Atlanta got a good bit of rain yesterday, so it was 200% humidity. Charts and set lists were damp before we'd played the gig, and you can probably imagine how my reeds felt (and how my fussy EWI liked it). It remained hot and humid for the entire show, and at various times I noticed it pouring outside the tent. Other than one of my cases getting a little wet, my gear was fine.
The first set was all regular Yacht Rock stuff (70s stuff). No problems. All my sounds worked, though I was constantly paging through my sounds on my laptop to make sure everything was still there. It's going to take a few gigs to get my confidence back on that. I thought I had all that EWI stuff sorted out!
Playing saxophone in that tent is like playing into a pillow. I'm mic'ed, so I know it's going into the sound system, but it still never feels like I'm there. I know part of it is the distance from my monitor (which is the only thing putting my sound out on stage), but it's hard to tell if I'm even in the mains. I guess you have to play and trust that someone will come tell you if they can't hear you.
This was my first gig playing Little Jeannie on the keyboard. I had always played the horn part and left the synth part out, but I think I can get both going now. I worked on it in between soundcheck and the gig, and I got about seventy percent of it correct. I guess that's embarrassing...I mean, if I played a recital and got seventy percent of it, I'd probably quit. Maybe it was more like eighty percent. It wasn't terrible, I just simplified some stuff for the moment. I worked on it a little more today, so in another few gigs it'll start to be comfortable.
We played Baker Street pretty early in the night, and the crowd really dug it. It's funny--I have the hook of the song, and people cheer like I'm playing something amazing. Last night was particularly that way--I mean, I took a curtain call during the second verse!
What a Fool Believes is still not right for me. I changed synth sounds again to try and get something that sounded right but still had a little grit to it. Last night's problem was a balance between the strings in my left hand and the synth in my right. I couldn't hear the synth at all--I have it turned down because two sounds ago it was sticking out too much. Geeze! I can't believe I can't get it together...actually, I can. I'll try it again tonight.
So...on to Thriller.
After all my moaning and groaning about not really being that interested in playing the album, it was a lot of fun. I spent yesterday right up to when I left trying to incorporate some parts that Mark Bencuya asked me to pick up (a string part and a synth part). I also redid my stuff for The Girl is Mine. That was the one that was making my amp distort. I moved it all to the keyboard and it sounded better (and did not distort--I switched from a flute sample to a flutey synth).
I had charts for all my stuff, so I just followed my charts...except that I could barely see them. All the lights were over the crowd, pointed at us, so when the guitar player would move around, it would block my light...and I had sunglasses on. No biggie. I did fine.
I would have turned in a pretty good performance except for the frickin' bridge to Lady in my Life, where I sucked real bad. This was a Bencuya request--the synth part on the bridge has GOT TO BE THERE. I said I could do it. I worked on it. I was ready for it. We played the tune, and the bridge snuck up on me. Agh! The bridge! I looked down at my chart, and (of course), I couldn't see it. Then I found it, but I was kind of frazzled and didn't have my hand in the right spot on the keyboard. Disaster. I played something synthy...it'd be like if you cut the paper up and threw it on the floor--it sounded like that. I played the right notes with the right sound, but in the wrong order and wrong rhythm.
Everything else came off without incident. We played a few Yacht Rock songs to fill out the night until the 11 PM curfew--Africa, I Want a New Drug, and Easy Lover. I was pretty pleased with my performance--except for that damn bridge! I want a do-over!
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