this guy proved once again that the toughest job in the band is the front man/lead vocalist
A few guys from each of the Yacht Rock bands joined together to play at the Shepherd Center Society benefit at The Tailgate. In other words, we played under a tent in one of those abandoned lots around the Georgia Dome that becomes a parking lot whenever there's a football game. The band was Pete, K Spence, Monkey, Bencuya, Dani, Ganesh, and me.
Matt Reed (guitarist and big UGA fan) organized the music. He said load in at the 2, so I was there at 2 (backed my truck up to the stage--nice load in!). Unfortunately, I had to sit through the opening band. Witness:
This was one of many fine hits, others of which were Sweet Child of Mine, Here I Go Again on My Own, and some other crap. I think STP was in there. The only thing missing was Stacy, babe.
The odor from those two porta-potties directly behind the drums was robust.
By the end of their set, I was thinking bad thoughts, evil thoughts. I wasn't so much thunderstruck as annoyed that I'd shown up so early. I was thinking "Matt Reed, why did you do this to me?"
We threw our stuff on stage around 3:30 and started at 4.
hey look! Vince Neil on sound! nice heels!
The sound guy refused to move the bass cabinet across the stage because everything was already "wired up." Like electricity? Like it all sounds perfect just the way it is and we can't move anything? he mic'ed up that Ampeg 8x10 cabinet with an SM57. On purpose. In fact, Dani and I tried to scoot the cabinet a foot closer to the drums (also a foot further AWAY from me), and sound guy started yelling at me from across the stage because I'd knocked the 57 (and the one foot tall mic stand it was on) over. Like it hurt it.
Dannells played Matt Reed's guitar rig and seemed rather uncomfortable about it.
Kevin got a new shirt?
So whatever. We set up our stuff and played. Not a bad set! It was kind of a greatest hits package--What a Fool Believes, Ride Like the Wind, Baker Street, Brandy. Dani played the entire thing like Larry Graham on crack. I played a couple of good solos (Reminiscing and I Can't Go for That), and a moderate amount of crap on Lowdown. Half the PA shut down at one point due to a power failure.
We finished and everybody loved us and we played an encore and maybe the governor was on the way to congratulate us. We raked our gear off the stage.
hipsters invaded my truck!
protect thy pants
The next band up was Ponderosa. They were pretty awesome. I felt like a fraud. It made me question my career. We had to leave quickly.
Yacht Rock played the Park Tavern last night. We had a pretty good night--it never quite reached the insanity of a few of the previous Park Tavern gigs, but it was fun and the crowd was pretty into it. For some reason, it was a much older crowd than we generally see. It was like our usual crowd sent their parents, and this was a safe gig--there are tables for sitting and it ends before midnight. I think seating and bedtimes are important to that demographic. You could throw restrooms in there, too, except that the Park Tavern restrooms are not user-friendly. It's news when the men's room does NOT flood, and the women's room always has a line.
Our Beatles tribute, Please PleaseRock Me, opened the show. It was pretty good! I was on and off stage for most of it, playing tambourine and cowbell. The first song had tambourine--I realized this (standing offstage) about halfway through. Do over! Damnit! The last four or five songs had horns (Greg Lee, Paul Poovey, and myself). We were really crammed up on stage and it was tough to hear, but I think we were pretty good. Paul said his trumpet was sliding all over his face, which made Penny Lane especially challenging. Is it ever going to cool down?
A quick change and we were back as Yacht Rock. I was determined to suck less than the previous night's implosion, and then we decided to do a soft start--a quiet count in, beginning before the break music had been turned off--and just like that, I'd already started screwing up. Not impressive. Once I finally started playing, I was OK. I still rush really bad on Greatest American Hero. If I would just relax, my accuracy would greatly improve.
I got a little more ambitious about the number of notes I was going to play on Whatever Gets You Through the Night. It turns out, I can't really go for it and sidestep at the same time. I think the solos were good, but I had to remind myself--to the left! to the right! I bet I could sound like this if I could stand still. It would also help if I was in the monitor, but that'll never happen either.
Give a Little Bit is back. I played the solo correctly two nights in a row; a miracle.
I screwed up the end of I Wish for no apparent reason.
The rest of the night was pretty easy. I played a something wrong in the bridge of Power of Love--like instead of Eb major, I played a C major triad or something gross. Not my best work.
I think we have one more Park Tavern gig this month--October 17. It's been a great summer of gigs. We'll be back next spring.
Ugh. Yacht Rock played the 10 High last night. I was there, but it probably would've been better if I'd gotten up after the first song and left. My playing was pretty bad (and pretty uninspired), and the more I tried to bear down and get it right, the worse I got. I just didn't have it. Bencuya recorded it, so I'll get to relive this collection of near misses in a couple of months. Great.
I spent the weekend waiting…somewhere in there I played two wedding receptions.
The first gig was in Dallas with Yacht Rock. We flew out first thing Saturday morning--landed at DFW at before noon. Unfortunately, we didn't load into the venue until 6:30 PM, so we killed off those hours with a big meal at a Mexican restaurant and a walk to Dealey Plaza. Everybody should eat too much, walk around in 105 degree heat, and look at a bunch of pictures of JFK's blown out skull. The Dallas experience.
it appears to be perfectly safe
Greg points out a spot where a bullet chipped the curb
I managed to get a nap in there while watching hurricane coverage.
The reception was at the House of Blues in Dallas--not in the main concert room, but in the restaurant part. What a pathetic excuse for a music venue! The stage was small (no big deal there), but the PA was pathetic (two mismatched monitors, sixteen channel board, and two Mackie SRM-450s hung from the ceiling for mains), and the guy overseeing the production spent more time looking at his phone than us. I don't think he ever actually walked out in front of the band to hear what it sounded like. Every sax solo felt like I was playing without a microphone. It was very uninspiring.
The only things in the PA were vocals and saxophone, so who knows if it ever balanced with the stage sound. I tend to doubt that my EWI/keyboards made it out into the room--I couldn't turn up too loud or I wouldn't be able to hear the rest of the band (plus the sax was prone to feedback). The amp I was using was sitting in the corner and pumped out a ton of bass (plus I was in the corner--more bass!), and the stage had some low end resonance around C or D that was really irritating. I left out some left hand stuff on the keyboard because of it.
What else can I bitch about…I ended up with a Nord 2 instead of a Nord 3. I can definitely tell the difference now. Yuck! That amp wasn't as bad as the one I used at the House of Blues in Orlando, but it really didn't sound very good. I missed my gear. I had shitty reeds on both horns, I think, but everything about playing saxophone in there felt bad.
So…a pretty miserable gig, and I played like I was miserable. It's a drag, too, because we were playing for a friend of the band who really loves us. It could have been a lot more fun.
We saw a spectacular car crash (an Audi TT vs a Ford Expedition) in downtown Dallas on the way back to our hotel.
Lobby call was 6:30 AM. I got about four hours of sleep. A guy with a Super Bowl ring got on the plane, and then I fell asleep.
We were back in Atlanta around noon. I went home, ate, and crashed for about four more hours on the couch. An hour later I was on the way to a wedding reception in Acworth.
I played with most of the Yacht Rock guys in a cover band called Constantly Awesome. It could have been called Six Feet Tall--Matt Reed played guitar--they made Bencuya and me look short and bald.
I was added onto the gig late last week to provide the Hora (why me?). It was an easy gig. I spent most of the gig playing tambourine and watching Bencuya. Piece of cake. Nice venue, too--Waterstone Restuarant on Main Street in Acworth.
Ahh, the 10 High. It was tough to go back after last week's excitement.
I think we played ok. I played well personally, but as a band we were pretty flat. I had an awesome alto reed--right in that perfectly broken in moment in its life. Unfortunately, there were only two alto songs on the setlist, though (and two tenor tunes). Bummer. The keyboard stuff was all good (we played Lonely Boy). I was really comfortable with everything--I can't think of anything were I screwed up. Probably the worst thing I did was to accidentally hit record on my Fantom a couple of times while we were playing Ride Like the Wind--the way my hand was shaped kept turning it (and the accompanying metronome) on.
Actually, the worst thing I did was on my flute solo for Lowdown. I tried to think of it as A7 instead of E minor, and then I tried to play an altered scale over that (which was NOT an improvement), and then I thought I'd stick with it to see if my ear would adjust. It did not. I did not sound good…now I know. E minor is better. Stay inside!
Some of this happened:
Anyway…Good Luck Ganesh pulled us through on the money, even though it looked like the room never filled up. Yay for that!
While we were packing up, the entire Dark Horse Tavern (10 High and the Warren Room included) were semi-evacuated because a crazy guy claimed he had a bomb. It looked like a can of spraypaint to me, but I guess you can never be sure. The bouncers were chasing him through the parking lot--not towards my truck! Bencuya and I followed the parade (with Bencuya quoting Prince's 1999--"Mommy, why does everybody have a bomb?"). Soon enough he was in the back of a police cruiser. Too much excitement.
Here's some stuff from the festival a few weeks ago. An awesome picture by friend of the band Chad Hunter (of Moontower).
Also video of us playing Rosanna. What a great mix! That's me on organ, brass, and the synth solo.
Last Tuesday night, Yacht Rock launched a short tour up to New York City. Pretty cool, and wildly successful!
We left around 8 PM and spent Tuesday night in Charlotte. There was no gig there, but we wanted to get a chunk of the driving out of the way. Our ultimate goal of the first leg was to get to Washington DC, but it was too far to try and drive straight from Atlanta and then set up and play a gig.
Wednesday we drove to DC. We arrived right around 6 PM (just in time for rush hour!) and loaded into a club call Saloun in Georgetown. It was not much of a bar. A really long shoebox of a room with a tiny stage, no PA, no lighting, flies in the restroom, broken windows…pretty nasty. We did get to park the van right outside the front door, though, so I guess it wasn't all bad.
The promoter who hooked us up with the gig was informed at 6 that there was no PA. It finally arrived three hours later--two main speakers, two monitors, one mixer, and some cables. Not impressive! I guess it would be acceptable to bitch about it being deficient, but if we had gotten the PA we would normally request, it wouldn't have fit on the stage. Ahh yes, the stage…it was the size of a parking space. Seven guys, all that equipment, and sidestepping do not fit. Greg just about wore a hole in the wall with the headstock of his bass, and Dannells had to hold his guitar vertically if he needed to touch anything on his pedalboard.
We played well in spite of the circumstances, though it was super loud. Only vocals were in the PA, so I had my amp cranked to try and get it out in the room, but my amp was two feet from my left ear. Ear plugs helped, but it was just too much volume.
The DC crowd loved us. We assured them that we would return in October--just not to Saloun!
well hello, blondie!
Afterwards, I dealt with three drunk idiots, one of whom was named Jonathan, who insisted (spraying me in the face with spittle over and over again) that I play I Still Believe from The Lost Boys. We had the same conversation over and over and over…could I play that song? Of course! Will I play it at his friend's wedding? Maybe! At some point, Jonathan said that each of the three of them would pay me $500 to play it at the friend's wedding. I was later able to get the money up to $1000. I can't wait!
Later on, someone was in the restroom HURLING while I was changing back into my shorts. Out comes Jonathan, but he walked right by me because I had taken my wig off (thankfully--would I now be sprayed with vomit spittle?). I dodged the bullet momentarily; he did recognize me later as we were loading the trailer--as he was falling out into the middle of the street. "Hey…you're that guy! You're gonna play I Still Believe, right?" Right--$1,000.
We spent the night in Maryland.
Thursday morning we got up and drove to New York City. Yay! Staten Island to Brooklyn, under the tunnel, then up the FDR to the pier to play the Rocks off Hudson Cruise. We did two sets while the boat went down the East River, around the Statue of Liberty, up the East River, and back to the pier. I was thinking about Sonny Rollins and the Williamsburg Bridge, and this:
The cruise was pretty good. The sound was really bad on stage, but the mix out front was not too bad. It was loud, loud, loud--even the iPod that was playing on the break was distorting from the volume.
The food was terrible, and the woman who served the food was up to the task! What an old witch! We were doing her a favor by eating her pasta and meat grenades. So much for New York being a food mecca.
The crowd was really good. We were originally on a smaller boat, but some Yacht Rock super fan (I think a big guy from Google) bought all the tickets up and gave them to his friends, so the cruise company moved us to a larger boat, and then that one sold out. They loved it and it was easy (except the load in/out was about half a mile down the pier!). I hope we do it again, but we're going to need a bigger boat.
I spent a good chunk of the break talking to some hot chick about reeds. She suggested I try Superials on alto.
We spent the night in White Plains.
Friday during the day I went into the city and hung out with my niece and sister.
That night, Yacht Rock played a private party at a country club in Westchester county country club (Willow Ridge). Another easy gig, though the crowd was thin (eighty people?). Easy, easy, though, and it ended a little early.
service with a smile
Saturday was the main event--a wedding in Brooklyn. We got into the city pretty early, parked the van, and wandered around for a couple of hours. I went and checked out my sister's old neighborhood--also where I lived for my time in New York. Nothing has changed!
I played a gig here (upstairs restaurant)
The wedding ceremony and reception were at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Another small stage, but it sounded pretty good, and the people dug it. One thing we'd never encountered was a union crew--the sound guys (maybe five of them?), loaded out gear in and out for us. That was a nice plus. The room was really cool looking.
The groom played drums the last song of the night--Ride Like the Wind. Not too good. Bride on cowbell. Check the technique.
We spent the night in New Jersey.
Sunday, we drove all day and all night to get back to Atlanta. Yay!
