Tales From the Turntable: Hold Me Closer MAGIC DANCER

I don't even know that words could ever pay a proper tribute to him. We saw him nearly every Tuesday during the summer of 2002 -- Best. Summer. EVER! We watched him perform with passion. We tried to figure him out. We didn't even know his name. So we gave him one...

MAGIC DANCER

White shirt. Beer bottle. Jeans. Passion.

Jellyrolls was the place to spot this mystery man. Tuesday was Cast Member night, and since we were there every week and so was he, it would be a safe assumption that he was also a Cast Member. But where? Was he an intern? Was he American? Was he straight? These are all questions we had.

His natural habitat inside of Jellyrolls (a dueling pianos bar you'll definitely hear and see more of in my blog!) was up front right by the stage. One could find him with a bottle of beer in his hand, a collared shirt, perfectly styled hair... and full blown musical passion in his performances.

He was not one of the paid entertainers.

He was just like us... but oh my gosh did he sing his heart out! His face was feeling each emotion in the songs. He had his dance move that I bet you all of us Kali kids could still do without missing a beat. And what was his favorite song?  Brace yourself for the hilarity of it ...

Train. Drops of Jupiter. WHAT?!?

See the feeling in that? Pretty sure this is Drops of Jupiter!

I feel like our crew overall HATED this song... but now I get sooooo dang sentimental when I hear it. It's an awful song, right?!? But I hear it and am immediately transported to sweaty, drunken nights in our favorite place... watching Magic Dancer pour his heart out to it. He would face the rest of the guests and get so into it, it's like he really did think it was HIS song and HE was the reason we were all there. He was legendary.

But such a mystery! I swear the nights he was there we couldn't take our eyes off of him. I mean he really was pretty good looking. He seemed ready to make his big break. Maybe he did!? Who knows.

I recall one night in particular where we were so confused while watching him. Did he like dudes? Was he into girls? What was his taste?? Was it everyone?

Shawn and I - the night of our mission

So Shawn and I decided to put it to a test! 

Both of us being into guys, we figured this was our mission. We were taking one for the team? Or maybe we both just HAD to get close to this person we had been obsessing over all summer. Magic Dancer was in between our tables (front row center, as always!) and the stairs to get to the bathrooms and bar. With a slow, deliberate walk with made our way toward him. Once we were at him we split up. One of us on each side. We would pathetically each try to hit on him and see what happens. 

We did and He did! After our pass by the first time, and the return to our table we were even confused. Instead of us hitting on him it was almost like Magic Dancer nearly made the moves on BOTH Shawn and I! Mission FAIL!

Well played, Magic Dancer.

Magic Dancer wins. We still reminisce about him. We still wonder about him. We never saw him after that epic summer. I fully expected to see him on the big screen or singing to a stadium full of people some day. 

Until then he will always be a Jellyrolls legend!

Just for fun, here's a video of Jellyrolls. We were almost always front row, dead center. Magic Dancer would be to our right by the stage facing us. Long Live MD!

ºoº See ya real soon!

Tales From the Turntable: Party FAIL!

March 2, 2002 is a night I will NEVER forget.... even though I wish I could!

Maybe we needed a break from Pleasure Island and House of Blues. Maybe we just needed to really party hard. Maybe we needed a night out in downtown Orlando?

And so it began. We gathered at my apartment ... mostly girls ... Yuli, Kimberly, Moniq and myself. We got all dolled up in our nightlife clothes and began to have some drinks before we left. We were money conscious, right?!? Pre-game before paying a ton of money in a night club?

Here you can get a little glimpse of my apartment. That is a little alcove with my dining room table in it. I still have that table, only it is now in the Man Cave and decorated in artwork by a little toddler of mine! And that would be Moniq in my GAP beret leaning up against Kim!

Also in attendance were two guys. One we don't mention, blech, and the super cute one in pale blue is Mike. I adored him and took care of him during his entire college program internship. Mike was the underage member of our group... and part of our reason for drinking BEFORE going out. I mean he couldn't be left out of all the fun, right?

After a hearty amount of partying in my apartment we were loading ourselves in my car. The boys took the front since the one was our designated driver and the other was Mike. We four girls squished in the back seat. And off to downtown Orlando we went .... or so we thought.

Kim kept trying to hit on Mike from the back seat. He was completely ignoring her because he wasn't even coherent enough to comprehend where he was. We started to get nervous. He started to behave strange. Uncomfortable. Oh no, was he getting sick? And then it happened.

We were on I-4, well away from Disney property, beyond the Universal Studios area, closing in on the heart of Orlando. In the backseat we were hot. I mean we had four girls back there in Florida humidity. So our window was open trying to survive. But then Mike opened his window. 

And then he threw up. He threw up out the window on I-4 going 65ish miles per hour. And where did that vomit go?? Right to the backseat ALL OVER US GIRLS!! It was foamy. It was hot. It smelled awful.

We never made it to our destination. Once he was emptied of the stomach contents along the side of the freeway we began our return back to Disney property. Having 3 members of our party being Vista Way residents we were able to get signed in so we could deliver him to his apartment. It was like carrying a warm, sweaty carcass up the stairs. We got him to his couch and stayed around as long as we could to make sure he was okay and going to be taken care of. (Vista Way has a visitor curfew.)


Mike woke up the next morning with a popcorn kernel embedded in his forehead.

My car never smelled good again. I ended up trading it in for a new one. 

 ºoº See ya real soon!

**If anyone knows of Mike's whereabouts, please let me know. That was my boy!

Tales From the Turntable: Namaste to a BEAM of Light

If you weren't there you probably wouldn't believe it happened.

At Kali River Rapids we have a general rule that if anyone enters the flume when filled with water you hit the E-Stop. I had to do that once when a child fell in actually. But on April 18, 2002 we tossed that rule aside.

It started off innocently enough. It was Beams final day, so she finished it off by going on a ride with guests - a Magical Moment! That was probably more for Beam than the guests, but everyone ended that ride with a smile, as they should!

All of the guests were off the ride. The queue was empty. It was time.

Beam and I

We loaded up into the raft for the final ride through as is customary every single night. But this time it was Beam's final ride, and she was going out in style.

With Pim on the up-ramp

Back in the day we would rapidly switch seats during the ride so we could try to stay as dry as possible. This time, however, Beam certainly didn't care!

When we got back to the turntable we exited our raft and thought all was done. But it wasn't. In she went!

Beam seriously jumped IN THE FLUME!!

Talk about going out in style. In my years at Kali Beam is the ONLY one ever gutsy enough to pull this off!!

And with that it was one final walk away from Asia. She certainly was missed. I worked with so many Cast Members from all over the place, and she was definitely one of my all-time favorites!

ºoº See ya real soon!