Saturday

Yacht Rock played two shows at Venkman's Saturday night.  The first show was "unplugged," the room was emptied and filled with new humans, and then the second show commenced.  

First show:  the unplugged set was in the style of the MTV Unplugged series from the 90s, i.e. acoustic guitar heavy, drums and synthesizers light.  Difficult, I would say because so much of the keyboard stuff has synths and electric pianos.  We took our own approach, so I avoided using my top keyboard and the EWI.  Bencuya used his Wurlitzer electric piano instead of his usual stuff.  Mark Cobb was mostly down front on bongos and hand percussion.  

It was definitely something different!  With our overall volume being softer and the crowd being seated, the vibe was much more intimate.  It was pretty cool.  The only one that really concerned me was the solo on Africa, which I always play on EWI.  For this show, I played it on flute, which because of the way I play it, felt like it was down a whole step and up an octave (I have the EWI set up like a Bb saxophone).  It was a very intense moment of DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!  JUST PLAY!  I got through it, but I was not comfortable. 

It was nice to play a few of these tunes that we don't play too often, such as Lotta Love, Thunder Island, and Right Down the Line.

Other than that...I was thinking about what I could do keyboard-wise in the future if we had more unplugged shows.  Bencuya was joking that I could've brought my rhodes, but I don't know that that would be the right move--even on a normal gig, I don't play rhodes on any of these songs.  I moved the string parts to organ, and I played the regular organ parts on several of those songs, so should I come up with an organ?  We couldn't have fit a real Hammond organ on stage, and what would I do about the piano stuff?  Acoustic piano was the other sound that I used on this show.  To get both of those on stage would put me right back on a digital version like a Nord (which is what I was already playing).  I don't know...maybe a Leslie speaker for the organ?  I think I ended up talking myself into sticking with what I already have.  The Leslie would be cool, though. 

photo by Kip Conner

Second show:  Venkman's kicked everybody out after the first show (except for the half dozen people who'd purchased tickets to both shows), and then allowed in the second show people.  This one had sold out a week earlier...which is nice.

The dance show was closer to what we're used to doing, and the two sets were short enough that they went by very quickly.  I can't remember anything particularly exciting about this show other than that.    It was a relief to to play well in both shows.  My performance anxiety is creeping back up these days.

photo by Kip Conner

Big news for Monday:  The Yacht Rock Revival show in Atlanta has officially been announced.  Time to start getting nervous.

Dig the poster:

Callaway

Yacht Rock played an awards ceremony for a golf tournament at Callaway Gardens on Wednesday.  Nothing too exciting about this one, just a long drive (100 miles each way).  It feels like the first hot gig we've had this year, so time to add my clip on fan back into my gear.

I noticed upon setting up my stuff that one of the knobs on my sax effects pedal (a Line 6 M9) was severely bent.  Thank you Southwest Airlines for throwing my stuff around.  I was able to bend it back, though it's now a little loose.  It still works, though.

The Jet Set

More fly dates with Yacht Rock:  three gigs, five airplanes.  We were fortunately able to bring along Kip and Zach to assist in the show.  Ganesh Giri Jaya (Greg's brother) subbed for Nick on Thursday and Friday, and then for Mark Cobb on Saturday.

Thursday:  Atlanta to Jacksonville, FL at a fairly reasonable hour (12:30 PM)!

My "fly date" gear: alto/EWI in one gig bag, tenor in the other (that keeps them approximately the same size), and a backpack with my laptop and all the MIDI boxes and cables for my EWI rig.  I check a Pelican (heavy duty rolling plastic box) with sax stands, sax effects pedal, wireless microphones and receiver, keyboard pedals, and any keyboard cables that I might need.  My second checked bag is a suitcase of clothes.  

One of the other guys carries one sax onto the plane so that we adhere to the airlines' "one carry-on and one personal bag" policy.

So...Jacksonville.  We've played this gig the past couple of years, but this year it was moved from the PGA Tournament site to...somewhere else.  I don't know where we were.  Basically, we were in a shipping container facing an apartment complex somewhere in Jacksonville.

The whole thing was a mess.  Shipping containers don't make for good sound, the rented gear was in bad shape, and the production manager was under qualified.

The production manager's plan was for the opener to soundcheck, then unplug their cables and plug them into our system, have us soundcheck, unplug all of the cables and plug them back into the other system, have the opener play, then unplug all of their cables and plug everything back into our system again.  It made no sense at all.  To top it off, the opener was given the incorrect arrival time, so we showed up and got almost everything set up (and plugged in), and then the production person wanted us to stop, unplug everything, and let the other guys set up.  I thought Kip was going to kill somebody.

After all of that, I think the opening smooth jazz group played all of four songs before turning the container over to us.

Not the best of times for Kip.

And then...we had almost no crowd.  If we ever made it to even a hundred people, I'd be surprised.

One of the weirdest things I've encountered:  the Roland Fantom keyboard that I was provided would wander out of tune!  I can't think of why it would do that, but if I held a note down, the pitch would rise a half step.  At first I thought it was in my head (I mean, how can a digital keyboard that's set to A=440 have a pitch problem?), but it was real.  I had to flat out stop in the middle of a couple of early songs because of it.  I even tried to fight it by transposing the whole keyboard down a half step, but it wouldn't cooperate!  It seemed to mostly settle down by the second set.  I'd check the pitch before every song, and if it was off I'd shuffle over to the another sound and come back to the one I wanted, and then the pitch would come back with it.  It made for a wild night.

Friday:  Jacksonville to Atlanta to Omaha, NE.  7 AM lobby call.

We had a layover in Atlanta, where we had a quick lunch.  Here's a picture of us waiting to board/being stupid.

We flew to Omaha, Nebraska, and then crossed the river into Iowa for our show in Council Bluffs.  This show kicked off the concert season at Stir Cove, the Harrah's Casino's outdoor amphitheater, and was preceded by a ceremony rebranding the the city of Council Bluffs.

Jacksonville on Thursday was almost 90 degrees.  Iowa was in the low 50s with 30 mile an hour winds.  Very very very very very cold for an outdoor show.  Also unlike Jacksonville, the rented gear (except for a bass guitar with a faulty input jack) was really nice.  This was my first time on a Nord Electro 4 with organ drawbars.  No big deal.  The keyboard stands were particularly nice--after all we've been through, I think Bencuya and I will be investigating these.

I was worried that the wind would blow over my saxophones or my EWI setup, so I used a giant keyboard case as a wall to protect them.

Soundcheck was fast.  We ran off the stage because we were so cold.

Pete killed some time between soundcheck and the gig by working out...in his street clothes.  I ate trail mix from a bag.

This place was pretty fantastic.  The stage was and amphitheater were really superb, the staff was helpful, and the green room was nice.

Zach caught a quick nap before the show.  If this picture had sound, you would hear him snoring.

Once again, we unfortunately had a thin crowd.  This one was no doubt the result of the weather--a week later and I'm sure we'd have had enough people to at least make it look decent.  The couple of hundred that we ended up with were very nice to stick with us under less than ideal conditions.

So...we were FREEZING!  Everyone's performance was affected by the cold.  For myself, my hands got cold and stiff pretty quickly, and anything requiring any kind of technique was almost impossible.
We stuck it out for an hour.  It was a tough night.

Saturday:  Omaha to Detroit.

The Omaha airport is small and simple, and kind of what you'd expect.

Zach took this picture

 We landed in the Detroit, where we said goodbye to Mark Cobb (who continued on to Indianapolis for family stuff) and said hello to Nick (who flew in from Indianapolis after playing a gig the night before in Columbus).

Not a lot of activity, especially considering it was Saturday at noon.  We hung out for over an hour while the rental vans were sorted.

This particular gig was a benefit for a children's center in Flint--a typical dinner, auction, dancing kind of thing for us.  Easy gig!  All of the rental gear was cool and Kip and Zach seemed satisfied with the audio stuff.  All of this was set up in a high end car dealership in Grand Blanc, Michigan.

Our dressing room was in the service area of the dealership.

Possible snow?  Really?  I heard that there were flurries during the second set, but by the time we left it had turned to rain.

Ganesh did a particularly good job filling in on drums.  Very solid, and the kit sounded good.

I had a Nord Electro 2 for this gig, the third different bottom keyboard in three gigs.  At least it stayed in tune!

Following the gig, we drove the hour back into Detroit to our hotel.  We hopped out of the van I was in and dragged all of our gear into the lobby, only to discover we'd stopped at the wrong hotel.  Agh!  Repack, drive next door, and unpack again.

Sunday:  Detroit to Atlanta.  We flew Southwest, which was not nearly as bad as I thought it could be.  With the early check in, we had no trouble getting all of our crap on board.

Newport

Yacht Rock played a corporate gig in Newport, RI, Monday night.  Tough trip!  We had an early flight  up and a two flights with a layover on the way back.  

Lots of cool musical things have happened here because of the Newport Jazz Festival.  This gig would not be one of them!

Monday:  Up at 5:30 to meet Nick and Bencuya at 6:40 so we can be at the airport at 7 so we can fly at 9.  Bencuya (my sax mule) and I boarded the plane and found our seats waaaaaaaaaaaay in the back.  Mine was right next to the engine.  Didn't the plane that cartwheeled in Iowa City throw a turbine blade, severing the hydraulic lines?  I had the thought that this one could throw a turbine blade and get me...and then I fell asleep.  My paranoia was conquered by extreme fatigue.

I woke up as we were making our way into Providence.  Sort of like Boston, you fly in from the ocean, and the winds from the bay made for a really bouncy decent.  Not much fun--it definitely felt like a controlled crash.

After an airport lunch, we found our ride (one of those limousine buses), loaded our gear and suitcases, and headed towards Newport.

The view from my room.  I could've gone for a walk out there, but I took a nap.

All set on a small stage in a gorgeous room right on the bay!

So...this gig was almost strictly background--kind of a corporate dinner/reception thing--not a wild party.  Three sets of trying to keep the volume and intensity low.  I think they liked it, though!  Everybody was really cool to us.  Easy, low pressure gig.

My room for the evening:

Tuesday:  we had a 7:45 AM lobby call for our trip back to Atlanta.  The limo took us back to Providence.  The first flight was to Baltimore, where we had a one hour layover.  The second flight took us back to Atlanta. I slept on most of both flights.

 I finally got home at 5:15 PM.  Long day.

Sazerac

Sazerac...an idea launched in the Yacht Rock van of learning and playing a set of New Orleans inspired music, including Little Feat, The Meters, The Band, and Doctor John.  We have gone as far as actually recording an album's worth of music (still unreleased!), and around once a year, we actually do a gig.  2016's occasion was a show at Venkman's, opening for Moontower.

This has been one of my favorite projects--I did the horn arrangements for the recorded stuff, and also wrote arrangements for the live performances.  This year's section included Rob Opitz (trumpet) and Gary Paulo (bari sax), with me on tenor sax and clarinet.  The rest of the band:  Greg Lee (bass/vocals), Mark Dannells (guitar), Benji Shanks (guitar), Mark Bencuya (keyboard/vocals), Ganesh Giri Jaya (percussion/vocals), and Mark Cobb (drums).

The lack of space on stage left the horn section sprinkled in among the other instruments--it was the best we could do, sort of wrapped around the side of the drum set.  From my position at the front of the line I could hear the other two ok, but I think Gary suffered from almost being on the steps off the stage!  That also meant we had no monitor, so who knows what happened!

Anyway, I had a good time and a good night.  Every year, I chip away at getting my arrangements cleaner, and I saw a couple of things that I'll try and clear up for the next one.  Except for a few flubs, I was pretty accurate, and my solos were good (for a change).  See y'all next year!

GLee and Hop

Friday night was a double bill at Venkman's--Greg Lee and the John Driskell Hopkins.  I was part of Greg's set, which was about half second keyboards and half saxophones.  His band was Ben Holst on bass, the three Marks (Cobb, Bencuya, and Dannells), and me.

I enjoyed the challenge of playing some different music.  Even though I'd played with Greg at Eddie's Attic, I'd never covered the keyboard parts, so I spent a pretty good chunk of time during the week trying to get it in my head.   For the most part, I think everything went well.  Somehow we all managed to cram ourselves onto the stage at Venkman's (with two large bands on the same night, it would have been a little easier if we could've been on the expanded stage).  I ended up between a guitar cabinet and the drums, with just enough space to stand up and re-angle my vocal microphone for sax solos.

If you don't have your copy of the Greg Lee EP, you should get it here:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/greglee3

Charlotte's Washout

Yacht Rock headed north to Charlotte, NC Saturday morning for a show at the Oysterfest.  We arrived and loaded in just as the rain began.  It stopped long enough for us to drag gear to the outdoor stage, set up, and soundcheck.  

Unfortunately, the showers returned off and on up til and during the beginning of our first set.

I have no explanation for this.  It didn't work, by the way.

 It seemed like the weather was going to hold off, and by the end of the first set, we had a pretty decent crowd.  The forecast that I looked at said that the rain chance of rain was only about 50% until 9 PM.  Great...rainy load out.

Unfortunately, we didn't make it that far.  On the break, the rain picked back up, and at one point it got pretty heavy.  I hopped back on stage to check on everything (translation: I was tired of talking to people).  Bad news.  The rain had come through the corner where Zach and Kip had set their mixer.  Their electronics were wet and thus they'd been forced to shut everything down, ending the gig.  In the process of collecting microphones, they'd discovered that my gear (in the opposite corner) had also been blasted with rain.  My saxophones, flute, and piccolo were dripping with water.  There was an inch deep puddle in front of my keyboards.  Not good.

It was a very bad state of affairs.  If the pads on each instrument were soaked, they'd all have to be replaced (at around $200-250 per instrument)--a pretty grim feeling as I poured water out of one horn.  I did my best to dry each one inside and out, put them away, and hoped for the best.

My keyboards were relatively dry, and Zach had grabbed my EWI and laptop and moved them first, so they were ok.

That ended my night.

We loaded out in a steady rain, but the trailer was packed up by 10 PM, so we decided to head home instead of spending the night.  Back in Atlanta at 2:30 AM, home around 3:15 AM, all the gear unpacked and spread around my dining room table and floor by 4 AM.

Sunday, I checked out a few of my electronic things (laptop, effects pedal, Nord keyboard), and everything seemed fine.  I checked the piccolo and flute, and they seemed fine.  The tenor had a two leaks in the middle of the horn (A and F), which I doubt had anything to do with the rain.  The alto had a leak at the low C# and that pad had a big stain on it like it'd been saturated with water, so I'm guessing that's the extent of my rain damage.  

Zach's mixer had some more serious issues and will need to return to the manufacturer for repairs.

Purple Rain

The annual Yacht Rock presentation of Prince's Purple Rain is one of my favorite shows that we do.  The music is fun and weird and we do a good job with it.  This year's show exploded with the news that Prince had died; approximately half of the 1,000 tickets sold following his passing.  The Park Tavern (who hosts the show) then released an additional 2,000 tickets, all of which eventually sold out.  That's a lot of people packed under one tent!

Overall, I think we played a great gig.  We did have a technical issue with the click track and out off (used on a couple of the Purple Rain songs) being audible in the PA, but no one outside of the band seemed to recognize it, so maybe it wasn't as big a deal as we thought at the time.  My feeling is that with the 3,000 people talking and singing a cheering (and drinking), no one paid any attention to it, and once the song began, the click probably blended into everything else that was coming through the speakers.

That was the worst of it;  the good moments from the gig far outweigh that.  Highlights included guest vocalist 'Slick' Barnes' joyous performance of Boogie on Reggae Woman, the crowd's reaction to Let's Dance, the mother/daughter duet by Keisha and Courtney Jackson on I Feel for You, and the incredible energy from the crowd during the encore of 1999.

our man Peter Olson laying down some sweet keyboard sounds on The Beautiful Ones

ART!

Mojo Dojo

Wednesday night was another installment of Scott Glazer's Mojo Dojo at Blind Willie's.  Scott's put together music (mostly blues, 60s soul, and some other offbeat stuff) for two horns and rhythm section.  David Ellington has been the keyboardist as of late, joined by Nick Johnson on guitar.  The drummer's chair seems to rotate between several players, and the horns (trumpet and tenor sax) are usually Mace Hibbard and either Melvin Jones or Russell Gunn.  This month, however, Justin Powell and I were the horns, and Jon Chalden on drums.

It's a fun gig and a great hang!  Tyrone Jackson sat in on organ for a few songs in each set and blew us away.  Actually, pretty much everybody blew me away--I lost the onstage battle of volume and chops.  They go hand in hand for me--if I have to begin my solo at 85% intensity because of the onstage volume, it severely narrows my range of musical ideas.  Still, it was fun to be on stage with all of these guys, doing something completely different.  I'd love to have another shot at it!