Down in Castle Rock

Another gig! This time, we flew to Denver to play an outdoor, socially distanced show at an amphitheater. 

The flight was reeeeaaaaaalllly early--8:15 AM takeoff, which put us in Denver at 9:30 or something. Brutal! My schedule as of late has been nowhere close to this.

Anyway, the van picked us up. Our first stop was a dispensary. Legal weed! Woo! I...stayed outside. Not my thing.

From there, we drove to the city of Castle Rock, where the gig was happening, and would you believe they had an Indian restaurant! I haven't had Indian food since March, so this was a treat. I did eat indoors, which made me a little nervous, but the place was almost empty (one other table in use), so I risked it. Aloo gobi (potatoes and cauliflower).

The amphitheater where we played was at a complex built in a valley. There was zip lining, an obstacle course, a soccer field, mountain bike trails, and a playground. Pretty cool. We were early for setting up gear, so I went for a little run around the trails.

Here's the stage. Very cool looking (though it faced west and got very warm during soundcheck. The fencing around the front kept the audience far enough away from us that we weren't in any danger.

The gig was, overall, really good, and it was nice to play for people again! However, I am not sure how successful the promoters were in keeping people masked and socially distanced. I don't know...maybe it was ok? 

I played pretty well. The gig was only ninety minutes long, which limited the damage I could do. 

I still haven't figured out how anyone plays saxophone in Denver. I brought a few different strengths of reeds to help with the altitude, but I ended up using the same reeds I've been on at home. My horns felt super dead, though. It was fine through a microphone, but bleah...nothing vibrated. There was just about no feedback through the horn.

The next morning, we met up at 6 AM to get back to the airport. Guzzled some coffee, got on the plane, fell asleep, woke up on our initial descent into Atlanta. It was almost normal.

 

Cape Cod

Another pandemic road trip! This time, Yacht Rock headed up to Cape Cod to play another drive-in show.

Lots of space on the plane to Boston. I am thankful that Delta isn't putting people in the middle seat these days. Keisha went all the way across from me to maximize the distance. Also, I am pleased to report that my mask did not affect my ability to fall asleep!

The guys and the gear met us at the airport and took us to the nearest Chipotle. Then, onward to Cape Cod!

Sooooo, here we go. A true drive in theater in Yarmouth, Massachusetts. Cars drive in, take their parking spots, and tune their radios to a particular frequency in order to hear the band. No PA stacked along the stage, no amps on stage. Without a radio, all you would hear is drums, a little bit of singing, and the occasional saxophone.

How was the gig? Pretty good, all things considered. We recently played a few recorded shows for private events, and those were much more of a grind. This felt a lot closer to a normal show, even with the oddities of cars and no PA. I definitely played better on this one.

As you might expect, there was plenty of horn honking and flashing headlights from the two hundred or so cars. With multiple people in each car, that's actually a solid turnout!

The next day, we flew home. This is the airport in Boston on a Saturday morning. Where is everybody?

About the only thing open in the airport was Dunkin' Donuts. Good thing. Caffeine is an essential part of every morning.

On the flight home, it was announced that our pilot was retiring. I'm guessing maybe it was probably retirement vs. probable furlough? It's not going well for the airline industry, either.

It looks like we're headed to Denver in a week to do another one. I'm glad we can do a few of these while the weather still makes it possible.