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Sumer is e-rollen by(e).

I am not Southern California born but except for a few months at the beginning of my life that is irrelevant. It can be told I have never taken the Universal Studios Tour, have not been to the Orange County place of whatever Disney variation on a name has been attached since Labor Day of 1981 and have never set foot in Valencia's Six Flags.

The Times ran an article last Monday on the "It's A Small World" attraction in Anaheim. There are some ethnic stereotypes, or close enough, which draw some approbation, but it's lasted for half a century. Pardon me while I gasp. Well, at all the aforementioned locations there are the "barf rides" I haven't endured and may as well take the gasps where I can, even existentially, find them.

During childhood a good reason to visit an A.P. was a relative from a part of the country starved for such mass marketing, and at Disneyland, while we youngsters literally lusted for the Autobahn as we got in the gates, the parents were always saying, "Ah, let's hit the submarine ride. The kids love it." Well, it was more fun once aboard.

That is the appeal of It's A Small World": a leisurely ride which doesn't scare anyone and is rather cute. Many other rides fueled by higher technologies have bit the dust and displaced innards over the years. The tune is, arguably but not as if the debate is so hot, one of the top three earworms according to some sources. Come to think, applied to the song the scary part is arguable.

It was outside the other side of Sylmar Pass the one community band played outside, a few hills away from a line of sight to Six Flags' spires, on a Monday night, bedeviled by small insects resembling the "Train Your Dragon" darlings in miniature. We played a rather involved Disney song medley and here was "Small World" firmly bolted in and performed in some of the quaint ethnic accents of the ride. There was a Mariachi section, something like maybe Irish, and then the Oktoberfest version complete with a line that handily tested a clarinetist's turns over the break----dead to (left/)rights.

I practiced at home but alas at the gig I wasn't sure of the background lining up and Rathskellar time was a Waterloo. Speaking of which, I just know our director wants to pull up "1812 Overture" as he has in the past. So many clarinet notes, and it's a small world for error.

Music, always the best thrill ride.


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