David Freeman Music

Usual Thursday night 10 High gig.  It was really fun, but geez…I sucked really bad.  It was like I haven't thought about any of these songs in a month.  Some particular low points were the little synth break in Heart of Rock and Roll (which I practiced and played well in Nashville last week, but haven't thought about since), and All Night Long (which completely bit me in the ass). My last big equipment upgrade of the year was a new effects pedal for my sax stuff.  I bought a TC Helicon Voicelive 2 .  Super fancy and very state of the art.  It seems to be infinitely programmable.  I have the first preset built as my basic thing--just reverb.  Then, I can turn on (or turn off) chorus, slap reverb, and doubling within that preset by stepping on the different buttons.  Crazy.  Before, I would have to have a preset for each one.  Then I have a big stack as another preset (like three or four octaves wide) for Silly Love Songs . ...

So…yeah, the gig at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville was a high point for Yacht Rock .  We kicked ass, and the crowd (great numbers, too!  something like 320 people all together) loved every note of it.  The sound was good (super loud, but what else is new), the vibe was great.  When we came off stage after the second set, the crowd was screaming for an encore.  Bencuya declared "We're killin' it!" Once we finished and celebrated and pack up, we drove to Bowling Green, Kentucky in the middle of the night to get away from the Bonnaroo traffic.  We arrived at something like 4:30 AM, crashed for a few hours, and drove to Carmel, Indiana (on the north side of Indianapolis).  There we set up and played a pretty cool outdoor show for Rock the District 2011 .  The weather was perfect;  low eighties and slightly breezy.  We were in a parking lot, but the crowd got thicker as the gig went on, and by the end, people were into it, dancing on roof...

Wow!  One of our best gigs EVER! d avidfreemanmusic.net

Wow!  Great gig last night at the 10 High.  The band was really happening. It looked for a minute like we wouldn't even have a gig.  Fifteen minutes before we were scheduled to begin, there was one guy in the room (other than the band). People came downstairs right as we began.  Just in time! Back to the show…we played great!   Mark Cobb was on fire.  I think it was the best that he's played (on an entire gig) in a couple of months.  He had a great groove and just the right amount of aggression, and the rest of the band fell in behind him.  The whole night was like that.  Every song felt great.  Plus, Vistalites in the 10 High!  Hell yeah! I played pretty well.  I played a wrong chord in the intro to Lonely Boy .  Damnit!  I was thinking about where to play octaves in my left hand in the prechorus, and I forgot to change chords in the intro.  Oops. I hate that I messed that up--we play it so rarely, i...

Other possible titles:  Paid in Toothpaste; Greetings from the Land of Poor Fitting Khakis; Let's Get Excited about Shelf Space; My First and Last Day of Business School. I participated in a really strange gig this morning (and also Tuesday night).  The guys who make up Yacht Rock were hired to be the house band (kind of like the Letterman band) for a private event for Proctor and Gamble.  It was not, however, a Yacht Rock event--we dressed "like rock stars" (I wore a t shirt and jeans with a leather blazer) and played a much wider variety of music--mostly in the classic rock vein.  I had almost nothing to do, so I ended up turning the volume off on my keyboard and faking it for most of the show. Tuesday night we loaded in to the Marriott downtown.  At that time, the song selections were still up in the air, so I brought my full rig:  2 keyboards, EWI setup, amplifier, and a saxophone.  Once they settled on songs, it turned out I would only need ...

I played a trio gig tonight with Tyrone Jackson (piano) and Kevin Smith (bass).  Good stuff.  The gig was supposed to be 7:30-10:30, but we found out at 6:30 that it had been changed to 7-9 (the money stayed the same, though).  Uh, no problem! We played pretty well, but the crowd was incredibly loud.  Really…we could hardly hear ourselves!  It was nuts.  Fortunately my recorder is kind of directional, so the roar isn't too bad except for a couple of songs in the middle of the gig. Audio: More gigs this week…stay tuned! davidfreemanmusic.net

First some odds and ends... A few videos from the Turner Field show! how about one where you can't hear me! A few videos from last week's duo gig with Trey Wright! On to the wrap up… Friday night, Yacht Rock played our monthly show at the Park Tavern.   Space Capone opened for us.  Great stuff!  The band sounded really solid, and their songs are really good.  I guess they wanted to wear black suits for the show, but only the trumpet player actually owned a black suit.  The rest of them wore…they did not look good. Our set was really good.  No problems other than a crappy tenor reed.  I'm scared to death of my equipment right now (keyboard and EWI, I should say), but everything worked fine.  That knob thing on my Fantom still comes and goes, and I'm betting that the SKB case has something to do with it.  I'm going to cut some more of the foam away and see if that helps.  My solution (when the keyboard asks me t...

I had two gigs on Thursday. My first gig was a flute/guitar duo with Trey Wright .  We played for the opening of a condo building in Marietta (very convenient that both of us live about fifteen minutes away!), providing mood-setting music for people exiting the elevator.  Sounds romantic!  It was fun--I never get jazz flute gigs, it was cool to play with Trey again, and nobody bothered us.  The crowd got a little loud at some points (don't they know they're ruining my recording!), but we enjoyed ourselves.  Easy gig, easy money. Here's some audio! I ran home, swapped gear and clothing, and headed out to the 10 High for the regular Yacht Rock gig.  A very different playing environment. The first set, I was Sloppy Joe Saxman.  I had lots of little blips where I just couldn't quite get my stuff happening.  I did hit on a really nice idea for my sax solo on Reminiscing , but I had a couple of hiccups in the duo thing right before that. ...

Yacht Rock continued our crazy string of gigs with a wedding Sunday night in Athens.  Friend of the band Ben Allen (producer/engineer/studio guy) hired us to play the reception at his parents' home in Athens, GA.  You (if you were a wedding band) couldn't have asked for an easier reception.  We backed the trailer up to the back of the stage;  loaded in;  soundchecked; hung out/drank/eventually ate;  played what we wanted, and ended at 11 PM.  Easy easy easy gig, and some familiar faces that made it feel less like a job and more like a party with our friends.  Yay Ben! It was mostly the usual Yacht Rock stuff--some 70s, some 80s.  We did throw in a few funkier songs for the dancers.  Dig it:   Use Me (Athens) by David B Freeman My alto was really out of tune.  I don't think I like what I played, but the band sounded funky.  And what a great time to play a couple of wrong notes right as I go into the solo. ...

Yacht Rock played an event at Sunset Cove on Lake Lanier yesterday evening.  It was an event sponsored/disorganized by Rock 100.5 and our old buddy Mike Key, who it appears was singlehandedly charged with every part of the event:  running sound, managing the stage, moving gear, MC'ing the event, finding food for the band.  Methinks it was too much. We showed up to the scene…as far as the eye could see, enormous boats, sand, sun, skin.  I was turned on and repulsed at the same time.  It was, as Nick described, a giant frat party.  Goodie!  Some guy had his ski boat right next to the stage blasting music;  distracting not only because of the competing sound (most of the boats on the water had comparable sound systems) but also for the escort he hired to dance for him all afternoon. There was a miniature riverboat moored behind the stage, so we hung out on there (in the air conditioning!) while our gear made its way from the top of the hill ...