South Carolina

Whew...I'm getting slower and slower about updating this.  I'm still kind of decompressing from the previous two weeks' shows...at least, that's my excuse.

So anyway...rewind to last weekend:

Friday:  we drove to Charleston.  Driving there is a little strange--it seems like it should be interstate all the way, but instead you drive to Augusta, cross into South Carolina, and then wander through the cotton fields on two lane roads for a good while before you get on another interstate and resume your quest for signs of civilization.

The cotton is about ready.

I tried to persuade an uncollared dog at a gas station to get into our van, but once again to no avail.

We played Music Farm in Charleston.  My favorite part about this gig is walking down the street to the Thai restaurant-Basil--on the corner.  Good stuff.  Anything served with white rice has a good chance of making me happy.  It's genetic.

I went with these guys.

So...Music Farm.  Looks cool, sounds ok.  It's really loud in a nondescript, washy kind of way.  About halfway through the gig I realized that it was loud back where I was because of all the sound coming through the vocal mics out front.  Turning my monitor feed off made the rest of the gig less deafening.  They say they're getting a whole new PA early next year, and I'll be interested to see if it improves things.

The crew helped us load in and out--a huge plus.  I always like that.  We brought Zach (Kip's understudy) with us for both these gigs, and he ran sound out front, so I'm comfortable thinking that he made it sound as good as it could.

Thai food is good food.  I'd play here again just to hit Basil's again.

Saturday:  We played a wedding at a plantation on the north side of Charleston.  The reception was at the cotton dock--I assume since we were at the water's edge that it's where the bales were carried away by boat.

The ceremony was on site, so that meant an early load in and then hours of down time before we played.  We took a walk around to see the sites.

I was a little disappointed to find out that this was not the original house.

The gig...pretty easy.  In spite of a horrible Elton John song that we had to perform, this gig was better than the night before.  The sound was good, and I thought the three Marks (Dannells, Bencuya, and Cobb) all played some pretty hip shit.

Strange crowd--they were small in numbers to begin with, but the ebb and flow on and off the dance floor was at times extreme.

Check out this awesome getaway car at the reception!  A 1950 Dodge something.  Super cool.

Sunday:  We drove home.  Another long and boring ride that began much too early.

Service with a...

I made it home with enough time for a nap before my church gig.  Evidently there's some kind of gripe brewing about how much (or little) pushing of faders I'm doing on the gig.  Difficult to say--on Sunday, there were no solos (only group singing) with piano and djembe accompaniment.  Exactly what am I within the group am I supposed to be turning up and down?  I'm not a great sound man by any means, but after setting the gain for each microphone and balancing the voices with the instruments, what else is there to do?

No gigs during the week, so the next show is Friday night in Nashville at the Cannery Ballroom.  Thriller and a set of Yacht Rock (with a special local guest).  As Walter would say, close your eyes and it's 1978 all over again.  Stay tuned...

D and D at JCT

David Ellington and I played a third gig of the week (!), this time as a duo at JCT Kitchen and Bar.  This was a much better gig than Wednesday night's rough outing.  We had a good time playing and got fed, too!  I said I wasn't going to do it, but I ordered the burger and fries again.

Check this stuff out.  Some good shit, if I do say so myself.

Wednesday Trio

Wow!  Two trio gigs in a week, tying a personal best.

This one had a weird set up in terms of where we were in the room.  The idea was to put us up on a balcony and let the music gently waft over the crowd, but looking back on it I wonder if we instead sounded like we were wafting from the restroom.  We were in a good spot to hear ourselves, but I have no idea what it was like down on the floor.

The local sound company played music for the first twenty minutes of our set, then checked a microphone over and over (the ol' "testing one two, testing one two, check check check") and then about twenty minutes after we finally started playing, put on Frank Sinatra over what we were doing.  Thanks?  During dinner (when we were once again supposed to be playing) I had to go downstairs and ask them to turn their canned music off so that we could play.  How bizarre.

I can't remember what these two were talking about.

Aside from that, things were ok.  The three of us never reached a consensus on where the beat was, which made every tune feel like work.



Dave's vintage tube amp had some weirdness tonight where it would softly sound an Eb.  He kept getting up mid song to tap the tubes and make it stop.  Changing to the other channel finally fixed it.

Our part of the evening finished before the event ended, so we were able to pack up and sneak away with nobody noticing.

Monday Trio

David Ellington, Kevin Smith, and I had a really nice trio gig tonight at the Aquarium.  My favorite kind of corporate gig--we were left alone to play with no strange circumstances or stupid requests!  It even ended early!  

I haven't played a trio gig with Kevin in many months, and he's playing better than ever.  Dave used one of his favorite new keyboards and also sounded wonderful.  

Check out the sounds...we get to do it again Wednesday.

Piedmont Pride

awesome picture by Jessica Lewis!

Yacht Rock closed out a tremendous weekend of gigs by headlining the Atlanta Pride Festival in Piedmont Park.  Nice size stage (with a pretty big catwalk) and an excellent crew who loaded out gear from the van (parked on 10th) to the stage and back.

We parked at Nick's and took the van and trailer to the gig.  After set up and soundcheck (and inhaling some of the most horribly noxious fumes coming out of that muddy field), we hit Mellow Mushroom.

The gig was...kind of underwhelming.  Not the crazy mass of thousands we thought there might be.  The weather sure was nice for the show, though.

The "Maneater" solo.  Photo cred Peter Olson.  Jessica's picture was better.

Fifty minutes after we began, it was over.  One of our quickest load outs ever, back to the van, and back to Nick's.  This one's a wrap!

Something we'd never seen before:  this show had a guy (blue shirt directly in front of Greg, just off the front of the stage) signing everything we said or sang.  At first it was kind of weird, but the dude was so in to it and danced and played some fierce air guitar!  Pretty cool.

The rain earlier certainly didn't help.  The field was pretty muddy.  At one point, most of our crowd was standing single file on the cable bridge running from the stage out to the front of house tent.

Here are a few videos from this weekend's Variety Playhouse shows:












Our next gig is this coming Friday in Charleston, SC at Music Farm!  Get your tickets here:  http://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/513359?wrKey=CAD33F409BB5803C9FDE5819DD31BC38

Variety, Night #2

No letdown!  Yacht Rock played a second night at the Variety Playhouse last night, this time performing all of Michael Jackson's Thriller, plus a set of 80s yachty music.

The crowd wasn't as large as Friday night, so we were concerned that there'd be two hundred people there and we'd all be really bummed out and the show would be flat.  Instead, the room was decently full, the audience was great, and we had a fantastic show!  Lots of fun!

Variety, Night #1

Success!  Yacht Rock began a two night stand at the Variety Playhouse with a set of 70s music and then an entire set of Journey, featuring former Journey lead singer Steve Augeri.  It was a pretty amazing night!

new disco ball at the Variety

right before the curtain opened

first set

with Steve Augeri

photo cred Peter Olson

Early video:

Ray's

Yacht Rock played Ray's on the River's 30th anniversary party last night in a big tent next to the restaurant.  Nice day and a nice, easy gig.  We were treated very well.

I didn't notice it during the gig, but during load in and soundcheck the nearby septic tank was venting some pretty horrible fumes.

Kip and Zach on sound and lights.

Nice gig for a Thursday!  Sort of a Buckhead-ish crowd, I would say, but they were pretty cool, particularly in the second set.  Plus, the gig ended at 9 PM, so I was home in time to watch the second half of the football game (Colts won).

Don't forget--big shows this weekend!  Friday and Saturday night we're at the Variety Playhouse, and Sunday we headline the Atlanta Pride Festival.

Cink It

Yacht Rock rounded at last weekend with a Sunday night gig--the kick off party for Stewart Cink's Cink It Challenge.  It's a nice, easy night at a golf club in the back of a gated neighborhood in Suwanee.  Nothing much to report;  pre-show food was a bacon double cheeseburger;  post-gig party favors included a jar of Parker's Pickles.

Big shows this weekend!

Thursday:  Yacht Rock plays Ray's on the River's anniversary party.

Friday:  Yacht Rock plays Journey's Greatest Hits with former Journey frontman Steve Augeri at the Variety Playhouse.

Saturday:  Yacht Rock plays Michael Jackson's Thriller at the Variety Playhouse.

Sunday:  Yacht Rock headlines the last night of the Atlanta Pride Festival.

Monday:  zzzzzzzzzzzz.


For your viewing pleasure, here a couple of videos from last week's gig at Sun in my Belly with David Ellington.

Wedding Grinder

Yacht Rock played a wedding gig Saturday night for a room full of really good looking people.

Nothing in particular to report about this one.  Zach ran sound and Dustin Cottrell subbed for Bencuya on keyboards.  We learned Nightshift by the Commodores for this one.  I don't think it's going to be a keeper, though.

A little smudge at the end of the night:  a few probably drunk guests got on stage after we finished and demanded the mic so that they could sing and do...whatever...it's never a good situation when the "We're paying for this!" card is played.  I'm sorry that Zach had to handle that situation by himself.  I don't think they touched any of our gear, so we got lucky.

Check out two new Yacht Rock promo videos:





Also, don't forget next weekend's stand at the Variety Playhouse!