The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, September 28, 1990 Page: 4 of 20
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4 FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1990 THE RICE THRESHER
A good show entertaining to the opposite of what the students
everybody..."
thought," insists show assistant and
"We need to get back to being production manager Pam Greene,
obnoxious and pissing people off." The MOB wanted to poke fun at
"There's a fine line between hu- nerds in general; not Rice nerds or
I—I E
mor and taste."
A&M nerds, but nerds as a whole.
body
"We shouldn't bow down to any- "We implied that nerds exist, at all
schools, and that their mannerisms
The scoreboard lights flicker, are amusing," wrote another mem
Rice 7, A&M 17. A cowbell clangs ber.
and suddenly a horde of blue uni-
forms and tacky neckties swarms
over the field. Screaming bodies and
red satin tongues form a chaotic
mess that slowly takes the form of N- little non-MO B input into the shows.
E-R-I). Another show has begun. Staff members complain that only
A grass-roots band
Traditionally, there has been very
/
Ken Dye: a man and his microphone
"Louie, Louie" is a long-time favorite of the MOB, as Julie Swindell demonstrates.
The Marching Owl Band, more
appropriately referred to as the
MOB, produced a halftime show at
the homecoming game versusTexas
A&M last fall that brought the al-
ready simmering controversy over
the band to a boil. Some students
believed the MOB too offensive; still
more longed for days past in which
they remembered a more caustic
band. The MOB felt itself to be a
victim of circumstance.
Members flooded the field in
various states of "geek" attire,
formed a slide rule, and worshipped
a huge cardboard computer. Many
students interpreted this show as the
MOB's attempt to make fun of the
Rice student body, fueling anger and
resentment The geek theme was
possibly a poor choice for a school
such as A&M and demonstrated
short-sightedness on the part of the
band.
"Shows of this nature do more
harm than anything else," wrote
Beth Carlson in a November 3,1989
letter to the Thresher. "Rice students
already have an image of being
"nerds," particularly in the South-
west Conference, and the MOB does
not need to be encouraging this
image. The MOB has needlessly
ridiculed its own students."
However, the P.A system was
drowned out by the Aggie corps and
fans who shouted and led A&M
cheers during the entire perform-
ance. As a result, MOB members on
the field were distracted and few
people in the audience could hear
the script. MOB staff point to this
breakdown as the source of misun-
derstanding.
"The show intended specifically
the same few members appear at
every show meeting.
"You tell me a Texas Tech joke
and then try to come up with five new
ones each year," demands Charles
Kuffner, a grad student and MOB
member. The people who complain
about the shows never go to the
show meetings. "If you've got a good
TCU joke, we'd love to hear it. If
someone comes up with a funny
joke, it'll go in the show."They would
rather have no jokes than worn out
recycled ones. "We are worried
more about being the same than
being obnoxious."
Last year's geek show was a
remake of an SMU show in 1985.
Then, the production was met with a
standing ovation and cheers of "We
want the MOB" drowned out the
Mustang's halftime show. The staff
find themselves bewildered by the
difference in reception. Cyrus Bhar-
ucha, '90, a MOB alumnus, claims
that the difference is in the student
body. Then, the students didn't think
of themselves as nerds. The more
self-conscious students are now the
ones delivering the criticism. An-
other member agrees. "If you can't
laugh at yourself from time to time,
you shouldn't be laughing at others."
The MOB this year has become
more of a "grass-roots" organization.
In an attempt to draw more input into
the shows, section leaders solicit
ideas and opinions from those in
their squads and take them to the
show committee meetings. They
also strongly encourage any non-
MOBsters to attend on Wednesday
night at 8 p.m. in the band hall.
So far, this effort has been well
received. Baker sophomore Josh
Denk said the first show, a wrap-up of
summer events like the Economic
Summit, was not too offensive and
well done, "a good way to start off the
year." The second performance
dealt with promises, from campaign
to tuition, and ended with the MOB
promising never to play their theme
song, "Louie, Louie," again.
Last week's show revealed the
real truth behind the campus
glossed-over for Parents' Weekend.
Some scenes were written with sex-
ual innuendo: formations of male/
female symbols and the integral of e
to the x and a purity point scale that
plummeted to zero.
According to mobster Korbin
King, the scene in which show assis-
tants clad in bathrobes had a pillow
fight on a bed was originally not as
innocent. Several MOB members
were concerned that this scene
would present the image that all Rice
students ever did was have sex.They
didn't feel this accurate or proper to
show during Parents' Weekend. The
lines were cut from the script.
Aggie rivals
by Erica Oilman
With its hair-raising
history—members have
been barricaded in the
stadium by rivals—its past
shameless lampooning of
opposing teams, and its
general refusal to conform,
the Marching Owl Band is a
walking, Louie Louie-
playing feature story.
Photos by Chris Sonneborn
The MOB has a history of trouble
with Texas A&M. In 1973, after the
Aggies' mascot, Reveille, died, the
Owl band formed a giant fire hydrant
and played "Oh Where, Oh Where
Has My Iittle Dog Gone." Aggie fans
ran onto the field and physically
assaulted some Rice band members.
Drinks and debris pelted others.
After the game, over 500 furious
Aggie fans trapped the Mob in the
stadium for over two hours. Food
service trucks were called in to res-
cue the Rice students and police
escorts to protect them from the
carloads of angry A&M fans that fol-
lowed. Aggie freshmen Corps mem-
bers still receive senior privileges if
they steal a MOB hat.
Last year, during the Rice home-
coming game, Sammy the Owl ran
onto the field attempting to imitate
the Corps' halftime formations.
Aggie yell leaders rushed to drag our
mascot back to the sidelines. A&M
fury flared and the resulting shout-
ing match ensued. "We are in hot
water with A&M for a few years,"
guiltily admits MOB director Ken
Dye. The MOB will not be traveling
to College Station this year.
Many Rice students see this as a
cop-outonthe part of the MOB. They
want to see the band challenge the
Aggies again and perhaps seek re-
venge for a failed and embarrassing
show last October. "We need to have
a gutsy attitude." Sid Richardson
senior Neil Folsom props his feet up
on the desk. "We can't be afraid to
come back and step on some toes.
We should never have to make fun of
ourselves to appease another
school." He and many other students
look to the MOB of several years ago
as an example of their ideal college
band.
"When I first came to Rice, my
uncle told me how lucky I was to see
and have this notorious MOB as my
school's band. They were the real
fun of halftime. They really made fun
of the other team." Folsom continues
to say that the MOB has declined to
point where they make fun of the
Rice student body, and alumni are
embarrassed to be part of the show.
However, the MOB today is a
better representation of the student
body than in previous years. About
ten percent of the university's stu-
dents are involved in the band, cover-
ing a larger cross section of the stu-
dent population. Membership has
increased and the staff has a broader
base from which to draw input Fif-
teen years ago, the MOB had to pay
high school students to fill up its
ranks.
Many students complain that the
MOB isn't as critical of other schools
as they would like. They want to see
more jokes, put downs, and satire.
These students point to their first
years at Rice when they believed the
band to have been funnier and more
obnoxious. "The MOB is lame!" is a
common cry. One present member
said he would quit at the end of this
season because the organization has
no spirit. During the last two home
games, several members of the
MOB had their backs turned to the
field, playing cards. Others read.
Several Mobsters complain that
the leadership of the organization is
more restrictive. During the re-
hearsal for the A&M show last year,
one squad goose-stepped and sa-
luted in a Hitler-like fashion as they
moved in the slide rule formation.
Dye halted the rehearsal and told
those members, over his loud-
speaker, that they wou Id be out of the
MOB if they repeated the offense.
However, the only people not "salut-
ing" the Aggies at the game were the
MOBandtheA&M fans themselves.
Another former MOB member said
the staff complained of uniform ac-
cessories such as red high tops.
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Moeller, Kurt & Yates, Jay. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 78, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, September 28, 1990, newspaper, September 28, 1990; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245762/m1/4/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.