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We used the bells of our original issue fiberglass 22K sousaphones - which actually had fiberglass bell flares, and not plastic bell flares - as weapons against jackasses.

Those were effective punches. I might have to study with that guy.

Classy

I have to admit; I liked it.

The punches didn’t do much. The dude in the blue shirt was who took that guy down.

matt g wrote: ↑Sun Nov 05, 2023 10:42 am The punches didn’t do much. The dude in the blue shirt was who took that guy down.

OK...but - while holding a 20K - every punch connected to some extent.

...and what the Hell was that?

"Please don't play so loud, because we're trying to hear 22 people try to hurt each other down there - and - of the hundreds of scattered empty seats throughout the stadium - we just don't think we can sit in any of those"...

...or what...!?!?

Just saying… kicks would’ve been better

But a bit more difficult while wearing a sousaphone.

Just be taller!

We did not have hecklers.

But if we had….

.

Our 22k actual fiberglass bell flare (not plastic) sousaphones were marched on the outside of the band. The band was a double row and we marched in pairs spaced out about every 20 ft on either side of the double row. One time, non-rated visitor Memphis State University beat single digit ranked Auburn and we had a hard time getting out of there to our buses. One local fan with his Cadillac tried to ram the band, and one of our trombone players (a dude you wouldn't want to mess with, who worked on Mississippi River barges in the summers) jumped on his hood, stomped the hood in, and then pounded holes in the windshield with the back end of his mouthpiece. Some guy with a bunch of cameras decided to try to drag his girlfriend and himself through the band right next to me, the girlfriend pulled loose from him screaming "NO !!!" (smart), he proceeded partway through and ended up on the ground with bleeding knees and destroyed top-end camera equipment. My uniform trousers were white, and ended up stain-free. This quiet guy - who was the other sousaphone in my pair - was a tremendous help, and I would have never expected him to have been that quick to action. Neither one of us suffered any trouser stains nor instrument damage. I'm glad he was there to help me, because the guy with the cameras look like he weighed about 260 lb, and probably we each only weighed about 180 lb a piece.

Our band director, 5 ft 6 jazz pianist Tom Ferguson - who was the first pianist with the Matteson-Phillips Tubajazz Consort - was small of stature but also former military..."NO ONE breaks through the band...EVER." We understood his instructions.