The Penn Band Experience (tm)

Elections: Dies Dominica xxix Novembris MMX

2010-11-29T18:04:00.046-05:00

6:06 PM

We are live at the Penn Band Elections, The Balls reporting in. First things first, this is a formal event with all candidates dressed to the 9's trying to impress the voting masses. Also to note several key beards have been shaved prior to the end of elections. Apparently the band has taken a trip to clean town.

First a Quick List of Candidates

President - Matt Gazz(Sax, Junior, Current VP) Vs Evan Hodges Leclaire (Drums, Junior/Silent Partner, Fan Fare VP)

VP - Jake Spector(Sophomore, Trombone) vs Sam Pasternak(Sophomore/Band Camp Alum, Drums)

Treasurer - Jodi Lapidus(Sophomore, Sax, Sax Section Leader) vs Mike "Pips" Can'tspellit (Junior, Drum Section Leader)

Secretary - Angela Halstead(Junior, Recruitment chair) vs Her Red Hair(Also a Junior, Satan).

I will be munching some beef jerky and prepping for the beginning of elections.

6:12

Tensions seem to be running low. Expect that to change soon. There is a pretty legitimate turnout tonight, but alas we are starting late.

6:17

Greer and Stunner take center stage with a Quick Announcement about BBALL. Joe Burns Adam with witty retort. Elections are now officially starting. To much surprise noone has read Greer's emails on how elections work, and thus Stunner explains how elections work. A quick summary:

All Candidates get 2 minutes to give a speech (Pres 4 minutes). After both have given a speech a brief Q&A period follows. After and election is held, the loser may choose to drop down to another position. The elections go in Pres-->VP-->Treasurer-->Secretary. Adam makes terrible Joke. People laugh at Joe.

6:20

Presidential election time: Stunner explains the Job

President: Runs the board, ensures the smooth operation of the Band. Attend SMAC/SAC/PAC meetings. Deal with general Band Issues.

(Gordon Garner's Applause for something I can't see)

Matt Gazz:

- Points out he is the current VP

- Supports Democracy

- Talks about the fact that he is tacky enough to wear 2 lapel pins

- These show

- He is not a terrorist (America Pin)

- He is a dedicated to Band (Fanfare member)

Matt points out his past leadership positions in the band as reasons he is fit to be Pres

- Sax Section Leader

- VP

- Being on board for a year prepares you for what it is to be President. The four board positions need to work together to maintain a coherent and strong band and being the only possible incumbent member Gazz could more readily foster this.

Possibly actually organize a realistic trip for the end of the year. Organize a new CD which still hasn't been made. Wants to give back to the Band by Being Pres

6:26

EHL: Band is about much more than music. Incredible social outlet as well as a relief from the everyday scholastic stress of school. Decided to become Vice Chair of fanfare at end of Sophomore year. Evan highlights the jobs of fanfare. Highlights the fact that fanfare is actually a legitimate organization that has accountability and fiscal responsibility. In HS EHL was lead officer of his Band. Believes that this is a good preparation for our Band. In his Vice Chair role of fanfare he points out that he is very proactive in his role, that he does need to be asked and takes initiative. Also he has consistently put forth ideas in order to help the band. He wants to be President for the People, to contribute to the Band as one of the people.

Questions:

Stunner: What is the Most Imp Attribute for a Successful Band

EHL: President is the figure head of the band. Need a proactive person to eliminate uncertainty.

Gazz: President needs to be a person of the people. Micromanagement through the council is what can keep people in this band.

Jaci: Can you tell us about a time where there was an issue that you needed to deal with quickly as a leader in band.

Gazz: There are times when parts of the shows got cut right before we needed to practice it. Needed to come up with material on his feet in order to get the show done.

Evan: Fanfare has inductions every semester. FF missed a possible candidate this semester and Evan did everything he could to smoothly initiate that person.

Justine: How to Balance Social Aspects of the Band with Organizing

EHL: Capable of interacting with everyone and organizing what needs to get done. Can see this through is DJing

Gazz: Has been "Living The Dream" as he feels he currently encompasses both of these issues.

Jake: If you weren't elected would you run for something else

Gazz: Would drop to VP as he needs somehting to take up his inbox!

EHL: Yes he would drop down to sec. He has thought about being on board for a long time and decided Pres is the best way to lead this band.

Me: Can you handle the fact that you will potentially have your GF/Best friends on this board with you

EHL: Yes. He believes it's critical to the position of being on Board and comes down to the core of why he is running.

Gazz: Board is very evenly distributed this year and that has prepared him for what would be to come regardless of who is on board. He knows what needs to be done and would do the job.

Jake Spect: What would you do differently as President

Gass: Immediately be able to pick up at the beginning of his term. Need to work closely with the council in order to motivate people to attend events. Work as close with council as possible.

EHL: There is a sense of uncertainty about what we are doing as a band. Would stay on top of what there is to do and be prepared.

Ellen: Have you ever had to deal with an ENEMY!?

EHL: Times in the drum line when they had to work together between clashing members where things would become uncomfortable. Need to be level headed. EHL essentially invalidates my entire approach to life! He is good at seeing both sides and can mediate the situation.

Gazz: Independent of your previous friendships, once on board you get to know everyone closely. In example, the band knows the story of DPS. The situation was handled quickly and a decision was made.

Nia: Do you have a smart phone?

BOTH:: Yes

Nia: Can you be ready for your phone to blow up?

Gazz: Greer and Adam eventually stop sending email. Koosh sends emails at 6:00AM because... Gazz knows what it takes to respond to emails.

Evan: Extremely fast email responder. He believes turn around time is important!

Gordon: What changes have you implemented this year

EHL: -BLOG EDIT, SRY :- (

Gazz: Weekly email as Sax Section Leader: Helps keep coming. As VP the former VP was silent on issues. Gazz decided to be a much more proactive VP

Closing Statements

EHL: "I definitely do love this Band" It's his only activity. He is confident in his ability to lead and is honored to be President.

Gazz: Enjoys band, and we are his "Good Friends" Wants to give back to the organization and wants to continue the momentum. Gazz then pulls the band's constitution from his lapel pocket.

Voting commences on Polk's Hair...

6:57

Greer entertains the masses with magic tricks. Greer makes Racist Joke about cards. HE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT!!!! Magically he divines a card Ellen chose.

7:02

Koosh is now trying to sell band apparel to people as hannukah presents. If you are an ALUMNI, BUY OUR STUFF AND GIVE US MONEY!. Koosh then shamelessly plugs his own book so that his children can eat more than just curry. People accuse the balls of being racist.

7:04:45

The President of the Penn Band for the Year of 2011 is Mathew Gazzara

VP Election Time!

Newly elected President Mathew Gazzara describes the position of VP.

Jake Spector: Points out that he is webmaster of Penn Band. Then quotes Muhammed Ali and says the penn band halftime shows will have wings! Wants to draw people out to showwriting in order to incorporate everyones ideas at showwriting. If show writing is just in the fall what will he do in the Spring!? Help with recruitment and retention and help plan the next band trip. As webmaster has revolutionized the section webpages as well as the new "Join the Penn Band" page. Ends with a line from Journey

Sam Pasternak: He does two things on the campus is Penn Band and is managing editor of the Punch Bowl. Essentially points out that he just writes comedy on the campus. More important than comedy writing is working with other people. His door will always be open for new and interesting ideas. Show writing, like BFL will send PPL to the Hospital. He has recently begun arranging music again and believes that being able to arrange will really help the role of VP. Ends with a line from Double Rainbow.

Questions:

Koosh: What is your favorite show?

Sam: Cornell. The show was indefensible by Cornell, thought it was very funny/ was a blast to write.

Jake: Senior show, the show looked really good.

Jake: Tell us a joke

Jake S: Anyone who knows me, knows I can't tell a joke?

Sam: Sam tells a joke about shooting people?

Dillon: How would you improve show writing?

Sam: Would have an hour to draft a show. For the first 20 or so minutes nothing got done. Thus when we got to the show we didn't have much time in person. Go to dinner to get ideas out of the way and then write the show hcore int he band room.

Jake: Similar sentiment.

Jaci: Name three new people who come to show writing?

Jake: Me, Joe Becker

Sam: same, + DKJ

Pips: How to make sure shows aren't censored?

Sam: Having done comedy before he is known as the clean one. Is used to lightening up Masturbation jokes. Need to appeal to audience without being gross.

Jake: Ideas that are on the fence need to be backed up just in case.

Camille: How can you tell people they aren't funny?

Sam: Ask Josh Cooper. Some other stuff, but that was funny.

Jake: Usually everyone is funnier than him so he'd go about it nicely. Wants to make it a fun atmosphere.

Stunner: VP is a weird job as you have a lot of work in the fall, but have free reign in the spring, what are you well suited for?

Jake: Webmaster and big part of recruiting. Believes he can be apar tof recruiting again and help new webmaster get acclimated.

Sam: Started Cheerleader vs Penn Band game in the spring. Been talking about the CD and has ideas for the CD and format. Believes it would be a ton of fun.

Closing Statements

Sam: Really wants the job. Has a relationship with koosh and adam and he respects Greer... for some reason.

Jake: Loves Everything.

Voting on Richard Nixon's Hair

7:26

Will Chim and Camille join Greer on stage. A chorus of "Will Chim's" Dad commences. This Trick is confusing. Will Chim tries to Ruin it all showing everyone he is the Real David Sawyers. This Trick is incredibly confusing... Noone understands what's going on. Greer attempts to pawn off counting as magic...

7:32.50

Sam is the New Vice President

7:33

Gordon describes the roll of treasurer. You need to write budgets, manage accounts, contribute to board discussions and attend meetings.

7:34 Jodi Lapidus

Starts speech with a long quote from Shaq about being awesome. Jodi wants to spend money on what the band needs. The first thing is increasing repitoire (i can't spell this) by buying new music. Wants to organize frequent fundraisers so the band can actually go on a trip. Reasons she is qualified: She is jewish; she is the Sax section leader and has increased size of section 5 fold; extremely organized and would do a great job.

Pips

Penn bando first and foremost. He is a math major and accounting minor. Has experience with microsoft excel, and is skilled in the tools. Wants to be a good board member and that involves being an active and enthusiastic member. Band > School which means that he can always put band first. Has been a section leader for two years, largest section in the band, and there is a reason for that.

Questions

Tom: Gordon is a wizard. How would you become the band treasurey wizard?

Pips: Talk to Gordon and acquaint himself with the task at hand.

Jodi: Similar

Jake: Sac Funding XP?

Both: NO

Ellen: How can you work with the people currently on board as of tonight?

Pips: Working relationship with both people on board as well as friendship with pips. Math background can round that out.

Jodi: Similar to pips but gazz instead of Sam, she brings decisiveness to the board.

Justine: Will you be available to do the little things

Both: Point out their section leader prowess which honestly they are damn good at (My Opinion).

Jaci: What is your favorite currency excluding the dollar:

Pips: Yen because you can alot of them for cheap

Jodi: Something about the deutch mark that I missed (sorry).

Koosh: Make a pitch for something that we need right now:

Jodi: We need new drums. Currently the bass drum harness is broken and is a hazard. If that breaks, someone could get hurt and we need new things to keep us safe.

Pips: Arranging software for the band in order to add a personal touch to the band.

Gordon: What are the biggest expenses in the band?

Pips: Transport

Jodi: Instruments.

Godron: How do you think finances work?

This is boring... You can email Greer about it... My fingers are tired.

Closing Statements

Pips: Math Finance info/Loves Band

Jodi: Love to do the job for everyone.

Voting on Marten Van Buren's Hair

7:52 Greer starts a new magic trick. I think he just made fun of my Penis... I'm not sure.

He is now naming his fingers like the old, crazy man he is. Tonights theme is really the middle finger. Greer has now given the band the finger twice and Adam once. I am excited.

7:56 I AM SO HUNGRY JESUS CHRIST I NEED SOME FOOD. IF YOU ARE OUT THERE<>

7:58

The new Treasurer is Mike "Pips" Guarino

7:59 Secretary

Evan is nominated for secretary. He accepts. Jaci describes what the secretary does.

Angela: Angela plays the Piccolo. She believes she is the best candidate for the position. She has nearly perfect attendance and is a member of Fanfare. As a freshman she was recruitment chair, and has been recruitment chair for the last two years. Under Angela the Penn band has tripled in size since her freshmen year. She works over the summer to increase recruitment. Believes recruitment chair has prepared her to be secretary as she has to keep excel sheets of all incoming members.

Evan: No Speech

Questions:

- First question is inane

Nia: What would you do differently?

Evan: Improve schedule email efficiency.

Angela: Agrees. Getting good standing list out earlier so people know where they are standing and what they need to do. In addition continue to get to know everyone

Gazz: Angela what have you done differently than previous RC

Angela: During my time as recruitment chair i've sent personalized emails and tried to keep up with sheets on individuals.

Evan: Secretary is responsible for retention. you have to get to know them all. Good at talking to people into the band.

Joe: What unsung things have you done in the band as secretary is the unsung board position

Evan: Taken a role in organizing the drum section with instrumentation.

Angela: Individually compiled all the gift bags for freshman, gone to every show writing and helped with tons of set up and band helping out. Sends hundreds of individual emails.

Sam: Something I didn't hear but I'm pretty sure it's just my question from earlier... It is.

Angela: Matt and She can put aside their relationship to get stuff done. They work in the same lab and know how to jobs complete.

Evan: Pips and evan get along great... sam is a good friend of his... Gazz and he work together well.

They point to people and name them... They both go 3/3 (if only they shot free throws for the basketball team)

Closing Statements

Evan: Everything earlier applies. The Board is highly cooperative and he would love to work with the 3 other peeople. Secretary helps retention and recruitment which he holds important.

Angela: Secretary is her number 1 choice and wants to help the band in what she thinks she can do best. By being recruitment chair for 2 years she is prepared to be secretary.

Voting on Chester Allen Arthur's Hair

8:10 Horses Ass Award: Greer describes the Horses Ass Award which you all know! He opens the floor for nominations:

Pips - Losing the Key to FF

Adu - For running a midnight marathon right to the hospital

Greer Makes Fun of Catholicism... Jesus Is Coming for Him

Voting commences on Bill Clinton's Hair

Angela is The New Secretary

Thanks for reading everyone

LIVE ELECTIONS BLOG

2009-11-30T21:19:00.009-05:00

So new board:

President: Stephen "Stunna" Abrahms Downey, 2011
Vice President: Matt "Gazprom" Gazzara, 2012
Treasurer: Gordon 2011
Secretary: Jaci Rifkin 2011
---
STRONGEST APOLOGIES: MY WHOLE SECRETARY TRANSCRIPT GOT DELETED SINCE IT REVERTED BACK TO AN OLD VERSION. GUESS I'D MAKE AN EVEN WORSE SECRETARY THAN VICE PRESIDENT.

But in short want happened was Jaci dropped down to take on Erica "The Sauce" Miranda/Natalie Farah. They're running together since Erica might go abroad (aka to the faraway land of Washington D.C.).

In the end Jaci wins, winning her second conseccutive term as secretary.

That's it from the Cheeseman. If you want to see funny versions of this click here and here.

----

Next up: Gordon runs for treasurer unopposed. No one challenges him. He is acclaimed victor. But he'll have to get an extra year of eligibility/fail some of his classes to match Eammonn's three-terms as Treasurer. (9:36)
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Internet problems prevented me from posting this earlier. Sorry. (9:23 p.m.)

Welcome to the 2009 Penn Band elections live blog. I’m Zach Klitzman, soon to be lame duck Vice President and I’ll try to emulate the expertise of Noah "Chris Webber” who did this blog the last two years. It’s going to be tough, since he’s now a professional blogger. Tough to top a pro.

The candidates are as follows:
President Stephen “Big Stunna” Abrams Downey versus Jaci “not Jackie” Rifkin
Vice President: Matt “Gazprom” Gazarra versus Mike “Pips” Guarino
Treasurer: Gordon “mini Eamonn” Watkins
Secretary: Erica “the Sauce” Miranda

Big Stunna is wearing a dapper gray suit with a red tie and oxford blue shirt. But the white socks don’t go with the brown loafers. If elected I guess we’ll have yet another President who dresses weirdly.
Not Jackie’s wearing a black blouse that is faintly similar to the puffy shirt of Seinfeld fame.
Pips is wearing jeans, the Penn shield shirt they gave away at homecoming last year and a brown track jacket. Not going to lie, the slovenly look is exactly what the Vice Presidency is all about.
Gazprom is running late for an exam, so in the meantime GREER’S DOING MAGIC! Apparently outgoing President Joe Coyne can’t tell the difference between red and black cards. He eventually shows up and is wearing a dark black suit with an American flag label. Guess he’s not a terrorist.
Mini Eamonn is wearing jeans and an off-white button down.
The Sauce is wearing jeans and a red shirt. Very penn colors-y

Stunna gives the first speech. He quotes the definition of president from the dictionary, but then ripes up his “speech” announcing he must speak from the heart. He talks about the tale of a young lad at the University of Pennsylvania without a clue of what to do. But then one day this lad’s mother told him to join the band. So then, In the words of Stunna “I said ok, I’ll join the band.” The rest of the speech describes his love of the band as it defined his college career. He ends it by quoting Pericles telling the band to cherish the band every day.
Next up is Jaci. She also talks about how much the band has meant to her. She thinks she’d be the best president because of experience: drum line section leader as freshman, secretary as sophomore as well as conducting assistant and show writing committee member. Observed the President in meetings, went to IBC. Also cites her people skills. She’d be “Proud and happy to lead you.” In short, the speech was very direct, but alas didn’t quote Pericles.

Q&A session:
Joe Coyne asks what could I have done better as President.
Jaci talks about the board email list serve and how the responses weren’t in sync.
Stunna: unnecessary yelling since he’s all about love.
Becca Aaberg: Jaci, you’ve been interested in Drum Major. So what gives/which would you choose? (note: paraphrase)
Jaci claims she’s still going to run for Drum Major. She avoids the choosing question, but when pressed says on board.
Becca’s followup: Not on board, but how are you prepared
Stunna: Fanfare and council. Some understanding of how it operats.
Brian Wright: want in general do you want to be different next year
Stunna: good year for most part, like the direction. Can’t think of amy single major thing.
Jaci: “I feel the same way” Frustrating we don’t have a band house, but not administrative.
I ask what did you do in the past year and want could you change
Jaci: doesn’t get the question at first, but then says did a good job knowing people in the band as secretary.
Stunna: try to hold some events as Low Brass leader. So as President socialize.
Me 2: Fanfare. What’s it’s role etc in your administration
Stunna should be more open and lack of house.
Jaci: didn’t run in the past for fanfare because too busy but will do so in the future. Also agrees with Stunna that it should be more open. In fact, she thought it was a secret society.
Joe Coyne: As President I live in the band room (paraphrase). Can you put in the same commitment.
Jaci: yes, my schedule is going to be clear next semester.
Stunna basically says the same thing.
Other Joe C(Catania): Favorite band moment?
Stunna: Single moment tough. Interaction with visiting fans, within the games is when people have the greatess awareness.
Jaci: Homecoming this year. Playing don’t stop believing and everyone screaming “I felt like a rock star.”
Daniel “Rockhound:” How do you make sure other groups will be included (i.e. other sections).
Jaci: That’s what’s council for.
Stunna: not a formal thing. Have to be outgoing.

Jaci’s closing statement: worked hard (in band), love band, feel great when I put something together. Sweet if you vote for me.

Stunna: Ensure it’s fun and entertaining.

My analysis: Both had similar views, none really groundbreaking. But they’re both very dedicated bandos. So they’d both make good presidents.

And the President is…. Stunna

VICE PRESIDENT
Gazprom speech: All you need to know is that I love this band, almost as much as I love America (touches American flag lapel). Says first thing he did at Penn was go to the bookstore and pay $25 for Band Before Time (alternate title: Chinese Democracy). Says he would wear Penn Band pin, but doesn’t need to because his record speaks for himself. Best attendance of candidates. Helped girlfriend with recruiting. Says he took note of my (klitzman’s) strengths and shortcomings as VP. And helped with emergency show writing gigs. Lull freshman into show writing.
Pips: Starts off by talking about nicknames. Says that he is dedicated and can “prove it” since he attends a lot of things. Despite “NFK” moniker he’ll listen to the censors—you guys. Helped with recruitment as percussion section leader.

Q&A:
Ex President Coyne: How do you make sure shows aren’t about pokemon or obscure historical reference.
Pips says it’s about show writing committee.
Matt says he can do it as well.
Sam Pasternack: Top three shows
Gaz: Homecoming (because of obscure historical references), Cornell (lots of people came), Dartmouth before it got censored.
Pips: Homecoming (crowd into it), Cornell (Dos equis was good) , Columbia (good music)
Koosh: pushing the envelope much?
Pips: in between family guy and south park
Gaz: looking at other school’s sites to poke mild fun.
I continue this theme:
Gaz: Got to find happy medium. Had experienced with you (klitzman)
Pips: Err on the side of tame. Better then getting completely shut down and then starting from scrath.
Rework shows:
Pips: Band is No. 1 priority to rework shows. Going on other people.
Gaz: way to prevent this: plan show writing earlier. Didn’t get it really submitted until week of performance. Plan on getting it done early to submit to censorship committee early.
Ex Prez: Want would you do as VP in spring semester?
Gaz: Help with retention.
Pips: Join Fanfare
Roger: Gaz your tie matches Stunna’s suit. Pips, your outfit doesn’t. Gaz, What’s your working relationship with the new President?
Pips: I’m friends with Stunna
Gaz: just both wanted to wear suits. Live together
Angela: Something you’ve done to go out of your way as section leaders.
Gaz: section events, but also hosted parties, which involves cleaning up throw up.
Pips: let people play different instruments. Also can get a house for parties.
Brian Wright: Would you run for sectional leader again if you lose?
Both say yes
The Sauce: What did klitzman do wrong?
Gaz: make show writing earlier
Pips: Make show writing more fun, potentially better time.
I ask if they have show ideas, but am overruled by Ex Prez and Greer.

Closing statements: pretty basic.

Winner is Gazprom.

He's With The Band

2009-01-30T07:10:00.001-05:00

http://www.upenn.edu/gazette/0109/window.html

He’s With the Band

Greer Cheeseman EAS’77 (surrounded, with whistle) has been involved with the Penn Band for 35 years as a student, assistant director upon graduation, and director since 1994. Among many other distinctions, according to a band press release, Greer started the tradition of throwing toast during the playing of “Drink a Highball.” This fall the band celebrated his three-and-a-half decades of service at its 111th Anniversary Gala event, with more than 200 alumni and students in attendance. This photo is from Alumni Weekend 2008.

LIVE BLOG: PENN BAND ELECTIONS

2008-12-01T18:04:00.008-05:00

And I am live from high atop the Cheeseman Labaratory for Atonal Polyphony for another year of live-bloggin' at 5:56 PM.

The intrigue this year remains high as 3 of the 4 board spots were held by seniors so with all 4 positions wide open it's time to begin thinking about the FUTURE OF THE PENN BAND.

Candidates for the positions tonight include:

President
Joe Coyne (2010, Trumpet)

Vice President
Zach Klitzman (2010, Baritone)

Secretary
Jaci Rifkin (2011, Drums)
Joe Catania (2010, Drums)

Treasurer
Gordon Watkins (2011, Bells)
Jeremy Gurwicz (2012, Drums)

The Candidates arrive slowly, as is the band. The turnout this year appears to be much lower than last year's. In a major surprise, Joe Catania decided to show up, eschewing the Governor's class for an opportunity to be the glorified attendance taker. A quick look at the fashions as we count down the minutes to the beginning.

Joe Coyne: Dressed sloppily, I actually believe he's wearing the same sweatshirt he wore to victory last year.

Zach Klitzman: Wearing a much sloppier outfit than last year, no polo in sight. Just a sweatshirt and jeans for him as well. Could this be the most poorly dressed executive administration in the history of the Penn Band? Probably.

The secretary candidates both look sharp with Jaci in a ruffled blouse and grey jeans, Joe Catania appears formal in a button down down shirt the color of a Barolo and jeans buttoned to the top button.

The treasurer candidate who was clearly gunning for best dressed is Gordon with his understated tie though Jeremy also dressed up for the occasion in a black polo.

I'll be back with some short analysis and predictions soon. Keep checking back for updates as the election progresses.

President
Joe Coyne gives a long speech the ends in a proclamation because no one ran against him.

Speech and Questions (sorry technical difficulties):
Says he wants to include the people on the bottom and listen to people's ideas. Wants people to want to come to band. Got his pants from his ethnic slurring grandfather.

Vice President
Main responsibilities according to Kettler include being in charge of show-writing, encouraging people's creative ferment, having people killed, going to meetings, really crappy meetings

Speech
Again a candidate runs unopposed as Zach Klitzman slinks his way to the front of the band room. He looks less smelly than usual, doesn't smell. He's the Fanfare Vice Chair, helped clean up for parties, plugs semi, says his really tough accomplishment is being travel manager. Went to the Ivy Band Conference last year. Greer makes him nervous, wants to talk to Band Oversight Committee about the band. Thinks the VP is cheerleader of the band. Plus one of the duties is take criticism and he's very good at that.

Questions
He thinks he's funny enough because he's hung out with lots of funny people and he's more magical. A-Tone asks why he's VP rather than Sports editor. It's because he knows this is his favorite group on campus and he's 100% committed to it. Doesn't have any show ideas of his own, very open to writing any show that anyone submits an idea for, it's a collaborative effort. Ben asks about the loudest members of the band got the movies put on as travel manager, are you going to try to get everyone to get their vote in as VP? He says that putting on movies aren't as important as writing shows, realizes he's not the decider and says he'll listen to people on the show-writing committee. He's trying really hard to meet with the Band Oversight committee because he wants to have less oversight. Erik asks if he's learned any lessons from the Hey Song incident. We can't say "you suck" also, it's neat that the tradition is dependent on the band. Koosh asks about the currently suspended Yale Band. Klitzman says he doesn't know how Yale props work, says that if the director approved the prop and didn't catch it, it's his fault.

Treasurer
Eamonn tells people that he goes to SAC meeting and making sure dues are collected. He is wearing a smart outfit and goatee.

Speeches
Gordon says he's a sophomore in the college and that hopefully we all know him. He's currently the equipment manager, and those repsonsibilities overlap. Parka managing can be difficult cause people don't like to return them. Works in the Dean's office with the school of medicine and does some of their expense reports. Has nothing further to add other than I really want to be your treasurer.

Jeremy says plays the misshapen abominations called quints. Who would want to be treasurer because no one cares about them until stuff's in the toilet. Thinks the band needs a new stimulus package, suggests bulk instruments, stretch limos, space heaters. Can we trust him not to skim off the top, because he wants to spend every cent that we have. Has handled large budgets before, dealt with the creation and implementation of budget in Student Council and charity drives. Investment and AIG and Citibank are his two main, quotes DMX in his speech.

Questions
Campisi asks about the Penn Band's finances and how they work. Gordon can't right now but he talked to some board members and they said they'd walk him through them; in fact neither of them can tell you in detail and then attempts to tell us in detail. Eammonn asks do you know what SAC stands for Jeremy gets 1/3 and Gordon gets 3/3. Hickman asks if he's in Wharton and Jeremy isn't. Joe has a question about how they're going to make themselves more available to people who don't know them; Jeremy says he's going to participate in events outside of band, Gordon admits that he's a little shy. Kettler asks what their favorite thing about money, Jeremy says cause it's not his; Gordon likes the old five dollar bills better. Mayuko was a treasurer and says sometimes you have to talk in front of a lot of people and that sometimes we're not taken seriously and that you have to be persistent and professional asks what kind of qualities they have that would make them a good treasurer. Gordon says he likes to prepare himself and that he'd be very prepared. Mayuko recommends tenacity. Jeremy was captain of his basketball and football teams in high school, must not have been very good programs. Koosh asks 9*13 they both get it at nearly the same time. Palusci asks what they're going to be bring as far as decision making. Jeremy says he's good at listening to people and at making decisions. Gordon tends not to have very strong opinions. Pips with a haircut asks how do you reconcile your drummer names with being good members of the Penn Band. Gordon says he doesn't think it's informing. Robert says that Eamonn is fussing around with Microsoft Money and Gordon knows how to use it and Jeremy doesn't. Klitzman asks how are you going to raise money from alums? Jeremy says he's going to schmooze (great knowledge of Yiddush not a pre-requisite for Penn Band treasurer). What do you want to spend the money on? Gordon wants new lyres and drum stands, flip folders, lots of stuff. Jeremy wants more drum pork.

Closing Statement
Jeremy said a lot of jokes, but he's not a terrible person, takes his jobs seriously. Thinks this is the best organization at Penn. Gordon is really committed to band, is always here and wants to get more involved.

I have gained a better understanding, the drummers aren't canabilizing, they're forcing others out. I suspect by next semester we'll have all new drums with fancy sterling silver sticks. Finally a vote, a break and an interview. Coming up next.

Interview with Vice President Zach Klitzman
Noah Becker: So Zach, it seems to me that you got a lot of questions that were related to the band "Culture Wars." What did you make of these questions and why do you think you got them rather than Joe?
Zach Klitzman: Not as much as last year. (Mouth full of crackers) Well, part of it...to be honest is that I guess the Vice Presidency is more connected to the band culture, the show writing, the more visible...at the same time I was surprised I got more than Joe. Also I feel my section affiliation had something to do with it.
Stunna: Who's your favorite Vice President who did not either run or serve as president?
ZK: That's tough, does Aaron Burr count as running. Calhoun.
Noah Becker: Do you have a vested interest in who wins the other two elections?
ZK: What? Theoretically, I don't.

Gordon wins the election.

The Secretary race is on:
Joe says you're the band's bitch and you learn everyone's name, you're the only person in the band who knows everyone's name, also you take minutes at meetings and send out schedules.

Speeches
Jaci is a sophomore, psych majoring drummer, band is her only extra curricular. She tries to come to everything. Has been in band since fall of her freshman year, we're all her best friends. She's been drum line section leader for the last year, she thinks that going from Drum Line section leader is the best transition to secretary because she sends out schedules and has to plan for what sort of instruments are going to be there. She's a girl so she was born with secretarial abilities. She and Joe both have curly hair.

Catania he's Joe also a drummer and he's a junior but a band sophomore. Freshman year he had a class so he didn't join the band, but he was friends with Joe Coyne. Joined sophomore year, has been to 7 of 9 football games. Rearranged his school schedule last semester. Didn't this semester because he was taking a class with Governor Rendell. Band is his far and away number one activity, he is an officer in two other clubs. But says this just gives him experience. Systems Engineering gives him an advantage on doing schedules. Thinks he's pretty approachable. But thinks he could name 50 of us in the room, maybe more! Vot for him, says he.

Questions
Joe says being secretary means you have to do the worst job in the Penn Band other than Greer, do you have the time to take 20 hours out of your life each semester and just type numbers into a spreadsheet? Jaci is used to it, thinks it's awesome to know everyone and punching numbers is her fetish; Joe considers excel spreadsheets to be a hobby doesn't care about the reward, cares about helping the band. Becca asks what do you add to the team that's been elected; Joe attempts to be chivalrous and doesn't pay off, says he has a good working relationship with Joe and Klitzman and Gordon is, apparently, the man; Jaci says she has an X chromosome and likes anime like Joe and Zach and Jaci AIM alot and Gordon is on her section also, remember she's a girl! John says we had a very successful all male board, how are you going to make it better? Jaci won't promise that they won't embezzle drum money but promises that her numbers won't lie. Joe also agrees, but says he'll keep Gordon in check. Name that bando time both successfully get the names. Mayuko says that they'll be the first person that new bandos will talk to, so how will you reconcile not scaring them with not being flat and lifeless? Joe says he'll try to coax those who are scared off back. Jaci says she's a womyn and they're not scary at all. How will you deal with interpersonal situations in a big group asks former secretary Allwine. Joe says he's all about people, will be open to anyone who wants to talk to him, make people feel comfortable, about fun not being all uptight. Joe uses the verb to lure, he's also building a gingerbread house if you're interested! Jaci says we should be loud and full of boister. Robert says the secretary works with the music manager, how will you? Joe says he'll come early to rehearsal, but he has a class till 6, so, no he won't says he'll stay late. Jaci says she'll come early. Matt asks, beyond your abilities as a secretary what other stereotypical abilities do you bring? Also, Joe, as this has become a battle of the sexes, how does she stand up to Billie Jean King and could you beat Jaci in a tennis match. Jaci says she can bake, get cranky and nag, showers, will yell at you to do laundry (Joe says he'll actually do it.) Joe can make baked ziti, says he can't beat Jaci at tennis cause of a knee injury but can win Wii tennis. Becca Aaberg asks if you're not elected to this position how are you going to continue to exist in the band. Jaci will apply to be section leader again. Joe will also apply for section leader if he loses, so, drummers, it's pretty much a win-win for you guys.

Closing Statement
Joe: vote for me. Jaci: vote for me.

Jaci is the victor.

A shorter live blog than last year. Happy Greek Ladying!

Bustin' makes me feel good!

2008-11-09T14:54:00.003-05:00

Since my usual source of band videos actually participated in the formation, I do not have videos for our Homecoming Game performances. However, everything went amazingly so there really isn't any need.

On to Princeton...

Pregame

I think Penn had just as many if not more fans than Pton for this football game. Always good to perform for a crowd. However, they didn't seem to be the most responsive...

Entrance

This looks a little concave in the middle, maybe people afraid to bump into me. Who knows. Still, it looks like more and more people are learning to march in step. Good work!

PENN
Looks more like P6NN according to my Dad and I agree. I was under the impression that the E was the easiest formation...

HighBall
Drummers, SYMMETRY!! AGAIN! A little nit picky, but we talk about this EVERY week.

Big P
Awesome, Tom. Excellent formation. Trumpets are a little whiny here, not entirely appropriate.

Halftime

III
Whoa! Major difference between the whistle tempo and what people actually played. Eventually evened out, but still. Formation is solid. oooh, closing notes chops, most important. Don't give up!

Ghostbusters 1
Looks a little footballish, something I thought we fixed on Wednesday. Look at Brian go! He got some shoutouts from fans on the way home. Tried to get the crowd to clap along to no avail.

Ghostbusters 2
Oh no they didn't! Yes, we did Ghostbusters again. Oh look, and it's lopsided again. Oh well. Sounds awesome. Bustin makes me feel good

R+B
Looks and sounds fine. Good to see the drunk seniors don't know which way to salute.

Overall a fine job by the Penn Band. Props to our Assistant Drum Major for an insane costume and a successful halftime performance.

All Hail Lord Glozion!

2008-10-30T11:11:00.003-04:00

Greetings, Bandos!

Sorry for the late post, been a busy week for DM John

Here's the pregame for last week's roadtrip to Yale. I highly recommend watching these in high quality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CyKe6uchTQ

The Yale Bowl is sweet! Save for the intense wind, it felt good to play in a Little-Big House

Entrance= always good to see that this is always awesome

UP
Called an audible on this one early in the morning. Looks good. Took it a little fast, sorry guys. I was uh...still recovering from all the fun last night.

Highball
Glad that joke got some cheers. Formation was a little weird and took a while to put together. This continued due to the strange fact that Yale's numbers are closer to the Hash than ALL OTHER FIELDS (as far as I know) so the forms may seem a little compressed. Looks more like a Holy Grail, which is fine.

Not enough time to due Alma Mater due to the complications during Highball

on to Half Time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrSuW26yHRc

A little light on the voice there, Tom.

$ - Big Spender
Surprisingly only the 2nd time we've played this chart. Dollar sign looks okay. People seem happy to hear this. O'Callahan always surprises me with how loud he is. Oh, and I'm wearing a sweet cape.

Flying Saucer - Imperial March
Passable. Playing Star Wars in anything other than a London Philharmonic setting is always a little risky. It's a good thing this was a metashow.

Block - Intergalactic Battle Anthem
It was really hard not to lose it. This is my favorite part of the show. Good hustle guys! Salutes always hilarious. Trumpets, still a little shaky on the transition back into the chorus the last time through, will work on that.

R+B
Actually looks like P-A, which isn't the worst thing in the world, but still isn't R+B.

Considering how early we had to wake up after having so much fun, I really couldn't ask for anything more for this show.

On to homecoming...

Damn good Ipod...

2008-10-20T00:19:00.002-04:00

This past weekend was the Penn v Columbia Football Game. As usual, the band was out in full swing along with some extras who tagged along for the ride. Since Penn was wise enough to put Parents' Weekend over an away game, the band hosted its own Parents' Weekend so the progenitors of the band could get a first hand glimpse of why their kids aren't doing their homework.

To start off was pregame. Something that we rehearsed many times before, even an extra time at field rehearse to much chagrin. Well, let's see what happened...

Entrance
BEAUTIFUL! God I love doing this. A really good contrast to Columbia's "Take the Field then take a musical dump" entrance. Though, they did have some sweet herald trumpets.

PENN
To start off with, the P was half a yardline too in-field. The E was dead on, thanks drummers.
The big problem was the two N's; quite the interesting evolution. It's a good thing we sounded good, cause we looked kinda funny doing this formation. There needs to be more than 10 people who actually know where to go. In fact, it needs to be EVERYONE. We will work on this on Monday and Wednesday

Highball
Great! Good symmetry drummers, but try to get both ends on a yardline. The phasing wasn't even too bad.

Big P
Once again great. Drummers, 10 yard lines please. Look at that, we have flags! Some nice flavor, though could use a little more coordination.

Banner
Looks great. Can't hear the flutes/clarinets at all, not even on their part in the trio. Rip that part out guys!

Halftime

Our show was a perfect response to Columbia's "Philly's the ugliest/suckiest city in the nation" show. The crowd especially caught on to this as heard in their cheers after our jokes. Don't quite know why the Columbia Band stays on the field after they play.

Bagel
Props to Noah for making his family run to the sideline, too bad there wasn't enough time for Pushups. This looked more like a football than a bagel, but that's not our fault. Also, I had to yell Halt way too many times. Drummers need to be listening for that. Yeah horns!

Ipod
Probably one of our more complicated formations and it turned out great! Hey, and people actually figured out it was an Ipod. Slow Ride was....slow i guess. It got better though. Awesome job on the guitar solo guys, if anything that was the one thing to get right no matter what.

PBR
P was 5 yards too far out-field and this proved bad for the proceeding R that was built off of it. Eeeeeeh, chops! need some more tunage! I know it was a long day of playing, but still. Woodwinds, good to hear you! Bones, do NOT gliss those last 4 measures; very cheesey. I hate cutting this song, it's just not meant to be.

R+B
There's that stray R with the interesting extension thanks to our auxillary; should've played Viva las Vegas instead. Went a little fast, but fine. Nice touch bells, what a hilarious part.

SUBG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vc0POzeuLvw

(Note, I recommend watching this one in high quality. To do so, visit the link under the vid and click "Watch in High Quality')

As requested, we played Since U've Been Gone for the student section. One of the best responses we've ever gotten from a crowd. Keep an eye on 80s guy, he's fun to watch. We sounded great on this even though we were extremely tired. Well done! Endurance props!

Overall, an interesting gameday. We clearly need some refreshers in the pregame department. Nothing a little wrote memorization can't fix. We had some snafus in the stands: some my fault, some not. I'll chalk it up to parents for now. It seems we're at a point that most of us are very comfortable doing our shows, which is fantastic! However, we can't just be on autopilot and expect someone to tell us where to go all the time, especially on the field or even worse from me on the podium. Freshmen, don't let this become a habit like it is for some upper classmen. Veteran Bandos, don't expect anything less from your peers or the freshmen. In a band of our size, everyone is accountable and even one clueless person can scar a formation.

Don't take this as too negative. It's good to be at this point so early on in the season so we have time to fix it quickly. I'm still having an awesome time leading you guys so don't change too much. Looking forward to actually doing the Lord Glozion show on Saturday. Let's make Yale bend to his will.

Quality finally meets quantity

2008-09-26T10:08:00.005-04:00

My Dad, continuing the tradition of videotaping anything musical I do he can attend of course taped the Penn Band's performance at last Saturday's Penn vs. Villabrova game. I posted pregame and halftime on the YouTube so bandos could actually see what we look like.

I've heard from multiple sources that we sound way better live than on tape. I very much agree with this. Since I think we sound pretty decent on tape as well, you should have a good idea of what being in the stands and listening to the Penn Band is really like.

I thought this would be a good place for general comments on how I, and you guys, feel this went/looks. Enjoy.

Pregame

Pregame Entrace=AWESOME!! (Note, since this was my dad taping, there will obviously be some visual emphasis on me, but I edited out all the pure John moments). However, you can really see how well this worked. Worlds better than our original attempt to march in two straight lines from the sidelines (The Sand People travel single file to hide their numbers).

PENN: The E looked a little sparse in this formation. Need to fill out the top and bottom lines. Sounds great.

Highball: Except for the asymmetry in the drumline in front, looks great. Forgot to explain to the drummers the importance of this, my bad. Just a minor point. I guess our little drummer girls don't like being too close together.

Big P: same issue drummers. Will fix for Dartmouth. Maybe face the sideline for this one.

Banner: Whoa, front line! Looks like we were missing someone. You can hear the woodwinds! Sweet!

Except for these few minor things, a very commendable job. Pregame is usually the most complicated drill we do and we looked and sounded great. Hope we don't lose it waiting for Dartmouth.

Halftime

I look really....interesting cuing in the flying v...
1+1= : Wow, looks really clear except for the = sign. Listen to my parents try to figure it out... Yeah mellophones and saxes! It's great finally to hear those counter melodies.

Jay Wright's Hair: good hustle to this formation. Not much to say. Sounded great and I think the Nova fans eventually liked it.

NJ: again, wow! Having this many bandos on the field really makes these letter formations clear! Some nice singing by my dad and the crowd.

R+B: this formation took a little long to form, but ended up great. The B looks a little blobbish, but I adjusted the drill so this should look fantastic for Lafayette.

Again, awesome job for our first show! Keep it up!

I also decided to post our performance of SUBG, since the crowd really seemed to like it. Also, physical evidence of the crowd enjoying the Penn Band is good to have around. I hope we can do more playing for the student section in the future.

All HAIL LORD GLOZION!

A quiz on scramble band shennanigans

2008-09-24T00:23:00.008-04:00

Clearly the biggest story in the last week in Ivy Band-related news was Princeton's melee with the Citadel. Noah's done a beautiful job describing this, so I'm not going to add anything specific about this. Instead, I thought I'd post a team round from a quizo I did last year for one of the band roadtrips that focuses on 10 different scramble bands, and their antics through the years.

What Scramble band:

1. Calls itself the “Cleverest Band in the World.” Antics: Against Fordham, one joke about an altar-boy joke (tuition going down faster than...) drew the ire of Catholics.

2. Insists that there’s a “pause” in its name. Antics: they’ve been disciplined for a polygamy show at BYU and a Catholic nun show at Notre Dame.

3. Has as its full name: The Award-Winning ________________ Indoor/Outdoor Precision(?) Marching Pep Band, & Chowder Society Review, Unlimited!!! Antic: Currently not recognized by its school’s athletic department, and is banned from all official sporting events.

4. Uses “Louie, Louie” as its signature song. Antic: trapped inside a stadium by an angry mob of Texas A&M fans in 1973?

5. For the last game of its season, builds an “enormous three-dimensional prop” called an “Überprop.” Antic: banned from West Point after a halftime show in which band members formed "USA" on the field, then dropped their pants and marched off, leaving the letters spelled out in clothing.

6. Antic: Claims to be the oldest Ivy League marching band. Antic: banned from Holy Cross for a show that involved a Ted Kennedy Triathlon which included the "Ted Kennedy drive and swim," while Kennedy family members were in attendance?

7. Gives out a yearly award for “the most outrageous antic during a public band performance” that has the inscription "The Pen is Mightier than the Sword" but with no space between the second and third word? Antic: During the 1967 Harvard game, nationally televised on ABC, this band intentionally spelled out the letters NBC.

8. Claims to have started the scrambling tradition, as it was scrambling as early as 1941? Antic: At the 75th Reunion, the 1812 Overture was performed on the field with the explosion of hydrogen balloons serving as cannon fire.

9. Claims to be “the world’s best and only ice skating band.” Antic: Every year they play for the people waiting in line for Ben and Jerry's Free Cone Day.

10. Played for William McKinley twice in one year. Antic: “suggested that [they] not come back” to the New Jersey Turnpike Vince Lombardi rest stop by a police officer for bowing to a model of the Superbowl trophy.

1. Columbia

2. Stanford

3. UVA

4. Rice

5. Yale

6. Dartmouth

7. Princeton

8. Harvard

9. Brown

10. Penn

The Monday Evening Linkocracy

2008-09-22T16:23:00.004-04:00

Now is the time when I would normally be posting the Monday evening linkocracy, complete with stories of Great Moments in Fandom, a full Penn Game Report and a series of links. However, my favorite story of the weekend is not yet over so posting will wait till post-band and post-TGL, here's what to expect:

-Random Linkocracy (Ivy football from about the internet, or just stuff about bands)
-Cadets versus Clarinets (found poetry from the comments section of the Daily Princetonian's article on the fight)
-Last First Road Trip Ruminations (in bullet form)

That'll be it for tonight. I'll probably update in this post so never divert your attention from this blog or this blog post. Ever.

UPDATE:

This Citadel v. Princeton thing is just too much fun, I could not divert my thoughts elsewhere tonight. Some choice comments from the Daily Princetonian (http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2008/09/22/21470/), a poem then the final analysis from me.

It's a tie for my two favorite comments:
Number 1 (this guy is brave, I'll probably give him a call tomorrow and maybe shoot out a quick update):

It seems that no one who is posting has the guts to use their real name. I was at the game. I was not on campus earlier. I do not believe the PUB was given permission to disrupt a cadet activity. My grandson told me the PUB was initially disruptive. I believe him. I'm embarrassed that there was any apology from the Citadel.
Hey Clemson tiger from Charleston, why don't you move?
Again I say: Your band is lucky they didn't get their asses kicked. They deserved it.

Tony von Kolnitz
843-884-9014

and

Number 1A (maybe turn it into a campus security training facility? Not that Princeton is ever in any clear and present danger on campus):

Love all the violent trash talking from the Citadel supporters. Don't piss of the Princeton crowd. Our endowment ($15.7 Billion) is big enough to simply buy your school (endowment $.135 Billion) and turn it into the community college for dance. Then where will you be?

Cadets Versus Clarinets
a commenter found poem by Noah

"Spare us the history lesson old man...this is war!!!"
"Save your Hate for more tolerant imbeciles!!"
"Accept the BLAME for your existences!"
"Tell us all again what actual crimes were committed by the PUB?"

"Take your XXX freak show to the red light district where it belongs."
"Good Lord, did they really?"
"Dry humping each other in front of monuments built to commemorate the deaths of America's fallen heroes," "simulating anal intercourse"

"We are here to flame and namecall."
"WE ARE CURRENTLY THE ONLY ONES TALKING!!"

Final Analysis: The internet flame war was won by the no one, it's an internet flame war. However, the cadets (or Princetonians posing as cadets) made themselves appear to be a totally imbalanced group of people without the foresight to think of one of the most famous and, for many of them, powerful Princeton alums: General David Petraeus.

The Princeton Band vs. The Citadel: A Linktrospective

2008-09-22T00:24:00.004-04:00

So this weekend, the Princeton Band went to the Citadel and caused this:

http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/sep/21/shame_on_princeton_band55311/

Seeing that column, I was shocked, nay, rocked to my very corps. The Princeton Band disrespecting others? Preposterous, it didn't sound possible.

Let's look at a different source, this one the official "TigerFan," almost certainly an unbiased source, from the New York Times of Ivy League Message boards: "Ivy League Sports Board"

http://voy.com/152805/56021.html

Also, let's go to the video to see if there's more to glean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lSkyuyhrqQ&eurl

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56WOp_0JEqU&eurl=

There appear to be 2 immutable facts:?
1. The Citadel fans booed Princeton's half time performance and chanted "Go Home, Princeton" and "You Suck" (twice, briefly) also "Fa****s" (briefly and quietly)
2. The Princeton band scrambled, probably formed a penis and had someone reading a show. They also, at times, blew a whistle and played some songs.

As a Philadelphian and someone who hates Princeton's teams, I was impressed by The Citadel's fans commitment to booing. It's long and loud.

There also appear to be 2 important perceived slights or altercations:
1. Students/Cadets/Supporters of the Citadel appear peeved the Princeton dishonored their "Avenue of Remembrance." They may have, at some point charged some cadets doing some kind of exercise.
2. Princeton's Band was, at some point surrounded by cadets from the Citadel.

Number 1 seems likely, the Princeton Band charges. I've seen it with my own two eyes. It's stupid, but they do it. This time they did it to the wrong group of people. But they probably did not intentionally disrespect the "Avenue of Remebrance."

Number 2 also is apparently true which should be slightly embarrassing for everyone involved.

Take away message: Don't piss off people who are potentially going into the army, they're generally stronger than the strongest member of the band, unless Bruce Wayne still attends Princeton, in which case, all bets are off.

Addendum: ALWAYS READ THE COMMENTS, THEY ARE ALWAYS HILARIOUS, ESPECIALLY YOUTUBE COMMENTS! READ THEM! I AM YELLING AT YOU!

A Night to Remember (an alum's perspective)

2008-08-12T00:55:00.004-04:00

As one of two alumni who attended the Peter & Carolyn Lynch anniversary event, I present a similar (but different) perspective on the evening...

4:00pm: Steve Walsh (the other alumnus who attended) and I arrive at the Westin Hotel. We ran into some bandos in the parking lot who told us the party was for Peter & Carolyn Lynch. It was then we realized that we were among the minority of people who knew who he was. Suffice to say, the man knows how to invest money. Sadly, we played the entire event without getting a single stock tip.

4:05pm: Since we were early, we went to Greer's hotel room, where Greer was sorting music, and Angie was raving to us about the decorations at the ICA (they had been there for rehearsal).

4:30pm: Meet the band in the lobby. Erik and A-Tone have agreed to exchange pants (not as good a story as it sounds). Sondra is late, but proves to be able to change clothes faster than anyone I've ever seen. Ben Gaines proves that "blue sweater" does not mean "same color sweater as everyone else."

~5:00pm: Arrive at the ICA. Lesson learned: event planners are never in a good mood. Also, after a conference, they've decided that they're not comfortable with the message that "Just a Gigolo" sends, even after Greer reminds them that we don't sing. Koosh suggests "Touch Me." That also goes nowhere. (Side note: we were asked to do several things that we just don't do, like wear costumes, play "swanky" music like Mack the Knife, etc., and sing. But more on that later). Anyway, Greer & Koosh go inside to work out the playlist (eventual decision: Carry On, My Wayward Son). Greer lives Angie in charge. She supervises us as we stand around by the bus & wait for Greer & Koosh to return. She's a natural...

5:30pm: We are ushered to our "Green Room." The event planner orders someone to bring us water, soda, and chips. The water is sparkling and Norwegian (don't ask). She also goes in search of a copy machine, so everyone has music to Carry On, since some didn't bring anything other than the (ahem...) previously agreed upon music. The band pretends to tune. Then, it's time to perform.

6:00pm: We are ushered onto a terrace over-looking the water. There is a stage, but we asked to stay among the crowd, with Greer on the stage. There is a jazz trio playing "swanky" music, and another event planner (slightly less upset than the previous one) tries to rehearse "Surprise!" with the crowd. I wouldn't say they were weak - let's just say the band helped save that particular part of the party. While waiting for Peter & Carolyn to arrive, we learned a few things. First, they were married on the Penn Campus. I asked if the Band was at the wedding, but one of his guests reminded me that he wasn't famous at the time - in fact, he was broke! Others seemed thrilled that we came all the way from Philadelphia for the party.

6:30pm: Peter and Carolyn arrive. They were told the party was for a Harvard professor celebrating his 5th anniversary for something-or-other (as an indication of how much money was spent on this party, the ICA had signs on display at the front of the building for the fake event, so the couple wouldn't suspect). Peter & Carolyn walk in & the band yells, "Surprise!" The crowd half-heartedly does the same. We play "Fight On" and "Highball" from within the crowd. Some of the older guests jump into the harbor because of how loud we are (just kidding). The event planner says to Greer, "have the band sing 'Happy Anniversary.'" Greer temporarily loses his mind, turns to us and asks us to sing. Our stunned reaction snaps him back into reality, and we graciously decline the request.

6:35: Mr. Lynch comes over to us and says, "University of Pennsylvania Band! Wonderful, wonderful..." or something like that. I think the surprise worked. After greeting the band, he greeted his family (?!?). His grandkids seemed a little concerned that the band may play again, but eventually came over & gave grandpa a hug.

6:40: The event planner gets on the microphone and says, "everyone gather around the marching band for a group picture." We try to make ourselves small, as wealthy guests in impossibly expensive clothing & jewelry fill in around us. The photographer asks us to move closer to her as a group. I assure one of the guests that as a marching band, moving around as a group is something we do all the time. She seems relieved...

6:45: Picture taken (hopefully, we get a copy), and we make a graceful exit so the guests can enjoy their cocktail hour. We go back into the green room, where some waiter brings us still more soda, water and chips. We use my blackberry to get on Google and answer the following questions: 1) Peter Lynch went to Wharton grad, not undergrad; 2) He's worth about $350M; 3) He's not the Lynch from Merrill Lynch; 4) The Lynch from Merrill Lynch is Edmund C. Lynch, who died in the 1930's; 5) We don't know much about Carolyn, because all the Google responses about her are actually about him, or about the building(s) at Penn named after her.

~7:15: We go back out to the terrace, and rudely interrupt the jazz trio with "Final Countdown," in a not-so-subtle attempt to tell the guests to leave the cocktail hour and proceed to the dinner. When we finish, the drums line up outside the dining room to cadence, and the rest of the band moves into the dining room, where the real band (guitar, trumpet, sax, trombone) prepare to jam with us on "Carry On..."

~7:30: The event planner (the more upset of the two) comes in and says, "I'd start playing the song if I were you." Koosh points out to her that perhaps *SHE* would start playing the song, but *WE* don't have our director (Greer was still outside) or our drummers (who are cadencing the guests into the dining room). Perplexed by the logic in Koosh's retort, she disappears, and reappears with Greer, who kicks off Carry On (drums? we don't need no stinkin' drums!). The house band *KICKS ASS* behind us, especially the guitar player - who seems to be playing the actual Kansas part, and really fills in the song. (Note to Noah: recruit an electric guitar section for next year). The effect works, as the room is filled with music when Peter & Carolyn enter. He smiles & waves graciously and tells us all to buy Google stock (again, kidding...). The drums arrive just as we finish, and then we all proceed out the side door, through a hallway, and out onto the loading dock, where we re-board the bus.

~7:45: One would think this would be the end of the story, but alas, more shenanigans await. Someone on the bus calls the event the "strangest thing he's ever done with the band," to which Steve replies, "didn't you guys play a funeral earlier this year?" Anyway, the bus proceeds to leave the parking lot and then BLAMMO!!! The horizontal support on a street light banner had apparently been dragging along the side of the bus, and eventually built up enough pressure to "pop" the safety glass. There is a small explosion as what was once glass instantly becomes dust, followed by a couple of screams (flutes...), followed by several cell phone cameras snapping pictures, followed by someone yelling "has Koosh posted this to Oxy yet?" and someone else yelling, "Blog! Blog! Blog!"

~7:50: Out of respect for the (rather shaken up driver), I waited until we got back to the hotel to take my pictures. By the time I had taken three pictures, Sondra had already changed back to street clothes. Amazing...

A Night to Remember

2008-08-11T09:51:00.003-04:00

So this past weekend the Penn Band was in Boston to play at a surprise party for Peter and Carolyn Lynch's 40th wedding anniversary. This black tie affair was not our typical venue, so I thought it might be worth keeping track of what happened. Little did I know how true this would be. The following is an unaltered account of 4:30-7:30 pm, August 9, 2008.

4:30- Call for meeting in the hotel lobby.
4:45- Everyone arrives in the hotel lobby. A few bandos are not wearing pants.
4:50- It's ok, their pants were on the bus, and people finished changing on the way to the ICA.
5:00- Arrived at the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art), where the event was to be held. We take out our instruments.
5:10- We find out that they do not want us to play "Just a Gigolo," the song we had rehearsed earlier that day to play with the Sultans of Swing, and told everyone to bring.
5:15- Greer and Koosh go to talk with the Sultans, to figure out what other songs we have that they can play with us. Meanwhile the rest of us start to go into the building. However, we are stopped at the door. Apparently we can't go in the main entrance, and we need to go around the side and use the service door.
5:20- Once inside our "holding area" for the evening, stocked with potato chips and Norwegian water, Greer and Koosh return to say we are going to try Carry On. A couple of us go upstairs to play a little of our version for the Sultans. The guy looks at the music, says "Yeah, sure, we can handle it.", and takes the trombone part. ...In traditional Penn Band style, we're gonna wing it...
5:25- Pretty much every instrument has at least one part for Carry On, and the ICA has a copy machine, so we collect the music to make copies.
5:30- We get back the copies. Someone enters our holding room, looks around at us in surprise, asks "Everything ok?", and walks out before we can respond.
5:35- We are told that we'll be going outside in 5-10 minutes.
5:40- We have a lengthy discussion on the actual worth of Peter Lynch. The guesses ranged from "100 million dollars" to "a few billion" to "more money than all of us and all of our families, combined."
5:45- Someone suggests that the company Merril Lynch was actually formed by Koosh's wife and Peter Lynch, 150 years ago.
6:00- We actually go outside (25 minutes from warning). This is a VERY swanky party. Oysters, lox pizza with caviar, and other delights are circulating among the guests. We got chips.
6:05- The guests practice yelling surprise (first time)
6:07- The guests practice yelling surpise (second time)
6:09- We practice playing immediately after the guests practice yelling surpise (third time)
6:15- The guests yell surprise, for real this time. The guests of honor have arrived, and we greet them with that party hit, Fight On Pennsylvania! This is followed by Highball.
6:25- Audible! They want us to sing "Happy Anniversary." Just as we're about to start they apparently realize that we are in fact a band, not an a capella group, and call it off.
6:30- Now smile! It's picture time, and the party-goers are told "Everyone gather around the marching band."
6:35- We are shepherded back inside, and told it will be about half an hour more until "round 2".
6:45- 3 minute warning.
6:48- Heading outside again. I hear from behind me "Angie, put this in your pocketbook please," and see Greer handing over a rubber duck. She responds, "This is why I bring the big bag," and takes it.
6:50- The party planners tell us to start, even though there is already a jazz band outside, in the midst of playing. Needless to say, they looked up in shock (along with all the guests), as we began to play The Final Countdown. It sort of destroyed the atmosphere, but that's how we roll.
7:00- The drummers begin to cadence, and we lead the way into the dining room for dinner/the rest of the party. Unfortunately, it seemed no one told the guests that they were supposed to follow us, so the drummers were just outside cadencing for a while.
7:05- As the first people come in, we are told to start playing Carry On. However, there are a number of issues that needed to be dealt with. 1) The drums are still outside cadencing. 2) Greer is outside with the percussion. 3) The Sultans of Swing only had the trombone part.
7:07- After they bring Greer inside, and I give my chop part to their trumpet player, it seems 2/3 is good enough. With only a drum set (ad-libbing) as percussion, we play Carry On. All things considered, it didn't sound half bad.
7:10- They tell us its time to go. No wait, not yet. Yeah, we were just kidding, go now! We go out through our side door, and make our way back to the bus.
7:15- Instruments away, we get on the bus, and start to pull out of the parking lot. However, we didn't go far. In the lot, there was a large sign for "Harborside," one of those banners that is held up by horizontal poles on top and on the bottom. The bottom pole was slightly lower than it appeared to the driver, and it scrapes against two windows of the bus. It then spiderweb cracks a third, and we hear a loud noise as the pole comes through the fourth. The window (and the one behind it) shattered, and broken glass went into the bus. Luckily, no one was sitting there, so no one was hurt. The driver pulls away from the pole (creating a gash in the side of the bus), and then stops. The cracked window looks ready to pop out of the frame.
7:25- After making a phone call, the driver takes us back to the hotel. We arrive without further incident.

All in all, it was an interesting 3 hours....

The Ever-Changing Penn Band

2008-05-20T00:02:00.002-04:00

This past weekend, my family and I had the privilege of spending yet another fun-filled day with the Penn Band on the occasion of the 2008 Alumni Day festivities. After serenading alumni of all ages and leading the traditional parade of classes, band members returned to their various, non-musical lives, while I and two of my fellow alumni went to the Glee Club Graduate Club reception.

Before I go any further, a quick word about the Penn Glee Club. The Penn Glee Club is a truly amazing organization. At 145 years old, they are Penn's oldest performing arts group. They have performed in nearly all 50 states, and in 35 nations on five continents. They've appeared on national television, at professional sporting events, and in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. They've also sung in the presence of various world leaders, and celebrities such as Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly and Bill Cosby. In 1991, I had the pleasure of performing in their pit orchestra, which is what led to my presence at their graduate club reception last Saturday.

As a member of the pit orchestra, and a good friend of several club members, I've heard the club perform numerous times. I was always dutifully impressed with their rich, full sound and their polished, professional showmanship. They were always one of the few groups on campus that could easily hold their own alongside professional singing groups of any stripe. When the club regaled us with song at the GCGC reception, though, I had an interesting realization. The 2008 Glee Club sounded exactly like the 1991 Glee Club, singing various Penn Songs as well as some Club standards that the alumni knew well.

I commented to one of my friends that in a weird way, this made the Glee Club a little less impressive to me, since the achievements of the '91 Club seem to have been replicated precisely by an entirely new group of students, 17 years later. Not to take anything away from the current Club, mind you, but as impressive as they sound, it's likely that the 2025 Glee Club will sound equally as impressive 17 years from now.

I bring all of this up here on the Penn Band's blog to emphasize something unique about the Penn Band. Excellent musicians that they are, the 2008 Penn Band sounds very different from the Penn Band I knew back in 1991. The standard Penn Songs have all seen transformations (the trombone lick they added to The Red and Blue is brand new, but fits so nicely it sounds like it's been there since 1898, for example). Other staples, like Joshua and Mary Anne have disappeared altogether, replaced with new standards like The Final Countdown. And All Right Now, while technically still the same song, has undergone so many changes as to be almost unrecognizable to alums who haven't heard it in a while.

Tradition is a big part of what makes Penn special. If you prefer your tradition straight up, with every word, note and phrase exactly as you remember it, I couldn't recommend better than the Penn Glee Club. But if you prefer your tradition shaken, stirred, smashed into a million pieces, and then put back together in a way that is comfortably familiar yet distinctly new, fresh and modern, then the next time you're on campus, you've got to seek out the Penn Band.

Thanks for an awesome time, folks - see you at Homecoming!

The Penn Band wins a Women's Lacrosse game

2008-04-28T03:38:00.012-04:00

For those of you that don't know, in addition to playing euphonium in the band, I also cover Penn sports teams for the Daily Pennsylvanian, Penn's student newspaper. I've yet to cover either football or men's basketball, as these sports are normally reserved for juniors and seniors to cover. However, the biggest sport that I've covered over my two years has been the women's lacrosse team.

Now, once the men's basketball season comes to a close, the Penn Band normally goes into hibernation mode. Well not quite. We do a few scattered spring events here and there. And so far this year we've done two women's lacrosse games. Now, I've had to cover both of these games for the DP, so I haven't played with the band. Doing so would constitute a direct conflict of interest, since I'd be rooting for a team (by playing an instrument) and then covering said team for an objective media source.

However, a much iffier issue of conflict of interest occurred after the most recent Penn Band-attended women's lacrosse game. Yesterday, the No. 5 Quakers faced No. 1 Northwestern who was undefeated and on a 36-game winning streak. The Wildcats also had won the last three national championships. It was a huge game, so the band decided to come out and support the team.

Well the Quakers pulled off the stunning upset. (Here are my live game updates of the match; notice the Penn Band references). Anyway, after the game I was waiting to interview some players/coaches. Penn senior captain Rachel Manson, whom I've interviewed several times before and knows me by sight, turns to me completely out of the blue and says, "Because the Penn Band came." Since it seemed sort of off the record I asked her to state it for the record. So she repeated herself, "Because the Penn Band came we won today." I was sort of in shock she said that, but what a quote.
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Now here's where the conflict of interest comes into play. To give some background, the last time the Penn Band came to a women's lacrosse game was the Wednesday April 2 game against Johns Hopkins. I wrote the preview for that game, and I interviewed Manson for it. Being the idiot that I was, I told her that the Penn Band was coming and then asked her what her thoughts were. She was pretty impressed and said she remembered the band coming the previous year for the Princeton game in which the Quakers clinched the Ivy title and how it made that game really special. After the interview I told her I was in the band and that I'd probably play with them (eventually I didn't since no one else could cover the game for the DP).

I wanted to run her quotes about the Band, but my editors wouldn't let me since they said it was a conflict of interest since I had brought it up myself, and she responded to my theoretically biased question. Now I didn't really argue that too much, and retrospectively it makes sense.

Flash forward to yesterday. Before I even wrote my story I went up to my editor and explained the situation with Manson's most recent pro-Penn Band quote. However, he disallowed it yet again, saying even though she was completely unprompted to mention the band, she still knew that I was in the band and that potentially skewered her quote.

I didn't quite understand this logic since the previous time he had told me it couldn't run because I had brought up the band on my own. But then again, he has the final say, so I declined to write it in.

I also wrote an email on the band's list serve asking the journalists of the band whether they thought there was a conflict of interest. A band alum who works at a national media outlet yet wanted anonymity agreed with my editor that this might appear to be a conflict of interest since I am a member of the band. So if a professional journalist agrees, that's enough for me.

But even if it didn't make it to print, it's still true that at least one women's lacrosse player thinks we're the reason they earned potentially the biggest win in program history.

But it gets even better. At the time Manson said it, I thought maybe she was joking, or just reacting instinctively, something temporal. But last night after I sent her a facebook comment congratulating her on the win, she responded by reiterating her comment about the band: "I'm telling you on the record it is all because of the Penn Band," she wrote.

Moral of the story: The Band, despite all the s*** it can get sometimes from various sources, is still appreciated by athletes. And that's what matters in the end.

NB: Thanks to Brian for catching the mistakes up to the --- line. But I'm sure there's still some out there! Who wants more nickels!

Penn Band meets the workplace

2008-04-09T00:31:00.014-04:00

What a game it was last night! Two milestones were achieved:

1. It was the first time in over a decade (not since 1997) that the national championship game of the men's NCAA tournament had gone into overtime (very exciting!), and

2. It was the first time since I've been filling out these silly brackets (c. 2002) that I a) shelled out money to participate AND b) won (half the pool)

I went back and read the fine print, and it revealed that I was entitled to half of the winnings! I'd steadily held first place since the beginning of the tournament, but my UCLA/UNC fantasy bumped me down to (a still respectable) 5th place finish in the graduated points system that many brackets utilize. However, I was still head and shoulders above anyone else in terms of total number of games chosen correctly (47-- how does this number compare to other pools? For perspective, there were only 35-40 people in mine).

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And now...it's the first installment of a semi-regular series! "Penn Band and the Workplace," or something not quite as lame. Basically, I plan to mention the instances when something I learned as a bando has shockingly paid off in The Real World.

Photo: Wired.com (no individual photographer attribution), 2007.

Although this year's Quakers squad wasn't able to win the league's automatic bid and send 29 of us (plus Greer? Minus Greer? I can never remember) on an extended Spring Break, here is a potentially useful tidbit of information for the freshmen (and newbies...I'm looking at you, Class of 2012): claiming that you made your bracket selections based on your "past NCAA tournament experience" gives you total street cred (if you have a dorky job, like me). Acceptably dorky people/positions include, but are not limited to:

- graduate students (any field, but statistics is probably the perfect one)
- researchers (hard science, soft science, post-docs, lackeys)
- health professionals (physicians, nurses, MAs, health educators)
- computer people (programmers, IT)
- engineers
- people in the financial sector who are forbidden to interact with clients (awkward social interactions)

Why is this gem a winner? Because, short of being this guy, everyone will correctly assume that your "tournament experience" was as a member of a band, dance team, cheerleading squad, or as your school's mascot...but they'll respect you for it regardless! You could be as inept as Palo Alto's infamous tree at playing the bracket numbers, but you can stroke your bruised ego with a passing mention of tourneys gone by. A sample interaction (based closely on an actual conversation):

Dr. Stat: "Lisa...nice picks!"
Me: "Thanks, Dr. Stat!"
D.S. "What's your secret? I went down in flames the other day!"
Me: "Well, being a member of my college band, I had the opportunity to go to three NCAA tournaments, so I saw a lot of unbelievable things unfold right in front of me. Last year in Lexington, we caught the end of the Stanford/UW-Milwaukee game before ours, and Stanford ended up losing, despite the 7'0" twins! I think they're highly overrated, so I picked them to lose. It turns out they didn't, but I knew ("based on my tournament experience" heavily implied) they very well could."
D.S. "Well, I hope you win!" (fabrication)

Of course, if you make many correct predictions, they might assume you've figured out a way to beat the house!

Take-home message from these ramblings: play up your first-hand involvement in college athletics! It doesn't matter if you're intentionally vague about your actual participation because, well, people will put two and two together. And you will be perceived as too cool for school among your fellow nerds.

Thank You Seniors!

2008-04-05T20:40:00.001-04:00

as read on Saturday, March 9th at the Palestra ("Senior Night")

At this time, we would like to recognize the graduating members of the Penn Band for their dedication and loyalty to Penn Athletics. Not only do they show up at every men's and women's home game, but they travel to virtually all of the away games as well. And they are more than just the band; they are fans, too. In a hostile Ivy gym, they are often the loudest and most vocal show of support.

In supporting Penn and Penn Athletics, some of these students have logged more miles than some Heads of State - bus trips all over the North East to all of the Ivies, plus trips to such venues as Cleveland OH, Dallas TX, and Lexington KY to cheer on the men's Ivy Championship basketball teams in the NCAA tournaments.

For the many hours on buses, for all the nights in sleeping bags in some foreign lounge, and for all their time and dedication, we salute your following Penn Band Senior Starters:

On flute,

an Ancient History major,

with a minor in French,

secretary of the band’s honor society,

from Rahway NJ,

Megan Brindle.

On trombone,

a dual degree candidate with majors in American History and Political Science,

past low brass section leader and current president of the band honor society,

from Harrisville PA,

Melanie Foreman.

On flute,

a Cognitive Science major,

With minors in French and Psychology,

from Medford NJ,

Shannon Fouse.

On clarinet,

a dual degree candidate with majors in Chemistry and Nanoscale Material Science Engineering,

with minors in Creative Writing and Mathematics,

past president and current drum major,

from Rockville MD,

Rebecca Goldman.

On snare drum,

a dual degree candidate with majors in Management and Bioengineering,

with a minor in Mathematics,

from Ellicottt City MD,

Barry Huang.

On saxophone,

a Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering major,

with a minor in Music,

past saxophone section leader,

from Buffalo NY,

Janelle Johnson.

On clarinet,

an English major

With a minor in Cinema Studies,

past equipment manager,

from Aldan PA,

Annabelle Lyons.

On clarinet,

a dual degree candidate with majors in International Relations and European History,

With a minor in Hispanic Studies,

chair of the band’s CD committee,

from Newbury MA,

Sofie Owen.

On saxophone,

a Biological Basis of Behavior major,

from Staten Island NY,

past chair of the band’s honor society,

Brooke Prashker.

On flute,

an Architecture Design major,

With a minor in Economics,

from Oceanside NY,

Raimy Schutzman.

On bass drum,

a dual degree candidate with majors in World History, Finance, and Accounting

with a minor in French,

past percussion section leader,

from Pleasanton CA,

Sunaina Seelam.

On bass drum,

a Science Technology and Society major

with a concentration in Business and Information Technology

past percussion section leader,

from Potomac MD,

Elaine Simeon.

On snare drum,

a Bioengineering major

with minors in Economics and Mathematics,

from Millburn NJ,

Sagar Singh.

On bass drum,

a dual degree candidate with majors in Finance and Management,

past percussion section leader,

from Tualatin OR,

Connie Wong.

Let’s hear it for your Penn Band seniors!

EOTY Awards

2008-01-27T21:55:00.003-05:00

Yet another insight into the querkiness of the Penn Band. At the end of the year (EOTY) we have a gathering to give out awards. Most are sarcastic and funny. I got a great award this year (Most Valuable Bando!), and my section - along with the chops - got a great award, too. (There are army men hidden all over 322 S. 42nd.) Good times were had by all. Thanks to the old board for all you time. You weren't appreciated enough, and I am sure the next one will not be either.

*Fanfare End of the Year Awards, 2007*

The 43rd Annual John Baker Tossed Cookies Award- Lauren the horn player for redecorating the living room at 233.

The 40th Melons Award – Ellen Williams.

The 110th Annual Dealing with "stuff" Award – Annabelle Lyons.

The 12th Annual Ilena Olster Award- Rachel Mathisen for her outstanding contributions to the Bitchiness of the band.

The BFL Rookie of the Year Award- Stephen Abrams dash Downey. For his fearless physical assault in the name of football.

The 4th Annual Jevelyn Award- Skeast Girl (Cindy and Andrea) for their inability to be separated for even one song.

The Third Reich United Nations Award- Vicky "Colossus" Parysek. Because you're not really Polish.

The best-kept, shiniest, nicest instrument award- Mike Jarell.

The 11th Annual Clarissa Fesler Verbosity Award- Gordon Watkins, because none of us can get a word in edgewise.

The 17th Annual Susan Ross Memorial Award- Robert DeSocio
for his tireless commitment to the scanner.

The 3rd Annual "You know it's cold if he's wearing pants" Award- Tom Hensle.

The "You Graduated Morons" Creepy Old Guy Award – Jeanne and Erica.

The 1st annual "Penniless Sitar Player" Award- Jaci Rifkin.

The Most Valuable Bando Award- Mel Foreman, for everything she's done.

The 109plus-or-minus-one-th Annual Zookeeper Award- Becca Goldman for not killing us all.

4th Annual Mayuko Endo Stream of Consciousness Award: Joe Catania.

The 1st annual Dundee for Whitest Sneakers: Alex Kenney.

1st Annual bring your friends award: Ray Fung, for causing the percussion section to run out of instruments.

4th Annual "Evil Bob Kennedy" Award: Alvin Cheng, for always being so mean.

12th Annual Honorary Bando Award: Jose the bus driver.

The 11th Annual Joe Bando Award- Kyle Pickett for most embodying the characteristics of one's everyday Joe.

6th Annual Worst Excuse for missing band award: Jen Johnson, Dan Ross, Raimy Schutzman, and Sasha Renninger for just being too damn lazy to make it to rehearsals.

25th Annual Captain Francis "Gary" Powers Spy Award: The Brass sections for infiltrating Cornell territory and making it out alive.

3rd Annual too much information award: Zach Klitzman, for letting us all know about his random boners.

Most Likely to Have His or Her Name Mispronounced: Devanshi Jalan.

The 2^nd Annual Product of Bandcest Award: Katie Palusci, For her inevitable contribution to the propagation of the Bando species.

Running Disney LiveBlog

2008-01-16T09:07:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure how many people read this blog but don't read the Band's listserv, Oxymoron, but just in case, here are the blog posts I wrote while on our Disney trip. I'd have posted them in real time, but I didn't have Internet access in Orlando.

Day 1: The Penn Band . . . ON A PLANE!!!

Brian Greenberg here, intrepid alumni blogger, reporting live from the All Star Music resort in Walt Disney World. The kids are recharging for their first full Disney day, the wife has passed out while examining tomorrow's myriad of dining options, I'm writing this, and most of the band is in the piano-shaped pool playing Marco Polo (at last check, Adam Sherr's daughters were winning handily).

The day began at the Philadelphia International Airport, where 30 bandos and 20 "chaperones" (hah!) met around 7:30 AM for their 9:30 flight. Most folks had either coffee to wake them up, or iPods to keep them from waking up. Carly had a big, furry Russian ski hat. Still not sure what that's about.

The flight was uneventful. Adam and my son, Avery, had a Sudoku race in the in-flight magazine. I'd love to report that Avery won, but Adam did prevail. It was pretty close, though.

In Orlando, we waited on what I hope will be the longest line of the trip, while the Disney Welcome Center processed hundreds of people at once. Eventually, we made it to the hotel where we once again waited, this time for all of our room keys to be ready. Joe passed the time by learning how to talk without cursing, in deference to the children of Disneyworld (in particular, the ones we brought along).

From there it was a buffet dinner at Hollywood & Vine (the first test of our meal plan), then some free time, and then the Fantasmic show at Disney's Hollywood Studios (f.k.a MGM). Noah informed me that my credibility was on the line, since I had told everyone it was an awesome show. I haven't seen him since it ended, so I don't know the verdict yet, but I can tell you that it certainly met my high expectations.

That's the update for now. Until tomorrow. . .

Day 2 - The Band of a Thousand Dances

Howdy, folks. Brian Greenberg, intrepid alumni blogger, here again for a daily dose of Penn Band in Disneyworld news.

Today saw the band basically scatter to the winds, with different groups going in different directions to do their own thing, before we all get back together tomorrow for a Princess Breakfast & our command performance. But alas, I'm getting ahead of myself.

I can tell you the most about the travels of "the three families" (they being Greenberg, Gupta & Sherr - sounds rather like a law firm, no?). We started our day in Animal Kingdom with the safari, in hopes of seeing animal feeding time. We didn't see any feeding, but we did see lots of animals, including a white rhino that almost charged our bus. Also in Animal Kingdom, we saw the Lion King show (big thumbs up), Finding Nemo - the Musical (big thumbs down), and It's Tough to be a Bug (Meh...). Then we headed to Epcot, where we saw the newly renovated Spaceship Earth (now no longer predicting a future in which people communicate electronically over long distances), the Finding Nemo ride (also a big thumbs up), Turtle Talk with Crush (amazing technology, but none of our kids got called on, so the show wasn't so great), and Soarin' (simulated hang gliding - a big hit with everyone but Adam, who's not a fan of heights - real or simulated).

We ran into HHTT at dinner, who's group had abandoned him for their second steak meal in a row (way to make that meal plan pay, folks!), so he accompanied us to Test Track, which was a fun ride, but the wait was too long. Next was Illuminations, Epcot's fireworks show, which proves that Disney can basically turn any location into a production number with enough money, special effects and pyrotechnics. After that, Tom rejoined some bandos for their trip through Soarin', while we walked "around the world," stopping only to watch a draw bridge go up & down and for a late night snack of French crepes.

As for the rest of the band, stories I heard suggest a good day as well. Some were in Epcot all day, checking out "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience," which come to think of it, might explain how Noah lost all that weight. Test Track got good reviews as well, as did Mission Space. A bunch were in MGM (Beauty and the Beast got a fair to thumbs down review...); but Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller coaster were hits. Oh, and the award for Most Dedicated Grandfather most definitely goes to Greer, who went on It's a Small World *TWICE*, at the request of his granddaughter. He did give rave reviews about Philharmagic, though, which is a 3-D movie of Mickey conducting an orchestra. Talk about gravitating to stuff you can relate to, huh Greer?

Anyway, everyone had a magical day (or so we kept getting told by the Disney folks), and now it's onward to tomorrow, when we all pray that the rain holds out and the Disney marathon doesn't mess with our travel plans too much.

And for those who are starting to feel sorry they didn't come along, here's a little consolation: call tomorrow morning is 7:45AM, and it's for breakfast with Princesses, not a performance.

Day 3 - The Penn Band Goes Downtown (Disney, that is)

Day 3 started with a 7:45AM call. Or, as those running the Disney marathon call it, sleeping in late. We boarded a special character breakfast bus to the Ticket & Transportation center ("special" defined here as "waits in traffic like every other damn bus..."). At any rate, we finally made it to Norway for our Princess Breakfast at around 9:15. I'm happy to report that despite meeting the Low Brass section, Belle still identifies "The Beast" as a Disney character and Snow White can still legitimately keep her name. Mulan, on the other hand, was all about the flirting - trying on HHTT's "spy glasses" and asking others to "join her army.". (Editor's Note: I'm told this is less weird if you're one of the three people who saw the Mulan movie).

Anyway, the surprise sexual tension of the meal came in the person of Alexander, the Norwegian waiter, who not only saved the day by scaring up pancakes and waffles for my kids when none existed on the menu, but also spent a fair amount of time going over the bill with Vicky ("going over the bill" defined here as actually going over the bill). And so, despite encouragement to get Alexander's "digits," Vicky passed. The next suggestion was that maybe HHTT should try for some digits, on the off chance that he was more Alexander's type - not that there's anything wrong with that (Editor's Note #2 - you'll have to forgive me, this is what happens when you blog right after watching Seinfeld). Anyway, at the end of the meal, it was left to me to get Alexander's manager's number in the form of the restaurant's business card. Still no word if the back of that card ever wound up with Alexander's digits or not.

From breakfast, it was the monorail to the Magic Kingdom, where several band members met up to encourage my son, Avery, to go on Space Mountain. Not that he needed encouragement. He informed Koosh that he only made the 44" cutoff because of his hair. Koosh, of course, had no such concern, although he did have the opposite problem - concern that he was too tall to ride, and that a low hanging crossbar could make the entire hair discussion sadly irrelevant.

Then there was lunch, where I discovered that Adam Sherr is a Celine Dion fan. It's a long story, and I'll let him fill in the details.
Suffice to say, it ended with "you're going to put that on the blog, aren't you...". Oh yes, Adam - oh, yes.

By 5:30, the band was back in it's fabled Maroon & Khaki (made famous by that 1898 song, "Hurrah for the Maroon and the Khaki.". But I digress..). Anyway, aside from a brief threat of rain, which was quickly taken care of by the Disney people (these people really do control the customer experience out here), we hit the stage at 6:30pm. Our audience consisted of the four families (Greenberg, Gupta and Sherr + the Cheeseman crew), as well as Bjorn, Melody Joy Kramer, and that typical crowd that gathers whenever a Disney announcer says over the loudspeaker, "And now, ladies and gentlemen..."

The band formed a traditional semi-circle, with the exception of the drumline, which was behind the band, obscured from their view of the conductor, outside of the spotlights (to make music reading difficult), and playing the sub-par instruments provided by the Disney people. As we've come to expect of the drumline, there were no complaints ("no" defined here as "lots").

Despite these minor difficulties, the performance went off without a hitch. Well, OK - one hitch. But it was one of those songs the band doesn't know too well. A little tune called The University of Pennsylvania Band March. Something about "tempo" and "playing together.". I was a little confused. At any rate, when Koosh posts the postage stamp-sized Flash video, you can see and hear for yourself on pennband.net.

So after that, it was all over. Except for the time when Joe and Noah attempted to pick up a high school dance team with no shirts on (Joe and Noah had no shirts, not the dance team). And once again, we were all impressed with Disney's customer service, who improved everyone's experience by getting them to rerobe (Editor's Note #3: no, that's not a word, but it should be).

Thus concluded day three. Day four promises the opportunity to get on all the rides and shows that we missed thus far, and to spend as much as possible on the prepaid meal plan cards. Wish us all luck!

Day 4 - Ow, My Aching Feet

Another day of "scatter and do what you want," so not much to report in the Band Blogging sense. GG&S conquered the Magic Kingdom, hitting just about every ride once, and several of them multiple times (I'm looking at you, Buzz Lightyear). We joined up with the Cheeseman crew for dinner in Cinderella's castle, where Adam got chased down a hallway by two giant mice. Again, I'll let him explain.

The only other thing to note is the rain, which came rather impressively in the early afternoon, but stopped by early evening, leaving nice enough weather for an awesome fireworks show over the castle, but leaving behind puddles big enough to sell a couple of pair of Mickey Crocs to kids with wet feet.

As for the rest of the band, we were up so early, moving so fast, and left so late that I didn't even get to ask anyone else what they did yesterday. I'll leave those stories to my fellow bloggers.

One last note before signing off from Orlando: those of you who wanted to go on this trip but couldn't, you missed out on a great time. Those who could go, but decided not to, screwed up big time. The Disney attitude, atmosphere, and entertainment value is the professional equivalent of what the Penn Band does at the college level. Being here is always fun; being here with the Penn Band was a extra special bonus. If you get another chance to do it, take it. 'Nuff said.

On a related, personal note, the Greenberg family would like to publicly thank Greer, Adam and Koosh for inviting us along - it was fantastic. We'd also like to thank the rest of the band. These trips are mostly about making memories for the kids (and their parents), and without necessarily trying, you guys did that for us this week as well.

See you all at basketball homecoming and, of course, in OxyWorld...

A cool video to show your family this winter break

2007-12-16T23:49:00.000-05:00

I always had difficulty explaining to my extended family what interested me in becoming part of a scramble band. Surely it had to be the horrendous khakis and preppy sweaters, right?

Like many college band folk, I'd joined band back in elementary school and had never been humiliated enough to leave. I even won the "Best Marcher" award at the end of my freshman year marching band season-- resulting in my aunt collapsing with laughter over Thanksgiving dinner at what a loser I must be.

Most of my family knew that I'd had the opportunity to travel to some cool places, go to a few NCAA tournaments, and have a moderately successful social life (comparative to high school) as a Penn Band member. They could see that I was happy, so they too were happy. Then came the Great Mascot Scandal of '06...

The road trip was Brown/Yale, and we'd just played a Brown team hungry for revenge over the previous year's blowout. We ended up with the W, packed up our instruments, and loaded everything on to the bus...but there were some obvious omissions, most noticeably the Quaker mascot costume. We were staying with the Yale bandos that night, so we had no choice but to leave and drive to New Haven before it got too late.

Thankfully, Athletics had held on to our older Quaker mascot costume from the previous year-- we ended up making it to the NCAA tournament that year and had the old costume at the ready. We all figured that a Brown-affiliated person had to have been behind the stealing, but no progress was made into any kind of investigation...until six months later when a few of us Board members received a strange e-mail from an obviously fake address, which linked to this video (screen shot shown above, can't figure out how to embed videos yet).

Let's just say that this was one of the more bizarre things that we had to deal with as a Board that year. Shortly after that I received an accusatory e-mail from the then President of the Brown Band, stating that we should basically look within our own organization for the source of theft (yeah, right). The e-mail (legitimately) mentioned an amendment to the Brown Band's Wikipedia entry, "The Brown Band also has a long tradition of stealing other schools' valuable items," which I found hilarious (and I KNOW WHO YOU ARE-- but your secret stays with me to the grave). The missing mascot costume was un-mysteriously and anonymously returned after Penn Athletics intervened and officially filed a claim.

Long story short, the video always provides a good deal of amusement in my family, and it's a nice example of how college kids can creatively play pranks on their rivals without having to resort to petty ad hominem attacks (although, let's face it, plenty of that goes on, too).

Baking Day

2007-12-12T09:47:00.000-05:00

So how awesome is it that I randomly decided to spend an entire day baking and half the band shows up at my apartment? Well, maybe not quite half the band, but I will say this: bandos are great about supporting crazy get-togethers (especially when they involve free food).

Of course, I don't think any of us got the optimal amount of studying accomplished (or really any).

Here's to finals and winter break!

<3

Just a test

2007-12-10T01:04:00.000-05:00

Test, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8.

Good.

Low Brass vs. Saxes

2007-12-09T22:56:00.000-05:00

This past weekend the freshmen members of the low brass and sax sections competed head to head in a Penn Band Challenge set up by the upperclassmen of the low brass section. Amongst other things, they competed in musicianship, humor, intelligence, and Lawrence Musketfeathers.

As part of musicianship, they sang the Ruff Ryder's Anthem and learned the cheerleader's dance to "The Red & Blue." (They were all pretty terrible on that last part.) However, the saxes came out on top for Ruff Ryder's, but the low brass won the "R & B" challenge.

As for humor, each section composed a song making fun of another Ivy League school. The saxes decided to make fun of Princeton to the tune of "The Final Countdown." Here are their lyrics:

The low brass, for their part, made fun of Yale to the tune "Bulldogs!" Their lyrics are as follows:

Pretty funny stuff, ha? I thought so, too. (The saxes won.)

As for intelligence, well, they now know a lot about the low brass section. And Lawrence Musketfeathers? Well, we all know what Lawrence Musketfeathers is, so why explain it? All that matters is that everyone was a winner this weekend in the Penn Band Challenge. Except Matt Conrad. No one wins with something like that...

Retroactive "live blogging": not as cool/funny as it sounds

2007-12-09T22:39:00.001-05:00

I promised a Loyola update, so here it goes:

(A view from the back seat of the Kooshmobile)

8:53 a.m.- Josiah and I make a stop at the 11th and Chestnut Dunkin' Donuts (can't cheer on the Quakers without caffeine).

9:03 a.m.- Koosh, Chloe and Deven pick us up at 12th and Spruce.

9:05 a.m.- Koob arrives! The radio tells us that there has been a shooting in one of Villanova's parking lots. Nobody cares.

9:06-10:45 a.m.- Deven sleeps, and Chloe learns how to spell all of our names. Smart kid (must run in the family).

10:46 a.m.- We pull into a parking lot next to Reitz (their athletic complex)...does 'Lot closed on Sunday' = free parking?

We wandered inside, got our tickets, and found a dining hall. Koosh convinces Chloe that M&Ms aren't suitable for breakfast. I drink a Gatorade (in case Miller decides to sub me in).

Something I always like to do whenever I'm on a college campus is check out the newspaper-- you can learn quite a bit in a relatively short amount of time. The front page of their paper ('The Greyhound', I believe) provided excellent game time fodder...apparently their mascot, Nicholas II (a greyhound), had just passed away. "Short-lived mascot (clap-clap-clapclapclap)?" Koosh suggested. Yes, very yes.

11:30 a.m.-ish- Noah et al. arrived. Loudly. Perfect.

12:00 p.m.- Tipoff!

12:01-2:00 p.m.- Heartache. Sloppy passing on our part and atrocious refereeing were the primary themes of the game.

A note about the student section:
Josiah and I were having a discussion about the dynamics of student sections, and we came up with an obvious conclusion: student sections will remain relatively silent unless 1) they are playing a highly-touted opponent (like #1 UNC), or 2) they are being antagonized by the opposition's student section. We were effectively the Red and Blue Crew for the day, and it wasn't until we began questioning the refs calls and supporting our guys that the 'dog pound' retaliated, albeit awfully. As the guy sitting in front of us told me, "You guys are good at co-opting cheers:

Loyola: "T-shirt (clap-clap)" (Grandieri is supposed to give a crap about this taunt? Seriously?)
Us: "We love t-shirts! (clap-clap-clapclapclap)
Loyola: -crickets-

Loyola: (game is nearly over) "Stick to reading!" (Wow, thanks for the compliment, guys)
Us: "We love reading!"
Loyola: no response

It was one of those games where you glance up at the clock with 15:00 to go in the second half and wonder what you can do to pass the time less painfully (Take Chloe to the bathroom? Make obscure historical references in chants to confuse the students? Buy another $1.00 hot dog?)

2:25 p.m.- Journey home. Slept almost the whole way back.

Next: a video that all Penn Band freshmen need to see, why high school parents make awful fans, and the semantics of fandom.

Monmouth University: Giving out HS Diplomas in School Spirit

2007-12-09T18:28:00.000-05:00

As Dr. Kushol Gupta (PHD), writes in his blog, the Penn band travels more than any other band in the country. And last night (Saturday) we were lucky enough to travel to the great institution of higher learning that's known as Monmouth University. (Two part trivia question: which President used the mansion on the grounds of Monmouth U for his summer residence? And what musical that was filmed in 1982 was partially filmed at the same mansion? Answers at end of blog.)

The game was at Boylan Gym, without a doubt the most high school-like gym I've ever been to in my year and half with the Penn band. (Cornell's stadium is a close second) How much like high school was it? Well for one they have banners for all of the championships that any one of their teams has won; the Palestra, on the other hand, only has championship banners from men's/women's basketball and volleyball (ie the sports that play in the Palestra). Two, it only sat like 2,2000, and was in your standard, two sections of bleachers on the sides of the court. And lastly, in the lobby of the gym, there was a bulletin board of their PE requirements (not kidding).

And to be honest, their fans were at the high school level. For one, they had absolutely no presence of a student section until the second half when about a dozen or less students stood up and did a few cheers every now. Instead, adults cheered and I don't mean just clapping after baskets; they were actually cheering during the game with "De-Fense" cheers and the like. But then again, it was just like high school where the parents of the players are the ones cheering. (In fact if you look at their roster, only one of their American born players is not within easy driving range.)

But the epitome of their "high schoolness" was their band. Even though we the Penn Band had limited numbers at the game, we still had more lowbrass (they literally had none and we had a tuba, euphonium, trombone and mellophone each), clarinets, and flutes. The only thing they had more than us was drum sets (1-0). Plus with their white and black striped uniforms they look like the Juventus soccer team. And their actual playing was as bad as their instrumentation and/or uniforms. They didn't sound that impressive at all, which is kind of sad considering they actually have auditions and applications for the group. Also, they play their fight song, which sounds crappy, all the time. Proof that it sucks? It was written in 1997. All good fight songs have to be written at least before the 1950's. Come on!

Another thing that really annoyed me about their band, and in some ways this might have been our Drum Major's choice, but we never got a chance to play our fight songs when the team came out. For some reason their Pep Band always plays songs in the last 6 minutes before the game starts. I have no problem with that as long as we play our fight song when our team comes out. Now I still don't know if they demanded it or if our Drum Majoresident Becca Goldman decided to, but instead of playing fight on as the Quakers entered the court, we sung the song. (Embarassingly, however, very few bandos knew all of the lyrics to our fight song; that shouldn't be the case). The same thing happened with Cheer Penn. Now I think it's unfair if they demand us to not play the fight song since back in the Palestra or Franklin Field we never care if another team plays their fight song while their team comes out if it's at the same time that our team does. Seriously, there's always conflicting fight songs going on. And frankly, there should be. It's a musical representation of the game.

So adding up all of these factors, a high school gym, a less than enthusiastic crowd, and a second rate pep band, and what is the result? The Penn Band steals the show. Maybe it's because everyone was so into the Carolina game and enjoyed it, but for whatever reason , the band kept up a high level of intensity throughout the night. We were so good that we even got another group of minors to adore us. This time it was a group of three boys that must have been around 12-13, right at the age when you starting thinking you're the coolest thing ever. They decided it would be hilarious if every time we did "De-fense" cheers they would say "Sucks, Sucks" right when we were clapping.

But mocking the band wasn't only restricted to prepubescent idiots. Their "Student section" of 12 did a cheer of "he's a freshman" when a freshman got an and 1. But when he preceded to miss the free throw, the band cheered back with "he's a freshman." So almost immediately after the "student section" yelled back at us "bandis, bandis." It was their only creative cheer of the night. (We responded with "we- can-read").

We were so impressive that a Monmouth-associated person came up to Koob, our amazing chaperone for the night, and complemented us. According to Koob:

Yeah, some Monmouth guy in a shirt and tie came up to me at one point and was like I'm from Monmouth, so I probably shouldn't be saying this, but you guys are awesome. He was really impressed with our energy and our constant cheering. Then he asked if he could rent us out. It was pretty funny.

Plus we got a sweet shout out from Vince Curran, the color commentator for the Penn radio basketball games. Obviously I didn't hear it since I wasn't listening to the radio, but Koosh said it went something like "look at the Penn Band dupe the Monmouth player by counting down 5-4-3-2-1 with plenty of time left [on the shot clock]." Thank you Vince, and yes it actualy worked a couple of times.

All in all, although the stadium was pretty worthless, it still was a great game to go to. Especially considering the Quakers finally got a road win!
______________________________________
Starting with this game, I'm going to keep track of all the songs we play in the band. There are going to be two categories of songs. One is songs that our Drum Major calls (this will be the wide majority of songs). There will also be songs that aren't necessarily called by our official drum major, but we play them anyway. As you'll see by the end of the year this category will mostly be filled by one song, Ruff Ryders' Anthem. (18 to Stop, Drop, read link). (Note I'm excluding Penn songs since we play them all the time.)

Songs played as of the Monmouth game:
DM called:

Land of 1,000 Dances
Video Killed the Radio Star
Free Bird
Sweet Child O' Mine
The Office theme
Holiday
The theme from Gummy Bears
Hip to be Square

Unofficially called:

Guns of Brixton
Ruff Ryders' Anthem

________________________________________
Answers to trivia questions: Woodrow Wilson and Annie

Ivy Season Preview

2007-12-07T19:35:00.000-05:00

This post is not about sports. It's about the third most important/fun part of being in band (1. The sports; 2. The free stuff) going on road trips to other Ivy League schools.

All the schools are equally worse than Penn, so they're all competing for number two, although some are more equal than others.

ON TO THE RANKINGS! (From expected to unexpected. I'll list the tops at least two and then the bottom, if applicable.)

Best Band (Musically)

1. Harvard- They're unparalleled musically in the Ivys. Great arrangements, great sound, sweet blazers.

2. Cornell- Not a true Ivy Band (they march, plus, it's for gym credit for many of them). That having been said there are lots of them and if there's one thing I've learned in music it's that the more people making music the louder the music sounds and the louder music sounds, the better the music is.

3. Yale- I put them here provisionally, one more horrible performance like the one they had at Franklin Field this year and they're off the list. Though their gun formation is great!

Worst Band (Musically)

6. Princeton- I heard it was their fall break when they played Penn at Franklin Field this year, I hope that's true.

7. Dartmouth- Horrible, when we heard them this year in Hanover they sounded horrendous, really truly awful.

Best Band (Socially)

1. Cornell- They have 2 members with superfluous nipples, if that wasn't enough they're also really nice.

2. Dartmouth- At least I think those were band kids. Maybe they weren't. Whatever. They were fun.

Worst Band (Socially)

7. Harvard- When we travel there we have fun, but not because of them.

Best City to Travel To (Sightseeing)

1. Boston- My personal feelings aside (I hate this city) there's usually fun stuff to do when we go here before a trip to Harvard.

2. Providence- Delicious hot dogs at Spike's and RISD, so a high number of weirdos. Nifty!

Worst City to Travel To (Sightseeing)

5. New York- Crowded, expensive, overdone.

6. Princeton- Not crowded, expensive, eating clubs.

7. Hanover- Horrible, the closest thing they have to fast food is an organic grocery store. There is nothing there, nothing at all.

Best City to Travel To (Partying/ WARNING 18 to read, 21 to understand)

1. Ithaca- Great, fun, plus if you've been drinking it's very hard to walk up their large, incline hills.

2. Hanover- There's a reason Animal House was based on a Hanover fraternity. Plus, they know what to do with paddles.

3. Princeton- This is conditional to one trip I made as a member of an a cappella group. An absolutely shockingly wild time.

Worst City to Travel To (Partying/ WARNING 18 to read, 21 to be depressed)

6. Providence- Eating hot dogs are the reason to go here.

7. Cambridge- Just sort of depressing.

Best Bus Trips (It's not the length baby it's how you use it.)

1. Ithaca- Only 5 hours. Time enough for some sweet quizo or a pair of movies.

2. Hanover- 7 Hours, we always get lost, it usually snows. Always excitingly unexpectedly horrible.

3. Princeton- Does not take very long to travel to or leave.

Not or Not (Ivy Bands in Terms of Attractiveness)

5. Harvard- Only raised because of Joe the Trumpet players love of French and tattoos, something they have in spades.

t.6 Yale

t.6 Columbia

t.6 Dartmouth

t.6 Princeton

t.6 Brown

7. Cornell- The ugliest band in America. Sorry.

Place I've Never Been Even Though I've Been in the Band 2 and 1/2 years:

1. New Haven- I always liked Old Haven better so I have a vendetta against them.

Also, the Harvard Bowl is pretty cool, no other stadium/gymnasium compares to Franklin Field or the Palestra though.

Individualistic Sections and Required Reading

2007-12-06T22:17:00.000-05:00

Just a couple of things tonight.

First, in response to Brain Greenberg's post from yesterday, I think it's good to know the development of the sections throughout the last 20 years or so. What's interesting, is that Brian refers to the sousaphones, trombones and "horneytones" as three separate sections. But the fact is, right now all of those comprise one section: the low brass. (You'll need a facebook account for that last hyperlink.) And like Brian implied, the low brass is now the "dominant" section.

Now before you yell at me for calling the low brass dominant, here out my explanation. First off, we are the loudest, so we theoretically dominant the music. But I'm not implying all other sections have inferior musicianship. Also, our cheering dominates during the sports games. But that doesn't mean non-low brass members don't cheer. I'm just saying we're the most ubiquitous section; it might seem we're goofing off in practice, but we're also the section that has asked the most questions, both serious and not, during rehearsals. (Of course Noah's "with repeats?" does inflate this, but it's still true.)

One thing we don't dominate is Newports consumption. That would be the trumpets. (We are a distant second.)

But the important thing here, is that all of the sections have their own role, and that role is important. Just like our songs require different instrumentations at different times, so must the band as a whole need different sectional personalities. Not everyone can be the "rowdy, party" section of the band, because then we'll just end up being like this. (Of course I'm not implying only the low brass has fun.)

Secondly, tonight I interviewed the author of Jumping Through Hoops: Why Penn Wins, a book about Quaker basketball as illustrated by the 2005-06 season. It's a really interesting read, and definitely a must for any Quaker fan. There are some references to the band throughout the book, and the author even said we're "the best band" he's ever seen. Although he followed up by saying not in quality of music, but in quality of school spirit. (At the same time he was a rambling old man, so who knows). Here's the story.

The Penn Band - A Hetero-Sectional Organization

2007-12-05T22:58:00.000-05:00

Picking up on Mel's point about how the band changes over the years, I want to talk for a minute about sections.

Anyone who's ever watched the Penn Band perform probably sees it as a cohesive group, working together toward a common goal - the song, the halftime show, the cheers, whatever. Those within the band see it a little differently. Yes, we're all part of a larger group, but we also have affiliations that make our experience in the band, both musically and socially, slightly different. The closest non-band analogy I can think of is a group of good friends that happen to be of different religions. They hang out together and share common experiences, but in certain circumstances (holidays, Sabbath, etc.) they break off into smaller groups and share experiences that are different than the rest.

When I entered the Penn Band in 1987, the dominant section was the Trumpet section, or the Chops, as everyone called us. The Chops were one of the largest sections (Koosh can check me, but I'd guess we had 15-20 in good standing), not to mention the loudest, the most boisterous, mischievous, and enthusiastic section in the band. We accomplished what the current band calls "cheers" almost exclusively with our horns. I'm sure there was a rule about the band playing during the game, but when the Chops played something on their own, it wasn't really the band playing, it was more like fans cheering (at least that's how we rationalized it - and no one ever called us on it, so there you go). There were the generic cheers (Michigan, Mambo, Tequila), as well as cheers for specific circumstances (injury: Quincy, bad call: Mickey Mouse, great play: Superman). There were also fanfares written specifically for (and often by) the Chops (Love-15, the Chops Medley, the Random Fugue in F Major). We even had our signature song, Joshua, which still exists today, although it's reputation seems to have degraded seriously in the intervening 20 years. Back in the late '80s, the Chops would start Joshua whenever they didn't care for whatever the Drum Major called, and the rest of the band would enthusiastically join in. I have vivid memories of then-President Michael Brose complaining to then-Director Claude White that Joshua should not appear on our album, Live at Smoke's because, "This is not a Chop album!" Today, Joshua is generally met with more of a groan, even by some of the Chops themselves. Sad. Very sad.

I could go on and on about the Chops, but there were other sections with their distinctive personalities as well. The Sousaphones come to mind immediately. Back in the day, there were no fancy Sousaphone covers with professionally printed Split-P logos on them. The Sousaphones would get together before the game, agree on a word to spell, and then paint letters on octag paper and tape them to their bells. The crowd would see it as a statement/joke made by the band, when really it was just the Sousaphone section expressing themselves. The Sousaphones would also (literally) run circles around cops directing traffic when we marched in the streets of Philadelphia, usually to the enjoyment of both the surrounding spectators and the cops themselves.

Then there were the Drummers and the Trombones, who basically combined to form the, well, the rowdy/party crowd in the band. Most belonged to an organization that has existed for decades, but one I hardly hear about anymore: the PGA (Koosh's rules about keeping this blog relatively clean prohibit me from divulging that the acronym stands for). Again, the rules were different back then, but these were the folks who would put a keg of beer in the back of the bus for long road trips, use beer in their cereal instead of milk on the morning of games, and occasionally have trouble showing up on time for and/or staying conscious throughout the entire football game. These folks had their detractors, to be sure, but they definitely added a certain element of fun and spontaneity to the band that wouldn't have been there otherwise.

As the years went on, the membership and personality of these sections changed. In the early '90s, two guys named Howie and Kevin started a brand new section known as the Horney Tones (made up of people who played marching French Horns or Baritone Horns). Howie and Kevin were extremely enthusiastic bandos, arranging events like "The Penn Band Olympics" over senior week (I still have a paper plate with the words "Winner - Longest Wiffle Ball Hit" written in Red and Blue on the back), and various parties and other social activities. As the section grew more popular and visible, Claude wrote them a few fanfares, their membership grew, and they slowly became the new Chops (as defined by the late '80s).

Today's band reflects still more changes. The Trombones are clearly the new Chops (or, perhaps, the new Horny Tones?), complete with fanfares, cheers, and sectional traditions (e.g., "Bonegiving"). The flutes also seem to have their own camaraderie as well, although, as with my experience on of the late '80s/early '90s, it seems to be more inward facing and, on at least one occasion, involved a wild Saturday Night of watching Gilmore Girls DVDs (talk about change...)

I'm sure these personalities will continue to evolve over time, and alums coming back for Homecoming, Alumni Day, etc. will help it along by demonstrating some of the old ways to the young blood coming up through the ranks. The changes are sometimes discouraging, but in the aggregate, they keep the band interesting and enrich the experience for everyone involved.

Wednesday Shorts

2007-12-05T21:54:00.000-05:00

As Zach pointed out, there was a big game yesterday between number 1 UNC and Penn. A loud Penn crowd (and an unsurprisingly large, under informed and embarrassingly silent North Carolina contingent) and a red faced Governor at a non-Eagles game, that's how you could tell it was significant.
Contrast that with the Penn Women's game tonight which featured the band, some screaming elementary/middle school girls and some old folks there to watch Lafayette. (It was snowing but the way the university treats womens' sports like second class citizens is remarkable.)
Tuesday was also a day to debate whether or not spreading lies ("Duke will without a doubt win the ACC." "Carolina will lose at least 8 games this year.") after a game is funny or not. It is.
Zach and I are trying to get on a regular schedule (with him updating Tues., Thur. and Sun. and me on Mon., Wed., Fri. and alternating Sat.) so with that in mind I encourage you to only check on my days as my posts are significantly more informative and funnier.
Friday: A look forward to Ivy Season featuring rankings of EVERYTHING (seriously).

Packed Palestra + Frantic Fans= Awesome Atmosphere

2007-12-04T22:36:00.000-05:00

Tonight was the biggest basketball game of the year: the No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels @ the Palestra on ESPN2. And as with all of the biggest Quaker sporting events, the Penn band was there. While the result of the game was disappointing, that doesn't mean the game wasn't fun. In fact, for the first half of the game, the sold out Palestra was absolutely hopping (or rocking, or whatever sweet gerund you want to use).

(Even halftime was sweet. While Joe went out for his usual Newport break, a two-man "Extreme Team" made some sweet acrobatic dunks using trampolines, including one where the Quaker held two balls out and each of the guys ran, jumped, grabbed the ball in midair and dunked it while doing flips.)

This game was one of those sweet instances when I'm glad the band is involved. Yet again, as with many of the not-as-important games, the band was leading the Palestra in cheers. The most important of these cheers were in the second half. Unfortunately at this time the game got out of hand (we were outscored 57-34), but more unfortunately the Red and Blue crew severely cut back on their cheering. To be fair though, I was impressed that nearly the entire Palestra stayed for the duration.

On an aside, I wasn't too impressed by the Carolina fans. For one they didn't send any band although this isn't that shocking since no ACC bands travel for conference road games by rule. Yet at the same time there were still tons of Carolina fans, perhaps as many as 45% of the Palestra. Clearly UNC is one of the most popular (read bandwagon) teams in America. And considering the Tar Heels never come to the Philly region, it makes sense why a lot of UNC fans would come. Yet, despite the high attendance, the only chants they tried to start were some feeble attempts at "Let's go tar heels" and their go-to cheer where one group of fans yells Tar! and the other responds with Heels! This is what it's supposed to sound like. (Well at least that's with a nickname, and not the spelling of the state your team's from.)

But the highlight of the night came from a non-bando. Ed Rendell, the current governor of Pennsylvania and an avid Penn Hoops fan (class of '65) was in attendance as he is for many Penn games. At one point the head ref reversed a call a fellow official made (a tied up ball) and instead called a foul on Penn. (Worst referee ever; he might not have called a single foul on UNC the whole night.) All Penn fans booed and others did even worse things. And good ol' Gov Ed was one of them. Turning nearly red in the face he stood up and proceeded to yell at the top of his lungs at the ref. If only he had a snowball.

The Penn Band's A-Changin'

2007-12-02T20:21:00.001-05:00

so, i'm sitting at the info desk in the library, staring at the gorgeousness that is eric swanson. and of course that prompts me to write in the blog. swanson can have that effect on people. (oh, and yes - he is "in another state." at the library. go swanson.)

last night members of the low brass section got together to hang out at geezer billloth's apartment. in attendance were myself, kettler, palusci, klitzman, big stunna, ellen, and lauren. and of course bill! we just listened to music and shared stories. oh, and we played duck hunt! seriousy - duck hunt! it was awesome!

anyway, listening to all the stories everyone was telling about the band got me thinking. (yes, i'm a senior and a lot of my posts will therefore be reflective/nostalgic.) i feel like in many ways i am a bando caught between various waves. (in fact, last night at nova, i was told by klitzman/joe that we will be staying with the cornell band in the spring b/c "[my] generation" is the old one and the "new generation" doesn't want to stay with columbia.)

on one hand i am very proud to see this new wave taking over for the penn band. (for instance, seeing klitzman speak so well at election made me both proud and happy that younger students are blossoming into leadership roles.) but on the other hand it makes me sad. a lot of people don't like the cheers we did my frosh year - like u-g-l-y and and the baskeball "who's your daddy" cheer. i just hate that these cheers might die as soon as i leave.

and again, i could very much identify with bill's stories last night b/c my frosh year i hung out with a lot of geezers. but then again, the people in my section now are probably the reason i still show up to band. (i have come to the realization that if i didn't like them so much my attendance might have dropped off when i came back from abroad.) it's just really hard to feel like i have no set place in this band. i don't know. i know that i don't need a set group - honestly i love that i am a part of both. it's just strange. and i am sure that many seniors go through this. it is just strange to put it into words.

i look at the future and i know that i will always have a place to come back to. at the same time, i see some of my friends that are now alums and they are sort of bitter. i just hope that doesn't happen to me. (honestly, i won't. i'm not that type of person. not that those people are bad in any way. i'm just not like that.)

alright, i have to switch desks right now. gosh, i'm such downer when i post! although swanson is still stumbling around as i look over at him, and how can anyone be depressed knowing that?!?!?! (and yes, the greatest question i got last night was from a frosh who asked if swanson is really "like that" all the time. and of course the answer is "yes." another new thing that i absolutely love!)

ps - got a text last night from my buddy xavier at columbia. it read, "you know willow joined cumb now. she says she's totally over the penn band..." :-(

Wednesday without Field Rehearsal: I'm crying on the inside

2007-11-28T21:44:00.001-05:00

Tonight is the first real Wednesday without a band field rehearsal since the football season ended. (The night before Thanksgiving doesn't count since no one's here anyway). And in some ways this is sad. As Vice President elect Michael Kettler said during his campaign speech on Monday "field rehearsal is great because the band comes together and plays some music, jokes around and has a good time" (definitely not a direct quote, but a very loose paraphrase.)

I couldn't agree more Mike. I'd say Field Rehearsal is one of the sweetest things about being in the band (besides free stuff all the time). For a hour or so we get to march on the field in the oldest two tiered college football stadium in the country, the same place where the Eagles played for 13 years from 1958-1971 , and home to the nation's largest and oldest track and field events . And the beauty is that we have the whole of Franklin Field to ourselves.

What's really cool is that unlike other colleges and probably most high schools, our field rehearsals are fun times. While we're serious about learning the formations and whatnot, we still joke around and enjoy ourselves on Franklin Field. Like during the one on Halloween when I threw a football right at Joe Coyne who was wearing a Newports cigarette box as a costume. Or the time when Greer tackled Joe.

But without a doubt the best part of Field Rehearsal is something we call Band Football League. After the rehearsal is "over" the real fun starts. Since we still have Franklin Field all to ourselves we play a little pickup game of football. And since it's the band, anyone can play, regardless of skill level. This year alone we had superior athletes like Handsome Hands Tom Tom, to old men like Greer to freshmen sensations like Lauren to our Drum Majoresident Becca and loads in between.

In fact one of my regrets about Basketball season is that we don't have something similar to BFL or to field rehearsal. I mean seriously, how sick would it be to play pick up basketball in the Palestra? Probably sicker than Greer was after playing BFL (just joking, Greer did awesome).

UPDATE: Today's the first Saturday since the start of the year (Thanksgiving weekend aside again) that didn't have a football game. Unlike last Wednesday, I'm glad about this since I got to sleep in to 2pm. Nice.

Elections Postmortem and Why I Love/Hate the New Media

2007-11-28T17:57:00.001-05:00

I had to take a day off to heal from the harrowing (and borderline crippling...my wrists hurt) experience of live blogging a Penn Band election but I figured I should punch up a postmortem with some quick thoughts about the election.

More than anything else this election appeared to be about two things: 1. Whether the band is too rambunctious. 2. Whether or not we communicate well as a band.
The Board is made up of all guys.
The Board is made up of only brass players.
The Board is made up of 2 incumbents and 2 first time board members.

What does any of this mean? Well, maybe nothing. We're one of the only performing organizations on Penn's campus that has an actual adult leadership. The Board, at the end of the day, still has to answer to Greer, Koosh and Adam.

However, the election also interestingly displays the band's character. Mike Kettler, a rambunctious member of band who lost the Vice Presidency last year, won this year. Joe Coyne, often perceived to be one of the most rambunctious people at Penn, won this year. These two are tempered by Ben Gaines, who has been very even in his approach to just about everything this year as Vice President (he soothes like Tums), and Eamonn who is at his most rambunctious when requesting that we play Band March (not all the time, but close).

As for the new media: The Penn Band and the Daily Pennsylvania's Sports Section have had a rocky relationship in my 3 years here (despite several members of band being members of both groups.) The other day Buzz Blogger Josh Wheeling either took a shot at or complimented the Penn Band (ambiguous). This, as blogs are wont to do, started a comment war about the relative merits of the band (Some: Great! Others: Sucks!).

Obviously, I have no problems with those who hate the band (people have been wrong for generations and will continue to be wrong after I die). I do have a problem with this: commenter anonymity. If you're going to take a shot at an organization on your campus, don't be a coward, use your real name, or just admit that you're former Daily Pennsylvanian Sports Writer Jeff Shafer.

LIVE BLOG: Penn Band Elections

2007-11-26T17:56:00.000-05:00

It's 5:57 PM and we are Live! in the Cheeseman Lab of Atonal Polyphony. That's right, I'm going to live blog the Penn Band elections.

First, we'll go through the candidate list as it stands at the moment:

President
Ben Gaines (Trumpet, Junior, Incumbent Vice President)
Zach Klitzman (Low Brass, Sophomore, BFL Captain/Blogger)

Vice President
Erik Hickman (Trumpet, Junior, From Oregon)
Mike Kettler (Trombone/Low Brass, Junior, Recruitment Chair, WENT TO GONZAGA!)

Secretary
Rebecca Aaberg (Clarinet, Sophomore, Blogger)
Joe Coyne (Trumpet, Sophomore, Big time Cusser/Mean Dude/WENT TO THE PREP!)

Treasurer
Eamonn O'Callaghan (Tuba, Junior, Incumbent Treasurer)

Usually, there's a couple of people who throw their names in the ring during elections. This year appears to be different, however, with a large number of incumbents and Juniors running for positions. I'll check back in with updates regarding speeches, victories, and the fashions they're wearing.

6:06 PM

All the candidates have arrived. The presidential candidates are both in polos with long pants with Gaines appearing more formal in a button-down and khakis and Klitzman in jeans. The outfit disparity is even greater in the Vice Presidential race. Kettler is wearing khakis and a t-shirt, while Hickman has shown up in a full technicolor dream suit (purple shirt, yellow tie). Joe Coyne, surprisingly, looks like a normal human being in a nice sweater and jeans with a haircut. Aaberg is in a red t-shirt with jeans, she also looks like a normal human being. This is much less remarkable than Joe looking normal. Eamonn looks Eamonn-licious (blue polo that has some vague and I imagine corporate logo, blue jeans).

In other news Good Times Carly Weiss (Drums/Keytar, Sophomore, Good Times) has gotten her braces off.

6:11 PM
The band, in general, is showing up late tonight. Either that or turnout is low. This is neither a free food nor practice rehearsal. Interestingly, flute turnout is very high. Maybe even higher than usual. I'm not suggesting Kennedy's Texas in 1960 high, but something to keep an eye on if a flute candidate throws his/her (just kidding, they're all hers) hat into the ring.

6:13 PM
I'm talking to RGCIII. He already has 6 proxy votes (voting while being away), though one of them may not have returned his parka, so there may only be 5.

A Brief Interview
Noah: Greer, how do you feel about the election process?
Greer: It works.
Noah: Have you ever seen an election for the band where you are really frustrated with the results?
Greer: The band always gets the board it deserves.

It seems like Greer is asserting that he has hated boards in years past. I'm looking at you Board of 2003 (Loth, Haddad, Kohl and Tsai).

6:18 PM
Cheeseman kicks things off by saying he's "missionary" position...nice.

Koosh and Greer do a very awkward and obvious plant question. The long and short of it is that you may abstain. Vote by writing down the full last name, otherwise your vote doesn't count.

The first "eat it" motion of the night comes out.

I am the number 7 registered voter.

Adam Sherr, one of the patron saints of Bonegiving is here.

6:21 PM
Presidential elections are up first. Ben Gaines and Zach Klitzman are the candidates. Hal is jokingly nominated. He respectfully declines.

Gaines steps up wearing a tie that I hadn't noticed before.

Gaines' Speech: He's been equipment manager and VP. Loves his time with the group has tried to be as involved as possible. He's helped plan Disney trip, wrote shows (with show writing committee), helps plan road trips with Joe. He's trying to get to know us. Wants to make band a great experience. Takes direct shot at the "rambunctious" members of band. Band has done more for him than he's done for the band. Grown as a leader, become more assertive, more social, these would help him as president. Has experience and skills necessary. Nothing would make him happier.

Klitzman's Speech: He's Zach Klitzman and he plays Euphonium. This is like his family, except not everyone has the last name of Klitzman. He's never missed a basketball game, no missed rehearsals this semester, never missed an overnight trip. Last year's Freshman of the Year (by a wide margin). Leading by example (someone's cell phone has gone off, it's Eamonn's). He wants to be a vocal leader (he writes for the blog, he's very loud at Penn games). Quotes, the band constitution wants to be official leader of this group. Could improve on the communication in the band to outside groups. President as issuing directive rather than dialogue (edit: This is the opposite of what he wants). More openness, like someone's weird uncle we need more inter-sectional unity/social events. There have been unfavorable DP quotes, he would work with DP to solve this, oversight committee for football scripts.

Q&A Period:
Gupta asks a question first. It's very long, complaint about language at basketball game. Gaines answers first, he feels very strongly about it, cheering has gotten out of hand. Here's what he has that's inappropriate: "Engaging small Children, 'S#!%adel', @$$#0$3". Here's what is appropriate: "You suck/Eat It, Engaging Fans, Heckling". Klitzman says "Engaging athletes is part of the experience of being a fan, it's both cheering on your team and being creative in putting down the other team." "Slight cursing is okay." "Engaging small children is hilarious." We would have stopped taunting the children if their parents hadn't been such huge deadbeats.

Becca Goldman (Current Drum Major-esident), asks a question that again directly attacks "the rambunctious members of band". I exit my role as silent character and respond that I was the one who first had chanted the hilarious anti-Citadel chant.

Erik Hickman asks a question regarding "you suck/Rock and Roll Part II Chant". Gaines responds that it's an intrinsic part of the atmosphere. Ben, yet again, takes a shot at "the rambunctious members of band", from here on out I'm going to short hand that as Not Outwardly Appropriate Heathens or NOAHs.

Eamonn asks what other time commitments they have outside of Band and Class. Ben has an answer that he has real interests that involve things I barely understood. Klitzman responds that he's a liberal arts major and writes for the DP and that he would cut down even more for Band President.

Elaine asks why do you have the necessary experience to Klitzman. TR, JFK and Bill Clinton were all young presidents. Klitzman points out that 3/4 of the current board was elected as sophomores, also that Ben Gaines is only 4 months younger than him. He also discusses his role in BFL.

Mel asks, what's on your tie? (Ben: "Instruments!"). Also, what's your most important contribution to the band, one thing? Klitzman: Enthusiasm; Gaines: "Not to be the same but..." dedication.

Becca gets the last question, what do you think the president does? (Becca: "Because I didn't have much of an idea.") Gaines, who's on the board with Becca, responds with what I assume is a correct answer. Klitzman also responds in a sort of meaningless way.

Hickman again, what does SMAC stand for? Klitzman nails it.

Closing Statements: Klitzman: throws out bunch of words; Gaines: "I think you've heard everything we both have to say...Vote for me."

Analysis: Gaines had a clear and large advantage but Klitzman really brought the fight to him. I would imagine Gaines will win this. However, Zach did a very impressive job for a Sophomore running for his first position.

Interview:
Noah: How do you feel you did?
Klitzman: I feel I did pretty well, although obviously the big question mark, my lack of experience came up.
Noah: There were a lot of questions asked about the NOAHs, how did you feel about those questions being a referendum on other members of the band?
Klitzman: I felt it was somewhat legitimate as it came from Koosh since he personally is not against the said person. While it's not an unimportant issue, I felt they were making too big a deal out of it.

Results:
Gaines wins.

6:53 PM
The Vice Presidential race begins. This race holds a lot of personal import as Mike Kettler (close friend of mine) was violently kept out of this position last year, I assume by the GREAT BEARD OF PITTSBURGH (though Ben Gaines, our new fearless leader did an excellent job as Vice President. LONG LIVE CHAIRMAN GAINES!!!).

Kettler's Speech: "I'm here to ask you for your votes." Experience and dedication. I've had a ton of leadership positions. Council, equipment manager, recruitment chair. The speech is interrupted by Atone in the closet. I'm very creative, had a big hand in recruitment. Our recruitment this year has been pretty great. I'm also a part of Fanfare, joined as soon as I could. Helping to have more parties, doing the dirty work, willing to continue taking off my shirt as long as we need money. Been the voice of the band for the last two years. Unique perspective on the Vice President's Job. I'm passionate about the band and this job. I like it cause we get to write scripts and I like to do that. Greer tries to stop his speech. Kettler likes the job so much he's wearing band pants.

Hickman's Speech: He opens with jokes about Pirates. (An aside: I love Pirates.) I yell out jokes at basketball games. I did not create those, I read these on a website, the UVA Band website. I helped spawn the Wizard of Oz show. I have been to a lot of show writings. Show writing committee is responsible for a lot of it. But Vice President has to be leader when President isn't there. I feel like I can get along with anyone on The Board. I get along with anyone in the band, "I get along with you Noah."

Q&A
John Palusci's question is about retaining freshmen. Kettler responds that it's about enthusiasm, you don't have to be there. "You don't have to be here and listen to [jerks] like me discussing how awesome I am." Hickman responds that he thinks dedication is important.

Joe's question is about mingling with the freshmen and making them want to be here, what have you done to keep freshmen specifically? Hickman, I've shown enthusiasm "to the chagrin of clarinets or saxaphones", I wasn't particularly social at the BBQ but that was the fault of the freshmen, not me. Kettler fires back that all he was trying to do for a while was mingle with freshmen, emphasize section leadership, emphasize roadtrips.

Mel's question, what have you done that you didn't have to do but you took the initiative to do it. They're both stunned momentarily silent. Hickman says he stays later and locks people in (gives it a real Silence of the Lambs vibe, gets a nice laught). Kettler says he's been to every football game with the exception of one because he was at OSU-UM in Ann Arbor but he goes above and beyond.

Becca's question reminds us they've both lost board positions before. Hickman says he changed positions because he looked deep inside. Kettler says he has a greater understanding of what is or isn't appropriate.

President Gaines asks how can you figure out where to draw the line. Kettler actively responds first that dying is less funny than teenage pregnancy. Also, he says people should be able to say anything they want that doesn't harm someone else. Takes a shot at Adam. On 2 occasions I've prevented us from forming phallic symbols on the field. Hickman tauts his friendship with Ty. Also, he can draw a strict line. Kettler rebuts that we shouldn't just self-censor ourselves totally, we should have alternatives that we know will get by. Hickman re-responds that not everything is something we should need to get by.

Klitzman asks is you have specific show ideas. Hickman wants to get a "Rowbottom" into a show. Kettler says that almost everything is current events.

Joe asks number of show writing meetings you were at this year. Kettler, all of them. Hickman, not all of them. Joe cuts him off when he tries to explain. Some people are offended by Joe.

Roger asks, should people who are really good friends and in the same section be both president and vice president and Kettler how could make sure this stays a collaborative process. Hickman, I have friends outside the chops. Kettler doesn't want to write all the shows by himself.

Analysis: I thought Kettler had a really nice advantage of having been to all the show writings but I'm concerned that Joe's question may have hurt Mike. As Roger pointed out, Ben and Erik are friends and Ben just won. Every race is tough tonight.

Interview
Noah: Has there ever been a board elected that you've disapproved of?
Koosh: Before the fact, no.
Noah: What makes an objectionable or good board?
Koosh: Before or after the fact. I guess their record in the end. How they handled the tasks that were placed before them.
John: Would you prefer a board that sort of prolongs the status quo as opposed to one that takes the band in new directions.
Koosh: I don't think they're mutually exclusive.
Noah: I was reading about "The General" one of the so called greatest leaders of the Red and Blue Crew.
Koosh: Yeah! The General, he was a really great guy.
Noah: This post was about the 2005 Brown-Penn Game at the Palestra. Notable for the way Penn killed Brown and also the fact that the crowd chanted at "@$$hole" at Forte for about 97 minutes.
Koosh: That pales in comparison to what we did to Princeton in 1999.
Noah: So why is that great and NOAHs are so appalling?
Koosh: Are you ascribing that chant to John Lubin?
Noah: No, the post suggests that the entire Palestra was doing it.
Koosh: Yeah probably the entire student section.
Noah: I was at that game. I was at that whole game. The band was also chanting @$#*!%. That made me want to join the band more. Do you want less of me in the band?
Koosh: A. I wouldn't replace you for the world. B. You're linking the two. The cause and effect. There's more substantive reasons to join the band than that.
Noah: I agree, however, what I said was it was a primary motivator and something that let me know that even an Ivy League band could be a cool group of people, rather than a bunch of introverted, anti-social band nerds.
Koosh: I prefer a larger view of what the band is. You're making it very specific. It's not an adequate view as to what the band is.

Results:
Kettler wins.

7:25 PM

Hickman after losing the Vice Presidency runs against 2 year incumbent treasurer Eamonn.

Eamonn's Speech: I think I'm a good fit for this position. I've done 2 SAC budget requests. Helped set up the new PayPal links. I'm dedicated to the band. Aside from Treasurer, I'm also in Fanfare. Been to both Relays for Life. Vote for Eamonn.

Hickman's Speech: He doesn't get one cause he already spoke.

Q&A

Anabelle asks what was your management project and what grade did you get? Eamonn helped kids set up a thrift shop at their school (B-). Hickman helped the elderly have a luncheon (B-).

Mel asks about their organizational skills. Eamonn uses excel, I'm on top of receipts that aren't Mel's. Hickman, I can also use excel.

Rebecca Aaberg aasks aabout aa girl in her section who never got her pants. They didn't have them ready till the day before the very last game. The only thing I could have done would be encourage her to go down with a group.

Elaine asks how many hours they work. Hickman, 9 but he works in Platt. Eamonn does 10-15 hours at the Video Vault, but he can do most of his work from his computer.

General Gaines asks why Eamonn's running for treasurer again and why Hickman dropped down. It's cause treasurer is what Eamonn wants to be. Hickman wants to give more by joining board and this is his last chance. Takes a shot at 5th years. Koosh disrupts.

Vice Provost Kettler asks about how Hickman can live up to the job that Eamonn has done. Also, do you have skills that set you apart from Eamonn.

Connie asks what areas could you improve to Eamonn. Eamonn thinks that he could give money back in a more timely manner. Hickman agrees that timeliness is important.

Erin: "What's your least favorite part of being treasurer?" Eamonn: "SAC Meetings."

Raimy asks what Eamonn contributes to the Board. He does a large number of the little things. Becca interjects that he's taken minutes.

Analysis:
Eamonn should be impossible to displace. Though Hickman is a great contender.

Results:
Eamonn wins.

7:44 PM
A male chop runs against a female clarinet player for Secretary. Joe v. Aaberg.

Joe's Speech: I don't have time to tell you how much I love the band. I'm always here. I get paid to do this job, I make collate and file attendance lists for money. The last three iterations of Penn Band Secretary have been quiet and introverted. Joe proceeds to name every person in the band.

Rebecca's Speech: Insults Joe's grammar, twice. She's section leader. She can communicate with a section. I can get things together. Works in the Harnwell house office, has secretarial experience. Won't name everyone in band.

Q&A
Noah asks will you please name everyone in band? She names them but slower.

Mel asks why don't you have good standing to Aaberg, slash what is the priority of the band? Joe answers, I've missed no Monday night rehearsals and I've missed 2 games, one for a funeral and one for my Mom's 50th. Are you organized? Rebecca yes, Joe not personally, but I am professionally.

Elaine asks will you have a 20 second dance off? They do.

Our Father Ben Gaines, how often do you check your email? Both check all the time.

Kettler asks can we have a smoke off? They don't.

Koosh asks what's your vision for the next 365 days. Joe responds, my major goal is getting people to women's games and for summer going to high school camps cause the girls are sweet, Joe had a 2K11 pow-wow with the Freshmen and they're devoted. Rebecca wants more social events outside of band and to play at games.

Klitzman asks Rebecca exactly what do you do for Harnwell House Office. She keeps communication between the house dean and the students. She's an organizational powerhouse.

The Almighty Gaines asks about working with the other people on the board. Rebecca can work with anyone. Joe likes the idea of working with Ben and Kettler because they bounce ideas off each other so often.

Mel asks why are you so abrasive Joe? Would you tone that down? "I'm kind of like sandpaper but with glass on it." "While I seem like a jerk, I do love ideas." Rebecca, I'm not abrasive (trombone section dissents).

Robert asks what's your favorite font. Joe responds wingdings. Rebecca, Geneva.

Joe asks if you can't read how can you be secretary? Mental imagery.

Analysis: Girls hold the secretary position, that's the way the Lord wanted it. Joe might win this though but this election has been hard to get a read on, I'll predict Rebecca.

Results:
Joe wins.

The board is a sausage fest. All guys.

Joe caps the night with an EAT IT!

Adaptive Traditions

2007-11-19T21:00:00.000-05:00

Traditoinalize- (v.) to make traditional

“‘Tis better to Bone Give than to Bone Receive!”- Lawrence Musketfeathers (1898)

Tonight was the last rehearsal before Thanksgiving break. Therefore, it was time for the ritual celebration of Bonegiving. From the Challah of Bifurcation to the veal, all the symbols of the holiday were in place and the gluttonous celebration commenced.
Being in the band affords the opportunity to see something become tradition, something that was lost to time or something completely new. I.E.

ARN, the Penn (and Stanford) Band’s victory song, features a trombone lick. After every Ivy League victory the Trombones traditionally play the fight song/alma mater of the other school, and by traditionally I mean this started during basketball season last year.
Bonegiving, founded in 1898, lost in 1973 and returned to the Penn Band Low Brass Section in 2006. An event full of gluttony and fun that was, hopefully, traditionalized tonight.

These “traditions”, despite their relative newness hold important places in the hearts and minds of the section. In his blog post, Dr. Gupta discusses the institutional memory of undergraduate groups. He’s right, kind of. The role of the upperclassmen is not solely to teach and maintain long term memory, it’s to adapt to the strengths of the group. A tradition should not necessarily look the same year after year, it should continue to shift and change until it’s something that conveys the feeling the tradition originally intended, which, on Bonegiving, is stuffed to a point of nearly vomiting every time you stand up, walk, sit down or lay down. I’m feeling Bonegiving-y right now.

Commentary on this weekend

2007-11-18T23:01:00.000-05:00

Rebecca did a really good job of explaining the busy weekend the Penn Band had, so I won't repeat what she said. However, I'd like to give my thoughts on the experience on the whole.

With three sporting events, one outdoor film session and a couple of "social gatherings," I estimated that I spent at least 20 hours with the band in a 40 hour span. Yeah, that's a lot of bandos.

But even though I never want to hear our drum cadence again, or play land of 1,000 dances (seriously Becca, three times yesterday, not to mention a lot for CBS today?!) I'm glad I spent as much time as I did. The band is really like a family away from home, or whatever lame cliché you want to use, and spending that much time with the band makes you realize how awesome it is.

By doing all the things we did this weekend, we really lived up to our purpose as stated in our Band Constitution:

The purpose of this organization shall be to serve the entire community of the University of Pennsylvania through its support of the University's athletic teams... Its purpose is, moreover, to provide a social atmosphere in which the individual band member's experience at the University is made more meaningful and complete.

While it was a lot of fun supporting the Quakers (even if we can't seem to win a game on the hardwood), equally important is the bond that we create when we come together and play music, cheer, or just hang out at the "band house" on a Saturday night.

So while standing in the rain today for 2 hours sucked, it's the experience that matters.

Of course the downside to all of that is that now I only have Sunday night to do my homework. Oh well.

Proof that all flutes think alike

2007-11-18T18:39:00.001-05:00

Saturday was my last football game as an undergraduate (yes, I am completely aware that it will never be my "last" game, but in terms of my undergraduate career at Penn, this was my last game). I have to admit that it was really exciting to hear my name read over the speakers of Franklin Field. My non-band friends in attendance thought that the show was really entertaining.

Pictured above: Most of the Penn Band Class of 2008 with the Quaker
(From l-r, front: Connie, Melanie, Brooke, Janelle. back: Shannon, Megan, Sofie, Raimy, the Quaker, Annabelle)

My favorite moment of the game, though, had nothing to do with football - hey, I still don't understand the sport, after four years in the band. To set the story up for those of you that are not currently in the band or have somehow stumbled upon this blog, Joe, a sophomore trumpet player, has a tendency to shout "Eat It!" whenever Penn does something good, the opposing team does something stupid or wrong, or just about any other context you could possibly imagine. At a flute section dinner on Friday night, a few of us decided that we should make signs that say "Eat it" and hold them up to the trumpets every time Joe says the phrase - we cut out each letter in pink construction paper, mounted it on a white or black background, and glued it to cardboard. The exclamation point was dotted with a heart and covered in glitter, and since there were 7 of us and only six letters/punctuation marks, we also cut a larger heart out of construction paper and used that as the space between the two words. There was obviously no other way to make the statement flute-ish or feminine than by making it pink and glittery.

Little did we expect that when we got to the game, two of the freshman flutes that had not been with us the previous night and were not aware of the signs, had done something similar on their own! Cindy, whose uncle made the shirts, and Andrea were wearing bright red t-shirts, one that said "EAT" and the other which said "IT". Proof that all flutes think alike.

The flutes sit in the second row, behind the drummers, so most of the band got a good view of the signs/shirts when we held them up behind us after Joe had screamed his signature phrase. After the signs and shirts had been unveiled, everyone started laughing, and most of the band chanted "Flutes! Flutes! Flutes!" Never in my life did I imagine that the chops and low brass would be cheering for the flutes at a football game... or ever, for that matter.

The flutes with our lovely signs
(From l-r, Brooke, Raimy, Becca, Shannon, Megan, Danielle, Sasha)

Cindy and Andrea with their amazing shirts

Three minutes of playtime

2007-11-18T18:17:00.000-05:00

It's been quite a band-filled weekend! Yesterday started with the last football game of the season. The senior show was "Survivor: West Philadelphia" and included swimming across the Skullkyl (why is it that I still don't know how to spell that??) as one of the "challenges." I think it went pretty well, although the jokes were quite a bit longer, and I got dizzy from all the do-see-do-ing (yeah, I don't know how to spell that either) my section (the clarinets) was (were) doing for organized chaos. Right after the game, we all ran over to the Palestra to play back to back basketball games. Maybe it was 10 hours of band, but it was worth every minute (especially since it meant that I wasn't doing homework).

Part of the band has started quoting from Spiderman throughout any sporting, social, or other event possible. Right before Peter Parker fights in the cage match pretty near the beginning of his time as Spiderman (although I believe he attempts to go by the name "The Human Spider" at the time), his opponent warns him that Parker can't leave, tells him he has "three minutes of playtime," and makes this horrible frightening face. Those are the three or four lines that I think I've heard 20 times (at least) this weekend. Of course, every time it's said, it must be done with all kinds of gestures and facial expressions (most of which I'm convinced are going to give me nightmares). It's really pretty comical at first. I always laugh a little the first time I hear it, but by the fifth or sixth time during a game, it starts to lose something. Even so, it's just one of those band obsessions, much like the theme song to "The Office" that is perpetually stuck in my head--with lyrics sung by Joe, of course (argh). Gotta love it.

Today CBS filmed us at Franklin Field for a documentary of some kind that will be on at the end of the year. Other than the 40 degree weather (with rain!), extra 90 minutes of playing, and random dancing during the cadence, it wasn't so bad. Actually, I have to admit that it was kinda fun, and definitely nice to be (at least somewhat) recognized as a group. But really, I could have done without the fist thrusts. That was just a little too cheesy, in my opinion.

<3

Nah nah nah nah nah, it's the k-l-i-t-z.

2007-11-15T12:42:00.000-05:00

So as my first post, I'll give some personal background. I'm a euphonium player in the band and currently a sophomore. I am also a part of Fab Five Gen X, which is pretty much five guys who try to keep the band entertaining (we're the ones who took our shirts off at rehearsal yesterday that Rebecca previously posted).

While I love the music of the band, I think equally important is just our participation in the crowds at the sporting events. That's why over the last few days we've had a discussion on our email listserv about cheering at the games. While I won't get into the stupid arguments going back and forth (which I know I started), I will say this. Chanting/cheering is a key aspect of the band, especially considering we're not allowed to play our instruments while the ball is in play. Thus, I think everyone in the the band that wants to, should be able to cheer however loudly they want, as long as the cheers are clean. (Although cursing in cheers is a whole separate issue.)

That's why I was slightly disappointed when I heard that a couple of people in the percussion section had "threatened" my boy Joe "I'm from NYC, don't mess" Catania if he continued chanting all the time. Come on guys, he's just trying to have fun and support our Quakers. And considering the bleak outlook of our teams this year, they can use all of the vocal support possible.

Clothing optional?

2007-11-15T01:21:00.001-05:00

Tonight several members of the band decided to get something off their chests...their shirts. What began as a harmless ploy to get band money on Monday ("We'll put these shirts back on when you pay!") quickly turned into what I am hoping will not become a recurring theme. In the future, please please PLEASE wear clothes. This is definitely going down as one of my most memorable field rehearsals...

<3

Hello, World...

2007-11-15T00:28:00.001-05:00

Greetings, all. Your resident alumni blogger here. Brian Greenberg, Class of '91. Trumpet player (That's "Chop" to those of us in the know...) There's more in terms of biography, but that'll come later.

But first, a quick note to Mel and Brooke - if you think Saturday is your last football game, you're crazy. I was at 38 football games as an undergrad (two of the forty were on Yom Kippur...), and I've been to 15-20 since (including an away game at Princeton!). It's only over when you say it's over (or when the Germans bomb Pearl Harbor, but that's another movie...) Or, you could make a career out of it and change your name to Greer, Koosh, or Adam. Like I said...options.

Anyway, I'll try to drop by here periodically and throw out an old war story or two. If it all works out, we can make this a place where band alums come to congregate, talk, share stories, etc. That would be awesome...

Greetings!

2007-11-15T00:25:00.000-05:00

To write for an audience or not to write for an audience? Blogs beg the question, but I'll save my answer for a later time. For now, here's a brief summary of who I am and why I'm choosing to contribute to this blog.

Most people call me Lisa. I graduated in May as a member of the Class of 2007 (our Facebook group asserts, "We're the best Class of 2007 ever"), and I'm currently living and working in Philadelphia as a clinical research specialist at an academic medical center, Thomas Jefferson University. The study that I'm working on is investigating the correlation between cardiovascular risk factors (like diabetes, hypertension, etc.) and cognitive decline (memory loss) in older adults. Day-to-day I enjoy what I do, although there are some days that are particularly rewarding/depressing. As a Penn Band member, I was a member of the clarinet section, served on the 2006 Bored as President, conducted at a fair number of women's basketball games, perfected the face painting art of 'quadrants', and lost my wallet at a Burger King in Connecticut on the Harvard/Dartmouth road trip (thanks for spotting me money for Subway once we got to Hanover, Greer).

Why do I choose to blog? When I was in high school, I desperately sought out any kind of personal accounts or experiences Internet strangers were offering to share about life at their respective universities, and, now that I have time to live a life devoid of homework, exams and paper deadlines, it's my turn to give back. That, and I certainly have had a memorable love affair with the Penn Band (no, not in the Humbert Humbert way)-- sometimes stories just need to be shared!

Next up: the Fab Five Gen X et al. take a roadtrip to Baltimore...

Retrospective on my first football game

2007-11-14T18:28:00.000-05:00

I echo Rebecca's sentiments about how awkward it is to start this blog up - I guess once we've all signed up for it and posted a couple of times, it won't seem as strange. For those of you that don't know me, my name is Brooke and I'm a senior in the band - I play flute, piccolo and alto saxophone (I basically play whatever instrument I feel like playing at a particular game).

My last field rehearsal of my undergraduate career is tonight, which means that my last football game is this Saturday. It's bittersweet, I suppose, because on one hand, this really does mean that my time at Penn and in the band is ending soon, but on the other hand, it means I never have to wear band pants again! (I jest - girls just like to kvetch a lot, band pants really aren't all that terrible)

So, while my last game is quickly approaching, I have fond memories of my first home game as a bando. I joined the band late into the first semester freshman year; I'll talk about how I found out about the band and my first rehearsal at some other point in time. My first game at Franklin Field was the last home game of the year, the Penn-Harvard game. We had a field show planned, but for some reason or another (I was an uninformed freshman, I'm still not exactly sure what happened), our usual amount of time was cut to basically just enough time for us to get onto the field and play Red and Blue. The band scrambled into formation, and instead of reading the show as had been planned, the voice did a "human dial tone" for what seemed like an eternity - the human dial tone basically consisted of the voice saying "BEEEEP" for a considerably long amount of time. Since this was my first "real" field show ever (the previous week at Cornell, our show consisted of a game of musical chairs), I was extremely confused, but thought it was one of the funniest things I had ever heard - like most of the bandos on the field, I was laughing hysterically. If this was indicative of what was to come with the band, I was going to love this organization. A friend of mine was visiting that day and said, "That was one of the strangest, but funniest things I've ever seen... I wish my school had a group like the Penn Band! I would join instantly!"

Tonight's field rehearsal may be my last, but I still have plenty more band activities to look forward to this season and beyond.

Until next time,
Brooke

2007-11-13T20:50:00.000-05:00

Is it just me or is starting this thing really really awkward? Maybe it is just me. Oooh italics! I know, fancy.

So let's see. Band. We had rehearsal Monday.

That was probably the worst post I have ever read/written/thought of, but it is better than the blank space that occupied the screen for ten minutes, and I must run to swing rehearsal.

<3

Penn Band Blog

2007-11-13T20:10:00.000-05:00

hmmm... so this blog should be an interesting experiment. i personally wonder if anyone will read it. even if no one does, it will be a great procrastination tool! (hey, it's already working; i should be doing background reading for my thesis right now...) in any event, it will be a great way to track all the silly shenanigans that go on in the penn band. now everything can be recorded for posterity. you know, if koosh had one hair for every story/e-mail/picture he has archived... well, let's just say his head would look more like john palusci's chest.

but in all seriousness, if this blog does anything, i hope it evokes the love we all have for the penn band. having just went on my senior road trip for football, i can't believe that the journey for me at penn is almost over. it's comforting to know, though, that my journey with the penn band will never end. once a member, always a member. (if you don't believe me, just look at our director, greer. hell, he's been here forever!)

anyway, about that thesis... i really should be getting to it now...

The Penn Band Experience

2007-11-13T19:46:00.001-05:00

More coming soon!