More on a band prank

Your “Funny Princeton” issue was very entertaining, especially the Top 10 pranks. I can relate well to No. 6, which described the Princeton University Band (“PUB,” as we called ourselves) on nationwide TV (ABC network) at Harvard forming ABC on the field, then changing to NBC at the last second, as I was a freshman in the band at that time and was on the field. 

And now for The Rest of the Story. When the “A” changed to “N,” we first played the NBC “gong” sound, then went into “Who’s Sorry Now.” The cameras had zoomed in on ABC, and when it changed with the gong, the announcer got flustered and started saying something like, “Uh, the band is apparently saluting the networks.” But when the on-site ABC producer saw it, he reportedly “went up the wall!” When this report was related to the band the next week in rehearsal, you can only imagine the hilarity that ensued. If I wasn’t already cemented in the band and the fun we had, I certainly was after that. Fond memories of an organization I was proud to be a part of. I still have my PUB Ivy Champs T-shirt we made for ourselves.