When I got there, I got a parking place right next to the door (awesome!), and it didn't take me 10 minutes of wiggling my monster truck into place. Things immediately got weird, though. Some homeless guy was poking around between cars, and some lady started yelling at him that the police were on the way--she was convinced that he was looking to make a break in. Right around that time, the sound man pulled up and we explained to him what was going on. I was watching the guy as I was telling him the story, and I turned back to face the soundman just as he was pushing a clip into a pistol. Great...shoot out at the 10 High.
We debuted three tunes last night. Two (All Night Long and Caribbean Queen) are not my favorites. I'll just leave it at that. The third was Steely Dan's FM, known for its famous saxophone solo. All three went pretty well. I'm still trying to get comfortable. FM is one of those tunes where the solo needs to be pretty much spot on, and I'm most of the way there, but I wouldn't say I'm quite nailing it.
Overall, the gig went really well. Bencuya recorded it, and I think the tape will show that the shedding I put into it on Wednesday night and Thursday day made a huge difference. Bencuya said he did not play well at all, but everyone I talked to in the crowd said it was great--one regular said it was the best we've ever played. I'll take it. Nick told me on the break that his voice was not working, but he performs at such a high standard that even if he wasn't feeling it, it still sounded great. Dannells explored the major sixth on a minor chord. I can dig that, gettin' all dorian on me. I kind of bit it on Caribbean Queen (the tape will show that, too). All this stuff with synths...we can't cover everything, and it's going to take some time to figure out what must be covered (and what cannot), and who can grab it.
We managed to raise about $220 for Haiti relief last night. Tonight's the same deal--we are donating a dollar for every person that pays. I guess that means we had 220 people last night? Actually, the crowd was pretty good last night. We were concerned due to the B band playing our gig the past two weeks, plus an earlier start time, but by the end we had a pretty decent crowd, and they stayed to the end. We even did an encore for the first time in a weeks (Total Eclipse of the Heart again, just like on the boat). It's great fun. All respect to Brandon, but it was nice to get my gig back.
I am thankful to have a gig like that where I can focus on something else. My head is not good these days.
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