On December 13, 1976, I was on the last leg of The U.S. Navy Steel Band’s Bicentennial Tour as featured soloist. My manifest says that on Monday, December 13, 1976 - we did an 8 AM appearance on KNBC in Los Angeles and then played three afternoon shows at the Disneyland Fantasyland Stage. That evening we participated in Disneyland’s Main Street USA Christmas Parade. The next day, we cut our afternoon shows at Disneyland and went to Burbank to rehearse for the Tonight Show. The 2 PM rehearsal went great and I got to play with Doc Severinsen, Tommy Newsome and my teacher’s teacher, the great Ed Shaughnessy. Alas the show’s taping (at 4 PM) found us still sitting in the Green Room at 5 minutes ‘til 5 and we were bumped from the show (thanks to a very funny improvisational exchange between Bob Newhart and Mr. Carson). The producer invited us back the next day, but our Master Chief was steamed and refused to cut anymore Disneyland shows, so I never got to play on the Tonight Show.
After 554 shows in 48 states over 11 months, I was looking forward to Christmas leave, which began December 22 and lasted until December 30th. (On the afternoon of the 30th, we flew to Philadelphia to play a New Year’s Eve Ball and The Mummers Parade on New Year’s Day.
That Mummers Parade tends to be very, very cold.