Hal and Space Capone

Last night the Yacht Rock Revue kicked off a summer concert series at the Park Tavern.  My laptop felt like this would be a great time to freak out and not work.  I spent an hour and forty-five minutes opening and shutting it, turning it on and off, and popping the battery out and holding down the power button, and praying to Steve Jobs.  Eventually I gave up and started lining up sounds with the thought that I would MIDI into my top keyboard (Korg Triton).  I even borrowed Nick's laptop (with a newer version of Logic) to try and see if I could work with that.

No luck.  I'd given up on it, and as I was packing it up and bitching to another musician, I turned my laptop on one more time and it worked perfectly.  I set it up with the EWI and played the gig with no problems.

Space Capone (from Nashville) opened up for us with a great set of 70s inspired funk.  Great stuff.
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The Return of ?Mark

The one and only Mark Cobb came back to the 10 High last night.  He's been on hiatus with the birth of his son.  His playing was inspired.  I love what he brings to the gig.

Greg Lee was out due to the birth of his daughter this week, so Greg Partridge filled in on bass and did a terrific job.  His playing was super smooth--it was like he'd been playing with us for a while.  Ganesh Giri Jaya came by and contributed Greg Lee's vocals.  It never ceases to amaze me how Nick, Pete, Greg (and Ganesh when he's there) are able to reassign harmonies at soundcheck and then remember them at the gig.  Very impessive!

No problems last night.  I fiddled with my alto mouthpiece earlier in the week--it turns out the table was not flat!  That's why the thing would feel different as the reed dried out.  The altissimo, for instance, would be great at the beginning of the gig, but later on it would be really tricky.  I thought I was moving back on the mouthpiece, but I think when I would put a little more in my mouth I was probably helping the reed seal against the table.  Aha!  Anyway, I used a sheet of glass and some sandpaper to try and flatten the table and I think the results are very good.  It's much more consistent.  I sent my backup mouthpiece to Mojobari to have it refaced, and I may send this one next just to have it tweaked.

The band played well last night.  It was a pretty safe night musically, since we didn't want to put any pressure on Partridge while he was helping us out.  Mark Cobb stopped mid-song at the beginning of the second set and had some idiot thrown out.  He was mad because he was not chosen for the "Most Yachtily Dressed" contest so he was booing us.  For a second I thought Cobb was going to go Axl Rose on him.

Greg Lee is back tonight--we're putting the band back together!
davidfreemanmusic.net

The GOP bores us at 8 Traxx

Tuesday night Yacht Rock played a private party for the Georgia Young Republicans at 8 Traxx Disco (formerly Andrews Upstairs).  It was the most boring party we've ever played.  I have no idea how many people were expected to show, but my guess would be that there were maybe 150 people there.  It was brutal.  Too bad, too, because we were actually playing well (until we got bored).  Mark Cobb played with us again (he is officially back) and he was on fire for that first set.  It was everything I've been missing.

The massive embarrassment of the night goes to me for forgetting to play the sax part on Careless Whisper.  I think it was in the third set and I just spaced out...I was mentally plotting out what I needed to play on keyboard and got caught not paying attention.  From the laughter onstage, Nick must have given me some kind of big lead in, but I never heard a word of it.  Good thing there was no one there to witness it.  All night I'd been checking off songs that I'd screwed up the last time we were here--I was doing so well, but my brain just picked a fine time to leave me (Lucille).

This is no surprise to us, but everything was just the way we left it ten days earlier...my fog juice soaked setlist was still on the stage (see the picture), the mostly empty bottle of vodka and a few of Mark Dannells' guitar picks.  Hell, the bottle of Crown Royal that we opened at the Please PleaseRock Me show March 31 and brought to Andrews--I mean 8 Traxx--was still there (and Dannells took it home!).  I hope that the roaches will help me load out the next time we play there.

A few pictures from soundcheck:

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Quartet

Last night I played a quartet gig with Tyrone Jackson, Kevin Smith, and Marlon Patton.  It took me well into the second set before I finally got comfortable--I'm not really sure why.  I warmed up before I left home, but I just had a really difficult time getting my head and hands in sync.  I think that at least part of it was that I was (once again) overblowing, and I got handcuffed by trying to play full-bore from the first note, which left me nowhere to go.  Once we got into the second set, I felt like things calmed down for me and I played a little better (though my reed at that point was indicating its intent to die on me!).  The first set was rough...lots of dumb mistakes.  I tried to read charts that I didn't really need to look at (Song for Bilbao, Turnaround), and I guessed wrong on the endings of a couple (Naima, Punjab).  By the time we stopped for a break, I was beat from my reading miscues, but I'd made so many mistakes I kept looking to the lead sheets for help!

Here are the mp3s...


This gig featured really good banana pudding.  Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of it, but here's some other visual highlights:  is it soup or a dirty pot?, ten golden sliders, part of the dessert layout, and a few pictures of chairs!

davidfreemanmusic.net

Workplace Psychology

Saturday night I was fortunate to pick up a jazz gig for a corporate reception downtown--1,200 industrial-organizational psychologists.  I was informed that they were workplace psychologists--"we study why people are or are not happy in their jobs"--which I thought was kind of funny considering how difficult they'd been at my job!  Let's just say the event was not well run, and for a two hour event there was a good four hours worth of bullshit.

The band tonight was Tyrone Jackson on keyboard and Kevin Smith on bass.  We also had an old man play clarinet with us (who was pretty dang good!), and the former president of the organization sang and played piano (not so good).
We played mostly my tunes, plus a couple of Pat Metheny songs, a Joey Calderazzo thing, and an Ellis Marsalis favorite.  We had a great time playing!

Here are the mp3s:

Leigh was our handler for this event.  She made sure I didn't strangle anyone.
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Schooner Invasion!

The Yacht Rock Revue was boarded by the Yacht Rock Schooner last night and held hostage in on own ship.  Ok, maybe it wasn't that bad...Nick, Cobb, and Dannells were out last night, so Kevin Spencer, Ganesh Giri Jaya, and Shannon Pengelly filled in.  It wasn't really that different--Cobb's been out for a while, and I've played the last few Schooner gigs with Kevin and Shannon.

The 10 High changed the start time to 10 PM, which made for happier patrons (who still rolled in around 10:15 PM).  I think it was better for our collective psyche, too, to have some people in the room while we were playing.

We ended up with a pretty solid crowd;  it was pretty much as packed as last week, which is to say it was fairly stuffed, particularly around the bar.  They were definitely rambunctious and fine looking people (women)!

No gear troubles to report, though I think that I should probably move up to some harder alto reeds.  The reeds I am using right now are fine, but when I lean on them (say on Baker Street, or something else where I am really pushing a ton of air into the horn), the reeds are kind of giving out on me.  It's tough to say whether it's because they are overall too soft or just old and getting mushy.  I think I'm going to go up on strength and see how they work.

One funny thing:  Ganesh made the setlist, and he recycled an old Schooner setlist, so ALL the songs with sax and flute were in the first set--it was pretty much one right after another.  The second set was NO saxophone--I should have put my horns away on the break so I could get home a little quicker!  Oops!

I'll be happy to have all the usual guys back next week.  We are back to full strength!
davidfreemanmusic.net

House Live lives at Ventanas

Tonight I did a House Live gig at Ventanas (again!).  Nothing new to report...we ate at Baja Fresh across the street, the weather was nice, the views were great, the gig was easy...how about some pictures?

This is what Reggie looked like when I left.  Note the agony in his face.

Here's Wayne and Jeff at Baja Fresh eating chips.  We ate three baskets of chips while we waited thirty minutes for our burritos.

My burrito.

My bowl of salsa.

The chips.

The cup.

Wayne eats.

Jeff eats.

At one point during the gig, a helicopter came in for a landing on the roof.  They might have been giving rides.  I went up there on the break hoping to score a ride, but there was no helicopter.

Weird picture, ain't it?

The Baja Fresh guys were up there providing food...we could have eaten for free!  They were set up right next to us.

The view while I awaited my helicopter ride.

If there'd been a helicopter parked here, I would've been in it.  Maybe next time?
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