Rod Miller can't read a lick of music. What he learned about playing piano came from mimicking player piano rolls and picking up bits from ragtime masters such as Joe "Fingers" Carr and Jo Ann Castle. For 36 years, though, Rod dazzled guests at Disneyland's Coke Corner with his piano playing prowess.
Rod retired from Disneyland nearly five years ago, but he put in an appearance last weekend at the Walt Disney Family Museum to help them celebrate their one-year anniversary. He told some great old stories about pranks played on guests at the park, and the time Louis Armstrong showed up unannounced with his horn to jam with the Dixieland band in New Orleans Square.
Mostly, Rod played, and all these years later he's still got some mighty fast fingers. Here, he knocks out a couple of tunes and talks about how he got hired at Disneyland in 1969 for an outrageous $10 an hour:
Thanks Tim! That's my mother and I asking Rod questions that afternoon.
ReplyDelete