West Side Story (1957). Leonard Bernstein /sharks versus cardinal?/

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The Chair of the UCLA School of Music attended a practice and game performance of the UCLA marching band, for the first time in twenty years. This might have been predicted since I believe the chair also blogs and posts YouTube videos.

Although there is not much to say about yesterday's game itself against USC (boo), Roger did point out the appropriate musical programming:

We then watched the half time show. After hearing the two bands, it is clear to me the great job Gordon does arranging and running the band. UCLA did, appropriately, a suite from West Side Story– perfect for town rivalry.

For the record, I should point out the local-spouse was a drummer in the Stanford Band (aka the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band). However, we don't talk about it much in polite company since after the great Band Shak vandalism scandal several years ago, the band was discredited or disbanded or repudiated or exonerated or something. Although, I like this endorsement from Rolling Stone:

It's hard for anyone raised on rock to imagine that a band could sound this loud without thousands of watts of amplification.

Wikipedia also has this to say:

The band prides itself on its vast song selection, never playing the same song twice in one day, and has a library of over one thousand songs at its disposal, nearly one hundred of which are in active rotation.

Not to delve too deeply into this but I should point out the Stanford Band has a long history of humorous ableit albeit rogue behavior and is best known for its inadvertent participation in "The Play:"

The Play refers to a last-second kickoff return during a college football game between the University of California Golden Bears and the Stanford University Cardinal on November 20, 1982. Given the circumstances and rivalry, the wild game that preceded it, the very unusual way in which The Play unfolded, and its lingering aftermath on players and fans, it is recognized as a highly memorable play in college football history and among the most memorable in American sports.

Update: Reading to the end of the Wikipedia The Play article indicates the Stanford trombonist who missed the last tackle allowing Cal to score is now at a noted venture capital company. His trombone is at the College Football Hall of Fame.