The van picked me up and most of us rode up together (Nick and Pete went up earlier in the day). It was a fun trip. We got up there, loaded in with great efficiency, and soundchecked in about forty-five minutes (were were about forty-five minutes late in arriving, so it all evened out!). After a quick meal at some no name Mexican restaurant, we returned to change clothes and then hit it.
In the first set, Kenny Loggins' keyboardist Scott Sheriff sat in with us on two Steely Dan tunes.
He played and sang well, but the really AWESOME thing was that he played on Bencuya's keyboard, so Bencuya came over and played on my keyboards. I honestly didn't pay much attention to Scott because I was busy trying to steal anything I could from Bencuya! Wow! Awesome stuff.
Our second set included Alyssa Olson singing a few songs with us (Don't Go Breakin' My Heart, Physical, and Love Will Keep Us Together). I don't think we've done any of those songs in since the Variety Playhouse stuff in June, but everybody just fell right back into it. It was an awesome moment and Alyssa sang really well, in spite of being seven or eight months pregnant!
I would like someone to give me an explanation as to why the question I am asked most often is "Are you really playing the saxophone?" Two people asked me that Saturday night.
After the gig, we retired to the hotel for a few hours' sleep, and then went meandered back to Atlanta.
The view from our hotel room:
I played my usual Sunday night church gig. We kind of had an "oh shit!" situation because all but one of our vocalists were out this week, so it was one vocal, piano, hand drum, and me. The "soloist" did really well, all things considered. I tried to reinforce what she was doing instead of filling in around her so much--some unisons and some harmonies. It was ok.
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