Tonight we tried a new tune of mine (twice).
Here's the audio:
Here's a few photos of the very hip backdrop:
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday Quartet
Tonight we tried a new tune of mine (twice).
Here's the audio:
Here's a few photos of the very hip backdrop:
Saturday, June 26, 2010
The Loft
The gig was for Have a Heart Foundation. While we were setting up, a few speakers told their stories to the audience. It was pretty incredible stuff. While I was plugging stuff in, a woman told of how her son died in the hospital and gave away his organs (and he helped something like thirty people because of it). The next lady got up and said that she was walking around with THAT GUY'S HEART! Wow. Amazing!
The sound on stage was not very good. I don't know if it was because of all the concrete or the fact that the stage was hollow or just bad mixing, but there was this low-mids ring that roared through every song. Once we got up to volume, it was difficult to hear very well because it was so prominent (at least to me) on stage. My other thought is that sound guys these days are so used to hearing two guitars, bass, and a thrashing drummer that they don't quite know what to do with a band like us.
Ganesh got tripped up again on the beginning of 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, and Kevin Spencer took a wrong turn (vocally) on Ride Like the Wind. We spoke on the break about how the mind really starts to mess with you on stuff like that. It's the same thing for me in the breakdown of Lonely Boy--because I messed it up a week ago on the Schooner gig, now the voice in my head REALLY goes crazy as we approach that section and I can't shut it up. I start analyzing what I'm playing, and suddenly I'm paralyzed and can't remember what I'm doing. I wonder how many times I have to play it correctly (on a gig--practicing it doesn't fix it) before I can get past that. It's a hurdle that must be cleared. Same thing with Sailing--we really need to play that song about a dozen times so that I can erase the fear of the intro. Playing it on my own a million times (which I have done since the Variety Playhouse disaster) will not cure me.
davidfreemanmusic.net
Friday, June 25, 2010
Thursday
Last night was extra exciting for me--it was my big debut playing Lonely Boy with the A band. Up til now I've only played it (twice) with the B band at Wild Wing Cafes way outside of the perimeter. Since Nick was not there (Kevin Spencer subbing), we were able to add it to the set list. It went really well, if I do say so myself! The spot in the breakdown where'd I'd messed up last weekend came and went without a hitch (as we approached that part of the song, I was suddenly very aware of how much I was sweating!). No problems, though. I was pumped. It was fun.
On saxophone, I had one of those "do no wrong" kind of nights. My solo on Biggest Part of Me was definitely one of the five best attempts I'd ever had at that song. Everything I played sounded right and logical, and I had no technical hang ups. I felt like I could have gone on another five minutes and still played meaningful stuff. It was very cool.
It's worth mentioning that Mark Dannells played some really terrific stuff in his solos on How Long. Later on in the evening he had a "so bad it's almost good" note in Ride Like the Wind. You've got to go for it!
Kevin dared me to do something to destroy Baker Street, so the last time through the sax part, I played my part a half step higher than the band. I assure you, it sounded unbelievably bad. Don't try it. It'll make your toes curl. We loved it.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Monday
Once again, I played very well with these guys backing me up. I could hear really well, and I just went for it on every song. It was really fun. The band sounded really good. Shannon Pengelly in particular played some really rippin' stuff, especially on the second solo on Peg. Yeah, man!
After my set, I stayed because they had free Sam Adams. I drank at least a six pack. I was very entertaining.
davidfreemanmusic.net
Monday, June 21, 2010
Saturday and Sunday
I found this clip of us playing Careless Whisper at the Reagan Rock prom .
Saturday night I played with the Yacht Rock Schooner (our b band), covering the second keyboard part as well as the sax/flute duties. Also subbing in were Mark Bencuya and Greg Lee. I asked Greg if it was difficult to sing without playing bass at the same time--I remember Sting saying that some songs are very difficult to perform if he is used to playing at the same time. He said no--it was difficult to sing songs he's never sung before!
Since it was the Schooner, we got to play Lonely Boy, which as you might know is one of my personal favorites. It's a fun song to play, and I like the fact that I get to be an essential part of the band on that one. The usual mode of operations is for Bencuya to handle the most essential keyboard part; I am am much better suited to string parts and things of that sort which cannot derail the band when I suffer the inevitable disaster. Lonely Boy is a rare moment when I get to be "the man" and Bencuya's responsibility is in the strings.
So...last night? Three mistakes--nothing horrible. In the first verse, the piano fills in between the chords in the progression with a repeated A. I started thinking about it too much and tripped a little bit. The other two mistakes were a bit uglier--between the guitar solo and the final verse is a break down to just the piano. I was sailing along just fine, and then I started thinking about the chords (up until then I was just playing, and not consciously thinking). Once my brain (and its annoying little voice) started in--right in the spot where I REALLY wanted to be perfect, I was toast. It was kind of like the GPS on my phone, which is messed up and tells me to turn right as I pass through an intersection. "You are currently playing an A minor triad, though the chord here is really F# half diminished." This little monologue caused me to play and E Major triad and then a cluster of some sort, instead of B sus to B. My apologies. Just like my Sailing episode, I can play it just fine twenty-nine out of thirty times. You caught me at number thirty.
That was a little disappointing, but nothing that crushed my soul.
I got into some pretty good sax solos last night--I wonder why it is that the Schooner inspires me to better stuff? My guess would be two things: #1, we are on a small stage and nowhere for me to move, so I focus more on playing and less on showmanship; #2, we are on a small stage and I can hear my monitor well, so I tend to not overblow.
One thing I've noticed in the past (and again last night) is that the drummer tends to end songs in the middle of my phrases. I think in eight measure phrases, and I assume that everybody can hear the "sentence structure" of what I'm doing. On more than one solo last night, things were brought to a halt on the third measure of a phrase--it feels like I'm stopping in the middle of a word! Very strange. I don't know if he cannot hear me or maybe is listening to something else, but ending in the weird spots like that is very uncomfortable.
Tonight's church gig was a medley of frustrations. When we were setting up, the hand drummer informed me that he turned himself way up because a member of the congregation said he was inaudible. I'll check it out, I said. Once the mass began, I was making my adjustments (one of which was cranking him up even more because I could hardly get any sound from his microphone). When I walked past the band to go hear how things sounded in the middle of the cathedral, I noticed he was playing his drum with two fingers. No wonder he cannot be heard! The solution is not to turn him up, but for him to play a little harder. I was flabbergasted. He usually wears headphones--he's hearing the main outputs from the board--so how can he be unaware of whether or not he can be heard? I have his microphone so hot it was picking up more of the piano than him. If you want to be heard, you've got to give me something to work with!
There were multiple vocals solos last night that came without warning. Is it really that difficult to turn around and say "I sing a solo on verse two." Can you give me a heads up? Do you want me to bump you up or not?
The evening was too amateurish for me to tolerate.
The clincher came at the end of the mass when the priest gave away gift certificates to two dads--one with the youngest child and one with the oldest. I had the youngest child, and then a man in the front row volunteered that his child was younger--still in the womb! So, of course, being a Catholic church, the father of the unborn (and thus younger than my five year old) won the prize. Ain't that a bitch? That guy should be ashamed of himself--as my wife pointed out, the only thing that guy's done at this point is impregnate his wife, and there's a big difference between that and fatherhood. Afterwards, the priest said to me "you almost got it!" I should have kicked him in the nuts--he doesn't need those to be a "father."
davidfreemanmusic.net
Saturday night I played with the Yacht Rock Schooner (our b band), covering the second keyboard part as well as the sax/flute duties. Also subbing in were Mark Bencuya and Greg Lee. I asked Greg if it was difficult to sing without playing bass at the same time--I remember Sting saying that some songs are very difficult to perform if he is used to playing at the same time. He said no--it was difficult to sing songs he's never sung before!
Since it was the Schooner, we got to play Lonely Boy, which as you might know is one of my personal favorites. It's a fun song to play, and I like the fact that I get to be an essential part of the band on that one. The usual mode of operations is for Bencuya to handle the most essential keyboard part; I am am much better suited to string parts and things of that sort which cannot derail the band when I suffer the inevitable disaster. Lonely Boy is a rare moment when I get to be "the man" and Bencuya's responsibility is in the strings.
So...last night? Three mistakes--nothing horrible. In the first verse, the piano fills in between the chords in the progression with a repeated A. I started thinking about it too much and tripped a little bit. The other two mistakes were a bit uglier--between the guitar solo and the final verse is a break down to just the piano. I was sailing along just fine, and then I started thinking about the chords (up until then I was just playing, and not consciously thinking). Once my brain (and its annoying little voice) started in--right in the spot where I REALLY wanted to be perfect, I was toast. It was kind of like the GPS on my phone, which is messed up and tells me to turn right as I pass through an intersection. "You are currently playing an A minor triad, though the chord here is really F# half diminished." This little monologue caused me to play and E Major triad and then a cluster of some sort, instead of B sus to B. My apologies. Just like my Sailing episode, I can play it just fine twenty-nine out of thirty times. You caught me at number thirty.
That was a little disappointing, but nothing that crushed my soul.
I got into some pretty good sax solos last night--I wonder why it is that the Schooner inspires me to better stuff? My guess would be two things: #1, we are on a small stage and nowhere for me to move, so I focus more on playing and less on showmanship; #2, we are on a small stage and I can hear my monitor well, so I tend to not overblow.
One thing I've noticed in the past (and again last night) is that the drummer tends to end songs in the middle of my phrases. I think in eight measure phrases, and I assume that everybody can hear the "sentence structure" of what I'm doing. On more than one solo last night, things were brought to a halt on the third measure of a phrase--it feels like I'm stopping in the middle of a word! Very strange. I don't know if he cannot hear me or maybe is listening to something else, but ending in the weird spots like that is very uncomfortable.
Tonight's church gig was a medley of frustrations. When we were setting up, the hand drummer informed me that he turned himself way up because a member of the congregation said he was inaudible. I'll check it out, I said. Once the mass began, I was making my adjustments (one of which was cranking him up even more because I could hardly get any sound from his microphone). When I walked past the band to go hear how things sounded in the middle of the cathedral, I noticed he was playing his drum with two fingers. No wonder he cannot be heard! The solution is not to turn him up, but for him to play a little harder. I was flabbergasted. He usually wears headphones--he's hearing the main outputs from the board--so how can he be unaware of whether or not he can be heard? I have his microphone so hot it was picking up more of the piano than him. If you want to be heard, you've got to give me something to work with!
There were multiple vocals solos last night that came without warning. Is it really that difficult to turn around and say "I sing a solo on verse two." Can you give me a heads up? Do you want me to bump you up or not?
The evening was too amateurish for me to tolerate.
The clincher came at the end of the mass when the priest gave away gift certificates to two dads--one with the youngest child and one with the oldest. I had the youngest child, and then a man in the front row volunteered that his child was younger--still in the womb! So, of course, being a Catholic church, the father of the unborn (and thus younger than my five year old) won the prize. Ain't that a bitch? That guy should be ashamed of himself--as my wife pointed out, the only thing that guy's done at this point is impregnate his wife, and there's a big difference between that and fatherhood. Afterwards, the priest said to me "you almost got it!" I should have kicked him in the nuts--he doesn't need those to be a "father."
davidfreemanmusic.net
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Yacht Rock plays pool
Yacht Rock played a post-rehearsal dinner party at a place in Buckhead called The Pool Hall. A pretty grungy place it was--no door to the men's room--you just walk around the corner and there's a urinal. Nice! The back room had four pool tables (only three functioning last night). It's the kind of place where trash is dropped on the floor and picked up at the end of the night.
The stage was approximately thirty feet wide, but only about eight feet deep, so we set up shoulder to shoulder. I assume Mark Bencuya played the gig, though I never saw him when we were on stage. Actually, the set up was not bad. I could hear everything ok. I'm not sure how it sounded to someone walking the length of the stage. You probably got a good shot of whomever you were standing near.
We played the same set list that we'd played the previous night. Not much saxophone--I think I played sax on two songs in the first set and one in the second. It was mostly keyboard with some EWI thrown in.
We had to load out down a hallway next to the bar because going in or out of the front door was impossible. That worked great for us--the hallway spit us out right in front of our vehicles. Greg Lee helped me pack up.
While we were waiting for the gig to begin, we hung out at Bencuya's car, listening to the board tape from our gig last Saturday night. Pleasantly surprised were we! Everything sounds good. Nice to know that sound guys took us seriously and gave us their best shot. When we played the Variety Playhouse last December, they acted like we were on our first gig--too much telling us what to do (instead of the other way around). This time, they were much easier to deal with.
After that, we did play pool. Mark Dannells and I were doing well in our first game against Greg Lee and Mark Cobb, but not so hot in the second game. We were unable to finish because of the gig, however, so the Dannells/Freeman combination remains unbeaten!
davidfreemanmusic.net
The stage was approximately thirty feet wide, but only about eight feet deep, so we set up shoulder to shoulder. I assume Mark Bencuya played the gig, though I never saw him when we were on stage. Actually, the set up was not bad. I could hear everything ok. I'm not sure how it sounded to someone walking the length of the stage. You probably got a good shot of whomever you were standing near.
We played the same set list that we'd played the previous night. Not much saxophone--I think I played sax on two songs in the first set and one in the second. It was mostly keyboard with some EWI thrown in.
We had to load out down a hallway next to the bar because going in or out of the front door was impossible. That worked great for us--the hallway spit us out right in front of our vehicles. Greg Lee helped me pack up.
While we were waiting for the gig to begin, we hung out at Bencuya's car, listening to the board tape from our gig last Saturday night. Pleasantly surprised were we! Everything sounds good. Nice to know that sound guys took us seriously and gave us their best shot. When we played the Variety Playhouse last December, they acted like we were on our first gig--too much telling us what to do (instead of the other way around). This time, they were much easier to deal with.
After that, we did play pool. Mark Dannells and I were doing well in our first game against Greg Lee and Mark Cobb, but not so hot in the second game. We were unable to finish because of the gig, however, so the Dannells/Freeman combination remains unbeaten!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Thursday
Last night was the usual 10 High gig for Yacht Rock. All in all, not a bad gig! The crowd wasn't interested in what we were doing, and I think that kind of wore on us after a while.
We went through some of our Reagan Rock stuff again. Still got it!
davidfreemanmusic.net
We went through some of our Reagan Rock stuff again. Still got it!
davidfreemanmusic.net
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