One winter in the early 90's I was hired to sing with
The Dickens Carolers
Found it enjoyable
Singing harmonies
Making people smile
Wasn't so keen on the costumes
But getting paid to sing
$20 an hour
Not bad
I was the tenor in a full time group which meant we were available all times of day
One gig we sang outside a frigid Bell Square starting at 10am for SIX hours
THAT will wear you out
Performed a couple of evening parties that were nice
And then
We were hired to sing The National Anthem
for The Seattle Supersonics at Key Arena
AND
Were given seats one row up from courtside
I was so excited
Been a Sonics fan since before the championship team of 1979
Had their autographs
Jack Sikma
John Johnson
Dennis Johnson
Freddy Brown
and the rest
but that was then
This team
had Gary Payton
and Sean Kemp
I couldn't have been more pumped
Getting ready to sing we waited on the court
Gary Payton was taller than expected
Always thought he was a little guy on TV but he was all of 6'4"
Couldn't see the top of Shawn Kemp
Even George Carl was taller than me
We sang and were making our way to our seats when we got a message
We had been given another gig
in Burien
That started in an hour
The gig was for half an hour
We were expected to leave the game and go to this last minute gig
For $10 a person
Leave the game
Travel 40 minutes
Sing for 30 minutes
For $10
"They told us we could stay for the game!" I exclaimed
The other three looked concerned, worried
"We don't HAVE to go!"
They looked nervously at each other
"No. I'm not going"
Watching them shuffle off
I
Sighed
Shrugged
Bought a beer
and sat in tux and tails with top hat tucked under my seat
Enrapt
I cheered and clapped and whooped when the Rain Man
slammed home an alley-oop from The Glove
It was a once in a life time experience
Later that week I got called into the office
The manager of Dicken's Carolers was upset
The trio performed without me
I was NOT a team player
He continued dressing me down before asking bitingly
"Did you agree to be a full time employee?"
"Yes"
"Then that means," he leaned forward slowly punctuating each word "I OWN YOUR SOUL!"
For a moment I sat stunned
"No," I said standing
"No you don't!"
Later I heard through the grapevine that Greg Stone is difficult
That stung
But I wouldn't change a thing
If that makes me difficult
So be it
I can live with that
Sometimes saying "No" can be a tough decision
Other times
It is required
