a few pictures:
a video of the National Anthem:
Acknowledge and move on.
Thursday began at the Ritz (as it should). We got up and drove back to Atlanta, and went ahead and set our gear in the 10 High so as not to deal with it later. Smooth move.
Thursday night we met up again and carpooled over to Ventanas for the Creative Loafing "Best of Atlanta 2010" party. We played a one our set on about half our usual gear (I was on one keyboard and saxophones--no EWI, Bencuya brought his Wurly and left both his keyboards at the 10 High). Who could tell the difference, anyway? It was fun and easy. The Red Bull and Vodkas were free. I did the best I could to keep up.
That show wasn't too bad. I couldn't hear a single note I played (on keyboard), as there were no keyboard amps. I played by sight and hoped it sounded correct.
On saxophone, I had to chuck my tenor reed--it just wasn't happening.
Sometimes you just have to give up on it. It was dull and dead and kind of mushy, even though it was fairly new. I do work on my reeds to balance them and make them play as efficiently as I can, but at some point I think you have to throw them away if they're not working. I can always hear (even in a reed that's not there yet), whether there's something in there, or it's just a crappy piece of cane.
We moved over to the 10 High (after a brief spot on the red carpet).
The set there was pretty good. It didn't get very sloppy, so it was pretty fun. I kept my amp turned down--it occurred to me that every week I push the volume up higher and higher, and I'm blowing out my left ear. I think I'm seeing (hearing) the light.
We started the set with Heart Hotels. I've got my keyboard part down. My Michael Brecker part is still a work in progress--because it's usually the only spot where I improvise a solo the entire night (pretty much every other solo is whatever was played on the record) I tend to go crazy and try and play an entire gig's worth of notes. I need to relax. They're major seventh chords! Calm down!
Perhaps you've heard this beautiful mashup of Imagine and Jump. Here's a version by the great Mark Dannells!
