Thursday night was the big dress rehearsal for the gig this Saturday at the Variety Playhouse. I tried to balance getting plenty of sleep, taking care of errands, and practicing the stuff until I couldn't get it wrong; not so successful on Thursday afternoon. I had a small meltdown in the hour or so before I left for the gig, and I got so tense I couldn't play or remember half the stuff.
We set up and fiddled through stuff at soundcheck. I was kind of poking at things I could sort of play and aggravating the growing knot in my shoulder. Once we got going on the gig, I quickly settled in, though. I was actually playing pretty well! There were flubs and stuff I forgot, but I was pretty even keeled about it. The only disaster was Maniac, and that was only because I didn't move well from section to section in the song. On break, I felt kind of relieved.
The second set was not so hot. We began with the Top Gun Theme and moved directly into Danger Zone. I forgot about the sax solo at the end of Danger Zone, but I needed to have thought of it at the beginning of Top Gun--I play two handed stuff all the way through each song. Definitely a problem. Eventually, I just picked a spot to stop playing and grab my horn. From there, we went into I Want a New Drug; my reed was uncooperative. The song after that was True, and I hadn't thought about that song at all, and so that was sloppy as I kind of felt around for the chords I had forgotten. The Heat is On had a couple of errant note the first time through the riff. By the time we got down to the end of the set, I felt like I'd taken the SATs again. I was fried.
Packing up was really slow. I just wanted my brain to relax.
Friday was my only day to gather up my 80s movie character costume. Mission accomplished. I did some desk work things; I did my laundry (no clean underwear). At long last, I plowed through the set list song by song and made sure I had my stuff together. I feel good. I'm poised to kick some ass tomorrow night.
I had a trio gig Tuesday night. Yay! It was another party for Microsoft developers. We played at a house turned club called Metropolitan--we were on the front patio, dueling pianos were in the front room of the house, the DJ was in the upstairs…there was probably somebody else in there too. Anyway, the front door was open and the dueling pianists were super loud--annoyingly so. We had a hard time hearing each other because of the volume they were putting out. Mix that with the traffic, and it was a noisy environment for a jazz gig.
We would have done my tunes, but I figured that between the steady breeze and the impending darkness, it would be best to not try and deal with charts. I called standards instead, except that I don't really remember too many because I never play them, so I was a bit rough! Sorry about that. I made more than enough mistakes.
I did the gig with Louis Heriveaux and Kevin Smith, who did their usual excellent job. The gig was supposed to be a four hour hit, but they set us free about fifty minutes early. Another yay! After the sun went down, we all got kind of chilly, and I could really feel my hands not moving smoothly any more. Louis actually went and got a heater out of his car! How about that!
I shot some iPhone video in addition to my usual audio recording. The editing and uploading to YouTube is a slow process. Here are the two tunes I've done so far.
Here's the audio.
Wednesday morning, I got up and headed back to rehearsal. Things are going better! I'm more or less out of my charts at this point, and it's just the coordination of moving from one sound to the next that's getting me. Bencuya's making his adjustments, and I'm adjusting to his adjustments, too, but things are mostly settled between us. By next week, we should be a fairly well oiled machine…too bad the the gig's this weekend! I'm a little stressed about it, but I think I'm going to be ok, provided I get in some good practice time over the next forty-eight hours.
Wednesday night was a House Live gig at Ventanas. Not much to report. It was pretty easy--only about forty or fifty people, and they spent most of the evening out on the open patio (and not in the room with us), so we kind of entertained ourselves, which of course meant that I got to play drums for about twenty minutes at the end of the night. Going into the gig, we heard rumors about helicopter rides, but it never happened. Boo. Oh well, Wayne wasn't there tonight, and I wouldn't have wanted him to miss it.
Yacht Rock had a Monday night gig this week--some sort of private party for some people who, quite frankly, were ready to party! We got in there (at the Crown Plaza Ravinia), set up, ate, and let 'em have it.
At one point, I looked out at the crowd and they were doing the electric slide to Kiss on my List.
Another good, solid gig, and once again I had the thought mid gig--"Hey, I'm really not screwing up at all!" I'm not sure if it's cool for me to kind of be astonished that I'm not butchering a bunch of songs I've been playing weekly for a couple of years now, but whatever. It's kind of cool--it's like inner peace. "Man, I'm really doing this and it's actually working!" I feel like I'm fitting in well with everything that's going on around me.
Ganesh subbed for Mark Cobb on drums, playing the red Vistalites again. He sounded great! I really think the sound of those drums suits his playing style perfectly (much more than the Taye kit he has been using). We also had our 10 High sound man Hans running the system. Nice to know we had a good pair of ears working for us. I could really hear him bumping me up for solos. He was really on it. I think he liked having a night of work away from the 10 High!
Tuesday morning was another Reagan Rock rehearsal. Some things went well, and some are still shaky. Nick sent out an email with the rehearsal schedule for tomorrow's rehearsal, and he said we don't need to go over Almost Paradise again. Since I'm playing the DX7 part on that one, I feel like I conquered that song--if I'd botched it, I'm sure we'd be running through it some more. Another dragon slayed!
I had a trio gig Tuesday night. I'll write about that tomorrow.
Saturday night I had another House Live gig--same guys as earlier in the week! We played a networking reception for Microsoft at the Omni downtown. Super easy, and we were done at 9! Can't beat that.
I shot a couple of videos from the gig. Note to iPhone users: don't use the front camera to shoot video! Not high quality!
My idea in playing this gig is to focus on the stream of consciousness and the velocity of the line--there's really no climax because the background is pretty static. At times, it can be pretty mindless until I come across another idea to mangle.
Sunday was a day of church gigs (and mowing the yard). Lots of crying in the first one. A couple of singers got pretty emotional while they were singing. I was fine. Church gig number two was kind of sleepy. Evidently there was some issue with the piano microphone, and emails were sent and opinions were expressed. I plugged it into the mixer and it worked fine.
Another busy week of 80s crap. So far I've learned Let's Go Crazy, You Make My Dreams, If You Leave, Almost Paradise, Top Gun theme, Danger Zone, Sweet Freedom, and Take Me Home. This week's tunes are Ghostbusters, Maniac, Time of my Life, and Power of Love. Make it stop!
Last night was the regular Yacht Rock gig at the 10 High. We had a better crowd than the previous few weeks, but they showed up (almost en masse) about halfway through the first set.
Pete's on vacation this week, so we had Kevin Spencer covering for him, and Cobb's out so Ganesh was in (on a red Vistalite kit!). Ganesh sounded really good. I'm not crazy about his regular kit, but the Vistalites sounded perfect, and matched his style well. I dug it.
I played really well--it was a pretty mistake free night. It was kind of surprising. I also got off a couple of pretty good solos (on two brand new reeds).
We substituted Lonely Boy for Who Can it Be Now (and I was happy). Much more fun for me to play. Surprisingly (or maybe not), I was able to pull it out of my butt. I wish we played that one more often. That song was followed with an audible--I Just Want to Stop--which was easily the roughest song of the night, but I did ok. I remembered more of it than I thought I would! Lot of chords in that one.
Here's something different: I made a time lapse movie last night (with my iPhone on top of my amp). The audio is from last year's summer show at the Variety Playhouse (Mark Dannells on guitar, me on organ!). Pretty cool.
Friday: Big Beatles show at Eddie's Attic, home of the acoustic guitar strumming folk hero. I guess Nick has enough pull to get us in there. Anyway, I knew it would sound really great because the sound guy (Shalom) is top notch and is also a freak for the Beatles, and sure enough it sounded great and we listened to weird bootlegs the entire time we were setting up.
The Beatles stuff is still pretty hit and miss with me, and the fact that I'd been feeling the depression revving up in me for the day or two before didn't help--I was pretty non-commital about the show. I played as hard as I could; gave it my all. Maybe it's the fact that I'm always playing and then sitting a couple out, and then coming back and doing hand claps, and then going and sitting, but I never feel like I'm part of the band. I'm the favorite hired gun. The feeling was compounded by the fact that the stage was small and we (the horn section) stood off to the side in the dark the entire night. Not a ton of fun.
Bencuya and I played Norwegian Wood (the Herbie Hancock version) to open the show. I was pretty uptight for both sets. The sound on stage was so clear and loud, I could hear my inhaling being picked up by the microphone. Really weird. In the second set, I followed some strange idea that I was unraveling and totally missed the bridge. It snuck up on me.
The other biggie of the night was Jealous Guy (the Donny Hathaway version). I got a solo on that one. My first set solo had an error (followed by an audible expletive), so the second set solo was played like I wanted everybody in Decatur to feel it.
We added My Sweet Lord for this show, which got me seriously listening to All Things Must Pass. One of my faves, for Beth:
Speaking of the sound guy: in between shows, I was sitting at the bar eating, and the sound guy came up to me. First thing out of his mouth: "You claps on Eight Days a Week need to be more defined. By the end, you were getting it." No "nice show" or "sounds good." What an asshole!
Saturday: I played a wedding gig at Agnes Scott with a bunch of friends. Not much to say about that one--it was a nice jazz gig in a comfortable setting. Very easy. At some point, we gave way to an iPod full of hip hop. They tried to bring us back out to play a few requested songs, but it didn't go so well--they then demanded that we play something more upbeat! We once again turned on the iPod to calm the masses. Easy gig; I was but a sideman.
Funny thing about this gig: I had originally gotten the call for this gig but turned it down because I had something on the calendar. A few weeks later, my gig died. I contacted the leader of this gig to say, "Hey! Hire me!" but he said they'd already asked somebody else. I was bummed. Days later, I got another message asking if I was available--the other guy had fallen through. Yes! The gig came back to me!
On the way home I saw a nasty car fire. I passed by right as the firetruck was pulling up. 285 on a Saturday night!
Sunday: Church gig number one was fine. That one's gotten into a groove. No dirty scowls from the leader, and no bitching from the band. Even the substitute sound guy was on it. Yay!
Sunday night, Yacht Rock played a wedding at the Temple in Buckhead. Pretty easy stuff. They wanted all the 80s music we could do--no problem. We also threw in some funkier stuff for dancing. A few examples:
I guess you could say that Use Me and Kiss are about the same solo. No argument here. It didn't help that they came back to back in the set. Hopefully you can see (hear) past that.
Monday: I spent all day Monday desperately charting out songs (eleven in all) for a Tuesday morning rehearsal. I finally finished at 5 AM on Tuesday, then packed up my gear and got in bed at 6 AM.
Tuesday: I was up at 9, and at rehearsal at 10. Considering I wrote all my charts, found my sounds, and maybe played through things once, I fared pretty well. I've got a ton of work to do in the next week, getting ready for the big show at Variety Playhouse (the Second Annual Reagan Rock Prom).
No big deal, right? I got home, took a shower, and went back downtown for a House Live gig at Ventanas. The three hours of sleep I got did not carry me through. I drank three cups of Coke on the break, and that helped for a while, but then I crashed. I felt like the gig would never end! Somehow, I made it to 10 PM, packed up, drove home, and went straight to bed. Which was good because…
Wednesday: I was back at rehearsal at 10 AM again! What a nightmare! Obviously, nothing was any better than it had been the day before for me--I hadn't played a note of the stuff in the previous twenty-four hours. We waded through the rest of the stuff we were learning for this week. Now it's up to be to internalize it. Bencuya and I may get together to make sure all the keyboard parts are covered…great…a test! I'm going to pulling an extraordinary amount of music out of my butt.
I spent tonight organizing, repairing stuff, paying bills, and cleaning off my desk. Tomorrow, it's time to bear down. Next week looks to be just as crazy.
Fear not, blog readers…I shall return! Last week was nightly gigs, and when it finally ended this Monday (yesterday, technically, though I am still awake), I had to chart out ten new tunes for a Tuesday morning rehearsal. The blog will continue soon! I need to sleep first!
Yacht Rock did two gigs yesterday. We had an early gig at the Apparel Mart and then our usual 10 High thing.
Oddly enough, I have never in my fifteen years of wandering around Atlanta played the Apparel Mart. Never been in there (though the ring on my finger came from there). It looks like a giant hotel lobby full of stores--this is accentuated by the fact that it has the same interior architecture as the Marriott downtown (or is it Hyatt?). Anyway, it looks pretty cool.
We were collectively a bit daunted by the acoustic possibilities. Would it be an mess of washy echoes? Surprisingly no. It felt really dead on stage. I guess because there was nothing for the sound to directly bounce off, it just kept going. After a couple of songs, we had ourselves balanced out pretty well.
The gig began with me in a Benadryl haze (the pollen is wearing me out right now). We played for an hour and a half (and it felt like it) to a curious crowd. After playing two saxes, two keyboards, EWI, flute, tambourine, and bongos, the only thing anybody wanted to say to me was "Is that your real hair?" to which I replied "Is yours real?" I think eventually I'll upgrade to "Are you pregnant?" I mean, yeah, it's a wig. What difference does it make?
We dragged through the next set (which only took about a half hour). At some point in there, I bit the dust on My Life--my hands just couldn't find the right notes. Lots of unappreciated laughter across the band stand. Should I be grateful that I was at least audible across the stage? Should I maybe shut up and just play it right?
When gig number one ended, we collectively hauled ass out of the Mart, down the elevators, loaded our cars, and boogied over to the 10 High, where we set up in a flash. That gig went better, and I was much cleaner on My Life. I played another really good solo on Lowdown.
For April Fool's, we came back from the break dressed in our street clothes, and opened with Pearl Jam's Even Flow. I tried to film it, but for some reason, my phone wouldn't comply. The rest of the set was regular Yacht Rock stuff, with us sounding really fried--I felt pretty good, personally, but we weren't really clicking. The band closed with The Who's Shaking All Over.
Time to shift gears! We're playing all Beatles tonight at Eddie's Attic.
Yacht Rock played a private gig for software developers in Athens last night. It was 80s themed, so we pulled all of our Reagan Rock stuff out for them.
We were on a super tiny stage. From my spot, my back was against the wall (literally!) and the microphone clipped on the bell of my horn kept hitting my keyboard. Mark Cobb's right side crash hung over the top of my other keyboard--I think that it was probably closer to me than him. All of that being said, the volume wasn't too bad, though the bass was awfully loud.
The gig was really fun. I don't know if the crowd was into it, but I enjoyed playing some different tunes. We also hit some stuff beyond the realm of Reagan Rock--just stuff that the Y.O.U. guys used to play as covers. I got off a really good alto solo on Talking In Your Sleep--wish I'd recorded that, but I wasn't thinking I was going to play anything on it at all!
Yacht Rock played a benefit for the Humane Society at Sweetwater Brewery last night. I was worried--the weather was a little too chilly for me to have fun outside (and last time we were there we nearly froze to death). It turned out to be a non-issue. I mean, my horns were flat as hell, but everything continued to function, so I could deal with it.
By the end of the night, though, my hands were really not working well. We played Lido Shuffle as an encore and my hands just couldn't do the triplet thing in the synth build up.
Mark Cobb had some strange experiments with gaff tape throughout the night. Every set had stripes across the head of a different drum, it seemed. That and a strange pair bell cymbals (I guess)--about four inches in diameter, that rode atop his hi hat for a while. He's looking for some Steve Jordan/Chris Dave mojo.
So that was it. No rain, and we were finished at 9 PM. Not too bad.
Not too much going on at the moment…I recorded (on my phone) a song we played at church gig number one a couple of days ago. I went for a Lenny Pickett approach (on a crappy reed!). Still, not bad for first thing in the morning. I start playing about a minute and a half in.
