The last few weeks have had a good amount of variety, which is how I prefer it! Here's what happened:
Saturday, March 5, I played a duo gig in Waleska, GA with Bill Graham. Waleska is about an hour and a half north of Atlanta, up in the mountains (up 575, if you're local to the area). This was a New Orleans/Mardi Gras gig at a country club, even though it was four days after Mardi Gras, but whatever. We played jazz tunes for three hours, and it was great fun!
Bad GPS almost killed me, though, as this county club was in the back of a gated community, and the directions on my phone stopped about a half mile short of where they should've taken me. I turned around, drove back almost to the entrance, put in the address again, drove to the "wrong" spot again, drove back, got directions, went to a different place, tried GPS again, turned around again, asked somebody else again, got sent to a different place, got directions from someone else, finally got in touch with Bill (who was having similar issues but had finally figured it out), and finally landed in the parking lot right as the gig was supposed to begin. Damn! All good after about ten minutes, though.
They fed us after the gig (an enormous veggie burger and fries for me), which was a major bonus.
Two days later, Yacht Rock traveled to Orlando for a corporate gig.
Been here before...(you can reminisce here--this place was night 2 in that blog post).
Dinner was pretty excellent.
Dessert, also excellent.
This sucker was supposed to be outside, but Florida weather got us--the rain came right around when we were starting. Fortunately, the event had already been moved indoors to an enormous ballroom, so we were spared the hassle of packing up under duress. It was a really easy, gig, though. I think we played ninety minutes, if that. No big deal.
Speaking of packing up--holy hell--the loaders/local crew on the gig were WORTHLESS!
The view from my room after the gig. It did, indeed rain.
The following Friday, March 11, I played tenor with Bumpin' the Mango in Buford. I hadn't seen these guys in a couple of years, so it was great to reconnect with them. This was my first gig using a big iPad for charts, and it worked just fine (other than trying to wrestle my iPad clamp into a good position on the mic stand). Technology for the win!
We played at a place called Tannery Row in Buford, a big high ceiling, concrete floor kind of room next the railroad tracks. It felt pretty new, and sounded ok. Anyway, it's better than crowding onto a Wild Wing stage or something.
And I played great! I happened to be having a really good night (my chops are finally coming back together)--it felt like I rose to the occasion for this one.
Friday, March 18, Yacht Rock headed back to Florida, this time to Boca Raton. Our 11 AM flight out of Atlanta was delayed nearly an hour, though as a strong storm crossed through town right then. I, of course, slept through the whole rain delay and all the bumpy awfulness of the first hour of the flight. Basically, I zonked out pretty much as soon as they closed the door, and woke up on our initial descent into Ft. Lauderdale.
And I woke up to see that I had been seated next to a MADMAN who flew the whole way (I presume) with the window shade up! What kind of country is this! Come on, man! It's Florida! There's nothing to look at!
Our show was another corporate thing. Nice rooms here at The Boca Raton.
Nice spot for a gig. The weather at this time of year was perfect.
Another easy corporate thing. At first, it looked like we were going to be completely ignored the whole night, but in the last hour of the night, people finally began to congregate closer to us. And the crazy dancing drunk guy found his way to the front of the stage, which we all enjoyed immensely.
After the gig, I did my best to sleep, because I had to get back to Atlanta early the next day to squeeze in a rehearsal before our gig. Sooooo, up at 5:30 AM, in a Lyft at 5:45 AM, 30 minute car ride back to the Ft. Lauderdale airport, 25 minutes in line for a big ol' cup of coffee from Starbucks, got on the plane, passed out immediately, woke up on our initial descent into Atlanta, jumped off the plane, nobody on the plane train...
...nobody on the park and fly shuttle...
...went home, grabbed my flute, clarinet, alto, and iPad, drove to Kennessaw, did a 4 hour rehearsal for an upcoming musical (SpongeBob the Musical), drove back home, grabbed my Yacht Rock gear, drove to Venkman's, set up, went for a little run, changed clothes, and played the gig there.
Whew!
I thought I played really poorly on this show, but now that I look at the setlist, maybe not...maybe my brain was just fried at the end of a very long day, because other than the first song (our debut performance of Cool Change, which felt a little shaky on my end), and skipping over a song on the setlist, I can't really remember any really bad moments (except, maybe for some careless bongo playing in Two Tickets to Paradise). I had some good sax solos, so I suppose it was better than I thought.
I'm still loving the new the setup at Venkman's. We'll be back in April to do another night (maybe two?).
And the next day, I took part in a 5K (came in 3rd overall), and played another 4 hour SpongeBob rehearsal, so I was kind of wiped out by Sunday night.
In other news, Rob's got a new project out--The Peter Gabriel Tribute--and I played on Sledgehammer. Check it out!
Also, I made a couple of more little videos of my own.
After the big Jamaica trip, we resumed activity the following week at the Miami Boat Show in Miami Beach. It was great to see all of our gear again!
The weather was definitely going to be tricky--there were lots of little pop up showers blowing in off the ocean. It wasn't rain so much as mist, and it came and went quickly (we were starting to put away gear as the rain intensified, the DJ behind me looked out and said, "Don't bother. It's almost over"). They decided to tarp the stage after soundcheck just in case.
I went for a run. Wednesday afternoon at the beach is pretty quiet.
It occurred to me while running back towards the stage that Miami Beach is what the rest of the county thinks is Miami. Past and present residents know it's more like US-1, strip shopping malls, and endless canals as far as the eye can see!
The Art Deco thing is still really cool, though.
Back to the stage, hanging around, waiting for the gig to start. We were going to play 7:30-9:30, then it became 7-8, and then 7-8:30.
We got started for a small crowd, and then it started to spit rain a little bit, and everybody moved under the cover to our left, and over the course of about six songs, they dispersed, leaving us to play for four or five people! We stayed on stage for about fifty minutes before the gig was called.
In other news, my friend Steve Augeri released a new song, If You Want, that we recorded about a year ago. I recorded my part at home and emailed it, and we talked on the phone to make some adjustments. Why doesn't it happen this way more often? Anyway, the song turned out great. Enjoy!
Church gigs are back! The cathedral in Atlanta where I have been playing off and on for over twenty years finally allowed wind players back. Yay for that! My regular service with this group ended March 15, 2020, in the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
This gig is a great way to keep my flute chops in shape. I was actually kind of nervous at the beginning--the style is somewhere between folk and classical, and so I fret much more about intonation and phrase endings and stuff that doesn't bother me when Yacht Rock plays Lowdown.
Also happening right now, I've been writing horn parts for a friend's Christmas album. The rhythm section parts are recorded and then sent to me, and I've been stacking lots of saxophones! Here's a bit of one of them, called Snowfall.
More of these to come as I crank them out!
In the world of Yacht Rock, things are slow for the next couple of weeks--just fine with us, as Nick is out with a ruptured Achilles tendon. In a couple of weeks we hit the road again, with subs, until he's able to hobble out and sit on a stool. It may be until the end of the summer before he's sidestepping again.
