Crab Grass Band News & History ••• This is subject to change at anyone's whim. ••• Schedule  | Song list  |  Member Roster Photos  |  News & History  |  Thanks & Links  |  CD

THE CRAB GRASS BAND – THEY’RE BAAAAACK

By JIM GOULD
(from the 2004Humboldt Crabs Program)

Well, yes, the Crabs are unique. The semi-isolated location, the history, the community support, the volunteers that make it happen. Everything about the Crabs seems to scream UNIQUE. And then you consider the Crab Grass Band, and uniqueness climbs right off the chart – the Unique Chart, that is. The Band has yet to make a chart-busting CD, but they’re working on it. They recorded their first CD last year.

So how do the Crabs rate their own band? As a rule, major league teams don’t have their own bands. Oh, they’ve got an organist here or there. Some even refer to their “keyboard artists”. Occasionally they’ll even invite a band or two in for some big game game. But a team band? Nah, it doesn’t happen….Unless you happen to be in Humboldt County.

The Crab Grass Band sort of happened about 20 years ago. A bunch of former Lumberjack band members from Humboldt State University got together and asked the Crabs if they could play at a few games. Ned Barsuglia, the Crabs GM at the time, said, “Why not?” And the rest, as they say….

Contrary to suspicious minds, the Crab Grass Band was not named for Humboldt County’s most famous and most infamous products. Officially the band was christened by the mother of an original member who noted that despite a lack of sophisticated management and deep-pocket financing, the band managed to survive and return to the ballpark every summer, just like that pernicious weed. Thus the name. And that is the official word.
Gordon Johnson, the delightful ensemble’s “Semi Conductor” claims about 40 Crab Grass Band members, more or less. Twenty-five or so make it to the games…depending. The members have real day jobs – and wives – and husbands – and families. But enough of them manage to make it to the park to entertain the fans, raise the spirits of the team and razz the competition. Razzing, after all, is part of what baseball is all about. And the Crab Grass Band does it sooo well. Not crude. Not obscene. But oh so deliciously nasty.

One interesting note about the band is that the competition looks forward to the encounter. On more than one occasion when the Crabs are building the schedule for the coming year, the Crabs are asked, “Will the band be there?” And the answer is always, “Of course.”
The added pleasure that the band brings to the ballpark was underlined last year at the All American Invitational Tournament in Gresham, Oregon. Gresham organizers asked the Crabs management if the band would mind playing at some of the tournament games in which the Crabs were not on the field. “You’ll have to ask the band,” the Crabs replied. So the organizers asked, and the band agreed. Their fame now spreads well beyond Humboldt County. They’ll be back in Gresham this summer. They’ll need to raise some funds to make the trip. They might ask for your help. But they’ll be there.

Much like the baseball team they’ve supported for 21 years, the Crab Grass Band is unique. You can catch them at the park. Oh, and that CD? It’s on sale for a very modest fee at the concession stand. You can check out the band at their web site at www.Crab Grassband.org.

Crab Grass Band:
21 facts for the 21st anniversary

by GAIL GOURLEY
(from the 2003 Humboldt Crabs Program Book)

1. Did you know that...the Crab Grass Band was founded 20 years ago by a group of musicians from Humboldt State's Marching Lumberjack Band? In 1983 Hugh Scanlon was a student at Humboldt State University and had been playing with the Marching Lumberjack Band. "A number of us from the band were staying around for the summer and knew about the Humboldt Crabs," said Scanlon. "We thought it would be fun to go down to the ball park and play down there a little bit; it would give us an excuse to kind of keep our chops up musically and go enjoy some baseball at the same time." That first year saw six or seven musicians in the band, with Marching Lumberjacks forming the nucleus and a couple community members joining in. Scanlon, who today works for the California Department of Forestry and is also a firefighter with the Arcata Volunteer Fire Department, ended up directing the band that first year and several times since then.

2. Did you know that...the band was enthusiastically supported by Ned Barsuglia, then Crabs general manager, and well received by the fans from the beginning? One of the first things Scanlon did to get things started was talk to Barsuglia. "Ned's a sweetie," said Scanlon. "He was very easy to talk to about this. He said, 'Oh yeah, you guys wanna come down, that'd be great. We'll see how it works out.' We showed up and the crowd reception was almost universally fantastic."

3. Did you know that...the band today consists of a conglomeration of current and former members of the Marching Lumberjacks as well as community members, including high school musicians and even an occasional middle school student?

4. Did you know that...the band takes its musicianship very seriously? What? It's true. The Crab Grass Band has had its swings of highs and lows over the last two decades, says Scanlon. "The musicianship of the group has varied a lot over time, and it has a lot to do with the number of people that are in town and the instrumentation that's in town. If we don't have the right people playing the right instruments the band's balance isn't right. Parts are missing. If you end up with too many missing key parts it just does not work very well. When the instrumentation is good the band has the potential to sound very good."

5. Did you know that...The Crabs organization supplies band members with a hot dog and a soda at each game they play? No free beer, though.

6. Did you know that...there was one year the band didn't play? It was either the sixth or seventh season, 1988 or 1989 - Scanlon's not sure exactly. But he said the next year Gene Joyce, one of the earlier band members, picked up the ball and continued the tradition.

7. Did you know that...Hugh Scanlon credits his mother for coming up with the idea of the band's name? "It did make sense because the Crab Grass Band is sort of like crab grass - you can just never really make it go away. It just keeps showing up every year," Scanlon said.

8. Did you know that... the Crab Grass Band is not to be confused with the Kinetic Madness Band or the Marching Lumberjacks? Although some of the music and membership is the same, Scanlon says, they are different entities.

9. Did you know that...Shorty loves the Crab Grass Band? "The Crab Grass Band is awesome," says Crabs Head Coach Ken "Shorty" Ames. "We love 'em. We wish they were there every game." He said he's been in hundreds of baseball parks across the country and this is the only team that has a band that he knows of. "It's so 'Humboldt Crabs' it's incredible. The other team will be coming in and they'll ask 'is the band gonna be here tonight?' They know it all up and down the coast."

10. Did you know that... band members have been known to heckle the umpires and razz the opposing team? No, really. "Well, we've had 20 years to work on it," Scanlon explained. "Yeah, we've got some heckles that have sort of evolved and grown over the years, but the heckles we use are all in good fun. Quite frankly, you'll see most of our heckles directed at the umpires, but the umpires actually do a pretty good job for these games. No one's perfect and it's kind of fun to just give the umpires a taste of what it would be like if they were in the big leagues."

11. Did you know that...Crab Grass Band members have arranged some of their own music? For example, Hugh Scanlon arranged one of the group's signature finales, Free Bird, in 1995 and it worked so well that it's a favorite among many band members as well as fans. In fact, said Scanlon, it went over so well for the Crab Grass Band that the Marching Lumberjacks put it in their play book. And one of Scanlon's personal favorites, an arrangement of David Bowie's Let's Dance, was done by former band member Bodie Pfost. "That is also a very fun song to play," says Scanlon.

12. Did you know that...it's not easy being the band's director? Although the directorship has rotated over time, Scanlon held the title for several years. He said, "Being director of the band changes your mindset to some extent because you have to focus on what the band is doing; prepare the band for the next break between innings, get songs up and make sure everybody knows what's going on - which means actually watching the baseball game can be difficult when you're the director. And I do very much enjoy watching the Crabs play." For the past few years, tuba player Gordon Johnson has shouldered the responsibilities of directorship. Johnson, whose day job is with the County Department of Public Health, has played on and off with the band since it started.

13. Did you know that...the band has a few rehearsals in May? "We typically rehearse a few times before the season starts but once the season starts we don't rehearse anymore," said Johnson.

14. Did you know that... the band plays at about 20 - 24 games during the season? "Our schedule for playing games is actually pretty aggressive," Scanlon said. "We play a lot of games, relatively speaking, for being just a bunch of folks who happen to be in town. We're talking about summer here in Humboldt County."

15. Did you know that...band attendance for an average game ranges from about 14 to 20 players? This high level of commitment, Scanlon says, is because of the fans. "The Crab Grass Band people are certainly as much in it for the revelry of the crowd as anything else, and that feeling that we're performing and putting it out there and it's appreciated. So to the extent that the fans are there and they like to have the band there and they let the band know that, that helps a lot. That's probably the biggest thing."

16. Did you know that...the Crab Grass Band plays other gigs occasionally? Recently they played for the McKinleyville Little League Jamboree and they occasionally field requests for other gigs. Scanlon would like to see the band play at a San Francisco Giants game but that hasn't yet worked out.

17. Did you know that...six members of the band went up to the tournament in Oregon last summer? And that they lit the place up? They were so popular that the tournament management asked them to play at games that the Crabs weren't even playing in. With travel funds nonexistent, the dedicated band members slept on the floor of a former band member's house near Gresham. Scanlon missed the first game due to work. "I came up a little bit later," he said. "Being that time of the year with fire season, I wasn't sure if I was going to be in town or not." Scanlon ended up getting a few days off and listened to the first Crabs game on the radio. Overcome with a desire to participate in the festivities in Oregon, he "basically jumped in the car and was able to get up there in time for the next game."

18. Did you know that...the band is planning to raise money this summer to support a return trip to the All-American Invitational Tournament and maybe even to buy better uniforms? "A lot will depend on how successful our fundraising efforts are this year," said Johnson.

19. Did you know that...the Crab Grass Band hopes to put out a CD? According to Johnson, "It's still just a dream, but we're continuing to work on the CD project."

20. Did you know that...the Crab Grass Band would like to have a reunion this summer? Calling this the 21st anniversary, the group would like to track down anybody who has been involved with the band over the years. "Our records, of course, are pretty hazy," Scanlon admits. They're looking at a target date of somewhere around the July 4th weekend. "In the past we've had a number of former Crab Grassers come up for July 4th because it's just so fun to play at the ballpark for that event."

21. Did you know that...Scanlon envisions for the band "a long and bright future playing for the Humboldt Crabs, continuing to entertain at the ball park?" And that's great news for supporters of this unique Humboldt Crabs Baseball tradition.

	CRAB GRASS BAND HOME Schedule  | Song list  |  Member Roster Photos  |  News & History  |  Thanks & Links  |  CD
	This site is generously hosted by