This gig was insane. It sold out--they were turning people away! Very cool and very surreal. Lots of people saw us for the first time. More and more, I don't recognize hardly anyone in the audience. The thing just continues to grow--business is improving!
Other than that, it was fairly uneventful. There were a few rough spots, which was understandable considering we hadn't really played most of these songs since the Variety Playhouse gig. I felt a little more mentally aware than I did in Charlotte--in other words, I didn't feel as crappy about my performance as the previous night!
We had a different sound guy than we usually see at the Park Tavern--last night was Kip Conner, who usually runs sound for Shawn Mullins. I think the board was frustrating him (and us). Things that he would turn down would get turned back up, and other things would disappear. We made it through ok, but he seemed pretty pissed about it afterwards, and I can understand why--he's a total pro sound guy, and the thing made him look bad.
It's becoming apparent to me as we play larger venues that my little powered speaker is not powerful enough to keep up with the stage volume--it's fine when I'm right on top of it, but even six feet away is getting too far. Right now I'm using a Mackie SRM350, and I usually use it wide open. I think I need to jump up to the SRM450 so I can have it loud enough without the sounds distorting. I thought about buying a big keyboard amp (since that's mainly what's going through it), but a 450 is around the same price, and I could also use it as a main speaker on gigs where I have to supply a PA.
After the gig, I was explaining the EWI to a woman, and I explained that it was a synth, but instead of having piano keys to tell it what note to play, it has saxophone fingerings. She said, "You play saxophone?" Ouch.
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