I played with the Yacht Rock Schooner last night at the Dixie Tavern last night. Not bad for a bar gig! The gig itself was good, but I nearly died waiting around--I was told to be there at 8. Ready to go at 8:10, but the soundcheck began at 9:30 (which means they checked the sax line at about 10), and we didn't actually start the gig until 10:30. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long to hang out. Next time, I'm rolling in at 10.
Anyway, once we started playing, everything was cool. The band was solid, and there was something for me to do on every song of the first set.
Someone from the crowd told the two singers that the difference between the Schooner and the Revue was that the Schooner's sax player is so much better. Thanks?
We (Yacht Rock) used the 10 High as a preliminary rehearsal for the big 80s prom coming up in a few weeks at the Variety Playhouse. New oldies included Careless Whisper, Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, I Can Dream About You, and True. All came off without a hitch (ok-I had a medium small disaster in I Can Dream, but nothing fatal). We also added Hold the Line, which was alot of fun to play--I played power chords on the chorus and a synth part on the second and third verses. Easy stuff for me, but I bet we won't do that one too much--the vocals are super high.
The second set was fast. Mark Cobb played everything like he needed to go pee. We flew through every song. All of the sudden, the gig was over!
It was a pretty thin crowd. I won't bother to speculate why.
I played a really good trio gig with Louis Heriveaux (keyboard) and Kevin Smith (bass) at the Sheraton downtown. It was some kind of private gig…a networking thing.
Friday and Saturday, I was on the move with Yacht Rock.
Friday's show was with the Yacht Rock Schooner in Chattanooga at Rhythm and Brews. I just played saxes and flute, so it was a pretty easy night. The band sounded good; everything was solid, and it was nice to kind of have the night off on a gig. I probably did more cell phone videos than actual playing!
Saturday afternoon was a Yacht Rock Revue gig at Eagles Landing in Stockbridge. What a disaster! The van was late in arriving to grab our gear, and then it took us twice as long as was allocated to pack the trailer. We then moved our cars over to the Pleaserock office so as to avoid returning to smashed car windows. Once we got on the interstate, we decided to take 75 south instead of 675 south (which was what my phone kept telling me to do), and somewhere in there I recalculated directions to Stockbridge instead of Eagles Landing. So…we got off the interstate at the wrong exit before I noticed. Back on the interstate, down 75 another few miles. We got there with a little over and hour to get our gear in the room and soundcheck. Somehow, we finished with five minutes to spare!
Dig the curtain behind us. It looked just like the Hot for Teacher video. I couldn't stop thinking about that for the first couple of songs.
It just got worse from there. We had to kill off two and a half hours in our green room until our stuff was scheduled to be begin. The gig was a total drag. The room was pitch black, and with sunglasses on it seemed like we were playing inside Space Mountain, and after how many beers in those few hours I thought I was going to fall off the edge. The crowd was really stiff, and we got bored and then we had to drag ourselves to the bitter end.
Here's audio from the night. I recorded with my phone, sitting on one of my keyboards, so the balance is weird (right in between my amp, the guitar amp, and the drums). Check the cowbell duel. "Africa is percussive."
That's me on the solo--a bit of EWI magic.
Somebody cut the last chorus short. You can hear me yell "What the fuck!" and then Dannells and I chattering about it.
The theme for the party was James Bond (hence the "Octopussy" in the audio), so we played a little bit of Live and Let Die off the cuff. That went pretty well. Our other thing was the James Bond ending, which did not go well at all. We were going to do it in F minor, and I figured it out on EWI (which I have set to Bb). Unfortunately, the couple of times it was audibled, I was either playing keyboards, flute, or alto--never tenor or EWI, and my brain couldn't quite move the lick into another key! Actually, I think the time I did try to play it, Dannells was playing it in E minor, so even when I was finally right, I was still wrong.
We loaded the gear back out, and then the van wouldn't start because we were parked on a hill and the tank was almost empty. Greg and Ganesh left to find a gas station that was open and buy a gallon of gas. We packed the gear up, put some gas in the van, and drove home. When we got back to town, we went and picked up our cars at the office, and then caravanned to the rehearsal space, which turned out to be our only good move of the night. The gate for the space was locked and nobody had the key, so then we pulled our personal gear out of the trailer and went our separate ways (which meant somebody had to be responsible for the PA in the trailer and then deal with it again the next day).
Sunday began just hours later. I played church gig number one in a fog. It went pretty well. No big surprises. I went home, took a nap, got up and hung out with Jack. I took another nap. I got up and went to church gig number two. No problems. I think I had a pretty good mix happening. I came home and immediately/accidentally fell asleep, and woke up twelve hours later.
Last night was the big Pleaserock takes over Virginia Highlands night--multiple Pleaserock bands playing around the Dark Horse, Limmerick Junction, and Blind Willie's. Yacht Rock played the 9-11 PM slot in the parking lot. We had GREAT weather. Last year, it rained; there was no cover for the stage, so we never even played. The year before that was pretty good, but it got cold once the sun went down. The year before that was colder still. The high was in the mid-70s (how appropriate!), so we were still really comfortable through our sets.
The toughest/worst part about the gig was the fact that we loaded in at 4, but didn't play until 9. In the mean time, we stood around. The Stooge Brothers played. Then the Main Street Exiles played. Then the Ill-Eagles played. Finally, we got up there--frantically threw our gear on stage and got started. I preset as much stuff offstage as I could, but everybody was still waiting on me to get set (and I heard about it).
I played well. The big song of the night was Moonlight Feels Right, which we haven't attempted in about a year. I was really pleased with myself for figuring out a nifty keyboard split that allowed me to sustain a string sound with I played a two handed synth part (the chorus stuff, if you're checking it out). The string part was the one thing Bencuya and I could never grab before. Yay! I hope that one stays in the setlist; I like having something new to do. Maybe it will bump some of our warhorses off the map for a while.
Once we hit the 11 PM curfew, I dragged all my stuff offstage and packed it up. After locking it in the cab of my truck, I clawed my way into the 10 High and sat in with the Schooner (who was covering our usual gig). They sounded good. It's funny how the two bands play the same stuff, but the sound and feel can be so different. Anyway, I played on a few tunes and then the night ended.
Tuesday night was the final leg of our House Live tour…not really a tour, but after a couple of months of not having any gigs, we had Friday, Sunday, and Tuesday. Good stuff!
This one was the easiest of all--just a quick two hour gig at Ventanas. We made our usual pilgrimage to Baja Fresh across the street, and then came back and hit it.
It was blue dress shirt/dark pants night, and mostly dudes. Lots of one-on-one business talk.
Here's a couple of audio clips from the evening. In hearing these recordings, it's striking how different the levels appear in comparison to when I'm playing. On stage, the DJ component sometimes seems to be too much, but listening back now it seems that it is I who is too loud in the mix.
Sunday morning started off an hour too early. Why the hell do we still have daylight savings time? Not cool. I'd gotten home from my Saturday night gig by 9:30 or so; I practiced until midnight, and then poked around thinking I still had plenty of time to sleep. Boo--the time switch snuck up on me. No good.
Anyway, church gig number one went off without a hitch. In fact, the leader even mentioned that it was one of the tightest services we'd ever played. Pretty high praise, considering how often it is dished out.
Sunday night, I played another House Live gig, this time at Stats--some private party for a technology company. Pretty easy stuff. We played for an hour, then had about forty-five minutes off, then played an hour and forty-five (with a break). I continued my stream of consciousness playing, for better or for worse. We had a table of guys sitting right in front of us for most of the night, and I wondered why it took so long for them to get sick of me!
On the break, we were able to go out and enjoy the patio and the weather. A great night to be outside!
Here's some audio from the end of the night. Some saxophone and some flute.
Yacht Rock played our second gig as a U2 cover band (Uno Dos Tres Catorces) tonight at Meehan's in Sandy Springs.
This one was much better than last week's effort. For one thing, none of us was throwing up (though Nick tried)! Also, I think on the whole we were much more rested and ready. I was also able to spend an hour or so going over my stuff (as well as a few hours over the past couple of days). I felt good. It was easy, though I can't say that there was really much for me to do. I played lots of shaker and tambourine. The toughest part of the night, in fact, was trying to look cool playing shaker; for that matter, trying to look cool doing nothing on stage!
The crowd was good. They seemed to be really into it. I wonder how many people showed up thinking it was going to be smooth 70s soft rock, though.
We opened for Ed Kowalczyk, former lead singer of the band Live. The girl I was dating at the end of high school (and long distance into college) got really into Live around 1992-93. I associate that band with that girl--they were the soundtrack to the cataclysmic end of that romance. I feel like they should bear some of the blame for my pain. I had thoughts of ambushing him backstage tonight.
House Live hasn't played a gig in a couple of months. I guess nobody's been having trendy parties the past few months!
We were hired to play a 50th birthday party at a really cool space--a new room at a complex called White Provision. Pretty cool…at one point it was a slaughterhouse, and more recently a U-Haul place (that's how I remember it). Anyway, there's no blood left, and it looks really good, and the room where we were had really great views. Upton Sinclair approves!
The gig itself was really refreshing. I haven't had a lot of opportunities to just improvise and let it all hang out. About an hour into the gig, I finally felt like I'd played through all my crap and had gotten to a point where I was coming up with some different stuff. At that point, I kind of zoned out and just played. It wasn't until later on that I realized that I was no longer playing in the context of the DJ's tracks--it was beyond that. Maybe that's good, maybe not. I don't know if anyone would want to stand in front of us and hear my stream of consciousness playing go on for ten minutes straight, but it was cathartic as all get out for me.
I had chicken fried steak and a biscuit for supper. Good stuff. It's been too long since I had that.
Yacht Rock played the 10 High last night. Nick was sick and Cobb was out, so we had Kevin Spencer and Ganesh working with us. I wore my new suit.
I know what you're thinking: Kevin Spencer has an unofficial fan site? More than one, it appears. Here's another.
The first set was pretty good. I got off a really good solo on Biggest Part of Me--remarkable because I haven't had a saxophone in my hands much at all this week. Kind of a dud reed, but it was able to take the air, so it ended up being more of a feel issue for me and nothing else. Not much else to report in the first set…it was pretty solid, though the tempos felt slow to me.
The second set…ugh…the second set was a drag. It felt slow, and the talking between songs was really annoying, and the crowd was ambivalent. Brutal. There was no flow to the set, and the space between songs made it feel like we'd never played a Yacht Rock gig before. It had all the momentum of a morning rehearsal. I thought we'd never get to the end.
It got even longer when the entire band stopped, mid-song (Takin' it to the Streets), to have some drunk guy thrown out. We waited and waited and waited (and yelled at him on the mics) while Nate (our security guy) slowly walked him out of the room. I think his exit was longer than the song itself. It sure didn't help make the gig go.
When we finished, I never even bothered to get off the stage--I just started packing up.
After all that, we made pretty good money! Ahh...the happy ending!
I had a rare mid-week church gig tonight. It's Ash Wednesday, and my number two church gig was asked to play the overflow service (people that couldn't fit in the cathedral were bumped over to us). We ended up with a standing room only crowd.
The most challenging part of this gig was the mixing. I am rarely ever in this particular room, and I was using unfamiliar sound equipment. Plus, we were plugging into the ceiling speakers. Weird stuff. I think I ended up with a pretty good mix, though I had to ride the gain on a couple of the singers. Frickin' singers! Half the time they sing with the mic at their breastbones, and half the time it's an inch from their lips!
I played flute but no saxophone on this one. Lent is supposed to be somber, and I was reminded (once again) that that means no solos for Dave. For some reason, this doesn't seem to apply to the frickin' singers. Oh well…one less horn to pack up!
