The Columbia University Marching Band

The Columbia University Marching Band (CUMB) has performed for Columbia University since 1904. The CUMB was one of the first bands in the United States to convert to a scramble band format in the early 1960s. Several notable universities now feature scramble bands. More concerned with witty halftime shows and clever formations than precise marching patterns and musicianship, the CUMB has a long history of being edgy and is arguably the most controversial scramble band. Major news media have covered this band's most infamous pranks. Image File history File links CUMB.jpg The Columbia University Marching Band File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links CUMB.jpg The Columbia University Marching Band File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Columbia University is a private university in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. ... A scramble band - also known as a scatter band - is a particular type of field-performing marching band with distinct characteristics that set it apart from other common forms of marching bands; most notably, scramble bands do not normally march. ...

One innovation of the CUMB has been the introduction of the "miscie," which is short for miscellaneous. While many of the band members carry a musical instrument onto the field, the band's miscies carry whatever they choose. Some miscie instruments of the past have been included a washboard, beer bottles, steel mailboxes, condom harp, and a unicycle.

In addition to playing at every Columbia football game, the band also plays in the stands at Levien Gym for Columbia basketball games, and plays at various other events. These have included the New York City Marathon, the Walk Against AIDS, and at New York City's 34th Street post office on Tax Day. The New York City Marathon is an annual marathon foot-race run through the five boroughs of New York City. ... The city is at the center of international finance, politics, entertainment, and culture, and is one of the worlds major global cities (along with London, Tokyo and Paris) with a virtually unrivaled collection of museums, galleries, performance venues, media outlets, international corporations, and stock exchanges. ...

The CUMB has appeared on many television programs including The Late Show with David Letterman, MTV's Total Request Live, The Howard Stern TV Show (on WWOR), a Japanese morning news program, and Columbia's student run television station CTV. CUMB has also been featured in the films Turk 182 and Game Day. The Late Show with David Letterman is an hour-long weeknight comedy and talk show broadcast by CBS from the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway in New York City. ... Total Request Live (commonly known as TRL) is a television program on MTV that features popular music videos. ... Self-proclaimed King of all media Howard Stern, circa 2000. ...

Orgo night

Lisa Birnbach's College Book named the CUMB's Orgo Night performances as the university's most popular campus tradition. Since 1984 the band has performed at 11:59 PM on the night before each Organic Chemistry final exam. The course is notorious as one of the most challenging undergraduate subjects. In an effort to relieve pre-exam jitters, the CUMB interrupts studies at the main reading room of Butler Library. Several hundred students gather for the show, often standing on desks and bookshelves. Orgo night performances feature comedy banned from halftime shows by the university's lenient administration.

Controversies

Due to its irreverent humor, some of the band's halftime shows have caused controversy. The CUMB prides itself on evading university censorship. This thankless task usually falls to a college dean.

• In 1966, the band was suspended for several games for the infamous "birth control" show where they formed a birth control pill, a calendar (for the rhythm method), and a diaphragm.
  
• In 1968, at West Point, the band formed what it called a "burning Cambodian village" on the field. CUMB has yet to be invited back to West Point.
  
• In 1973, a brawl broke out between the CUMB and the Harvard University Band over the alleged attempted theft of the giant Harvard Bass Drum.
  
• In 1990, the band received a bomb threat over their symbolic formation of a burning American Flag accompanied by The Doors Light my Fire. This performance happened shortly after a controversial United States Supreme Court ruling that actual flag burnings are legal.
  
• In 1992, at the Yale Bowl the band pantomimed the consummation of a same-sex marriage on the field. The occasion was Youth Day and hundreds of local children from community groups were in attendance.
  
• In 1993, the band compared newly-elected mayor Rudolph Giuliani to Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. The Anti-Defamation League demanded an apology.
  
• In 1993, at Princeton, the band recreated the Magic Bullet Theory as put forth by the Warren Commission on the John F. Kennedy assassination, complete with band members as scattering skull fragments.
  
• In 1998, at the Yale Bowl, the band performed a show featuring a homosexual, pot-smoking Jesus Christ in a homage to the Terrence McNally play Corpus Christi. Angry Yale fans demanded their money back.
  
• In 2002, playing Fordham University, the band claimed that "Fordham tuition was going down like an altar boy." In the ensuing media frenzy, the band's scriptwriter was featured on MSNBC's Phil Donahue Show in a debate with Catholic League President William Donohue. The New York Times profiled the CUMB. Columbia University President Lee Bollinger ended the controversy in one of his first official acts as University President when he apologized to Fordham president, the Reverend Joseph O'Hare.

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See also

• Columbia University
• Clubs and Organizations of Columbia University

Columbia University is a private university in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. ... There are a number of prominent student organizations at Columbia University. ...

External links

• The Columbia University Marching Band
• The Howard Stern Show an index listing the band's 1991 appearance on the show.
• Columbia Spectator highlights ribald halftime shows. December 17, 1999
• Columbia Spectator covers the Fordham University incident. September 25, 2002
• The New York Post story about the Fordham incident. 2002
• Editor and Publisher criticizes censored New York Times and Associated Press coverage of the Fordham halftime show. 2002
• Columbia SpectatorFebruary 25, 2004
• The Jewish Week description of an anti-racism protest in 2004 in part due to a CUMB show.
• Defenses of the band's unapologetic humor.

Bibliography

Lisa Birnbach's New and Improved College Book, by Lisa Birnbach (1992) ISBN 067179289X