Yacht Rock was on the road this past weekend. Lots of driving in the rain, almost raining, or recently stopped raining. We also played shows in Falls Church, VA (Washington DC area), New York City, Annapolis, and Charlotte.
Wednesday: We drove all afternoon and night (in the rain) to get to Arlington, VA, where we camped for the night in a hotel. Arriving around 1 AM, we just missed witnessing a hit pedestrian on the opposite street corner.
Thursday: More rain, so we spent the day hanging out until our show at the State Theatre in Falls Church, VA.
I think this was our best crowd at the State Theatre--maybe 150 people? It looked decently full for a Thursday night with crappy weather.
I opened my sax case to find that the screw that holds the bottom of my EWI on had fallen off. Great! Gaff tape to the rescue, and hopefully everything holds together until I can get home. My tenor also felt stuffy, like I was only getting part of each note. It was most definitely a leak. Also nothing I could really address until we get back to Atlanta. Until then, blow harder and squeeze harder! Not the way I wanted to start this run of shows.
Friday: we were supposed to leave Arlington at 10:30 AM, but the van was blocked in by two random assholes. The hotel said that we were parked on city property, so Arlington would have to tow it. Arlington came and checked it out, and said that the hotel should tow it (and then left). The hotel said that if the city would give a written statement saying that it was the hotel's problem, the hotel would call a tow truck. After a one hundred minute delay, we decided to try and wiggle out (and if we caused any damage to either car, so be it). Immediately, some jerk came running from across the street to move the car behind us.
We stopped outside of Baltimore for food. This place is great!
The trip up to New York had more rain. It also took us about six hours, leaving us about an hour to load in, set up, and soundcheck before the doors opened. Who wants some stress before a big show in New York City?
This show was, of course, really great. New York brings out the best in us. I believe there were around 450 people there. Unlike last time, I don't think any of them were having sex during our show.
Saturday: we awoke in Secaucus, NJ, and headed down the New Jersey Turnpike (in the sunshine!) for our next gig in Annapolis, MD. Dear Secaucus: why does my spell check think you are misspelled? Neither my phone nor my desktop like your name.
Nice weather for the drive (for a change!).
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| Sopranos reference |
Our show was at Rams Head in Annapolis. Rick Springfield also plays shows at Rams Head. We're in good company.
We loaded in and sound checked and then the rain began. It finally let up before we started our gig.
Coming from the Grammercy, we were a bit skeptical of the room we were playing--this Rams Head looks more like a comedy club than a concert venue. They added a dance floor for us, but it was off to the side of the stage (behind me). Everywhere else there were tables and chairs. For the first half of the show, people sat and listened intensely, and there was silence before each song. Later on (when the BeeGees stuff came on), a line of people hit the dance floor and it remained pretty full for the remainder of the gig. It was cool, though, that people were checking us out--listening to us play!--instead of drunkenly screaming at us at every opportunity.
This crowd was different (and a good bit older, on average), but they were very appreciative and enthusiastic. We took lots of pictures and made lots of friends.
Sunday: our trip down to Charlotte was not too bad, though the rain came and went repeatedly. We hit another good Mexican restaurant in Durham.
We hadn't played the Visulite Theatre (home of the long delay on the vocals) in a while--the last time was immediately after a severe ice storm. This time we were up against it being a Sunday night, and apparently Queen City Church.
Not a bad show! The front of house guy still likes a lot of delay, but the stage sounded good, and we played pretty well. There were a 125 people there, I'd guess--a decent crowd for that size room.
We ended the night with a trip to Waffle House.
Monday: we drove home. The end of the road.
Coming from the Grammercy, we were a bit skeptical of the room we were playing--this Rams Head looks more like a comedy club than a concert venue. They added a dance floor for us, but it was off to the side of the stage (behind me). Everywhere else there were tables and chairs. For the first half of the show, people sat and listened intensely, and there was silence before each song. Later on (when the BeeGees stuff came on), a line of people hit the dance floor and it remained pretty full for the remainder of the gig. It was cool, though, that people were checking us out--listening to us play!--instead of drunkenly screaming at us at every opportunity.
This crowd was different (and a good bit older, on average), but they were very appreciative and enthusiastic. We took lots of pictures and made lots of friends.
Sunday: our trip down to Charlotte was not too bad, though the rain came and went repeatedly. We hit another good Mexican restaurant in Durham.
We hadn't played the Visulite Theatre (home of the long delay on the vocals) in a while--the last time was immediately after a severe ice storm. This time we were up against it being a Sunday night, and apparently Queen City Church.
Not a bad show! The front of house guy still likes a lot of delay, but the stage sounded good, and we played pretty well. There were a 125 people there, I'd guess--a decent crowd for that size room.
We ended the night with a trip to Waffle House.
Monday: we drove home. The end of the road.
