Ketchup

I've been too lazy/asleep to catch up on my blog.

Thursday, several of us from Yacht Rock met up at Turner Field to check out some possibly quicker ways to get live music happening after the game.  The proposed solution was that we would jump on the dugout roof and go in four minutes or less.  It was Mark Cobb on electronic drum pad, Nick on acoustic guitar, Pete on bongos, and me on saxophone (everybody else was unavailable).  I'm not sure if we proved it was possible or not--that configuration is not exactly our usual set up.

Anyway, I hope that they go back to the plan of pulling a preset stage out from the tunnel, plugging it in, and turning us loose.  Much better for us.  I think the compromise there would be monitors on the stage, but we would plug into the stadium PA--the other times that we've done the on field concert, they've had the main speakers out there with us, too.  Sounds good to me.

Nick asked what I wanted to sound check, so I suggested Young Americans.  Unfortunately, he played as much as he could remember before I could get my horn out.  So close!  Damnit!  I played all my David Sanborn stuff anyway.

Hanging out at the stadium is cool.  Actually, it was pretty cold and windy--I had no jacket and my horn was super flat.  It didn't sound that great coming out of the stadium PA.  Oops.

Saturday, we played a birthday party in Gainesville, GA at the Chattahoochee Country Club, scene of several Platinum band gigs.  I know it was a suburban country club, but the place was excited to see us, the load in was easy, and the party people were all dressed up and ready to go.  Not too bad!  We had Kevin Spencer subbing for Nick, who was performing a solo show at Eddie's Attic.  Since we had Kevin up front, we were able to vary the set list a little bit, so we hit on a few tunes the normal seven of us have avoided.  It was kinda sax heavy.  One was Takin' it to the Streets.

The very weird trend of wanting to take a picture with my mustache continues.  It started on the boat--"Can I get a picture with your mustache?"  The rest of me is a bonus.  I guess it's better that a Gorbachev birthmark.  Tonight, I took a picture with a guy to prove to his buddy that mine (not his buddy's) was the best mustache he'd ever seen.

The toughest part of this gig was the very end--the show finished at midnight, and by the time we loaded out, drove back to Atlanta, unloaded, and went our separate ways, it was super late.  Not a great night for day light savings time!  I got home and put all my gear away and finally crawled into bed at (new time) 5 AM.  Ouch.

Sunday began two hours later at 7 AM.  Ouch.  I played my morning church gig, and I really didn't feel bad while I was there--I was pretty coherent and not very grumpy.  I got home and went back to bed.  Late in the afternoon, I got up, showered, and went and played my other church gig.  Nothing to report there.

Yacht Rock is on the road this week, with stops in New Jersey, Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington DC.  Come see us!

March 2, Park Tavern (Atlanta, GA)
March 14, Wonder Bar (Asbury Park, NJ)
March 15, Theatre of the Living Arts (Philadelphia, PA)
March 16, Gramercy Theatre (New York, NY)
March 17, The Hamilton (Washington, DC)
April 19, Summerour (Atlanta, GA)
April 20, Park Tavern (Atlanta, GA)
April 26, (Atlanta, GA)
May 3, Georgia Theatre (Athens, GA)
May 4, (Nashville, TN)
May 24, Radio Radio (Indianapolis, IN)
June 8, (Woodstock, GA)
June 28, Park Tavern (Atlanta, GA)
July 8, Cape May Convention Center (Cape May, NJ)
July 11, Mohegan Sun (Montville, CT)
July 12, (Baltimore, MD)
July 13, (Philadelphia, PA)
July 20 (Atlanta, GA)
August 23, Park Tavern (Atlanta, GA)
September 27, Park Tavern (Atlanta, GA)
October 19 (Atlanta, GA)

Fall Back to Earth!

Yacht Rock was back in action yesterday at the Park Tavern as part of the Shamrock Fest.

It was a long, cold day.  We loaded in at 2, and played 6:30-9:30.  In between, we hid out at the midtown Mellow Mushroom.

Our part of the show was the U2 set and then a set of Yacht Rock.  I'm not even sure if the U2 thing ever even happened.  Due to the run of show, we jumped on stage after the opener (Moontower), lined checked, and went for it.  Unfortunately, we were dealing with a substitute sound guy at Park Tavern, and about 1,000 people in the room with us.  The line check took an eternally long time while he chased a bunch of gremlins (a board that even frustrates the great Kip Conner).

U2 finally started, but I couldn't tell you anything about how we played.  I remember Monkey turning around and saying "THIS IS TERRIBLE!" but I don't know why.  I have no reading on how we did or how the crowd liked it.

After a costume change, we were back for a set of Yacht Rock.  The usual stuff--same set list we've been playing a lot lately.

While we were upstairs applying the polyester, some dipshit knocked my EWI off my rack, breaking the antennae on my wireless MIDI unit, and they just left the thing lying on the stage.  Thanks.  Perhaps you should pay more attention to what you're backing your fat ass into.

We played L.A. Linsday without any sax in the PA--we never got around to line checking the saxophone earlier, and once the tune got going, he couldn't locate it on his end (for the entire song).  Before we began Silly Love Songs, we had to bring the gig to a halt and find the saxophone.

I had the same kind of feeling about the second set as the first--I think we did fine and I think the crowd accepted it, but there wasn't much of a vibe.  We toughed it out until the set was over and then ran like hell (at least I did).

Sunday started early for me.  My AM church gig was OK;  I lucked out of playing on one tune that had handbells and the choir that had major issues with the time.  The other big song we did had little soprano sax interludes--a written part that went so low it ended in bass clef.  Up an octave sounded better.

Luckily for me, we played two services.  Double money!

My PM church gig was a snoozer.  I didn't play much--not much room in the music, and I didn't really feel like playing much anyway.  The piano pickup died, and I spent considerable time brainstorming about a better solution--how about a PZM taped to the inside of the lid?  I'm thinking about it.

Here are a couple of videos from the Rock Boat





Slow week ahead.  In the mean time, I'm on a big Sanborn kick--Bencuya gave me a copy of David Live, from the David Bowie 1974 tour.

Here are a few great 70s Sanborn features.  These make me very happy.

Lucky XIII

Yacht Rock is back in Atlanta tonight after a week spent on the high seas, trolling the Bahamas aboard the Rock Boat XIII.  I dare say we are getting good at this!

Sunday:  I met up (after my AM church gig) with the rest of the band at the airport, and we flew straight to Miami.  By the time we made it to the port, just about everybody else was already on board, so we walked on with no delays.  We'd even timed it so we missed the muster station b.s.  Aha!

I was slated to room with Mark Dannells.  One nice bonus of this cruise was rooms with balconies!  Cool!

Our first show of the trip was in the main theatre.  Very cool!  This is the room where the headliner plays--we've never had a slot on the big stage before.  It was pretty neat.  The sound was good.  I think I played pretty well.

Peter Beckett from Player and Elliot Lurie from Looking Glass were our special guests, so we featured them each on a couple of their songs (Baby Come Back, Brandy, and others).  No problems--we'd rehearsed their "B sides" earlier in the month.  I think they're getting used to us.

Afterwards, I tried to eat all the fruit on the boat.

Monday:  Monkey and I woke up late (our first sleep-off was a tie!).  The rest of the boat was on Great Stirrup Cay, so we wandered the boat.  We hung out on the balcony with Greg Lee and Pete.

A shark appeared.

In the evening, we all got dressed and participated in a meet and greet.  We signed lots of posters, guitars (where in the hell did those come from?), scraps of paper.  I'm not sure why anyone would want my autograph.  It might be pity.

That's about it for that day!  We saw Ponderosa play in the big theatre.  They sounded great.  Didn't understand a single word, though.  Methinks skinny jeans make them sing funny.

I didn't question how it worked out, but we were able to spread out to individual cabins.  Sweet!

Tuesday:  Monkey and I went to Great Stirrup Cay, which is Norwegian Cruise Lines' private island in the Bahamas.  Waaaaaaay nicer than the last time we came through.

Peter Beckett and I peed in the ocean together while listening to Sister Hazel.

Tuesday night, we played our U2 set on the Pool stage.  It went over very well--lots of favorable comparisons to the real thing.  The wind made reading charts impossible.  I shook a lot of tambourine.  Everybody else on stage was awesome.

The new Yacht Rock Revue CD came out Tuesday, containing our originals and a cover of Africa.  Get it!

Wednesday:  faithful readers may recall that we ate at the Japanese steakhouse on the Kiss Kruise II.  We ate there again.  The food was great.  We were somewhat loud and obnoxious.  We caught food in our mouths.

Wednesday night, we participated in the Woodstock recreation.  Each band did one or two songs.  We were given Sly and the Family Stone.  It went OK.  No big disasters.  The form on I Want to Take You Higher is kind of random.

Thursday:  we hosted the flip cup tournament bright and early at 2 PM, dressed in really unfortunate tank tops.  Our outfits inspired us to lose horribly.  Like, we lost because the whole opposing team finished flipping their cups before we could get one.  Ouch.  At least I didn't have to drink any of their shitty beer.

Thursday night was our final set, this time in the atrium.  One of our boat friends stole a plate of fruit for me.  I ate most of it on stage.  Fantastic!

A Saxman is fueled by fruit. instagr.am/p/WUfqLKrFZh/
— PleaseRock (@pleaserock) March 1, 2013

The band flew through this set.  Peter and Elliot joined us again.  Very good!  The crowd was really enthusiastic.

That was it!  Home on Friday!

Thanks to Sixthman for inviting us and hosting this really cool week.  Special thanks to the crews at each stage we played--great sound and professionalism.  I was a rock star all week!  I wish we had a crew like that to take care of us at every gig.  Amazing!

We're at Park Tavern tomorrow (Saturday), playing U2 and Yacht Rock.  Come see us!

Upcoming dates:

March 2, Park Tavern (Atlanta, GA)
March 14, Wonder Bar (Asbury Park, NJ)
March 15, Theatre of the Living Arts (Philadelphia, PA)
March 16, Gramercy Theatre (New York, NY)
March 17, The Hamilton (Washington, DC)
April 19, Summerour (Atlanta, GA)
April 20, Park Tavern (Atlanta, GA)
April 26, (Atlanta, GA)
May 3, Georgia Theatre (Athens, GA)
May 4, (Nashville, TN)
May 24, Radio Radio (Indianapolis, IN)
June 8, (Woodstock, GA)
June 28, Park Tavern (Atlanta, GA)
July 8, Cape May Convention Center (Cape May, NJ)
July 11, Mohegan Sun (Montville, CT)
July 12, (Baltimore, MD)
July 13, (Philadelphia, PA)
July 20 (Atlanta, GA)
August 23, Park Tavern (Atlanta, GA)
September 27, Park Tavern (Atlanta, GA)
October 19 (Atlanta, GA)

More Musical Olympics

What a crazy weekend!

Yacht Rock played a private gig at the Children's Museum Saturday night.  Easy stuff…we've played this same event once or twice before.  Before that, though, I played a quick House Live gig one block away at the Aquarium.

The House Live gig was 5:30-7.  Piece of cake!  They bussed in a thousand or so people to eat in the Atrium and tour the exhibits.  We were amazingly loud.  The SPL app on my phone maxed out.  It was brutal.  My left ear is ruined.

Wayne and Nico on percussion.  Two cajons, two shakers, four congas.

At 7, I ran out the door and down the street to the Children's Museum, changed clothes, and walked on stage (I preset my gear earlier in the afternoon) and started playing at 7:25.  Whew!

This gig was also fun and easy.  Nick and Mark Cobb were out, so Greg moved from bass to lead vocal.  Rob Henson subbed on bass and Ganesh Giri Jaya subbed on drums.  I was trying to explain to the sound guy who was subbing.  He's running sound for us next weekend at the Park Tavern, and I tried to explain that it'll be the same band except for the subs, except for part of the night Greg will play guitar and Pete will play bass.  Then his head exploded.

Here's my solo on Lowdown.

On the way out I sat in some sort of hellacious traffic jam at midnight.

I'm doing my church gig in the morning, and then we are headed to Miami for the Rock Boat XIII.  I'll be needing a nap at that point.

When in Rome...

Yacht Rock played a gig at the Brewhouse Music and Grill in Rome, GA last night.  Easy gig, and a good review of a couple of things we are playing on the Rock Boat next week.

The Brewhouse has good sound and an easy load in.  I think we had a hundred and fifty people there, but they were really into it--somebody drove in from Alabama just to hear sound check!

Here's my solo from Good Thing last night.



Our CD (with this song on it) is officially on sale next week!

In other news, Battle Cases has added me to their artists page.  I use their big saxophone case (BCS 200) when we travel.  Expensive, but well worth it.  Mine is in a truck on the way to Miami right now!

Trio in Piedmont Park

Kevin Smith, Kenny Banks Jr, and I played a nice little trio gig last night at Magnolia Hall in Piedmont Park.  It's a really beautiful venue, and now that the parking deck has been constructed nearby, it's a really sweet spot for an event.

Crazy easy gig.  The people were brought in (via two buses) for dinner;  they were a half hour late, and left fifty minutes early.  Our three hour gig lasted an hour and forty minutes.  Yes!

Here's the audio.  I didn't play nearly as poorly as I thought I had.