Thursday: we met up at Thunderbox, loaded our new trailer with it and all of our gear, and then headed to the airport. There, we pulled out our fly date gear for a one-nighter in Orlando. The van and the remainder of our gear headed on to North Carolina for Friday's event.
We had our first trouble flying with gear. No big surprise that it was at the Delta counter in Atlanta! We checked four keyboards, a bass guitar, and my saxophone case. The rules for musical instruments, according to Delta's own website and confirmed on FIVE separate occasions over the phone with Delta agents: total linear dimensions (length + width + depth) cannot exceed 115 inches, and total weight cannot exceed 100 pounds. The four keyboards and the bass were ok, but they challenged the dimensions of my sax case, saying it was oversized. We even tried to show them the print out from Delta's website (which they refused to look at--the main counter agent gave us the "talk to the hand"). Lots of surly attitude from her and pass-the-buck by her subordinate. To further delay us, the main person at the counter left us standing at the counter so she could get a tape measure to check my case (which, at a total linear dimension of 84 inches, is well under the 115 limit). She never came back--I can't decide whether she was trying to delay us more, or if she was saving face. The subordinate guy finally just put a tag on it and let it go (which they should have done fifteen minutes earlier). Thanks for the great customer service, Delta. Is it more frustrating that they don't know their own rules for musical instruments, or that they have such a combative attitude towards customers?
I slept on the plane, as usual. I woke up when we landed. Time machine!
After gathering our gear, we took a Disney bus to the resort. Based on his bizarre commentary the entire way there, I'm guessing he was very high.
We ate lunch and then loaded in for our gig, a corporate party in a hotel ballroom.
This gig was about average for a corporate show, though we did it as a six piece (Peter was on vacation), which caused some shuffling of vocal parts. We finished around 10 PM, and after loading out and moving our gear back to the hotel (and the mess of trying to have the bellman hold our gear until the next morning), we were in our rooms around midnight, which was good because the lobby call was 3:50 AM.
Friday: ugh. 3:50 AM and we were on the move again, this time back to Orlando International for our next flight.
We pulled up to the curb. The Delta agent immediately recognized us a band with gear, and checked everything through without a word. Give this man a raise!
The first leg of our trip took us back to Atlanta. I was asleep before we took off and woke when we hit the ground. Same for the second flight from Atlanta to Greensboro, NC. We checked into our rooms around noon and slept for around 4 more hours.
Our Friday gig was at the White Oak Amphitheatre, playing for the opening of the Central Carolina Fair. Great weather, great crew, and a beautiful venue! Unfortunately, nobody was there to see us. We played really well, though. Pete was back for this one. Monkey debuted his Vertex cable (price tag $130) in his guitar rig. It looks shark proof.
This gig was really sweet--I can't say enough about how nice everything was. I'd love to play here again. Hopefully, we'll have a bigger audience!
Saturday: we were out the door and on the road to Bluffton, SC, which is basically Hilton Head. We played a wedding reception at the Inn at Palmetto Bluff resort. Another beautiful setting, and some more really cool people. Easy stuff, as most wedding receptions are.
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Sunday: we drove home (listening to some crazy good radio stations!), which gave me a couple of hours to put gear away and get things ready for a gig at Steve's Live Music in Sandy Springs.
I played in a trio with Dustin Cottrell (piano) and Fuji Fujimoto (bass), backing up vocalist Gina Tenore. Even with the small crowd, it was a fun gig, mostly because I so rarely get called for a gig where I do nothing but play saxophone and orchestrate my own part. My horn felt great--I was inspired! Fuji made charts for everything, so everybody was on the same page. Good stuff.
