Tommy Lee Plays With College Marching Band

Monday, October 18th 2004, 10:28 am

By: News On 6

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) _ Drummer Tommy Lee has played plenty of stadium shows with his band Motley Crue. But none was quite like his performance with the University of Nebraska marching band before 77,881 red-clad football fans.

``Oh yeah, it's real different,'' Lee said of Saturday's halftime show at the Baylor-Nebraska game in Memorial Stadium. ``That was awesome, absolutely great.''

Lee is in Lincoln filming a prospective NBC-TV reality show in which he takes classes at Nebraska including chemistry and the history of rock 'n' roll. If the show makes the cut, it is scheduled to air on NBC in July.

He tried out for the marching band's drum line earlier in the week.

Lee, 42, joined the band in the stands in full uniform, playing along with other drummers, a broad smile on his face.

Lee took part in the band's Latin music halftime show, playing a rack of five tom-toms carried on his shoulders. A cheer went up from the stands as Lee was shown on the stadium's giant TV screens during a rendition of the Cuban song ``Malaguena.''

Lee also came out of the stands twice to man a hand-held compressed-air cannon that shoots hot dogs into the stands. ``It's awesome, dude,'' Lee exclaimed after his first shot. ``You can launch a wiener.''