US Army Jazz Ambassadors 2/15/20 Philly concert, and a favor

parentologist · Regular Member Joined: 17 Jul 2010 Posts: 45

Is anyone planning on attending the US Jazz Ambassador's (free as always) concert at the Philly Convention Center 5 PM Saturday Feb 15th, 2020? It's part of the new Philly high school jazz festival. If you are, and you are over 18, please contact me. I need a favor. Older teen trumpeter needs to be sprung right after concert from taking school bus back to central CT, so kid can take a Greyhound (bus station is right by convention center) straight to NYC for Mingus competition.

WxJeff · Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2020 5:34 am Post subject:

Whew. Best wishes for a safe outcome!

We raised four and went through the whole logistical gamut during their teen years of transportation to and from soccer tournaments, high school musical venues, etc when neither my wife nor I were available.

Best anecdote: the then-17 year old was in a garage band that got a gig about two hours away. We were insistent that he not ride with teen drivers this distance, and he ended up riding with one of the member's mother, who was driving the gear mini-van. (I also served as "roadie" many times.) On their return he recounted, "Dad, Mrs X is a TERRIBLE driver. There were several times she was zipping in and out of traffic talking on her phone and I was truly scared."
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LittleRusty · Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2020 11:33 am Post subject:

I was on a color guard trip to Dayton Ohio as one of the two parent chaperones and drivers. The director drove one vehicle, I drove one and this other lady drove the third.

We set off from the practice venue from the airport rental car desk in a caravan, lead by the director’s car, then the other mom with me bringing up the rear.

Well the director ended up being a fast, aggressive and focused driver. The mom was very careful and timid/tentative. Soon the director had lost us and we didn’t have the address for the practice venue.

It turns out the mom’s eye sight was pretty bad and that was why she drove the way she did.

After that I made sure we all had the addresses and assigned one of the guard in each of the mom and my cars to serve as a navigator.

That was a heck of a trip. Starting with cancelled flights due to storms across the central US, to getting to a hastily booked hotel and only having four hours before heading back to the airport to finish our flight. I was given a room that was already occupied. Fortunately I didn’t wake the first occupants when I entered the room at 1:00 AM.

Ahh, good times.

parentologist · Regular Member Joined: 17 Jul 2010 Posts: 45

I fear I WAS Mrs. X! Somehow, kid got to everything. He came back from Philly to central CT on the band bus, and I drove him back down to NYC 8 hrs later for Mingus. It's all a blur, except for their Mingus performance - that was a lot of fun to watch.

WxJeff · Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2020 12:41 pm Post subject:

Outstanding... thanks for the report!