We play the outdoor stage at Downtown Disney District once a month or so. You've all see me report on this gig. It's a bit of a hassle getting in and out but it's good "exposure". It's an old fashioned kind of gig with amps on stage and wedges on the floor. I loaded up my usual rig before leaving home and it waited patiently for me all day right outside my office window.
It had sprinkled a bit at work today and rain was forecast. As I headed toward The Magic Kingdom it seemed the clouds were breaking up a bit, like magic.
I pulled into the Simba Lot (one of the employee lots) and saw actual patches of blue sky.
I loaded up my handy-dandy Rock-n-Roller cart and headed for the stage, stopping for a photo op a little over halfway there.
I tossed my gear on stage and then let Daniel finish his last bit of setup dancing.
You've met Sean of MxxMaster Sound. He and his company work with us a lot. His tech Gary has worked with us before but only once about a year ago. I had to apologize because I couldn't remember his name. Sometimes I'm such a bass player.
The lovely Ms. Amanda Kate could not be with us tonight due to a studio session in LA. So Ms. Crystal Cooper joined us on stage to sing the female lead.
I think Jason was a bit chilly, wearing his hat, gloves, and ear muffs.
Johnny Magic Fingers enjoys his hot tea while Arnie checks his phone.
Crystal is ready to have some fun. Johnny hurries back to his keyboards. Arnie is still checking his phone, maybe looking at the weather.
Daniel makes sure his phone is in tune.
Just before downbeat I ran to the little bass player's room and took this picture on the way back. It got dark all of a sudden.
Arnie sang his opening Merle song. I sang my Hal Ketchum song. Crystal got halfway though "Blue" and the rain started. The Mouse's people told us to take a break until 7pm to see if the shower would pass. We covered our gear and put instruments in cases.
The shower did not pass so we were told to strike the stage and wait around until 8pm. OK. Gary covers some speakers. I helped roll up some cables. Everyone got their gear off stage.
It was coming down pretty hard for a while. The staff brought towels for us to dry our gear. That helped.
Our handler led us into one of the cast member areas behind the closed theater. We parked our gear in the hall and waited for 8pm to get here, or the rain to leave.
I wiped down my gear and explored the theater a bit. I'd never been in here. It seems to have been decorated in a modern art deco. All the theaters were padlocked and nailed shut with 2x4s. Luckily the bathrooms were open.
At 8pm we got word that we were released. We had to stick around so that we could get paid under contract. Had we left early without "authorization" we would not have gotten paid. I waited with the gear while the sound company loaded out to their truck.
It wasn't raining when we left but the evening had been pretty much ruined for music. Everything was wet. By the time the Mouse's crew would have cleaned up the stage and the band got set up again, there would have been very little time for spontaneous synchronous otoacoustic emissions for attendees' tympanic membranes.
Well, we began at 6pm. We ended at 6:09 pm. It's too bad. I was looking forward to working with Crystal for the evening. She had studied the material and was ready to share the fun.
We don't get rained out very often at Disneyland. This is only the second time for me and I've been working steadily in this park for the last seven years. It's almost as if Mickey has a magic umbrella. Tonight was a rarity. This is also the first time that they've made us wait so long before releasing us. There must be some new managers on board. Our stage manager seemed a little frustrated and apologized for all of the inconvenience. She was very pleasant. We knew it wasn't her fault.
We've got a wedding reception coming up on Saturday evening but nothing on Friday. Thanks for looking!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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