David Freeman Music

Another gigging weekend!  Check out the short version: Friday:  the Yacht Rock Holiday Show #1 at Venkman's.  Not too bad!  I never quite conquer the holiday songs, but I'm getting closer every year.  I only needed a chart for one song, so that's progress. The only other thing of interest was a new tune-- Boogie on Reggae Woman  from Stevie Wonder's Fulfillingess' First Finale .  Is it Yacht Rock?  No, but...I don't know.  I guess it doesn't matter anymore. We also brought back Never Been Any Reason  for an encore, but I don't do anything on that. Saturday:  we played a corporate holiday party at the Delta Flight Museum.  I've been looking forward to this one for a while--I was desperate to check out the 757 that is the centerpiece of the museum.  Super cool.  It's difficult to judge the size of a jet airliner from proximity of the gate.  Walking around underneath (and inside) was really awesome. ...

Yacht Rock played a random, weird gig Wednesday morning.  We were set up in the middle of the room at an exhibit hall to play two songs for some kind of sales conference.  Probably as close as I'll ever come to being on VH1 Storytellers. Pre-show, Bencuya spilled his coffee and ruined everything. So...we walked in, sat down, played Power of Love , played Don't Stop Believin' , and then scrambled all of our gear out under cover of darkness (during a video) in less than three minutes.  All in a day's work.

Yacht Rock played a show in Indianapolis Friday night.  It was unusual in that it wasn't connected to any other midwestern dates--we flew up for the single gig at The Vogue in Broad Ripple, and then got up the next morning and flew home.   Friday:  This trip felt like a series of naps.  I basically napped for a few hours the night before we left;  I slept on the plane;  we set up and played;  we crashed in our hotel rooms for a few hours;  I slept on the plane.  I even fell asleep in between sets at the gig. A small bus picked us up at the Indy airport and drove us to The Vogue.  Almost enough room! One major disadvantage to not having all of our own gear was that we did not use in ear monitors.  Instead, we had monitor wedges for everybody.  It was LOUD.  I'd forgotten how much more difficult it is to hear everybody on stage.  We also played on rented equipment, which for the most part, was pretty go...

The Pleaserock Horns (Rob Opitz, Richard Sherrington, and me) took another shot at Miles Davis' Kind of Blue  at Venkman's.  Pretty good playing all around.  The rhythm section for this one was David Ellington on piano, Billy Thornton on bass, and Marlon Patton on drums. Chances are, you weren't at the gig.  You can listen here:

Yacht Rock played our annual Thanksgiving Eve show at Venkman's this year.  In past years, we've done it at the Egyptian Ballroom at the Fox.  Much easier load in Venkman's, and better food.  This gig sold out (approximately 400 people). New tunes:   Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard  (Paul Simon) and Come and Get Your Love  (Redbone).  I like both of these!  This was a good set list--a handful of new ones and another handful of ones that we haven't played in a while. Two piccolo solos ( Me and Julio  and Call Me Al ) in one gig.  Whaaaa?

Yacht Rock made a quick trip to Austin, TX this past weekend for two shows, one private and one public.  I like Austin a lot, and I think we'll try and make it a regular stop on our schedule (if we can find the right room). Friday:  insanely early flight.  Our carpool to the airport left midtown at 6:50 AM.  Ugh.  Worse still, I failed to sleep at all on the flight.  Maybe I'm dying--I always sleep on the plane.  I watched a movie instead. First stop:  our hotel rooms, where Mark Cobb and I discovered that we had those sleep-number beds you always see on TV (but never in person).  100 is hard, 0 is soft.  Cobb's didn't work at first, and mine would change radically...and then we realized that he had the remote for my bed, and I had his. Lunch stop in Austin: I don't remember how you say "shrimp kebab" in Spanish, but that's what this was.  Very good.  This is the kind of Mexican/Turkish delight that The Great ...