those almost as much as we thrive on Capri Sun.

How I spent my Spring Break

2009-03-30T23:38:00.001-07:00

Some people like to spend their spring breaks doing crazy things, like going on cruises, taking cheap vacations to neighboring countries, enjoying nature, visiting home, etc. Not the band. Well, not all of us, anyway. We do airtrips.

The end of finals week and the beginning of spring break saw band visit San Diego for the first and second round of the women's NCAA basketball tournament. The women handily defeated UC Santa Barbara and San Diego State, using their mad skills to make it rain on them hos. Unfortunately, they were a bit too good at making it rain, and many band members who had planned to visit the legendary San Diego zoo on our day off were dissuaded by the inclement weather. Instead, some watched movies, some moved watches, and others cooled off in the hot tub. After the second game Monday night, we flew back with the team. We had a few days before our next trip, so some people visited family, while others of us just hung out on campus and played Rock Band.

Our second airtrip involved a busride to Emeryville. The women were to play at Berkeley, in the familiar territory of the Dirty Golden Bear. They decisively defeated Ohio State in the third round, and we were granted a weekend of hanging out and good times. A few band members explored downtown Berkeley on the day off, fighting their way through crowds of sketchy hobos and sketchier hobo-esque Cal students. I took the day to catch up on some reading and enjoy the free cookies in the hotel. Free cookies. Free. Our basketball team returned Monday night to trounce the Iowa State Cyclones. It pained me a little bit to see the team that I grew up with (I am an Iowa native, for the record) destroyed by Jayne Appel, but I quickly got over it.

We travel to St. Louis next weekend for the final four. It will be fantastic.

Edit: So I had forgotten the name of the first team that we played, and checked a bracket to remind myself. The bracket only said UC Santa, so I assumed Santa Clara instead of Santa Barbara. Go figure that UC Santa Clara doesn't exist. I should have just said UC Santa Claus and left it at that.

A Little St. Patty's Day blog action

2009-03-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

As we all come to celebrate this holiest of days, brought to you by Jameson, Bailey's, and Guiness, (editor's note: When I started writing this, it was still St. Patty's Day) the Band thought it would take a break from its usual assortment of Capri Sun and Smash Bros. related activities to give you, the reader, a TOURNAMENT UPDATE.

To recap, the band came back from an adventure filled time down in Los An-gull-lees for FIVE DAYS. What could possibly keep the band in one place for so long? The answer is the two wonderfully sparsely attended, somehow still profitable, gloriously pointless but hey it gives us per diems so we're not complaining, Pac 10 Tournaments. The Pac 10 got the somewhat defensible idea that holding both tournaments, for men's and women's basketball, in the same city at the same time would be a good thing but then all of a sudden realized, but what if a school has both of its teams playing at the same time? What are the fans to do? Perhaps more importantly, what are the BANDS to do? Won't someone please think of the children?

Well it turns out that the laws of physics are no match for the will of the Pac 10 commissioner, and so the word came down from on high that the Band could be in two different places at once through some form of mitosis. And while this Band never had to undergo this assuredly painful procedure (it turns out the altoz are CLOSER than brothers) we did get to reap the benefits. Theese benefits manifested themselves in the brand new debut of Supervest Band (trademark pending) which may look like your average Red Vest Band but it's actually ten louder. Crazy. Southwest Airlines didn't know what to do when we boarded the plane with FORTY band members. It was like lightning in a bottle. Sadly it couldn't last, and though they were granted a stay of execution by virtue of us beating Oregon State (a great game by the way, and I finally got in all my Barack Obama-related heckles), the rocking out was just too much for the Staples Center and so 10 of us had to go back to pretending to study for finals.

But during those 2 glorious days for some and the remaining 3 days for the rest, what so ever did the Band do to amuse itself in the so-called Entertainment Capital of the World? The answer came largely in the form of trips to Disneyland (for some), and trips to Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles (for all). Oh t'was truly a magnificent time. Interesting hobos were talked to, pointless e-mail lists were formed, midnight runs to taco trucks were made, other bands were cavorted with and made fun of, but perhaps most importantly, U$C fans were made jealous when they witnessed us rocking the fuck out outside of the Staples Center as the champeenship game got out. The band had time to kill so we did one of our favorite things, playing for people that don't initially like us but then do after a few songs. When we left the hotel at 6:30 on Monday it truly felt like an airtrip lived to its fullest.

Oh also, I would be remiss if I did not mention how fun and awesome it was to watch the women's team completely and totally roll through the competition, not even giving them their underwear back at the end, on the way to some number i forgot consecutive Pac 10 Championship. The Band can't wait to see more domination in San Diego coming the following weekend, though sadly this blogger won't be going. The Band had already maxed out the Funk Limit for the airplane and as such could not carry anymore. I will try to get the gory details though and cull through the curds to give you all the cream whenever that trip is over.

Also, it bears mention that the men played and won today in something called the College Basketball Invitational. The Band isn't entirely sure what it is either, but at least the team is winning in it, so I guess it's good.

Until then kids, remember: When you believe in things you don't understand and you suffer, superstition ain't the way.

Holy shit, it's March.

2009-03-01T23:19:00.000-08:00

Hey y'all. I know it's been a lil' while since we started this ol' blog up and took it around the block but it's only because we've been hard at work perfectly crafting an extensive recap of Dollie Day and highlights of Tree Week. As the regular basketball seasons end, we start gearing up for that wondrous elusive thing known as airtrips. Making its debut this year is a brand new incarnation of Red Vest Band that I like to call SuperVest by virtue of both Pac 10 tournaments being in the same place (Some place like 400 miles south. The Band's never been there before though). Other potential locations include Los Angeles AGAIN, not that we're complaining though, and Berkeley, and St. Louis if we're really lucky for the women. There's another longshot though, and it barely even bears mentioning, but I'm gonna throw it out there anyway. If the men get really lucky they might make it to the Final Four, and in that case maybe the Band could swindle its way all the way to NEW YORK CITY. I know, it's a pipe dream, but is it wrong to reach for the stars?

We'll keep you posted on those events as they occur and worry not, the official Dollie Day/Tree Week (now press approved!) digest is coming.

Dollie Day has passed

2009-02-16T22:53:00.000-08:00

and it truly was magnificent. There were roasted pigs, mudslides, and no casualties. I would provide a full recap right now, but I still sort of have a midterm to do. T'will be forthcoming though. So everyone keep their shirts on, unless your shirt was already off. I don't know what you're wearing when you read this blog. You're probably naked you sick sick person, not that the human body is anything to be ashamed of. But yeah. In the meantime, I'll just leave you with this. This is how the Best Sexion celebrates Dollie Day.

photo courtesy of Robby Beyers
pig courtesy of the Tööbz

It's coming...

2009-02-13T19:24:00.000-08:00

So, Dollie Day is almost here. Maybe you're thinking, "So what?" Maybe you're thinking, "What the hell are dollies?" Maybe you're thinking, "Where the hell am I, and why am I missing a shoe and covered in mud?" I can answer the first two for you, but I'm clueless as to the last one (though the answer is no doubt hilarious).

To put it succinctly, the dollies are the band's beautiful 5-woman dance-team/ninja-strikeforce/crime-fighting-league/best-friends-forever. They've got hearts of gold and fingernails that shine like justice. Here's a picture (by veteran band photographer Al ponce) of them in action.
As you can see, they're lifting off for their traditional pre-football-game-flight-around-campus (bet you didn't know they could fly). Anyway, the dollies are awesome and we love them. Unfortunately, the fairy godmother who grants them their powers only allows them a one-year term. We tried arguing with her about this, but we quickly learned that it's a bad idea to fight with a creature who can summon an army of animated pumpkins and who wields frightening powers of transmogrification.

That brings us to Dollie Day. Dollie Day is the annual celebration wherein we choose new dollies for the next year. There is much cavorting, some caloohing and calaying, a bit of dancing, and a brutal Mortal-Kombat-esque fight-to-the-death tournament that yields 5 survivors to be awarded the title of dollie. I won't spoil all the details for you, as there is sure to be some exciting blog action soon (maybe even live-blogging?) covering the events of Dollie Day.

-Aaron

Now where were we?

2009-02-09T15:21:00.000-08:00

Hey there blog faithful, it's been a little while now hasn't it? Indeed a full 2 weeks has passed since I last paid a personal visit to your computers, but what a 2 weeks it has been. Let's take a bold unparalleled step and start the rundown from the beginning. And this blog post is extra special because it's my birthday today, no.20, and yes, for those of you wondering, I am celebrating by drinking 20 fifths of gin today. I'm already on to no. 14. It's been quite an experience.

But enough about me and my liver, I'm sure you all would rather hear about the Band and its liver. First things first though, let's all have a moment of silence for our chances to go to Vegas. It turns out the Kal band had just a few more people with automatic Skype-calling scripts and they won the so-called contest (more like a CON-test if you ask me, I mean wait). They said they'll be back next year. Maybe this time they'll let us know it's happening more than 2 days ahead of time.

But now to the perhaps most important event of the past fortnight, BANDQUET. Remember your team/marching band's banquet at the end of the year? Well ours is just like that, except there's also a D in the name. Forgoing our usual rehearsal, we all converged and celebrated not ending Band for another year, clad in a style of dress we like to call rally formal. What's rally formal? Well, it's a little bit like pornography (in more ways than one). You can't define it, but you know it when you see it. I, and a few others, donned the personas of the primary characters from Reservoir Dogs, complete with cap guns and copious amounts of hair gel. I was Mr. Orange, which meant throughout the night, my shirt became more and more saturated with blood (or in this case, Hawaiian Punch).

Perhaps the most significant events of the night, though, were Most Improved and Best Sexion, respectively, which come in the form of Ernest and Julio Gallo jugs. Most Improved went to the Trumpz, who also came away with best Big Game project for building this
A certain assistant athletic director in charge of facilities, though, said it was simultaneously a safety hazard and not allowed because it was attached to the building so now it ignominiously rests in the rehearsal hall, but I digress.

Let's get to the moment that everyone was waiting for, which was the winner of the coveted Best Sexion. In a victory for justice, morality, and puppies, it went to those Regents of Rhythm, the tööbz, aka my sexion. Though somewhat unexpected, we knew it was a long time coming, and express thanks goes out to the past few sexion leaders for whipping us into shape. If you were there, you surely would have heard me exclaim multiple times that this is what winning the World Series felt like. It truly was.

Not content to let the week go by without more debauchery, the following weekend delivered the Band Ski Trip (with equal emphasis on both words), which was great fun, despite the iniquity of being forced to drive on Golden Bear Trail to get there. If this post lacks the usual requisite amount of trite pop culture references, its because my brain is still recovering from that weekend. I mean, you would be slow too if you made a snowman out of cocaine and then snorted it.

Other than those two events, it's been primarily a steady diet of basketball, some more victorious than others, all proving to be valuable experience as the band trains to get its heckling into tournament shape (*fingers crossed*), except for yesterday which brought the Band the San Jose Spring Festival Vietnamese New Year's parade something or other. It was a (figurative) riot to play for hundreds of puzzled Vietnamese immigrants while simultaneously holding up the parade every 2 minutes. Though this year lacked the highlights of Storm Troopers and the Davis Band stealing our songs, we still got to serenade a Catholic church with "Hell" by the Squirrel Nut Zippers and laugh as the bonz missed the golden opportunity to play the French national anthem during "All Right Now", though the tribute to imperialism was not a complete abortion. They managed to muster up "Hail Brittania", but like New Coke, it was still a poor substitute for the real thing.

This week is just your average week, but that's good, because the band needs time to prepare for what some deem the best day of the year, DOLLIE DAY. I don't know about the other sexions, but the tööbz have an epic project planned. What's that Jimmy? You want to know what it is? I'll tell you when you're older. And in the smoothest possible transition (we take lessons from our women's basketball team) next week is the week in which the Band is subject to the greatest amount of smug derision by the larger populace, or as you know it, Tree Week, where the band celebrates arbor day for 5 straight days. I'm sure the Deadspin commenters are foaming at the mouth.

EXTRA EXTRA. THIS IS A BLOGMERGENCY

2009-01-26T12:04:00.000-08:00

The Band could be going to Vegas. BUT WE NEED YOU TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. I'll let Mr. Embedded video take care of it all.

1-(888) 717-9725
THAT IS THE NUMBER. CALL BETWEEN TUESDAY JANUARY 27TH AT 7 PM PT AND WEDNESDAY 28TH AT 12 PM PT. CALL AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE. APPRECIATE OUT SARAH PALIN JOKES BACK WHEN THEY WERE STILL RELEVANT. SHOW THOSE WEENIES FROM KAL AND DAVIS WHY THEY'RE SAFETY BANDS. YES WE CAN.

A few quick bullet points, IN BULLET TIME

2009-01-23T15:21:00.001-08:00

*cue Vivaldi's Spring*

Why hello there folks, and welcome to Masterblog Theater. I'm Shotgun, and today we'll delving into a few delightful short stories in our ongoing series on the Band.

FIRST, as our manager's birthday present to himself, and through the good graces of SBAB, we are proud to announce that the Shak now has an A/V system. What what what?? That's right folks. Now we can blast Thunderstruck through the entire reinforced concrete structure. Oh 'tis truly a glorious day. What's more, our rehearsal hall now has a projector and giant screen. We are still debating which piece of cinema deserves to christen our precious system. Personally, I've been lobbying for The Emperor's New Groove 3: The Groove's Return to Stella. That or Office Sluts 9.65, a true classic.
B. The tree was featured in a compromising photo on the sports blog most blamed for the nation's decline, Deadspin. (Article found here) Being the ever faithful PR that I am (what's that, boy? Someone's blaming us for 1982 again? And Billy's stuck in the well? Well, let's go!) I sent a letter to the editor providing some context, as well as gratuitous Simpsons references, and it turns out the old chap is a local and even frequents the Oasis. A good fellow I should say. I like the cut of his jib. He ran the letter on Deadspin (right m'yah), and we may be doing further correspondence.
Gamma. Both basketball teams won yesterday (Huzzah!) keeping the men's' tournament dreams alive and further discrediting the notion of parity for the women. The men take on Oregon State at home tomorrow, though this PR won't be there, for I t'will be on dorm ski trip to Tahoe, which makes me doubly sad because I had a whole host of Obama-related heckles I was planning to level at the coach. Ah well, I'm sure 6th Man will pick up the slack.

And with those quick li'l blog nuggets I bid you adieu as the Band goes to play at our squash team's first EVER home match. The acoustics should be incredible. Bandquet is imminent, approaching on the horizon, and surely looking like the apocalypse to Beefeaters, the eating club that is lending its space to us. We only hope that this time around there won't be any bollard-related casualties.

Until then,
Courage

The embedded YouTube action JUST DOESN'T STOP

2009-01-20T00:01:00.000-08:00

And as day goes into night and on the eve of this historic moment in American history, it's Comrade Shotgun here with a Weekend Update, though unlike the Jimmy Fallon days, ours actually has jokes. For example, why did the robot cross the road? Because it was carbon-bonded to the chicken (Yes, I did just reference the movie version of Lost In Space, which incidentally, almost caused my house to burn down, but that's a story for another day). Back to matters at hand, in the natural perfect scheduling of basketball season for the Pac-10 (take that SEC!) this weekend featured both men's and women's games vs. and at Kal, respectively. (By the way, respectively may just be my favorite adverb.) The men's game was a real thriller that featured a freakishly large band. The women's game reminded me of Flinstones Chewables in that it was a bitter pill to swallow.

HOW-EVA, STEPHEN A. SMITH IS HERE TO SAY THAT THE BAND ALWAYS WINS. Indeed both of these games feature the only quasi-illustrious Kal Band, which though bigger at Stanford than at their home, still managed to be half the size our band on both occasions. And while we surely enjoyed their version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" imagined as a pre-Renaissance dirge, our band definitively prevailed for the weekend because the Kal Band skipped out on our usual post game skirmish. We thought this was a punk move. If you're going to chicken out on a fight, at least come up with a legitimate reason for it, like Eric Cartman did.

Nevertheless, we entertained some Kal fans on the way out of Haas Pavilion, and some forward-thinking individual (this is California after all) took some cell phone video of it and posted it on the YouTube, so here it is for your viewing pleasure, especially some bitter old man commenting during the beginning. Probably just mad because he forgot to take his Metamucil before going to the game.

Today, we celebrated MLK day (which, by the way is A-OK) by rallying all the interested ProDos (that's Prospective Dollies, for those not compelled to speak in abbrevs.) marking the official countdown to Dollie Day, oh what a day. More on that in due time. Though right now, we'll just content ourselves with the anticipation towards BANDQUET and the awards for Best and Most Improved Sexion. The odds favor CS106A, but Math 51 is making a strong push. Personally, my money's on Econ1A as a sleeper pick.

Until then, remember kids, don't talk to strangers, as long as you're fine with marrying your cousin.

Lightning round blog action!

2009-01-16T17:46:00.001-08:00

Hi there. Face here! Just kidding it's your old cohort Shotgun with some exciting blogtastic news. Now I must be brief because my dorm is about to deep fry a turkey to commemorate the 1.75 month anniversary of Thanksgiving (true story), but I just wanted to let y'all faithful readers know that the Band, or more specifically the courageous warriors of the bovine-inspired atonal metal 3-d representation of the average distribution of height were featured on the 6 o' clock news and we, always forthcoming in our quest to bring funk to the funkless masses, present you with glorious glorious embedded video of the profile on these media sluts (that's just what we call them behind their backs. Secretly it's all of our dreams to be interviewed by KPIX)

So keep an eye of these brave souls, especially tomorrow when Mike "Benedict Vader" Montgomery comes back to the Farm for a good ol' fashioned butt-whoopin' (fingers crossed). And tune in next week when we dish the goods about how the Band celebrated Martin Luther King Day (hint: it's better than whatever the Arizona band did)

P.S. It was just revealed to us that those scoundrels over at Tennessee won Best Pep Band in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association superlatives for 2009 despite clearly not measuring up and also not having a hot dog in their band. They must have been beaten into submission by hearing Rocky Top 10,000 times in one day.

Why Hullo Thar!

2009-01-06T15:53:00.000-08:00

It's your friendly neighborhood Spider-blogger, Shotgun here. Well it's 2009, and we're here to keep our promise of MORE BLOG ACTION with a quick ACTIONY recap of the band's winter break, or at least my winter break. For most of the band, winter break consisted of an unholy combination of Stanford basketball victories and "Cooking by the book A Lil' Bigger Mix" (what will the YouTube think of next?). For your faithful PR though, winter break largely consisted of Tivoed Christmas specials and addressing envolopes. You see, young paduwan, the Band cannot deliver the funk all by itself, it sometimes needs help along the way. And so, to show our appreciation over the Saturnalia season, the Band sends various Christmahanukwanzaakuh cards to people that have accommodated us, inspired us, tolerated us, or at the very least allowed us to exist. They looked-a something like-a this.

A selection of this year's recipients include Tara VanDerVeer, Johnny Dawkins, Random Student with PO Box 12346 (if you're reading this, we guarantee there's no anthrax), various members of the Athletic Department, other scatter bands on the front line in the righteous crusade for rock and roll, a disproportionate amount of Dollie families living in Atherton, the Liberty Bowl Commission (I was surprised that one was still on the list too), Diane Feinstein, the Colbert Report, and Orenthal James Simpson at Lovelock Correctional Center. A select few people, such as the Spirit of Troy and Art Bartner, got extra special attention. I personally signed them myself with a pen that just so happened to look alot like a bottle of Elmer's Glue, and my signature ended up covering the entire page. Oops. I think they'll get the message though.

Indeed, I hope everyone gets their forthcoming XmasHK card, though assuredly in about a month me and Staph Tool Diego will have the exquisite pleasure of collecting all the "return to sender" cards and taking those unfortunate souls off the list, if we can't find their current address. But I digress. It's time to get back into the groove of Winter Band, with a bevy of basketball games, and three of the most wonderful times of the year, with the kids jingle-belling and everyone telling we'll be of good cheer (those Xmas carols really stick in your head). I speak of course of Bandquet, Ski Trip, and Dollie Day. More on those later, maybe even a little live blogging? Only time can tell.

In the mean time, I leave you with our Big Game field shows. Ignore the mass-carded distraction going on in the stands during halftime, though frankly I'm appalled that all those dirty hippies are such staunch proponents of slash-and-burn forest clearing. It's really a sad situation.

Until then, smoke 'em if you got 'em.
(I of course am referring to clowns on the basketball court, and certainly not drugs)

A Toast to Joe Lewis, the Greatest Boxer of His Time

2008-12-21T18:30:00.000-08:00

Twas a cold winter day in the Midwest. A few of the natives and I awoke after slumbering in my Iowa home, rounded up our gear, stepped outside, and decided that 15 degrees was too warm for a journey to Omaha, Nebraska in a vehicle that actually had a working heater (us Midwesterners are a bit masochistic). After a short 2.5-hour drive, the three of us reached Council Bluffs, a friendly Iowa city that housed our hotel for the weekend, and killed some time until the rest of the band arrived. Apparently, the TSA prohibits people from bringing more than 3 ounces of heat onto a plane, so the band was unable to bring any sizable amount of warmth with them.

We were shortly off to rally the volleyball team outside their hotel. The band played fiercely for our goddesses, despite the icy cold death rays that Mother Nature shot at us. We then headed over to the Qwest Center and brought funk to the legions of funkless Nebraskans, Penn Statians, and Texans that came to see their beloved teams play (the stalwart Stanford Fans having already been thoroughly funked). After giving Texas a fair head start, the Stanford women dominated the game and finished 3-2, securing a spot for the Saturday game. Most of us returned to our hotel to make merry and/or play Risk. A few stayed behind at the center and watched some more intense volleyball. I hear that the innumberable throngs of Nebraska fans can be quite loud.

Friday, the traditional day of rest in many modern religions, saw the band exploring Council Bluffs and Omaha. Some of us went to the zoo and threw snowballs at the animals, while others surveyed the local thrift store scene and bought up the county's supply of flannel and three-piece suits. For dinner, we had steak. Some establishments are not quite used to the amount of awesome brought by the band, so we tip well to compensate. The rest of the night saw us fighting off the giant alien robots that frequently attack the area.

Saturday. The band was up at the crack of noon, preparing for the epic battle that was to unfold that night. We again rallied the team before the game, this time in zero-degree-freeze-your-snot-in-your-nose-Mother-Nature-is-Not-in-a-Good-Mood-and-Father-Nature-is-likely-Sleeping-on-the-Couch-Tonight weather. The game was hard fought, but the Stanford Women fell to the onslaught of the Cyborg-Go-Go-Gadget-Volleyball women from Nittany. The band retired to our hotel, and drowned our sorrows in more Risk. Most everyone returned to California on early flights. The locals and I drove back to our abodes the next day, this time in zero-degree-25-mph-wind-gusts weather in a vehicle that again had no heat.

Things to do in Ft. Collins When You're Still Alive

2008-12-15T23:46:00.000-08:00

Hidey-Ho Neighborino! We know we said that we'd wait until 2009 before massacring your RSS feeds, but as I sit on a plane home listening to Richard Cheese take on System of a Down and looking over what I presume to be nighttime Utah, I decided the Band just couldn't wait to talk to you again, even if it is too early in our relationship for that. And while we know you're about to go run some errands and that it's 8 o'clock in the morning, we just have to regale you with tall tales about our recent trip to Northern Colorado. More after what would be the jump, if this were the type of blog that had advertisements (Hey Gawker, sure you don't want to pick us up? We'd be an excellent companion to Deadspin and Fleshbot).

The Band collectively groaned when management sent the e-mail that said call time at the Shak to ship out was 0430 hours. We separately stumbled our way across campus in the blackest of night and into the hallowed stomping grounds, carrying everything we owned (our dorm rooms would no longer be ours when the trip was over, Housing needed them instead). And as we entered the doorway, the 15-song, all “Thunderstruck” playlist greeted our ears and the Pop-Tarts our Social bought us greeted our stomachs, the grogginess slowly turned to grogthusiasm, and with a newfound sense of purpose, we changed into our “uniforms” and packed our instruments onto the bus.

While United Airlines didn't appreciate our cries of “Get Me Off this Tube of Death”, we still enjoyed our flight to Denver, some of us thinking that United Airlines would benefit a great deal from sponsoring Manchester United, especially given the state of AIG, but I digress.

The native Californians eeked with joy when they saw the snow (I think for some of them it was their first time) and we all rejoiced when we saw that right next door to the hotel was a 24 hour IHOP. Some poor souls still had finals to take while the remainder immediately took advantage of the Big Two special for $7.50. All work and no play makes Band a dull boy though, and when those still bonded to the university cast off their shackles of exams, the fun could really begin.

The next two days were a whirlwind of victory and bone-chilling cold. During the games, we rocked our hearts out, giddy that the 15 goddesses sent from Asgard, also known as our women's volleyball team (I frequently am confused as to whether I just saw Mjolnir, Thor's Hammer, in action or if it was Alix Klineman serving) would actually want us miscreants to be in the same building as them. The other teams were less appreciative, though, of our lessons in colonies throughout history and prohibited items on an airplane. That might have been because they came when Florida and Hawaii were serving. Our bad.

When darkness hit, the Band engaged in the most wholesome of merriment activities. We tried our hand at knitting, pin the tail on the donkey, and pick up sticks. Some went over to Colorado State to go to a house quilting bee some fans at the game invited them to. A few frosh got new nicknames after an epic game of charades. We even had contests to see who could drink a rational amount of water at a reasonable pace. Unfortunately we got a little too into the quiet game drawing a complaint from the other hotel guests that we weren't making enough noise for them to fall asleep to. We survived the night, but we certainly felt that extra round of Pictionary in the morning.

During the day, the legal folks took a tour of the New Belgium Brewery. Word on the street was it was quite fun. The remainder explored what it was like to live in an actual college town, though we still love The Tall Tree. We also delighted patrons of Old Town with our trademark brand of symphonic cacophony. Don't worry vice cops, it's not anything like the Old Town in Sin City.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. We'd like to give a special shoutout to D.P. Dough's for nourishing us with their delicious and affordable calzones, to Colorado State University for accommodating us on our late night snow adventure, and to the volleyball team, for giving us a reason to go to Omaha in a few days (Woo Final Four!!!). Aaron will be on that trip, and I'm sure that he'll provide a similar account of the Band's exploits in an area that looks to be even colder (as if that were possible).

Until then, screw you guys, I'm going home.

The Future is coming!

2008-12-07T21:53:00.000-08:00

And lo, there the band was at Big Game, thankful that we had not been swallowed into the Hayward Fault after taunting it so mercilessly in our halftime show (video soon to come!), watching the seconds tick down on a valiantly fought but ultimately futile football contest. Dean Julie's (the Dean of Freshmen and the South Bay division of the Obama Campaign) leading of an inspired "Yes, We Can" chant after we recovered an onside kick proved to be no match for Kal's junior college transfers, pumped up from the Kal Band's halftime tribute to boy bands. And yea, as the clock hit 00:04 the band rejoiced, for the new staph had officially taken over and the old staph could finally stop pretending they liked this sorry excuse for an organization. For outgoing manager Liz Schackmann it meant her blood pressure immediately dropped 50 points and for incoming AssMan Tim Haefele it meant adding 100 stress balls to his Christmas wish list.

Perhaps more significantly for you, the reader, it means that we have a new PR (Shotgun, that's me) and a new Web Relations/Public Master (Aaron, that's not me) and us two misfits will be manning this blog from now on, with others chiming in when they feel the need to drop some knowledge. What can you expect from your new US Blogators? Lower taxes, more frequent updates, embedded YouTube videos, and free bald eagles for every American citizen.

The revolution will hit in the new year, until then the band lies in wait as we study for finals, and get ready to lay siege to Colorado, as we travel there to follow the women's volleyball team for the 3rd and 4th (knock on wood) rounds of the tournament. Ft Collins has no idea what's about to hit them.

Then it's winter break. The band goes home to rest, celebrate its non-religious specific holiday, and try to erase the trauma of shakethatbear (some mean person sent the link to our e-mail list, google it at your own risk) with 3-hour sessions of Puppy Cam (google it at your own reward). For the saps that happen to call Northen California home and the Old Fartz that couldn't bear to leave the Bay Area, they'll be roped in to playing at the basketball games over break, turning the Shak into Springfield Retirement Castle.

The band will be back early though, to support the men's team as it takes on the pair o' universities from the AZ (much to some people's dismay) the week before classes start. There's no telling what the Band will do to amuse itself without the restraints of academics, but we hope the city of Palo Alto is still standing afterward.

Until then, we leave you with one our best shows of the year, the halftime show from Road Trip (woo!!) to UCLA, replete with commentary by our former Graphix, go to the URL for the fabolous script.

P.S. What Aaron said also. That sneaky ratfink wrote something while I was creating this masterpiece.

A new challenger has appeared!

2008-12-07T21:50:00.000-08:00

Every year, with 4 seconds left in big game, new staph officially assume their positions. Shotgun and I, assuming the positions of public relations and public master, respectively, have decided to breathe some new life into this infrequently-updated blog.

I'd write something more interesting, but I have to study for my partial differential equations final.

Peace

-Aaron

I am become Graduate, eater of ramen

2008-09-05T02:25:00.000-07:00

Hello again

So it's been quite a while since you heard from us. I bet you thought we were in trouble again! Nope, not in trouble, just distracted.

I guess most young folks in the LSJUMB have lately been far too interested in their day jobs of preparing to be America's lawyers, doctors, and search engine billionaires to take much notice of our humble blog. I say "young folks" because I, like quite a number of my pals, have crossed over and begun to walk in that mysterious land from which the only return is grad school. That's right, I graduated, and am now officially what the young punks call an "Old Fart" (I hear the original term in Mandarin has much more respectful connotations.)

So while the leaders of tomorrow spend their time in labs, running tests for jaded Post-Docs, I've been called up, urged to come out of retirement and ramble on for a few paragraphs. I guess Band knew I don't have job yet (Anyone out there know a TV comedy writer who needs an assistant? Better yet, anyone want to give me a TV writing job? I'll bring my own jokes!)

So here I am. I seem to recall that the last time I wrote here, I told you all what an awesome spring the band had ahead of it. As it turned out, the spring was more awesome than predicted. Over the next couple of days I'll try to scrape the rust off my memory (or maybe it just needs valve oil?) and retell some of the better stories. There were some good times. We played at an after school program, and some of the kids there have a famous NFL dad who really likes us. Who, you ask? Sorry, Band does not rock-out-and-tell. That was also when my academic advisor saw me in Band Mode for the first time. I tried to imagine what it's like to see your negligent advisee with an interest in modern American literature transformed into the tuba player in purple pants and a skunk hat. I liked my advisor, and I felt a little pressure to play well, until I remembered that it was her job to make sure I took that poetry class, not to point out how much I stumbled through "Crazy Train."

Here's a story...it begins at another event for the wee bairns. We were playing for a preschool/kindergarten's family picnic, which happened to also be the birthday of the inventor of the Aerobie flying disc. Earlier in the day, I had honored this occasion by going to Manz field to get a free aerobie, which I brough to the school rally. Since I don't sweat the music thing too much, I tossed the aerobie around with another band dude. We'll call him Wooley, because everyone else does. Now I remember a sloppy throw sending the aerobie over to the water activity table, where it disappeared. Some adept little sticky fingers made off with it. I was distraught, but I figured toys on a preschool playground are communal property, so the little absconder hadn't knowingly committed theft. Fortunately, when Band Time was over and it was Pizza and Juice Time, I saw my aerobie set down at the sand box table, and I quickly reclaimed it. In a charming coda to this part of the story, Wooley hid the aerobie after it was found, causing me to wonder if the preschool wasn't a Dickensian pickpocket academy.
The story continues a week or two later when I brought my aerobie to LSJUMB Senior Rehearsal, during which every senior gets to conduct the band for one song, outside on the grass. After I led the band in an inappropriately "Slow 'n' Funky" rendition of "Ruby Soho," Wooley (yes, him again) and I tossed the ol' flying disc around. Skilled Nordic sportsman that he is, Wooley managed deftly to lodge my precious aerobie in a tree. In the aftermath, a valuable lesson was learned: if one's aeroblie is lost in a tree, and throwing rocks to dislodge it is proving ineffectual, it is not wise to resort to throwing one's shoes in place of rocks. And that's the story of how I lost an aerobie and two slip-on vans in an oak tree at Stanford.

Well we're just startin' the old blog engine up again, so that seems like a good stopping point. There will be plenty more to come if I can find the right mix of bribery and intimidation to get Scott Bland or some other bright-eyed young bandie to be Blogmaster from now on. There could be more Spring Band recap, or perhaps just a whole lotta Football Season. The band is driving to Texas for the game against TCU next week, so maybe you'll get periodic updates from the 40 hour round trip, chonicling Manager Liz's descent into madness. Or maybe we'll let Jill W. tell you about her trip to Tanzania, if we don't think it's way too boring. Who knows? Some of you leave lovely comments after some posts, so how about you tell us what you want to see in the blog. We may ignore it, but even just posting a comment on the Band Blog makes you cool by association.

Class of '08 for life.
Coop

Spring Band, Boing Boing!

2008-04-10T00:45:00.000-07:00

Hello my brothers and sisters

First of all, we of the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band would like to say that we are proud of both of our basketball teams. Thank you, Men's and Women's Basketball, for representing our university (including us hacks with the instruments) with class and fine athleticism.

Now that Basketball Season is over, it's time for the greatest mash-up in the history of the world. Spring + Band = SPRING BAND!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spring Band is the LSJUMB's mercenary faction. Spring Band has no sporting event obligations, so it is free to wander around the Bay Area, playing for birthday parties, weddings, wakes, gun shows, and more. Fine weather (practically guaranteed) and Fun (guaranteed, or your money and Open Bar back) abound. It's an exciting time to be playing an instrument in tacky, awful clothing. We never know what's going to happen. For every game of downhill bowling outside a birthday party in San Francisco (true story), there is getting locked inside the fence during the lunch hour at a construction site (also a true story).

You can get a taste of Spring Band this very weekend! On Saturday at 6 pm in the Stanford Stadium there is the annual Stanford Football "Cardinal vs. White" Spring Game. It's like October in April! Neat! We'll be there. Come out.

Also on Saturday, in the early morning (between 8 and 9 am? No one tells me anything) Band is playing for Stanford Relay for Life. Come out and read the stories of Friday Night in exhausted Tenrz' faces.

And next weekend? DAVIS DAY. Get ready Davis, we are coming to rock you.

Peace.
The LSJUMB

WHERE ARE WE GOING?

2008-04-01T17:56:00.001-07:00

THE FINAL FOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Spokane/Houston recap coming soon. In the meantime, get psyched.)

Divvy up the Band

2008-03-26T18:12:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome once again to the Stanford Bland Bog.

This is the first blog post actually written IN THE BAND SHAK! Why has it taken so long for us to write from our smelly, messy, dearly beloved HQ? Probably because most of the time when we're here we're just having too much fun to sit in front of a boring old computer (no offense, Shakputer). Today however, Shak is empty. It's just me sitting at Shakputer, drinking Capri Sun and listening to Flogging Molly, so I'm getting down to some bloggin'. But why is Shak so devoid of its usual Funk and joviality? Because tomorrow one half of Band flies to Spokane, WA and the other flies to Houston, TX. That's right, both of our basketball teams have advanced to the Sweet 16, and Band has to execute the demanding "Split Band" maneuver, bringing funk to the funk-less in two locations. Sometimes this seems like a daunting task, to rock paint off the walls in two Western states, but then we think "Leland Stanford conquered the American West, and so can we -- and without all the shady business practices." (Though not, perhaps, without labor exploitation; Band essentially works for no more than a per diem/taco money.)

So there you have it. Each half of Band is furiously packing (wait, we can legally bring how much liquid onto a plane?), and one half is trying to figure out what to wear in Spokane (it's not going to be as warm there as it is here, nope nope).

I leave you now because I too must prepare for the trek to the North (Sorry Houston; your favorite celebrity blogger will try to make it out next time.)

Playing Catch-Up

2008-03-16T17:22:00.000-07:00

Hello Dear Friends.

We got word that violence has been breaking out around the nation because we never got around to telling you folks how Dollie Day '08 turned out. We apologize for sucking. It "won't" happen again.

Some people who don't suck nearly as much as your LSJUMB bloggers are the DOLLIES 2008-2009. Woooooo! They are (numbered according to ascending height order, natch):

Dollie #1: Jennifer Lee
Dollie #2: Ali Romer
Dollie #3: Taylor Phillips
Dollie #4: Sydney Gulbronson
Dollie #5: Taylor Thibodeaux

New Dollies are awesome, but they officially begin their term in May, so we'll talk more about them later.

Now we invite you to wonder what could make the Tenrz yell obscenities at the Toobs, make a former drum major crawl on the ground and cry like a little girl, and get twenty people suddenly crammed in a bathroom. Ha, no it isn't Bacardi 151 (at least not this time...). We're talking about the Toobz-initiated Toobz 'n' Tenrz Dollie Day Hot Wing Challenge. Everyone knows the Tenrz are a bunch of self-absorbed sissies, but they think they're pretty tough, so they stepped up to the plate when we bet we could eat more hot wings than they could. What they didn't know was that "hot wings" was a comically severe understatement. Toobz sexion leader M.R. spiced up his wings with Dave's Insanity Sauce. The Toobz knew this, and ate the same wings to preserve the illusion of a friendly contest, but the Tenrz launched themselves a little too enthusiastically into the challenge, guaranteeing their doom. Thirty seconds later, cries of "My face is burning!" and "Why, Toobz, why?" filled the air as scorched bandies spilled out of the Shak, looking for a hose. Habanero-sauce hand prints covered the bathroom walls as twenty people crowded around the sinks. (When the powers that be said "No showers in Shak," they really didn't understand the significance of their decision.) It was a great Dollie Day.

Also, Dollie Day '08 yielded a significant discovery. The discovery was "Me And The Cap'ns," a delicious new breakfast beverage/cereal. The recipe appears below. (Eat out of a bowl, with a spoon, natch. Also, you have to say "Me and the cap'ns make it happen! - and you have to mean it.)

Me And The Cap'ns was a big hit. Two thumbs up.

Okay, time to bring this entry to a close, because Finals Week is upon us. That means it's time to study real hard before we take our finals on the road as we jet off to play for some NCAA Tournament Basketball. Woo! Go Card!

Good pub

2008-03-08T03:15:00.001-08:00

Greetings, friends and foes. Winter quarter is winding down and we're busier than ever, with both the men's and women's basketball teams heading to the postseason. The IVs are flowing for exhausted bandies. But we've still had a pretty good week.

A few months ago, Pat Forde of ESPN.com wrote a college basketball "bucket list" that included performing as the Tree. So we thought, "Hey, cool!" and went back to playing Guitar Hero. And then we thought, "Hey, we should invite him!" So we did. Last Thursday, Forde came to and hung out with the Band, and was the Tree for the first half of the men's basketball game against Washington. He also conducted "White Punks on Dope" after the game. Forde is a great guy, and he seemed to have even more fun with us than we had hosting him, which is saying something. He wrote a glowing article about us that was on the front page of the men's basketball section of ESPN.com (see screenshot!) for all of Thursday, and was also the main story on the front page for most of the day, too.

Needless to say we're pretty excited about it. It's not every day someone writes really nice things about you on the front page of a big-time, national website. And it's nice to get the word out that we're not terrible, cannibalistic devil-worshipers...or most everyone besides the mellz, that is.

The Gathering Storm

2008-02-12T18:50:00.000-08:00

Hello Humanfolk and clever Animalfolk!

I'm writing this entry solo, but your new favorite blogger Sweet Cheeks is with me in spirit. He may even edit this post or post something new later. Won't that be a treat?

We are sorry that we haven't written much lately; there just hasn't been that much to report, as our weeks lately have been basketball, basketball, basketball. If you haven't kept up with Card Hoops this season, or maybe you have never heard of basketball, we recommend http://gostanford.cstv.com/ Read up, fill that brain with knowledge.

We did participate in the San Jose Vietnamese Spring Festival Parade over the weekend; that was a fun time, despite Band Management making us get out of bed way earlier than we had to. Our comrades from the North, Davis Band, showed up. In the staging area we were sandwiched between Davis and the local branch of the Galactic Empire, so we played "Throne Room Fanfare" from the very end of Episode 4 (A New Hope). The stormtroopers were very impressed. Then Davis played a much lamer song from Episode 1. Good try Davis, better luck next time. We look forward to rocking out on your turf in April.

By now you might be wondering what the title of this post refers to. It refers to this coming weekend, the biggest weekend in the Band calendar. Yes, it's DOLLIE WEEKEND 2008. It's time to pick our new Dollies, who will begin their term in May. The weekend's festivities are like a school carnival, Festivus, and a monster truck rally tossed together in a giant burrito of mayhem and liver-punishment. It is a time for each sexion to prove its worth. There can be no backing down when, for instance, the Toobz challenge your sexion to drink a bacon milkshake. Was the bacon cooked before it went in the blender? You can only hope that it was. Perhaps this is the year that someone will prove that it is possible to drink an entire box of Capri Suns and keep it down. On top of all this metaphorical bear-wrestling, there is the strenuous process of deciding of who will be the next Fab Five. The new Dollies must be brainy Stanford women with dance skills to pay the bills, where the bills are the national debt. They must be capable of making the U$C Song Girls look bad in every way. Most importantly and difficultly, they have to be able to roll with The One, The Only, The Truly Incomparable Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band. Godspeed to all the ProDos* who advance to the Battle Royale, Dollie Day 2008.

Brace Yourself!
The LSJUMB

*Prospective Dollies, duh.

Bandquet 08, the end.

2008-01-29T01:42:00.000-08:00

We have seen horrors.

Congratulations to the Bonz, most improved sexion 2007, and the Tenrs, best sexion 2007.

Now we begin the process of forgetting how much of a circus Bandquet '08 was. Bandquet '09, here we come.

Asshole off the mic

2008-01-28T22:58:00.000-08:00

Slideshow over. 60 yays, 2997 boos.

Slater is on the mic, for perhaps the last time. He is presentting our yearly awards. Oh, the humanity! The rabbi is becoming ever more belligerent!!! He and the milk have just come to blows, only to be separated by Mario and Luigi!!! Exclamation points!!!!!!!

Cooper accepts awards on behalf of both himself and former PR Sammy Franco. God bless Sammy Franco, wherever he is. Probably at home in Terra, watching cartoons.

Plotz and Patchez are loudly applauded for their long, hard...turgid...efforts to put a cock and balls on the football field at every opprotunity.

Management is getting pelted with missiles right now. We've always wanted to see the entire Band rumble against the U$C band or someone, but it looks like we might have to live out a civil war first. Coop and I are retreating to an undisclosed location.

2008-01-28T22:16:00.000-08:00

The slideshow has begun. A montage of everything the Band has done for the past year is flashing past our eyes. Swiss Army knife Buster is met with approval, as are the Dollies...approximately 350 times. Dan Meyer practicing the Banner solo and getting PB&Js made on his foot at high resolution is regretted mightily by everyone. Stanford Marching Cardinal pictures are lustily acclaimed, never more so than when the Tree knocks us all over and we experience the Second Coming of the real LSJUMB.

There are far too few pictures of the Trumpz in this album. Sadly, Buster's conflagration in the Quad was not captured.

This is tiring. I'll give you a more general play-by-play:

Yay. Yaaaay! Yaaaaay! Booooo! Yaaaay! Boooooooooo! Boooooooo! Booooooo! Boooooooo! Yaaaaay! Peeeeennnnissss!

More coming up, soon.

From Coop: A quick summary of the slidwhow so far:

Dollies: popular!

the Altoz: not so popular!

Banduet 08 more live coverage!

2008-01-28T22:10:00.000-08:00

Will someone please tell that rabbi to quit yelling at everyone?! Uh oh, Rabbi just shoved the giant milk carton! Giant milk must have tried to mix with Giant MEat!

Uh oh, Band is boooing! The people "in charge" must want us to do something! Stay tuned!

Bandquet 08 Live Coverge Continues!

2008-01-28T21:57:00.000-08:00

It's officially a party - the clergy showed up! No, wait! She's no nun, she's in Band!

I haven't seen so many bandies in one place in a long time. Where were these bums during football season?!

Whao, crazy! Vinny and a tenr have switched coats! It's madness!

Stay tuned, slideshow and general merriment forthcoming!

Live from BANDQUET, 2008

2008-01-28T21:34:00.000-08:00

Greetings, citizens of Funkytown. Cooper and I are blogging to you live from Bandquet, our annual dinner and awards ceremony. A carton of milk has just walked in to the last strains of the Dirty Limerick. Also in attendance tonight are a lumberjack, five Hershey's kisses, and two drones being controlled via remote from the Athletic Department. First chance we have, they're getting dunked and short-circuited in the Blue Moon.

Stay tuned for more. The awards are coming up, the beers are going down, and the genitals are a-flyin'. It's Bandquet, 2008, live on the LSJUMB Bogl! Watch for the spelling mistakes to skyrocket as the evening goes on.

Meet the Sweets

2008-01-21T19:34:00.000-08:00

Hello Literate Public

As you may have realized, I, Coop, have done the vast majority of the blogging for the one, the only, the etc. LJSJUMB.

But as alluded to in an earlier post, I, Coop, have been replaced (although not, for once, due to gross incompetence) as the LSJUMB's PR Coordinator. Replacing me, Coop, is everyone's favorite curly-haired, glasses-wearin' Ithacan sportsman, Scott "SweetCheeks" Bland. He, Scott, is currently practicing with the rest of the band in the rehearsal hall, while I, Coop, blog about him without his knowledge. Here is a picture of him, Scott, in which you can see his, Scott's, sweet, sweet cheeks.

See those cheeks? I challenge you to find sweeter cheeks than his, Scott's.

But what makes him, Scott, everyone's favorite guy? Well for starters, he, Scott, plans to declare for the NBA Draft this spring. He comes with a lot of upside and holds the distinction of having dunked on Brook Lopez. He, Scott, is currently preparing the paperwork.

He, Scott is also the Trumpz Sexion Leader. Remember when I, Coop, told you about their, the Trumpz' Big Game project, the hot dog cart? Well they, the Trumpz, were a little careless and left a cooler full of hot dogs in the Band Shak over Winter Break. Now as Sexion Leader, he, Scott, must figure out what to do with the cooler, which emits a stench that is as
Oh crap band has to go rally the prospective Dollies. I, Coop, will finish this later.

Okay, back. Anyway, cooler full of rancid hot dogs, smells very bad, blah blah blah.

In conclusion, he, Scott, would be a great asset to the NBA because of his freakishly long arms.

Love,
I, Coop

(Even though this post introduces SweetCheeks as a new guy who will be blogging here, I'm going to keep posting at least up until June. Angry letters demanding that I step down may be sent to Scott Bland.)

Big Game Week 07: A Look Back Part III

2007-12-22T12:05:00.000-08:00

Today in the blog we have a short interview with newly-Former Band Manager Adam "(AC) Slater" Cohen.

So man, you're not in charge of Band anymore. What's next for you?

Lotta workin, lotta sleepin. Lotta drinkin. Lotta makin fun of Liz, mostly.

How old does being an ex-manager make you feel?

The other day I was talking to my roommate, who's a Ph.D. student, and I cracked a joke about grad students and their bike helmets. He said, "hey, you're a grad student now." It took me about 2 days to recover. True story.

Let's say the entire new Band staph died from eating poison tacos on their staph retreat, and the rest of Band said "Hey Slater ol' buddy, we need you to be manager again." What would you say to that?

I think there are some Stanford administrators who might have something to say about that. I would not be surprised if some of them preferred zombie-taco-poison Liz to me. I would say no, and then someone would convince Mike Priest* to do it. He's the one with the martyr complex anyway.

*Note: Mike Priest, who has been mentioned twice in this blog (and more to come, probably) is a former Band Manager and trumpet player. Mike graduated and has a "real job" now, but that does not stop us from using him as the subject of jokes.

Is it true that former managers get to join a special club in a secret clubhouse that has bearskin rugs, a pinball machine, and a viewing window to laugh at the new manager?

Yes. It's called the Asshole farm, and all I can tell you is that there is a secret entrance to it in the Adventureland section of Disneyland. I got my key last week. Oh, and the viewing window is more of a CCTV camera system, but the principle is the same.

I hear that Band managers often get nightmares during their terms of office. Did any dreadful fantasies plague your slumber?

I swear on my mother I am not making this up. About 3 weeks before Big Game, I had a dream that a certain member of the Athletic Department, whom I will not name on the outside chance that this gets back to that person and makes Liz's life more difficult, showed up to the Shak right before a Monday rehearsal with a bottle of Glenlivet. You see, it turns out that all of the antagonism that this person showed the Band was actually a result of him being insulted that we had never invited him to perform with us! So, he had brought me a peace offering of scotch whiskey -- which we shared, of course -- and wanted to give Snare drum a shot. And then everyone lived happily ever after. Waking up after realizing that my brain had just created this horrible, horrible image was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I still haven't fully recovered.

Well folks, that just may wrap up our BGW 07 coverage. Fun stuff from that epic week may still trickle in, but for the most part we are going to move onwards and upwards to a variety of coverage of Band's adventures during Winter Quarter.

Love,
The LSJUMB

Big Game Week 07: A Look Back Part II

2007-12-17T22:12:00.000-08:00

Now that Band is for the most part home for winter break, busy forgetting how to play their instruments, it's time for more BGW 07 reminiscing.

Please observe the pictures below:

In these pictures we have the LSJUMB Killa Trumpz doing one really cool thing, but then nullifying it by doing a totally wack thing. The cool thing is that they one-upped us all yet again by building the best Big Game project for a third straight year. Two years ago it was the well-crafted and spectacularly inconvenient "Brickhenge." Last year it was the well-crafted and spectacularly helpful "Mike Priest Memorial Roundabout" (don't worry - Mike's not dead, he's just dead to us) which inspired the university to build a real roundabout. And this year the Trumpz gave us the "Trumpz Hot Dog Stand." It is a thing of beauty and nourishment, and everyone in Band who rocked out during BGW 07 owes the Trumpz a debt of gratitude for all the dogs, burgers, and Polishes.
HOWEVER, as you can see in the picture, the Trumpz chose ninjas as their Big Game sexion costume. That would have been totally fine, but as you can see they seem to have missed the memo which said "make your costume mostly red." Given that the Trumpz are mostly engineering students, it puzzles us how they messed up this simple directive. Maybe they knew they controlled the local hot dog scene, and felt they were above our petty rules. I don't know. In any case, while every other sexion rocked cool red costumes on the field, the Trumpz looked like living photographic negatives of what they were supposed to look like. Good job, guys. We'd be more angry if those bratwursts hadn't been so delicious.

And now a few word about the new staph.

Manager: Liz Schackmann
Remember, Liz: power corrupts, so I guess it's a good thing that as Band Manager you won't have any.
Liz is rather unique in that she was also once a Dollie. So when we throw nickels at her and command her to dance, as we do with all new managers, she might actually do it.

Ass(istant) Man(ager): Nate "Chopz" Foorman
As a former manager once said, "Being Band Management is like making the worst decision of your life, and then making it again a year later." So Chopzie has made one horrific wrong turn on the road of life, and has another one to look forward to in twelve months. Congrats, Chopz!

Drum Major: "Hat"Dave Borowitz
HatDave challenges the old "Monkey with a Stick" stereotype; as he will proudly tell you, he aims to be the "Monkey with a Stick - with a hat!" Also, Dave is good with computers.

Chris Holt Memorial Public Relations: Scott "Sweet Cheeks" Bland
Scott is dear to my heart, as he is my successor in the CHMPR position. What's that, ladies? Does the nickname lie? No, it doesn't lie - those cheeks sure are sweet. How sweet? Sweet like a lemon is sour, sweet like chocolate-dipped honeycomb laced with LSD. Soo sweet. Hi Scott!

Alumni Relations: C.J. Jameson
C.J.'s job is to shake down the Old Fartz who once rocked out but now own wineries or drink 50-year-old single malts out of jeweled decanters. If C.J. got a dollar for every time he's going to hear the phrase "When I Was in Band...," he could play at John Arrillaga's table on poker night.

Treasure: Jill Wurzburg
What? Her again? Jill was treasurer last year, and now she is treasurer again. Why Jill, why? She did a great job handling our funds so we didn't have to hock our instruments, but I think she keeps coming back because she owes some sort of life debt to Liz Schackmann. Jill and I are working on a plan to raise twenty grand so Scott Bland will play "Frankenstein" instead of the Star Spangled Banner solo at a football game next year.

Social: Jacob "Diego" Etc., and Megan Moroney
These guys organize ice cream mixers, barn dances, potato sack races, and all the other wholesome, innocent things Band does for fun. Seriously, it's like having Ned Flanders be our Minister of Fun, except there's two of him.

Graphix: Jeff "Eh Victor" Rowell and Byron Vosburg
Possibly the biggest chumps on the list. These guys are the only staph members whom Band is expressly required to ridicule and antagonize. In a way, being Graphix is kind of kinky, which is why I think these guys like it.

Librarian: Daniel "Babz" Babinksi
Babz went to Russia, and a great cry went up across Stanford. "I miss Babz," the upperclassmen cried. "Who 'dis Babz?" cried the freshmen. "Quiet, younglings," the upperclassmen said, "and we will tell you a story of a man who made tyrants weep with his alto sax, a man who was such a badass he rode the trans-Siberian Express while we fooled around on a football field." When Babz comes back to campus, the feast in his honor is expected to last for ten days and nights.

Propz: Lauran "Razzberry" Palumbi, Blake English, and Alan "Rager" Rager
Being propz is one case in which bravery is indistinguishable from insanity. Chances are good at least one of these three is completely insane. Propz hands out Band jackets. Band loses and "loses" jackets several times per week. Propz gets instruments fixed. Band breaks the instruments again, pretending to be The Who. Propz tidies up the Shak. Band drinks one hundred Capri Suns and can't be bothered to find a trash can. Come to think of it, at this time next year, all three may be insane.

Recruiter: Martha "Ariel" Smith, Roxanne Paul
It's the job of these two to make a pitch for Band to ProFros, new frosh, and idle upperclassmen that makes Google fringe benefits look like a sudden brick to the kneecap. Their bag of tricks contains promises of road trip per diems, free Capri Sun and donuts, and the chance to make some very embarrassing decisions at parties. People who turn down this offer usually go hang out with J. Alfred Prufrock instead.

Webmaster: Ruddick "Vinny" Lawrence
Vinny, like Jill, is a returning staph member. But unlike with Jill, it is clear why Vinny wants to be on staph again: to create strife from the inside. Vinny has and does champion such initiatives as "Vote No on Everything," and "Booby-Trap the Shak Computer." Vinny has also been to Italy, and when he needs help procrastinating, he comes to this blogger's dorm room, where he often leaves behind garbage as a "joke."

Blah. I can't believe I wasted so much time writing about those jerks.

Until next time, Friends. Also, were you aware we beat U$C in football? Just checkin'.

Big Game Week 07: A Look Back Part I

2007-12-14T01:50:00.000-08:00

Hey hey hey!

Hello and welcome to our newest friends, those web log enthusiasts who found their way here when some one decided that our infant blog is "of note." One wonders what exactly constitutes "of note" status. Our organization knows a thing or two about being "of note." Since 1963, we've skipped back and forth across the spectrum of noteworthiness, from "Ha ha, they've done it again!" to "That's the last straw; they've done it again." All we really want in terms of this blog is to be noted as more entertaining and a better source of journalism than The Stanford Daily. I bet we'll be there after a few more (not necessarily sober, even) posts.

So as it turns out, when Big Game Week leads into Dead Week, which in turn leads into Finals Week, things take longer than promised in earlier blog posts. Rather than keep our valued readers in the dark for another day, we've broken up our coverage of BGW 07. This first installment covers some of the Toobz Sexion's handiwork.

To start, we have the Toobz' project, an Embo projected and then chalked over on the layers of our rehearsal hall. Viewers sitting in the correct place in the hall see the image below.

Everyone agrees that this is pretty cool, so we've been bugging the management about turning this into a permanent decoration.

As mentioned in the previous post, we also introduced a new tuba bell design at Big Game. Given that this baby wasn't started until the night before BG, she's not done yet, but after a few more coats, some touch-up and perspective-tweaking work, and the completion of the beer label, she'll be ready to rock and roll at a Ph.D. level. May we present the Beer Block S:

Yep, she'll be a beauty when she's done. Want to know even better news? Three tubas are slated to get fresh, iconic paint jobs next quarter. It will be awesome, and it will be in this blog.

Before we go: Congratulations to Women's Volleyball! On to the Final!

Band Survives an Epic Big Game Week

2007-12-02T23:00:00.000-08:00

Hello Awesome People!

As it says in the Band Bible (Embo 3:50), "If every week were Big Game Week, we'd all be dead."

I suppose that doesn't preclude Big Game Week itself from killing us, but, good news, WE'RE STILL ALIVE!

Yes, Band survived the epic BGW '07. After about 18 hours of solid Band-ing on Saturday, we are all still too deep in recovery mode to write a proper blog post, but you can expect a jam packed post later this week, after all the hilarious moments, inspirational stories, and stark, embarrassing photos have been collected. Highlights to look forward to: A new Band Staph takes office and kicks the old jerks to the curb, the toobz get a new bell painting, the trumpz build something of remarkable utility, and outgoing Band manager Slater contemplates life "on the outside." Do they give a Pullitzer for bloggery? How about a Nobel? If not, maybe they will soon, because the impending BGW recap will rank right up there with triumphs of human expression like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Big Lebowski.

And now something important: Yes, this was a 4-8 football season. But this was also the season Stanford Football defeated (and ruined the national title hopes of) the Evil Empire of Southern California (U$C) on the road despite astronomical odds, and brought the Axe home after a drought that was getting depressing (my fellow seniors and I are especially grateful for that). Those were two great wins (which Band had the immense, unforgettable pleasure and honor of witnessing) and we couldn't be prouder.

Catch ya later this week!

Recording Weekend

2007-11-13T03:13:00.000-08:00

Hay D00dz!

Now is a pretty good time to be thinking "Hey, I wonder what the Stanford Band did last weekend." It's a good time because this past weekend was HUGE for Band. We recorded a new album!

Band records an album every four years. Last spring we looked to the heavens and saw that on November 9-11, 2007 the planets would align in such a way as to be ideal for putting some tunes on wax. (Figurative wax of course - this is 2007 at an elite research university. We've gone digital, baby.) The alignment of the planets didn't preclude a spot of rain and many, many noisy airplanes flying over Frost Ampitheater, but overall it was a great weekend for getting sick of endless repeats of album songs.

Most readers of this blog, being both residents of a capitalist nation and hopefully also fans of the band, will be wondering how they can get their hands on our new masterpiece. The album is due out in the Spring, and you can be sure that we will make it well known that it is available for sweet, sweet purchase. In addition to an announcement on our webpage and this blog, groups of bandies will be deployed to wander from city to city, literally singing the album's praise. We're also looking into NASCAR sponsorship, but we'd have to axe our donut budget to afford it.

Here are some photos, taken Sunday during a late lunch break.

Other exciting things happened during the recording...photos coming soon.

Liz Schackmann, Shak Woman

2007-10-30T23:36:00.000-07:00

Liz and Slater, amid squalor.

Hey folks, what's happening.

At the moment, Band is gearing up for the annual changing of the guard, the induction of a new Band Staph. Band Assistant Manager Liz Schackmann is in the process of selecting a handful of primates to serve under her when she takes over as Manager at the end of the 2007 Big Game. This evening, I stopped by the Shak to crash the "Office Hours" Liz was holding for all parties interested in applying for a staph position. It wasn't the most productive time ever spent at Shak, but it certainly wasn't the least productive (see post on Guitar Hero later this week). Taped to the door of the office is an application for Ass Man by a guy whose Band nickname rhymes with "Nice Rick." I think he is a promising applicant, but Liz thinks he gave the wrong answer to "Do you fold or crumple your toilet paper?" She'll be a tough boss, alright. I'm glad my staph term ends soon. LOOKOUT FROSH! IT'S A TRAP!

Brooooooooooooooooomball!

2007-10-25T03:17:00.000-07:00

Hi Readers!

Last night the Bonz and Toobz took on the Drumz and Dollies in a fierce game of broomball. (If you don't know what broomball is, you just won a date with Wikipedia). We played a hectic two-ball version; organizing any sort of structured game play divided into periods sounds more like something the U$C band would do. In the LSJUMB, we know that reckless abandon is the only acceptable modus operandi on a hard, low-friction surface. The game was not without injury and bloodshed though; several bandies paid dues to the ice.

The teams were the usual rag-tag hodgepodge of players. In addition to an assortment of current students and alumni, each team had its share of ringers from other sections. (Although in this case the "ringers" didn't necessarily bring dazzling skills or even an ability to avoid falling hard on the ice to their teams.) Team Low Brass scored first, but Drumz 'n' Dollies answered with a goal of their own soon after. The horn players eventually won by a wide margin, through superior athleticism and the patience to outlast the drumz' short collective attention span.

So, for the record, BONZ AND TOOBZ BEAT THE DRUMZ AND DOLLIES AT BROOMBALL ON 10/24/07.

It remains to be seen how many bandies will get out of bed for class in the morning; broomball is no joke, and we will all be sore tomorrow.

Special thanks to Belmont Iceland for being nice to us and having a cool facility. http://www.belmonticeland.com/

That's all for now. Check back soon for coverage of a special forthcoming arrival at the Band Shak.

Sports, ahoy!

2007-10-21T03:18:00.000-07:00

Hello Internet Enthusiasts!

Just a short Band anecdote today:

On Saturday evening, the band watched Stanford Football beat Arizona on the video board in Maples Pavilion, as we waited to play at an event for Men's Basketball. It was a fun reminder of how lucky we are to be able to play music for the athletes and fans of so many hard-working sports programs here. Good job Football, and we're looking forward to a great season, Basketball!

Also, thanks to the Sixth Man Club for feeding us.

Until next time,
The LSJUMB

A Bye Week for Band

2007-10-19T00:16:00.001-07:00

Hello friends!

The football team will be off in Arizona this Saturday, so the band is taking some time to relax and work on field shows that won't be total disasters. "Not total disasters?" you must be wondering, "What impish flights-of-fancy be these?" Well, as a special insider's scoop for the three of you in the Midwest who managed to find this brand-new blog, we're going to tell you the shows that the band will perform at the next home football game on November 3, 2007. They are:

Pregame: "China Today!" China has been in the news a lot lately, and with an Olympics on the way, that's not going to change any time soon. We know you keep promising yourself that you'll call your old buddy China, or at least send a Christmas card, but hey, you're busy. Don't worry though; the Band will let you know what's up on the Far-East Side.

Halftime: "Killer Robots" We are proud of our Computer Science department here at Stanford (that program churns out some pretty good sax players!), and every year we send flocks of new grads off to new toil in Silicon Valley. As such, we are all well aware of the enormous threat robots pose to society. Come November 3, you'll cling to your loved ones in suspense as you wonder if the band will manage to destroy its metallic would-be conquerors.*

And now, for those of you who haven't seen it, as well as those of you who recognize it as an instant classic, here is the video of our "Marching Cardinal" show from 9/15/07. This was our first field show since December 2005, and we spent dozens of hours learning to march, and even more time in the hospital for marching-related injuries. Those fancy Stanford doctors had never removed a Dollie from a tuba before!

(Commentary by Patchez, Band Graphix Co-Coordinator)

Thanks for watching! Visit our blog again for more Band adventures and various horrors of the internet.

Love,
The LSJUMB

*Outlook not good; the band is a bunch of sissies.

So I guess we're on the internets

2007-09-04T17:46:00.000-07:00

Heya. Thanks for checking out our site. I kinda made some of it, and now I'm making us this here blog. Check back often (hopefully) (maybe) (we're really lazy) and if you're lucky, you'll get to find out about upcoming rallies, games, funerals, inaugurations, and puppet shows we're performing at. Maybe you'll even get to hear about what our very own memb'ers think about the pressing issues of our modern American life, such as: "oh god Bush still has over five hundred days in office" or "man, they should really bring back The Angry Beavers."

I know, I know, you just can't wait.