Band? Posse? What? The history: The Band Posse begain from the minds of the original members, Sir Charles Bernard, Felipe, myself (Sir Eli), and Danny. Unfortunately, Sir Charles began to play football instead, which was much more fitting for him and we don't blame him at all. Danny just kinda got kicked out. We blame him completely, cause he's a complete slackmuffin n00bface.

On Friday's, we band kids would have to leave school at about three and come back at report time, usually around 5. It just seemed like a normal thing to walk around with other band kids until that time. Thus Posse was started. Owing to our normal band-esque queerness, we soon picked up certain habits, such as marching through town whilst singing our cadence, or cavorting amidst the druggies inhabiting the park.

The Council: The Band Posse Council is an elite body of those members most characterized by their experience, freakin' awesome-ness, and their unique familiarity with the ways of The Peen.

Recently, I had to write an essay for admission to Brown University, where I will probably be rejected for sucking too much. However, one question happened to ask what activities have really definied me, and I was in a good enough mood to write about Band Posse for the majority of my essay. Here is an excerpt.

I joined marching band in my first year of high school. On Fridays, the nights of the football games, we would usually have anywhere from an hour to three hours of time between the end of school and our report times. Rather than just going home and sitting around, myself and three other friends decided to walk around our small town, doing whatever we could to have fun. After a couple weeks of this, some more band kids decided to join us, and we decided that we should probably come up with a name. The North East Marching Band Posse was conceived that day.

Since its conception, Band Posse has evolved from a group of four kids to an organization of over twenty students, though they aren’t all active at once. Every Friday during the marching band season, it became a custom for members to dress in as much of the school colors (maroon and gold) as possible, and to attend the adventures after school. Initially, and now just when we’re out of ideas, our escapades through North East were characterized by members marching to the beat of a woodblock, and visiting our usual stops of Dairy Mart and Family Dollar. Occasionally a member of the Posse will host a party, with activities ranging from a Star Wars marathon to swimming in Lake Erie.

The real appeal of Band Posse lies in the theme days. A constant reoccurrence is the Band Posse Crusade, which is based on the Arthurian searches for the Holy Grail. Our “Holy Grail” was a metal cup found in the garage of a member’s house, thus making the search pointless since we were already in possession of the prize, but it was fun to say we were looking for the Grail anyway. Common attire would be a range of makeshift armor and helmets, along with armaments including a large wooden sword, called “The Bane of the Posse”, which was unfortunately stolen sometime during this year, plastic Lightsabers, garbage can lids, and, once, boxing gloves. Other themes have included an Oregon Trail Day, during which we created our own covered wagon out of a small Radio Flyer wagon, pieces of chicken wire, and a sheet. The sheet was later thrown away because it was raining very hard that day, which caused it to fall down into a wagon full of food.

My time spent in Band Posse, and marching band in general, has really been a large part of high school for me. As a Council Member, it’s up to me and my fellows to set up registration and themes of Band Posse, as well as coordinate the events we participate in. This year, we initiated a food drive, the proceeds from which were later donated to the North East Food Pantry. For one day of Band Camp, which is always, without fail, incredibly hot, we arranged to have a fire truck come to the practice field to hose the band down, thus setting up a tradition of “Aqua Day.” Along with those duties, the Council, together, is in a light jazz group called Big T and the Green Wagon, and has been employed by private functions, once by the school district, and once by the town for the Cherry Festival.