Before I go any further, though, you should check out our video of Jason Carter Says Yes. Half of the music is live stuff from us at the 10 High a few years ago, and half was done via email (such as the sax and strings). I love the way this turned out. I am also very jealous of Greg Lee's hair.
Our version was based on some weird stuff Bencuya laid on us in the van many years ago called Jimmy Carter Says Yes, a song poem which uses some of JC's inauguration speech. Bizarre, but nearly equally awesome.
Our version from the 10 High is probably the best of all three, and still pee-in-your-pants funny after we've heard it a hundred times.
Friday: The plan for this trip was to assemble at noon and head north, presumably beating traffic and getting up to Nashville with enough time to tackle anything necessary in soundcheck, and then eat. Right. Various delays with traffic/Friday Atlanta bullshit caused a delay. We made it as far as Marietta before stopping for gas (and waited nearly forever for some old man to move up enough to trip the left hand turn signal). Getting back on the interstate, there was a strong smell of gasoline, so we pulled off in Kennesaw to investigate (couldn't find anything). A few of the guys needed food, so we tried to find a Chipotle in Town Center Mall, but it wasn't there. We got back on the interstate and stopped in Acworth at a Wendy's. So...two hours into our trip, and we'd gone about 30 miles!
From there, it was pretty smooth until we got to Franklin, TN, where traffic came to a screeching halt because of a crash (and ensuing car fire).
In spite of that, we were still in decent shape at load in, and the crew (led by our monitor guy named Crash) helped us get our gear in and on stage. I think we set up reasonably quickly, but there was a long delay before we began checking things. In the mean time, we played with the lights.
We were still checking things when they opened the doors. Why'd it take so long? Nobody knows.
The time crunch left us with about an hour to eat before we were to play, so we ran across the street to a latin restaurant. Not my favorite place to eat--maybe I just didn't order well? I tried their gumbo, but it was mostly just chicken broth with some carrots and rice.
We raced back over, changed clothes, and it was time to go. The first set was another performance of Michael Jackson's Thriller. Not too bad! We have now played it enough that it's pretty comfortable.
Mark Dannells played the Beat It solo while standing on a chair. More impressive was the fact that he was able to get down afterwards without falling.
Plenty of tang-galloping happened here.
The second set was a regular Yacht Rock set. Our special guest for the evening was Walter Egan! He played on Magnet and Steel, Hot Summer Nights, Monday Morning, and Go Your Own Way.
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| Hey there Bencuya. |
We loaded out and headed to our hotel, but not before passing a third crash, this one a bad wreck of a car jammed under and eighteen wheeler. Bad stuff.
Saturday: back up and out the door. I slept a lot. We made a pit stop for gas and Monkeyboy bought Perrier at a gas station on the north side of Nickajack Lake. It's a treat for him.
We made it into Atlanta with enough time to stop for lunch before loading into our gig, so we hit Goldberg's Deli at Paces Ferry and Northside.
Load in, soundcheck, blah blah blah. Zach was manning the PA for us at this wedding reception. With plenty of time to kill between soundcheck and the gig, we convinced him to drive us back to the meeting point to retrieve our cars, which probably saved me an extra hour by the time we would have loaded the trailer, driven back to midtown, unloaded the trailer, and then gone our separate ways.
The gig was no big deal. Early in the evening, they passed out small tambourines to the crowd (oh shit!), but they were so cheap (and there were so many of them), they ended up sounding like cicadas in the background.
Over at 11:15 PM. Home before 1 AM. Not too bad.
Sunday: As I mentioned previously, there's been a lot of frustration from the vocalists lately about the mix. I thought a good way to reassure them would be to record a mass so they could hear it. Now I'm wondering if I've just given them something to pick apart and use against me.
If they can complain about my mixing, can I complain about their singing?
No public gigs this week, but next week we'll be on the Grammy Festival at Sea (http://www.grammy.com/news/grammy-festival-at-sea-to-set-sail-nov-4-8). Wee. Sleepy time for me.
The week after that, the Dave and Dave Duo will be at Churchill Grounds Tuesday, November 10, 9-midnight. Here's some stuff from our recent gigs at Sun in my Belly and JCT Kitchen and Bar.
