Please Pleaserock Me (Yacht Rock guys playing the Beatles) played last night at Smith's Olde Bar. There may have been twelve people in the audience. Attendance was really bad. When the curtain opened, there was nobody in the standing area in front of the stage except me. I was able to take some good pictures because of this.
This particular PPRM gig focused on the stripped down quartet music of the Beatles, due to the fact that our gear was on a truck headed to our next gig. Therefore, we played on borrowed amps and gear that was not needed for Yacht Rock. For me, the quartet music meant that I had even less responsibility than usual--some tambourine, a cowbell, and three saxophone songs for the entire night. Therefore, the night was pretty much an excuse to drink as much free Newcastle as I could.
Some gigs are like that.
I used my bent saxophone neck on my soprano last night. I've noticed that I hold the horn almost vertically when I play--holding is out is not as comfortable--so I thought I would experiment with that neck. I can't decide whether or not I like it. Obviously, my airway is probably more open because I'm not looking down. My straight neck is an F series (Yamaha), but the curved one is an M series. I wonder if the trade off between the two is equal in terms of sound production. The F has a bigger bore and is more freeblowing (also because there's no bend), and the M is a smaller bore, maybe more focused because of that, and my head is up. We'll see.
One other experiment from last night was with earplugs. I know I should be wearing them more often, but I can't get a feel for how I'm playing when I have them in. I mentioned this to someone else, and he said that the trick is to put them in before you start playing. If you wait until midway through the gig, it'll drive you crazy. I don't know. I wore them last night, and it felt like I wasn't playing with the band. It was like I was playing along to a CD on crappy headphones--too much of me, not enough of everything else. I used those musician's earplugs, and I'm wondering if I just use the silicone flange and not the filter if that will be the right amount of bleed. I think I'll try that.
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