Greetings. I wonder if I should hire an assistant to take notes and compose my blog for me! I can't find the time right now.
Thursday was a two-fer gig day. My first gig was in the lobby of the new Marriott attached to the Georgia International Congress Center down by the airport. It was a four hour House Live gig with Jeff and Wayne. Pretty easy stuff...
When that ended, I hauled butt to the 10 High to play the Yacht Rock gig. Surprisingly, it wasn't too tough, and we collectively had a good night, though Greg was unable to play the gig due to illness. There were a ton of people there. It was fun.
Friday, I saw David Sanborn at the Ferst Center at Georgia Tech. It was so cool. The last time I saw Sanborn was when I was in high school, probably twenty years ago at this point. He's still got it! I do think he needs to move past the Ray Charles tribute stuff--two albums is enough! How many more shuffle blueses do we need to hear? The band was Joey DeFrancesco on organ and Byron Landham on drums. The playing was cool, but I was most turned on to hear older stuff like Straight to the Heart and The Dream in that format. Great stuff.
Saturday I did a solo wedding gig at Barnsley Gardens up in Adairsville, Georgia. The ceremony was in a really pretty pine chapel. I did some recording while the room was empty.
Here's some flute stuff I recorded in the empty room:
After the ceremony, I jumped on a golf cart and rode out to the Ruins to play the cocktail hour. Solo saxophone for this one.
I got home, ate supper, and collapsed. I woke up at 1:30 in the morning and started practicing keyboards for next weekend's gig. I have a bunch of stuff to learn. There will be no sleep! Actually, I went back to bed at 3:45 AM, and then got up just before 7 to get ready for my church gig. Easy stuff.
I've been playing the rhodes part to Hey Nineteen this afternoon at about half speed. My hands are starting to hurt! Good thing I have another church gig to go to to break the afternoon up; otherwise, hello carpal tunnel!
Please Pleaserock Me played Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (Beatles) in its entirety last night, and opened the show by playing The Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd) synched up to The Wizard of Oz, thus fulfilling the stoner myth of The Dark Side of the Rainbow!
Is it wrong of me to have enjoyed the Pink Floyd so much more than the Beatles? I know it's sacrilegious to put anything in front of John, Paul, George, and Ringo, but Pink Floyd means so much more to me personally. I lived on Pink Floyd in high school, so any chance to play their stuff resonates with me much more deeply.
The Dark Side went over well. I played well, though at one point I guess I was pushing my horn so much into the microphone that I nearly knocked the stand over. Oops! Got a little excited. I tripped a little bit on the timing of the Money solo--I just can't hear seven beats in a measure, I guess. Other than that, things were solid.
Sgt. Peppers was almost a letdown--The Dark Side was continuous (we stayed in time with the record and movie all the way to the end of the album), and all the breaks in between songs on the Beatles I think led to feeling like it wasn't as monumental of a moment. It went well, though.
So...a big crowd! Good stuff. I also drank four or five Newcastles. God save the Queen! and Sting...wasn't he from Newcastle?
Saturday's first gig was an afternoon spot at the Midtown Arts Festival for Main Street Exiles. We played, strangely enough, in the parking lot for the old Loca Luna, where I spent many a night sweating (and sometimes freezing) while playing salsa music. The club has moved, but the parking lot remains!
We played pretty well. It was fun to be on the big stage, and I liked being able to walk off the back when I wasn't playing. The crowd was ok; it's hard to imagine anyone wanting to stand in a parking lot in direct sunlight in the low 90s. It's still hot in Atlanta!
We had a good time. Once it was over, I drove home and loaded equipment into my truck and headed on to my second gig, a Yacht Rock gig for the Chattahoochee Riverkeepers. Before you ask, I will go ahead and say that I have no idea what they do to/for the river. From what I can tell, they're rich and they like to eat barbecue. I know I have supplied a link to their website, but this doesn't mean that I've actually looked at it.
Anyway, the gig was at some guy's house. He lives right on the river. It's a beautiful house, and you can walk past his pool and his garden and look out over the water. Very nice. Last year when we played, it was right after the river had risen dramatically (they showed us the high water mark), but this year it was just hot and still out there.
Before the Yacht Rock sets, I sat in on Can't Get There from Here with the REMakes. I was playing the hell out of the sax part (I hadn't thought about the sax part on that in many months, but I just reached back and pulled it out of my ass). It was like I'd taken over the song and it was all about me--I was front and center on stage, dancing and playing. The song ended, and I met the sound guy at the side of the stage; he'd waited through the entire song to point out that he wasn't getting any signal from my microphone, which means that though I looked good, I was practically inaudible. Nice. Dude could have easily grabbed the empty vocal mic next to me and told me to play into that; instead he waited til the song was over to attempt a solution.
On to the Yacht Rock set.
I played really well. I was almost annoyed with myself--why couldn't some of this good stuff have come out of me on Thursday night when Bencuya was recording? I mean, even little keyboard fills that I attempted sounded like I was doing something good. What's up with that?
We played until right up at midnight and then quit right at the noise curfew. I loaded out and was home about an hour later. I got home, unloaded all my stuff, packed up my stuff for my church gig, loaded it into the truck, and went to bed.
My first church gig went ok. I think Chuck is making an effort to be a little more organized, but he still calls audibles in the middle of the service (or, like this past Sunday, in the middle of a song!). It's getting better, though. There were no major disasters this time.
My second church gig was very different from the previous week. We had five vocalists, so I was back on my usual stuff, adding the whipped cream and cherry to their efforts.
Monday morning was another rehearsal for this Wednesday night's gig. After we play The Dark Side of the Moon, we are playing Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. We have already learned the material, so the rehearsal was mostly about vocal parts. Easy enough for me.
Tonight I started work on a new clarinet piece, titled Canzonetta by Gabriel Pierne. Here's some video of what I've got so far:
I'm back! I did not get on the computer at all yesterday. I feel so out of touch! It's like I was roughing it (except for the iPhone).
Thursday afternoon we (Yacht Rock) finally received the good news...we won three awards in Creative Loafing this year! Readers' pick for "Best Local Overall Music Act" and "Best Cover Band," and critics' pick for "Best Excuse to Get Drunk With Your Dad." It almost makes the photo shoot for the award worth it. Almost.
Thursday afternoon I did a quick recording session for Mark Dannells at his house. He has written some music to be submitted to the show Dexter, and brought me in to add some life to his synth horn parts. The stuff sounds magnificent! Mark Dannells is a genius.
Thursday night was Caddyshack night at the 10 High. We showed the movie and played our usual stuff. I only missed one entrance because I was watching the movie! Oops.
We dressed for the gig...mostly in golf inspired or movie inspired gear. Mark Dannells dressed up as Carl. Awesome!
The gig started off fairly well. There were no disasters. I was doing fine. We went on break, and when we came back, my playing took a nosedive. First tune was this fine gem by Cee Lo. I crashed on it. I tried to add the bell thing in my right hand while playing organ with my left, and let's just say I was less than successful. I worked on it before the gig, but I just couldn't pull it off in real time.
From there, I just wanted to get out. Every song had about half as much enthusiasm as the song before it, so about halfway through the set I was screwing up all over the place and hating myself/not caring at all. I don't think I was the only one feeling this way either. It was pretty rough. I went home and went right to bed.
Friday morning was the rehearsal for The Dark Side of the Rainbow. We played through it. It went well. Right before I had to play The Great Gig in the Sky, I got a huge adrenaline rush and almost fainted! Probably not, but it was pretty wired for a couple of minutes in there.
Here's what my chart looks like:
Mark Dannells went home after the gig Thursday night and learned his guitar parts. He showed up on four hours of sleep and played the whole thing without charts. Amazing! I could never do that. That's why he's the man.
I have a couple of gigs today. We're outside today for the Main Street Exiles gig and tonight for the Chattahoochie Riverkeepers Benefit (Yacht Rock). Here's hoping the rain holds off until I can get my gear back in the truck!
I played with Main Street Exiles last night, continuing our month long residency at the 10 High in Atlanta. It was fun, but damn was it loud!
We used a different (I guess they're now the regular guys!) drummer and keyboardist. The drummer was Derek Murphy, who sounded terrific. I think he holds his breath when he plays, though. I'm not sure if that's a criticism (what difference does it make to me?), but watching from just offstage, that's the way it appeared. Maybe he's not. It's just something I noticed. Some guys look like they're working harder than others. He sounded great, though, and played on a really pretty vintage Gretch drum kit.
The keyboardist was some kid named Patrick who played air guitar on a cowboy boot and wore his tie around his head like it was a headband for the second set. Not impressive! His girlfriend had really nice legs, though, and he brought more people to the gig than I did.
I waited all night to play the solo on Miss You; I was ready, I was practiced, I could do it at home; got on the gig, got excited, and botched the end of it. Same thing with Brown Sugar. I was ready, but I couldn't stick to the recorded solo the whole way through. Maybe next time!
A few more lovely shots:
Before I left, I had spent the afternoon working on The Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd), which we are playing next Wednesday night in its entirety (synched up to the Wizard of Oz for The Dark Side of the Rainbow). This will be fun! I've done this a couple of times, but I've always learned the basics of the sax solo and then done my own thing. This time I transcribed the sax stuff--I'm going to be on it!
Here's where the solo on Money is at:
Here's where the solo on Us and Them is at:
We will not have a female vocalist that night, so I was also given the task of handling her improvisation on The Great Gig in the Sky. I wrote out the whole thing (as close as I could). Here's where I'm at with that.
Yacht Rock played the Mercy Lounge in Nashville, TN, Saturday night--our first time on our own (not as an opening band for someone else). It was a huge success! Different numbers were tossed around, mostly hovering around 400 paid. Great news! Everyone played well. I think we really rose up in the moment.
The van picked me up and most of us rode up together (Nick and Pete went up earlier in the day). It was a fun trip. We got up there, loaded in with great efficiency, and soundchecked in about forty-five minutes (were were about forty-five minutes late in arriving, so it all evened out!). After a quick meal at some no name Mexican restaurant, we returned to change clothes and then hit it.
In the first set, Kenny Loggins' keyboardist Scott Sheriff sat in with us on two Steely Dan tunes.
He played and sang well, but the really AWESOME thing was that he played on Bencuya's keyboard, so Bencuya came over and played on my keyboards. I honestly didn't pay much attention to Scott because I was busy trying to steal anything I could from Bencuya! Wow! Awesome stuff.
Our second set included Alyssa Olson singing a few songs with us (Don't Go Breakin' My Heart, Physical, and Love Will Keep Us Together). I don't think we've done any of those songs in since the Variety Playhouse stuff in June, but everybody just fell right back into it. It was an awesome moment and Alyssa sang really well, in spite of being seven or eight months pregnant!
I would like someone to give me an explanation as to why the question I am asked most often is "Are you really playing the saxophone?" Two people asked me that Saturday night.
After the gig, we retired to the hotel for a few hours' sleep, and then went meandered back to Atlanta.
The view from our hotel room:
I played my usual Sunday night church gig. We kind of had an "oh shit!" situation because all but one of our vocalists were out this week, so it was one vocal, piano, hand drum, and me. The "soloist" did really well, all things considered. I tried to reinforce what she was doing instead of filling in around her so much--some unisons and some harmonies. It was ok.
Rumor has it 1,000 people came to the Park Tavern last night to see us play. I'm not sure what 1,000 people looks like, so I assume it's true. There were lots of people crammed into that tent to see us.
We did the Beatles tribute (Please Pleaserock Me) to kick things off. It went pretty well. Fortunately for us there were a fair number of people there at the start of the show; hopefully that will translate into more of a crowd at the next show at Smith's Olde Bar.
After that we did a set of Yacht Rock. No major problems (though I did have some moments of uncertainty). My alto reed felt so good I wish I could have played that horn all night. It was really rippin'.
Yacht Rock played a private gig last night for Ogilvy at Roswell Mill. Not a bad gig at all, and it kept us from playing the 10 High. Plus, it was over right when the 10 High would have started, so we got out early. PLUS it took me 10 minutes to get home. Nice! Gigs on my side of town are rare.
We set up and soundchecked. Right from the start, my computer crashed (what's up with that?), and I had a bad cable on one of the keyboards (the sound would come and go). I troubleshot that...no biggie. The laptop...I don't know.
Everything else was cool and the sound was pretty good. Nothing was really loud because we were outside, so I liked that. Pete even had me in his monitor up front. Did I win some sort of award or something? Nick made the comment after the gig "your rig was really in the PA tonight." I'm not sure what that means. I kind of want to be pissed about it, but I'm not sure why I would be.
We went and killed off an hour in the "band room" (really the "bride's room", which meant that half of us sat in the bride's room and half of us in the bathroom).
When we went out to start, I had that thought (like I always do) that my reeds had probably dried out on the mouthpieces and now looked like potato chips. Not this time, though, right? Nope. I spent the first tune (Reminiscing) trying to rehydrate my alto reed while I played a string part with the other hand. I learned later on that the tenor reed was the same way. Why is it that they dry out, but then once I get them flat again, they're good for the rest of the gig, even though I don't play much saxophone at all?
The gig was mostly standard fare, though late in the second set the client asked that we play more dance music (which left us pretty confused--why'd you hire us?). They wanted us to switch to stuff like Celebration (I'm sure Brick House and Mustang Sally were not sure behind, and then maybe they'd cut the cake and toss the garter?). We adapted as best we could.
I couldn't figure out why the chords I was playing in Ride Like the Wind wouldn't work. I always play chords with the right hand and EWI with the left. I kept getting a nasty clash, so every time we came to that chord, I would try and leave out a different note on the keyboard. I figured out after the song that spit had run down the front of the EWI and was causing it to play Bb instead of B natural.
Towards the end of the night, I stood up to take an alto solo, and got almost no sound out of my alto mic. Fortunately there was a vocal mic nearby, so I played into that. When I sat down and looked at my wireless pack, it was off. Dead battery? I looked at my wireless receiver--still receiving signal. I muted the channel because I thought I might be receiving some sort of interference. Aha! I'd left the pack on my tenor on (I have both packs on the same channel, so I only use one receiver). I turned off the tenor and checked the alto again. Now the alto said it had dead batteries.
We finished the gig, but the crowd wanted an encore so we played Takin' it to the Streets. Another sax tune! Cool. We got to the solo and I stood up to let it rip, and got no sound out of my tenor mic. Agh! What the hell? I played the solo in the vocal mic while mentally retracing my steps...I'd forgotten to unmute the channel on the mixer. Way to go, dumb ass. Technology wins again!
Last night I did a House Live gig with Jeff and Wayne at the Georgia Aquarium.
The gig started with me playing solo saxophone for an hour in the main atrium. About five minutes into the gig, they asked me to move one foot to my left--"closer to the table with the imaginary couple enjoying your music!" the guy said.
I answered "They'll soon be filling my imaginary tip jar, I hope." No luck. Our parking did get comped, though.
After that, I joined up with the other guys in the ballroom. Not much to report; it was kind of a dull, low volume gig. I couldn't hear the track well enough to even know what key I was supposed to be in. We had fun, though.
My soprano is officially in need of repair. I was using one of my less favorite reeds, and it felt dull and resistant, so I carved on it with my pocketknife. When that failed to do the trick, I tried a new reed. Same results--dull and resistant. So I tried my number one reed--same result! Must be a leak. My alto feels good, and my flute's happy.
