Main St. Exilers

Tuesday morning, I got up on very little sleep and made the trek down to the radio station to play with the Main Street Exiles.  We were promoting Fake Fest at Park Tavern this Saturday (The REMakes, Ill-Eagles, Main St. Exiles, and The Mighty Dan Halen).  We played Miss You.  It went pretty well.  I didn't play the solo exactly right, but I got most of it.  Here's the video:



You can't see me (except for a slice of the back of my head), but I'm there.

I guess we should have checked the gain on the sax mic BEFORE we started--geez, it was loud.  The first two notes startled me.  I kind of tiptoed through the rest of it because of the volume in the headphones (and it sounds like it).  Too bad, because that's a solo that needs to be a little more crazy than I could make it.

Here's a live version from December 1, 2010 at Smith's Olde Bar.  The sax solo is at 3:11.  I screwed up differently on this one!

 09 Miss You (live 12-01-10) by David B Freeman

Tuesday night, I recorded the rest of the first movement of the Creston.  I had recorded the first two pages for a student of mine.  Here are the last two.



Not too bad.  Couple of little hiccups.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Not Much Happening, but the Yard Looks Good

I haven't been doing much--I had the weekend off.

Thursday night was our 10 High gig.  It went pretty well.  Nick was on vacation and Cobb was on hiatus for the month, so we played the super safe set list for Kevin and Ganesh.  Kind of a drag--I wish the Schooner guys would pick up a few more of our tunes so they could sub in with us on some of our current stuff--but it made for an easy night.

It was a pretty crappy crowd.  Not a whole lot of people, and almost no turn over, so we didn't make much money out of it.  Bummer.

Dannells was on fire in the first set--he could do no wrong.  In the second set, he cooled significantly.  I played pretty well, especially in the first set with Dannells breathing down my neck.  I felt like I had to rise to the challenge.

Friday, I cleaned gutters.  Tell me why I need gutters?  Houses in Florida don't have gutters.  They don't need gutters.  I don't need gutters.  They catch more pine needles and sweet gum balls than rain.

Saturday, I went to Lopes' house to get the brace resoldered on my bari.  I wish I could go to Lopes' house and hang out about once a week.  Lopes is my guru.

Saturday afternoon, I cleaned the yard up--raked and mowed.

Sunday was the magical land of church gigs.  The first church gig went pretty well.  We received no music emails earlier in the week, so it felt very much to be a seat of the pants affair.  Things were pretty solid, considering.  We were fortunate to be asked to play half of the second service (extra money!), which was cool.  It would really be cool if they eventually have us play both services.  I mean, we're already there! Come on!  Hire me!

I had a great tenor reed.  It's new, but it plays great;  flexible, but a little resistance;  it was edgy, but not thin or mushy.

The second gig was about average.  During the first song I had to deal with a dead microphone--it's always wonderful when the singers sing one line and then whip around to tell me what's wrong!  I haven't set the gain on anything yet!  Gimme a sec!

My flute face was in good shape--I played lots of long tones at church gig number one, which made number two sound much better.  Hooray.

Big week ahead!  Stay tuned...

davidfreemanmusic.net

InterContinental

Yacht Rock played a private gig for IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group).  Some kind of private party at the InterContinental.  I have no idea what they were celebrating.  Maybe they were celebrating the really crappy labyrinth of a load in?  I was quickly reminded of why I usually avoid the freight elevator here.

Nick called Mark Dannells right before soundcheck to get his ETA.  Dannells did not know we had a gig.  He went from underwear to the stage in forty-five minutes.  Oops.

The gig was pretty good.  Full production was provided for the nice big stage.  I think we all played well, though nobody in the crowd seemed that interested in hearing us.  The room thinned out really quickly, and  we took on the energy and enthusiasm of a good rehearsal.  Not much of a party.  On break, we talked to a bunch of people who loved us, but I think they all stayed out in the prefunction area.  Greg and I took a photo and did a flip book.

Oh well.  The gig ended a half hour early.  We had fajitas for supper.  Who could ask for anything more?

davidfreemanmusic.net

Mucho Cartage

I got paid (in theory) big money this weekend for all my cartage.  Not really, but it was a weekend of many, many horns (and my "bag o' crap" percussion).

Friday:  I had two gigs.  The first was a quick quartet gig downtown at Ventanas, so I hired Louis Heriveaux, Kevin Smith, and Marlon Patton.  Awesome gig!  Those guys make my stuff sound like we play together all the time.  It was very relaxed, but focused at the same time.

I was particularly impressed with Marlon.  I do way more trio gigs than quartets, so I really noticed his input the most.  He was super creative and read everything down without any problems.  Could he be the Mark Cobb of my jazz world?  I'm thinkin' yes.  Listen to his stuff.  Fantastic.



The jazz gig was two horns--tenor and soprano.

The second gig was Beatles (Please Pleaserock Me) vs. Rolling Stones (Main Street Exiles) at Smith's.  I played on both.  The Stones went first.  We used the full horn section for what we could, and it sounded pretty good--really, we could stand to be a lot sloppier, but it's probably never going to happen.

The Beatles set was good, but really long.  It felt like we were up there for a couple of hours.  I guess it was because we played thirty two minute songs!

It was super loud.  I was two feet from a sixteen inch crash all night, and my left ear was fried.

The Smith's gig was four horns--tenor, bari, flute, and piccolo, plus miscellaneous percussion.

Saturday:  Please Pleaserock Me managed to snag a corporate party gig!  We played at 200 Peachtree (the old Macy's downtown location).  It's a really neat room.  I'd never been in there before.

It was a rather daunting gig, going into it--four hours of Beatles?  Did we have enough stuff?  By the time we finished eating, the gig had gone down to three hours…and then we dragged the breaks out a little, and we had enough stuff.  In the end, we padded it out with a couple of Yacht Rock tunes and everybody was happy.

For me (and I'll speak for Jason, too), it was a low intensity gig.  Particularly in a situation like this where people were dancing (and the focus was on the early 4 piece Beatles stuff), there wasn't much to do but drink beer and pick our noses.  Occasionally we would have to get on stage and clap two and four on the bridge of a song, but it was hard to get in the groove of playing because we'd be on for one, off for two.  I took lots of bad pictures (posted immediately to Facebook) to pass the time.  It was mostly a hang with friends.

Mark Dannells!

Bencuya is my hero

Cartage for this one?  Nyet!  Four saxophones, piccolo, flute, clarinet, and the bag o' crap.  I played some "lead guitar cowbell" on Hard Day's Night that probably deserved a fine.

new wig?

Ouch!  Bari down!

Sunday:  The usual church gigs.  Church gig number one:  tenor and clarinet (though I have to bring flute and soprano because I never know what I'll need).  Church gig number two:  soprano and flute.  In between there was a pretty good nap.

davidfreemanmusic.net

My Life

My Life practice rig!

This past Wednesday, we (Yacht Rock/Please Pleaserock Me) had a big rehearsal--5 Beatles tunes (I Want to Hold Your Hand, Back in the USSR, Ob-La-Di- Ob-La-Da, Taxman, and Revolution) and 2 Yacht Rock tunes (My Life by Billy Joel and Thunder Island by Jay Ferguson).  The Beatles stuff was easy--I make charts and play them, plus it's lots of tambourine and clapping.  I was really pumped about playing My Life--not only is it a big song for me personally, but once I started listening to it, it sounded like piano PLUS rhodes (and synth on the main riff).  So…Bencuya plays piano, but I double him on the rhodes, which turned out to be a terrific challenge.  I have to BE Bencuya for a couple of minutes there.

Pete's facial castanets for Thunder Island

Anyway, I practiced it like crazy.  We played a couple of times at rehearsal.  I was fine.

We weren't going to play it last night at the 10 High gig because Mark Cobb was not there, but Ganesh said he wanted a shot at it, so we did do it.  Awesome.  I did well.  Plus, it went over really well--everybody was singing along (which is always a cool feeling).  We probably got two keepers out of that (Thunder Island was good too, but I just play organ pads, so it was no biggie).

Speaking of the 10 High…the first set was good and inspired, and then we came back from break and not one of us could have given a damn.  It was a pretty boring second set.  I sucked on the sax solo to Caribbean Queen.  Such is life.  I wore my new suit, so at least I looked good doing it.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Super Bowl Sunday

I did my two church gigs.

The first church gig was a circus.  The usual sound guy was not there, and we had all kinds of trouble with the headphone mix (except for me, of course, because I do not wear them).  Static, instruments disappearing, screaming acoustic guitar.  All there.

We were asked to stay and play half of the next service, which featured the adult choir, the children's choir, and the "orchestra" (which was really the church's community band).  It was chaos.  We had so many tunes stuck in the music books, and some were for the second service and some were for the first, and nobody was sure what belonged to what.  We rehearsed everything (but without the adult choir, children's choir, or "orchestra") that morning, but not in any kind of order--more of "Hey, can we play through this one?" kind of thing.

My second church gig began a half hour after the Super Bowl.  From my position, I counted sixty-eight people in attendance.  The band was about the same.  After the first song, I had comments from the band--"can't hear the singer."  They probably didn't notice that I was dealing with the fact that nobody had plugged in the piano mic!  Once I got the stuff up and running it was fine.

I had good cell phone service in the church, and didn't miss a second of the game.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Pat Boone and Debbie Boone Were There

Yacht Rock played the Taste of Dunwoody party at the W Perimeter last night.  It was probably not the best venue for us and the event--we were jammed into a pretty tiny ballroom (I guess it's the only one in the hotel, come to think of it).  They had tables with local food samples lining the walls all the way around.

Everybody was back for this gig--Nick was fronting the band, and Mark Cobb was kicking it in the ass!  It was a really relaxed event--we were loaded in plenty early, soundchecked, and then hung out in a suite on the top floor until it was time to eat.  We ate, we played, we drank.  Gradually, we took over the party.  I don't think the local food people were too thrilled that we sucked all the attention away from them.  Before the end of the first set, it had become a concert.  In fact, it seemed like most of the vendors bailed before the end of the night.

I played really well.  I'm (thankfully) still in a good groove.  We did most of the same stuff as we did Thursday night, so I was really comfortable.  I was loud, though (I guess we all were).  I could really hear myself slapping off the opposite wall.  I kept thinking "maybe I should turn down," but then I thought better of it.

Mark Cobb pushed us along the whole night.  Ganesh played faster tempos than he usually does on Thursday, but Cobb leaned forward.  Some of it was just flat out fast.  It was good, though.  I like it.  He also set a personal record for playing the "Pat Boone Debbie Boone" fill in the first set.  All over the place.

Nick had four people ask if he was wearing a wig.  Nobody asked me.  Does that mean my wig looks bad, or really good?

davidfreemanmusic.net

Molly

Last night's Yacht Rock gig was a little different from the past month--no Nick (Kevin Spencer in his place) and no Mark Cobb (Ganesh in his place).  It was still pretty smooth, but the banter is not of the same quality!

Just like last week, I prepared for the gig like it was some kind of exam.  This week's big addition to my performance was playing all of my parts to Baby Come Back on keyboard.  Impressive, non?  Mais oui.  Bencuya's over there having a good time with the rhodes part, so I'm playing strings.  On the verse, I'm playing piano;  on the choruses, I'm playing clav (with the strings).  Then on the bridge, I'm playing the synth part, complete with the big pitch two octave pitch bend.  Who's the man!  I mentioned my newfound keyboard prowess at the end of the first set, and Bencuya mentioned that he heard everything I played, and it sounded great.  I think he was trying to make up for the fact that he repeatedly mentioned how bad I (and he) sucked at the holiday show on Greatest American Hero (Believe it or Not)!  The recording from that show needs to disappear.  Damnit!  I guess when you suck real bad, you suck real bad.

Hmm…past that, let's see.  My tenor reed was really soft, and when I stood up to play the solo on Takin' it to the Streets (which we dedicated to Egypt), it completely closed up.  Not good!  I relaxed my embouchure and got through it, but it felt bad.  Too bad, because it sounded good.  I just couldn't push it.

On the break, I was standing there talking to Pete and some guy walked up and tried to sell us drugs--"Molly"--which I was later informed is high quality Ecstasy.

Second set was fine.  I started Lonely Boy, and I guess I hadn't set the gain on my mixer correctly, because it was SUPER LOUD!  Holy crap!  I played one handed once the band came in and turned knobs with the other.  Other than that, it was the most relaxed I've ever played it.  I even anticipated the spot where I (mentally) freak out and forget the chords, so yay for me.

Somebody stole Dannells' set list, so he and I shared mine.  While we were in between songs, the girl in front of us pulled his list out of her purse and checked to see what we were going to play next!

Things were going so well…then we started Jive Talkin' and I noticed that my laptop had died.  I'd forgotten to plug it in, and it'd been running on batteries the whole time--until now.  I thought, "I'll play the synth solo on something else," but I knew I'd need the EWI for the song after this (Peg) too, so I got up and walked across the stage, through the merchandise booth, and over to the corner where my cases were (the band playing the whole time).  I missed the first synth solo, got my power supply, walked back, plugged it in, woke up my laptop, and was back in time for the second synth solo.  Talk about stupid.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Wedding Ceremony Music

Mark Dannells and I are unveiling our new flute and guitar demo!  You can hear it on my website.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Video Roundup

Here are a few videos from the Variety Playhouse show a few Fridays ago:





Here are a few videos of me from last night:





davidfreemanmusic.net

The Weekend That Was

I got so busy gigging and sleeping that I was unable to blog!

Early last week, I got the set lists for the weekend's gigs.  After enduring a few weeks where I felt totally directionless on stage, I decided that I was going to be very prepared.  I set out practicing everything--no surprises!

Thursday:  A really good night at the 10 High.  Nick picked a great set list, and we were on it.  We had a good mix of oldies and new stuff, and the crowd was more responsive than any other Thursday in January.

Right before we started, the little voice in my head threw me a curve ball--what if I was so prepared to play the gig, I couldn't focus on playing, and instead spaced out?  Hmm.  Fortunately, it never happened.  I felt really good about everything.  Greatest American Hero was the second song in, and I nailed the synth thing in the bridge!  Woo!

Friday:  We returned to 8 Traxx Disco (Andrews Upstairs).  Sold it out--six hundred forty people, I think?  They pre-sell five hundred and then offer a hundred  tickets at the door, and they went over that.  It was nuts.

I altered my set up a little bit--I got my laptop and my speaker on my left like I do for every other gig.  I liked this set up a lot more.  It felt a little more normal, and on a crappy stage like that where everything feels like I'm all alone, familiar is good.

Of course, the Andrews gig is (for me), a two set exam with Mark Bencuya as the proctor.  Normally we are on opposite sides of the stage, and if I flub a couple of notes, I might be able to get away with it.  At Andrews, he's sitting right next to me, and I know he can hear me really well--too well?  Anyway, it was the best I've ever played sitting next to him.  I'd give myself an A!  I can't think of anything I ruined, and lots of stuff where I came through--Greatest American Hero was good again, and I finally slayed the synth build up thing in Lido Shuffle!  Woo!

Since it's Buckhead, there was weirdness, though.  I packed all my stuff and stacked it at the front of the stage.  Upon returning from taking a load of gear out, I discovered that someone had stolen the base of my laptop table.  What the hell?  Some drunk idiot made off with a chrome tripod?  I don't get it.  Maybe it will turn up, but I am not optimistic.  The base of a folding music stand will do for now, but I'd really like to get that back.  So weird.

Saturday:  Yacht Rock went to the 40 Watt in Athens.  Probably the best sound we ever have on a gig.  The 40 Watt guys are on it!  I ran my sax separate from the rest of my rig so the sound guys could have a little more control (and I could have it coming out of the monitor in front of me).  When the sax is only in my little powered speaker, it's really hard to hear as I walk away from it.  This solution is way better.  Hopefully the front line guys will put a little sax in the monitor.

Great crowd in Athens.  They were nuts from the beginning.  It was really fun to play.  We did two encores!

Our old second keyboardist Brandon Still was at the gig.  I'm glad I didn't know ahead of time.  It probably would've messed me up to know he was listening.

While setting up my stuff, I noticed that my EWI had something rattling around in it!  Not good!  It turns out that one of the octave key rollers had come loose.  I taped it into place so it wouldn't touch the roller below it (or fall out completely).  The thought occurred to me that I might be able to take the thing completely apart and fix it backstage, and then I had thoughts of NOT being able to get it back together. Taping the roller in position worked fine as a band aid.

Sunday:  We got back to Atlanta at 4:15 AM.  I was in bed at 5, and probably asleep twenty minutes after that.  I was then back up again at 7 AM so I could leave at 7:30 for my church gig.  Ouch!  I slept in my clothes--including my jacket and shoes.  Basically, I stood up, drank a cup of coffee, and left for the next gig!

Church gig number one was normal.  I tried wearing headphones like the rest of the band, but the mix was really bad (and super loud), so I decided to just without.  I can hear everything fine, anyway.  I could use more bass (I'm only hearing the house), but the headphones sound horrible, so I'm going to deal with it.

I was asleep again by 11:30 AM!

I got up at 4:30 PM, took a shower, ate, and left for church gig number two.

The sound was back to normal--the old spot on the main fader was the right one again, after two weeks of it sounding like we were outside the church.  What the hell?  It sounded pretty good.  I messed around with the EQ on the piano to try and get a little more clarity out of the left hand.  That was about it.

I got home, ate again, and took my EWI apart.  It turns out the top and bottom rollers were BOTH loose.  Not good.  Two nuts rolling around inside there.  I turned the thing around like a piggy bank until both came out.  Reinstalling them was pretty painless.  It's all back together.

Easy week ahead.

davidfreemanmusic.net