Originally Posted By Elderp Apparently the word is that Rod Miller is not coming back. He is going to use up his holiday time and then go out on retirement. Sad news, truly an era of good times has come to an end.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss Not being a local, I haven't spent much time hanging around just to hear him play. But I appreciate all the CM's that bring life to Disneyland, as he did with his talent for tickling the ivories. For that I thank him, and wish him well in his retirement.
Originally Posted By DlandDug I was informed that Rod will continue to perform in the area. He simply cannot maintain the long shifts at Disneyland.
Originally Posted By Elderp "I was informed that Rod will continue to perform in the area. He simply cannot maintain the long shifts at Disneyland." When did you hear this? Does this mean he is going to do random performances and if so will it still be at Coke Refreshment Corner? Only, reason I ask is it is a surprise to me.
Originally Posted By gadzuux >> I was informed that Rod will continue to perform in the area. He simply cannot maintain the long shifts at Disneyland. << Clarification please: "in the area" of Main Street USA? Or "in the area" of anaheim somewhere outside of DL?
Originally Posted By Dave >>>I was informed that Rod will continue to perform in the area<<< And that is incorrect information.
Originally Posted By StillThePassHolder So then, where, if anywhere, will Rod Miller be appearing in the future?
Originally Posted By BluemoonT This is rumor I have, which is from a reliable source - Rod will not be performing at Disneyland or anywhere else. His ragtime piano playing has come to a sad end. He is definitely retiring. Rod is retiring due to his back injury. Rod had 3 surgeries in 2005 to correct his back pain. Unfortunately it did not correct the damage done so many years ago. There has been a lot of nerve damage to his back and down his right leg which prevents him from playing the piano. I’m very sad to hear this as I’ve listen to Rod since 1986. I already miss walking down Main Street and not hearing his familiar style of playing the piano. Or the warm smile Rod greets you with when coming up to be entertained by him. Thanks Rod for all the years of entertainment, fun, laughter and memories.
Originally Posted By DlandDug My information was that Rod would still be performing infrequently outside the Park. If that has changed, it's news to me. (Rod always played other gigs, even while he was part of the Disneyland cast.) <a href="http://www.fourhandpiano.net/" target="_blank">http://www.fourhandpiano.net/</a>
Originally Posted By BluemoonT Yes, his performing outside the park was true. This was all before he went out on disability due to his back injury. Playing one song is fine, to perform for 30 minutes to an hour is no longer possible for Rod.
Originally Posted By Elderp Sad stuff. It was fun while it lasted. Are the other two players Mark and Johnny?
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka I was so sad that I missed him during my last trip to DL. Bummer. How sad that his back injuries are so limiting.
Originally Posted By PirateJohn >>>Are the other two players Mark and Johnny? Johnny, Alan, Eric, and Jonathan
Originally Posted By cmpaley What a loss. I remember almost every time we'd stop by (which was infrequently), Rod would always smile and wave at us.
Originally Posted By PirateJohn I haven't had a chance to talk to Rod in the last few weeks, but I thought I might share a small excerpt from the autobiography I've been helping Rod write. I was hoping it would be done while Rod was still working at Disneyland so it could be sold in the park for him to autograph, but I guess it wasn't to be... ---------------- One thing that I had always wanted as a kid was “The Invisible Man.†It was a strange little kids’ toy of the day that had guts you could take out and put back in. So one day about three weeks before Christmas, my sister and I were playing in the basement when I looked up on the rafters and noticed all the toys that we had wanted as presents for Christmas. So we got a ladder, climbed up to the rafters, and looked around at all these toys that were lined up. And being the young, foolish kids we were, we went to tell my mom that we had seen all of our presents that we wanted from Santa. (since I lived in a small town in Minnesota, I was 14 before I stopped believing in Santa) Well, my mom, being a very smart woman, quickly came up with a response. “You know,†she said, “Santa’s a really busy person and when he’s traveling around on Christmas Eve there’s no possible way he can carry all of those presents. So he goes around to all of the houses early and hides the presents ahead of time. But now that you’ve seen them, he’s probably going to take them all back! So don’t you play in the basement anymore.†We were devastated! And we certainly didn’t play in the basement again. But one time still before Christmas, my parents asked us to go to the basement to get something for them. When we looked up at the rafters, all the presents were gone. We didn’t think much of it until Christmas morning, when our parents woke us up at about 6:00. We all ran downstairs and saw... nothing. There were no presents or anything under the tree. We figured, well, maybe Santa is just late. So we went back to bed and at about 8:00 we came downstairs again and there was still nothing there. By about 9:00, there were still no presents and it was time to get ready for church. When all of our friends at church asked us “what did you get from Santa?†we all had to say “nothing!†They were all astonished at us! We went the whole day thinking Santa had skipped our house. At dinnertime, though, we were having all of our relatives over, and my mother asked us to go get the card tables in the closet. So we all went to open the closet door and there were all our presents. We ran back to our mother and told her about it and she said, “Well, Santa probably hid them on you because you saw them, so don’t ever look for them again!†I had told my mother about this story a few years ago and she had forgotten all about it. She laughed until she was nearly sick.
Originally Posted By Indigo Just posted my tribute on my blog <a href="http://thedisneyblog.typepad.com/" target="_blank">http://thedisneyblog.typepad.c om/</a> I will definitely miss Rod Miller sitting at the Coke Corner Piano. His 36 years of magic and music has changed lives, inspired love, and sometimes just simply put a smile on the face of a guest at the end of a long day. Walt would be proud. -Indigo
