Sitting in a basement at the home of someone I tangentially know, drinking water while everyone around me drinks booze. Hoarding the chips and salsa we brought, just like we're hoarding our conversation and the little space in the corner that we carved out from the beer pong-playing and Rock Band-ing crowds.
And what do we end up talking about?
High school marching band.
"Holy shit, you went to Carlisle! Fuckers. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade? Rose Bowl Parade? We got the Citrus Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl. At least I got to be in a parade in Disneyworld and be in the Magic Kingdom on New Year's Eve."
"But man - fuck your marching band. It was so big, all you guys could form was a giant rectangle on the field. I think we used to call it The Carlisle Giant Box Formation."
"But at least you guys weren't Mechanicsburg. They had all those props! And the band boosters getting all the parents to help out with them - they were basically IN the damn shows!"
What follows is conversation about the corruption that marching band had on our respective lives, all the while wondering if a giant black hole is going to open up and swallow the universe (mind you, the person on the other end of the conversation is someone I met once 2 years ago, and who wasn't even in high school at the same time as me). First experiences with alcohol and drugs, first real sexual experiences (mostly groping on bus rides to competitions and football games). How the drumline was notoriously composed entirely of stoners, except for that one guy who was totally clueless about it all. The rampant use of Vivarin, for which I believe our indoor guard team got suspended one year?
At the end of all this: "Man, if I ever have kids, I am not permitting them to join marching band. EVEN IF THEY WANT TO."
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VH1's behind the music, "Marching band made me who i am to day" three part series is slated to start shooting in 2009. Stay tuned. ;) Great times in central PA Natalie, seriously!
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