Mayor Mike

Through our associations with MUNY and the MTA, we occasionally get asked to do political, and community based New York City themed events. We did a street party to kick off a “go-green” initiative on the lower east side last year and this week we had the honor to perform at Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s kick-off event to his ’09 campaign here in Manhattan.

Everything about the event was a lot of fun. The event staff made us feel so welcome and they took great care of us. They even had a staffer on hand whose job was solely to make sure everything went smoothly for us. Thanks Max! These kind of events can go so many different ways and I am always abundantly grateful when people greet us with a smile and make us feel welcome and supported so we can focus on giving a great show.

They set us up at the end of hallway so everyone who was coming into the main room would have to file past the band. At first it was just a trickle. We played mostly very upbeat versions of our tunes, sticking mostly to a major-key repertoire at what I jokingly called “a good political tempo.” The result was immediate. We had staffers tapping their feet and dancing in place as they waited for guests to come off the elevators. When the bulk of people were arriving it was a fun little parade of passers-by many of whom would dance a little two-step or do a twirl in front of the band!

As the time for the mayor’s arrival grew near, the tension in the room mounted. People crowded the hallway to get a chance to see Mayor Mike up close. We decided to play “Tishomingo Blues” at a perky clip to welcome the mayor. These arrivals always take longer than you’d expect so we were well into a 6 minute version of the song (complete with two horn solos apiece, three tempo changes, and a banjo solo!) before we had done everything we felt like doing with that tune. We moved on to “The Millenburg Joys” by the time the mayor arrived. And yes, my dear clever reader, I did not miss an opportunity to bend the lyrics to mention the Bloomberg Joys. Anything to make the guys in the band chuckle. We were having a good time.

The main event started in the next room with a loud, hip-hop sound system and chants of “four more years.” We ambled in to eat some hot-dogs and pretzels and listen to Ed Koch and Mayor Mike. Props to Audrey Smalls who began her speech with something like the following: “I was born, bred, buttered, toasted, jellied, jammed, and honeyed in Harlem!” Awesome!

After the speeches we went back out to the hallway and did the whole parade in reverse. Now, it felt less tense and the music was louder and more lively – everyone had just been exposed to that enormous sound system so we could play with more gusto. It seemed to work – people started gobbling up our business cards and promo-cd’s that we had on display.

When Bloomberg himself came back down the line it was very crowded again. He went past us shaking hands while we were playing “Over in That Glory Land.” Then, just as he had turned the corner he came back towards the band and poked through the crowd towards the band-stand. He made eye-contact with me as I was singing and mouthed a “Thank You.”

Clearly the attitude of gratitude, respect, and appreciation that everyone was displaying had started from the top down.

For a bonus: here is a picture of three of our id badges featuring awesome bad-ass pictures of our heros in action. The guy who took these pix was a character. Apparently Stefan was smiling that way because the guy was singing “We Will Rock You.” He and I were having a discussion about George Orwell when he snapped most of my head into the frame.