The last few weeks have had a good amount of variety, which is how I prefer it! Here's what happened:
Saturday, March 5, I played a duo gig in Waleska, GA with Bill Graham. Waleska is about an hour and a half north of Atlanta, up in the mountains (up 575, if you're local to the area). This was a New Orleans/Mardi Gras gig at a country club, even though it was four days after Mardi Gras, but whatever. We played jazz tunes for three hours, and it was great fun!
Bad GPS almost killed me, though, as this county club was in the back of a gated community, and the directions on my phone stopped about a half mile short of where they should've taken me. I turned around, drove back almost to the entrance, put in the address again, drove to the "wrong" spot again, drove back, got directions, went to a different place, tried GPS again, turned around again, asked somebody else again, got sent to a different place, got directions from someone else, finally got in touch with Bill (who was having similar issues but had finally figured it out), and finally landed in the parking lot right as the gig was supposed to begin. Damn! All good after about ten minutes, though.
They fed us after the gig (an enormous veggie burger and fries for me), which was a major bonus.
Two days later, Yacht Rock traveled to Orlando for a corporate gig.
Been here before...(you can reminisce here--this place was night 2 in that blog post).
Dinner was pretty excellent.
Dessert, also excellent.
This sucker was supposed to be outside, but Florida weather got us--the rain came right around when we were starting. Fortunately, the event had already been moved indoors to an enormous ballroom, so we were spared the hassle of packing up under duress. It was a really easy, gig, though. I think we played ninety minutes, if that. No big deal.
Speaking of packing up--holy hell--the loaders/local crew on the gig were WORTHLESS!
The view from my room after the gig. It did, indeed rain.
The following Friday, March 11, I played tenor with Bumpin' the Mango in Buford. I hadn't seen these guys in a couple of years, so it was great to reconnect with them. This was my first gig using a big iPad for charts, and it worked just fine (other than trying to wrestle my iPad clamp into a good position on the mic stand). Technology for the win!
We played at a place called Tannery Row in Buford, a big high ceiling, concrete floor kind of room next the railroad tracks. It felt pretty new, and sounded ok. Anyway, it's better than crowding onto a Wild Wing stage or something.
And I played great! I happened to be having a really good night (my chops are finally coming back together)--it felt like I rose to the occasion for this one.
Friday, March 18, Yacht Rock headed back to Florida, this time to Boca Raton. Our 11 AM flight out of Atlanta was delayed nearly an hour, though as a strong storm crossed through town right then. I, of course, slept through the whole rain delay and all the bumpy awfulness of the first hour of the flight. Basically, I zonked out pretty much as soon as they closed the door, and woke up on our initial descent into Ft. Lauderdale.
And I woke up to see that I had been seated next to a MADMAN who flew the whole way (I presume) with the window shade up! What kind of country is this! Come on, man! It's Florida! There's nothing to look at!
Our show was another corporate thing. Nice rooms here at The Boca Raton.
Nice spot for a gig. The weather at this time of year was perfect.
Another easy corporate thing. At first, it looked like we were going to be completely ignored the whole night, but in the last hour of the night, people finally began to congregate closer to us. And the crazy dancing drunk guy found his way to the front of the stage, which we all enjoyed immensely.
After the gig, I did my best to sleep, because I had to get back to Atlanta early the next day to squeeze in a rehearsal before our gig. Sooooo, up at 5:30 AM, in a Lyft at 5:45 AM, 30 minute car ride back to the Ft. Lauderdale airport, 25 minutes in line for a big ol' cup of coffee from Starbucks, got on the plane, passed out immediately, woke up on our initial descent into Atlanta, jumped off the plane, nobody on the plane train...
...nobody on the park and fly shuttle...
...went home, grabbed my flute, clarinet, alto, and iPad, drove to Kennessaw, did a 4 hour rehearsal for an upcoming musical (SpongeBob the Musical), drove back home, grabbed my Yacht Rock gear, drove to Venkman's, set up, went for a little run, changed clothes, and played the gig there.
Whew!
I thought I played really poorly on this show, but now that I look at the setlist, maybe not...maybe my brain was just fried at the end of a very long day, because other than the first song (our debut performance of Cool Change, which felt a little shaky on my end), and skipping over a song on the setlist, I can't really remember any really bad moments (except, maybe for some careless bongo playing in Two Tickets to Paradise). I had some good sax solos, so I suppose it was better than I thought.
I'm still loving the new the setup at Venkman's. We'll be back in April to do another night (maybe two?).
And the next day, I took part in a 5K (came in 3rd overall), and played another 4 hour SpongeBob rehearsal, so I was kind of wiped out by Sunday night.
In other news, Rob's got a new project out--The Peter Gabriel Tribute--and I played on Sledgehammer. Check it out!
Also, I made a couple of more little videos of my own.
