Yacht Rock played a private gig for software developers in Athens last night. It was 80s themed, so we pulled all of our Reagan Rock stuff out for them.
We were on a super tiny stage. From my spot, my back was against the wall (literally!) and the microphone clipped on the bell of my horn kept hitting my keyboard. Mark Cobb's right side crash hung over the top of my other keyboard--I think that it was probably closer to me than him. All of that being said, the volume wasn't too bad, though the bass was awfully loud.
The gig was really fun. I don't know if the crowd was into it, but I enjoyed playing some different tunes. We also hit some stuff beyond the realm of Reagan Rock--just stuff that the Y.O.U. guys used to play as covers. I got off a really good alto solo on Talking In Your Sleep--wish I'd recorded that, but I wasn't thinking I was going to play anything on it at all!
Yacht Rock played a benefit for the Humane Society at Sweetwater Brewery last night. I was worried--the weather was a little too chilly for me to have fun outside (and last time we were there we nearly froze to death). It turned out to be a non-issue. I mean, my horns were flat as hell, but everything continued to function, so I could deal with it.
By the end of the night, though, my hands were really not working well. We played Lido Shuffle as an encore and my hands just couldn't do the triplet thing in the synth build up.
Mark Cobb had some strange experiments with gaff tape throughout the night. Every set had stripes across the head of a different drum, it seemed. That and a strange pair bell cymbals (I guess)--about four inches in diameter, that rode atop his hi hat for a while. He's looking for some Steve Jordan/Chris Dave mojo.
So that was it. No rain, and we were finished at 9 PM. Not too bad.
Not too much going on at the moment…I recorded (on my phone) a song we played at church gig number one a couple of days ago. I went for a Lenny Pickett approach (on a crappy reed!). Still, not bad for first thing in the morning. I start playing about a minute and a half in.
I played with the Yacht Rock Schooner last night at the Dixie Tavern last night. Not bad for a bar gig! The gig itself was good, but I nearly died waiting around--I was told to be there at 8. Ready to go at 8:10, but the soundcheck began at 9:30 (which means they checked the sax line at about 10), and we didn't actually start the gig until 10:30. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long to hang out. Next time, I'm rolling in at 10.
Anyway, once we started playing, everything was cool. The band was solid, and there was something for me to do on every song of the first set.
Someone from the crowd told the two singers that the difference between the Schooner and the Revue was that the Schooner's sax player is so much better. Thanks?
We (Yacht Rock) used the 10 High as a preliminary rehearsal for the big 80s prom coming up in a few weeks at the Variety Playhouse. New oldies included Careless Whisper, Wake Me Up Before You Go Go, I Can Dream About You, and True. All came off without a hitch (ok-I had a medium small disaster in I Can Dream, but nothing fatal). We also added Hold the Line, which was alot of fun to play--I played power chords on the chorus and a synth part on the second and third verses. Easy stuff for me, but I bet we won't do that one too much--the vocals are super high.
The second set was fast. Mark Cobb played everything like he needed to go pee. We flew through every song. All of the sudden, the gig was over!
It was a pretty thin crowd. I won't bother to speculate why.
I played a really good trio gig with Louis Heriveaux (keyboard) and Kevin Smith (bass) at the Sheraton downtown. It was some kind of private gig…a networking thing.
Friday and Saturday, I was on the move with Yacht Rock.
Friday's show was with the Yacht Rock Schooner in Chattanooga at Rhythm and Brews. I just played saxes and flute, so it was a pretty easy night. The band sounded good; everything was solid, and it was nice to kind of have the night off on a gig. I probably did more cell phone videos than actual playing!
Saturday afternoon was a Yacht Rock Revue gig at Eagles Landing in Stockbridge. What a disaster! The van was late in arriving to grab our gear, and then it took us twice as long as was allocated to pack the trailer. We then moved our cars over to the Pleaserock office so as to avoid returning to smashed car windows. Once we got on the interstate, we decided to take 75 south instead of 675 south (which was what my phone kept telling me to do), and somewhere in there I recalculated directions to Stockbridge instead of Eagles Landing. So…we got off the interstate at the wrong exit before I noticed. Back on the interstate, down 75 another few miles. We got there with a little over and hour to get our gear in the room and soundcheck. Somehow, we finished with five minutes to spare!
Dig the curtain behind us. It looked just like the Hot for Teacher video. I couldn't stop thinking about that for the first couple of songs.
It just got worse from there. We had to kill off two and a half hours in our green room until our stuff was scheduled to be begin. The gig was a total drag. The room was pitch black, and with sunglasses on it seemed like we were playing inside Space Mountain, and after how many beers in those few hours I thought I was going to fall off the edge. The crowd was really stiff, and we got bored and then we had to drag ourselves to the bitter end.
Here's audio from the night. I recorded with my phone, sitting on one of my keyboards, so the balance is weird (right in between my amp, the guitar amp, and the drums). Check the cowbell duel. "Africa is percussive."
That's me on the solo--a bit of EWI magic.
Somebody cut the last chorus short. You can hear me yell "What the fuck!" and then Dannells and I chattering about it.
The theme for the party was James Bond (hence the "Octopussy" in the audio), so we played a little bit of Live and Let Die off the cuff. That went pretty well. Our other thing was the James Bond ending, which did not go well at all. We were going to do it in F minor, and I figured it out on EWI (which I have set to Bb). Unfortunately, the couple of times it was audibled, I was either playing keyboards, flute, or alto--never tenor or EWI, and my brain couldn't quite move the lick into another key! Actually, I think the time I did try to play it, Dannells was playing it in E minor, so even when I was finally right, I was still wrong.
We loaded the gear back out, and then the van wouldn't start because we were parked on a hill and the tank was almost empty. Greg and Ganesh left to find a gas station that was open and buy a gallon of gas. We packed the gear up, put some gas in the van, and drove home. When we got back to town, we went and picked up our cars at the office, and then caravanned to the rehearsal space, which turned out to be our only good move of the night. The gate for the space was locked and nobody had the key, so then we pulled our personal gear out of the trailer and went our separate ways (which meant somebody had to be responsible for the PA in the trailer and then deal with it again the next day).
Sunday began just hours later. I played church gig number one in a fog. It went pretty well. No big surprises. I went home, took a nap, got up and hung out with Jack. I took another nap. I got up and went to church gig number two. No problems. I think I had a pretty good mix happening. I came home and immediately/accidentally fell asleep, and woke up twelve hours later.
