There was a time, before the big casinos in Atlantic City, when smaller more intimate places were the hotspots. As another horn(y) version of The Late Entre and now ‘seasoned’ veterans, we were happy to arrive at The Rainbow Club, but February was far removed from the sultry days of summer. We had become seven pieces, three horns doing James Brown, Blood Sweat and Tears, The Electric Flag, Kool and the Gang, and anybody else worthy of repetition. Tony was missed and, I think, attending music school at the time as a trumpet/performance major…
It was customary then to have a Sunday afternoon ‘jam session’, a part of the weekend package. It was probably a lot of fun in July, but winter in AC is cold and hibernation was a factor. The bartenders showed up and so did we, mutually pissed at the local Saturday night crowd for keeping us up so late.
We played some tunes and the bartenders were slicing lemons. It was not long before surrender. They started drinking and we thought ‘AHA! A paid rehearsal!’. The bar was open between lemons and we decided to sing…
“Old Man River” was already a hit tune from one of those Broadway musicals, but The Temptations did it best. So many baritones sang that tune. Even Bing Crosby had made a recording. We had toyed with the tune at practice. Now the bartenders would be witnesses to the learning process. The Temps…The Temps…
We put our instruments down, stretched our microphone cords out onto the dance floor and borrowed empty chairs. We knew we had no shot at their choreography, so we decided to at least be comfortable when we learned their song.
There were five of us involved. Despite his claims to the contrary, the drummer couldn’t sing and the bass player wanted to sleep in the liquor closet, or so he said…
So, we sang, over and over, determined to get it right. Finally, after 2 ½ hours, the bartenders were willing to say, “OK, you got it”. There were enough sliced lemons to last until April, and we could hear the bass player snoring.
Later that night, we did the tune live for three chicks with mesh stockings and some old rich guy with only memories of his prostrate. Actually, it was pretty cool. Then came the pack up and the drive back to Philly. Monday morning came early. I was always amazed at how I could wake up with a smile, ready for the challenge of another daytime work week…The Temps))