Vote for the TMB!

The Trojan Marching Band is one of seven bands featured in ESPN’s new “Battle of the Bands and Quest for the Crystal” promotion on ESPN.com. An ESPN crew recorded seven top bands from around the nation as they performed the theme from "Indiana Jones" and is asking viewers to vote on their favorite performance.

The camera crew came to TMB practice on Sept. 5 to record the band's arrangement. The winning band will be announced on "College GameDay Live" on Oct. 11 and will receive a $25,000 prize. Check out the video here, and cast your vote:

http://promo.espn.go.com/espn/contests/indianajones/meetTheBands

-- Ed Carden, Drum Major

¡Viva Sanchez!

Mark Sanchez’s Mexican flag mouthguard and pride in his heritage has made for message-board fodder nationwide. Now, the USC Trojan Marching Band is bringing some Latin flavor to support the Trojans’ fiery junior quarterback.

After adapting the Bubba Sparxx hit “Ms. New Booty” for the Trojans’ aptly named quarterback of the last two years, the Trojan Marching Band has unveiled a new quarterback theme for 2008: “El Matador.” The TMB arranged the Latin hit at the request of Sanchez and his brother Nick. Check out this video and notice the band’s cheer (“San-chez!” “San-chez!” “Viva Sanchez!”):

-- Ed Carden, USC drum major

Bye week? Not for all Trojans

How do you keep the Trojan Marching Band happy without a football game? You keep it busy.

Just like the team, the TMB is itching to hit the field. Waiting through an extra bye weekend before kickoff is frustrating, but this weekend allows the band extra time to perfect its Stevie Wonder show for the home opener. Just because there’s no game, though, doesn’t mean band members aren’t hard at work. In addition to regular practice (the TMB never misses a Saturday), the band will perform its annual show with the L.A. Philharmonic on Friday and Saturday night at the Hollywood Bowl.

And did we mention the TMB is going to be on TV? ESPN will attend band practice Saturday morning to record the band’s arrangement of the theme from "Indiana Jones" as part of a nationwide contest. Bands from the top-ranked football teams around the country will perform the same arrangement, and visitors to ESPN.com will vote on the best performance. Hollywood’s Band never takes a break, and the TMB will start the season in style. We’ll post an update with a link when the video goes up.

-- Ed Carden, USC drum major
Photo: USC TMB performs at the Hollywood Bowl in 2001 (click to expand). Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times

NOTE: If you want to see the Spirit of Troy perform this weekend, tickets are still available to the L.A. Philharmonic's Tchaikovsky Spectacular.

Introducing USC's drum major

The L.A. Times is excited to welcome one of our new contributors, Ed Carden, the drum major for USC's world famous Spirit of Troy. His first post explains just what he does as the band's front man.

When I introduce myself and tell people I’m the drum major for the USC Band, the usual response goes something like this … “Huh?” Then I get to explain exactly what it is that the drum major does, which isn’t always easy. 

As a Trojan fan (or at least a follower of college sports), you probably know the drum major better as “Tommy Trojan” or “the guy that stabs the field during pregame.” But Tommy Trojan (as we all know) is a statue in the middle of campus, and there’s a lot that goes in behind the scenes before a drum major gets to stab the field.

Auditions for drum major are held at the end of the spring semester each year behind Heritage Hall. The band votes for the best candidate based off of their marching, conducting (with the Trojan sword) and an inspirational speech. I tried out alongside two of my close friends, with whom I spent months preparing for the audition. After putting in so much time and effort, it was an accomplishment just getting up there.