I have sweated profusely on more gigs this summer than any other summer of my career. It seems like all the gigs are un-air conditioned/outside (to which I pose the question: why are we EVER playing outside in the summer?) or the venue is always hot and stinky (10 High), or the load in difficult and in direct sunlight in the middle of the afternoon. Every week has another hot and sweaty gig. Hydrate or die.
Thursday night…about what you've probably come to expect if you read this blog with any regularity. The first set was pretty decent/solid. The crowd was extremely ambivalent about what we were doing. I played pretty well, except my tenor stuff. Since last week, I've been thinking that my playing was going to hell--everything in the left hand seemed to choke when I would really push it. I thought that maybe I was doing something with my tongue position that was changing the airstream, or my reeds were going soft, or something…anyway, I felt like I was fighting my horn.
The second set was a drunken mess. We've become a one set band at the 10 High. Once we return from break, it's a grind.
Friday night was our (Yacht Rock) monthly show at the Park Tavern. The Main Street Exiles opened for us. I got the call to play with them (Bencuya jumped in on keyboards). It was a pretty good show--much better than the last time we ran into them at Smith's Olde Bar. Unfortunately for me, I later heard that just about everything I played (everything except the solo on Brown Sugar) was inaudible in the PA. Boo.
The Yacht Rock part of the show was pretty good. Much better than the previous evening, but not quite the energy of the previous Park Tavern show. All in all, I think it went well, though. I really have no idea if anything I played was ever audible in the room--the way that PA works, it feels like all the sax stuff is played into a pillow, and I would assume I get the usual treatment with the keyboards and EWI (slightly louder than the bongos mic in the mix). It feels like there's no sound out there.
I did get off a really good solo on Biggest Part of Me…wonder if I'll get to play it with Ambrosia next week?
It dawned on me as my horn was choking on another sax solo that I probably have an upper stack leak in my tenor, and that was what was messing everything up. I tried really hard to aim my notes (like the altissimo A that begins Whatever Gets You Through the Night) and it was still difficult. Duh. Time to track down Lopes.
For the record, I once again was offered (and declined) blow. That, along with the heat, seems to be a trend for the summer. What is it, three or four times now?
Saturday: did nothing. Slept. Tried my backup tenor and it worked much better! Back in business.
This coming week has a few things: the usual pair of church gigs, an appearance on the local CBS morning show to promote The Greatest Yacht Rock Revival in the Universe, and the show itself next Saturday in Buckhead. Check it out!
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