Thursday night was the last night in Atlanta for our merchandising genius, Gina Niespodziani. She's taking her vast talents to New York City. Someone as creative as her will do very well there, I think. Great ideas are always pouring out of her. You can check out some really hip examples of her work on her website and see some of the Yacht Rock stuff she made here. We're gonna miss her.
Friday: I traveled to Macon with the Yacht Rock Schooner for some kind of semi-private gig. We played at the old Armory. Neat building, neat room. Acoustically unattractive. Who am I to complain? My only responsibility for the evening was saxophone (and flute), so it was an easy night. The sound guys even gave me my own monitor (with JUST ME in it). Sweet! That never happens! I had the thing loud, as it should be! The band sounded really good.
Saturday: I had two gigs. The first was a semi-private gig at Sweetwater Brewery, providing entertainment for Revel for Families First. This was a cool gig because it gave me the opportunity to play with Tyrone Jackson and Kevin Smith, two of my favorite people in the galaxy. Awesome gig, as you might imagine. I had a wonderful time! Nick and his wife Elliott stopped by for a set--very cool to see them. I guess Nick hung with it about as long as he could--not a jazz fan.
Before we even got started, we discovered five or six wasp nests in the roof of the bandstand. One of the Sweetwater guys went and bought a can of hornet spray and hosed them down. No wasps (for the most part), but the stage was littered with dead bugs.
Back to the music: Tyrone and Kevin played some really terrific stuff. Tyrone was stunning, and Kevin played better than I think I've ever previously heard him.
Here's the audio:
Once the trio gig ended, I packed up, went home, swapped gear, and headed to the Dixie Tavern, where I met up with the Yacht Rock Schooner. I played their second set with them. Once again, a very relaxed setting for me to hang out and blow some sax and flute. I got off a good solo on Takin' it to the Streets for a change. The band continued their hot streak--sounded good. I did my best (when not playing) to try and steal anything I could from Eric Frampton.
By the time I got home, put away the PA from the trio gig, hung up my clothes, packed for Sunday, and poked around on the internet, it was almost 4 AM.
Sunday: officially began with my alarm clock at 7 AM. Ouch! Maybe three hours of sleep. Not good.
Church gig number one felt like Church: The Musical. The usual leader was on vacation, so we had the organist leading us. He's a little stiff. The usual singers were not there, either, so we had one of the adult small vocal groups providing lyrics. Thus, the three main charts in the book were each about sixteen pages (single sided photocopies, just to make the page turning more frantic). Not much music can be made when you're turning pages every four measures!
I came home and prepared for a Monday morning Yacht Rock rehearsal. Three songs. No big deal. After a quick shower, I was off to church gig number two. It went fairly well. The pianist made more mistakes than usual. Weird stuff--like one hand would change chords, but the other would not, or one hand would play a wrong note, and the other hand would walk across the keyboard to go talk about it.
I had a tired flute face and a crummy soprano reed, but another pretty good mix happening-maybe that made up for my lack of musical prowess.
I made home and ate something before I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up at 8:40 AM! Just in time to drink a cup of coffee and head out the door to rehearsal.
Easy week this week…check in on my David Freeman Music Facebook page to see videos from these recent trio gigs, or check them out as I post them on my YouTube channel.
P.S. The 'stache is gone.
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