Wednesday, May 31, 2017

ALJO

I played bari in the Atlanta Latin Jazz Orchestra last night. The music is really challenging and the band is stacked with great players, some of whom were able to sightread this stuff! I had to do a lot of practicing the week before just to keep up. We even had a good, appreciative crowd who came and dug the music.
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I'm having what I guess is performance anxiety lately. I find myself dreading going to gigs, and the urge to get up and run out the door during the first five songs is powerful. Once I settle in I'm ok, but...yeah, I don't know what's going on. Things aren't good. Maybe it's better that I don't have any gigs for the next week.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

The Fred!

Yacht Rock was back at The Fred (Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater) in Peachtree City last Saturday night for one of their summer concerts. It was, by every measure, a great show!

photos by Beth Freeman.








A few clips:



Fortunately, the video ends before my sax solo becomes a ceaseless river of bullshit.







My only gig this week: playing bari (and a little bit of bass clarinet) with the Atlanta Latin Jazz Orchestra Tuesday night at Cafe 290. 8:30 PM start time!


Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Sazerac +

Last weekend's gig roundup:

Saturday: I spent last week on vacation (where the most musical thing I did was to quietly mock the Jamaican guitar player on the beach who seemed to know only three chords; he could play your favorite song, but it would always end up sounding like a reggae version of La Bamba). I left the airport and headed directly to my gig for load in (with a quick lunch pitstop). Wouldn't you know it--another private Yacht Rock gig!


Not much to report on this one; we butchered ninety seconds of Fly Me to the Moon, some guy sat in with us and clawed his way through Only the Good Die Young, and at some point early in the second set, most of the groomsmen stripped to the waist and finished the evening shirtless. I mean,  this wasn't like the last five minutes of the reception--it was almost an hour of guys bopping around like they were really excited for P.E.

Sunday: Sazerac! We got a slot on Sunday night's Park Tavern concert series. Love the band, love the music. I wish there was one of these for us every month.

your crawfish boil proportions are a little off

Here are two clips:





In other news, this year's Yacht Rock Revival has been announced!


Monday, May 15, 2017

Privacy

More private/corporate gigs for Yacht Rock. Great for the wallet, not as great for the soul (or ego).

Wednesday: The USS Yorktown is permanently docked in Charleston. It's a floating museum, which means that they also host nifty parties for people who want something other than a hotel ballroom.

I'm a sucker for military stuff. Even with a pain in the ass load in, it's still a freaking aircraft carrier, which is cool. This was a clunker of a gig (at one point late in the evening, the wait staff dancing (2) outnumbered the guests dancing (1)). Tom Young subbed for Greg and Ganesh subbed for Nick.

Pics, babe!





He's a real American











































Pretty swank hotel room for the evening.


Friday: Some kind of charity event. Maybe a hundred people in Duluth. On a Friday, it took me an hour and forty minutes to get there. Greg subbed for Nick, and Rob Henson subbed for Greg. No bananas on this one. WTF.