My big solo was the pipe organ intro on "Phantom of the Opera." One Sunday we had a big concert at an old folks home in an auditorium down in South Jersey. I was running late as I wheeled in my Korg M1 and my Roland keyboard amp I plugged in, and smoke started pouring out the back of my amp. I cut the power, looked around to see if anyone had seen me, the coast was clear. The downbeat was in 3 minutes, and there was no backup, no other amplification, no possibility of making any sound for the performance. Rather than confess my plight to the slightly hostile conductor, I instead asked him if we were going to play "Phantom", he said "no, not today," and I said "cool".

I knew that if I confessed to him I wouldn't get paid, so I did the most unprofessional thing I've ever done: I mimed the entire concert, pretending to play-- my amp was off. I was setup next to the brass so no one could hear anything anyways. Afterwards the tuba player complimented me on my performance, and I collected the check and went home.