trickg

I took another excursion with my family to Busch Gardens near Williamsburg, Virginia and it always amazes me just how much talent is running around that place. Singers, dancers, musicians, actors, actresses...all of them good (well most of them anyway) and in retrospect I wonder why I didn't ever think about going that route when I was first thinking about getting out of the Army Band program in the early 1990s.

Anyway, so I'm sitting there in "Italy" at the big amphitheater while my kids are getting Italian ices, and this group of singers and dancers comes out to sing these Italian songs. They are backed by a mini big band up in the balcony over the stage and all of a sudden I hear this lead player cutting through everything.

Holy guacamole! This guy was just nailing it down - just rock solid. He's nailing his part, playing musicially, and he's consistently nailing Gs, As and I swear I heard him on a B or two, and this is all outside in the heat of the day.

After the show, the performers all come down so us "common folk" can meet them if we want so I went down and talked to him....only I never got his name. What I do know about him is that he's 23, just graduated from Ithaca college, and he plays on a Lawler with one of those big Curry Mega Sleeves on his mouthpiece. He's a big guy too. Large head, blonde hair.

Anyway, two things I would like out of this post:

1.) If anyone knows who this lead player is, pass along his name.
2.) If anyone has any theme park experience, please share it and give details like how much it pays, how many times a week you play, dorm/rooming details, rules, etc.

trickg

Anyone?

fatpauly

Can't help you identifying the player at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, but when I was in school in Tampa in the early 80s, I worked with two excellent drummers whose day jobs we playing drums at Busch Gardens.

We would tease one because he played in the Oom-pah band in the park, but the reality was that they both had steady, good paying jobs that helped their chops and they still got to play the music they really preferred with us at night.

I would think playing in a show band at any big park would be a pretty good gig and definitely improve ones abilities and stamina. I wonder how similar it is to playing a cruise ship?

- Paul Artola
Ellicott City, Maryland

mike ansberry

Can't help you with the lead player. I think Frank Campos is the trumpet teacher at Ithica. An awesome all around player and teacher. Maybe he'd know.

I played for years at Opryland in Nashville. (before they bulldozed it and built a mall) It was like working on an assembly line. Playing the same show 4 times a day, 6 days a week. Everyone gets the show memorized. Some people read while they played the show. One guy used to have a little television on the floor and watch nascar races with an earplug in to listen. He never missed a note. The money was okay. I got to meet a lot of cool people. Worked with George "Goober" Lindsey and a bunch of other country people. On the whole it was a good experience.