[Dixielandjazz] Strange Gigs

[dingle at baldwin-net.com]

jcblegen at sbcglobal.net wrote:

>Another strange one just popped into my memory.  This is probably the earliest gig I've ever 
>had.  I got a call from a local piano player (who acted as contractor on this thing but didn't 
>play) to be at a hotel in downtown Chicago at 7:30 a.m. wearing a red vest.  When I arrived, 
>I was ushered into a room where the other bandmembers were gathering.  I think there were 
>about eight of us, and I remember that Ted Butterman was on trumpet and Dave Remington 
>was on trombone.  There was also a very short young woman who was in the process of 
>putting on a Mickey Mouse costume.  A brusque, elaborately coifed woman came and and 
>told us what we were to do: march after Mickey Mouse playing the Mickey Mouse march.  It 
>was a Disney sales meeting, and we were apparently there to set the tone.  "This," said 
>Remington, "is why I went to the conservatory."  We were cued, we marched, we left.  A 
>true Mickey Mouse gig.
>
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Remington says the same today -- we played a twosome gig - he on Moog 
and I on cornet at an ice cream emporium in
Benzonia, MI several years ago. Dave teaches at Interlochan Arts 
Academy, but still takes a gig or two on the  side. This was one of them.
Don Ingle
Somewhere in relatively (so far) developed northwoods.