Bandstand Stories

by Henry Mason

The late Mike O'Hara's stories of his years on the Alabama Cavaliers were legendary. Mike was the drummer and business manager for the Cavs and as such he was responsible for getting players in each chair..... even when they didn't want to be there.

The band had a gig during final exams and as always, the bass player who was very serious about his studies didn't want to go. As the gig grew nearer, Mike became more desperate to fill the spot and there simply no Bass players available. Mike made a final appeal to the regular guy saying " It is only a little way out of town, you won't even know you are gone." The bass man, not wanting to let his band down on a gig close to home, finally and reluctantly agreed. I guess you could say that Chattanooga, Tennessee is a "little way out of town" from Tuscaloosa, Alabama!

Mike was depending on being able to pull off the hoax because he knew that this particular bass player always fell asleep on the bus as soon as they started anywhere. Sure enough this is what happened and as the bus trip grew into several hours, the bass man slept happily on. At the gig, the band unloaded and quickly set up and it was all going well until the emcee said something about a "big Chattanooga Tennessee welcome for the Alabama Cavaliers" ......and of course it was a four hour gig.

Mike said that the bass man spent the entire gig playing the bass with tears streaming down his face and lamenting his final the next day.. Our usual veil of charity is drawn over whatever subterfuge Mike used to book the bass man for the NEXT gig.

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The contents of this page will contain short notes of interest on a variety of
subjects, as the muse dictates. All of the stories will have something to do
(one way or another) with life on the bandstand...ours, theirs, even YOURS.
We'd love to add your favorite bandstand stories here as well!
Submit them to the SJO WEBMASTER.
Miss some of the past stories?
Check out our "Bandstand Stories Archive