Tales from the Weekend

I'm finally back near my computer long enough to update my blog…

Thursday:  10 High.  It was an ok night all the way around.  The crowd was thin and ambivalent;  not the inspiring throng we seem to need these days to really put on a killer show.  Things were fine, but nothing important springs to mind.

Friday:  Park Tavern.  Sold out show--Christmas in July/80s night!  This was a good show.  It was obviously packed, and that made it fun.  It's kind of crazy how excited people get about seeing us perform at this point.  You'd think that the majority of people who come to our shows have seen us and like us and they enjoy it, but these people get kind of weird about how MUCH they dig it.  People standing at the front of the stage appeared to be on the verge of insanity.

It Christmas, so we did a few Christmas tunes.  That was fine.  I failed (for the however many time in a row) to pick up my saxophone before we started Dick in a Box, which left me desperately looking for a chance through most of the song.  Stoooopid.

I've been trying out Fibracell Premier reeds on alto and tenor--I'm looking for a good synthetic reed for playing this gig, since I'm only playing saxophone a couple of times in each set.  It's never fun to try and play on a reed that looks like a Ruffles potato chip!  The alto reed I've got is pretty good;  I'm going to try and go up one strength to see if I can keep it from choking when I overblow (I could just NOT overblow, too, but that's easier said that done).  The tenor reed I tried didn't work well--it was a little too soft, and all the altissimo went all over the place on it.  I was fighting it by the end of the first set.  I'm also going up on that one.  I usually use Javas, and I think the comparative Fibracells are probably a whole number softer (so  my #3 Java needs a #4 Fibracell).  We'll see.  Part of my suckitude on Biggest Part of Me was the aforementioned crappy tenor reed.  The rest was me.

What else, what else…my effects pedal is still in need of tweaking.  We played Heart of Rock and Roll, and the harmony parts got weird on me.  I think the harmony voices were routed through the slap delay (well, I know they were…I think that might be why it sounded weird).  Gotta fix that.  The thing sounds great by itself so I feel like it's going to work, but the added wrinkle of the stage volume changes things up.

Saturday:  wedding in Davidson, North Carolina.  This was a real snoozer!  Ever play a wedding where it was half old people and half people the age of the bride and groom, and neither is happy with the other's music choices?  It was that kind of thing.  Eventually the old people left and the party got rolling, but it was a tough sell.

I had some suckiness on Steal Away…my new version of the piano part bit me in the butt repeatedly.  My solo on Biggest Part of Me was not good either (and I couldn't blame the reed).  The piano playing was better, though!

Sunday:  we drove home from Davidson.  I drove; the band slept;  Nick iPadded.

Sunday night, I had a flute and guitar duo with Dan Baraszu.  Dan and I played a duo gig at Ventanas.  It was sold as "classical flute and guitar."  I brought my flute and my duet music.  Dan determined that sight reading a bunch of classical stuff would not do it for him, so we kind of "classicalized" jazz tunes.  Nobody could tell the difference.  It was fun!  I've been playing stuff with Dan for about fifteen years.  He still kicks my butt. I should be ready for it by now.

Some audio:



Monday:  rehearsal for this coming weekend.  Yacht Rock has a Beatles show this Friday night at Smith's Olde Bar, so we went over a few new tunes.  My personal favorite is Whatever Gets You Through the Night.  Not a great song, but it does have that great 70s NYC vibe to it--sounds like old Saturday Night Live stuff to me (the video helps reinforce this).



Something makes me think this could be a big one for us.  It just feels so good, and it felt really good when we played it at rehearsal.  I bet if the crowd gets us going, this one could explode.  Mark Cobb can really make it go.  I love this song right now.

We're also working on writing some originals.  I've never done any kind of collective writing thing.  It's very weird.  I take it this is how bands generally write material.  For my stuff, I can hear the song in my head, so I go and find it, write it down, and then turn it over to the band to interpret/fix it.  Having a room full of guys just kind of chew on an idea seems foreign.  Trying stuff and screwing around start to feel like the same thing.  I guess things are progressing, though little is written down or recorded, so I wonder how much we are starting over from week to week.  Everybody else seems pretty satisfied, so I guess I'm doing ok at it.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Church and the 4th of July

So…no gigs this past weekend!  Weird.  I was kind of hoping that I would pick something up, but in the end it was nice to not have to think about running off to a gig for a couple of nights.  Instead, I practiced my stuff that I will need to know this coming week.

I did, however, play both my church gigs.  The first gig was supposed to be rocking with V-Drums by now, but the pastor decided not to spend the money.  "Tell him [the drummer] to play softer."  I guess that works too.

Church gig number two had a bad piano microphone that kept shorting out (and clipping) during the opening hymn.  I swapped the cable, but it still crackled.  I swapped channels, but it still crackled.  I unplugged it and put a handheld microphone directly on the soundboard--no crackles.  Hooray for me.

Yacht Rock showed up at Piedmont Park to play the Peachtree Road Race finish line again this year.  Once again, the people controlling the event did not have it together (it being their shit).  The first person I came up against (blocking the road) could not find my name or Yacht Rock on his list, so I was not allowed through--I had to make a big loop through Virginia Highland.  I doubled back and pulled up to a different guy who didn't even check his list--I said I was in the band and he said "Good luck!"  When I got down to 10th and Monroe (we were supposed to be allowed onto 10th to unload behind the stage), I was rejected by another race volunteer who told me that all band stuff had to go to the Park Tavern parking lot (which means I would have to haul it halfway across the park).  I said I had all this equipment to unload, and she sent me to the Park Tavern (which also gave me the pleasure of trying to make a U turn at 10th and Monroe).  I pulled into the Park Tavern parking lot, loaded my cart, and then we got word that we COULD go to 10th to unload.  Everything back in the truck, drove around to 10th, unloaded, U turn on 10th, back to the Park Tavern parking lot, and walked back across the park to set up.

The gig itself was cool.  It sounded great (just like last year).  We were on a big stage which gave us enough separation so that nobody had to play loud.  It was very comfortable.  Also, hot.  I sat in the sun for much of it.  Boo.

The gig ended, we packed up, and hauled our gear across the park back to our cars (getting cars back onto 10 Street was impossible).  I went home, did some laundry, tried to figure out my effects pedal (my harmonies are getting garbled when the rest of the band bleeds into the mic), ate lunch, and headed to the Aquarium for our next gig of the day.

We got there at 4 PM.  It was super crazy hot--on the top floor of the Aquarium parking garage in a open sided tent.  Who's ever actually been up there?  Now I have.  We set up, and then the rains came, so we put tarps on everything and went and hid in the Aquarium.  Once the rain passed, the sound man determined that it was too risky to power up his gear because it was all soaked.  No PA, no band.  We were dispersed.

It was kind of a weird situation.  The skies actually were clear as we were loading out, and the sound guy had no remorse for killing the gig.  I'm not sure I'd be willing to possibly fry my gear either, but it would have been a little cooler if he'd tried to find some way to make the gig work.  After all, it's our reputation on the line, not his.  I'm sure people who came to see us didn't walk away complaining about the sound man--they complained because we didn't play.

On the other hand, why do people keep trying to do events outside in the middle of the summer in Atlanta?  The U2 set, the gig on the square in Marietta, this gig…all were hit with rain.  If it's not the rain, it's the oppressive heat.  Who wants to be outside in this?

Anyway…I made it home before the next line of thunderstorms came through.  Pete and Nick stayed behind to DJ the Aquarium (with iPods) so there'd be some kind of music.  They ended up using the Aquarium's in house PA (from Active Productions).  Uuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhh…

davidfreemanmusic.net

Thursday Night!

Yacht Rock played the 10 High last night.  How many weeks in a row now?  A whole lot.

I added/adjusted some of my parts this week, so I was looking forward to trying it all out.  First up:  Steal Away.  I had been playing it like this:

but I was talking Dustin Cottrell (one of the keyboardists in the Schooner) about the piano part, and he thought it sounded more like this:

After listening to it about a half dozen times, I started to hear what he was saying--there's so much stuff in the same register (strings, rhodes), I wasn't sure what I was hearing, but I think he's right.  Plus, when I reach up to add the synth on the chorus, I can reach up with my right hand (it's easier for me to play it right handed than left).  Brilliant!  So yay, another part closer to being right.

Another thing I was working on was that sax thing in Reminiscing ("Glenn Miller's band…").  I played it at soundcheck and it sounded the way I wanted it to.  Dannells gave it his seal of approval.  I have my sax turned down on stage, so I didn't hear it within the context of the song, but I bet it sounded pretty good!  My solo was ok.  I did something dumb to the string part, but it didn't clash harmonically (played the second half in place of the first).

Next up was another Dustin-aided adventure:  Biggest Part of Me.  Dustin showed me some of the extra chords that happen on the verse that I've never played.  Pretty cool.  It took me some time to get it happening in the context of the gig--I think because I can't quite think of the name of the chord as it's going by, so I'm thinking more about where my fingers go (and I'm kind of mesmerized by it!  I don't know why).  Cool.  I like having that part in there--gives my part some movement in the back half of the measure.

Old:

New:

Somewhere in the middle of the song, I felt something wet hit my chest/belly, and realized that I was drooling!  I was so focused on adding those extra chords, I had forgotten to close my mouth.  I took a quick glance at the band and a quick glance at the crowd, and it appeared that I got away with it.  Let's see Scott Sheriff do that!

Speaking of Biggest Part of Me…here's the sax stuff (and the piano and synth stuff I was doing, too).  When I played, I didn't feel good about the sax stuff at all, but listening back, it's not too bad (except for that one spot where my fingers got a little tangled up).  I mean, I'm not trying to string together ideas like it's a jazz solo as much as I'm trying to ride the wave of the band--keep the momentum surging.  Ganesh was really making some noise at the end!  Very cool.  I dig that for that part of the song.  I wish I could hear more organ when I'm playing to provide more of a foundation.  The guitar's not doing much to fill it up.

My apologies for the wrong chords backing the organ solo.  Oops.

 Biggest Part of Me by David B Freeman

Next up was Reelin' in the Years.  Here's what that sounded like from my spot.

 Reelin' in the Years by David B Freeman

Second set:

After opening with What a Fool Believes, we played Baby Come Back.  This might be my favorite song to play right now.  There's a lot going on.  I play strings, then acoustic piano on the verses, strings and clav on the choruses, and the synth and clav on the bridge.  I didn't do a good job of tapering the volume on the big synth bend up in the bridge, but other than that, I did well.

The last of my little mini-projects was on Somebody's Baby.  I had been playing this on the verse:

But I was watching a YouTube video of how to play Somebody's Baby (is that legal?), and he did this:

I like that better.  Again, it's just some movement for me within the chord.  I dig that.

The only other thing for the night was trying to add the little synth with delay thing that happens late in Lowdown.  I set the synth at the far left end of my keyboard.  It's tough to reach over with my left hand and play it while playing flute with my left hand (and I have to stay on the microphone).  Gotta figure that out.

After we finished, a DJ took over and segued into rap.  He was playing Regulate at one point and then went into I Keep Forgettin'.  I love that song.  I heard some stuff I'm not playing in the rhodes part.  Something to work on for the next time that song comes around!

All in all, it was a really fun night!  We played well and enjoyed each other.  More like this!

davidfreemanmusic.net

One for Grady

Yacht Rock played at the Grady Rock and Ride Festival on Saturday in downtown Atlanta.  They closed Peachtree (first time EVER!) and set up a stage in between Westin Peachtree Plaza and the Ritz.  It was one of those semi trailers that unfolds into a concert stage.

back of stage

backstage

The weather was good.  Actually, there was a nice breeze coming through that kept everything very comfortable, and we were in the shade because of the stage and the surrounding buildings.  If we've got to play outdoors in the summer in Atlanta, let it be like this!

So…one hour set.  No big deal.  For this one, Dannells and I swapped spots, so instead of me being on the far outside, I was tucked in between him and Mark Cobb.  I thought I was going to hate it (crammed in between an 18 inch crash and a guitar amp), but in the end I think I liked it.  I felt more "in the band" and less like I was "playing alongside the band," and the volume wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

I think I need to work some more on my effects pedal.  For Reminiscing, I had programmed harmonies to mimic the sax section thing that happens ("Glenn Miller's band was better than before"), and I tried it and it sounded pretty good to me, but when we played the song everybody on the front line laughed at me.  Pete said it sounded like I was under water.  Hmm.  Not what I intended.  No feedback, though, so I think the gate's in the right spot.

We finished at 6:30.  Nice!

Sunday's church gig number one was cancelled.  At least, that's what we were told last week.  Then again, the leader said there'd be an email with the cancellations on it, but I never saw one.  Big surprise.  I slept in.

Church gig number two was moved to a different room due to the death of the cathedral's air conditioner.  We played in the parish hall--kind of a fire drill for a set up.  I guess it sounded ok.  I am a mediocre soundman at best, and that room sounds horrible, and I was unfamiliar with the equipment.  Perhaps not my best work.

Light week this week…

davidfreemanmusic.net

Marietta Square

Yacht Rock played a good gig last night on the Square in Marietta.  The weather got a little wild--right after we loaded in, a bad thunderstorm came through and we had everything under tarps.  It cleared off enough for us to play, but eventually the rain returned (with lightning!) and we had to bail on the last half hour.

the wind in his hair

The place was packed!  Very cool, and a decent number of people from my neighborhood showed up.  If the weather had been better, it might have been even better.  We have a gig coming up at the Strand Theatre in November, and I bet that will be packed because of it.

The sound on stage was super loud.  There were a limited number of monitor mixes, and I ended up with more vocals than I would ever want to hear bludgeoning my head.  Adding to the volume were main speakers right up next to us.  Ouch!  The sound out front was good (according to reports from the locals), and all of my stuff was in there.  Cool.

I'm still trying to get my effects pedal dialed in.  I have faith in it, but I can't replicate the conditions of a gig by myself.  I need to tweak it some more so that it works within the context of a gig.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Another 10 High

Yacht Rock played the 10 High last night.  I wasn't in the mood AT ALL.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Better (Excruciatingly Early) Mornings

Yacht Rock played on the local CBS morning show "Better Mornings Atlanta."  We had to be there at 3 AM.  That part was not too hard…I'm used to staying up late.  The fact that I had to stay awake until 7:30 AM or so…not so fun.

We loaded into the TV studio at 3 AM.  Set up, soundchecked, changed.  We played a few bumpers (as the show was going to commercials) and a couple of camera shots.

If you care, you can see the videos here:

5 AM segment

6 AM segment

Web Extra

Most of my stuff is inaudible.  You should be hearing piano on the first segment (on the chorus you can hear a little bit of the synth, so I know the line works).  The second segment is a little better--you can kind of hear me because the guitar and piano parts are kind of sparse.  The Web Extra segment is about like the first (I'm not there)--I love the part where there's the big synth solo and you can't hear anything. And you still can't.  And then Bencuya adds his layer on top and it's really loud.

Screwed by another shitty mix.  Staying up also shot Wednesday to hell.  Yippee.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Quartet Gig!

Wow!  Last night was a cool little trio gig.  Tonight was a terrific quartet gig.  Super fun!  We (Tyrone Jackson, keyboard;  Kevin Smith, bass;  Marlon Patton, drums) were in the bottom of the Hub at the World of Coke.  I guess it was the acoustics of where were positioned, but we were able to play with all the energy that could be brought, and nobody was offended.  I was surprised--we were really pushing, and yet everybody was cool with it.  It made for a wonderful evening.  Wish I had more of these!

The band was very generous in interpreting my tunes and putting up with my strange harmonic sense and bizarre phrasing.  I am EXTREMELY fortunate to get these guys.  Who could ask for anything more!

Check out the audio (I promise it's worth it!):



davidfreemanmusic.net

Trio Gig

I played a really good trio gig with Tyrone Jackson (piano) and Kevin Smith (bass) tonight.  A little one hour reception.  We have a quartet gig tomorrow night (adding Marlon Patton on drums), so this was a good little tune up.

The audio!



P.S. If you'd like to check out my YouTube videos of last week's trio gig, you can find them HERE.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Bar Gigs, Church Gigs

Mila

I played two bar gigs on Saturday.  The first was with Uno Dos Tres Catorce (Yacht Rock playing a set of U2) at Meehan's in Sandy Springs, opening for the REMakes.  We loaded into the tent just in time for the sky to explode.  The band was trapped with just a few six packs of beer to ride out the storm.  We made the best of it…Mark Cobb bought a drum set (60s Slingerlands!  Nice!), and Bencuya told us about all the Yacht Rock live recordings he's been editing.

Because of the rain, we started a half hour late, but we blazed through our set and finished in an hour.  I think things were pretty good.

Check out how the sound man rolled his rack/mixer out front so he could mix accurately.  Impressive!  I've never seen a guy do that.

My second gig was playing saxophone and flute with the Yacht Rock Schooner at Dixie Tavern.  Another pretty good gig, though the crowd wasn't as good as the last time I played there.  Zac Brown never showed up, but Wheat Williams did.  The band sounded good!  That was a fun gig.

soundcheck

dig the polkadots

On to Sunday…

Church gig number one was fairly easy.  The guy who was supposed to get his raise only got half of what he was expecting.  He emailed the leader and got no response.  Big surprise, since he can check his email on his new iPad!

The church is investing a couple of thousand dollars on a V drum kit.  That's good to know.  I was worried they had no money.

Church gig number two was ok.  Nothing to report.

Busy week coming up…

davidfreemanmusic.net

Thursday at the Ol' 10 High

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.  For Heart of Rock and Roll, I have the solo sound, then one harmony set for the little back and forth thing, and then another harmony set where me and another voice move in thirds, and there's a note on top of us that stays the same.  Is that crazy or what?  I also have a thirds thing for Kodachrome and a couple of settings for I Want a New Drug.  Wow.  Cool.

It's XLR in and out, and also does fantom power, so I can use my Shure clip on mic without having to power it separately.  Plus, the noise floor on it is way lower than that cheapo Digitech pedal, and the effects are much better sounding.

Last night was its maiden voyage.  First set, I had some feedback issues because the gate wasn't really doing its job.  Boo.  I managed my way through by keeping my body between my monitor and the mic.  On the break, I jacked up the gate.  Unfortunately, I just guessed, and I guessed poorly!  I had it at -15 db, so it would only open when I was playing full blast;  it kept opening and shutting mid phrase on Silly Love Songs.  Oops.  Fix it next time?

Bjorn Borg on drums!

Anyway, it was a good gig and everybody else played well, but I was not good.  We all had a very good time and the room was moderately crowded, so everybody went home happy!  Yay!

Today I had a pianist come over to take a lesson with me on improvisation…like I know what the hell I'm doing!  I did my best to interpret my own stream of consciousness stuff.  I guess it's kind of good to stop and think about my playing--a lesson for both of us.  Since I don't have any kind of "system," I suggested we get together and play, and he could stop us and ask questions.  Here are a couple of tunes we played.  My time is not too good on either.

 Oleo by David B Freeman

 How Insensitive by David B Freeman

My rhodes sounds good!  It's like my afternoon with Chick Corea!

davidfreemanmusic.net