Fwd: [Dixielandjazz] Mumming

[John McClernan]

Steve Barbone wrote:

> I did one 10 years ago, on a flatbed, with a New Orleans Mardi Gras  
> theme
> band (comic division). Froze my you know what off, after 2 hours  
> sleep from
> the night before gig and vowed never to do that again. Everybody  
> should do
> it once before getting too old.

I did one of these also, Steve, but our 10 piece thrown-together band  
was walking alongside a comic division. (Wanted to do a parade while  
I still could.) It was, indeed, the coldest musical experience of my  
life. Walking helped, but not enough. It was a 7:30AM report, at a  
bar on Oregon Avenue that was still open and serving from the night  
before, after playing until 1AM in A.C. The real low-lite of the day  
though, was when the still-drunk-from-the-night-before bandleader  
called for a "huddle" in the middle of Broad Street, 'round about  
Washington Avenue. The band was almost all newbies, who never  
suspected why, until it was too late.

Never again. I still attend the parade as a spectator though. It's a  
terrific event. Not many other places does a city throw itself a party!

Out-of-towners should come the day before and check out the venue,  
because it's an early early start. If you wait until later to show  
up, the crowds are so deep, you can't see anything. One of these days  
I'll book a hotel room that overlooks Broad Street so that I can be  
warm and cozy for the whole thing.

Cheers,
John
-- 
“In heaven there is no beer, that’s why we drink it here!”