Day of the Donkey

Yacht Rock was fortunate to have not one but two gigs yesterday (Saturday).  Yay!

The first gig was an open house for Creative Circus, which is an Atlanta school for graphic designers.  We were on stage behind the building in kind of a spot where you'd expect to be a loading dock (but there was no dock)--just a large open area under a tin roof.  Since you could pull right up to the stage, load in and load out were pretty easy.

If I'm remembering correctly, this gig had four donkeys on the sound crew.

This was a pretty easy, albeit strange, gig.  I guess there were about fifty people back there, and they sat and watched from afar.  We played one set of just over an hour of music.  It was a pretty easy gig.

I got both my main and alto and tenor repaired this week, and Saturday was my first chance to play them (I got them back Friday evening).  In my hurry, I'd swapped the saxophone bodies but kept the necks from both my back up horns.  Guess what?  The octave keys didn't fit the same--I played my entire solo on Taking it to the Streets with the octave key slightly open.  Ugh.  My fault.

The second gig was at the Fox in the Egyptian Ballroom.  Even though we tried to delay our load in so the catering company could finish using the freight elevator, we still sat outside for fifteen minutes while they sent stuff up.  That turned out to be the worst of it, though.

Kip ran sound, and he had two donkeys.

The sound was soooooooooo much better than the last time we were in the Egyptian Ballroom.  I wish we could take Kip with us everywhere.

This gig was a two set affair for a law firm party.  Everybody played well--it was nice, loose gig following the warm up at Creative Circus.  My horns, after the octave key adjustment, played great.  After the weird EWI touch sensitivity thing (which came up again last week in California at the wedding), I am totally scared to death of my EWI.  It was fine on both gigs, but I'm just waiting for it to make me look bad.

Load out was not painful at all.  I was surprised.  We'll be back the night before Thanksgiving, and (assuming Kip is running sound) I'm looking forward to it.

Also, the pay-for-your-parking machine in the AT&T lot did not work, but the call button did.  Whomever answered my call let me out without paying.  Yay for that.

Upcoming shows!

September 13, Greensboro Coliseum (Greensboro, NC)
September 15, Steve's Live Music (Atlanta, GA)--me playing with jazz vocalist Gina Tenore
September 26, Smith's Olde Bar (Atlanta, GA)--Sazerac show
September 27, Park Tavern (Atlanta, GA)
October 5, Music City Southern Hot Wing Festival (Nashville, TN)
October 10, State Theatre (Falls Church, VA)
October 11, Gramercy Theatre (New York, NY)
October 12, Rams Head On Stage (Annapolis, MD)
October 13, Visualite Theatre (Charlotte, NC)
October 19, Variety Playhouse (Atlanta, GA)
October 31, Georgia Theater (Athens, GA)
November 1, Music Farm (Charleston, SC)
November 8, Smith's Olde Bar (Atlanta, GA)--Please Pleaserock Me
November 17, House of Blues (San Diego, CA)
November 27, Egyptian Ballroom (Atlanta, GA)
December 14, Variety Playhouse (Atlanta, GA)