Friday: We flew to rainy Indy. The gear and our crew of Kip and Zach left Thursday afternoon and picked us up at the airport.
After lunch (and a nap), we made our way to the Indianapolis Art Museum for their fundraiser.
The situation there was not so great. No rain contingency (and it was raining pretty steadily), the stage had standing water on it, and the canopy covering the stage had several holes. I also heard mention of permits being revoked more than once. It seemed like there was a pretty good chance that the gig wouldn't happen, so I took another nap.
Eventually, the stage was relatively dried, and we brought our equipment out from the trailer, setting up around the drips in the ceiling. It felt like the sort of gig we'd wander through.
By the end of soundcheck, however, the skies had begun to clear.
It turned out to be a nice night! The band was in a good mood, and we gave a comfortable performance. Not bad at all. Finished at 10:30 PM for the curfew. Easy stuff.
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| Ice Cube |
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| maque choux |
One of our nicer rides up through northern Indiana.
I didn't get any good pictures of downtown Chicago as we came through, but I did take these of Monkeyboy trying to get a shot of the skyline.
We were early to load in! It almost never happens. There was enough time for a walk around the neighborhood. Greg and Monkey bought socks at Old Navy.
It was a beautiful day.
We opened for another band at Joe's Bar on Weed Street. Not a bad gig by any means--ninety minutes and then a frantic teardown/load out so that the next group could have the stage. Once again, we played well and had a good time. No Pete on this gig (he stayed behind in Indy for a family obligation).
One strange thing about this gig for me: I needed my more familiar tenor Monday night for a jazz gig, so I opted to send my backup horn in the trailer. Worried that I wouldn't remember to keep my mouthpiece with me, I left it on my number one in Atlanta and used a backup mouthpiece. Backup mouthpiece on a backup horn...hmm. Everything was pretty close--they're both Guardala mouthpieces (an original MBII vs a laser cut Studio) and first generation Yamaha Custom tenors with silver G3 necks. The only thing that bothered me was that there is a tooth indentation on my regular mouthpiece, worn in from fifteen years of playing it. The Studio has a new, softer tooth guard (with no groove cut by my teeth). I couldn't find a consistent place to grip the mouthpiece.
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| the tiger is not ours |
Green room score.
Sunday: no Pete; Nick stayed in Chicago to go to the Packers/Bears game. Cobb rode back to Indianapolis in the van. The old guys flew home. A nice day for flying.
