Had one more round trip to the post last night to help get the bus driver back home, but that meant getting back WAY too late. Morning arrived right on time, meaning way too early, so I packed up all my clothes for the day and headed out to get the van. The quintet would have left on time except one of the trumpets was in someone else’s room, and that someone apparently didn’t want to wake up. We were about to wake up Mr. Alexander (would have been a BAD idea) to get permission to have the hotel staff open the door for us, but the sleeper finally woke up and the trumpet was secured. Why it was in that room, I have no idea.
We stopped by the band hall and somehow crammed in the tuba and euphonium with everything else already in the van. The next obstacle was getting around post with several of the main roads blocked off for people doing physical training (PT). We finally found a way to the building … a very dark and locked place. Three of the members decided to head over to the dining facility for breakfast since we were obviously not going to be involved in a ceremony any time soon. Awhile later we noticed someone in ACU’s walk up to the building, so we approached him to see if he had additional information. It was the chaplain who had been tasked to be part of the ceremony, and he had been told it would start at 0700. (It was probably about 0630 at the time). Phone calls to our contact persons went unanswered, so we continued to wait.
About 0700 someone opened the building. That same someone didn’t have the week’s schedule and couldn’t confirm any details about the ceremony. We did walk through the auditorium (with no chairs or podium set up) and joked that we could gather the other 234Five members and have a little rehearsal time. Finally we talked to someone who said she had been told that the unit’s travel was delayed, and that the ceremony would take place later in the week. Since we didn’t yet have first-hand confirmation we decided to wait a bit longer. By the time we got back to the van, the other members had returned from lunch and the 1SG had talked to the Chaplain, who offered to go to the office of one of our contacts and wait for her to arrive. We did finally get a confirmation phone call that the ceremony will be delayed, but they currently don’t know the new date or time.
So we drove over to the band hall and got there just about the same time as the rest of the unit. Tasks for the morning included unloading the Jazz and other equipment from the van, loading all the concert band stuff on the truck, and preparing the van to carry passengers. That all went fairly well … I think I only strained two muscles in my arm while helping to carry our HUGE percussion cabinet down the exterior stairs. All packed, we headed down the road to SEA WORLD.
I didn’t realize until later tonight that the NCIOC had emailed instructions for finding Gate 4 last night. However, we guessed it would not be a main entrance so we followed the signs to the admin and receiving area. Sure enough, there was Gate 4. We didn’t think we were THAT far ahead of the bus and equipment truck, but after about 15 minutes we finally made contact with them on the phone. Apparently they had decided to take the main park entrance (not following the directions sent by the person who happened to be on the bus) and we had to talk them in. Since we were on the back service roads they got an escort vehicle for us to follow, and eventually we were allowed to back our truck right up to a gate into the public part of the park.
It took some time, but finally a decision was made to place the band on a patch of rolling lawn, IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT, at the entrance to the Shamu Stadium. It felt like the temperature was about 300 degrees and it was only 10am! Given instructions to be ready to play at 1100 we were turned loose to change into our uniforms. The park staff who were assigned to us were VERY helpful, and found us an air-conditioned changing room, provided cold water, got clearance for us to use the loading dock in an adjacent theater, and basically helped wherever they could.
1105 came around and about five people were in their seats. (1SG was NOT happy.) By about 1110 we were finally playing a cut-down set list. At first we had a captive audience of people who were waiting in line to enter the Shamu Stadium for the 1200 show, but after they opened the gates people got little more than a few bars here and there. That was probably OK, because we couldn’t hear the rest of the band very well (I couldn’t anyway), it was so hot nobody could stay in tune (brass go sharp and woodwinds go flat … BAD), and the sun was so blazing it was hard to follow the conductor. But we gave it a good shot and then finished playing after about 30 minutes.
In exchange for playing our mini concert the park gave us some reserved seating for the Shamu show. As the show started they made a big announcement about Sea World’s support of the military, and their program currently in place which gets military members in for free. They also had all military (past and present) stand up for an ovation, and they put a live shot of our band members up on the big screen. The show was actually pretty cool, with lots of showing off the orcas, synchronized tricks, the ever-popular splashing of the audience, and the very erratic but fun “performance” of their newest calf. I did what I could to get a few movie and still shots that Rory and the kids will hopefully enjoy.
When we left the stadium to start tearing down the equipment and instruments, we found that a few of our members had decided to skip the show and put almost all of the concert band equipment away! That was a cool thing for them to do, and certainly helped get the rest of the band members ready to either return to the hotel or be released to enjoy the park quite a bit earlier than they would have otherwise. It was still a hot and difficult task, but things were packed back up in pretty good time.
Turned out that almost half the band members decided NOT to stay, mostly due to the extreme heat and how tired many people felt. Others (including myself) decided not to use the free entry promotion since we’re hoping to take families later in the year. So we loaded up and I drove home a vanfull of sleepers.
Only had to make two more round trips to the band hall to pick up drivers … I’m more than ready to hand these keys to someone else tomorrow. :+)
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