http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disneyland-band-disband-60-years-790452
To add insult to injury, the band's final performance will be July 16, one day before the park's 60th-anniversary celebration.
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Disneyland Has Disbanded the Disneyland Band
- Thread starter TheGhostWithTheMost
- Start date
RandomPrincess
Keep Moving Forward
That article is not accurate. There was a thread talking about this somewhere a couple weeks ago.
They are updating the bands style and holding auditions for the new band. Anyone currently in the band is guaranteed a job in one of the various musical groups through out the Disneyland resort if they choose not to audition or don't make the new Disneyland Band.
They are updating the bands style and holding auditions for the new band. Anyone currently in the band is guaranteed a job in one of the various musical groups through out the Disneyland resort if they choose not to audition or don't make the new Disneyland Band.
Sage of Time
Well-Known Member
Also, the 60th celebration starts on May 22.
Californian Elitist
Well-Known Member
The story is false.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Exactly. The clueless "media" strikes again. Or perhaps this reporter isn't so clueless, and was purposely misleading her readers in order to fit a narrative she already wanted to follow?
GiveMeTheMusic
Well-Known Member
No one forgot; we already discussed it in the 60th thread. While I don't think the Dapper Dans redo did anyone any favors, the Disneyland Band has become a trudging chore with zero energy and no showmanship. No one is being fired as the smaller groups are being expanded for anyone who isn't cast in the new band. This represents an astonishing increase in the budget, so frankly, I don't see a downside (as long as the new band is good - if they end up sucking, then...).
flynnibus
Premium Member
No one was fired... we just reassigned them to siberia. What.. you don't want to keep working here after the transfer? Oh sorry to hear that.
offering people other roles isn't always as genuine as it looks.. especially if all the other possible roles don't have the same perks, requirements, hours, etc of the original role.
This is just a forced recast of the troupe - not an expansion. The question remains if they will reimage it too.. like they did with the Dappers.
GiveMeTheMusic
Well-Known Member
I can't speak to what happened to the Dans (I know some of them still perform at the resort in other roles), but the reassignments for band members will be to existing breakout groups who are going to be performing for full days on a full time schedule. So that means the Pearly Band, Side Street Strutters, etc. will be performing throughout the day instead of just in the middle of the day between full Disneyland Band sets. As a result, there will be more paid union musicians on the payroll than ever.
In this case, Disneyland is doing the transition correctly. I don't know if that was the case with the Dans, but it is here.
And the band is definitely being reimagined. Jury's out on how well that will go until July 17.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
I happened to have watched the Disneyland Band in their set in front of the train station about a week before this whole thing was announced. It was embarrassing. They had as much pep and zip as a Senior Citizens center before nap time. They looked listless and bored to tears, as if it was the 37,000th time they'd performed that song. The lone flourish of personality and zip came from the band leader, but the rest of the guys looked like they dialed up their Xanax prescription too high. And now that we know some of these guys have been with the Band for three or four decades, with the average tenure around 25 years, it makes sense. They're bored and tired.
That said, the re-Imagineering of the Band and their "high energy choreography" numbers might be an absolute disaster. We'll just have to see what they come up with. But the Band in its current format and roster just can't go on. It's not good and Disneyland deserves better.
And finally, and I get to say this because I'm an old white guy, the entire band is made up of older white men. No one looks younger than middle aged, and there wasn't a single person of color in the group. Let alone a woman. The Disneyland Resort Cast of the 2010's looks just as diverse as Southern California has become. But the Disneyland Band is a tired grouping of 16 people who are all older white men. Where else in 21st century SoCal could you get 16 people together and have them all be white men?
http://datelinedisneyland.smugmug.com/DisneylandResort/2015/041715/i-DnhZcCr
The Disneyland Band is in desperate need of new blood and diversity. It's time.
That said, the re-Imagineering of the Band and their "high energy choreography" numbers might be an absolute disaster. We'll just have to see what they come up with. But the Band in its current format and roster just can't go on. It's not good and Disneyland deserves better.
And finally, and I get to say this because I'm an old white guy, the entire band is made up of older white men. No one looks younger than middle aged, and there wasn't a single person of color in the group. Let alone a woman. The Disneyland Resort Cast of the 2010's looks just as diverse as Southern California has become. But the Disneyland Band is a tired grouping of 16 people who are all older white men. Where else in 21st century SoCal could you get 16 people together and have them all be white men?
http://datelinedisneyland.smugmug.com/DisneylandResort/2015/041715/i-DnhZcCr
The Disneyland Band is in desperate need of new blood and diversity. It's time.
Sage of Time
Well-Known Member
Agreed with all of this. My only stipulation is to keep the classic look of the uniforms and to still have them preform on the Mark Twain.... seeing them come down the river was one of my favorite Disneyland moments, on my trip.I happened to have watched the Disneyland Band in their set in front of the train station about a week before this whole thing was announced. It was embarrassing. They had as much pep and zip as a Senior Citizens center before nap time. They looked listless and bored to tears, as if it was the 37,000th time they'd performed that song. The lone flourish of personality and zip came from the band leader, but the rest of the guys looked like they dialed up their Xanax prescription too high. And now that we know some of these guys have been with the Band for three or four decades, with the average tenure around 25 years, it makes sense. They're bored and tired.
That said, the re-Imagineering of the Band and their "high energy choreography" numbers might be an absolute disaster. We'll just have to see what they come up with. But the Band in its current format and roster just can't go on. It's not good and Disneyland deserves better.
And finally, and I get to say this because I'm an old white guy, the entire band is made up of older white men. No one looks younger than middle aged, and there wasn't a single person of color in the group. Let alone a woman. The Disneyland Resort Cast of the 2010's looks just as diverse as Southern California has become. But the Disneyland Band is a tired grouping of 16 people who are all older white men. Where else in 21st century SoCal could you get 16 people together and have them all be white men?
http://datelinedisneyland.smugmug.com/DisneylandResort/2015/041715/i-DnhZcCr
The Disneyland Band is in desperate need of new blood and diversity. It's time.
lego606
MagicBandit
I happened to have watched the Disneyland Band in their set in front of the train station about a week before this whole thing was announced. It was embarrassing. They had as much pep and zip as a Senior Citizens center before nap time. They looked listless and bored to tears, as if it was the 37,000th time they'd performed that song. The lone flourish of personality and zip came from the band leader, but the rest of the guys looked like they dialed up their Xanax prescription too high. And now that we know some of these guys have been with the Band for three or four decades, with the average tenure around 25 years, it makes sense. They're bored and tired.
That said, the re-Imagineering of the Band and their "high energy choreography" numbers might be an absolute disaster. We'll just have to see what they come up with. But the Band in its current format and roster just can't go on. It's not good and Disneyland deserves better.
And finally, and I get to say this because I'm an old white guy, the entire band is made up of older white men. No one looks younger than middle aged, and there wasn't a single person of color in the group. Let alone a woman. The Disneyland Resort Cast of the 2010's looks just as diverse as Southern California has become. But the Disneyland Band is a tired grouping of 16 people who are all older white men. Where else in 21st century SoCal could you get 16 people together and have them all be white men?
http://datelinedisneyland.smugmug.com/DisneylandResort/2015/041715/i-DnhZcCr
The Disneyland Band is in desperate need of new blood and diversity. It's time.
They do have some female members in the squad, they just don't get scheduled there as much since they've been in the band for a shorter time.
To be fair, the band members hate that they can't really change up their sets. They're tired of playing Let it Go for a year and a half-ish