Sundress Night at the 10 High

Many fine sundresses were in attendance last night at the 10 High, and I, being the number one fan of the sundress, say thank you, especially to the one in front of me for the first set.  I wanted to take pictures, but I think that'd be crossing the line.  And, I think she was there with her mom.

The gig was…two gigs in one.  The first set was really solid.  We had Greg singing for Nick and Dani (Dani's birthday!) playing bass for Greg, and we had no problems in that configuration.  Everybody played well;  I was particularly digging Mark Cobb's hi hats.  Is that a fair compliment?  I don't know.  It struck me that the hi hats sounded really good, though.  Worth mentioning.  Cobb was really playing well.

I played well, too, probably because I could hear myself.  I think I've got the stuff in my rack dialed in.  Turn it on and turn it up.

I played tenor only once the entire night--the sixteen measure solo in Too Hot.  That was probably good luck on my part because the tenor reed that I was using was DONE.  My alto felt great.  I took my flute, tenor, and alto to Lopes' house earlier in the day and had him fix them up.  Other than the ripped pads (he found another) on my flute, everything was in good shape.

Back to the show!

Dannells played a pretty ferociously awesome solo on How Long.  That's when I knew we were really on it.  Very little cursing on his part until the end of the set.

Notice how everyone's standing AROUND the lighted dance floor?  Thank you, 10 High.

The lights went out on the dance floor.

If the first set was a continuation of last week's Park Tavern gig, the second set was like a third set from last week's 10 High gig.  It was brutally bad.  An alcohol fueled mess.  I wondered if we'd make it to the end.  At one point, I think we were playing I Keep Forgetting instrumentally, reggae style.  At least, that's what I was doing.  And with a calliope sound.

I relearned the string part to Lowdown, but I ended up screwing it up again.  I only remembered about half of it.  It's really easy, which means I'm really stupid.

I Keep Forgetting was on the set list, but we ended up cutting it because Michael McDonald is a freak of nature.  The vocals are too high ("Every time you're near…").  I was really excited about playing it.  It kind of took the air out the gig for me when it was eliminated.  That said, I am not a vocalist, so I have no business criticizing some one else about those kinds of decisions.

Maybe tonight?  Ganesh is subbing for Nick…he may take a shot at it.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Emergency Pad Fix

The overwhelming majority of my blog posts are silly stories centered around my job.  How about something useful!

Monday night, I played flute for hours and hours…one of those nights where I was really feeling good.  When I tried to warm up on Tuesday, all my lowest notes were gone.  I thought, "Wow, I really overdid it!"  so I played long tones in the middle of the flute and worked my way down, but the notes on the foot joint were really difficult.  After about an hour of not being able to get it happening, I inspected my foot joint.  Aha!  My Eb pad had kind of disintegrated.

Until I can get to Bryan Lopes for repairs, I'm using saran wrap.  It works well in an emergency!  Wrap it over the key, twist in the back, and put a piece of scotch tape there to hold the twist in place.

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Church Gig Stuff

I did my two regular church gigs this past Sunday.  It's been a while!  I've been in and out of town over the past few weeks.

Church gig number one was fine.  Everybody had been sending subs over the past month or so, but they were all overlapping.  I think that at least two of the regular guys were always there.  It worked out fine.  Nobody said anything.  Then again, maybe nobody missed us.

When we were loading out, one of the band members was talking money with me.  We're still not all paid equally (still a sore spot for we the underpaid!), and the last time any of us had brought up the subject with the band leader, we'd been told in so many words "not right now."  The guy I was talking with wants to open the discussion again;  his wife just lost her job, and so he's asking for more money because he needs to make up the difference in income (making $50 more a week?).  I'm not sure that's a solid argument.

I don't quite follow that part.  He also wants to go over the band leader's head and talk to the head of the church.  Yikes.  The band leader's trying not to blow his budget, and it's rumored that the head of the church will give you what you need if you make your case.  That sounds risky.

I don't know what I'd do in his shoes.  My wife does not work full time, and the money ebbs and flows.  If it stopped altogether, would I turn to all my contractors and ask them to pick up the slack?  Furthermore, I would think twice about going over the band leader's head--you might find yourself completely out of a gig!  Then what?  Tell your students the price of lessons has doubled, effective immediately?!

He and I batted ideas around for a while in the parking lot.  Maybe I'll get lucky, and he'll lean more on my argument that we should all be paid equally for playing the same gig.  That way, I might end up getting pulled up without having to say anything at all.

Church gig number two was ok.  I've been so slack on my personal practicing;  my playing is really sad right now.  I couldn't play in tune to save my life.  I need to right the ship.  Stop sucking!

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The Pleaserock Olympics

Yesterday, we played two shows back to back.  The first show was a Beatles show (Please Pleaserock Me) headlining the Decatur Greenfest.  When it was finished, we played at 500 Songs for Kids.

The first part of the Olypmics was to get dressed in a black suit (with tie), grab equipment out of your car and navigate down a sidewalk full of people who don't care that you're wearing a suit and moving heavy equipment.  Total distance was a little over a hundred yards, but each of us made multiple trips, and then we each had to scramble to find parking somewhere in the vicinity.  We gathered back at the stage, threw our equipment up and played two sets of Beatles--a lot of three minutes songs in each one hour set!  The crowd was good--estimates were in the six hundred people range, and it was well received.  Tree Sound provided the PA, using their solar powered generator.  Very cool.  We were off the grid!

Things went pretty smoothly.  We were near the end of the gig (third to last song) and Mark Dannells started Revolution in Bb instead of B.  No big deal.  The whole band shifted with him (kudos to Mark Bencuya for transposing the Wurly solo on the fly!).  After the song ended, we informed him of the mistake (and if you know the way in which we would "discuss" something like that, you'd know how small he felt).  He thought he'd played the entire song in Bb and the rest of the band had played in B;  he was so upset that he threw his guitar down on the stage and left and missed an entire song having a mental shit fit somewhere.  It wasn't until after the gig that we were able to explain that we'd changed keys pretty much instantaneously to accommodate his error.  Dannells was suicidal with the thought that he'd gone tone deaf.

Dannells told us at the start of the gig "I do what I want."  I guess that includes keys.

Paul Poovey played a great version of the Penny Lane piccolo trumpet solo (definitely worth checking out the mp3s on his brass quintet's website) and Greg Lee sang the hell out of Maybe I'm Amazed.  Nick was awesome on everything else.  I was just along for the ride on this gig.

When the gig ended, we packed up everything, found our vehicles, parked illegally, and hoofed our gear back across the hundred yards (still in suits).  A couple of us ran by the office and dumped our gear before heading to Smith's Olde Bar for 500 Songs for Kids, a really cool benefit.  We've done it a couple of years in a row now.

The throwing of the Milanos:

Bencuya and I dragged a couple keyboards up the back stairs and into Smith's.  I think the first sign that I will never be a rock star:  my feet don't like Chuck Taylors.  I'm more of an Adidas guy.  Maybe I should have signed on with a Run DMC tribute?  I don't know.  Anyway, my feet hurt, which made the standing around and waiting for our turn seem like forever.  Maybe it was forever.  I was fading fast at that point.

We got the call and threw our gear up on stage to play Dancing on the Ceiling.  My arpeggiator was awesome, by the way.  About four bars into the first verse, Nick waved it off.  We went into With a Little Help from my Friends.  I don't if that's a legal move at 500 Songs, but I get the feeling we have enough clout to do whatever we want.  We did "our" song and the crowd went wild (it helps that Nick sings the absolute HOLY HELL out of it--if you need proof, listen to this version from the Variety Playhouse in January).  Whoa baby now.

My man Mark Dannells:  Back from the Brink

So…final events of the Olympics:  keyboards go back in the cases, I grab the keyboards, feet are hurting, down the two flights of rickety stairs, across Monroe, past the people having sex in a car (YES!--I was like--"this is awesome!  it's really happening!  I've got to stop looking!  I can't stop looking!"), gear in the truck, back to the office to get my other stuff, home, unpack the truck again, pack the truck again.

I went to bed and got up a few hours later for ye olde church gig.  Keep on keepin' on.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Braves Night at Park Tavern

Like addicts needing a bigger fix to get high, I think we just needed a bigger stage.  We followed Thursday night's drudgery with a terrific show Friday night at the Park Tavern.  The theme was "Braves Night," so Homer (the Braves mascot) and the Braves girls who throw t shirts at people were there.  T shirts were thrown.  It was a huge success.

I think the first set last night was the same as Thursday night's first set.  Overall, I played better, but I still had some rough spots.  I'm still not totally comfortable with Baby Come Back, and Moonlight Feels Right is still kind of tough because I'm moving all over the keyboard for different sounds, but I'm really happy to have those in the rotation--we've gotten in some really bad ruts with the setlist.

Mark Cobb was on fire last night, especially in the first set.  He was having a creative night without being stupid.  It can be a fine line for him, but he played well.

I think I have my stuff dialed in on my rack so I don't have to make many adjustments, other than turning the volume up and down.  Good thing, because having my rack on the ground makes it difficult to play and tweak at the same time.

I got off a pretty good solo on Biggest Part of Me.  It's so hard to hear if my microphone is even on at the Park Tavern.  There's nothing to bounce the sound off.  I just check it before the song starts and hope for the best (and remind myself once I'm in the solo not to overblow--let the mic do the work).  Cobb picks a nice tempo for that one that keeps it groovin' a little harder than the original.

I've had some sort of strange sinus problem all week, and by the end of the first set (Biggest Part of Me), I was hurting.  Forming the proper shape with my mouth and tongue was super uncomfortable.  I don't know what's going on in there--there's pain from one ear, up through the roof of my mouth into my sinuses, and out the other ear.  Playing saxophone with that going on is not fun.  I hope it cures itself soon.

The second set was pretty good.  We skipped around a bunch and avoided some songs we haven't played in a while (Takin' it to the Streets, Kiss You All Over), but everything was really solid, and we finished right on time with Rich Girl.  We had a good time;  the crowd had a good time.  We took a bunch of pictures.  I think we're off to a really good start for this series of shows.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Thursday Night

Yacht Rock was back at the 10 High last night…we hadn't been there in a few weeks, and it felt a little strange.  The people who manage the room changed some things up--added the lighted dance floor, stacked the subwoofers at the corners of the stage, and moved some of the monitors around a little.  Nothing major, but it felt a bit foreign.

The first set was really loud.  I'm not sure exactly why, but everything just felt like it was blasting, and even when I turned my volume up to balance it, things still felt out of whack.  I think that the mains were turned inward a little more and were up louder, and then the stacked subs kind of made a wall around me.  It just felt weird.  Dannells was louder than than usual and Cobb was loud, and…it just made it rough.

I had some really stupid moments in the first set--a few songs we haven't touched in a while felt really foreign, even though I'd practiced them at home.  I don't think I was unprepared, but I couldn't really get parts to fit into the band.  It was kind of like I was playing against the band.

We went on break and the Schooner guys showed up to hang out and play a few songs.  Eric Frampton played my keyboards.  I was hoping he'd impart some keyboard mojo on my stuff!  Maybe he did…I played much better in the second set.

Unfortunately, the band played a really bad second set.  I don't think we ever came back from the break, but we still had to keep playing.  We were really bad.

Last night was the debut of my new rack--I have been looking for a way to keep more of my stuff set up so that I don't take so long setting up and tearing down.  This new system has my laptop/EWI set up already hooked together, along with the mixer I run everything into, and my wireless receiver for my saxophones.  All the cables stay plugged into the mixer, so at the end of the night, I stuff them in the box, put the lid on it, and I'm done!  Way faster, especially on a night when I couldn't wait to get out of there.

Speaking of wireless, some guy wanted to know what I was taking pictures of with my saxophone.  He thought that transmitter on the bell was a camera.  Huh?

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The VH1 Best Cruise I've Been on This Year

The Yacht Rock Revue played our first cruise ship gig of the year this past weekend:  The VH1 Best Cruise Ever.  The name implies that this was something special, and yet our personal experiences proved that it was pretty much like every other one of the boat rides we have taken around the Caribbean.  I assure you, had it been the "best cruise ever," I probably would have seen Colbie Caillat naked, up close and for several minutes in good light.  Instead, I played my stuff and drank a lot.  I got lost in rural Mexico again.  It was the VH1 Same Cruise Ever.  I expect the Future Mark Dannells to call the Present Mark Dannells and report that next year's cruise was about like this one.

Monday:  took my saxophones, top keyboard (the Roland Fantom with my hours of programming), and my magic suitcase full of stuff like saxophone stands to the equipment truck.  Reggie came with me.  Reggie pissed on a planter in the office.  A premonition?

Thursday:  I picked up Nick and his sister Gina (our videographer for the trip).  We made our way to the airport, me dressed in a new pale green polyester suit, lugging my laptop and EWI.  Should I have put the EWI on the truck?  I don't know.  I keep it in a Protec soprano case that seems sturdy;  if thing got crushed, though, that would really wreck the setlist.  The trip was no big deal.  Everybody in the airport laughed at our outfits.  It doesn't really faze us anymore.  I have perfected the art of staring right back, albeit from behind sunglasses.

I found out that I don't like bloody marys

Nick and me

We got on the boat, ate, and started drinking.  Since we were slotted to play Thursday night, I didn't do my usual 'drink like an idiot and wind up passed out somewhere' routine.  I wanted to be fairly sharp, even though at this point I'm really comfortable with all the material.

Bencuya

cafeteria

Dannells

We had plenty of time to set up--an hour after the band in front of us finished, and a crew to do most of the heavy lifting.  One problem I noticed in the set up was that the crew tends to drop a keyboard stand in the right place and immediately stack the keyboards on.  A better course of action would be to set the keyboard bench/stool to the right height and then bring the stand and the instruments out.  This first set had me too high up.  It's almost as bad as being too low.

The name of the game for this set was pedal problems…the sustain pedal they gave me for my Fantom was doing the reversed polarity thing where it sustained everything until you stomped on it again.  Not good, though it was kind of fun to try and negotiate for a song until I could stop and fix it.  Unfortunately, flipping the switch on the bottom of the pedal did not solve the problem.  It might as well have not been plugged in.  I tried flipping the switch a couple of times, tried unplugging it and plugging it back in--nothing.  I asked for a new one, and almost instantly had a crew guy up there mid-song hooking me up.  Like I was famous…Famous Second Keyboardist Freeman, He of the Generic String Pad…seriously, there was a guy up there like it was an action movie, crawling around through all the cables while my monitor screamed away.  He got me hooked up with a functional pedal, and then crouched behind my laptop until I could confirm that it worked.

Later on in the set, Bencuya had to deal with a crappy volume pedal, but I think he just stopped using it. No swarm of techs.

The set went well other than the pedal problems and a bobbled audible (part of the band began Hey Nineteen and part of the band began Peg, which was immediately followed by forty-five seconds of yelling by Cobb).  Nick was pretty miserable by the end--the combo of motion sickness and a mediocre night (he claimed) of singing sent him to bed pretty quickly.  I was fine--had a good night.  The room seemed about half full.

I was given a Nord Stage to use for my bottom keyboard.  Quite an upgrade from the 61 key Nord Electro 2 I use at home!  Weighted keys, more keys (76 I think, but it could have been 88).  The layout was a little different, and I felt good about myself for adapting to it as well as I did.

Friday:  We played on the Lido Deck in the mid afternoon.  Again, same sort of stuff--a crew there at your beck and call.  A guy with a ton of gear (like me) could get used to this!  Again--a good show.  Again, the bench to keyboard height was not quite right, but I could deal.  We had a good crowd out there, and they dug us.  Lots of drunk dancing to watch.

I forgot to mention that we did not use keyboard amps on this trip--each of us (my man Mark Bencuya and myself) had a monitor mix, and so that was an added twist of trying to match the levels on my four inputs (sax, EWI, keyboard, keyboard).

For this stage, I got a 76 key Nord Electro 2.  A little closer to normal for me--it didn't have all the crazy stuff that the Stage had the night before.

I played well again.  Gina was up on stage filming us, and I kind of bit it on the solo to Africa right as she stuck the camera in my face.  Nothing horrible--I just flinched and left a couple of notes out.  The sax stuff seemed to go over well, and since I went barefooted when we were setting up, audience members called me "Shoeless Joe Saxman" for the remainder of the trip (which along the way would sometimes get shortened to "Joe" in conversations and make me think that the person was talking to someone else).

Coming off stage, I was asked to sit in with the next bandy.  I played on Dancing in the Dark (in F!  normally in B!).  Super easy.  For tenor, it was this:

The band acted like I'd played something incredible.  The guitarist nearest me kissed me when it was over.  Not on the lips.

Mat Kearney was the guy--he has a song on the radio that I've heard.  I thought it was Counting Crows.  It's him--a song called Nothing Left to Lose.  They played it right before Dancing in the Dark, and I thought it was a really accurate cover.

To tell the truth, I played with them, put my horn away, and asked Bencuya who those guys were.  I didn't find out the guy's name until it was over.  Oops.

Saturday:  the day in Cozumel.  I can't lie--this is a good job that I have.  Famous Second Keyboardist Freeman, He of the Generic String Pad…doin' all right!  We (Pete, Greg, Dannells, Bencuya, and myself) went to the same restaurant where we had eaten seventeen months prior--La Choza.  Good stuff.  I had my first Mexican Coke (made with sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup)--I couldn't tell the difference.  I had shrimp kebabs.  Very good.  I probably should have had a gallon of water if I'd known what was coming up.

So…Dannells and I rented scooters and went zooming off across the island, only to eventually end up on a dirt road, which eventually became a dirt alley in the middle of nowhere.  Miraculously, we made it back to paved Earth;  we even paid a visit to the Mayan ruins.  At the entrance to the ruins, I hit a telephone pole.  It was quite painful.  My big toe is swollen, and I have some scrapes on my legs.  Mentally, the damage was much worse.  It genuinely scared me.  The scooter sustained what appeared to be considerable damage.  Somehow I got the parking lot attendant at the Mayan ruins to work on it--he buffed it out or something--used some Mayan magic.  Or iguana urine.  Who cares!  The scooter looked good as new when we came out.

I assure, I looked at least as stupid

iguana (middle of the picture)

Dannells then proceeded to run off the road precisely at the same spot where I'd crashed.  The two of us dragged his scooter out of the brush and kept going.  It was fine.

We rode for HOURS--all the way around the island.  My sunburn was impeccable.

Saturday at midnight we played the U2 stuff.  An entire set.  I won't take any credit for that performance.  I played fine, but there's so little to do--it's all on Nick, Dannells (and Greg on second guitar), and Cobb for providing the energy.  My man Bencuya and I just coasted through that one.  The crowd (especially the other bands on the boat) were especially giddy about this set.  I felt kind of awkward accepting any praise.  Mostly shaker and tambourine!  Give me a break!  Go tell Nick!

Sunday:  I woke up super hung over.  It hurt really bad.  We participated in some sort of trivia game.  It didn't go well.  I didn't care.  I went back to my room and more or less slept the rest of the afternoon.  We gathered that night and wandered around the boat, waiting for the blowout final night party that never happened.  I went to bed around 2 AM, fairly early by boat standards.

Monday:  flew home, taught a couple of lessons, hung out with my family.  Back to real life!

davidfreemanmusic.net