PALO ALTO — Practice was supposed to start at 3 p.m., but the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band doesn't run a tight ship, from the looks of things.
Empty instrument cases are scattered across the floor. Six saxophones are stored in a red plastic tub with rope handles. An inflated rubber raft is docked on top of a sofa next to the overturned ice coolers. A Twister game is laid out on the floor next to a row of rusted lockers.
Propped up against the far wall is a huge green-and-white highway sign that reads: "Gerald R. Ford Birthplace." Another one says "Open Trench." Signs identify the two restrooms: One says, "Ladies -- No Pets"; the other, "Danger -- Explosives -- Keep out."
Discarded sheet music is ankle-deep on the floor of the one-story temporary building that serves as band headquarters. It is the epicenter of a certain kind of student pop culture, where mayhem meets music and some very bright college students try to create social commentary that will make people gasp, laugh, clap, cheer, jeer, fire off nasty letters or simply walk out.
The band found itself in hot water this season because of a halftime show against Brigham Young in which performers made fun of polygamy, introducing several female band members in veils as wives.
Stanford Athletic Director Ted Leland apologized to BYU and its fans.
Stella Cousins, the band manager, said the skit was harmless, although the band did suspend its own announcer for one week.
"Blown out of proportion," said Cousins, a biology major and mellophone player from Ceres, Calif. "We never specifically mentioned Mormons, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the state of Utah or even Brigham Young."
Some consider the band a collection of instrument-carrying anarchists. Others see a talented bunch of wiseacres.
"If 200 of us are not having a good time, we're not doing a good job," Cousins said.
Sometimes they have too good a time. Gordon Henderson, vice chairman of the music department at UCLA and the person in charge of the Bruin marching band, warned the band against any future BYU-like productions that might come at UCLA's expense.
"If they do something like that, they won't have a field to practice on," Henderson said.
In 1999, the band riled UCLA by forming a human handicapped-parking sign, spoofing UCLA football players who had illegally used the window placards.
