The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 16, Ed. 1 Monday, November 20, 1978 Page: 7 of 12
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The Rice Thresher, November 20, 1978, Page 7
The MOB Has a Rival at Stanford
For the past five years, the
Rice Marching Owl Band has
been rather infamous for its
crazy formations and
unconventional style. But, they
are not alone.
There was a time when the
Incomparable Leland Stan-
ford Junior University
Marching Band was very much
like every other university
marching band in the country.
Before 1963, Stanford
bandsmen took great pride in
their straight lines and
precision formations. They
were proud of the music and
the way they played it.
Those days are long gone,
except for the pride, and that
pride is bringing about
potential major changes in
today's LSJUMB.
The Band went on strike in
1963, demanding student
autonomy, and since then it has
not been a "normal" marching
band. The musicians remained
happy with their sounds, and
the methods by which they
produced them, but they
drastically changed the subject
matter and approach.
For 15 years the Band's
halftime shows have been
marked by a scatter formation;
clashing clothes—if any; and
frequently funny and
occasionally foul and now-and-
then terribly insulting
spellouts, pictures, and biting
social commentary, all formed
in rapid succession on the field.
The Band is famous (or
notorious) for this approach.
LSJUMB has played in
concert with Frank Zappa and
at professional SDorting events,
and has rallied the crowds
everywhere trom Stanford's
Meyer Undergraduate Library
to San Francisco's Hookers
Balls.
It is, in short, the most
talked-about band, one that
has inspired a fervent reaction
on the part of critics as well as
fans. It is either hated or loved
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NOVEMBER 24, 25, & 26
On the Gulf at Stewart Beach
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PROGRAM SCHEDULE
Friday, November 24th, 6 pm - "Something
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Eddie Harris Quartet
Ron Carter Quartet
Betsy Carter with John Hicks Trio
Saturday, November 25th, 11 am - 3 pm -
"Blues Show"
John Lee Hooker
Professor Longhair
Mighty Joe Young
Saturday, November 25th, 5 pm - closing -
"Fusion Show"
Matrix
Pat Metheny Quartet
Flora Purim and Arrto
Sunday, November 26th, 11 am - 3 pm -"Big
Band Show"
Kashmere High School Jazz Band
North Texas State Lab Band
Count Basie and his Orchestra
Sunday, November 26th, 5 pm - closing
Freddie Hubbard Quartet
Richie Cole Quartet
Eddi.e Jefferson and Richie Cole Quartet
TICKET ORDER FORM
Advanced tickets for alt three days - 5 shows - 15 different acts are $35.00 (40.00 at the gate)
Individual day tickets are:
Friday - November 24th • 6 pm until closing: $15.00
Saturday - November 25th - all day and evening shows: $18.00
Saturday • evening show only: $15.00
Sunday • November 26th - all day and evening shows $18.00
Sunday ■ evening show only: $15.00
SPECIAL STUDENT DISCOUNT
$30 1 Thru Nov. 10 $30
by beholders, and has caused
more than an occasional
contribution, or withdrawal
thereof.
Today, although a return to
conventional "marching band"
strikes Bandspersons as a fate
worse than death, most of the
Band's powers-that-be agree
that an era is ending. Members'
opinions range widely, but
most internal assessments
stress the need for change.
The Band, almost everyone
agrees, is at another turning
point.
"We've noticed," says A1
Jardetzky, this year's manager
and a saxophonist, "that
opinions of the Band are
changing in a way they rarely
changed before.
"We used to get hate mail or
money—things were usually
always 'either-or.' Now we get
less hate mail, and maybe some
more money, but sometimes
somebody tells me the Band is
in danger of being boring, in
danger of getting flabby and
complacent in a perverse kind
of way. And that's dangerous.
Flabby and complacent is the
worst thing that could
happen."
Randall Duvall, assistant
manager and also a sax man, is
Jarketsky's right-hand person.
And Duvall, who arranges the
halftime shows, is equally
candid.
"We're getting more
publicity this year than ever,"
he said, "and consequently
there will be great pressure on
us. Our halftime shows have
been putting it to president-
types and newspaper-publisher
types every Saturday of the
season for a very long time, and
it's near the point of imitation
rather than development.
"Things need to be different
on the field. Look for a little
more sopisticated disco, and
more of the Earth-Wind-and-
Fire ilk. and look for a different
kind of activity on the field
Maybe there'll be some more
stuff in costume, maybe we'll
take a little more of a political
(and less hard-core smut) slant.
I'm not sure exactly what the
difference will be, but there will
be a difference. Otherwise we'll
be in trouble."
LSJUMB, apparently, is not
sitting tight, nor are its leaders
worried.
"We're different from most
bands," said Drum Major
Dave Ford. "We've tried to
work in both creative and
procedural veins, because we
don't have any disappearing
diamond formations to fall
back onto when things get
difficult. We don't worry about
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razor-sharp precision arrange-
ments, and that makes shows a
little more hit and miss. No
sure-fire boredom.
LSJUMB's managers point
out that Band activities are not
confined to the football field.
They insist that any evaluation
of the success of the Band
should keep these activities in
mind.
"Postgame concerts, for
instance, may be the Band's
greatest strength," said Hal
Mickelson, LSJUMB's
announcer when he is not
working in his law office in San
Francisco. "There the student
audience in particular is very
pleased with what happens.
They get a musical peformance,
and they get the altruistic thrill
of seeing people perform when
they could be drinking. It
reinforces a student's
emotional identity with
Stanford, I think, to see a
group that is very good at what
they do at the same time they
are very loose about how they
do it."
"But it's not like we're getting
run out of the stadium. It hasn't
been necessary to remind
people to have a good time.
Nothing is forced yet, and we
intend to stay without policy of
pointing a satirical finger at
reality by putting sick whims
and fetishes on the field in front
of 50,000 people."
LSJUMB views itself with a
considered kind of optimism.
They do not want to become fat
and smug, and while they
recognize that such a danger
exists, their pride is strong.
"Don't forget," says Jark.et-
sky, "that we sound better than
any band around and are more
in tune with crowds. 1 don't
think that there is a student-run
organization that can match
us."—John Nielsen, News
Service Student Intern.
Copyright 1978, The Stanford Observer
PASADENA
TEXAS
Please send requests with money order or cashier's check (no personal checks) to:
Galveston Jazz Festival
P.O. Box 420
Galveston, Texas 77550
Phone: (713) 737-3020 or 737-3021
SO* postage and handling
Where the action is
Dance seven nights a week
Food & Drinks
Hear the Bayou City Beat, nightly —
Johnny Lee, Kenny Fulton, Toni Jolene, and
Robert Herridge — 'The Little Fiddler"
4500 Spencer Highway
Pasadena
946-9842
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Heard, Michelle Leigh. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 66, No. 16, Ed. 1 Monday, November 20, 1978, newspaper, November 20, 1978; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245388/m1/7/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.