Michigan Students Strike Up the Band in Woodland Hills

A surprise was awaiting Detroit residents May and Bob Weinbaum on Monday when they stepped into the lobby of the Woodland Hills hotel where they are staying for a wedding.

There was something familiar about the party checking in: Arriving for a 5-night stay at the Warner Center Marriott was the University of Michigan’s entire 225-member marching band.

“I couldn’t believe it when they said it was the Michigan band. I thought they were pulling my leg,” said May Weinbaum.

“I ran up to the hotel’s front desk and let out a big holler. A ‘Go Big Blue’ yell, of course.”

The Weinbaums quickly canceled plans for an afternoon of Southern California sightseeing.

Instead, they pinned on their blue-and-yellow Michigan buttons--the ones with chimes that play the university fight song, “The Victors”--and went outside to watch the band practice in Warner Park next to the hotel.

Park Was a Big Draw

University officials say they booked 140 rooms in the newly opened hotel because of the availability of the football-field-sized park, which is providing the usually snow-bound band its first outdoor practice since mid-November.

It didn’t take the young musicians long to adjust to the sunshine, however. All 225 changed into shorts for their first California practice session.

“This sunshine is a relief for my chapped lips,” said trombone player Andy Brumm, 19, a sophomore physics major. Brumm took off his shirt and put on a pair of newly acquired sunglasses to shield his eyes from sunshine being reflected from a nearby mirror-sided high-rise.

“It was probably around 30 degrees when we left this morning,” said drummer Jim Predhomme, a 20-year-old junior who is studying engineering. “This couldn’t be better.”

All Want to See Ocean

Fred Bisaro, an Allen Park, Mich. resident whose daughter is a piccolo player in the band, said he has rented a van to shuttle young musicians to the beach after Thursday’s Rose Bowl game between Michigan and Arizona State.

“The kids all want to see the ocean,” Bisaro said. “They all brought their bathing suits.”

Monday’s park practice drew curious onlookers from Warner Center’s nearby office buildings and town houses. It also attracted Jim Gass from Valencia.

“I was a member of the Michigan band back in 1964-65 when it was in the Rose Bowl,” said Gass, now band director for Saugus High School. “I miss the Michigan band. I don’t miss the state that much, though. It gets real hot and humid in the summer. And real nasty in the winter.”

‘Auld Lang Syne’

Gass recalled that his Michigan marching band played eight versions of “Auld Lang Syne” for its New Year’s Day half-time performance 22 years ago.

This year’s band will play music from several recently released movies, including “Top Gun.” Band members will also sing and dance as well as play, said Carl Grapentine, announcer for Michigan half-time shows for 17 years.

He said the band has stayed at UCLA dorms during its past seven Rose Bowl trips.

Officials of Arizona State University said their band is staying this week at the Crowne Plaza Hotel near Los Angeles International Airport. They said they almost booked rooms at the Warner Center Marriott for their football team this week, however.

But the team couldn’t practice at the park.