I was the drum major at my little high school in Louisiana a long long time ago, and I never heard anything about the Texas Aggie Band until almost three decades later, when I saw them at a parade in San Antonio. Soon after that, I visited the A&M campus one football weekend and got to see them rehearse their pre-game Saturday morning drill performance. They are absolutely stupendous, the best in the world. No one else compares or even comes close. I found this book at A&M's Memorial Student Center and bought it immediately. You simply MUST go see the Aggie Band.

One of my life's greatest regrets, now, is that I knew nothing about this organization when I was eligible to march in it. Musically, and personally, I can imagine no higher achievement. Everything about this precision machine exudes excellence, from their music, to their marching, to the striking friendly politeness of all the members I was fortunate to meet. These fine kids are motivated beyond belief, and they welcome you into their world -- they know they are a part of something special, and they generously share with you the admiration for their Aggie heritage.

Their drum cadence (I was a drummer) is absolutely captivating. It has five "verses," and is militarily simple but, once you've heard it, the beat stays with you wherever you walk, any time you are walking -- you wish that you were marching with the Fightin Texas Aggie Band, every time you put one foot in front of the other.

I got to see the film, "We've Never Been Licked," a 1943 World War II story, and became a permanent Aggie "groupie." From now forward, I will always be a Texas Aggie in my heart. As Pop Lambert said in the movie, "God bless the Aggies." The Spirit of Aggieland is now an forever. World Without End, A&M.

Gig 'em. And Beat The Hell Outta t.u. !!!

If you've ever seen the magnificent, nationally famous Texas A&M University Band perform during half-time, you will want to own this fine volume. It offers a comprehensive history of the first 100 years of a college organization that has become, literally, a state institution. Being in the Aggie Band is not simply membership in a music outfit; rather, it is a comprehensive, fully consuming Way of Life. Rich with details about how the present-day Band evolved, the Powells' account also grandly illuminates other facets of Texas Aggie history - the Corps of Cadets, A&M athletics, campus development, memorable faculty folks and general local color (in native lingo, "good bull."). Numerous photos trace Aggie traditions from their earliest days to the present. It was startling to this reader how some campus/Corps images are practically ageless. Many of the pictures - fish standing on the wall, Elephant Walk, Ags working on the Bonfire, meals in Duncan Dining Hall - could have been taken in 1930 or 1950 or 1975 OR 1995, since the traditions, and the scenes they propagate, are so firmly embedded at A&M.

This book definitely needs to be made into a movie. Not only would it offer remarkable settings, dramatic events, dynamic characters, stupendous role models, intricate Band drills and tantalizing college-life plots, but it would feature, without a doubt, the very best film soundtrack in the history of the world.