Sin and Salvation

The gigs continue!  Following Thursday's Eddie Money experience, we played a wedding reception, a dive bar, and a church parking lot.

Saturday:  We played a friend of the band's wedding in Johns Creek.  Nothing unusual about this reception to report, though the crowd was waaaaaaay above average in looks.  Also, the pre-gig meal was excellent.  The only crappy thing about this gig was the load in/out.  At the end of the night, pushing our gear through down a wet, dirty hallway with broken glass was kind of crappy.

Sunday:  Up at the crack of dawn to fly to Dallas, TX for a gig.  We played a birthday party at a dive bar near SMU.  The guy in the seat next to me transformed into a mummy soon after we took off.

Thankfully, we had no problems with Delta even though we were flying a ton of gear--four keyboards, my sax box (with 2 saxes, EWI, flute, piccolo, and 2 sax stands), and a bass guitar checked.  Maybe our hometown airline is getting it together?  The guy mentioned something about my case being overweight but ok, and with a little research I found out that Silver medallion members (our company credit card) have a higher weight allowance (70 lbs) which extends to everyone on the reservation.  A ha!  That's going to be our first point in the argument with Delta counter people from now on, as the language on the Delta website is very clear.

We landed at DFW and one of those Mercedes sprinter vans picked us up.  Very cool.  I wish we had one of these.

We had plenty of down time before load in, so after lunch at Urban Taco (excellent!) I took a stroll around the SMU campus.  

Wish I'd known the pool was open!

So, the bar...much like the 10 High in Atlanta (that is not a compliment).  The steps to the stage were a couple of glassware trays with gaffe tape.  

made out of these

The sound guy misread the stage plot and wired the inputs and monitors backwards--a mirror image of the stage.  We set up normally anyway.

The stage sound was not good.  There were a couple of resonant notes in this corner of the room, and when Greg would play a G or a Bb they were three times as loud as everything else.  I guess the sound guy didn't know how to get rid of that.  We also had a few squeaky microphones and ever changing monitor levels.  I think the sound guy might have been a little overwhelmed.  Another instance where it would probably be worth the expense to bring our own sound man.  

Shannon Pengelly subbed on guitar with us and did a fine job.

We haven't played a gig on a stage like this in a long time.  I can't say that I miss it.

The most significant part of this experience was the male stripper who popped/fell out of the giant cake and gave the birthday girl a dance on stage.  This was a first!

I'm not the only one taking a solo in this picture

Monday:  5:30 AM lobby call for our ride back to the airport.  Once again, no problems checking our gear.  The guy didn't even weigh the sax box--he just asked me how heavy it was.  I rounded down.

Our next gig was a fundraiser at a church in Buckhead, playing a concert in their parking lot.  Shortly after load in, the sky opened up, and we thought that the gig might get canceled.  

Eventually the weather cleared up and the gig went off without a hitch.  We had Matt Reed and the dude from the Shadowboxers (Matt) on the gig.  Both Monkey and Pete are on vacation this week.

Whew!  We have a few days off before our next show--Friday at the NC Music Factory in Charlotte.

Rock Show in Orlando

What an amazing experience!  Yacht Rock backed up several bonafide rock gods for a corporate event in Orlando Thursday night.  Eddie Money.  Jeff Carlisi (.38 Special).  Gary Wright (Dreamweaver).  Bill Champlin (Chicago).  Steve Augeri (Journey).  Epic.  Incredible.  Unforgettable.

Here's how it all went down.

Wednesday:  We were back at the Buckhead Theatre for another event--this time some sort of liquor distributor convention.  One set in the afternoon.  To say that the crowd was not interested in what we were doing would be an understatement.  Usually that would open the door for us to be silly, but this gig remained pretty tame.

I'm not sure what happened before we came on stage, but there were feathers on my keyboard

Whatever was going on last week where my hands wouldn't work is gone.  I'm back to normal.

Afterwards, Hans and Pete loaded the trailer.

The rest of us were no help.

Hans took us to the airport and we headed to Orlando.

Out of the van and straight into a late night rehearsal in one of the largest convention halls I've ever seen.

The first thing Eddie Money said to me:  "How come all you bald guys are getting all the pussy?"  I answered "Why don't you shave your head and find out?"

Thursday:  In the afternoon we had a quick rehearsal and then dinner, and then it was time to play!

Jeff Carlisi, Eddie Money, and Gary Wright

Eddie Money served as MC, and got the show started with Two Tickets to Paradise and Baby Hold On to Me.  Right as we were beginning the latter, I realized that I'd forgotten to pitch my keyboard down, so I missed the downbeat.  Ugh!  All these old guys have lowered the keys on their hits.  It wouldn't be the first time this bit me in the butt.

Next up was Jeff Carlisi of .38 Special, who ripped through So Caught Up in You and Hold on Loosely.  Before he could get going, though, his amp died.

Once he got set on another amp, they rocked it.

We played a couple by ourselves.  The horn riff going into the first chorus of Rosanna?  Wrong key--I failed to bring my keyboard back to C.  Nice going.  We followed that with What a Fool Believes.  At least I got that one right.

Up next was Gary Wright.  We opened with Love is Alive.  He then played Dreamweaver.  There was a track (Nick, Cobb, Greg, and Bencuya playing along).

Pete didn't play on Dreamweaver either

Yacht Rock followed that with Africa.

Next up was Bill Champlin, probably best known as for his tenure with Chicago.  He was also a pretty major session musician and writer, penning After the Love is Gone and the first tune we played with him on this night, Turn Your Love Around.  He followed that up with the Chicago tune Look Away.  I didn't get any pictures of Bill on stage;  I find him so casually intimidating that I never thought to relax and pick up my camera.

Yacht Rock was back for Rich Girl.  Once again, my keyboard was in the wrong key.  Champlin had been down a whole step on both of his songs.

Eddie came back and sang Shakin' and Take Me Home Tonight.  A cool moment for me--all seven measures of saxophone solo!

The final star of the evening was Steve Augeri, formerly of Journey.  He came out and did Separate Ways, Any Way You Want It, and Don't Stop Believin'.

The gig was supposed to be over, but the crowd requested an encore, so we gave them Footloose.  Monkey started on his tuned down guitar.  Glad to know somebody else can screw that up too.

What a night, both as a band member and a fan of all of these guys!