[Dixielandjazz] My Worst Gig Ever

[Larry Walton Entertainment - St. Louis]

I have played two  gigs that are pretty close to this one.  The first was a 
Biloxi MS. Mardi Gras Parade with the AF band.  We were given two sets of 
long underwear plus we had on our winter blues and top coats.  That wet 
moist air coming off the Gulf ate through all of that and we had to sit 
there through the whole parade and froze.  It would have been better if we 
had been marching but we were on a float.

About 1960, the worst experience, so far as cold was concerned, was a flight 
line honor guard for the Governor of Missouri.  It was January and the 
weather was below freezing.  If you have ever been on a flight line you will 
have an idea what the wind is like.  We all had top coats but for whatever 
reason a couple of the guys didn't bring theirs so to appear uniform we all 
had to take off our top coats.  We had knit glove liners which weren't much 
help but had to take them off and in any event the clarinet players would 
have had to take them off anyway.  The simple thing would have been to not 
have the ones without coats play or put them in the back but simple 
sometimes is a word used only when describing the military mind.

We stood there and then we stood there some more.........

I was so cold I couldn't feel my hands at all.  The only way that I could 
tell I was holding the horn is that the right notes were coming out.  Some 
guys were shivering so hard that they could hardly play and everyone was in 
a lot of pain after that.  The sad thing is that we never got even a thank 
you from the Governor.
Larry
StL
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Louis Lince" <louislince at neworleansmusic.demon.co.uk>
To: "Larry Walton" <larrys.bands at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 7:17 AM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] My Worst Gig Ever


> Hi Katie,
>
> I, too have been through the needles of pain barrier. Ten years ago early 
> january 1998. I had been playing with my quartet (cornet/clarinet/sousa 
> and myself on banjo) for the openings of new branches of a chain of 
> furniture stores. I was contracted via the head office of the company. The 
> new branch was in Preston (North of England). The temperature was well 
> below zero. The fountain in the mall was frozen solid. Our usual practice 
> was to play in the store, on the move between bedroom, parlour furniture 
> etc.
>
> However, the branch manager was giving a pep talk to the staff when we 
> arrived an hour before the opening. His motivational speech would have 
> made Ghengis Kahn or Vlad the Impaler look like pussy cats. "Oh you're the 
> band head office booked" was his opener, followed by "there's no room for 
> you to play in my store - you'll be playing outside" I pointed out the 
> weather conditions to which he replied "Tough!" We started to play outside 
> but after maybe 30 seconds of agony to my fingers and the rest of the 
> band's lips we had crossed the pain barrier. Forget tuning just 
> concentrate on the job in hand!
>
> But, there was a gaurdian angel that day. The electrical store next door 
> in the Mall took pity on us and we played in their store to a lot nice 
> folks. The manager from my client company didn't even realise that we 
> weren't outside his store.
>
> Incidentally, I later learned from the client's head office that the 
> manager lasted a week!
>
> Best
>
> Louis
>
>
>
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