Who's got best band? Really? Prove it

JON BUSDEKER, Huntsville Times

This is for all those fans who think football gets in the way of the real excitement. This is for those who get pumped up by the sound of cymbals crashing and drums pounding.

On Sunday, Alabama A&M University, Alabama State University and a slew of other college and high school bands will perform in the Rocket City Battle of the Bands.

The event, held at Louis Crews Stadium, will begin at 3 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at James Records and Tapes on North Memorial Parkway, through Ticketmaster or at the stadium box office.

The Battle of the Bands will coincide with A&M's homecoming.

Barney Smart, a former saxophonist for the A&M marching band and organizer for the Battle of the Bands, said this will be the first time the bands will share a football field. Performing will be bands from Butler, Johnson and Lee high schools, Bethune Cookman College, Miles College and Texas Southern University.

"Each band has a different style," Smart said.

Smart added that the marching bands from Bethune Cookman and Texas Southern have never played in Huntsville.

For years, marching bands from historically black colleges and universities didn't get any exposure to a mass audience, Smart said. That changed in 2002.

"We got a lot of help from the movie 'Drumline,'" Smart said.

"Drumline," starring Nick Cannon, follows a hotshot drum major who must learn to work with his fellow bandmates to achieve success. The movie showed the excitement behind marching bands.

Smart, whose father was once the band director at A&M, has seen the popularity of marching bands increase since the film's release.

In January, Smart plans to showcase the Battle of the Bands at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

"The entertainment part of it is nonstop," Smart said. "It's always fun to watch. It's so much going on at the same time, you don't know where to look."