Stomp and Circumstance
“Everything is better with brass.” That’s why comedian and Seattle Sounders FC co-owner Drew Carey insisted the pro soccer team needed a marching band. He marched right into a minefield.
On second thought, the flamethrower doesn’t sound like such a crazy idea, because this crowd is dead. Granted, Tameem Bakkar was joking when he said he wanted to rig an aerosol can and a lighter to the end of his trumpet to ignite the crowd, but under the circumstances, an impromptu exhibition of pyrotechnic showmanship certainly couldn’t hurt.
Maybe it’s the early-December blanket of awful that the wind and the rain have dropped here on the steps outside Qwest Field’s north gate. Or maybe it was all the coma-inducing pregame brats and beer they wolfed down in the parking lot, but the 25 or so people who are watching Bakkar and his 50 fellow band members perform out here seem more bemused than entertained. The band just ripped through its incendiary take on Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire”—BAHM-BAHM, buh-duh-duh-duh! BAHM-BAHM, buh-duh-duh-duh!—and Bakkar belted out a sweet little horn solo at the end. But if the spectators’ puzzled expressions and cocked heads are any indication, the only thing they’d have to say would be, “Where the hell did this marching band come from, and why are they wearing scarves that say Sounders FC?”
Fair question, if anyone was willing to speak up and ask it. This is, after all, the first Sunday in December, and the Seahawks are about to play, and they don’t have a marching band, do they? Besides, this doesn’t look like a “real” marching band; everyone’s wearing T-shirts and jeans and baseball caps. So what’s with the sousaphones and the cymbals and the haphazardly choreographed trombone swaying?
“Do you guys know the Sounders?” Steve Baretich, the band’s associate director, asks the crowd at the end of the three-song set. If he had anyone’s attention, he might remind them that the Sounders FC is Seattle’s new Major League Soccer franchise and that it would play its first game ever here, at Qwest Field, on March 19. Then he’d explain that this is Sound Wave, the team’s official marching band, and that no other team in the league has one. They’re here today to build some buzz and introduce themselves to the Seattle sports community with a flashy halftime performance.
Baretich says the name again, and his voice rises a little. “The Sounders?” No one responds. Come on, people, throw the guy a bone. A couple people drift off to the gate.
Bakkar doesn’t seem to mind. He’s lofting his trumpet above his head like a trophy with one hand, punching the air with the other one, and screaming out “Yeah!” while the rest of the band members “Woo!” These band geeks are…geeking out. They’re so pumped to be playing, they don’t see the clouds rolling in off the Sound or feel the little raindrops that hint bigger drops are on the way. They’re so excited to finally put their skills on display, they forget that, for the last year and a half, some people were hoping that they wouldn’t make it this far.
Published: April 2009
