Walt Disney World - The happiest place on Earth - Miami Herald - 1971 VW camper van
1981 - 1982
376### Time To Move - Stupid Real Estate Deal #3/My little garage apartment on East Amelia was a great crib. I have many memories from that time period.
I was there for 7 years. Eventually my landlady wasn’t able to care for herself. In her 80s she had fallen down a few times. I heard her calling from inside her house once. I went inside and got her up. I knew her daughter and they liked me. She offered to sell me the house, garage apartment and property for $40,000. She probably would have financed ‘held the paper’ on it for me. I declined the offer. Today it’s worth $400K. It went on the open market and was quickly purchased. I think my Landlady’s daughter told the owners I needed to remain. My rent was raised slightly to $100 a month.
#67 $$$ Gig - 1981 - Miami Herald Central Florida/ When times are hard and the going gets tough, the tough get going. Gigs were not happening. I needed to pay my rent, $100 per month. Looking through the job classifieds in the Orlando Sentinel, I saw an ad from The Miami Herald. I called the number and spoke to one of the territory delivery drivers. The gig was quite interesting. At midnight I met “John Doe” at a Winn Dixie parking lot, out on the OBT, Orange Blossom Trail. I rode with him in his Ford Econoline Van. We delivered the Miami Herald papers into the coin-operated paper machines along his route that included the portion they wanted someone to take over. John Doe was giving up a portion of it because it was too big for one person. He was also doing The USA Today paper. Doubling Down/
I started the following night on my own. I arrived at midnight awaiting the truck from Miami with our papers. I loaded my allotment into my 1971 VW Camper Van and hit the road.
I quickly learned to run the route. It became a profitable 7-nights a-week gig. I was literally raking in cash in the form of quarters. I quickly got out of debt and started saving money. The Miami Herald route was an interesting experience. I did it for 2 years. 7 nights a week I would meet the delivery truck at midnight, load up my 1971 VW Camper Van and do my route.
It was a commercial coin box route with a couple special deliveries to magazine stores and The Orlando Library. I could run the route in about 3 hours during the week. The Saturday night Sunday paper was more work to switch the machines from 25 cents to 75 cents.
Sunday night I reversed that, opened the boxes and collected the money. I had hundreds of dollars in quarters to roll and deliver to my bank account each Monday. There was a little paper work. I took unsold papers to the scrape metal dealer. I loaded all of my unsold papers into my van. They weighed it and paid me for the papers. I made $.13 of the $.25 daily paper and $.37 of each $.75 Sunday edition. Badaboom - Ching Ching.
#68 $$$ Gig - 1981 - Piper Airplane Company
Vero Beach, FL/ When I started playing ‘legit’ percussion I started receiving occasional calls to play shows. These required owning tympani, mallets and being able to read. Dale Burke was a composer arranger I knew from Calvary Assembly Church. Dale was the contractor for a special show in Vero Beach at the Piper Aircraft Factory. I ran my Miami Herald, packed up my gear in my VW Camper and drove to Vero Beach. I arrived 10AM for rehearsal. We did the show and I headed back to Orlando. BaDaboom I did a few of those ‘legit’ gigs including the musical Oklahoma.
377### Goodbye 311 E. Amelia – My Route/ the house and my garage apartment again went on the market. I hated every agent that came through my place showing it to potential buyers. I decided to move. With the money I was making with my Miami Herald I was in a good financial position. I rented a nice 2- bedroom house. The house also had an enclosed garage and screened in porch. I could store my Miami Herald coin machines. There was occasional maintenance for broken machines. My territory manager also wanted to make sure I had a machine in every possible location. The territory manager rode with me a couple times to check on the layout of my route. My route was approximately 50 square miles. It was really easy to navigate. I recruited my Mom to run it several times when I had a gig.
She liked it so much she got her own route for the Sanford Herald. During the same time period an Orlando Sentinel route like mine was not free. They were like real estate. Each route was bought and sold. I made money with zero investment. It was a unique opportunity I’m sure doesn’t exist today. Not for free.
#69 $$$ Gig - 1981 – Walt Disney World/ a few weeks after I started my Miami Herald paper route, I got a call from “Talent Booking” aka, Walt Disney World. I don’t remember the arrangement to get me in the system. I started playing percussion in their Christmas Show.
That gig was 7 days a week for several weeks. I also ran my Miami Herald route 7-nights-a-week without a break. I made more money than I’d ever experienced. I was 31 years old, self-motivated and in shape. I did the Disney gig for several weeks, 7 days a week. Double/Triple scale. There were other drumset players but I was the only percussionist. Working at WDW was a new and strange experience
(This particular seasonal Christmas Show was performed by the World Band musicians) The WDW musicians were veterans from big bands, military bands and old school professionals. A few of the musicians were young. Most were old professionals. It was a dark vibe in the band room. Which was a strange place. Everything was underground, below The Magic Kingdom. ‘The Happiest Place On Earth’
The musicians performed the music from the band room. There was a conductor with a visual monitor. The music was played live and broadcast above, to the Castle area where the characters and dancers performed. It was an interesting gig. I racked in the bucks. BaDaboom
378### 1982 Walt Disney World/ When the Disney Christmas Show ended, I continued to get calls from talent booking to sub in a variety of Magic Kingdom bands. I played Washboard, Drumset, Bass Drum and Snare Drum. I got called to be a warm body on a float.
The bandleader just looked at me and seriously said ‘Just Try To Look Happy’ My favorite gig was the Dixieland Group. I played a snare drum with a cymbal and the music swung. Rick Faye was the bandleader. (The Pearly Band) He really liked that I brought him a free copy of The Miami Herald. He was an avid crossword puzzle player.
I played drumset in The Kids of The Kingdom. I enjoyed that (The Least) I played Bass Drum in The World Band for several events including the Parade. I played drumset in The Mardi Gras Show Band. That was a fun group that actually played real music. Leroy Cooper from Ray Charles band was the saxophone player. Pete Porte and Elliott Dyson were excellent musicians. The Magic Kingdom “World Band” was a replication from Disneyland. Those musicians played special events and the daily scheduled, Magic Kingdom parades. That was quite an event.
I was in my early 30s in decent shape. Some of the older musicians were always complaining about doing the parade. It was Florida in the Summer Heat. I ran my Miami Herald route 7 nights a week and arrived each morning at Walt Disney World to play the shows. It was a brutal schedule. ‘I survived and cashed the checks’