Mike put me in charge of the weather for our weekend in St. Louis. And from the weather forecasts the last two weeks, it looked like I was doomed for failure. 70% chance of rain Thursday...50% Friday...40% Saturday. But I've always said that luck is better than skill any day, and man, were we lucky!
We got to Lori and Mike's around 5:30 on Thursday, and the skies looked pretty threatening. It started to drizzle around 6, so we covered all the instruments with tarps. At 7, the guests started arriving, and the drizzle continued. It started to let up around 7:30, and although the skies were still gray, we uncovered everything, set up and started to play. Mother Nature must have liked our stuff, for that was the last rain we saw all weekend. Deinse and Larry gave each of us trombone lapel pins, which we all proudly wore in tribute to Steve; when we played "What A Wonderful World" in Steve's memory, there was not a dry eye in the house, especially among the players. We had a beautiful evening at the Thamans' as always, and the evening ended all too soon.
And all too soon it was time to muster for the parade on Friday morning. The riverboat float looked better than ever. We were near the end of the parade this year (they saved the best for last?), so the float just slowly crept forward as the organizers blended in marching bands, fire trucks, inflatables and antique cars ahead of us. Finally, things started to pick up and it was our turn to proceed...uh-oh...what's happening? A flat tire!!?!! A cell call to one of the full-time guys who build and maintain the floats brought an army of people to our rescue within a few minutes. Two full cans of Fix-A-Flat and lots of air from a portable compressor brought the tire back to life, and we were on our way! The morning was cool, crisp and clear. I've never seen a bigger crowd along the parade route. One of the finest tributes came from a guy who was riding on top of the float as a lookout--he said, "I could tell the onlookers were about ready to go home, since they had been watching the parade for about an hour. But when they saw our float with all the visual appeal, and heard your band playing, they started singing and dancing!"
The next gig was a Friday evening performance on the third floor roof of the KMOX radio and KMOV TV studios, looking out at the arch and the river. Best view of the fireworks I've ever seen!
After a long day on Friday, we had all day Saturday to rest up for our evening performance at the Hwy 61 Roadhouse. While most of us were resting, Larry and Rich set a course record at one of the local golf courses (okay, I'm exaggerating a bit here). But I gotta tell you, the evening at Hwy 61 Roadhouse was the perfect cap on a perfect weekend. The crowd was great, and we played as well as I've ever heard us play. They want us to come back, and I'm sure we will.
Next stop is Ozark Jazz Society August 15 - 16. Hope you'll join us!
Dan
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