Yacht Rock played at Turner Field last night for the playoff game between the Braves and the Giants. We also sang the National Anthem on the field.
We set up in the plaza directly behind the center field jumbotron. I think we played about an hour, maybe slightly more. It was pretty easy--no new tunes or anything. The way we were set up was pretty difficult to hear the vocals because the monitors for the front line were pretty far away from me.
Other than that, it was business as usual. I had to deal with the usual potato chip reed issue--I'm thinking about using plasticover reeds or something like that for outdoor events so I don't have to constantly try and wet and flatten those suckers. It's particularly noticeable because I don't play much saxophone on this gig (relative to the other things I'm doing). It's probably once every six songs, and by then they've totally dried out on me.
As we were starting one tune, I noticed the light flashing on the EWI indicating that the batteries were pretty much gone. Yikes! There was no time to change them out, so I turned it off and on throughout the tune to conserve energy. When that song ended, I had time to get out fresh batteries. Woo! Dodged a bullet.
We went down in the tunnel to head to the holding room next to the Braves dugout immediately before the game. Along the way we passed some old guy and a trophy-wife looking blonde, and a couple of other guys. It turned out it was Ted Turner (as in Turner Field Ted Turner, as in "I created CNN" Ted Turner!). Here's a casual shot over my shoulder. You're going to have to believe me.
We went into the room to wait the last few minutes, and in walks Ted Turner! He went to the bathroom, and then he stood in the middle of us and conducted while we practiced the Star Spangled Banner. Weird, weird, weird. I mean, it's Ted Turner.
We walked out and sang. No big deal. I'm not sure why I can't get nervous about stuff like that. I guess it was just us and some microphones.
Mark Bencuya!
From there, we went up and watched the game. Great seats! Here's the view.
Mark Cobb!
Mark Dannells and myself.
We left after eight innings to get back to the plaza. If the Braves won, we would play. If they lost, we would pack up. They lost.
Thank you Bobby Cox!
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