Friday, January 30, 2015

JCT Duo


The Dave and Dave Duo rolls on!  Ellington says that since we have two gigs this month (Sun in my Belly and JCT Kitchen) and two next month (same places), we are officially on tour.

JCT is cool, though in the winter we are in the bar, and it gets loud.  The gig is still a fun workout for both us, though, and the burger and fries are still delicious (I had made my food decision 24 hours in advance).

The new tune for this gig was Stanley Turrentine's Let it Roll.  It sounds kind of like Sugar (also by Stanley), but without the melodic curlicues.  I dig it.

Check us out!



We're at JCT Kitchen again February 19 (6-9 PM, and I'll have the burger, medium), and Sun in my Belly February 27 (7-9 PM).

In between now and then, I'll be playing at Smith's Olde Bar tomorrow night, guiding the horn section for Sazerac's second performance.  We play at 10 PM.  We load in at 4 PM, in case you want to carry my bari sax up the stairs for me.


Friday, February 6, I'll be playing at 37 Main Johns Creek, leading the horns through some Beatles stuff with Please Pleaserock Me (the Yacht Rock guys playing the Beatles).

Tuesday, February 10, I'll be playing at Eddie's Attic, supplying saxophone, clarinet, flute, and very little keyboard to the Greg Lee Show.

At the end of that week, February 13, Yacht Rock will be sailing the highs seas on the Sail Across the Sun cruise.  Ahoy.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Team Hidi


Yacht Rock played one of our favorite gigs of the year--the Team Hidi benefit, hosted by The Giving Kitchen.  It's a charity event put on by multiple local restaurants--everybody has a table and they let you taste their best stuff.  Good food everywhere you look.  It's a little hipster-y, but tolerable.


This year the event was in the Georgia Freight Depot downtown.  Nice looking converted warehouse with an easy load in and out.  I wonder why I haven't done more gigs here--I bet the last time I played here was in the 90s.


No Nick, but we had Ganesh (from the Yacht Rock Schooner) subbing for him--he did a fabulous job.


Mark Cobb, fresh off the plane from Los Angeles and NAMM (the big trade show for the National Association of Music Merchants), played some fiercely good shit.


No Yacht Rock stuff happening this week, but the Dave and Dave Duo (with David Ellington) will be at JCT Kitchen and Bar this Thursday, 6-9 PM.  Here's one from last week's gig at Sun in my Belly.



Saturday, Sazerac (a New Orleans-y based band comprised mostly of Yacht Rock guys) is playing at Smith's Olde Bar Saturday night.  You should come check it out.  There'll be a horn section.  I wrote charts.  We're gonna kick ass.


Saturday, January 24, 2015

First Duo of the Year


The Dave and Dave Duo (my sax/organ duo with David Ellington) had its first gig of the year at Sun in my Belly last night.  It's been a while since I've played in an improvisational situation--probably since the previous duo gig!--and since my practice time has been dominated by cranking out charts, I was worried about some rust.  No problems, though.  I felt totally comfortable.  Check it out!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

What a Week!

Last week was difficult, to say the least, with multiple rehearsals, lots of homework, a big show at Variety Playhouse.  All the while I managed sleep deprivation and a weird cold.

The big monkey wrench of the week was an hour's worth of Beatles songs on which I would be required to play the melody.  Like most of western civilization, I am a casual Beatles fan, so I thought it best to write out lead sheets of the songs.  It was determined that twenty-four was a safe number of songs to prepare.  At about twenty minutes per lead sheet, that's eight hours of homework.  Sounds manageable, right?  I should mention that I am a master procrastinator.

Monday:  With the conclusion of our northeastern tour, Yacht Rock flew home from Baltimore.  I went home, did some housework, and played the Bumpin' the Mango gig.  I did one lead sheet when I got home.

Tuesday:  Dark Side of the Moon and new Beatles tunes (She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, The End, Something, Here Comes the Sun, and Rain).  I had prepared all of this stuff before we left town the previous week, so this rehearsal was no big deal.  Our gear arrived home from the northeast, so I had to deal with getting it all home and put away.


The afternoon I edited my charts and did some more housework.  That night I wrote a few more lead sheets.

Wednesday:  My cold was at its worst on this day, so I tried to sleep as late as possible.  I wasted time during the day, taught in the evening, and did a couple of lead sheets.

Thursday:  Another rehearsal Dark Side/Beatles rehearsal.  This was the night I stayed up all night cranking out the bulk of the lead sheets.  Hello 5 AM.


Friday:  Gig day!  This was our annual Dark Side of the Moon show, on this occasion paired with a big set of Beatles.  Rob Opitz joined us on trumpet, nailing all of his parts, particularly the Penny Lane solo.

Sound check...





Greg Lee making the two of us martinis during yet another guitar solo.





Right around 900 people in the room on this night!










Rob Opitz playing the Penny Lane solo!


Super fun gig!

I've seen a couple of videos pop up on YouTube:

Dark Side of the Moon stuff:







Beatles stuff:



Saturday:  back to reality.  I got up and wrote the last three lead sheets, bringing my total to twenty-four.  Yay.

Yacht Rock played a mega wedding, with added cocktail music (by Nick, Pete, and Greg).  The remaining four of us we slotted to play our Beatles stuff.  The timing of the evening got a little off, and we played almost thirty minutes.  I think we made it through six or seven songs.  I could've slept a lot more this week...oh well...



Other than that, it was a pretty easy wedding...EXCEPT FOR THE MULTIPLE EQUIPMENT MALFUNCTIONS!  Holy cow.  I'd left two batteries AA batteries charging in my charger at home.  Two batteries died in my tenor sax microphone transmitter.  I swapped that out with my remaining two good batteries.  Then the EWI lost its wireless connection at the beginning of Peg.   That was weird.  Then the EWI began to lose battery power.  I bummed four AA batteries off Zach (our sound engineer for the evening).  Finally, I made it through the solo on Africa, only to have my laptop crash within five seconds of its end.  Fortunately I got it back in time to play the outro (when I next needed it).  Madness.  All of my batteries are undergoing extensive recharging this week (except for Zach's batteries in the EWI).


Sunday:  Sleep!  I also put away my gear and played my church gig.  Nothing to report from that.

This week is really slow;  my only gig is with David Ellington (the Dave and Dave Duo!) at Sun in my Belly in Decatur on Friday between 7 and 9 PM.

Videos from our night there in December:

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Bumpin'

Yacht Rock flew home from Baltimore Monday morning, and I got home around 1:30 PM.  That left me a few hours to reset and get ready for another gig!  I was given the opportunity to sub on bari sax with Bumpin' the Mango (a Tower of Power style horn band) at Cafe 290.



Fun!  I love the music, and I love the chance to connect with other horn players.  The Yacht Rock gig keeps me kind of isolated from playing and hanging out with local guys.  In particular, this gig was great because I stood next to John Sandfort (playing tenor on the gig).  His playing is really wonderful--I love it!  At one point, we traded back and forth--kind of a saxophone battle.  I got killed.  Not my best playing!  John had great ideas;  I had musical diarrhea.  

Oh well...great hang!  I hope to have more things like this come up!  So cool!

The Great Northeast

2015 is off to a great start!  Yacht Rock did a short, successful run in the Northeast, with gigs in Boston, Long Island, New York City, and Washington, DC.  A terrific way to begin the new year.

Thursday:  We flew to Boston (the seven of us plus our sound engineer Kip) to meet the van, trailer, and gear (driven up by Hans).  The day began like this:


Get on the plane!



I haven't seen pay phones in a long time.  Boston's airport has the remaining supply.


This hat, direct from Russia, kept Pete's head warm.


Our first show was at The Sinclair in Cambridge.  Nice venue!  It holds 525 people, so not a huge room, but pretty nice size, with good food and a good crew (they helped us load in and out--I'm a big fan).

Mark Cobb demonstrates his new, mightier wind chimes.  So powerful that they require two hands (and two sticks).









First gig of the run was a terrific success!  It was only our second time in Boston, but we had 520 people in the room!  How about that!



We were all a little worried about how the cold would effect our instruments--the gear had been freezing in the trailer for several days;  in setting up, my hands got so cold that at one point I had to take a break!

The only casualty of the cold was the batteries in my tenor wireless transmitter--mid solo, they conked out.  Dammit!



Yay Boston!  It's really exciting that we're catching on this quickly.

Videos from the show:













Friday:  Up for the drive to Huntington, New York (on Long Island).  Along the way, we made a pit stop for gas.  Monkey savored a doughnut.







Snow!  The Northeast was still crazy cold, and when we left the hotel it was snowing.  Later on in the day, the snow ceased, but all the salt and grime on the road plastered the windshield.  Unfortunately, the washer fluid line froze up.  Kip and Hans went at it with a screwdriver and hot water to clear it.




Monkey played in the snow.




Kip's choice of footwear was unusual considering the conditions.


Pete tried to warm up at Wendy's with their fake fireplace.


Thursday's gig was at The Paramount in Huntington.  Easily one of the single greatest venues we've ever played!  They really treat the artists well (beginning with a crew to load in your gear!).  Big stage, big room, terrific green room.

This marker was on the stage near Greg Lee's bass position.  Pretty damn cool.



This place is super cool.  They even had a large spread and fed the band and the crew--and it was good!


Somebody decided that instead of advertising us as The Yacht Rock Revue, it would be better to say "Live 70's Rock Tonight."  Whatever...315 people came to see us--our first time in The Paramount!  Wow!  That's a fantastic number for our first time!  I can't wait to make this part of our circuit in the northeast.




Videos from the show:






After the show, the owner took us on a tour.  The downstairs is a speakeasy, with several secret rooms behind revolving bookcases and hidden behind walls.  My favorite was the Shawshank Redemption room, complete with the posters, the rock hammers, the bucket of beer, an electric chair...





...and the actual prop from the movie--the box that Morgan Freeman digs up under the tree.  Cool.  Dude said he paid $20,000 for it.



Also in the speakeasy was a pump organ.  Bencuya gave it a shot.  It's said that Billy Joel is a member, and sometimes will sit down and play this sucker.




One of the worst things about this time of year is that my hands dry out and crack open.  Both thumbs split open, and then my index finger, ring finger, and pinkie followed.  No hand cream would save me.  My keyboard playing was uncomfortable.


Saturday:  New York City!  Colder than ever.  We took a cab to the East Village.


I spent most of the day wandering around.  These were in some random music store.



From there I rode the subway up to Columbus Circle to visit the New York Flute Center with the hope of trying (and possibly buying) an alto flute.  The Center is kind of small--like, living room small, with two people running it.  They had one room for checking out flutes (which of course was already in use), so I had to check out a flute in front of other people, which totally weirded me out.  To make matters worse, someone else came in to try flutes, and they told her she would have to hang out (and listen to me fart around on alto flutes) until I was finished.  I got intimidated and left.  Maybe some other time!  Alto flutes are cool, though.  I want one.  It'll be my next gear purchase.

Down Broadway to what used to be Music Row...I went in Roberto's Woodwinds, which is mainly just a saxophone shop.  Once again, I got too intimidated to try anything (and I'm not looking for any sax gear anyway).

I went in several random places (like CVS and Home Depot) because the wind made walking down the street painful.  On top of that, my phone shut down (it had 40% battery left).  Hmmm...how do I get back to the Gramercy?  I tried to buy a cheap charger somewhere, thinking I could sit in a Starbucks and revive my phone, but the only chargers I came across were $40-50.  Finally, I went into an AT&T store.  While pretending to compare my phone to the new iPhone 6, I unplugged their phone and plugged in mine.  Then I did an internet search on the 6 and got the address for the Theater.  In about a minute, my phone came back to life.  Back to 40%!  Success.

Once my phone had been restored, I went in search of food and a restroom.  A Thai place had both.


This show sold out Friday morning.  We found out Saturday morning that it in fact had not sold out and they were still selling tickets (though online ticket sales were no longer available).  I think by the time we played, we'd officially sold it out.


Having Kip run sound for us made a huge difference on this entire tour, but especially here.  By far, the best sound we've ever had in the Gramercy.  That dude is worth every penny.  It made the playing a joy!


Great show!  We always rise to the occasion for New York City, and this was no exception.   So good, in fact, that we played not one but two encores.




Sunday:  We hopped on the New Jersey Turnpike and headed south.  Hans shopped for new shades at a service plaza.


The ride from New York to Washington was really boring.


The Hamilton is great!  Another beautiful venue with great sound, great staff, and a great crowd.





Another terrific show.  Awesome.



A new twist this time around--they venue uses their video cameras to project onto the back wall.  During Hotel California's guitar solo, for instance, I watched Monkeyboy's solo on the wall behind Cobb.  Later on, he used this angle (the camera is across the stage shooting down towards the drums).  Very cool.


The Hamilton has their own liquor?



Monday:  Hans dropped us off at Baltimore's airport.  He drove our gear and Pete's hat home;  we flew.  I love gigging like this!  I flew with a backpack.  My suitcase and everything went in the trailer.




Wet in Atlanta.  Good to be home.