April 20, 2005

 autographs: maynard ferguson

autographs_maynard.JPG

keeping with the jazz theme, here is maynard ferguson's autograph.

my high school jazz band (mentioned in the ed shaughnessy entry) went on a field trip to see maynard in 1987. i remember the concert being not exactly my taste. too much fusion.

still, i was excited to be seeing a legend in concert. my mom was excited to send me off on this field trip, too... she had fond and specific memories of maynard ferguson: he played at her prom in 1963. before i left for the concert she dug out her prom program and asked me to have maynard sign it. i think she was excited about getting the autograph of someone who had touched her life in a small way and who went on to make it big.

so after enduring the concert i headed to the backstage area, but mr. ferguson had a zillion bouncers who wouldn't let me go further than the hallway. i played up the sentimentality of the prom program, "just look at this... he played at my mom's prom more than 20 years ago!!" but no dice. the head bouncer dude said he would be happy to take the program to maynard for a signature, but i couldn't take it back myself. i handed it over to him, and as he walked away i shouted, "my mom's name is marta! tell him to make it out to marta!!"

so i waited in the hallway. and waited. and waited. i fantasized that maynard was looking at the old program, overtaken with emotion at the memory of playing a little girl's prom so many years ago. maybe tears were even welling up in his eyes. he was keeping me waiting because he had to compose himself... yeah, that's it. that's why this was taking so long. maybe.

but no. the bouncer came back with the signed program about 10 minutes later and then shooed me off.

i wished i could have returned home with a better, more romantic story to tell my mom. it would have been a nice for her to have another fond memory to attach to that old prom program. when i told her what had happened she wasn't really even interested in keeping the autograph for herself, so it now resides in my scrapbook with the others.

Posted by xta at April 20, 2005 01:56 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Hey! That's cool. I love all these autograph stories. I went to a Stan Kenton concert with my family when I was 11 or 12, and I shook Stan Kenton's hand after the show, but I did not get an autograph. Silly me.

Posted by: minty at April 21, 2005 10:03 AM

I went to a work shop by Stan Kenton. Even though I played trumpet I did not understand the magnatude of the man. I did however, get his autograph on a concert ticket and still have it in a photo album. It's a wonder it survived.

Posted by: D Hamar at August 11, 2005 12:50 AM
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