Drive by Oompah Band

Dear Diary,

This is one of the older stories but a funny one still to this day. I came across it while dusting off my previous attempt at doing a blog and I thought I’d revive it.

WHAT’S THAT NOISE?:
This was something my hubby and I caught one summer evening on the upper West side on Amsterdam, on our way home.

We heard this loud band music playing polka somewhere down the street and as we looked to see where it was coming from, we were surprised to see a three-man band with a large tuba, drum and trumpet, playing the right there on the sidewalk.

At first glance we thought that one of the restaurants might be doing a special gig or something, to entertain their customers. Then we realized that this band was slowly passing the restaurant they were just playing at, to another one next door.

And my hubby shouted out (in amazement):

“Oh my god. It’s a DRIVE BY OOMPAH BAND!!!”

We stood there across the street for a minute, witnessing this spectacle of how this group slowly and painfully moved across to another group of customers dining outside, trying to enjoy their food, only to be blasted with this happy germanic oopmah polka music right at their ears. And it’s not like the quick passing by of the street performers in the subway, where they will stay with you for a minute or two and then move on.

Oh no.

This group crawled at a slug’s pace, moving from one end of the strip to another. And what’s more hysterical about this is that the people sitting there had no place to run but to be subjected to this performance (whether they liked it or not), because they were eating. To give credit to those band guys, the music wasn’t so bad, listening to it from across the street, but one can only imagine what the customers in the front row were experiencing. It was loud enough as it is across the street, so imagine the sheer volume and impact of having a big honkin’ tuba up your ear while you’re trying to eat. It is something to behold.

Whether they got paid for what they were playing, I don’t know. All I know is that it was funny as all hell.

Ear plugs, anyone?

Tata,
(Thoroughly amused) Little Reiko & (WTH was that) Turkey