Frills and Thrills

Yacht Rock was at the Variety Playhouse Saturday night for our annual performance of Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Due to the Little 5 Points Halloween Parade, we had to come up Euclid from Inman Park instead of Moreland, and then beg our way through multiple checkpoints, and then avoid several pedestrians.  Somehow, we all squeezed through before the cops shut everything down.

So…we sold out the Variety!  Yay!  Very cool.  Our opening set was ten early 90s pop tunes (Bell Biv DeVoe, Janet Jackson, Color Me Badd, etc).  Not my favorite music by any means!  We nailed it though, mostly because Nick made insanely good tracks to which we played along for every song.  We couldn't have pulled it off without them.

There were a few technical glitches--we got a little off on Miss You Much (the phrase going into the chorus section is longer than normal);  Bencuya's Fantom (keyboard) rebooted a couple of times mid-show (which is always terrifying).  He had a keytar MIDI'ed into it, and maybe that was causing the problem.  Also our outfits (dress shirts, bow ties, cardigans, baseball caps) were kind of warm!

Big debut of my new bari sax mouthpiece (the Detroit Rock model from Vigilante Mouthpieces) on My Prerogative.  I've been playing the same mouthpiece since college, and I decided to get something a little more in tune with my current style of playing.  It's really awesome.  I'm excited about playing it some more.

Why is there bari sax in this song?  Did Bobby Brown owe somebody money?

My solo at the end of this was some bluesy bullshit.  I ended up in front of the monitors but behind the main PA in a sonic no man's land where I felt very exposed…playing bari sax on a Bobby Brown song…in front of a thousand people…oops.

Our Thriller set went pretty well, especially since our rehearsals were focused mainly on the first set stuff.  I had a couple of tunes where I needed a chart (and had a chart), but the stage was dark and I couldn't see!

More technical problems…the "butt kicker" that Cobb uses as part of his monitor failed, and my EWI went dead for a second while I was sitting there.  I turned it off and turned it back on and it was fine.  What the hell was that?

My alto solo at the end of Lady in my Life was, as in past years, musical diarrhea.  Kind of a "Here's a saxophone--play a solo NOW!" feeling after not playing any saxophone earlier in the set.

Sunday:  for the first time in five weeks, I was back on my AM church gig, playing both morning services.  This one had a horn section for the morning one--some fun sight reading.

In the second service, I got to play over Dustin's super hip arrangement of some song with the teen choir, and then blew over a gospel thing.  Dustin's thing sounded like Vince Guaraldi.

It's good to be back!  This was a fun morning.  I found out I even have my own robe now (for whenever we play the second service).  Welcome to the big leagues!

My PM gig was not bad.  After a long time, I finally found a good soprano reed.  It feels like it's been months of struggling.  My flute playing, however, has gone to shit after a couple of weeks of neglect.

On the mixing side of things, one of the singers accidentally turned off her mic (it has a switch on the microphone).  After the song, I reached over and turned it back on.  Before the next song, she told me she didn't think it was working, and I explained that she'd turned it off but I'd turned it back on.  She sang another one, and again said it wasn't working, so I bumped up the fader and the gain.  She still wasn't satisfied, so I pushed her fader all the way off and turned off the other three singers (I'm sure one harmony vocal full blast sounded great out front).  The band leader said she was too loud, so I put everybody back, but left her gain on the high side.  In the next song, he mic started clipping…I let it distort for the whole refrain and then backed it down.  Fun with singers…

Upcoming gigs!

October 31, Georgia Theater (Athens, GA)
November 1, Music Farm (Charleston, SC)
November 8, Smith's Olde Bar (Atlanta, GA)--Please Pleaserock Me
November 17, House of Blues (San Diego, CA)
November 27, Egyptian Ballroom (Atlanta, GA)
December 6, Mercy Lounge (Nashville, TN)
December 14, Variety Playhouse (Atlanta, GA)
January 4, House of Blues (Los Angeles, CA)

Driving in the Rain

Yacht Rock was on the road this past weekend.  Lots of driving in the rain, almost raining, or recently stopped raining.  We also played shows in Falls Church, VA (Washington DC area), New York City, Annapolis, and Charlotte.

Wednesday:  We drove all afternoon and night (in the rain) to get to Arlington, VA, where we camped for the night in a hotel.  Arriving around 1 AM, we just missed witnessing a hit pedestrian on the opposite street corner.

Thursday:  More rain, so we spent the day hanging out until our show at the State Theatre in Falls Church, VA.

I think this was our best crowd at the State Theatre--maybe 150 people?  It looked decently full for a Thursday night with crappy weather.

I opened my sax case to find that the screw that holds the bottom of my EWI on had fallen off.  Great!  Gaff tape to the rescue, and hopefully everything holds together until I can get home.  My tenor also felt stuffy, like I was only getting part of each note.  It was most definitely a leak.  Also nothing I could really address until we get back to Atlanta.  Until then, blow harder and squeeze harder!  Not the way I wanted to start this run of shows.

Friday:  we were supposed to leave Arlington at 10:30 AM, but the van was blocked in by two random assholes.  The hotel said that we were parked on city property, so Arlington would have to tow it.  Arlington came and checked it out, and said that the hotel should tow it (and then left).  The hotel said that if the city would give a written statement saying that it was the hotel's problem, the hotel would call a tow truck.  After a one hundred minute delay, we decided to try and wiggle out (and if we caused any damage to either car, so be it).  Immediately, some jerk came running from across the street to move the car behind us.

We stopped outside of Baltimore for food.  This place is great!

The trip up to New York had more rain.  It also took us about six hours, leaving us about an hour to load in, set up, and soundcheck before the doors opened.  Who wants some stress before a big show in New York City?

This show was, of course, really great.  New York brings out the best in us.  I believe there were around 450 people there.  Unlike last time, I don't think any of them were having sex during our show.

 After load out, we celebrated with pizza and beer.

Saturday:  we awoke in Secaucus, NJ, and headed down the New Jersey Turnpike (in the sunshine!) for our next gig in Annapolis, MD.  Dear Secaucus:  why does my spell check think you are misspelled?  Neither my phone nor my desktop like your name.

Nice weather for the drive (for a change!).

Sopranos reference

Our show was at Rams Head in Annapolis.  Rick Springfield also plays shows at Rams Head.  We're in good company.

We loaded in and sound checked and then the rain began.  It finally let up before we started our gig.

Coming from the Grammercy, we were a bit skeptical of the room we were playing--this Rams Head looks more like a comedy club than a concert venue.  They added a dance floor for us, but it was off to the side of the stage (behind me).  Everywhere else there were tables and chairs.  For the first half of the show, people sat and listened intensely, and there was silence before each song.  Later on (when the BeeGees stuff came on), a line of people hit the dance floor and it remained pretty full for the remainder of the gig.  It was cool, though, that people were checking us out--listening to us play!--instead of drunkenly screaming at us at every opportunity.

This crowd was different (and a good bit older, on average), but they were very appreciative and enthusiastic.  We took lots of pictures and made lots of friends.

Sunday:  our trip down to Charlotte was not too bad, though the rain came and went repeatedly.  We hit another good Mexican restaurant in Durham.

We hadn't played the Visulite Theatre (home of the long delay on the vocals) in a while--the last time was immediately after a severe ice storm.  This time we were up against it being a Sunday night, and apparently Queen City Church.

Not a bad show!  The front of house guy still likes a lot of delay, but the stage sounded good, and we played pretty well.  There were a 125 people there, I'd guess--a decent crowd for that size room.

We ended the night with a trip to Waffle House.

Monday:  we drove home.  The end of the road.

Still Going!

The gigs continue!  Here's this weekend's recap:

Friday:  Yacht Rock had a benefit gig at Greystone in Piedmont Park.  It's one of the more difficult venues we've played recently;  load in requires driving into the middle of the park (and then getting back out to park somewhere), and the room at Greystone is not what you'd call "acoustically friendly."

Piedmont Park sent us a PDF with a map and the code to get into the park, this time we entered from Park Avenue (crossing the bridge over the dog park).  Over the park and around the lake to Greystone is no problem, but once you unload your gear, where do you park?  The parking garage is almost out of the question because you would have to drive back to Monroe, then go a block down the street to the road with the parking deck, park, and then walk quite a way back.  Instead, I opted to leave my truck in the neighborhood just outside the park on the other side of the bridge.

The room at Greystone is pretty, but with long parallel walls and a concrete floor, it's probably not suitable for an amplified band.  Plus, the end of the room where the stage is had only fluorescent lighting, so we were pretty much in the dark except for the stage lighting that Kip brought.

We played two sets.  Early in the first set, I dropped my flute right before the solo on Lotta Love.  It sustained no damage!  A few songs later, I managed to accidentally mute my saxophone for an entire song (playing the guitar harmony on Still the One).  Not my best work.  I butchered Sara Smile soon after that.

Pretty good crowd!

We packed everything in the trailer at the end of the night and Nick took it home.  The park was ferrying people back to the parking garage on golf carts, and a guy gave Bencuya, Dannells, and myself a ride back to the gate.  Along the way we had to stop so he could direct Greg and Cobb (both in their cars) out to the 10th Street park entrance.  When we asked him why, he said that the bridge was not structurally sound!  I said, "I drove my truck over it twice today!"  He replied, "You got lucky."

After he dropped us off, a large box truck came rumbling up to the gate, opened it, and crossed the bridge.  As I was pulling away, the four cars of the people from the benefit also entered the park and crossed the bridge.  Umm…shouldn't the park tell somebody?

P.S.  The Yumbii food truck is awesome.  I had Asian beef tacos and sesame fries.  Delicious.

Saturday:  Worlds Collide!  Yacht Rock traveled up to Nashville for a gig at a Hot Wings Festival.  We got there in time to watch a couple of bands before us--the first being some kind of southern rock thing (with what looked to be a bunch of players more than a band--based on very minimal eye contact between the rhythm section and the number of guys reading charts), and a second band of hipsters doing an Avett Brothers/Mumford and Sons kind of thing (acoustic guitar, upright bass, mandolin, banjo, accordion, basic drums).

We closed out the evening just as Tennessee lost to Georgia and the sun went down, leaving us on a dark stage, playing to maybe a hundred people (hard to tell because the park was dark as well) for a ninety minute set.  I'm not sure what to make of this gig--the festival was never packed to begin with, and as it got dark it seemed like the tents/booths all closed up and left, and the whole thing ended right as we began.  Pared with a below average PA (mismatched speakers, feedback, and I think three monitor mixes for the entire band), minimal lighting (though I had a light that blinded me the entire show), and some other questionable moments (the guy jiggling the extension cord to try and get it to maintain steady electrical current, never noticing the wiring nearby sparking and then SMOKING--hopefully my gear was not plugged into this!) made for a less than appealing gig.  I will say that the on stage sound turned out to be fine (and really loud), but it was not a problem, and we finished at 8:45 or so (after an encore), and we had belly dancers for one song.  Just another adventure, I guess.

sometimes you find a bra in the back of your amp

blinding

really blinding

making me blind

belly dancers!

We drove back to Atlanta after the show.  I pulled into our garage at 3:20 AM.  Our dog was so excited to see me, she peed on the bed, so my night ended with me stripping all the sheets and sleeping directly on the mattress.  Fun.

Sunday:  nothing to report from the PM church gig.  I was very glad to have the rain tonight (Sunday) instead of last night.

Hey--we're on the road this week!

October 10, State Theatre (Falls Church, VA)
October 11, Gramercy Theatre (New York, NY)
October 12, Rams Head On Stage (Annapolis, MD)
October 13, Visualite Theatre (Charlotte, NC)

Fun With Jane

Yacht Rock played a gig at the Aquarium last night at a dinner/awards/talk for Jane Fonda and the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Power and Potential.  Easy stuff--we played five or six songs as people walked in, and seven or eight songs as people walked out.  Jane said "You guys rock!"  Not too bad!

We played on a really shallow stage with a fake hedge in front of us.  On the other side was a small white stage with white leather chairs and the podium.

I had to do some emergency work on my alto before the show--the felt or cork on the G# arm fell off, so I moved the adjustment thing all the way down, but it needed a little more, so a piece of tape to the rescue.  It'll be fine until I can get it officially repaired.

DIY

A little DIY piano repair today.  I had a couple of dampers that were letting the strings ring too much, so I got in there and did the adjustment myself!

More of the Same

More gigs!  Bryan Lopes tells me that October is the new December (I tend to agree--our October looks great, and December looks bad).  I'd have to say that September has been slammin' too.

Friday:  the final Yacht Rock Park Tavern show of the summer.  We had a great, very appreciative (and not too drunk) crowd of around 800, so it wasn't too out of control.  The band was relaxed and loose, so it made for a fun show.  Plus, we had Kip manning the PA--everything sounded as good as it could.  Even the weather was good.  A nice night for an outdoor gig.  Daniel (of the Schooner) subbed for Mark Cobb on drums.

A video!



Saturday:  Yacht Rock played a wedding in Asheville, NC.  It was on the grounds of the Biltmore, but we were in "the barn," which of course was not a barn…maybe once was a barn?  It was a really pretty space for reception, though I wonder how loud we were out in front.  Kip ran sound for us again, so it's safe to assume that it sounded good.

We did a few tunes we haven't touched in a while:  Sara Smile and Kiss on My List by Hall and Oates, and Nicolette Larson's Lotta Love.  Lotta Love is one of my favorites, as the hook is played on saxophone and then the solo is on flute.  I really dig playing that one, and I think we do a great job on it.  Sara Smile was also fun, though I really had to reach in and pull it out of my ass--I'd forgotten to review it during the week.

The set lists have gotten into a bit of a rut over the past month, so these were nice additions!

Sunday:  we drove home and dispersed.  The afternoon was daddy duty.

My PM church gig was super boring--I tried to force myself to play some different things, only to have one of the vocalists turn around and tell me I sounded tired.  So much for that.

Peyton Manning is playing insanely well.

I'm still on a pretty big high from the Thursday night Sazerac gig, and it's led me back to chasing down Lenny Pickett stuff, who, along with David Sanborn, were two of my first major heroes back in the 80s.  I went so far as to buy a grey fedora, copping the style of Lenny and the SNL Band.

Check out these two from Little Feat's Waiting for Columbus:

Lenny's solo begins at 3:22




Then there's this one with the insane gliss at the end.  He's really doing that--it's no synth or whammy pedal or anything.  Insanity!  He ends on a super high E, almost an octave higher than I can play.

Lenny's solo is at 2:46.




There's also the dancing…




Which he evidently will still do by request…



This is considered perhaps his best solo (beginning at 1:40):




I could go on…he also plays a bad ass flute solo on Sparkling in the Sand (also from the same album).  LP!

The Saturday Night Live stuff is also very important to me.  I'd love to go see a taping of the show just to watch the band.  One of my biggest influences as a saxophonist.






He also has one of the coolest/weirdest websites ever.  Check it out: http://www.lennypickettmusic.com

The bubbles will play music if you click on them (it takes a second for them to load).