[Dixielandjazz] Unusual Gigs

[Trumpetom at aol.com]

An outdoor wedding at a winery in Temecula California: during the  
procession, the house keyboard player's electronics melted down producing sounds  of 
thunder claps, loud buzzing, etc. He threw his hands up in the air and left  the 
scene; someone else had to unplug the unit to stop the noise. The bride  and 
groom finished their promanade in silence. During the vows, a loud alarm  
started buzzing from the winery's hotel building. Apparently the maintenance man  
was on a break so he could not shut down the sprinkler system. There was no  
fire, but so much water was coming from the fire sprinkler system inside the  
hotel, the outer walls of the building were "weeping" water. Apparently no  
guests were in that wing of the building. We were with the big band in another  
outdoor area watching all of this while waiting to play for the reception. As we 
 were setting up the band, I had told one of the sax players to move his car  
(a new luxury car) out of the service roadway; he must have been smarter than 
I  so he left it just where it was. When the fire engines arrived, I heard a 
loud  bonk followed by the sounds of the car tires skidding as the fire truck 
pushed  the car off the roadway (he was sure mad about that). The wedding 
party had  baron of beef. The band was given hours-old soggy sandwiches from 
Subway; nobody  could eat any of it. We were in the middle of our first set when 
all the power  went off. No bass, no keyboard, no sound system, no announcments, 
no singer, no  toasts. It was nearly dark so no lights either, also no music. 
I had a single  cell AA battery maglight mini flashlight. That was our only 
light to break down  the band and leave. The bride's family told us they forgot 
the checkbook. We had  to chase them for about a month to collect our money. 
It was the most  interesting gig I ever played. Every word of this is the 
absolute truth.
 
Tom Loeb
Riverside, California
_www.hotsytotsyboys.com_ (http://www.hotsytotsyboys.com)