But first! We only made it as far as West Paces Ferry in Atlanta before we had to pull over with some kind of tire problem.
The caravan limped to Smyrna, GA for a repair. It turned out that the steel belt was separating from the rubber. We wouldn't have made it very far! The tire guys were able to replace it immediately, though, so it didn't slow us down very much.
On to Nashville. Beautiful room!
Easy gig! Dudes to load our gear in and out and a plethora of dressing rooms made it all very easy, and the tire issues didn't slow us down very much. Everybody played well, and the old guys seemed pretty happy with everything (not much bitching after the gig).
This day also happened to be Mark Cobb's birthday, and his parents came down from Indianapolis with cake. Happy birthday! There is no better drummer in Atlanta, and his playing was, as usual, impeccable.
Other things...cool to see one of my former clarinet teachers in the section for the Nashville Symphony.
This was on my phone.
Thursday: Our gear and luggage plus the old guys' luggage makes for a very full trailer.
Random pitstop in Tennessee.
We got back to Atlanta, reshuffled the gear (some of it going home, some of it going to rehearsal, some of it going to storage until Saturday), and set up for the big revival rehearsal on Friday.
New clarinet! Like I mentioned previously, I've lost all confidence in my Buffet, which I've had since I was a freshman in college. At the time, I bought it solely based on the fact that it was the standard professional clarinet that everybody owns (at one time or another). After putting up with its idiosyncrasies for twenty-whatever years, it's time for a change. Because the Buffet is such an internationally known standard, they can't make any major updates to it--the clarinet community would freak out--so they're stuck replicating flaws and outdated technology.
So...I bought a Yamaha. The intonation is better and it plays easier right out of the box.
