Hey wow, it's been almost a week since I last blogged.
Not much happening this week, musically speaking. Monday and Tuesday was the usual teaching muck. I tried really hard to be good and not spew sarcasm. Some lessons were more successful than others in that regard! I did teach a handful of students who actually pay attention to what I say, but the majority are not practicing enough and not taking my suggestions.
Wednesday I taught from home, which was a little better, but it's still teaching.
Thursday night was Yacht Rock at the 10 High. A pretty good show overall. We had "Good Luck Ganesh" holding down the drums while Mark Cobb is enjoying the weather in southern California. The on stage sound was a little different from usual--Ganesh doesn't play with the same volume, and that altered the balance. It's still good, just different. Anyway, I couldn't hear Bencuya very well (compared to other weeks), so that was disappointing. Dannells was not quite on target--we had fun, but he didn't have much to say.
For myself, I played pretty well. I had one nasty wrong chord in Jive Talkin' in the verse. It was of my standard ways of screwing up: my hands are in mid-flight on the way to a F chord, and the voice in my head goes "B flat!", and my hands jab a B flat out instead, and I'm wrong. Again. Like an idiot. Who is that guy who keeps telling me the wrong stuff? Same thing happened on the boat on Reminiscing. We finally got set up, and I was not happy with the stage situation and just wanted to play well so that I could bury the feeling that I was dragging the band down. Right when we got to the first thing for me to play, right as the air is making its way from my lungs to the mouthpiece, right as I am about to play my part which is CLEARLY in B Major, the voice in my head says, "It's in C", and I played several notes a half step away from reality. I was so mad I could've thrown my horn across the room.
A Half Step Away from Reality could be the name of my biography.
What else...I played the solos to FM, Caribbean Queen, and the riff for Who Can it Be Now? for about an hour Thursday afternoon, and none of them was perfect on the gig. FM was better than it has been, but I always flail at it a little. Caribbean Queen was good up until I missed the high Bb towards the end. One of those situations where I got a little too excited and didn't aim the air correctly. Same thing with Who Can it Be Now?, which usually shows up in the last few songs of the night when my reed is drying out and the alcohol is fully functioning.
The keyboard playing went really well. Other than my Jive Talkin' schizo moment, I was pretty on target. Strangely, I did nothing to prepare--no frantic practicing this week. The set list didn't come out until the last minute and I was forced to wing it. That usually results in some anxious moments, but all my stuff was there, and even, and I was makin' the changes, I mean I was actually kind of loose on Peg and Kiss You All Over (and thank god there's no recording because what I played probably only sounded good to me!).
The crowd didn't seem any different from the previous week, but we ended up with a good bit more money at the end of the night. It could've been Ganesh, but it might have been turnover. The new time still seems to mystify our audience--people are turning up at 10 thinking they have time to get situated, but we're already halfway through the set.
Last night's set and the week before really make me feel like I did a crappy job playing on the boat, not only from a musical standpoint, but also for the show. I know we're on our home turf and it's easy and comfortable, but the contrast between what I didn't do out there and what I do here is kind of depressing. I wonder why? Equipment? The vibe? Sleep deprivation? Whatever. I can do better. I would suspect that's why a couple of my songs got cut at the end of the last night at sea.
I'm off again tomorrow night, and hopefully I'll actually get something done. Next week is another stack of Yacht Rock--the usual Thursday, then Friday in Nashville (Mercy Lounge), and Saturday back in Atlanta playing with the Schooner (Yacht Rock B band).
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