Sailing

Another cruise!  Somebody thought this was the twelfth ship on which Yacht Rock has sailed.  I really can't remember.  We've done two Rock Boats, Weezer, Live Loud, VH1, Zac Brown, Train, Jillian Michaels, KISS, Kid Rock, the Grammy Cruise, and this one. 

Friday:  For this cruise (Sail Across the Sun with Train), we flew into Ft. Lauderdale and took a van and trailer down to the Port of Miami.  Lots of people crammed into the van.

Port o' Miami.

My room, just down the hall from the last cruise's room (5584 vs. 5514).

I got a little practicing in every day--about an hour and a half.  Fortunately, there was no cabin on the other side of this wall so I only had one neighbor, and that person never said anything.

Our first show was in the theatre on the first evening.

Nice picture from show, courtesy of a girl named Shelley.

After that, most of the guys moved to another room to serve as the backing band for John Driskell Hopkins (just as they had at the Greg Lee Show at Eddie's Attic).

Tragedy at the frozen yogurt station.

Some love from my valentine.

The first day of this cruise was marked by a silverware crisis.  Perhaps the guy who usually put the forks and knives in the napkin and rolled it up had jumped ship.  Whatever the reason...major crisis!

Saturday:  sea day, so nothing much happened.  I slept a lot.  After the Hopkins show, I went to bed at 11:30 PM and (except for a pee break in the morning) slept til 1:30 PM.  Other than exercise and practicing, not much was accomplished during this day.

I drank a lot of coffee at the outdoor eating area at the back of the ship, sipping and reading my book (currently plowing through Geoff Emerick's Here, There, and Everywhere).

Saturday night was our second set.  It was supposed to be our U2 set, but the guys from Train asked us to play yacht rock instead.  What could we say?

Another good set.  I remember that it was really windy and really loud (and we started at midnight), and I couldn't help but think about how much sound was coming off of the boat in the middle of the ocean.  I guess we were far enough away land (and other boats) that it didn't matter.

Sunday:  Woke up and looked out my window.  Key West!  I would've thought Key West had a cruise ship port, but they said were at a navy base.  No pictures!

Some views off the back of the boat.

I went ashore with Greg Lee and his wife, Hop and his wife, and their friend Jolie.   Once ashore, we met up with Jolie's husband Rizzi, who happened to be playing a gig in Key West this weekend with Mike Veal.

My babysitters.

Hop, Jenn, Mike Veal, Nicole, Greg, Rizzi, and Jolie.  Nick joined up with us a bit later.

Four mojitos and half a cookie in, we went to visit Jimmy Buffett's studio in Key West.  Here we are on the drunken parade.

Fins to the left, fins to the right.

Inside Jimmy Buffett's studio.

Maybe not that exciting.  Really just a main room, a booth, and a control room.

Nice piano.

Nice organ.  Dig the light switch for changing the speed of the Leslie.

Nice wurly.

I was playing piano, and all of the sudden, everybody was GONE!  I'd been locked in the studio by myself.  About 10 minutes later, Greg Lee called, found me, and got me out of there.

I made the news on social media:

At around the same time, a burst of messages from me to Bencuya.  The voice to text thing made it seem worse than it was.

Onward!  I followed Greg and Nicole on a wandering shopping excursion.  Nobody bought these.

Sloppy Joe's!  As close as we got to any Hemingway stuff.

We got back to the boat and I took a two hour nap.  I woke, showered, and made it to the evening's first event:  name that tune with the Yacht Rock Revue.  It was all 90s stuff, as I recall, which meant that I was totally worthless.  Surprisingly, we didn't win.

After that, most of us headed to our dinner reservation at the teppanyaki place.  Always good.

Monkeyboy's snack fingers were in overdrive.

Our chef happened to be very good at origami.

I figured it was probably safest for me to go back to my room.

Monday, I woke up in the Bahamas.  The view from my cabin.

The view from the top of the ship.

I wasn't going to go ashore;  nothing on Great Stirrup Cay (Norwegian Cruise Line's private island) that I haven't seen before, plus I was pretty sunburned from Key West.  However, Atlanta was having horrible weather, so I felt obligated to at least stand on the beach.

My ride on the tender was empty.

I ran into Bencuya and we hung out for a minute (I also drank half of somebody's mudslide).

Monday night at midnight, we played our third show, back in the theatre.  Nothing new to report.  We ended up not doing U2 at all, so the set list for this one was cobbled together from odds and ends.

It started with our version of We Are the World; Nick tried to play the backing track off the internet.  At the end of the first verse, the track died.  He tried to restart it, but the internet on the ship was too slow to accommodate audio.  Failure!  Oops!  Except for a few memory lapses on less often played songs, we did pretty well on the rest of the gig.  I didn't have my flute with me (saving myself one more thing to drag around), so I played piccolo on Lowdown, but other than a look from Nick, nobody flinched.

In the rush to clear the stage (we were the last show on that stage for the cruise), my phone fell out of my jacket pocket.  When I got back to my cabin, I knew I must've left it there.  Fortunately, the crew guys had already picked it up and turned it into the production office.  A band-wide text with this picture went out.  Around the same time, I ran into a crew guy (after I'd crawled around on the empty stage for ten minutes), who told me where my phone had ended up.  I rescued it around five minutes later.

Tuesday.  Back to Ft. Lauderdale.  This airport was rough.  Very few food choices, and (unsurprisingly) about a million old people.  The line of people in wheelchairs waiting to board our plane was longer than I have ever seen (seven chairs), which made boarding the plane a real treat.

Hope to see you around Atlanta this week!

Dave and Dave Duo (with David Ellington) this Thursday at JCT Kitchen, 6-9 PM.

Please Pleaserock Me (Yacht Rock plays the Beatles) at Smith's Olde Bar, 8:30-11 PM.

The Greg and Hop Show

Tuesday night was a fun little gig--Greg Lee and John Hopkins performed their original songs at Eddie's Attic, backed up by most of the Yacht Rock Revue, plus Ben Holst on bass (for Greg's stuff). I played on four of Greg's tunes.  Good stuff on both sides--Greg's stuff is cool, and I liked most of Hop's stuff too.

Easy night for me--there were two Indianapolis Jones songs and a Bencuya song on which I was supposed to play, but all three were cut.  No big deal though, because from the first couple of notes I played, I could tell it was going to be one of those nights were everything I played worked.  Why was that?  I think I could hear the saxophone really well in balance with what was going on onstage;  since I was fighting to hear myself, it was easy to go for it.  I'll be interested to hear any audio or video that comes of it.

To top it off...blazingly fast load out!  I had both horns packed up before the gig ended, so as soon as I could step on stage I grabbed my iPad and boogied on out the door.

Please Pleaserock 37 Main

Sooo...yeah...another Beatles gig!  I guess we just played a bunch of Beatles stuff at the Variety a few weeks back, but so much music has come and gone since then, it feels like it was longer ago--which is to say that nothing felt like "Oh yeah, we just played this."  It was more like "Is this how we played this?"  Hooray for charts.

Two things I took from this gig:

1.  Using an iPad for charts.  Successful.  I could see, the thing didn't crash, the page turn thing was no big deal.  It definitely does what I want.  I wouldn't necessarily use it on this gig since there's a trumpet player reading paper charts right next to me, but the experiment proved to me that it's now an option.

I forgot that the last time we were here, the air conditioner vents directly over us would occasionally kick on and blow our charts everywhere.  The iPad did not move!  (duh).  We had to hold our charts down with wallets and cell phones.  Really annoying.

2.  My horn chart for Oh Darling.  Nick requested that we put a little more soul into McCartney's tune by adding horns in place of the background vocals (and generally just laying into everything a little more).  Also successful.  I really liked the horn parts.  It sounded better on the gig than soundcheck, so I think in another gig or two it'll really sound solid.  This one got an especially good reaction from the crowd, though I think that was mostly due to Nick's outstanding vocal performance.

Octopus' Garden was particularly good tonight.

Kip on sound and Zach on monitors.  Looooooooove having our own guys running sound.

Not much else to say.  This gig has a DJ before and after.  I can't say what the appropriate music proceeding a Beatles show should be, but the mix of 80s pop rock and white suburbanite approved hip hop didn't do it for me.  Cranking that same shit up immediately after the gig made me flee like the building was on fire (and the lighting guy punishing me with strobe lights while I was packing up was also encouraging).  I was gone in record time.

Next Please Pleaserock Me gigs are February 20 (at Smith's Olde Bar) and then April 24 (at Variety Playhouse).  In the mean time, don't forget to come see the Greg Lee Show this coming Tuesday at Eddie's Attic!

Solo Gig

I played a solo gig tonight--an hour of standing just outside of a corporate event, I guess calling out to them across the lobby.  I think I might have been a just a noisy prop outside of a room, standing among a fake brick wall, fake gaslight, and a fake rain barrel.  It's supposed to be New Orleans!

Before I'd even begun some guy asked if I could play Georgia on my Mind on "that thing."  Sure--first tune of the night.  Once I began the gig, I of course played Georgia for several minutes.  When I was finished, I went into Stella by Starlight, and just then the guy came by.  I overheard him say (why does no one ever think I can hear them when they're talking about me on a gig?) "That doesn't sound like Georgia on my Mind."  So, I hinted at it in Stella.

From there on out, I tucked it into every song--just the "Georgia, Georgia"--the first four notes, jammed into In a Sentimental Mood, St. Thomas, When the Saints Go Marching In (it's supposed to be New Orleans!).  He was hanging around outside of the party (in front of me), so I made sure to tease it in case he was listening...but not give him the song.  If he'd just asked me, yes, I would have played it again, but I had fun nonetheless by dangling it out there, in case he noticed.  Probably didn't.  Oh well...something to do for the hour.

Sazerac

Yay for us!  The second gig ever by Sazerac, a Little Feat/Meters/Dr. John New Orleans-y kind of tribute band comprised of most of the Yacht Rock guys (Marks Bencuya, Cobb, and Dannells;  me) and Ganesh Giri Jaya of the Yacht Rock Schooner.  Also on this gig were Benji Shanks on second guitar, and Jordan Shalhoup on tenor sax (of Schooner fame) and Paul Poovey on trumpet filling out the horn section.

I really like doing this gig, especially because I had so much fun doing the horn arrangements.  That was at least as cool as the playing (I played bari sax and clarinet in the section).

I'm definitely going to investigate using an iPad for charts in the future.  Two big things are pushing me in this direction.

1.  I had my basic arrangements written from when the band recorded almost all of these songs.  My hand written charts with the horn voicings and form, but not good enough to pass out to other guys in the section.  At the first Sazerac gig, Jordan and I played off my first computerized drafts of my hand written charts.

Once this gig was announced, I had to divide the voicings up from the computerized drafts and assign them to each horn, plus transpose them, add articulations, and make sure they were readable.  After looking each chart over, I made more alterations.

Following the first rehearsal, there were more edits.  After the second rehearsal, a few more edits to just about get the charts perfect.

Each of these five edits was a reprinting--paper, ink, and if they were multiple pages, tape to hold them together.  Plus the time of printing and organizing.  Twelve songs with three horn parts for each.  If I could just send forth a new PDF, that would be better, quicker, and easier.

2.  Playing on stage at Smith's, we were situated in a back corner of the stage.  It was dark;  the stage was too cramped for three music stands.  Having charts on an iPad would've made the reading situation easier (it probably wouldn't have saved me from stepping a rest on Give it What You Can, though--that was just my inability to concentrate).

All in all, a great night.  Hope we don't wait a year before we do it again!

Video!

JCT Duo

The Dave and Dave Duo rolls on!  Ellington says that since we have two gigs this month (Sun in my Belly and JCT Kitchen) and two next month (same places), we are officially on tour.

JCT is cool, though in the winter we are in the bar, and it gets loud.  The gig is still a fun workout for both us, though, and the burger and fries are still delicious (I had made my food decision 24 hours in advance).

The new tune for this gig was Stanley Turrentine's Let it Roll.  It sounds kind of like Sugar (also by Stanley), but without the melodic curlicues.  I dig it.

Check us out!



We're at JCT Kitchen again February 19 (6-9 PM, and I'll have the burger, medium), and Sun in my Belly February 27 (7-9 PM).

In between now and then, I'll be playing at Smith's Olde Bar tomorrow night, guiding the horn section for Sazerac's second performance.  We play at 10 PM.  We load in at 4 PM, in case you want to carry my bari sax up the stairs for me.

Friday, February 6, I'll be playing at 37 Main Johns Creek, leading the horns through some Beatles stuff with Please Pleaserock Me (the Yacht Rock guys playing the Beatles).

Tuesday, February 10, I'll be playing at Eddie's Attic, supplying saxophone, clarinet, flute, and very little keyboard to the Greg Lee Show.

At the end of that week, February 13, Yacht Rock will be sailing the highs seas on the Sail Across the Sun cruise.  Ahoy.

Team Hidi

Yacht Rock played one of our favorite gigs of the year--the Team Hidi benefit, hosted by The Giving Kitchen.  It's a charity event put on by multiple local restaurants--everybody has a table and they let you taste their best stuff.  Good food everywhere you look.  It's a little hipster-y, but tolerable.

This year the event was in the Georgia Freight Depot downtown.  Nice looking converted warehouse with an easy load in and out.  I wonder why I haven't done more gigs here--I bet the last time I played here was in the 90s.

No Nick, but we had Ganesh (from the Yacht Rock Schooner) subbing for him--he did a fabulous job.

Mark Cobb, fresh off the plane from Los Angeles and NAMM (the big trade show for the National Association of Music Merchants), played some fiercely good shit.

No Yacht Rock stuff happening this week, but the Dave and Dave Duo (with David Ellington) will be at JCT Kitchen and Bar this Thursday, 6-9 PM.  Here's one from last week's gig at Sun in my Belly.



Saturday, Sazerac (a New Orleans-y based band comprised mostly of Yacht Rock guys) is playing at Smith's Olde Bar Saturday night.  You should come check it out.  There'll be a horn section.  I wrote charts.  We're gonna kick ass.

First Duo of the Year

The Dave and Dave Duo (my sax/organ duo with David Ellington) had its first gig of the year at Sun in my Belly last night.  It's been a while since I've played in an improvisational situation--probably since the previous duo gig!--and since my practice time has been dominated by cranking out charts, I was worried about some rust.  No problems, though.  I felt totally comfortable.  Check it out!

What a Week!

Last week was difficult, to say the least, with multiple rehearsals, lots of homework, a big show at Variety Playhouse.  All the while I managed sleep deprivation and a weird cold.

The big monkey wrench of the week was an hour's worth of Beatles songs on which I would be required to play the melody.  Like most of western civilization, I am a casual Beatles fan, so I thought it best to write out lead sheets of the songs.  It was determined that twenty-four was a safe number of songs to prepare.  At about twenty minutes per lead sheet, that's eight hours of homework.  Sounds manageable, right?  I should mention that I am a master procrastinator.

Monday:  With the conclusion of our northeastern tour, Yacht Rock flew home from Baltimore.  I went home, did some housework, and played the Bumpin' the Mango gig.  I did one lead sheet when I got home.

Tuesday:  Dark Side of the Moon and new Beatles tunes (She Came in Through the Bathroom Window, The End, Something, Here Comes the Sun, and Rain).  I had prepared all of this stuff before we left town the previous week, so this rehearsal was no big deal.  Our gear arrived home from the northeast, so I had to deal with getting it all home and put away.

The afternoon I edited my charts and did some more housework.  That night I wrote a few more lead sheets.

Wednesday:  My cold was at its worst on this day, so I tried to sleep as late as possible.  I wasted time during the day, taught in the evening, and did a couple of lead sheets.

Thursday:  Another rehearsal Dark Side/Beatles rehearsal.  This was the night I stayed up all night cranking out the bulk of the lead sheets.  Hello 5 AM.

Friday:  Gig day!  This was our annual Dark Side of the Moon show, on this occasion paired with a big set of Beatles.  Rob Opitz joined us on trumpet, nailing all of his parts, particularly the Penny Lane solo.

Sound check...

Greg Lee making the two of us martinis during yet another guitar solo.

Right around 900 people in the room on this night!

Rob Opitz playing the Penny Lane solo!

Super fun gig!

I've seen a couple of videos pop up on YouTube:

Dark Side of the Moon stuff:







Beatles stuff:



Saturday:  back to reality.  I got up and wrote the last three lead sheets, bringing my total to twenty-four.  Yay.

Yacht Rock played a mega wedding, with added cocktail music (by Nick, Pete, and Greg).  The remaining four of us we slotted to play our Beatles stuff.  The timing of the evening got a little off, and we played almost thirty minutes.  I think we made it through six or seven songs.  I could've slept a lot more this week...oh well...

Other than that, it was a pretty easy wedding...EXCEPT FOR THE MULTIPLE EQUIPMENT MALFUNCTIONS!  Holy cow.  I'd left two batteries AA batteries charging in my charger at home.  Two batteries died in my tenor sax microphone transmitter.  I swapped that out with my remaining two good batteries.  Then the EWI lost its wireless connection at the beginning of Peg.   That was weird.  Then the EWI began to lose battery power.  I bummed four AA batteries off Zach (our sound engineer for the evening).  Finally, I made it through the solo on Africa, only to have my laptop crash within five seconds of its end.  Fortunately I got it back in time to play the outro (when I next needed it).  Madness.  All of my batteries are undergoing extensive recharging this week (except for Zach's batteries in the EWI).

Sunday:  Sleep!  I also put away my gear and played my church gig.  Nothing to report from that.

This week is really slow;  my only gig is with David Ellington (the Dave and Dave Duo!) at Sun in my Belly in Decatur on Friday between 7 and 9 PM.

Videos from our night there in December:

Bumpin'

Yacht Rock flew home from Baltimore Monday morning, and I got home around 1:30 PM.  That left me a few hours to reset and get ready for another gig!  I was given the opportunity to sub on bari sax with Bumpin' the Mango (a Tower of Power style horn band) at Cafe 290.

Fun!  I love the music, and I love the chance to connect with other horn players.  The Yacht Rock gig keeps me kind of isolated from playing and hanging out with local guys.  In particular, this gig was great because I stood next to John Sandfort (playing tenor on the gig).  His playing is really wonderful--I love it!  At one point, we traded back and forth--kind of a saxophone battle.  I got killed.  Not my best playing!  John had great ideas;  I had musical diarrhea.  

Oh well...great hang!  I hope to have more things like this come up!  So cool!