David Freeman Music

Cool random gig:  Yacht Rock played at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL.  We performed on a stage almost underneath a space shuttle. I was really annoyed that my gear had to sit in the hot sun for several hours (beginning at load in and remaining there basically until the sun went down).  Bad luck on my part. After soundcheck, we were able to tour some of the exhibits.  Here's one about camouflage. And they had some helicopters. Obviously, there were many, many rockets lined up as well, including a Saturn V. Post tour, we had time to watch about half of the movie Space Camp.   Don't remember that one?  Don't worry about it. Eventually, we played our gig--a two set night.  We had Dustin Cottrell (from the Yacht Rock Schooner) subbing for Bencuya.  Pretty easy gig, but nothing particularly noteworthy. On the break, Pete and I talked to a lady who went on and on about how well we captured...

The Yacht Rock Revue was back at the Park Tavern for our monthly show there.  We ended up with a pretty full crowd, with a massive number of walk-ups, topping out around eight hundred people.  Not the sell out we'd had in June, but pretty close! photo swiped from the Park Tavern Facebook page So...we added a new tune-- Kissing My Love --a less well known cut from the Bill Withers songbook.  I'm not sure that it fulfilled the crowd's need to hear songs that are already cemented in their brains, but it was fun to play, and we added a flute solo at the end that was a fun challenge (basically a sixteen bar blues in Eb). The only other notable song for me was the disaster of Islands in the Stream.   The song begins in C and modulates to Ab.  Soon after we made the move to Ab, my brain and my ear engaged in a tug of war, with the former trying like hell to convince the latter that we were really in Db.  Needless to say, I made a supreme mess of ...

David Ellington and I braved the heat of Atlanta to play our outdoor duo gig at JCT Kitchen and Bar last night on the west side.  Actually, it was pretty hazy/overcast, and though the weather threatened, it never materialized.  After 7 PM, it was cool and breezy enough that I was no longer sweating profusely.  Thank god we didn't have to move into the bar. We had some light applause throughout the night and a few people thanked us for playing after the gig, in contrast to the staff, who collectively always does their best to vibe us.  If only jazz was an acceptable form of hipster music! Usually when we go on break, they blast something that doesn't mesh well with what we're playing--the only stuff I recognized was stuff by the Black Keys and the Beastie Boys.  This month, I tried to keep things the same by playing our own break music, but JCT shut us down--the waitress came over to tell me that our break music (Dave Douglas' Be Still ) was bothering "...

The Yacht Rock guys were inducted into a hall of fame (of sorts) at Smith's Olde Bar Sunday night, nailing our names into the bar.  I guess it's some sort of legendary status for Atlanta--it certainly can't be for the single SoB gig we've played (Thanksgiving Eve a few years ago).  Do the Please Pleaserock Me (Beatles) gigs count?  Maybe so.  Anyway, it's still cool.  Mostly it was a nice hang on an off night.

The Yacht Rock Revue played a nice weekend concert at "The AMP" in Carrollton, GA.  Nice venue, and a very nice gig!   Mark Cobb showed up with a beautiful sounding Yamaha snare drum and a funky new spiral trash cymbal.  Way cool. It was a good gig, and I played well for the most part.  Here are a couple of pictures, courtesy of Jim Ramsdell.

Last Friday afternoon, Yacht Rock was invited to perform on FishCenter Live, a live internet call-in show.  The show was kind of like a morning radio show with a four guys talking over videos and graphics on the screen. A lot of this kind of thing: We provided some live music, some of it with vocals and some of it instrumental.  It was weird. Currently, you can view some of our show here:  http://www.adultswim.com/videos/fishcenter/.  The highlight of the show was a game where callers tried to match up our heads with our bodies.  They got Greg's head correct.  5 points! Monkey boy's head on my body my head on Rencuya's body a random face on Monkeyboy's body so...Nick's head on Pete's body, Monkey's head on my body, a complete Cobb, Pete's head on Nick's body, my head on Rencuya's body, a complete Greg, and some guy's head on Monkey's body

We put the band back together for a trip to the Northeast last weekend, with dates in New York, Washington DC, and Connecticut.  It was a great trip and some great gigs! Thursday:  the four of us pictured flew from Atlanta to New York (JFK).  Pete flew in from Indianapolis, Mark Cobb flew in from Nantucket, Nick was already in New York visiting his sister, and Kip and Zach had driven the van and trailer up to meet us.  Ugh!  JFK! We ate at a restaurant in JFK that had iPads at every table for ordering.  You could also surf the web.  It seems like it would be convenient, but it turned out to be pretty annoying (you can't ask questions or make substitutions easily).  Plus...the food was pretty crappy.  Also, the internet kept crashing.  Plus, JFK sucks. Our first gig of the run was in Great Neck, NY.  After the van rescued us from JFK, we drove out to Long Island with time to spare. The original plan was t...