A Wedding to Remember

“My daughter recently met a woman who, in the course of their conversation, told her about the very wet and rainy evening some 40 years ago, when she and her husband got married, and the bandleader was me,” relates veteran guitarist, keyboard player, and bandleader DAVID NULMAN, today a music teacher and music therapist. “When my daughter asked me if I recalled that night, I certainly did.”

The wedding took place in Long Beach, at a beautiful oceanside catering hall, and Nulman arrived early to bring in all the sound equipment and musical paraphernalia, an arduous process that involved several trips from his car into the hall, up in the elevator and finally to the bandstand. He managed to haul in the last of his equipment just before heavy rains began to fall.

“Outside,” he says, “the downpour continued, while inside the guests were having a great time, unaware that the rains were overwhelming the parking lots’ storm drains and flooding where many of them had left their cars. Finally, the sheva brachos were said, the guests wished the new bride and groom and their families mazel tov, and began leaving. The waiters and busboys cleared the tables, the caterer began dimming the lights, and I began the long and tedious task of wrapping up microphones and audio cables, breaking down keyboards, bulky speakers and stands, and packing all the musical equipment onto carts to be transported to the elevators, down one flight, and out of the hall and into my car.

“By the time just a few people were left inside, I was able to leave. The rains had stopped but there was standing water covering much of the parking lot. I felt lucky that my car was parked in an easily approachable dry area, but I noticed a lone car parked smack in the middle of a deep, water-filled section, its wheels almost halfway submerged in what looked like a small lake.