I was sure by Saturday night my head would explode. Too many new parts jammed into my head too quickly. Somehow, I came through just fine.
A couple of hours of practice on Friday night left me feeling pretty good about my situation, and I still felt good on stage at the Variety before and during soundcheck. I had played through every song on the setlist by the time we finished our preparations--I was ready!
The first set went really well for me. Once again, I had that very aware feeling that I was playing well--kind of like the voice in my head was content to just sit there and listen. Every song that came up was no big deal. I had no issues, no major space outs where I couldn't remember the next chord. In fact, I was kind of chomping at the bit--I was anticipating the next section before I got there. Pretty cool.
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| Lost Boys, Karate Kid, Back to the Future, Teen Wolf, Raising Arizona, Top Gun, Back to the Future |
The second set started the way the first one ended. I was confident in what I was doing. Maybe three songs in, I picked up my saxophone for I Want a New Drug. First disaster! I never turned my microphone on--I was looking at Beth the whole time. When it got to the big saxophone part, I couldn't hear myself at all, and it hit me that I had just screwed up…please let it be somebody else's fault! Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the monitor guy leap into action, looking for a signal he wasn't getting, but I knew what the problem was. Ugh. I kept playing, hoping for a miracle. My thinking was that if I stopped playing the line and turned on my mic, I would lose my place and not be able to do it. I was also hoping against all odds that it was somebody else's fault. So…damnit!…I finished the line, they went into the next verse, and I looked down and my wireless pack was off. I fucked up. AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!
From there, the voice in my head was ON SPEED! I was doing all kinds of internal damage control, trying to convince myself that my mindlessness had not destroyed the gig. AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH! I missed the transition from I Want a New Drug into Ghostbusters. AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH! My concentration bubble had just burst.
A few songs later, my head had quieted down, I was sure that it was FUNNY! and not the epic failure that I knew it was, Mark Cobb would not be glaring at me, and it really didn't sound that bad…right? Nobody noticed except the band, right?..AAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH! Anyway, we got into Time of my Life, and I was on it and not screwing up, and we got to the sax solo…the crowd went wild, and I was major pentatonic man, woohoo!…except that I didn't get back to the keyboard in time to play the brass lick that ends it (if you know the song…C A F#, D B G, E C A, F# D, G E)…oops. Dannells was not happy that I had left him hanging. Sorry. Another disaster. The rest of the song was fine.
In fact, the rest of the gig was fine. I felt fine (not great, but fine) about the rest of the night. Sweet Freedom was a bitch, but I got through it with no blunders. We finished with Take Me Home, and we left the stage one by one, Nick Pete, Dannells, me, Bencuya, Greg, and Cobb, so the last thing was just the loop going.
Some pics:
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| Greg Lee! |
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| I love Mark Dannells |
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| my world |
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| Captain Freeman, version 2. |
A few hours later I stumbled into my church gig. Pretty easy stuff these days. John Hancotte subbed on bass.
Sunday afternoon, Yacht Rock played a wedding. Looking at the setlist, it felt like I hadn't touched any of the songs in months. It was kind of weird. Maybe I'd had too much champagne beforehand--Dannells and I were drinking champagne in water goblets because there was no other liquor at the wedding. The gig was only an hour and a half (7:30-9). I wish they were all like that! I was in bed by 10:30.
Easy week ahead.
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