It's not every week that I go to a Division I college football game. So, though I could have gone straight to the restroom, I decided to stay and watch the halftime performance of the Washington State University Marching Band.
Can you believe the song selection: the best of Michael McDonald. The band played "Taking it to the Streets," "What a Fool Believes," "Minute by Minute," and something else I walked out on.
I don't even know why Michael McDonald ever joined the Doobie Brothers. His voice and songwriting changed their entire sound. The older Doobies may not have been the greatest band, but at least they had catchy songs like "China Grove" and "Listen to the Music" that you can at least imagine being played in a marching band setting. The choice of the bland, lazy soul of McDonald seems to me to be the least inspired, and hence most curious, theme for a marching band halftime show I've ever seen. They didn't even do any fancy formations.
Marching bands butcher every song they play, except for actual marches arranged for them and sometimes movie scores. But if you're going to go with a rock theme, at least pick some good songs!
As punishment to WSU for putting on this travesty of a halftime show, the Cougs got their buts kicked by UCLA in the second half, who overcame a two touchdown deficit. It didn't feel like UCLA pulled off a "comeback," as much as they just "caught up," which is not so difficult when the Cougs could get just one first down in the entire fourth quarter. UCLA finally did catch up in the last minute, then ran down the Coug's tired, pathetic defense in overtime to win 44-41.
James Leroy Wilson's one-man magazine.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
looks like i hit the big time yesterday - the beavers played well against the bears. where is the coug-beav game next year - we'll have to make it an event.
ReplyDeleteglad you liked my rant. the get howdt site should draw interest, once people find it.
I tried wrapping my brain around the concept of Michael McDonald played by a marching band, and pulled every muscle in my head. For you to have survived to continue writing coherent thoughts is truly evidence of God's mercy. I fully agree that McDonald destroyed all that was good about the Doobies.
ReplyDelete