David Freeman Music

Yacht Rock continued our crazy string of gigs with a wedding Sunday night in Athens.  Friend of the band Ben Allen (producer/engineer/studio guy) hired us to play the reception at his parents' home in Athens, GA.  You (if you were a wedding band) couldn't have asked for an easier reception.  We backed the trailer up to the back of the stage;  loaded in;  soundchecked; hung out/drank/eventually ate;  played what we wanted, and ended at 11 PM.  Easy easy easy gig, and some familiar faces that made it feel less like a job and more like a party with our friends.  Yay Ben!


It was mostly the usual Yacht Rock stuff--some 70s, some 80s.  We did throw in a few funkier songs for the dancers.  Dig it:

Use Me (Athens) by David B Freeman

My alto was really out of tune.  I don't think I like what I played, but the band sounded funky.  And what a great time to play a couple of wrong notes right as I go into the solo.  Hmm.  Not too good there. Everybody else sounds good, though.

Kiss (Athe…

Yacht Rock played an event at Sunset Cove on Lake Lanier yesterday evening.  It was an event sponsored/disorganized by Rock 100.5 and our old buddy Mike Key, who it appears was singlehandedly charged with every part of the event:  running sound, managing the stage, moving gear, MC'ing the event, finding food for the band.  Methinks it was too much.

We showed up to the scene…as far as the eye could see, enormous boats, sand, sun, skin.  I was turned on and repulsed at the same time.  It was, as Nick described, a giant frat party.  Goodie!  Some guy had his ski boat right next to the stage blasting music;  distracting not only because of the competing sound (most of the boats on the water had comparable sound systems) but also for the escort he hired to dance for him all afternoon.



There was a miniature riverboat moored behind the stage, so we hung out on there (in the air conditioning!) while our gear made its way from the top of the hill down to the stage.  Once the opening band f…

It's felt like one long Yacht Rock gig…

Thursday night, The Yacht Rock Revue and the Yacht Rock Schooner combined Thursday night to bring the smooth 70s sound to the 10 High.  It was Mark Bencuya (YRR), Tom Young (YRS), Daniel Morrison (YRS), Mark Dannells (YRR), me (both!), Greg Lee (YRR), and Kevin Spencer (YRS).  Two bass players, right?  Greg  sang on the front line and Tom played bass.


It could have been a big mess--at the very least, is it a Revue gig or is a Schooner gig?  Sometimes we do different endings to the same song, and so there was a little confusion.  Even just knowing who we were on the microphone was subject to interpretation.  The gig turned out to be really cool, though.  It was a really good change of pace to have Greg up front, and Daniel really played great.  He's come a long way in getting comfortable with the music.

For me, the gig was a little nerve wracking.  I was late due to some downed trees and a pretty good thunderstorm that evening.  I showed u…

The Yacht Rock Revue played a benefit show in Kennesaw last night for Leland Erickson, a three year old with a acute myeloid leukemia.  He's currently in remission, but his family has incurred huge medical bills. Glad we could help!

Here's his website if you would like to make a donation.
davidfreemanmusic.net

Yacht Rock played a private party at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge at Lake Oconee Monday night.  The Georgia Chamber hired us.  I think it's safe to say they loved us--we were invited to the after-party for free drinks at the bar and received a heroes' welcome when we arrived.


I've played the Ritz out there a bunch.  For a while, I was there a couple of  times a month, playing in the lobby in a band with Tyrone Jackson, Karin Williams, Moffett Morris, and Ben Taylor.  Great band and a great gig.  It eventually fell apart when the Ritz got funny with the money.  When Yacht Rock was checking in to our rooms, we saw a pretty bad one-man-band in there with tracks.  Things have changed for the worse.

This gig was down by the lake on a stage that listed to starboard about ten degrees.  Not my favorite set up!  No cover when there was sun, and once the sun went down, we were inundated with bugs.  It probably didn't help that the Ritz set up the world's largest bug light right be…

Sunday means church gigs!

Church gig number one was kind of chaotic, but we came through just fine.  Here's an audio snapshot:

Sunday gospel by David B Freeman

I'm going to try next week to use the headphones again.  I've just been playing off the drums and piano, but I feel like I'm missing too much (of the bass, for instance, and if there was any way to hear some of the vocals, that'd be swell, too).

Church gig number two was fine once I got my flute face going…not sure what was up.  I couldn't get the angle of the air across the hole right for a couple of songs.  It was weird.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Last night, Yacht Rock played the Police Ball 2011 at the Marriott downtown.  No actual police were involved, except for the cop who brought his motorcycle up the freight elevator with me.


This was definitely some sort of high dollar benefit.  Big room, big production.  You know the drill.  Over-rehearsed lukewarm speeches, touchy-feely video segments, local newscaster host.  Blah.  We did some video bombing right before the doors opened.


The gig went well.  It was a good night for us, and for me personally.  The stage was really wide (but normal depth), so we were really spread out.  Thanks to monitors, it was cool.  Actually, I kind of dug it because we were far enough apart that I could hear myself well without having my amp really cranked up, and I could hear everybody else in my wedge and Dannells' wedge.

I finally bought a Nord…I got an Electro 3 73 off eBay this week.  It's really nice.  The most prominent improvement over the Nord 2 that I have been borrowing for a few…

Yacht Rock played our U2 show (Uno Dos Tres Catorce) at Andrews Upstairs/8 Traxx Disco last night.  It was a pretty good show, though the crowd never got swept up enough to make a monumental event.  Our friends the REMakes (REM tribute band) opened for us, and they were terrific, as always.  I played on a couple of songs (Finest Worksong has a brass part and Can't Get There from Here has a sax part).

The story of the night was Mark Cobb's awesome new set of Vistalites:




Very, very, very cool.  Cobb's more of a small drum sizes kind of guy, so it was pretty wild to see him behind a monster kit.  It didn't really change much for me, though.  His "sound" (for me) is his snare drum (whichever one he chooses for the night)--the other drums just compliment the snare in different ways (though I am partial to the blue sparkle kick drum).

Since I didn't have much to do on this gig, I spent a fair amount of time people watching and laughing to myself.  When we start…