Bandstand Stories

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.

by Henry Mason

It was during the disco era, and the era of the disco dress. I was filling in with a certain Atlanta big band which should remain anoymous (M--------s), and the gig was for the Atlanta Ski club at a hotel on Atlanta's famed Peachtree Street. The Ski club is a great bunch of young folks who party quite hearty to say the least.

The band was playing "In the Mood" and was about 4 measures from the "out chorus" where the brass would punctuate the melody with long tones as the saxes would deliver the melody line.

We were sitting there, playing our long tones and expecting the impending entrance of the saxophones, when a very beautiful young lady in a disco dress (slit WAY up the sides) gyrated her way in front of the band. The young lady had obviously been at the punch bowl which had just as obviously been loaded up with 100 proof plus. To say she was a bit woozy is a moderate understatement.

The young lady, who by then was facing the band, rared backward and posed in a classic 40's "big finish." The disco dress... slit up to THERE... made its way sideways thus giving the band a rather classic perspective down "Peachtree Street!". The young lady was wearing little (VERY little) under the disco dress!

The "out chorus" arrived...the brass, unaware of the events literally unfolding before them, began energeticaly punctuating the melody...and from the saxes...

...NOTHING!

...all the way to the big finish!

Maybe you had to be there, but it was one of the all time funniest moments I have ever spent on a bandstand.

Miss some of the past stories?
Check out our "Bandstand Stories Archive