[Trombone-l] Bill Dinwiddie Thread

[Samuel Keyser]

This story does not involve equipment left behind, but it does  
involve equipment.  I was on my way to a 7p.m. gig about 23 miles  
away from my house.  I left two hours early. Turnpike traffic can be  
horrendous.  As soon as I got on the turnpike, my heart sank.  It was  
a parking lot.  Maybe seven miles long. I crept along, my late-for-a- 
gig anxiety mounting, when something terrible happened.  My car  
suddenly felt as if an invisible hand was shifting it in and out of  
neutral. The dashboard started to flash "transmission fault."  I  
figured this was it. I called the leader, told him what had happened  
and alerted him to the strong possibility that I might not manage to  
get to the gig and if I did, I would almost certainly be late.  Then  
I called my mechanic and told him my situation.  As it happened, I  
was very close to his shop.  I could see it from where I was on the  
turnpike.  He gave me directions on the fastest way to get there.  I   
nursed the car to his shop.  He had a loaner ready for me. I was back  
up on the turnpike beyond the pile-up point within 15 minutes from  
the time my transmission began to fail.  I made it to the gig with 5  
minutes to spare.

Jay

PS.  The kicker was that I needed a new transmission. It cost me a  
small fortune.  My fellow musicians told me I had paid the most  
expensive taxi fare in history just to get to a gig.