Metallica marching band winners for Marching Music Day

Happy Marching Music Day! This year, I'm celebrating For Whom the Band Tolls: The Winners!

Last year, we challenged marching bands at all collegiate levels to come up with the most exciting, unique, and impressive performances of our songs. The submissions are in, we’ve watched the videos, and we’re thrilled to announce that the University of South Carolina has taken the top prize in the 2025 Collegiate Edition of the annual competition. Congratulations Gamecocks! A huge thank you to all the incredible bands who participated this year.

The winners across seven categories listed below will receive more than $165,000 in total prizes. In an exciting twist on our second For Whom The Band Tolls competition, this year’s first-place Division 1 winner will have the opportunity to record a Metallica song and the EA SPORTS™ College Football Theme Song, both to be included in the EA SPORTS™ College Football video game!

The victors in each category will receive instruments and equipment for their programs provided by us with the support of our generous sponsors, including Sweetwater, TAMA, Hal Leonard, KHS America, and more.

And the winners of the Metallica Marching Band Competition Collegiate Edition are…

Follow over the jump for the complete shows of the winners.

Big 'Ten' marching bands play 'Wicked' for National Wicked Day

I'm doing something new and different for today's spooky season celebration, observing National Wicked Day, the anniversary of Wicked's debut on Broadway. Of course, I'm doing it my way, which is to celebrate the day through the lens of marching music, capped by a drink.

I begin with "Wicked" - Sept., 13, 2025 - Michigan vs CMU - Michigan Marching Band, Musical Theatre, Percussion.

The Michigan Marching Band is excited to collaborate with the SMTD Dept. of Musical Theatre and Percussion Studio for a “Wicked” performance! This thrillifying halftime show will feature iconic tunes from the beloved Broadway musical and films, and showcase the artistry of the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance. Grab your dancing shoes and meet us at the Ozdust Ballroom as we celebrate one of the most popular musicals of all time!

Music Selections:
No One Mourns the Wicked
Popular
Dancing Through Life
Defying Gravity

Musical arrangements by Jason DeBord, Richard Frey, Matt Jordan, and Chuck Ricotta
Choreography by Sean McKnight; asst. by Raja Benz
Flag choreography by Joan Noble-Pruett
Drill by Corey Jahlas

This Michigan Marching Band would like to thank the Cozad Family for their generous support of this halftime performance.

The singers and keyboards added new dimensions to this performance, making it a special occasion. The singers steal the show, but I wish the band would keep the keyboards.

At least three other Big "Ten" bands played music from Wicked so far this season, including the University of Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band: 10.25.25 Halftime vs. Penn State | Defying Gravity: The Music of Wicked.

Together, we’re unlimited, Hawkeye Nation! For our October 18, 2025 game vs. Penn State, we brought the music of Wicked to life under the lights in Kinnick Stadium, because everyone deserves the chance to fly!

Featuring the Iowa Dance Team, Herky the Hawk, and the Nittany Lion. This show was designed by Dr. Eric Bush, with music arrangements by Drew Bonner.

The Hawkeye Marching Band made some interesting choices, including having the drum major dress up as the Wizard, inviting the opposing team's mascot to be part of the show to play Glinda, and casting Herky as Elphaba.

The other band from the conference playing Wicked was the Marching Illini: Music from Wicked | IMBC 2025 Evening Performance 10.25.2025.

That's a good pure marching band show with a preview image appropriate for spooky season. I have mixed feelings about the ending. I know it's tradition, but it's something of a museum piece. The Illini are named after the Illiniwek and the fight song reflects that. At least the university has replaced the Native American logo on the field with an outline of the state of Illinois.

The fourth and final band hails from a university that just joined the conference, USC Trojan Marching Band + USC School of Dramatic Arts Wicked halftime 10/11/25.

A Wicked wonderful halftime, combining the talents of the USC Trojan Marching Band and the USC School of Dramatic Arts. 10/11/25. Magnificent!

Well, the U$C Band can certainly put on a show and they used more technology than the Michigan band, although having the featured actors on the Jumbotron kept shifting focus.

I close with WICKED INSPIRED SHOTS by The Shot Queen.


Drink responsibly and stay tuned for one more Halloween post plus a bonus Day of the Dead entry. Trick or treat!

Obama visits Detroit plus election news from campuses on the campaign trail

This should be the next to last update of election news from campuses on the campaign trail.  Based on "if it moves, it leads," I begin with WXYZ covering President Obama visits Detroit.


Since this took place at Wayne State University, it technically counts as election news from a campus on the campaign trail.

Follow over the jump for more election news from Colorado, Florida, Illinois, and Iowa originally included in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (A bad week for private space) on Daily Kos.

Biofuel crops can be good for the environment and other biofuels research

Normally, I'm skeptical about biofuels, but that's primarily because the main biofuel in the U.S. is corn ethanol, which I have characterized for years as an energy indepence strategy, not a sustainability strategy.  It doesn't help that pretty much all the increased corn production during the past decade has gone into gas tanks.  In one of the first entries on this blog, I described "converting corn into ethanol" as "a big energy loser."  On the other hand, I followed that by writing that it would be "less of a loser if ethanol comes from cellulose in the stalks and leaves instead of the grain, as cellulosic ethanol requires less fertilizer than grain ethanol."

I'd be even more optimistic if the enthanol and other biofuels came from something other than corn.  Fortunately, two stories I included in last week's Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Nobel Prizes 2014) on Daily Kos gave me even more reason for optimism, as they show the biofuel crops can be good for the environment even if they aren't burned for fuel.

First, Liz Ahlberg, writing for the University of Illinois, reported Bioenergy crops could store more carbon in soil.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — In addition to providing renewable energy, grass crops like switchgrass and miscanthus could store some of the carbon they pull from the atmosphere in the soil, according to a new study by University of Illinois researchers.

The study compared soil dynamics – the ratio of carbon to nitrogen and microbial activity – of bioenergy crops with that of a standard corn-corn-soybean rotation. They found that in bioenergy crops, a certain threshold of plant matter left in the field after harvest lets much more carbon accumulate in the soil.

Led by civil and environmental engineering professor Praveen Kumar, the researchers published their findings in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

Next, Kelly April Tyrell, writing for the University of Wisconsin passed along the good news about Balancing birds and biofuels: Grasslands support more species than cornfields.

In Wisconsin, bioenergy is for the birds. Really.

In a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) scientists examined whether corn and perennial grassland fields in southern Wisconsin could provide both biomass for bioenergy production and bountiful bird habitat.

The research team found that where there are grasslands, there are birds. Grass-and-wildflower-dominated fields supported more than three times as many bird species as cornfields, including 10 imperiled species found only in the grasslands. These grassland fields can also produce ample biomass for renewable fuels.

Monica Turner, UW-Madison professor of zoology, and study lead author Peter Blank, a postdoctoral researcher in her lab, hope the findings help drive decisions that benefit both birds and biofuels, too, by providing information for land managers, farmers, conservationists and policy makers as the bioenergy industry ramps up, particularly in Wisconsin and the central U.S.

Both of those are good news and make me more favorably disposed to (non-corn) biofuels.

Follow over the jump for the biofuel news from Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Ebola in the U.S.).

Election news from campuses on the campaign trail for October 14

Now that Canadian Thanksgiving is over, it's time to return to the U.S. with the election news from campuses on the campaign trail I included in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Nobel Prizes 2014).  I begin with this press release from the University of Illinois at Chicago: First lady makes campaign stop at UIC by Gary Wisby on October 7, 2014.

First lady Michelle Obama made a political campaign stop at UIC Tuesday, receiving a standing ovation from audience members who remained on their feet throughout her 20-minute speech at the UIC Pavilion.

Her appearance was preceded by a lineup of Illinois Democrats, including Gov. Pat Quinn, Sen. Dick Durbin, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, Secretary of State Jesse White, Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon and Reps. Danny Davis, Jan Schakowsky and Robin Kelly.

Obama urged a robust voter turnout in the Nov. 4 Illinois elections. "Get the vote out. Start today," she said.

The First Lady stopped by Detroit three days later, as WXYZ reported in First Lady Michelle Obama visits Detroit for campaign rally.


I wouldn't be surprised if she said much the same things here as in Chicago.

That's not the only election news from Michigan.  The University of Michigan announced a Date change for the  U-M Board of Regents candidate forum on October 7, 2014.

DATE: 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, 2014

EVENT: The candidates for Regent of the University of Michigan have been invited to participate in a 75-minute forum. Susan Smith, president of the League of Women Voters of Michigan, will moderate the discussion.

The four major-party candidates have confirmed their participation: Mike Behm, Rob Steele, Ronald Weiser and Regent Kathy White.

Candidate questions will be posed by the League and students at the Ford School of Public Policy. The format will allow for questions from the audience; it is not a debate.

If I were really ambitious, I'd drive out to Ann Arbor to cover the event.  Who knows, since I have a new car, I might just do so.

Follow over the jump for news from Colorado and Massachusetts.