Yacht Rock got up early/stayed up late to play on the CBS Better Mornings Atlanta show yesterday. We loaded in at 3 AM, set up, and played a couple of times between 5 and 7 AM. I stayed up.
I think we played better this time than last time. It felt a little more comfortable. I was also too tired to care. Our person at the station said they had to remove the videos of us performing because of copyright issues, but they let us do the weather TWICE! Here's the only one I could find today:
CBS was cool enough to let us stay after the morning show and hold our rehearsal there, so rather than tear down, more to our rehearsal space, set up again, and play for an hour, we just blew through the things we need for this weekend and we were done.
I was so tired I nearly fell asleep while driving home. I got home and ran to bed.
Here I am, parked at my computer at 1:22 AM Monday morning…my alarm is set to "wake me up" at 2 AM so I can drink some coffee and head to CBS to play with Yacht Rock this morning--promoting our big Revival this weekend. If you're up, we're playing some time between 5 and 6 AM, and then again between 6 and 7 AM.
Church gig number one today was pretty easy. I showed up about five minutes earlier than usual and there was no one there! Kind of freaked me out. I wondered if maybe I wasn't supposed to be there.
The gig was waaaaaaaaay easier than the previous week. Almost every chart was a one-pager. Ahhh. No big deal.
I played my back up tenor. It's not the same! It's funny how the notes seem more locked in on this horn--the way a trumpet player would describe the notes as "slotting well." On my horn, everything seems like "this note, this note, this note." I'll probably get used to it and it feel normal in a few days.
Church gig number two was ok. I didn't have a really good mix going, and I made a recording from the back of the church that verified this. I need to be more aggressive about chopping the low end out to minimize the effects of the big stone box in which we are playing. That and a little bump in the high end, and I think things might be a bit clearer.
In between those two, I had to run to the Pleaserock office for an interview. It seems that some movie person saw a Yacht Rock show and now has an interest in making a movie about us--someone mentioned it as a modern version of Spinal Tap.
relax-it's just a prop
None of us was prepared for what we might be asked, and it was hard to tell whether we were supposed to be more like our YR personas (me=asshole), or us in real life (me=?). My half hour started with all the B.S. and sarcasm I could muster, but somewhere along the way I ended up talking normally--I guess you could say I let my guard down. It didn't occur to me until tonight, but it was just like when I was going to see a psychologist regularly. I ended up telling the truth way more than I wanted to.
I have sweated profusely on more gigs this summer than any other summer of my career. It seems like all the gigs are un-air conditioned/outside (to which I pose the question: why are we EVER playing outside in the summer?) or the venue is always hot and stinky (10 High), or the load in difficult and in direct sunlight in the middle of the afternoon. Every week has another hot and sweaty gig. Hydrate or die.
Thursday night…about what you've probably come to expect if you read this blog with any regularity. The first set was pretty decent/solid. The crowd was extremely ambivalent about what we were doing. I played pretty well, except my tenor stuff. Since last week, I've been thinking that my playing was going to hell--everything in the left hand seemed to choke when I would really push it. I thought that maybe I was doing something with my tongue position that was changing the airstream, or my reeds were going soft, or something…anyway, I felt like I was fighting my horn.
The second set was a drunken mess. We've become a one set band at the 10 High. Once we return from break, it's a grind.
Friday night was our (Yacht Rock) monthly show at the Park Tavern. The Main Street Exiles opened for us. I got the call to play with them (Bencuya jumped in on keyboards). It was a pretty good show--much better than the last time we ran into them at Smith's Olde Bar. Unfortunately for me, I later heard that just about everything I played (everything except the solo on Brown Sugar) was inaudible in the PA. Boo.
The Yacht Rock part of the show was pretty good. Much better than the previous evening, but not quite the energy of the previous Park Tavern show. All in all, I think it went well, though. I really have no idea if anything I played was ever audible in the room--the way that PA works, it feels like all the sax stuff is played into a pillow, and I would assume I get the usual treatment with the keyboards and EWI (slightly louder than the bongos mic in the mix). It feels like there's no sound out there.
I did get off a really good solo on Biggest Part of Me…wonder if I'll get to play it with Ambrosia next week?
It dawned on me as my horn was choking on another sax solo that I probably have an upper stack leak in my tenor, and that was what was messing everything up. I tried really hard to aim my notes (like the altissimo A that begins Whatever Gets You Through the Night) and it was still difficult. Duh. Time to track down Lopes.
For the record, I once again was offered (and declined) blow. That, along with the heat, seems to be a trend for the summer. What is it, three or four times now?
Saturday: did nothing. Slept. Tried my backup tenor and it worked much better! Back in business.
This coming week has a few things: the usual pair of church gigs, an appearance on the local CBS morning show to promote The Greatest Yacht Rock Revival in the Universe, and the show itself next Saturday in Buckhead. Check it out!
Thursday:Yacht Rock Revue at the 10 High. It was an ok night; I can't remember anything specifically about the way we played at this point. I mean, the set lists came out a few hours before the gig, so I didn't even do any preparation. We played Lonely Boy. I remember that. Mark Cobb came by and sat in on Biggest Part of Me.
Thursday night was the last night in Atlanta for our merchandising genius,Gina Niespodziani. She's taking her vast talents to New York City. Someone as creative as her will do very well there, I think. Great ideas are always pouring out of her. You can check out some really hip examples of her work on her website and see some of the Yacht Rock stuff she made here. We're gonna miss her.
Friday: I traveled to Macon with the Yacht Rock Schooner for some kind of semi-private gig. We played at the old Armory. Neat building, neat room. Acoustically unattractive. Who am I to complain? My only responsibility for the evening was saxophone (and flute), so it was an easy night. The sound guys even gave me my own monitor (with JUST ME in it). Sweet! That never happens! I had the thing loud, as it should be! The band sounded really good.
Saturday: I had two gigs. The first was a semi-private gig at Sweetwater Brewery, providing entertainment for Revel for Families First. This was a cool gig because it gave me the opportunity to play with Tyrone Jackson and Kevin Smith, two of my favorite people in the galaxy. Awesome gig, as you might imagine. I had a wonderful time! Nick and his wife Elliott stopped by for a set--very cool to see them. I guess Nick hung with it about as long as he could--not a jazz fan.
Before we even got started, we discovered five or six wasp nests in the roof of the bandstand. One of the Sweetwater guys went and bought a can of hornet spray and hosed them down. No wasps (for the most part), but the stage was littered with dead bugs.
Back to the music: Tyrone and Kevin played some really terrific stuff. Tyrone was stunning, and Kevin played better than I think I've ever previously heard him.
Here's the audio:
Once the trio gig ended, I packed up, went home, swapped gear, and headed to the Dixie Tavern, where I met up with the Yacht Rock Schooner. I played their second set with them. Once again, a very relaxed setting for me to hang out and blow some sax and flute. I got off a good solo on Takin' it to the Streets for a change. The band continued their hot streak--sounded good. I did my best (when not playing) to try and steal anything I could from Eric Frampton.
By the time I got home, put away the PA from the trio gig, hung up my clothes, packed for Sunday, and poked around on the internet, it was almost 4 AM.
Sunday: officially began with my alarm clock at 7 AM. Ouch! Maybe three hours of sleep. Not good.
Church gig number one felt like Church: The Musical. The usual leader was on vacation, so we had the organist leading us. He's a little stiff. The usual singers were not there, either, so we had one of the adult small vocal groups providing lyrics. Thus, the three main charts in the book were each about sixteen pages (single sided photocopies, just to make the page turning more frantic). Not much music can be made when you're turning pages every four measures!
I came home and prepared for a Monday morning Yacht Rock rehearsal. Three songs. No big deal. After a quick shower, I was off to church gig number two. It went fairly well. The pianist made more mistakes than usual. Weird stuff--like one hand would change chords, but the other would not, or one hand would play a wrong note, and the other hand would walk across the keyboard to go talk about it.
I had a tired flute face and a crummy soprano reed, but another pretty good mix happening-maybe that made up for my lack of musical prowess.
I made home and ate something before I fell asleep on the couch. I woke up at 8:40 AM! Just in time to drink a cup of coffee and head out the door to rehearsal.
I did a House Live gig at the Georgia Aquarium last night. It's been a while…Wayne dubbed it our reunion tour!
As usual, it was a super easy gig. We played in the Atrium overlooking…the atrium. I don't know how else to say that. Party Nation was in the ballroom (great to see my old friends in there: Steve Cunningham, Maurice White, and Allen Cook).
The entire aquarium was open to the crowd. It seemed like there were only about four hundred people there altogether, so we probably only played for a hundred and fifty people. Very sparse. Check out these pictures, taken DURING the gig! Nobody out there!
They delayed our start by a half hour, so we wandered around for an hour an a half before doors opened.
When we left, the gate was up, so free parking to top it off! Yay for that!
I (along with Louis Heriveaux and Kevin Smith) played a trio gig last night in the CNN atrium. Some kind of corporate reception background music thing. No sweat. Actually, I did sweat quite a bit trying to get the PA and my stuff into the atrium. I couldn't find the phantom CNN loading dock entrance and had to do some evasive driving in 5:30 downtown traffic. No fun. Eventually, I just gave up and turned my truck in at the valet at the CNN/Omni. From there, eight steps led to lots of elevator rides to nowhere. Needless to say, by the time I finally got to the atrium, I was not happy (and I still had to set everything up).
The gig itself was a really tedious. The time between the three of us seemed (to me) to be all over the place. Listening back, it doesn't seem as bad as it felt. I was not happy--it felt like there was no groove and no energy. It got better mid-gig, but then evaporated again at the end. I was glad when the gig finally ended. It felt too much like work. I'm not sure if we were ever really playing together. It was more like we were playing next to each other.
Anyway…here's the audio if you want to give it a listen.
In other news, here are two clips from the Yacht Rock gig in Nashville last Friday.
Thursday, Yacht Rock played the 10 High. Nick was sick so Kevin Spencer filled in for him; Ganesh on drums. Not too bad of a night! We had a good crowd (we made good money). I played well. Reports from Pete (playing my keyboard on Silly Love Songs) were thus: "Your sax sounds like shit!" And thus, my time with the amazing TC Voicelive 2 has come to an end. It looked cool, it could do lots of stuff, it was well made…but it didn't work well for me on stage. The crappier Digitech pedal is not nearly as hip, but it works. I spent most of the second set not thinking about what was happening on stage--I was focused on why I couldn't get what I wanted out of the TC pedal. Boo. I can't play gigs worried about my equipment (well, not necesarily true--I already do that; I just want to keep it to a bare minimum). TC out. Purple pedal in.
the passion
pre-gig restaurant
Friday, Yacht Rock traveled up to the Mercy Lounge in Nashville. SOLD OUT!! Woo! How cool is that! It appears that we're finally getting over the hump up there and people are really locked into what we're doing. Very cool. 500+ attendees. Evidently, the owner was working the door and just kept selling tickets past what the fire codes would allow. Record numbers at the bar. We were heroes for the night!
with Walter Egan
Walter Egan (of Magnet and Steel fame) sat in with us for two songs: Only the Lucky and Magnet and Steel. He hung out with us backstage for about an hour before the show. Very laid back. Really cool. He insinuated that he had slept with Stevie Nicks. Evidently that's who Magnet and Steel is about. Interesting.
After the glory had subsided, we loaded up the trailer and drove about an hour out of Nashville to spend the night in Cookeville. A couple of hours later, we drove to Asheville, North Carolina to play a wedding.
legs
Claxton Farm, Asheville NC
Maybe the coolest wedding we've ever played. It was in an event space in a pasture. Neat people. Really tall women. Awesome '57 Chevy. I sent my Dad pictures (it was his dream car). He never responded.
pre-gig boredom
I think the highlight of the night was Cobb's decision to steer Escape (Pina Colada Song) into Wipeout. Perfect segue.
The groom and a friend played Mustang Sally--I think the first official Yacht Rock attempt at it in the history of the band (I'm not counting the time we backed up Nick's Dad at Nick's wedding). They were good!
For the second time in a week a stranger at a gig asked me for blow--this time, it was some guy who cornered me at a urinal and insisted that someone in the band must have some.
a rally of some sort
We packed up, raced to the hotel, and went to bed as quickly as possible.
The next morning, Nick took us to breakfast at some amazing restaurant, then we headed for home.
I took some pictures of Mark Dannells.
brunch
neighborhood garden
Bencuya dreaming about a well behaved Fantom
Sunday night I played my church gig. I'm definitely getting better at mixing--I had it sounding good! I played well, too, which was fun personally. My flute face was really happening.
I had a crazy trio gig yesterday…how crazy can it get when you're in a hotel ballroom playing music while people eat and ignore you?
First, I had to stop and pick up speakers and speaker stands right as a monsoon was passing through town.
As I was pulling away, I got voicemail from Tyrone saying he was in big trouble! A Clayton County sheriff had been shot and killed near his house, and the police had locked down his entire neighborhood while they searched for the suspect. Holy cow! He couldn't leave home.
Kevin and Cid (our handler) called everyone they could think of (I was off playing solo saxophone in the prefunction), and we finally got Tony Winston on the phone. He came screaming downtown--missed three songs and he was in. Nice! He totally saved the day. The clients were cool about it.
