The Great Northeast

2015 is off to a great start!  Yacht Rock did a short, successful run in the Northeast, with gigs in Boston, Long Island, New York City, and Washington, DC.  A terrific way to begin the new year.

Thursday:  We flew to Boston (the seven of us plus our sound engineer Kip) to meet the van, trailer, and gear (driven up by Hans).  The day began like this:

Get on the plane!

I haven't seen pay phones in a long time.  Boston's airport has the remaining supply.

This hat, direct from Russia, kept Pete's head warm.

Our first show was at The Sinclair in Cambridge.  Nice venue!  It holds 525 people, so not a huge room, but pretty nice size, with good food and a good crew (they helped us load in and out--I'm a big fan).

Mark Cobb demonstrates his new, mightier wind chimes.  So powerful that they require two hands (and two sticks).

First gig of the run was a terrific success!  It was only our second time in Boston, but we had 520 people in the room!  How about that!

We were all a little worried about how the cold would effect our instruments--the gear had been freezing in the trailer for several days;  in setting up, my hands got so cold that at one point I had to take a break!

The only casualty of the cold was the batteries in my tenor wireless transmitter--mid solo, they conked out.  Dammit!

Yay Boston!  It's really exciting that we're catching on this quickly.

Videos from the show:













Friday:  Up for the drive to Huntington, New York (on Long Island).  Along the way, we made a pit stop for gas.  Monkey savored a doughnut.

Snow!  The Northeast was still crazy cold, and when we left the hotel it was snowing.  Later on in the day, the snow ceased, but all the salt and grime on the road plastered the windshield.  Unfortunately, the washer fluid line froze up.  Kip and Hans went at it with a screwdriver and hot water to clear it.

Monkey played in the snow.

Kip's choice of footwear was unusual considering the conditions.

Pete tried to warm up at Wendy's with their fake fireplace.

Thursday's gig was at The Paramount in Huntington.  Easily one of the single greatest venues we've ever played!  They really treat the artists well (beginning with a crew to load in your gear!).  Big stage, big room, terrific green room.

This marker was on the stage near Greg Lee's bass position.  Pretty damn cool.

This place is super cool.  They even had a large spread and fed the band and the crew--and it was good!

Somebody decided that instead of advertising us as The Yacht Rock Revue, it would be better to say "Live 70's Rock Tonight."  Whatever...315 people came to see us--our first time in The Paramount!  Wow!  That's a fantastic number for our first time!  I can't wait to make this part of our circuit in the northeast.

Videos from the show:






After the show, the owner took us on a tour.  The downstairs is a speakeasy, with several secret rooms behind revolving bookcases and hidden behind walls.  My favorite was the Shawshank Redemption room, complete with the posters, the rock hammers, the bucket of beer, an electric chair...

...and the actual prop from the movie--the box that Morgan Freeman digs up under the tree.  Cool.  Dude said he paid $20,000 for it.

Also in the speakeasy was a pump organ.  Bencuya gave it a shot.  It's said that Billy Joel is a member, and sometimes will sit down and play this sucker.

One of the worst things about this time of year is that my hands dry out and crack open.  Both thumbs split open, and then my index finger, ring finger, and pinkie followed.  No hand cream would save me.  My keyboard playing was uncomfortable.

Saturday:  New York City!  Colder than ever.  We took a cab to the East Village.

I spent most of the day wandering around.  These were in some random music store.

From there I rode the subway up to Columbus Circle to visit the New York Flute Center with the hope of trying (and possibly buying) an alto flute.  The Center is kind of small--like, living room small, with two people running it.  They had one room for checking out flutes (which of course was already in use), so I had to check out a flute in front of other people, which totally weirded me out.  To make matters worse, someone else came in to try flutes, and they told her she would have to hang out (and listen to me fart around on alto flutes) until I was finished.  I got intimidated and left.  Maybe some other time!  Alto flutes are cool, though.  I want one.  It'll be my next gear purchase.

Down Broadway to what used to be Music Row...I went in Roberto's Woodwinds, which is mainly just a saxophone shop.  Once again, I got too intimidated to try anything (and I'm not looking for any sax gear anyway).

I went in several random places (like CVS and Home Depot) because the wind made walking down the street painful.  On top of that, my phone shut down (it had 40% battery left).  Hmmm...how do I get back to the Gramercy?  I tried to buy a cheap charger somewhere, thinking I could sit in a Starbucks and revive my phone, but the only chargers I came across were $40-50.  Finally, I went into an AT&T store.  While pretending to compare my phone to the new iPhone 6, I unplugged their phone and plugged in mine.  Then I did an internet search on the 6 and got the address for the Theater.  In about a minute, my phone came back to life.  Back to 40%!  Success.

Once my phone had been restored, I went in search of food and a restroom.  A Thai place had both.

This show sold out Friday morning.  We found out Saturday morning that it in fact had not sold out and they were still selling tickets (though online ticket sales were no longer available).  I think by the time we played, we'd officially sold it out.

Having Kip run sound for us made a huge difference on this entire tour, but especially here.  By far, the best sound we've ever had in the Gramercy.  That dude is worth every penny.  It made the playing a joy!

Great show!  We always rise to the occasion for New York City, and this was no exception.   So good, in fact, that we played not one but two encores.

Sunday:  We hopped on the New Jersey Turnpike and headed south.  Hans shopped for new shades at a service plaza.

The ride from New York to Washington was really boring.

The Hamilton is great!  Another beautiful venue with great sound, great staff, and a great crowd.

Another terrific show.  Awesome.

A new twist this time around--they venue uses their video cameras to project onto the back wall.  During Hotel California's guitar solo, for instance, I watched Monkeyboy's solo on the wall behind Cobb.  Later on, he used this angle (the camera is across the stage shooting down towards the drums).  Very cool.

The Hamilton has their own liquor?

Monday:  Hans dropped us off at Baltimore's airport.  He drove our gear and Pete's hat home;  we flew.  I love gigging like this!  I flew with a backpack.  My suitcase and everything went in the trailer.

Wet in Atlanta.  Good to be home.

Wedding Gig

Yacht Rock started off the new year of gigs with a wedding.  Pretty easy and a good crowd, though we did gripe quite a bit about playing Peter Cetera's Glory of Love for the first dance.

Matt Lipkins subbed for Nick up front.

Here's something you don't see every day:  they had a painter in the back of the room, and the whole time we were playing, he was back there working on a picture of the reception (and, it turns out, the ceremony).  Pretty cool!  Never seen that before.

We're off to the Northeast this week!

January 8:  The Sinclair (Cambridge, MA) 
January 9:  The Paramount (Huntington, NY) 
January 10:  Gramercy Theatre (New York, NY) 
January 11:  The Hamilton (Washington, DC)

NYE 2014

So...Yacht Rock closed out 2014 with a New Year's Eve show at the Park Tavern--on top of the ice rink!  We did this once before, I believe two years ago.  Just like last time, we loaded in and I thought, "Hmm...not too cold in here!"  Within an hour, I was frozen.  Fortunately, by the the time the gig had begun, the place had heated up nicely, and playing wasn't a problem.

The Yacht Rock Schooner opened for us.  They were outstanding, as always.  Having all those guys stand around a watch us made me a lot more conscious of my mistakes.  Ganesh pulled double duty, singing with the Schooner and then playing drums with us.  Excellent on both counts.

Our set was fun.  Maybe a little rust since we hadn't played in a couple of weeks, but we made the best of it.  The crowd seemed to be really into it...maybe it was the alcohol.  They were also really loud--the loudest Park Tavern gig I can remember, to the point where it was hard to hear myself, and if I turned up, hard to hear anybody else.

"Baton Bob" made an appearance in the area between the audience and the stage, prancing back and forth for most of the set.

When it came time to lead Auld Lang Sine, my mind was completely blank.  All I could hear was Hava Nagila--probably because the band was vamping using the same kind of groove (we went straight into You Make My Dreams after that).  After a few long seconds, it came back to me.

As we came off stage at the end of our set, a woman from the audience tapped me on the shoulder and said "That was the worst show EVER!"  I still haven't decided if that was supposed to be a joke or not.  At the time, I said, "Well...I'm sorry," and turned back around, and we went up for the encore.  After the show, I was made sure to get out of the offstage area and go change immediately so as to not encounter her again.  Happy new year!

Lots of good stuff happening in January!

January 8:  The Sinclair (Cambridge, MA) with Yacht Rock Revue
January 9:  The Paramount (Huntington, NY) with YRR
January 10:  Gramercy Theatre (New York, NY) with YRR
January 11:  The Hamilton (Washington, DC) with YRR
January 16:  Variety Playhouse (Atlanta, GA) with YRR
January 23:  Sun in my Belly (Decatur, GA) with David Ellington
January 25:  The Giving Kitchen (Atlanta, GA) with YRR
January 29:  JCT Kitchen and Bar (Atlanta, GA) with David Ellington
January 30:  Georgia Theatre (Athens, GA) with YRR
January 31:  Smith's Olde Bar (Atlanta, GA) with Sazerac

Bump City

I got a call yesterday around lunch about subbing that night in Bumpin' the Mango, Atlanta's best Tower of Power style horn band.  Heck yeah!  I've played with them a couple of times earlier in the year, but this was my first opportunity to play the tenor sax book (previously I'd only played bari sax).    After hearing John Sandfort and Umcolisi Terrell nail the tenor parts, I was pretty intimidated, but who can pass up the chance to be Lenny Pickett for the night?

I think I played pretty well;  I missed a repeat sign/third ending somewhere and I stepped in a rest on Soul in a Capital S, but no other prominent errors.  My solos were ok--I couldn't think of anything particularly nifty to play.

Also subbing on this night were Eric Frampton on keyboards, Rob Opitz on trumpet, Mike DeSousa on trombone, and Dan Baraszu on guitar.

What was really fun was the saxophone hang afterwards with bari saxophonist Gary Paulo, another Indiana U. music school alum.  Gary's a super badass, very casually nailing the bari parts in Bumpin' the Mango.  In addition, he plays guitar in AJ Ghent's band, and teaches classical saxophone at Emory.  Interesting to compare our experiences at and after school.  I feel more average than ever.

Funny how a gig like this will pull your ear in a certain direction.  Last week's Beatles stuff got me interested in playing clarinet a little more often, and Bumpin' the Mango has led to a major Tower of Power binge today.

Indy and the Beatles at Smith's

Please Pleaserock Me (Yacht Rock plays the Beatles) had a show at Smith's Olde Bar last night.  Indianapolis Jones opened for us.

I didn't play that well.  In both of my features, I ended up overblowing resulting in a squeak in When I'm Sixty-Four and a couple of choked notes in Jealous Guy.  Never found my groove on this gig.

Great Boobs

Yacht Rock played a holiday party on Friday at a venue downtown that was not meant to have bands when it was long ago constructed.  Thus, we were in too small of a room on too small of a stage.  I was three feet from both Peter and Monkey, obscuring my view.

The highlight of this particular party was a spectacular pair of breasts in a plunging-neck dress.  They were the subject of conversation on both set breaks.  Merry Christmas to us.  Thank you.

Terminal

Yacht Rock played a holiday party at Terminal West last night.  I'd never been there before--it's a pretty room, and the on stage sound was decent, and the crowd was pretty into it--fun show!

Jimmy Midtown came by and drank all the vodka in the dressing room.

Finally, a good crowd at a Christmas gig!  It was packed with expensive people.  Lots to look at.

At the end of the night, they raffled off a new Porsche.  These people were so rich that nobody claimed the prize on the first raffle number, so they went to another ticket...and then another...and finally somebody won.  Unbelievable!  A couple of people just lost out on a free brand new Porsche because they either didn't stay or didn't look at their tickets.  Dude!

PPRM at MNB

Yay Beatles gig!  Please Pleaserock Me (Yacht Rock plays the Beatles) played a holiday party Tuesday night.  Once again, the crowd was not very into it.  At least this one was one ninety minute set (finished at 8 PM!), so it didn't drag on all night.  Good rehearsal for this Saturday's show at Smith's Olde Bar.

Rob Opitz played trumpet with us for the evening and did an excellent job.  Total pro.

Zach and Kip on sound.

Fun night nonetheless.  The food (BBQ) was also pretty good, and I walked out the door with a box of pulled pork, pulled chicken, and half a dozen buns.