The Wreck of the SS Mike Key

Yacht Rock played an event at Sunset Cove on Lake Lanier yesterday evening.  It was an event sponsored/disorganized by Rock 100.5 and our old buddy Mike Key, who it appears was singlehandedly charged with every part of the event:  running sound, managing the stage, moving gear, MC'ing the event, finding food for the band.  Methinks it was too much.

We showed up to the scene…as far as the eye could see, enormous boats, sand, sun, skin.  I was turned on and repulsed at the same time.  It was, as Nick described, a giant frat party.  Goodie!  Some guy had his ski boat right next to the stage blasting music;  distracting not only because of the competing sound (most of the boats on the water had comparable sound systems) but also for the escort he hired to dance for him all afternoon.

There was a miniature riverboat moored behind the stage, so we hung out on there (in the air conditioning!) while our gear made its way from the top of the hill down to the stage.  Once the opening band finished, we set up, line checked and changed.

The first song was a disaster.  The PA started making a strange howling sound and everybody looked at Mike behind the soundboard (positioned perfectly in the back corner of the stage so that he could never hear what the PA sounded like).  Mike, you hear that?  Uh, no.  The system kept feeding back until it became unbearable and we had to stop in the middle of the first song.  Not good!

While they were trying to sort it out, some dude walked out to the stage and got Pete's attention.  This may not be the exact exchange, but this is how I remember it (also, I was laughing so much it was hard to hear):

Dude:  "Hey guys--y'all sound terrible."

Pete:  "They're working on it."

Dude:  "Everybody said y'all were awesome, but it sounds terrible."

Pete:  "We're aware of it.  They're trying to fix it."

Somehow (luck, I think) the problem with the monitors feeding back was rectified to the point that we were able to continue.  Unfortunately, it probably never got any better out front.  Let's put it this way:  when your sound man calls people on the beach with his cell phone to try and gauge what the people are hearing, things are probably not good!

In spite of all that, I think the gig went OK.  If nothing else, it was a good tune up for the gigs we are playing tonight (wedding in Athens) and tomorrow (concert at Turner Field).  I could hear myself pretty well and I pretty well.  I fumbled through a few measures of Greatest American Hero, but other than that, things were cool.  My solo on Takin' it to the Streets got a good reaction.

We packed up in record time and got the hell out of there.  I kidnapped Mike Key's watermelon.  Ample payment for the time I will spend getting the sand out of my gear.

Getting out of Lake Lanier in the dark was difficult to say the least.  I set some kind of record for the number of U turns.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Thursday into Friday

It's felt like one long Yacht Rock gig…

Thursday night, The Yacht Rock Revue and the Yacht Rock Schooner combined Thursday night to bring the smooth 70s sound to the 10 High.  It was Mark Bencuya (YRR), Tom Young (YRS), Daniel Morrison (YRS), Mark Dannells (YRR), me (both!), Greg Lee (YRR), and Kevin Spencer (YRS).  Two bass players, right?  Greg  sang on the front line and Tom played bass.

It could have been a big mess--at the very least, is it a Revue gig or is a Schooner gig?  Sometimes we do different endings to the same song, and so there was a little confusion.  Even just knowing who we were on the microphone was subject to interpretation.  The gig turned out to be really cool, though.  It was a really good change of pace to have Greg up front, and Daniel really played great.  He's come a long way in getting comfortable with the music.

For me, the gig was a little nerve wracking.  I was late due to some downed trees and a pretty good thunderstorm that evening.  I showed up late and had to set up quickly.  Then, my bottom keyboard (the new Nord!) had a buzz in the cable.  I wonder if there's some kind of crap in the jack--when I moved the cable to the right side of the stereo output, everything was fine.  No noise.  I tried putting the cable in my top keyboard, and there was no noise.  Then I put it back in the Nord, and it was fine.  What the hell?  It never does this anywhere but at the 10 High (it's done it twice now, but with different cables and different Nords, which is even weirder).

Once that finally died down, I noticed that my top keyboard (the Fantom) was doing the "save" thing again.  I guess blowing the dust out of it didn't fix it after all.  It's definitely something going on with the four knobs that control attack, resonance, release, and whatever the fourth thing is.  I was thinking that maybe the stems are touching the outer body of the keyboard, because they don't move until the thing starts bouncing around when I play it.  I ended up gently pushing them up, and two of them felt like they popped into place--kind of clicked--and then the "save" thing went away.  Let's hope that solves it once and for all.

We added Rikki Don't Lose That Number for this gig (as far as the Revue is concerned--Schooner already plays it).  I sure hope we keep it.  The only people who don't know it are Nick and Pete, and if Greg can sing and play bass, there's almost nothing for them to do.  I like that song even though my only part is the gurgly marimba part that nobody notices.

The major disaster of the night was 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.  Dannells said he couldn't remember it.  I couldn't tell who was screwing up.  It was terrible, though.  They should have just dropped out and played the verses with drums only.

We played Lonely Boy.  That was fun--I hadn't seen that one in a while.  I nearly tanked the piano breakdown because I started thinking about it and got the "I'm gonna faint" adrenaline rush.

We loaded out in the rain again.  Boo.

Friday morning, we were up on a couple of hours of sleep to play on the radio.  The Yacht Rock Revue had to be there at 7:15--super early when you go to bed at 3:30!  We played Thunder Island and My Life to promote the show at Lake Lanier that we're playing Saturday.  It should be super weird--we're on a floating stage.  I couldn't hear myself at all in the headphones.  All I could do is watch my hands and hope for the best.

I went home and slept most of the day.  Those radio things really mess up my sleep schedule.

Friday night, I got to play with the Yacht Rock Schooner at 37 Main in Buford.  It was a fun little bar gig, but holy crap! was it loud.  Super loud on stage, and I could see people out in the audience plugging their ears (halfway back in the room, too, so you know on the dance floor it must have been painful).  I was jammed in the corner of the stage--I guess that's what you get when you show up after sound check!  I didn't play particularly well, though I got off a pretty good flute solo.  My sax stuff was not too good, though.

The Schooner guys sounded great--Daniel really sounded good, and Shannon's played some outstanding guitar solos.  He's really taking off right now!  Greg sang on the front line for Ganesh.  Danni was on bass, sporting a new shirt!

One of my favorite parts about playing with the Schooner guys is NOT playing and watching Eric Frampton.  I tried to steal anything I could from his performance, especially when he's playing parts I play.  Anything I can learn from him…hope I can learn something by being in his presence!

We've got a lot more stuff going on in the next couple of days.  Stay tuned for more updates.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Love of Leland

The Yacht Rock Revue played a benefit show in Kennesaw last night for Leland Erickson, a three year old with a acute myeloid leukemia.  He's currently in remission, but his family has incurred huge medical bills. Glad we could help!

Here's his website if you would like to make a donation.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Bug Night at Lake Oconee

Yacht Rock played a private party at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge at Lake Oconee Monday night.  The Georgia Chamber hired us.  I think it's safe to say they loved us--we were invited to the after-party for free drinks at the bar and received a heroes' welcome when we arrived.

"OSHA approved bermuda grass dance floor"

I've played the Ritz out there a bunch.  For a while, I was there a couple of  times a month, playing in the lobby in a band with Tyrone Jackson, Karin Williams, Moffett Morris, and Ben Taylor.  Great band and a great gig.  It eventually fell apart when the Ritz got funny with the money.  When Yacht Rock was checking in to our rooms, we saw a pretty bad one-man-band in there with tracks.  Things have changed for the worse.

This gig was down by the lake on a stage that listed to starboard about ten degrees.  Not my favorite set up!  No cover when there was sun, and once the sun went down, we were inundated with bugs.  It probably didn't help that the Ritz set up the world's largest bug light right behind Mark Cobb.

Other than the insects, the gig went great.  We played two quick sets.  Bencuya played an awesome solo on Lowdown.  Nick was sick, but we worked around it.

After the gig, we hit the bar, and then our rooms.  Staying at the Ritz is always nice.

"We played right here."

davidfreemanmusic.net

Church Gigs

Sunday means church gigs!

Church gig number one was kind of chaotic, but we came through just fine.  Here's an audio snapshot:

 Sunday gospel by David B Freeman

I'm going to try next week to use the headphones again.  I've just been playing off the drums and piano, but I feel like I'm missing too much (of the bass, for instance, and if there was any way to hear some of the vocals, that'd be swell, too).

Church gig number two was fine once I got my flute face going…not sure what was up.  I couldn't get the angle of the air across the hole right for a couple of songs.  It was weird.

davidfreemanmusic.net

A Tale of Two Keyboards

Last night, Yacht Rock played the Police Ball 2011 at the Marriott downtown.  No actual police were involved, except for the cop who brought his motorcycle up the freight elevator with me.

keyboards and cops

This was definitely some sort of high dollar benefit.  Big room, big production.  You know the drill.  Over-rehearsed lukewarm speeches, touchy-feely video segments, local newscaster host.  Blah.  We did some video bombing right before the doors opened.

The gig went well.  It was a good night for us, and for me personally.  The stage was really wide (but normal depth), so we were really spread out.  Thanks to monitors, it was cool.  Actually, I kind of dug it because we were far enough apart that I could hear myself well without having my amp really cranked up, and I could hear everybody else in my wedge and Dannells' wedge.

I finally bought a Nord…I got an Electro 3 73 off eBay this week.  It's really nice.  The most prominent improvement over the Nord 2 that I have been borrowing for a few years now is the piano sound, which is way better.  You can also dial up some reverb on it, too.  The organ isn't louder than the piano section (this was a problem for me on the Nord 2).  Last night was the maiden voyage.  So far, so good!  I was sort of disappointed the setlist didn't call for me to play more on it.

The other keyboard…my Roland Fantom started doing something weird on Thursday morning.  I noticed while I was playing (especially on keyboard splits) that it would ask me to save--like I'd made an alteration and needed to save it before moving to a new sound.  Weird.  I hit save, and then it would ask me to save again.  I played the gig--it was fine.

Friday night at the U2 show, it was cool, and then once we'd get going (and I'd start banging on the keyboard), it would do it again.  The star would come up on the screen, asking me to save.  Surely it must be a vibration thing--it's vibrating and the knobs are moving, maybe?

Two hours before I was supposed to leave on Saturday, I opened the thing up (never a good idea to disassemble your gear right before a gig).  I couldn't get to the knobs from the inside--I wanted to see where they attached to the circuit board to see if they were loose, but I couldn't get to it because of other electronics in the way.  So, I vacuumed it out, put it back together, and used compressed air to blow out the space around the knobs.  I then took the vacuum hose and held it over the knobs.  Finally, I twisted the knobs all the way in each direction and cleaned them again.

I powered the sucker up, and voila!  It was just fine.  No stars, no saving, no problem.  Best of all, it cost me no money.  I played the gig last night, and it was still fine.  Awesome.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that we played I Keep Forgetting last night.  I love playing that song.  We also did Lowdown (finally got my string part right), and All Night Long (I was kind of sloppy).  I sucked real bad on I Wanna Be Your Lover--I cannot remember that string part.

A couple of busy weeks await.  Stay tuned.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Uno Dos Tres Catorce at Andrews

Yacht Rock played our U2 show (Uno Dos Tres Catorce) at Andrews Upstairs/8 Traxx Disco last night.  It was a pretty good show, though the crowd never got swept up enough to make a monumental event.  Our friends the REMakes (REM tribute band) opened for us, and they were terrific, as always.  I played on a couple of songs (Finest Worksong has a brass part and Can't Get There from Here has a sax part).

The story of the night was Mark Cobb's awesome new set of Vistalites:

Very, very, very cool.  Cobb's more of a small drum sizes kind of guy, so it was pretty wild to see him behind a monster kit.  It didn't really change much for me, though.  His "sound" (for me) is his snare drum (whichever one he chooses for the night)--the other drums just compliment the snare in different ways (though I am partial to the blue sparkle kick drum).

Since I didn't have much to do on this gig, I spent a fair amount of time people watching and laughing to myself.  When we started the show, there were only two people close to the stage--two guys planted right in front of Dannells, studying his gear and his technique like the first time you see a naked woman up close.  Later on their eyes moved to the drums.  They never made it to the other side of the stage, which made me laugh:  was Greg's guitar rig not worthy of inspection?

A few songs later women began to approach the stage.  It was then that I became aware of how unattractive pockets are on a skirt.  Some girl stuck both hands in like she was trying to find her keys.  That kind of ruined it for me.

What else…what else…Pete's mom was there, sitting in a booth by herself way in the back.  Something about that looked funny to me.

There were a few captain's hats in the audience.  I wonder how disappointed they were.

Nick was particularly awesome last night.

Hans on sound.  Best night we've had there with the sound system.  Nice to have someone we trust up there.

The Andrews/8 Traxxs guys extended the stage back out by about four feet.  It made a HUGE difference.  Before it was like we were playing on a sidewalk--now it's a stage again.

Fridge full of beer.

I was loaded out very quickly--one keyboard, keyboard stand, amplifier, bag o' crap, saxophone.  When I was putting the last thing in my truck, I watched this guy (right in front of my truck) very slowly tip over and pass out.

As I backed out of my parking spot, the cops had their search light trained on him and were trying to wake him up.  Hope he enjoyed the show as much as I did!

davidfreemanmusic.net

The Galleria and the 10 High

I played two Yacht Rock gigs yesterday, each very different from the other, unified by the fine plaid suit I wore to both.

Gig Number One:  The Yacht Rock Revue played a lunchtime gig at the Galleria, in an outdoor courtyard between the office buildings.  We had to be  there at 8:30 AM…way early for any band.  The load in was down a ramp to the stage--couldn't have been easier, and a welcome change from some of our more recent Battan-Death-March type stuff.  We set up, soundchecked/pissed off people who were working, changed, and ate Williamson Brothers BBQ.  Hell yeah!  It was so good.

The gig was really easy.  I mean, daylight and no alcohol on either side of the bandstand could have made for a really rough show, but to me everything was relaxed and very cool.  No hassles, no requests for Journey.  The weather was great, the sound was good, the band was happy.  Great gig!

Gig Number Two:  I played with the Yacht Rock Schooner last night at the 10 High.  Usually this is the YRR's Thursday night steady gig, but everybody else opted to go to The Flaming Lips concert instead.  I did not.  I could give you a detailed explanation, but it comes down to this:  I am a gig whore.  I would always rather play my gig than not.  The Schooner filled in for us, and I got to show up and just play saxophone and flute.  Easy stuff.  Hans (10 High sound man) had me plenty loud in the monitor right in front of me.  It was blissful!

The whole thing with the 'go to the concert/play the gig' got me thinking on the way home.  I find that I don't like going to concerts very much, particularly large shows.  Last night, for instance, The Flaming Lips were playing their album The Soft Bulletin in its entirety.  I'm sure it was great--everybody was posting cool pictures, and I know the performance lived up to it.  I find myself thinking "so what?" though, about those sorts of things.  Afterwards, shows like that are talked about like they were overwhelming experiences, but I never get there personally.

Watching a show never comes close to the craft of performing for me.  Maybe I'm looking for the wrong things when I watch other bands play, but I cannot connect to it in the same way a lot of my friends do.  I can admire the equipment, admire the technique, but I don't get pulled into it like I'm part of "the experience".  The nuts and bolts of actually making music happen is where I am--solving the puzzle, as Bencuya calls it.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Arizona

Yacht Rock played an awesome gig last night in Scottsdale (Phoenix) Arizona at a place called Different Pointe of View.  The venue was a restaurant on the top of a hill overlooking the city.  It was an incredible view, and a really fun gig.

Different Pointe of View

the view

We left Atlanta around 10 PM Monday night landed in Arizona at 2 AM (Atlanta time), tired and hungry.  No bags, no bags, no bags…baggage claim was a problem!--some sort of jam--that kept us standing there for forty-five minutes in the middle of the night.  From there, it was a twenty minute van ride to the Pointe Hilton where we stayed and performed.

Most of the band opted to go find food in the middle of the night, so the "overnight guy" offered to drive us in the hotel van to civilization.  We ended up ordering from a Del Taco at something like 4:30 AM Atlanta time.  Ouch.  Spicy chicken burrito was ok, though!  Our driver must have had a bet with the front desk lady that he could make one of us throw up because he drove like an idiot to and from Del Taco, and then up the hill to our rooms.  I think he almost got us killed, but I had my eyes closed.

my room

my room

The next day (Tuesday), I think we all slept and hung out.  The only other time I'd ever been to Arizona for a gig, I'd stayed at the same place, so I went down to the bar by the pool and drank a few cups of coffee.  The weather, I should mention, could not have been better:  a high of maybe 80 degrees.  Very comfortable.

We had a 1 PM soundcheck.  Pete was able to get the keyboards Bencuya and I use (Roland Fantoms and Nord Electros), and I put my CF card in the back and imported all my sounds and splits.  How sweet is that!  That right there made the gig for me.  If I'd had to program twenty songs or so from scratch, I would have been really fried before the gig ever got started.  Instead, it was business as usual.  Even the keyboard amps they gave us sounded good (Roland KC-500s--same amps we'd had in Orlando last year, but those sounded brittle and horrible!).

tight squeeze

Once soundcheck ended, I stayed around to familiarize myself with the Nord--we got Nord 3s (I usually use a Nord 2).  Just a little different getting around it, but also I wanted to get used to where I was on the keyboard, since these were 73 key instead of my usual 61.  I ended up staying there and practicing/playing the gig for an hour or two (for less suckage).

I walked down the hill to my room (we had individual rooms--very nice) and practiced saxes and flute for about an hour.  At 5:45, I walked back uphill (not so easy) and we feasted on a really good steak (and some sort of potatoes and tomatoes--all really good).  I should have taken a picture of it.  First food since Del Taco (fourteen hours earlier).  I wish there'd been more.  I could've done it.

The gig was great.  I mean, it was super loud (I was up against a glass wall under a low ceiling, and the band was tucked in a tiny corner) but we played great.  Mark Dannells was unable to join us for the gig, so we had Shannon Pengelly from the Schooner playing with us (in between cigarettes).  Great job!  Easily the best I've ever heard him play.  Dannells is one of a kind, but Shannon really proved himself last night.  I was impressed.

We went back down the hill after the gig, hung out for a minute, and then went our separate ways.  I packed and crashed.

Shannon, 5:30 AM

5:30 AM light

The lobby call was 5:30 AM.  It was already pretty light--weird.  We were back in Atlanta around 2 PM, and I was teaching at 5 PM.  Long day.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Saturday Smith's, Sunday Shizz

Saturday night, Please PleaseRock Me had our monthly (really probably more like six weeks) show at Smith's Olde Bar.  Not much of a show for me;  most of my work comes in the week or so prior to the gig, writing charts and thinking about arrangement things that didn't work at the previous show.  Fortunately, we'd just played a Beatles show the week before, so there wasn't much prep work for this one.

I have to get this out of the way:  I hate the sound man.  OK, hate's not the right word, but Saturday night's FoH sound guy is a frikin' douchebag.  As soon as I walked in the backdoor of Smith's and saw him, I was crushed…I knew right then that there would be an entire night of him being a pain in the ass and solving my problems that didn't need solving and offering suggestions when I wasn't asking for one, and eventually NOT HAVING MY CLARINET BE AUDIBLE FOR ANY OF WHEN I'M SIXTY-FOUR.  I won't even bother with the other particulars that made me want to strangle him.  I will just say that he was far too interested in doing things that I don't need/want him to do, and not interested enough in making us sound good (a first step would be to STAY AWAY FROM ME AT ALL COSTS).  Get behind the FoH mixer and stay there and SHUT UP.

In spite of the FoH guy,  in spite of the fact that the monitor for the horn section was never on for the duration of the gig (about three quarters of the way through, the monitor guy finally checked it out, agreed that it was not working, and put us in the side fill), in spite of the load in,  and in spite of the FoH guy once again, the band was really good.  We had one major disaster (Everybody's Got Something to Hide) where Nick couldn't find a way in.  Sorry to enjoy someone else's mistake, but it was really funny (a couple of times!).  The whole gig was good, though.  I used my Thursday night tenor reed--still dead.  It played its final gig that night.  We had a great time, and the crowd was really into it.  We had a Kinks tribute band open for us, and they might have been better than we were.

Bencuya and a Kink

Paul Garret on trumpet

my favorite Monkey

Sunday was too much of this:

I  V/7, vi7  V, IV  IV/5, I  IV/5

I also got an update on the money situation at gig number one.  The band member seeking more money spoke to the band leader about said money, told him his wife lost her job (then told me "She's still working part time"), and the band leader told him that because of the situation, "he'd see what he could do."  Evidently, we're now being paid based on hardship?

davidfreemanmusic.net