(NCCU's Marching Sound Machine) Band hopes to march for inaugural
http://heraldsun.southern....com/durham/4-1020101.cfm
By Gregory Childress : The Herald-Sun
gchildress@heraldsun.com
Nov 15, 2008
http://NCCUsmbc.tripod.com
Durham -- N.C. Central University's football season will be long over by the time January rolls around, but the school's marching band will be kicking into a higher gear.
The "Sound Machine" is one of 10 historically black colleges and universities chosen to participate in the prestigious Honda Battle of the Bands on Jan. 24 in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The band has participated in the event many times.
But before the Honda Battle of the Bands takes place, Jorim Reid, NCCU's director of bands, is hoping the Sound Machine gets the call for another big time honor: March in the Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24.
Reid said he has submitted an application with the U.S. Armed Forces Inaugural Committee, which is hosting the event. The participants will be chosen by the Presidential Inaugural Committee.
"We're praying that we get a chance," Reid said.
Reid said the Sound Machine should know by next week whether it will participate in the historic parade, which takes place along Pennsylvania Avenue after the swearing-in ceremony. He said the sooner he knows the better because the band must raise money and plan the trip.
While NCCU owns two buses, Reid said it would take five to transport the band to Washington if the Sound Machine is chosen to march in the parade.
For Reid, a trip to D.C. to march in the inaugural parade for President-elect Barack Obama would be the third time he's participated in the event. He did so twice in President Bill Clinton's inaugural parade while a student at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee Fla.
"It's an experience I really want my students to be a part of," Reid said.
If NCCU is chosen, it wouldn't be the first time the band, or at least a portion of it, has played for Obama. Parts of the band played during his visit to NCCU in November 2007.
© 2008 by The Durham Herald Company. All rights reserved.
