Where Are We?

Another weekend on the road with Yacht Rock, with stops in North Carolina and Washington DC.

Thursday: Our original schedule had us in Greensboro, NC for a show Thursday night, but as of Wednesday, no tickets had been sold, so the venue requested (and we gladly accepted) that we cancel the show. Greensboro hates us; it has always been this way.

Therefore, our trip to Washington DC became a regular old van ride up I-95, with lots of questionable food choices. This gas station hot dog was topped off with an evening meal at Hooters, which does not have vegetarian meal choices (as you might imagine).

Friday: We continued up the east coast. This day's lunch stop was at Saucy's BBQ in Petersburg, VA. Once again, not a healthy vegetarian meal to be found.

Getting into Washington took much longer than we had planned--the traffic was particularly devastating on a Friday afternoon before Thanksgiving. We were over and hour late, and the load in/set up/soundcheck was a sprint, particularly for Kip and Zach.

The show was great, though, once everybody was able to relax. We had a sold out crowd, good vibes, and good sounds. In lieu of an encore we played an extra thirty minutes for extra money--I think this particular show was tied into an event somewhere else in the building.

Saturday: I forgot to shut the curtains.

This day was unusual in that it was a travel day back to Atlanta, which meant that it felt like Sunday. We flew home from DC, went home for a couple of hours and then headed to Druid Hills for a benefit for Pete's (and Greg's) children's preschool.

This was not an official Yacht Rock show--more like forty-five minutes of playing some stuff without our gear (which was on the way home in the van and trailer).

The big stars of the show were Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls (who also has a kid enrolled here) and Pete's wife Alyssa, who did an excellent job singing with Emily and us.

The room was acoustically difficult! Eric Toledo crashed through a version of Proud Mary with us, and I don't think we or he could hear where were in the song.

Sunday: I didn't get to play the penny whistle solo on Closer to Fine Saturday night, but I did incorporate into a couple of solos on my church gig. Multiple keys = multiple bonus points.

This week...

Wednesday:  Yacht Rock Turkey Eve show at Venkman's in Atlanta--an "unplugged" show and a regular show, both with special guest Robbie Dupree.

Friday:  Sazerac at The Vista Room in Decatur, GA. Horns and New Orleans flavored vibes.

Saturday: Greg Lee Band at The Vista Room, opening for John Driskell Hopkins.



One more thing...two long time Atlanta friends, Phil Smith and Jon Chalden, have a drummer's podcast, and a couple of weeks ago, Phil interviewed one of my college buddies, Ryan Brown, who now plays with Dweezil Zappa. Check it out! Great stuff to hear from Ryan about his career so far.