Thursday, November 14, 2013

"The Adult"- Alien in the Delta Series - Free - Fri, Sat, Sun 11/ 15,16,17


One evening the three of us went to the Stockholm Carnival in the park. That night, up onstage performing was Louis Armstrong with his orchestra, and they were fantastic. What a nice treat and surprise. It didn’t even cost us any money. It was considered a cultural event and was paid for by the Swedish government. There was no seating, but we were able to stand close to the stage. When we moved even closer, it became obvious to the orchestra members performing onstage that we were also American.
I remember someone from the orchestra coming over to us at the edge of the stage. Now I would like to tell you it was Louis Armstrong who came over, but I am not that sure anymore. I am sure what he asked us.
 “Where you cats from?”
We told him we were from the US Air Force base in Ramstein, Germany.
             “What are you doing here in Stockholm?” He asked.
“We are on vacation,” I said.
“Well, I hope you enjoy the show.”  
After that brief exchange with a member of the orchestra, we became very popular. We had no rejections when we asked young ladies for a dance that night. Now that event is very special to me. At the time, it was just another experience that occurred at random. But it was a unique scene because of the world-famous black jazz musicians onstage performing.  While three young black American men were in the audience watching them performance in Stockholm Sweden, in 1965.

Another different experience occurred that summer in Sweden, and that was viewing the midnight sun. During our two weeks, the sun was out most of the time. It was difficult to adjust your sleeping to the daylight. In June the sun began setting at 10:00 p.m., but it wasn’t completely dark until midnight. The sun would come back out at about 3:30 a.m. Daylight lasted close to twenty hours.