1962 RBBB #14

That night at the circus back in 1962 left me with a burning desire to someday be one of the local musicians who were hired to play for the Ringling Circus. Even though my musical ability at age 16 was already quite “plucky and adventury,” it took me another 14 years to gain the necessary professional experience and technical ability to be able to play a Ringling performance. Playing for the circus is not like playing for a dance job, a band concert, or a Broadway musical, and not every musician (even some of the really good ones) has the knack for it. At first, the local contractor only hired me to fill in for a performance or two to see if I could “cut it.” But, as Bill Pruyn used to say, “Luck is what happens when opportunity meets preparation.” By the time the 108th Edition (my all-time favorite) came to San Diego in 1978, I was a full-time member of the local San Diego Ringling band and would remain so until Bill Pruyn retired and the music (in my opinion) took a turn for the worse and playing for the circus no longer held any appeal for me. Speaking of that 1962 performance, just recently I helped Don Covington transfer some old circus audiotapes from the Ted Deppish collection onto CD-Rs for the Circus World Museum. In this collection was a recording of the complete 1962 Ringling performance, which Ted had taped in the Cleveland Arena only a few days after I had been there. Hearing that year’s music again brought back a flood of memories. And this time, I was able to identify a great many more of the musical selections than I could when I was 16.