Radiohead with the USC Marching Band

Wow.  I wish I could've seen this in person.  You can tell this must have been the highlight of the night...I didn't watch the Grammy's this year (personally I think they are pretty irrelevant) but heard about this performance from a friend.  Awesome job all around. 

Thom Yorke looks like he's doing his best Mick Jagger impression and the drumline and horns with their stick twirls, drum rotations, and hand raising add a sense of fun to the whole occasion. 

David Campbell arranged the piece (he also arranged strings for a Sixpence record I played on), which I find interesting in so far that I imagined it would've been the USC percussion instructor or some other person with a drum line pedigree.  But then again, thinking of how the music business works, it was probably alot "safer" to go with a trusted Hollywood Arranger and composer with a little indie cred (he's Beck's father) than to go with a relative "no-name" college drum line instructor.  Here is what the USC Marching Band website had to say:

"Did you catch the hottest act at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards? Well, in case you missed it, Radiohead took the stage at the Staples Center on Sunday, February 8 with the Trojan Marching Band. That’s right, for their first-ever performance on “Music’s Biggest Night,” the edgy British rockers were backed up by 32 TMB members. Introduced by Gwyneth Paltrow, It was hailed by Entertainment Weekly as the “best Grammy performance ever” and received one of the biggest ovations of the night. Or as Thom Yorke said to the Trojans after their performance – with a wry bit of British humor – “I think that went over well.” "

And just in case you didn't know about The USC Marching Band's history with rock and roll ( they are the band on the classic Fleetwood Mac song, "Tusk"), here is a bit about them to catch you up to speed (also from their website):

"The Trojan Marching Band has earned the title "Hollywood’s Band" with its performances on both the small and silver screens. The TMB performed with OutKast at the 2004 Grammy Award's Show and on the Offspring's 2003 single "Hit That". The Trojan Marching Band’s movie credits include The Naked Gun, Two Minute Warning, The Last Boy Scout, The Little Rascals, Sgt. Bilko, and Forrest Gump. The Trojan Band has also appeared on some of the most watched shows on television, such as "Hollywood Squares," "The Best Damn Sports Show Period," "Joan River's Oscar Red Carpet," "America’s Funniest Home Videos," "The Wayne Brady Show," "MTV’s Rock and Jock," "In Living Color," "Donnie and Marie," "The Rosie O’Donnell Show," commercials for ABC and ESPN, the 2000 Academy Awards and the 2000 MDA Telethon hosted by Jerry Lewis, and EA Sports 2004 NCAA football video game. Every year the Trojan marching Band invites celebrity guests top perform in their half time shows. Recent guests include Dexter Holland from The Offspring, Mick Fleetwood, John Williams, Elmer Bernstein, KC and the Sunshine Band, George Clinton, and Pancho Sanchez. The Spirit of Troy also performs for various private and public functions throughout the year."

When I worked at Disney one summer (All American College Band - represent!),  one of the Tuba players was "Chuy" (I think his real name was Jesus Martinez - but I could just be making this up).  He was awesome...a great person and a wonderful guy to party with.  He once made us Chorizo and eggs for breakfast (or was it dinner?) and allowed me and a mutual friend to hang out with him over New Years on the night before the Rose Bowl Parade and game.  Because of him and my friend Laura (also from that same Disney band), I got to see the USC Marching Band rehearse in person, and experience a bit of their infectious mojo...being out in LA and experiencing the band in person and seeing how hard they worked at being professional (and worked at having fun) made me wish I had attended USC just to be in their college band! 

The only reason I bring up Chuy is that I swear the shot of the Tuba Player in the video is of Chuy and that somehow he finagled a way to play Tuba for this performance and then payed the show producer a few $$$ to feature a shot of him on TV...( I mean really, do you think that Tuba player is a college student?  I think he looks a bit older than that, and so that is why I'm putting my money on it being Chuy...)

And without further adieu:

Radiohead's Thom Yorke / Jonny Greenwood / USC Marching Band
by 3030fm

And here is some more info I found from the Daily Trojan (I knew that Tad Carpenter and Art Bartner had to be involved somehow):

Once the contractual arrangements were made, Bartner proved instrumental in arranging “15 Steps” for a marching band. “The key guy in all of this is David Campbell. He was hired by the Grammys to marry Radiohead with the Trojan marching band,” Bartner said. “He’s a very famous guy because he arranges with all of these contemporary rock groups. ... So myself and [drum instructor] Tad Carpenter went over to Campbell’s house and we sat down and we went through the Radiohead piece ‘15 Steps’ for about three hours.”