Tommy Lee Making the Band

Forget that long-rumored Mötley Crüe reunion: Tommy Lee's got a new gig.

The bad-boy rocker is now drumming with the University of Nebraska marching band.

Lee, who last week enrolled at the Lincoln-based campus for an upcoming reality series, sat in with the Cornhusker corps during Nebraska's football game against Baylor over the weekend.

Decked out in full band-geek regalia, Lee helped to entertain a crowd of 77,881 avid Husker fans Saturday by joining the regimented drum line for what certainly was his most unusual concert to date--a halftime show at Memorial Stadium.

And the tattooed headbanger loved every minute of it.

"Oh yeah, it's real different," the 42-year-old Lee told the Associated Press. "That was awesome, absolutely great."

But the marching band eschewed "Dr. Feelgood" and "Girls Girls Girls" for a Latin-flavored set. Lee, hauling a rack of five toms, kept time with his fellow drummer boys on a handful of Cuban tunes, including "La Fiesta" and an arrangement of Stan Kenton's melodic "Malaguena."

The band then marched diagonally in perfect formation off the field, where Lee and his new crew congratulated each other with high-fives and snapped photos.

Students cheered when Lee's mug was shown on the stadium's big screens. Proving that he hadn't lost his wild side, the campus' favorite new freshman then treated fans to a mid-afternoon snack, mounting a hand-held compressed-air cannon that blasted hot dogs into the stands.

"It's awesome, dude," Lee was quoted as saying after the first shot. "You can launch a wiener."

Perhaps some higher education might do him good.

Hoping to kickstart a TV career, Lee signed up in August to star in a prospective half-hour reality show in the vein of Old School for NBC that followed him as a fortysomething frosh looking to get a fresh start in life by furthering his education.

The Methods of Mayhem frontman reportedly initially wanted to matriculate in his home state of California, but producers eventually settled on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln after campus officials embraced the idea.

Lee, who never finished high school before finding superstardom with the Crüe in the '80s, has been showing off his school spirit in frat-boy fashion.

"Look, I'm wearing my Nebraska red," Lee told the Omaha World-Herald as he pulled up his shirt to reveal the color of his boxers.

Lee is no doubt a big man on campus already, having scored multiplatinum success with his former band and counting both Heather Locklear and Pamela Anderson as ex-wives.

However, his rock 'n' roll reputation has become a cause for concern among some Nebraska faculty, who have complained about not having a vote in allowing Lee and his camera crew on campus and are worried that the school's image could suffer.

Lee has been struggling to get his life back on track after being cleared in 2003 of liability for an accidental drowning of a child at his former Malibu digs and settling a protracted, contentious custody battle with Anderson.

Then, back in June, word spread that Lee was back to his hard-partying ways after a Las Vegas nightclub claimed the musician bailed on a $800 bar tab after flubbing a celebrity deejay set. Lee denied the allegations at the time.

But UNL chancellor Harvey Perlman defended his decision to allow filming to go forward, assuring faculty members that their fears were unfounded.

"The essence of the show is that a rock star, with a questionable past, seeks redemption through higher education. We believe the effort will be serious. We think that is a good message and one which the university can associate," Perlman explained in a letter to staff obtained by the Nebraska State Paper.

Prime-time exposure for the university also factored in his decision.

Promising to abide by Nebraska's student code of conduct and be on his best behavior, Lee has so far proved himself a model student, if a little atypical, since he's been seen tooling around campus in a red-and-white-striped replica of an AC Cobra.

He reportedly dove into his new extracurricular activity with aplomb, practicing with his bandmates for hours at a time each evening to get the marching right and the cadences down.

"I was impressed with just his whole demeanor," Carolyn Barber, director of bands, told the World-Herald. "He's got 20 to 25 years as a professional drummer, and he's standing here with college kids. He jumped in like a learner."

Lee's also been spotted at the campus bookstore getting books for his classes, reportedly chemistry, literature and what should be a cake walk: the history of rock 'n' roll.

While Lee's working to earn cred with his classmates and teachers, it's still unknown whether all his hard work will earn him honors with NBC. Peacock executives haven't decided yet to pick up his show.

If NBC does graduate Lee's show to the schedule, it could face some stiff competition from an ABC offering.

The Alphabet announced Monday that it's developing The Scholar, an unscripted series giving 15 high school students a chance to win a full ride to the college of their choice.

The show, also to be set at a major university, will be coproduced by Steve Martin, Real World producers Jonathan Murray and Joan Stein, and Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner, the veteran producers behind The Cosby Show, Roseanne and That '70s Show.

"Every student in this country should be entitled to a college education," said Martin and Stein in a statement. "With this show, we intend to empower both students and parents with the knowledge that a higher education is realistic and attainable for everyone."

The Scholar will premiere on ABC sometime in 2005. Should Lee's still-untitled series make the cut, it will likely air on NBC next July.