So…I was back at my normal church gigs. I kind of miss it when they don't happen. I like the routine.
My AM church gig had a sub sound guy. We were going to do some kind of mammoth song with tracks, but the sound guy couldn't get it to work--he couldn't find the track on the mixing board, and then he did find the track (coming off a laptop on stage), but couldn't get the stereo split (click on the left, music on the right) to work, so we abandoned it. It worked out fine, though--we couldn't get off from the click that way! I must say that I played really well on this song. Actually, the whole service was good in spite of the sound guy problems.
My PM church gig went pretty well, too. I had a great mix going, though I didn't play anything memorable. So it goes.
In other news…Mark Cobb hipped me to this record: Locked Down by Dr. John. Fantastic record, and it has some really great bari sax playing by Leon Michels. Yeah! Totally bad ass.
Also courtesy of Mark Cobb, this super cool song by Jim James off his latest record Regions of Light and Sound of God. This was on Jimmy Fallon. More awesome bari playing, this time with Martin Perna (also Groove Collective's Jay Rodriguez on flute!). So cool. You can fast forward to 3:48 if you need a quick fix.
Things are starting to heat up again! Look for Yacht Rock this Friday night at the Taste of Dunwoody and Saturday night at the Cannery Ballroom in Nashville.
davidfreemanmusic.net
Monday, February 11, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Saturday, February 9, 2013
A Week Off
I've had more or less the entire last week off. Since playing the 40 Watt last Friday night, I've managed only my PM church gig (at that to a Super Bowl-shrunken congregation).
I'm not gonna lie…other than the fact that I made no money and we're living off savings this week (ouch), this has been a great week. I got plenty of sleep, plenty of exercise, plenty of time with my family, and time to practice. Ahhh! It's been awesome! During the day, I had to time to tinker with equipment, bang on the piano, watch YouTube videos. It's kind of what I imagined my life would be like as a professional musician (except for the whole no gigs/no money thing)--that I would have time to practice (the kind where you work on universal things, not the "holy shit! I have to play this Friday!" kinds of things), and still have time for my life outside of music. This is it! I'm lovin' it!
Next week is a lot more busy, with gigs Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and a rehearsal Thursday. Feed me, Seymour!
davidfreemanmusic.net
I'm not gonna lie…other than the fact that I made no money and we're living off savings this week (ouch), this has been a great week. I got plenty of sleep, plenty of exercise, plenty of time with my family, and time to practice. Ahhh! It's been awesome! During the day, I had to time to tinker with equipment, bang on the piano, watch YouTube videos. It's kind of what I imagined my life would be like as a professional musician (except for the whole no gigs/no money thing)--that I would have time to practice (the kind where you work on universal things, not the "holy shit! I have to play this Friday!" kinds of things), and still have time for my life outside of music. This is it! I'm lovin' it!
Next week is a lot more busy, with gigs Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and a rehearsal Thursday. Feed me, Seymour!
davidfreemanmusic.net
Monday, February 4, 2013
Super Bowl Sunday
I slept in this morning because my AM church gig did not use me this morning. Boo. Last week, they did two services when I was out of town. Boo. Bad luck for Dave.
My PM church gig was sparsely attended, as it is every year. I have not seen the first half of the super bowl in twelve years. Good to have a gig, though, and I am not one to bail for something like a football game, or really anything short of death.
It's been a slow weekend with no Saturday night gig, either. Last night I watched the new Dave Grohl documentary Sound City. I highly recommend it.
Another slow week ahead, but things will be picking up soon.
February 15, Taste of Dunwoody (Dunwoody, GA)
February 16, Cannery Ballroom (Nashville, TN)
February 24-March 1, Rock Boat XIII (the ocean)
March 2, Park Tavern (Atlanta, GA)
March 14, Wonder Bar (Asbury Park, NJ)
March 15, Theatre of the Living Arts (Philadelphia, PA)
March 16, Gramercy Theatre (New York, NY)
March 17, The Hamilton (Washington, DC)
July 11, Mohegan Sun (Montville, CT)
July 20 (Atlanta, GA)
October 19 (Atlanta, GA)
davidfreemanmusic.net
My PM church gig was sparsely attended, as it is every year. I have not seen the first half of the super bowl in twelve years. Good to have a gig, though, and I am not one to bail for something like a football game, or really anything short of death.
It's been a slow weekend with no Saturday night gig, either. Last night I watched the new Dave Grohl documentary Sound City. I highly recommend it.
Another slow week ahead, but things will be picking up soon.
February 15, Taste of Dunwoody (Dunwoody, GA)
February 16, Cannery Ballroom (Nashville, TN)
February 24-March 1, Rock Boat XIII (the ocean)
March 2, Park Tavern (Atlanta, GA)
March 14, Wonder Bar (Asbury Park, NJ)
March 15, Theatre of the Living Arts (Philadelphia, PA)
March 16, Gramercy Theatre (New York, NY)
March 17, The Hamilton (Washington, DC)
July 11, Mohegan Sun (Montville, CT)
July 20 (Atlanta, GA)
October 19 (Atlanta, GA)
davidfreemanmusic.net
Saturday, February 2, 2013
40 Watt
Yacht Rock made the trip out to Athens to play the 40 Watt--one of our favorite places to play. All the usual stuff happened…sat in traffic on 316, loaded in, set up, sound checked.
In between soundcheck and the show, we wandered across the street to Ted's Most Best. Good pizza. Yacht Rock recommends it. While we were there, the lady who books the 40 Watt informed us that our show had sold out. Nice!
Our show went pretty well, I think. We played two sets, the first one beginning with Baker Street. I can't complain about that! The first tune can be a little tough because in any room it takes a few songs to get comfortable. Dannells wiped out on the intro to the guitar solo--the lights had gone out for a second, and he described it later as a Helen Keller moment: he could neither see nor hear. It was a little touch and go for all of us--I had to check a couple of times to make sure my sax microphone was working. All of this, we later concluded, was the result of the packed room which ate up so much of the sound in the house. We'd sound checked to an (obviously) empty room, and perhaps set our levels hearing the PA bouncing off the back wall.
Once we got going, things were fine. I played well in the first set; in the second, my mind wandered a little bit. We had Daniel Morrison subbing for Mark Cobb--that changed the set list around a little and brought out some songs we haven't played in a while. For instance, I couldn't tell you the last time we played Who Can it be Now?. I pulled that solo out of my butt.
650+ was the overall attendance. Thank you Athens!
In other news…videos from last Monday's trio gig with Tyrone Jackson and Kevin Smith:
davidfreemanmusic.net
In between soundcheck and the show, we wandered across the street to Ted's Most Best. Good pizza. Yacht Rock recommends it. While we were there, the lady who books the 40 Watt informed us that our show had sold out. Nice!
Our show went pretty well, I think. We played two sets, the first one beginning with Baker Street. I can't complain about that! The first tune can be a little tough because in any room it takes a few songs to get comfortable. Dannells wiped out on the intro to the guitar solo--the lights had gone out for a second, and he described it later as a Helen Keller moment: he could neither see nor hear. It was a little touch and go for all of us--I had to check a couple of times to make sure my sax microphone was working. All of this, we later concluded, was the result of the packed room which ate up so much of the sound in the house. We'd sound checked to an (obviously) empty room, and perhaps set our levels hearing the PA bouncing off the back wall.
Once we got going, things were fine. I played well in the first set; in the second, my mind wandered a little bit. We had Daniel Morrison subbing for Mark Cobb--that changed the set list around a little and brought out some songs we haven't played in a while. For instance, I couldn't tell you the last time we played Who Can it be Now?. I pulled that solo out of my butt.
650+ was the overall attendance. Thank you Athens!
In other news…videos from last Monday's trio gig with Tyrone Jackson and Kevin Smith:
davidfreemanmusic.net
Friday, February 1, 2013
Pleaserock Weddings
Yacht Rock's parent company Pleaserock has opened a new branch…Pleaserock Weddings. It's geared towards couples who don't want a wedding with a typical Atlanta wedding band and grumpy old photographers and an anxious/bitchy wedding coordinator. I mean, cool people get married, too.
Several Pleaserock affiliated bands played little twenty minute showcases in the acoustic nightmare that is the upstairs room at the Park Tavern. We closed out the evening with a couple of songs. It was a snoozer, but if it helps the keep the Pleaserock machine humming along, I'm all for it.
We're in Athens tonight at the 40 Watt!
Upcoming dates:
February 1, 40 Watt (Athens, GA)
February 15, Taste of Dunwoody (Dunwoody, GA)
February 16, Cannery Ballroom (Nashville, TN)
February 24-March 1, Rock Boat XIII (the ocean)
March 2, Park Tavern (Atlanta, GA)
March 14, Wonder Bar (Asbury Park, NJ)
March 15, Theatre of the Living Arts (Philadelphia, PA)
March 16, Gramercy Theatre (New York, NY)
March 17, The Hamilton (Washington, DC)
July 11, Mohegan Sun (Montville, CT)
July 20 (Atlanta, GA)
October 19 (Atlanta, GA)
davidfreemanmusic.net
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Tyrone's Return
I hadn't played a trio gig with Tyrone Jackson on keyboards since before Thanksgiving--his schedule had gotten out of control. Currently, he's finishing up his masters degree in Georgia State (and doing the grad assistant B.S.); at the same time, he's teaching classes at Kennesaw State. The actual playing of music has been mostly limited to his Sunday morning church gig.
In spite of the noisy crowd, this gig was a treat! It's pretty awesome to have my tunes interpreted by two musicians of the caliber of Tyrone and Kevin Smith. Great stuff by fantastic people.
Here's the audio:
davidfreemanmusic.net
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