and east towards charlestown. another storm up toward hancock. we have warnings in bedford county and a big storm just to the north as you go up to 522. where are these going to go in the next hour? they are going to move northeastward and hold together. they will remain potent. getting into frederick in the next hour. if you are coming up 270, you aren't home in the next 45 minutes, you'll have big rains and certainly towards hagerstown and towards the west. we'll keep you posted. the warnings and watches will be at the bottom of your screen. we're on storm alert. people across d.c. are getting a chance to say a personal farewell. a public viewing is taking place at the howard theater at northwest washington. the fans started lining up well

before the doors opened. paid their respects all day long. >> cameras are not allowed inside the theater, but take a look at this. it's a photo provided of chuck's open casket by his family. bruce johnson joins us with the latest on what's going on there this afternoon. >> the crowds are thinning out, but if you can start down that way and come back, you can get a look at how many people are here. the story is that thousands upon thousands of people have been here throughout the day and nobody is leaving. it has become a village. after they come have the viewing, hook up with friends. i have somebody from the young yard, is it all about chuck? >> chuck is opened so many doors with the go-go industry. he is our king of go-go. >> we have had a couple people treated with heat related issues according to the d.c.

fire department. are they out here and remaining because of chuck? >> everybody is here because of chuck. >> tell me what chuck meant to you. >> i am one of the members, chuck brown was an inspiration to everyone in washington. anybody who liked music should have been here, if they haven't been here, they should be. >> just about anybody and everybody has been down here to take a look. this wasn't your typical way. from the outside, there was laughter and spontaneous tributes to a 75-year-old man that made this city dance and sing for more than 50 years. >> i miss him already. he's a legend in d.c. i know him personally. >> what's your favorite song? >> i need money. >> go-go. >> leaders came by in droves

this morning to pay their respect in private to a man who barely finished high school and who learned to play the guitar while playing guitar. >> go-go, unique to the district. chuck took it around the world and we're going to miss him. >> busting loose. but it don't mean a thing if it don't got the go-go swing. >> at the family's request, cameras were not allowed inside the howard theater, but chuck brown's children came out to share their thoughts. >> he loved the city. >> chuck's band members were here also. >> what happens to go-go? does it get bigger or retreat into a shell? >> i don't think there's any retreating. it's here to stay for sure. >> i don't know what's going to happen with the band. there are a few tributes that we have lined up that we'll do

in chuck's honor. >> the crowd was consistent. already numbering in the thousands before the doors opened for the wake for the father of go-go. >> feels like an end of an era. just feels like an end of an era. but chuck had such an impact on this city that people live on. >> okay, back here live outside the howard theater. doors are going to be open until 10:00 tonight. i expect people will be coming. we should point out the mayor said before he left here today that flags will fly at half staff on thursday, the day of chuck's funeral. back to you. >> so much love for chuck brown, bruce, thank you. and several streets around the howard are closed right now and they'll stay that way until the chuck brown viewing ends at midnight. t street from 7th to 9th. 7th and 8th streets to close from florida avenue. and wiltberger street will be

closed between t street and f street. streets around the washington convention center will also be shut down for chuck brown's memorial service. and mayor vince gray ordered that all d.c. flags be flown at half staff all in honor of chuck brown. and broadcast thursday's memorial service live on our air and website at wusa9.com. >> a metro employee is in serious condition after being struck by a train and getting pin underneath it. this happened earlier this morning at the shady grove rail yard. how do you think this accident happened, kristen? >> well, i tell you what. this is an absolutely brutal accident. the metro worker, an employee for 25 years was pinned under this train for over an hour and they had to call in a surgical shock trauma team to get him out. this accident did not happen right here at the actual

station. it happened right over here over at the shady grove rail yard and that's where they keep the trains overnight and when they are brought in for maintenance. it's important it happened there because it means the train was not going fast. just a few miles an hour. it was enough to take the worker down and pin him underneath. i want to show you a picture of what it looks like as the rescuers tried to free him. they had to fly in a special shock trauma team from john hopkins. it's a team that included ems personnel and surgeons. reporting that the man has lost a hand and one leg below the knee. but so far, metro will not confirm this. all they will say is the man was flown to a level one medical center where he is in serious condition with potentially life threatening injuries. metro is still investigating exactly what happened, but they have already started conducting a safety stand down at the rail yard and what that is, is a chance for the employees who

witnessed this event or this accident to get counseling. also review safety practices. especially important given metro's track record, keep in mind, there have been at least six metro employees that have been killed while working on the tracks over the last seven years. it's safe to say that everybody out here is hoping and praying that what happened here today is not bring that total up to 7. anita. >> absolutely. a brutal accident, as you said. thank you, kristen. we are learning more about a midair collision between two planes on memorial day over fauquier county, virginia. perhaps most, the ntsb asked canadian transportation officials to conduct the information because one of the pilots was an ntsb employee and the other surviving pilot is an accident investigator for the faa. one plane crashed and burned in the town of summer duck. the other crash landed about a mile away. bruce leshan has the latest.

>> investigators head deep into the woods to examine the charred remains of the plane where two died. the pilot, an ntsb employee on a flight checkout. the passenger, a flight instructor at a nearby flight school. we talked on the phone to dave fields who learned to fly from him. >> always a great pilot. he loved to fly. his love of flying. enthusiasm of flying and inspired me to become a flight instructor. >> impact and fire so intense that it is hard to recognize much of this aircraft. you can see one wing, a propeller, the engine. but must of the rest of the aircraft is either missing or melted away by the fire. midair collisions are remarkably rare and that much of the time they occur near airports where planes are taking off or landing.

it is a big sky. and the odds are against two planes being in the exact same spot at the exact same time. how these two planes ended up colliding over a rural patch of ground in southern fauquier county is one of the key questions for investigators. >> you could tell that whoever was in that did not survive. >> never forget that sight, i imagine. >> can never forget that, especially on memorial day. >> the pilot crashed through a hole in a tree line leaving his right wing behind and finally stopping without even tearing off his propeller. was his engine running at that point? is there any sign of the midair collision? just a few of the many questions investigators will have to answer. in fauquier county, bruce leshan, 9news now. >> the surviving pilot is thomas of broad run near manassas. he is still in the hospital, but bruce talked with his wife and she says he's going to be

okay. authorities are withholding the names of the two people who died. derek. >> lesli, jurors in the john edwards corruption trial went back to work today, but it's been seven days of deliberations and they have no verdict. manuel is in greensboro, north carolina, where some of the alternate jurors seem to be vying for attention. >> john edwards took a break from court as deliberations move to a seventh day. could it be a hung jury? not yet. >> too early to push the panic button. towards the end of the week, a clear indication there's distension among the jury. >> it started with a closed door hearing. before the lunch break, the judge repeated her instructions. to only discuss the case when the jurors are all together. she said breaking into small

groups can lead to division. meanwhile, there have been some antics with the four alternate jurors. last week, they started dressing in the same colors. thursday, yellow. friday red. and one female alternate has been making eye contact. >> the former presidential candidate charged with violating campaign laws has been smiling back. >> you don't want to do anything that will distract this process. no rule to play, thought they would bring levity into this. so as long as they are not in the jury pool, it's not a problem. >> there would not be a problem with scheduling. preparing for the possibility that deliberations could go into next week. manuel, cbs news, greensboro, north carolina. and here's something to think about. if the juror has to be replaced with one of those alternates, the deliberations have to start

over from the very beginning. >> coming up, an airplane showers debris on to a parking lot smashing out the windshield of one car. >> also ahead, maryland's newest and biggest casino is set to open next week. we'll give you the first look inside. >> rescuer workers search the rubble of a courthouse.

today is the day. mitt romney is expected to clinch the republican nomination for president. a win in today's texas primary would give him the necessary delegates. romney is campaigning in colorado and nevada and has a fund raising appearance with donald trump. as romney hammers away at president obama about job creation, the president is releasing a new television ad. it accuses romney of failing to

stand up to extremists in the gop. >> at least 17 people have died after a 5 point earthquake rocked northern italy. it's the second quake to hit that region in a little more than a week. anna has the latest on the search and rescue efforts from italy. >> a powerful earthquake took down the church of st. francis in italy, leaving just the facade. buildings throughout italy collapsed in tuesday's 5.8 earthquake. several others fell in the aftershock. italian police say more than a dozen people are dead and more are missing. rescue crews are combing through debris looking for any survivors. near the epicenter, the historic center has been evacuated. she's afraid she will never be able to return to her home. >> she says i feel empty,

lost, and terrified. when the earthquake hit, it rattled italians since another deadly earthquake a little over a week ago. the back to back quakes devastated one of italy's largest industrial areas. damaging and destroying factories. italy's prime minister says he is prepared to do whatever is needed to get the region back to normal as soon as possible. ana. cbs news, italy. >> northern italy was still cleaning up from an earthquake that hit on may 20. and that quake left thousands of people with nowhere to go. syria's most senior diplomat in washington is being booted out of the united states. the order comes from the obama administration in protest of last week's massacre in syria. 108 people were killed. most of them execution style. many children. the u.n. says entire families were gunned down in their homes. more than half a dozen

countries have expressed their outrage by expelling syrian diplomats. >> canada's transportation agency is investigating how debris might have fallen from a troubled airliner and damaged vehicles in southern ontario. the air canada flight took off from toronto. meantime, down on the ground. police say chunks of debris were falling in several places right near the airport. including a gas station parking lot. some cars were hit. luckily no people were. >> pretty shocked to see. yeah, it's just really, really strange. not something i expected to happen. ago airplane debris on my windshield. >> i was surprised when i heard a noise. i didn't know what that noise was. nothing happened. only the car. >> good thing.

nobody expects airplane debris. the debris fell from one of the boeing 737's engines. the plane turned around, went back to the airport and landed no problem. all right top, out early today bike ride at 9:00 trying to beat the heat, it was too late. >> yeah, it was too late. the good news is, we'll lower the temperatures tomorrow and lower them on thursday. bad news, we have put up with some severe weather. let's start with the watch. we have a severe thunderstorm watch. it includes west of town. loudoun county north and west and also frederick county, maryland, north and west until 10:00 p.m. that means that these storms can contain hail and some strong gusty winds. they are containing rains and that is until 10:00 p.m. these highlighted areas are the areas under a warning at this time for severe thunderstorms. those are also the bottom of your screen. downtown it's still nice. brought to you by michael and

son. winds south, southwest at 17. look at the pressure, kind of low. 29.76 inches of mercury. this cold front, while it's triggering showers and storms will not go through us until tomorrow night. we aren't out of the woods until tomorrow night. let's look at live doppler 9,000. we'll concentrate to north and west. this is where they have been all day. not far, as you go up 301. one storm is entering frederick. as you are coming down 40 and another storm. it's a big storm from martinsburg. everything is moving to the northeast at 15 to 20 miles per hour. want to zoom in on this storm. there's not a warning for frederick county, maryland, but we'll see one here shortly. this has hail as you drop down 67. it is pushing off to the north and again, this blue arrow is pushing off to the east, northeast. headed toward middletown and middletown view in the next 20

minutes or so. probably will see a warning on that. widen the radar back out and kind of tell you where all of these are going to go. you are under a warning. this has moved over from clark county just yet, but it will. you're under a warning as well. where is everything going to go in the next hour? we'll put this into motion. the storms hang together. east, northeast. so get ready and much of loudoun county, also into frederick county and upper montgomery county and especially north of frederick. walk we're talking about big storms. if you hear thunder, bring the kids inside. 90 in great falls right now. 85 in bethesda. 87 in arlington. we haven't had much cloud cover in the immediate metro area. temperatures are reflecting that. 90 in springfield and 90 in college park at this hour. so, on storm alert, heavy or severe storms to believe. storms still possible on

wednesday and cooler, really cooler on thursday and friday. all right, next seven days look like this. we have a chance for morning storms on wednesday and ending and afternoon storm on wednesday afternoon. and then gorgeous on thursday. another storm. look at saturday, only 76 for a high. 81 on sunday. it will heat up with highs in the upper 80s. again, severe thunderstorm watch west and north until 10:00. warnings at the bottom of your screen and always on at wusa9.com. thank you, topper. coming up, a song writer and astronaut and coach are among the legendary figures honored by president obama at the white house. but up next, we know it works for aches and pains, now scientists say a common painkiller can protect us against cancer. that's our health alert. i should be arrested for crimes against potted plant-kind.

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aspirin and similar drugs in the family a. new study published today by the american cancer society suggests painkillers such as aspirin and ib profin may help prevent skin cancer. the findings show people who took regular doses of aspirin over the years seemed to have a lower risk for three major types of skin cancer, including melanoma. many people with cardiovascular disease take daily doses of aspirin to protect their heart. a danish study says women who regularly work at night may say it's a higher breast cancer risk. light during what would be normal sleep hours. and that may interfere with the sleep hormone in the brain. melatonin is known to protect against cancer. the study estimates a 40% increase in breast cancer risk for women who work nights three times a week.

specific blue fish tuna after low levels of radioactive things turned up in fish caught off the coast of california. the fish were contaminated by the nuclear meltdown at a japanese power plant. tissue samples taken from the fish also contain radioactive levels 3% higher than natural background sources. the levels are still well below what is considered dangerous for humans. the fish were born about a year before the nuclear accident. z-q-u-e-o. >> correct. >> wow. that's six-year-old lori ann madison. she lives in lake ridge, virginia, and she is the youngest person ever to qualify for the script's national spelling bee. it's going on right now this week in prince georges county. 278 spellers are participating.

today, competitors took a 50 word computerized test. tomorrow, they will each spell two words on stage and then the field will begin to narrow down to no more than 50 semifinals. the semifinals and the finals happening on thursday. >> still ahead, a bicycle lies on the street where a courier was struck by an suv and now investigators are trying to figure out whose fault was that? also ahead, they said the family that plays together stays together. but how about the families that dress alike? or are they just kind of odd? how matching outfits can be the secret to this couple's marital success. >> i'm scott broom live in anne arundel county outside the new maryland live casino. when i come back, your first look inside and some surprises at just how big this new megacasino is.

we have a severe thunderstorm warning now for frederick, maryland. we'll show you live doppler 9,000. indeed it is a severe thunderstorm. this is the storm we're watching as it heads across 270. we also have warning out for hagerstown and winchester and loudoun county. all of you folks are under a severe thunderstorm warning. we are all under a watch west of town until 10:00 tonight. severe thunderstorm watch until 10:00 and we also have a severe thunderstorm warning now for

frederick, maryland, until 6:15. we'll keep you posted. all the watches and warnings and always on wusa9.com. derek. >> thank you, top. we are getting our first look at maryland's largest casino. maryland live opening its doors today. it's a preview. have you seen those slot machines? and it will rank as the third largest casino in the whole country. >> including vegas. wow. the gambling entertainment complex is located next to the mall. it cost $500 million. scott broom joins us live with a look inside. we have seen catchy ads. we want to see the real deal, scott. >> well, you just did a great job of running down the statistics, but let me underline one of them. $500 million is what this place costs. that's a half billion dollars here now is what that kind of money could buy. >> when maryland voters

approved expanded gambling here in 2008, few imagine it would mean a megacasino. the nation's third largest. >> these are limits, tables. >> it took developer joseph weinberg of the company nearly an hour to cover the place. larger than three football fields. yes, there are slots, but it's the electronic table games that are likely to surprise you. under sealed glass bubbles, the machine's deal real cards from real decks. they tumble real dice and tumble real balls. a live music venue is under construction. dining will include brand names like cheesecake factory and the prime rib. there will be 4,000 new employees. all of it threatened weinberg for a sixth maryland casino in prince georges county. also a prosed megaproject. >> to change the plane at this

point is tremendously unfair. it's inappropriate. we think it's beyond insane because this is already a saturated market. >> outside, construction is feverish, much of the upper structure is parking. all this footsteps away from the west entrance to a megamall, arundell mills. racing towards the june 6 opening. here's another meganumber just for perspective. when this place is open, it's projected to pay $400 million a year in corporate income taxes to the state of maryland. that would make this single entity by far the largest individual corporate taxpayer in the state, but they are raising serious public policy questions about how much you can jam into the area if they are talking about building one at national harbor. reporting live in arundel mills

mall. 9news now. thanks, scott. it's a risk bike riders take every day. one man took that risk today. it happened just after 10:00 a.m. this morning where some nearby roads were closed temporarily. anny hong joins us live with more on what happened. >> the bike courier was taken to the hospital with life threatening injuries. today's accident is a reminder of the risk they take every day. it was a typical day on the job for a bike courier until just after 10:00, a bicyclist was struck by this suv in northwest d.c. the courier had life threatening injuries and may end up suffering from brain damage. >> known about 15 years and seen him go by, knowing he was out is the thing.

but now hearing this, it's going to be terrible. >> gathered evidence by taking pictures and detailed notes. couriers say witnesses told them they saw the bicyclist fall off his bike. >> i wanted to make sure it wasn't him. but it's sad now that i must believe it's him. >> when things like this happen, it's rough on a lot of us. because yeah, the fact that it happened is going to be in the back of my head and extra careful today. >> it's a risky job. especially when drivers and pedestrians are easily distracted with their cell phones and texting. it's a job they love to do and wouldn't give up. >> some people don't want to be come found. they prefer a different kind of work. this is a certain kind of freedom when you get to earn a living for your family and be outside.

>> these bike couriers are tough and the accidents are part of the job. now friends add he was a teacher at a school in adams morgan and a father to one-year- old baby. lesli. >> thanks, anny. president obama presented the metal of freedom late this afternoon to 13 of the country's most prom prominent locations. madeleine albright and the legendary musician, bob dillon, was also honored along with a president of israel, perez, and astronaut, john gwen. >> some of them are household names. others have labored quietly out of the public eye. most of them may never fully appreciate the difference they made or the influence that they've had, but that's where our job comes in. it's our job to help, let them

know how extraordinary their impact has been on our lives. >> the award is given to people who contributed to world peace or to the security or national interest of the u.s. >> defense secretary delivered the commencement speech at the u.s. naval academy in annapolis. the navy and marine corps will play a crucial role in confronting aggression. he also said the focus for the next generation will be on building u.s. maritime across the region. >> this is every bit your day to celebrate along with this extraordinary class of 2012. class of 12, over the past four years, you have passed an unrelenting test of character. >> congratulations, ladies and gentlemen. almost 1100 men and women

graduated today from the nay val academy. still ahead on 9news, celebrating the sound behind video games. how the first ever game symphony orchestra is striking a cord at the university of maryland. but up next, two sisters look on in amazement as they patch a big brown bear taking a swim in their backyard pool. and don't forget, we're always on at wusa9.com. stay with us, we'll be back after the break.

caught on tape, a rather unwelcomed guest. it was a bear making herself right at home in this swimming pool in california. this is cell phone video and they caught the bear roaming around the backyard of the

home. first, it was hanging out in the bush and when it got hot, the bear said hey man, you got a pool, so i might as well swim. two sisters were home and they could only watch in awe. >> it starts climbing down the bush and it walks around the grass, probably smelling our dogs and wanders over to the pool. it sticks its toes in and we thought it was going drink from the pool and it ends up jumping on it. totally making itself at home. it sees us video taping it. it is taking a casual five minute swim throughout our pool. >> the girls said they wanted to jump in with them, but that would have been unbearable. >> can we point out how cool that pool is? >> very nice. the bear left, went back into the wild. didn't bother anybody else. >> did you work hard on that? >> i thought about it several minutes ago. >> all right, a nebraska couple might just have the secret to a happy marriage. >> this is mel and joey.

they have been married 64 years and for the last 3 1/2 decades, thigh dressed in matching outfits. they have 146 custom made wardrobe duos. they don't even remember exactly how it started, they have been doing it so long. >> it was before we traveled in '76, so let's see. >> oh goodness sakes. no, i don't remember how that first outfit came about. >> it's always hard to spot the right tie. sometimes it takes both of us. >> we don't dare go somewhere without matching outfits, you know? >> you may have noticed almost everything in the wardrobe has a floral theme. they happen to be owners of a flower shop. >> i guarantee you that is not the reason that they are still together. >> they coordinate. okay. up next, why the tsa wants to increase the price of your next

airline ticket. you want to hear this.

baggage fees, even a fee to choose where you want to sit. now you may have to pony up a little more to buy that ticket. that's if the transportation security administration gets its way. two things many passengers love to hate, the tsa and ticket fees. >> what is it that is prompting them to ask for more none? >> the agency backed by democrats want to increase the ticket security fee from $2.50 to $5 per one way ticket. $10 round trip. >> pushing it to a limit. i mean, it's only $5 more. but i'm wondering, you know, how that fits in. >> the tsa's budget like many in washington is set to be cut. the agency says the fee hike would help cover the increasing price of security, like those costly scanners. the fee hasn't changed in ten years. >> but the powerful airline lobby is pushing against it. they don't want to shift the

cost on to customers. >> air security is a national security function and it is something that all of us need to be behind as americans and the government should be picking up the cost of that. >> some air travelers say they don't mind. >> i would say it's like using a toll road. you pay the toll. >> as long as it is money well spent. >> if you can tell where the benefits go for a particular program, then the people who get the benefits generally should pay for it. >> now republicans want to cut if other social programs to pay for the increase and all of this still needs to be worked out so the tsa can get funding for next year. >> it's been a busy day in the weather department. watching storms roll in. topper track tracking those for us and brings us the latest. top. >> we have a severe thunderstorm watch. the good news is, the warnings have diminished a little bit. but we are not out of the woods because the front isn't going to go through until tomorrow

night. we are far from out of the woods right now. this is the watch area right now. again, frederick county, north and west. that's in the lighter shade of yellow and loudoun county north and west until 10:00 p.m. these are the warnings. berkeley county and jefferson county, west virginia, over into frederick county, maryland, and washington county maryland. those are the warnings right now. you need to get inside and take cover and do not cross a flooded street by car or by foot. there's also flash flood warnings out as well. a live look outside. downtown is nice. there's nothing going on inside the beltway in terms of weather. this is brought to you by michael and son. it's hot because of that. we haven't had the cloud cover and showers. we are still 89. winds are gusting at 17 and the pressure is steady 29.76-inch of mercury. here is live doppler 9,000. here are the storms we are concentrating on in the next hour. but these are the storms we are watching for the next few hours in the immediate metro area. these storms are a threat in

harrisonburg. these storms are a threat for us in the immediate metro area, maybe around 8:00 or 9:00 tonight. these storms are hammering our friends to north and west. good sized hail from hagerstown southward, almost to sharpesburg. we have big time hail and this is west oak ridge, you are getting hammered with hail and this is state highway 64. so really south of hagerstown, we're talking big time storms. heavy downpours, the whole bit. flash flooding. please take it easy and really pull over to the side of the road if visibility gets bad. we'll put this into motion for the next hour. these storms continue to move off to the north and west. you're under a warning and these storms head off toward warrenton and toward manassas and those are the storms. the second round of storms could get us later on tonight. 83 in bethesda. 89 downtown. 87 in springfield. the next seven days.

a few storms possible tomorrow. the front doesn't clear us until tomorrow night. gorgeous on thursday. braves in town on friday. cooler, 76 on saturday. low 80s on sunday. warming up next week monday and tuesday with just some isolated storms. again, severe thunderstorm watch north and west until 10:00. >> thanks a lot, topper. the washington nationals, i think it's fair to say have shocked. >> we are aapparently no exception. >> hey guys, those videos where they take your picture and place yourself or your friends as part of a funny video. the washington nationals have their own video and the folks have decided to cast the 9 news crew as it starts. enjoy this. >>

♪ take me out to the ball game. take me out to the crowd ♪ ♪ buy me some peanuts and cracker jacks. i don't care if i ever get back because it's root, root, root for the home team ♪ ♪ if they don't win it's a shame. because it's one, two, three strikes you're out at the old ball game ♪ ♪ take me out to the ball game. take me out out. ♪ >> looking good in those getups. having a little fun out there. >> it's about the only time i'll hold a hot dog like that. the first time i saw that video, we were cracking up. we had to share it with everybody.

>> i love the way the mouths move. >> we are enjoying a baseball game. >> i want to see the rest of it. >> we'll have it for you. it's the whole song. i didn't realize there was a second verse. that will be on our website. a lot of fun. >> thanks. coming up, the majority of the region supports the metro extension to dulles airport in an exclusive interview. we'll hear where the governor stands on that issue. plus, cue the band, we'll introduce you to local musicians who are getting their inspiration. the university of maryland symphony is straight ahead.

time now to introduce you to the first collegiate

ensamable. exclusively from the music of video games. the gamer symphony orchestra is made up of nonmusic gamers who recently headlined a concert at the smithsonian. johnson has more. >> reporter: a crowd of 1100 gathered at this courtyard at the smithsonian's art museum to listen to a 123 piece orchestra. it wasn't the music of baetoven, but arrangements for video games, like sonic the head hodge. it was part of the largest dedication ever. >> games are real hybrid of a lot of different forms of art. you can have a beautiful game with a wonderful story, but something is going to seem off. >> joel plays trombone for the

university of maryland's gamer symphony orchestra. which has struck a cord among its loyal followers invoking the power. >> in addition to always being a fan of games, i have been a fan of their music, too. >> a far more serious gamer. >> how into video games? are we talking up until midnight in the dark by yourself on hours on end? >> there have been many instances of that. it's pretty much my past time of choice. >> made up of mostly nonmusic majors, it is more club than conservatory. still, for several years now, they packed their campus concert hall with some of its biggest audiences. an accomplishment the school director can't be ignored. >> they used some brilliant

strategies, including inviting the composures of video games. >> you draw more than the upper level symphony bands? >> that seems to be the case. >> does that surprise you? >> it is certainly interesting. but it's not incredibly surprising. it's stuff people are familiar with and get more excited about than 15 minute long corral by bach. >> the success also represents an evolution. the very games they are playing. it's easy to see how animation has advanced over the years, but listen closely. and you'll hear just how sophisticated the sound track has become. finding that perfect ball loons is also big business. producing a new generation of popular come composures.

>> for composures to write music that can stand up with anything else. wintery most recent score debuted the chart at number eight. one notch above the latest from the movie twilight. >> it's the next frontier. film was the dominant story telling media and i think games and this exhibit are evidence of that. >> what is it about video game music? >> i would say it's the, well, for gamers, it's the memory that you have when you play the game. for people who might not have played the game, it's really beautiful music and anyone can appreciate that. >> an appreciation that is turning these familiar sounds into a new era of popular music. for cbs this morning, whit

johnson. >> the symphony orchestra inspired groups at high schools in the state. this is 9news now. >> and a storm alert tops our news this evening. a line of powerful storms is now in our area. topper, tell us more. >> we have a severe thunderstorm watch north and west of town until 10:00. let me show you where the watch is. it outlines loudoun county north and west and virginia and frederick county north and west and maryland. that includes the panhandle of virginia and west virginia and maryland, of course, and berkeley county, jefferson county. you see the warnings. there's the bottom of your screen. the warnings can find where they have been all day. martinsburg, hagerstown, and frederick. many have been extended until 6:15 or 6:30. this is live doppler 9,000. we'll zoom in. i don't know why loudoun county is not lit up. but frederick