Sorry I'm late, but this summer has been a mess.
Tuesday, July 1, 2025: Isle of Palms, SC. Back at the Windjammer. We hate it here, and they hate us (more accurately, the local crew hates Kip, and to a lesser extent, Peter Searcy), but everybody's making a good amount of money, so we're doing it. It's a drag, though.
Anyway...we flew to Charleston (the drive from Atlanta is longer than it should be, and pretty much kills any motivation to play anything by the time you arrive). The flight took one hour, which is also a bit absurd. We took cars to the hotel, and our rooms were ready (woooo), so I had a burrito that I'd brought from Atlanta and went for a run. Later in the afternoon, Ganesh and I got a car to take us the venue so we could set our stuff up.
All the usual stuff...set up, noodled on my stuff, played the Africa solo four or five times. You know the drill.
We did another one of those "soundcheck experience" things for about twenty people, where we went over the new "Wheel of Chorus" songs that have been added: Purple Rain, Cool Change, and You Can Do Magic. Also, we played through Arthur's Theme because it's on the setlist, and I always need to mess it up once or twice before it comes back to me.
Upstairs to the green room to eat (I had burrito #2, also brought from the Atlanta airport) and admire the ceiling mold.
 |
| lovely views off the back of the stage |
The wind was: gale force; highly annoying; not what anyone wants to hear in their microphone; constantly messing up Greg's hair; a huge aid for Pete's t shirt tosses.
We opened the gig with Reminiscing, and I couldn't hear a single note that I played on saxophone--just wind--so I was forced to pull one ear out for the rest of the night. Surprisingly, I never heard any wind issues in any videos I saw from this show, so I guess it seemed worse to us than the audience because of the volume at which we're listening? Who knows. Really frustrating.
Another thing: the wind was coming across from stage left, so it was in my face the whole time, and so much so that it was not possible to play flute--it just obliterated the airstream--so I had to reposition the microphone and stand so that I was facing the audience (instead of the drums). That was the only way that I could make a sound. It totally messed up my flow for Lowdown, where I am sometimes playing flute with one hand and the keyboard with the other.
Tonight's Wheel of Chorus: Rich Girl and (special request of our buddy Chad Holbrook) Still the One.
By the time we'd finished, everything was dusted with sand (which is not great for any of our gear). I tried to wipe all my stuff down as I was putting it away, but I'm sure it wasn't enough. What a mess.
Once we were packed up, we headed back to the hotel. I went for another, shorter run in the dark.
July 2, 2025: Isle of Palms, SC. Slept pretty late, drank a bunch of lobby coffee.
I'm missing the Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta this year because of travel, but I was able to run it virtually and submit a time. Today's the day. My plan was to get on the treadmill and try and knock out a respectable effort, but...it was broken (damnit!), so I had no choice but to run outside in the sunlight and the 86 degree temps at 11 AM. As you might expect, it was no fun, but I got it done.
I managed to squeeze in lunch (veggie burger and fries at a nearby bar) before jumping in a van with the crew to head back over and set up my gear. Fun surprise: I accidentally woke up some random guy passed out on a couch in the green room. It would be funnier if this hadn't happened probably ever time we've ever played here.
Another "soundcheck experience" occurred, this time for about fifteen people, and it was very run-of-the-mill since the audience doesn't really have anything specific they want from us, and we don't really understand why anyone would want to come early and half-ass some songs while we make sure that everything is plugged in.
Back in the moldy nest of a green room, and the dead guy was gone. I had a sandwich from Subway and most of Peter Searcy's french fries (the fries of France) for dinner.
Very similar conditions and frustrations to the night before. I did have some good solos, though, specifically on I Can't Go For That, Just the Two of Us, and Lotta Love. With one ear out, I could hear my flute much better, so maybe I should have my microphone a little louder in my ears? Also, my embouchure (the way I grip the mouthpiece) shifted a little bit in the middle of a sax solo and everything instantly felt better, which makes me wonder if all the very quiet playing I've been doing at home has caused me to develop some sort of bad habit.
Tonight's Wheel of Chorus: How Long, and What I Like About You. I heard after the gig that the PA went into "thermal mode," where it gets overheated and drops to half power until the amps cool off, for a pretty big chunk of the evening. We couldn't hear that on stage, but...what a mess.
Thursday, July 3, 2025: Oxon Hill, MD (Washington DC area). We got up and flew from Charleston to DC. This trip was on American Airlines, so we had lots of luggage and no status, so there was quite a fee to get my saxophones onboard.
 |
| small plane |
Upon landing in Washington, we were told that there might not be food until dinner, so I grabbed a snack of four bananas and a mushy apple.
There was time for lunch, though, so I topped off the tank with a bagel and peanut butter.
And we watched the House of Representatives vote to trash the country.
Eventually we got back to the ballroom and set up the gear. The rented gear was pretty decent.
Today's soundcheck was long and arduous--all of the in ear mixes were just weird, and it took a long time to get them sorted out to where we could at least get through the gig.
Dinner: whatever the vegan option was. It was completely flavorless.
We had some time, so I went for a walk.
This gig was...weird. It was entertainment for a bowling alley convention (I am not making that up). Medium size audience in an extra large room. They were very far away and in the dark.
We have played a corporate gig in this very room a few years prior, and our special guest, Robbie Dupree, came out and told the people staring at us, "You look like an oil painting!" They deserved it. Similar amounts of energy in the room tonight.
I rode back to hotel with Peter Searcy, and we ended up taking a cab because the Lyft driver never showed up. The cab driver was wild, though, and made both of us a little car sick. He got us there, though, and when we walked in, the hotel was playing Christmas music. In July. Great.
I ran on the treadmill (running outside at 11 PM seemed like a very bad idea).
Friday, July 4, 2025: travel day. This part of this airport is very cool.
Sunday, July 6, 2025. No Yacht Rock gigs this weekend (or next weekend), so I picked up a few extra church services.
Monday, July 7, 2025: Marietta, GA. Our gear made it safely back to town, so today was a big day of cleaning.
Sunday, July 13, 2025. Another round of church gigs.
Saturday, July 26, 2025: East Hampton, NY. We actually flew in to New York the night before, and yes, I ate a burrito on the plane and ran on the treadmill.
Anyway, the hotel was about an hour from today's gig, so we stopped at some sandwich shop for lunch. Here's what I ate.
Today's gig was a fundraiser for a very posh private school. Several billionaires were in attendance.
 |
| indoor koi pond |
I ran while things were getting set up. The first run was in a field next to the stage.
After soundcheck, I picked up one more mile in a different field.
Great weather for this event, and a 5:30 pm start time!
Monkeyboy forgot to bring a set of guitar strings, and the cheap strings that he put on his guitar fell apart almost immediately.
He was also dealing with gout, and stubbed his toe around halfway through the gig and had to borrow a stool to get through the rest.
When we finished, it was still daylight. Kind of weird, kind of awesome.
Sunday, July 27, 2025: Great South Bay Music Festival, NY. The crew and I went early (8:45 AM) to get our gear set up on rolling risers before the gates opened. By 10:30, I was back at the hotel.
After much procrastination, I convinced myself to go for a run, and I ordered a sandwich from Subway for dinner. It was raining when I went to get it, so I had to improvise a raincoat.
I had lunch at an Italian restaurant across the street from the hotel, and it was excellent! Nobody was there, though.
The waiter was visibly disappointed that I asked for a vegetarian entree. "No meat?" "No fish?" Later on, he would be equally disgusted that I refused a cup of coffee. "No cafe?"
The rain also passed by the festival, but they were ready for it.
We ordered dinner to be delivered to the backstage, but the only thing I could find on the menu was General Tsao's Cauliflower. Not the healthiest thing in the world. It was good, but kind of doesn't count as a meal. After we played, I had my veggie sub from Subway.
The gig was fine. Rain was not a factor. Good crowd. Ambrosia played before us and they sounded really good.
Men at Work followed us. They were fine--some of the other guys in the band thought they were amazing, but I would say that Colin Hay sounded great. The rest of the band was fine. His voice is the most definitive part of Men at Work anyway--maybe 80 percent his voice, and 20 percent the sax/flute stuff--and the sax player did a good job with her parts, so the rest of the guys could be whatever. And they were.
Finally, I just want to mention that we had to let Maggie go on Friday, July 26. We said goodbye and I had about an hour to pull myself together before heading to the airport.
I was extremely fortunate that Yacht Rock had three weeks off, and I was able to stay home and take care of her until the end, when the cancer and the arthritis finally got to be too much. We will miss her forever.
