Band

The Atholton High School Raiders will take part in the United States Scholastic Band Association's Yamaha Cup at M&T Bank Stadium at 7 p.m. tomorrow. It is the band's fourth competition under the Youth Education in the Arts program this season. It has played in Herndon, Va. (at the Northern Virginia Regional Championship), Hershey, Pa., and in Westminster, taking first place each time in its category. In the photo at right, Director Lee Stevens leads a rehearsal on the school's parking lot. In the photos above and at left, Greg Varner (left)

"It was 20 years ago today that Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play."They've been going in and out of style, but they're guaranteed to raise a smile."So let me introduce to you the act you've known for all these years. . . "Remember the fuss when the Beatles first told us about the 20th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band?Well, Sgt. Pepper's boys have nothing on the Daniels Community Band, the Howard County-based ensemble formed in 1879 and still doing regular public performances of dance music.

Hometown -- Baltimore Current members --David Heumann, guitar and vocals; Walker David Teret, guitar; Corey Allender, bass; Daniel Franz, drums Founded in --2002 Style --psychedelic rock Influenced by --Paul Bowles, Cormack McCarthy (The band refused to cite musical influences.) Notable --Tomorrow, the band will play a CD release show for its second album, Rites of Uncovering. It was recorded over two years in several locations. Some of the songs are more ambient and sweeping, others feel more organic.

NEW YORK - It has been five weeks since the last known death from anthrax, and that is good news for everyone, including, of course, Anthrax, the aging metal band from Bayside, Queens, that has become more famous for its moniker than its music. Slowly emerging from the Get What You Asked For file, Anthrax, whose members once reveled in how coolly evil the band sounded, has been humbled by its ironic association with terrorism, even as many of its older records have been selling at double their usual, albeit modest, pace - perhaps the first time that a biological attack has prompted a spike in heavy-metal album sales.

BATTLES of the big bands are making a comeback.Popular in the 1930s and 1940s, the big band battles are playoffs to see which of two or more competing bands can be the first to drive an audience crazy. You can attend 1992 versions of these swinging free-for-alls at Hunt Valley and other locations (usually promoted by WITH, the big-band station in Baltimore).But there was an historic, definitive and positively Olympian battle of the big bands in New York in 1937. It was staged before thousands of fans who came from all over the country just to see and hear it. The winner was a Baltimorean.

JOLLA, Calif. -- Bob Crosby, the popular swing-era bandleader and younger brother of singer Bing Crosby, died Tuesday of cancer.The 79-year-old singer led big bands from 1935 to 1942 and started an eight-piece band-within-the-band, the Bob Cats, during that time. He sang but didn't play an instrument.Mr. Crosby's bands were known for swing and Dixieland sounds, and the Bob Cats' hit records included, "Big Noise That Blew In From Winnetka," "South Rampart Street Parade" and "March of the Bobcats."

Hometown: Baltimore Members: Ryan "K-Rai" Stinnett, laptop; Joe "DJ Sheephead" Clark, laptop; Justin "VJ Chroma" Miller, video manipulation Founded: 2006 Style: electronica Influenced by: The Crystal Method, Aphex Twin, Ken Ishii, Underworld Notable : Last year, the band released an album titled Press Start. The members occasionally upload live recordings to their MySpace site and other Web sites. When performing live, Stinnett and Clark will play two halves of the same mix simultaneously, distorting the sounds in real time and creating new melodies.

It has been 64 years since Gerard E. Lynch. a 17-year-old mellophonist in a green and gold band uniform, played ''Stars and Stripes Forever'' on the Eastern Shore, in Western Maryland, in Virginia, ''everywhere they wanted us.''''I don't know how many times I marched up and down Howard Street playing music,'' said Mr. Lynch. In those days Howard Street was Baltimore's big mall and the Evening Sun Newsboys Band filled the shopping corridor with music.When the boys played, ''Stars and Stripes Forever'' was always the sign-off.

Hometown -- Baltimore Current members --Josh Korel, vocals; Finch Flores, guitars and vocals; Anthony Williams, drums and vocals; Mike Harker, guitar; Eric Flores, bass and vocals Founded in --2005 Style --post-punk and hardcore Influenced by --The Mars Volta, Coheed and Cambria, Atreyu, Converge Notable --The band recorded a four-song EP late last year, and a new album is in the works. In April, they set out on a two-week tour to Florida in a cramped, stinky Winnebego. Quotable --"It was awesome, besides the fact it smelled like gas," Finch Flores said.