spectacle -- Health Minister Nelson Bascome cavorting with cymbals with a university marching band.

The Morgan State University Marching Band, from Morgan State in Baltimore, Maryland, were invited by Mr. Bascome to perform at the Bermuda Day Parade scheduled to be held on Thursday.

"I used to march with them,'' Mr. Bascome explained, as a member of the band.

However as the parade was rained out, Premier Jennifer Smith invited the band to perform on the Cabinet lawn yesterday afternoon instead.

Spectators on the Cabinet lawn were delighted by the dancing, singing, and spirit that the band incorporated into its brilliant performance. But when Nelson Bascome grabbed the cymbals from one band member during the final song, `Old Morgan Spirit' and put on a dazzling display of his own magnificent marching, complete with clashing cymbals in between his legs and feet kicking high in the air, the crowd went wild. "That felt good,'' Mr. Bascome commented happily afterward.

Photos by Tamell Simons Still Magnificent: Nelson Bascome, pictured above, performs with the band and, below, drum major Mario Santilli at the head of the MSU marching machine.