STME58
1878 posts
Dec 02, 2016
3:13 PM
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This weekend my son performed a Disneyland with his High School Marching band. After we watched him march, we had the rest of the day in the park. I was assisting his Grandmother who is 94 and can only walk short distances and was not interested in going on rides (we did get her on Pirates of the Caribbean though). This meant that I spent a lot of time sitting on a bench with her wheelchair parked at the end waiting for the rest of the family to get off the ride. What is a harmonica player to do but pull out a harp and play a little. Turns out that this is a pretty fun place to play. People are there to have a good time, they are used to all kinds of antics going on by the Disney performers so a person sitting on a bench playing a harmonica is not out of place at all. People were very receptive, a lot of them danced by or gave a thumbs up. Many gave me positive comments on my playing. No Disney staff asked me to stop. If you go to Disneyland and are a fairly competent player, I would definitely recommend bringing a harp.
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dchurch
69 posts
Dec 03, 2016
6:31 AM
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Great story. Disneyland at 94 is fantastic and what a treat to see a grandchild performing there. You must be a very proud dad. I imagine your son and the rest of the band earned the honor of playing that venue. I have a ton of great memories playing trumpet in High School Marching bad.
We never performed at Disneyland dog-gone-it, but we did do the groundbreaking ceremony for the Seattle King Dome. I shined her up good for that one:)
I wish someone was harping some blues while I waited in line for 45 minutes to ride the Magic Mountain!
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It's about time I got around to this.
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Rhartt1234
216 posts
Dec 03, 2016
1:30 PM
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I stumbled across Harmonica Fats and Bernie Pearl playing in New Orleans Square at Disneyland in the late 90s.
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STME58
1879 posts
Dec 03, 2016
3:46 PM
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@Rhartt1234, I see you were at Disneyland on the 18th or 19th of August in 1997. I see that Harmonica Fats and Bernie Pearl were on the schedule that day.
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synopsis
6 posts
Dec 04, 2016
5:29 AM
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Hey, this is a nice story, I like it.
I brings me good mood on this cold but sunny Sunday.
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slaphappy
268 posts
Mar 19, 2017
12:32 AM
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So I took my kids to Disneyland this week and they wouldn't even let me in with a harp. I found out the hard way they actually do have a no busking policy.
I had one in my pocket and had to put it in a bowl while I walked through the metal detector. As soon as the security guy saw it he said I had to leave it outside the park despite my pleas that I wouldn't play it. So I had to jog all the way back to the car to drop it off. Wife and kids not amused.
I would not recommend to bring one, or if you do hide it deep inside your backpack.
glad it worked out for you though STME58, that is a good story.
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4' 4+ 3' 2~~~
-Mike Ziemba
Harmonica is Life!
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STME58
1940 posts
Mar 19, 2017
9:33 AM
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slaphappy, sounds like you had a security person who was abusing their discretion. I can understand a no busking policy (I don't consider playing in outdoor area busking, and I would have refused tips if offered), in fact I would have assumed it at Disneyland, but controlling what you carry in your pocket to beyond weapons seems a bit excessive. I wonder what the security guard would do if he had a patron who was capable of singing, would they be refused entry? I sure the personnel inside Disneyland could handle a patron who was inappropriately singing, why is a harp different?
On a practical side, I always keep harps in cases. I especially like the Hohner individual zippered cases. When I put them in the bowl at security I am seldom asked about them. I do get sent to secondary at the airport for when the Seydel soft case full of harps in my briefcase shows up on the X-ray, but opening it up, answering why I carry so many, and sometimes playing a lick, has always alleviated the concern.
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STME58
1941 posts
Mar 19, 2017
9:44 AM
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I found Disney's rules here . It looks like general rule c is the controlling one for this situation and while I was not aware of it specifically, I definitely try to observe the concept, and I believe I was while playing in the park.
In my opinion, the security guard in your case may have been abusing the discretion granted under prohibited items m. I doubt is is worth legal action, but a letter to Disney might be appropriate. Perhaps it would prompt them to clarify the rules a bit for their security personnel. The experience you had and are telling folks about is not a good one for the Disney brand. It would serve them well to eliminate similar incidents.
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slaphappy
269 posts
Mar 19, 2017
10:51 AM
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I totally agree but I think their policy is simply "no musical instruments". The first guy called the manager over when I complained but the manager wasn't having any of it and wouldn't budge an inch.
Just wanted to post this as a warning to others thinking of bringing a harp. I was lucky in that we weren't parked too far away, otherwise you'd have to stash it in the bushes somewhere and hope their grounds staff don't find it.
The mouse can be a harsh mouse! ;)
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4' 4+ 3' 2~~~
-Mike Ziemba
Harmonica is Life!
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STME58
1943 posts
Mar 19, 2017
11:44 AM
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Disney's policy is posted on line. I put a link to it in a reply the spam filter got. Perhaps Nate will restore it. There is no specific policy on musical instruments, but there is a clause that gives wide latitude to Disney personnel to disallow anything that might be disruptive. It is well known that, as you state, the mouse can be a harsh mouse. Just ask some of the pinata sellers in Tijuana who's wares were deemed by Disney lawyers to be unlicensed copies of Disney characters.
On a related but non Disney note. On a hot sunny March day recently, I had a few minutes before I had to pick my son up from school, so I pulled into a marked parking spot in the shade of a building behind a nearby mall. There did not seem to be anyone else around. I rolled down the windows and proceeded to woodshed on the trumpet. I was soon approached by a security guard who told me I sounded good (dubious as I was wood shedding) but I could not park there. I was polite and told her I would move on. I did mention to her that she might suggest to management that it would make security's job easier if there were signs posted where customer parking is not allowed. I really think in both this case and your case, people were wanting to exercise power for power's sake. There is a time to take a stand on abuse of power, but neither of these were such times.
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The Iceman
3079 posts
Mar 19, 2017
4:44 PM
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Orlando Disneyworld at one time had a GM in charge of the live music for the park. He decided he would like to see a "Harmonicats" style three piece professional group working the streets, so a call went out for harmonica players. Most responses were from the usual diatonic cowboys.
Someone got in touch with me(having just moved to Orlando)to get involved with this venture (at the time I was still Secretary of SPAH). I met with the GM to see what the story was. He wanted the trio to dress vintage 1920 and be a strolling group - 20 minutes playing, 40 minutes break. He also wanted a professional trio. I began the brokering process and started to line up a trio culled from the old guard whom I met while working with SPAH...well, negotiations were starting to fall into place until it came time to discuss artist pay. What they wanted to offer was pretty much below what these seasoned pros would consider.
In further dialog, I discovered that Disney works mostly off of young folk in a combination of low payment with free passes to the park and had the intern style philosophy. Then the GM suggested that there be an audition room at the next SPAH Convention in which he could listen to potential players in order to put together a Disney Harmonica Trio. The next thing I heard from Disney was that this GM suddenly lost interest in this project because it didn't fall together immediately.
An almost was story....
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The Iceman
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STME58
1944 posts
Mar 19, 2017
6:49 PM
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Iceman, thanks for that anecdote. Your story matches with both my observation of the age of the musicians in groups at Disneyland, and the story of a fellow high school marching band member who, one year out of high school, got a group of brass players together with civil war uniforms and repertoire and got a gig at Disneyland. It fits both in that they were young and would work for low pay and the fun of it, and that they had done all the work of assembling a group that would fit well in the park.
Last Edited by STME58 on Mar 20, 2017 9:42 AM
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BronzeWailer
1967 posts
Mar 20, 2017
2:31 AM
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Time to put out the hat, STME58, but perhaps not at D'land.
BronzeWailer's YouTube
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STME58
1946 posts
Mar 20, 2017
9:41 AM
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BronzeWailer, I got close to putting a hat out from necessity. I lost my job in October and have been searching since. I can now say that for a couple of months I earned more as a musician than as an engineer (but I can't come close to saying I earned a living as a musician, one low paying gig a month does not pay the bills! :-) ). My severance has run out, but I got 3 offers in the last couple of weeks and I just accepted a very good one. I start April 3rd.
While I have an intellectual understanding of the difference between panhandling and busking I, like the law in many places, still equate the two in practice. Even though I am a bit cash strapped at times, I have enough illiquid assets that somehow, putting a hat out seems inappropriate (and where I play most, Balboa Park, it requires a hard to get permit to do legally). I know the very reasonable arguments why this is not true, but even us engineers are not entirely logical.
Last Edited by STME58 on Mar 20, 2017 9:41 AM
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BronzeWailer
1968 posts
Mar 20, 2017
3:32 PM
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STME58, I first started panhandling/busking when I found myself suddenly unemployed (some time after actually. It took me a good while to get up the nerve to do it). The good thing was that it enabled guilt-free harp and even an amp purchase out of the takings. It also allows me to practice without driving my wife mad. I was going out up to 5-6x a week for hours at a time (7 hours one day). I did four hours in one spot and was so mad at my poor takings I went out again.
Congrats on the new job.
There is a kind of stigma about busking. There was even a moment on Downton Abbey where some poor fellow was "reduced to playing the violin in Leicester Square." A local TV station filmed me for a spot on unemployment. My wife wasn't too happy about my mug being splashed around like that. My kids and their friends think it's amusing.
I have made many friends out on the streets and am kind of addicted now.
BronzeWailer's YouTube
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