Atlanta

In the LA Times yesterday there was an Ariel photo of Six Flags over Georgia. The roller coaster was sticking out of water. The area floods caused the Chattahoochee river to overflow and fill part of the theme park. It had special sadness for me because it's where I worked the summer I graduated from High School.

In "The Two and Only" I talk about the summer I did 918 shows, well Six Flags over Gerogia is the place where it happened. To accomplish this feat took working a double schedule. There were 10 shows a day at the Crystal Pistol Music Hall. Yes, Crystal Pistol, we hated that name. When we arrived for rehearsals the name Georgia Music Hall was painted at the top of the grand entrance. Angus Wynn the CEO of Six Flags jokingly said they should call it the Crystal Pistol after a strip joint he frequented in Atlanta. The next day the art department was repainting the name. To this day I think everyone knew he was kidding except the Art Department. A certain "kiss ass" element in the organization thought Angus Wynn was the next Walt Disney and all his ideas were golden. The live show department did not share that opinion.

But back to the schedule. To perform 10 shows a day, every hour on the hour, required two casts. One cast did five the other cast did five. In order to let each cast have a complete day off, one of our work days would be an eight show day. We dropped off the first and last show from the schedule. When a person dropped out after one week from the day show cast, I was asked if I wanted to double cast. Twice the work, but twice the money. The other people in the show would complain about doing a "long day" (eight shows) but for me it was actually short day.

It wasn't the same show which was a help. To change the stage around and do a different show after five was ultimately a boredom saver. I wasn't the only one who did a "double cast" that summer. My friend and "Roomie" David Wylie also worked a double shift. I think that was the only reason I could do it because he had a car and I didn't. I would ride the back roads to work with him in his red VW from Smyrna, where we all lived. There was one time we were stopped by an actual hooded Klansman who shoved a flier into the car inviting us to a public cross burning. At the time Smyrna was home of the Grand Imperial Dragon for the Klan which I assume it a big deal. I still have that flier somewhere in my files. Even then I knew some day my kids would not believe there could be a flier that started out "If you are white...you MUST attend".

Six Flags over Georgia has special memories for me. It was the first summer I lived away from home, and I lived with a bunch of entertainers that I had known from the summer before in Texas. It was sort of a coming of age summer for me, but the "age" was a lot younger in those days. I wouldn't say it was the summer that I grew up. I just worked a lot and got to keep my own schedule. It was mostly innocent and although the vices were probably all there for me to get into, I was in my mid teens and really didn't know where to look for it anyway. Perhaps if Wylie had been a party animal it might have been different, but he wasn't. He was much older... maybe 26 or so and the "father" figure of the group, and since he controlled one of the few vehicles available no one got into very much trouble.

So, I knew Six Flags over Georgia was near the river but never heard of it flooding before. I can't imagine the mess a theme park flood would cause. Hard times have befallen the Theme park business; it is certainly not what it was when I was part of it. Astroworld, where Sandi and I met, is gone completely now. The Six Flags Corp has changed hands dozens of times since I was there. They have had to become more like a carnival of "thrill rides" than the theme attractions they once were. It is a statement on our short attention spans and the need for fast paced adrenaline pumping experiences. There are endless stories of carnivals that fade away. It is just part of the Carnival DNA to move on after a wild ride. I am just fortunate to have taken the ride while it was happening. I wouldn't take for those days. Get the mop Six Flags...
As you were,
Jay