The Captain is Drunk

Yacht Rock was weird last night. We added Hot Child in the City, which was cool--nice to add a new tune, and it went over well. We'd worked out the ending (the full length version, not the version that ends with just voices), but when we tried it on the gig, somebody tripped and it all went to hell for about five beats and then Mark Cobb counted us back in. Woah!

The on stage sound last night was kind of weird. It was like there was no bass and very little highs, so there was just this midrange-y thing. It's not that we were playing poorly (in the first set), but it just felt weird. I don't know what else to say. Some nights the sound is really full, but tonight it seemed kind of empty.

On the break, several band members shared a round of "car bombs"--liquor dropped in a beer (like a sake bomb). Let's say that the second set did not go particularly well. Lots of random (and bizarre) stuff going down. At one point (about three or for songs in), Ganesh called it over the mic--"ladies and gentlemen, we are drunk." And that was how it went from there on it.

It's hard to say how it sounded overall. I played pretty well, and Mark Dannells played some terrific guitar stuff, and past that I really don't know. It was hard to hear the bass. Mark Bencuya's keyboards are always fine--he's one of those guys who might mess up, but you never hear the mistakes. Mark Cobb was all over the place--some good and some out of control.

We're at Andrews tonight. I'm hoping for some magic! We (Yacht Rock) are always making excuses for the crowd--it was full because school's back, it's not full because all the summer people went back to school, it's full because nobody wants to come see us at Andrews, it's not full because everybody's waiting to see us at Andrews. Last night was a little thinner that usual, so that must mean it's going to packed tonight! I'll really be fine either way. I'm more interested in having some really good musical moments. There's some boredom seeping into our show.

Good Luck Ganesh

Last night we had Ganesh Giri Jaya subbing on drums for Mark Cobb. Ganesh is our good luck charm--he has subbed with us on multiple occasions, and we always do better than usual on the money side. He never fails! Things were pretty smooth. I'm trying to thing of something interesting to say, but nothing really happened. No tragic gear failures, no weird crowd stuff, no nothing. The only distaster I can think of is that in Africa I missed the pedal and messed up the second half of the solo. So that was a bad four measures. That was about it. We did have a near disaster--on the second tune, I slid out into the center of the stage for a solo. At that same moment, Nick pointed in my direction by punching his fist to his right (with the microphone in his hand!). I narrowly avoided getting slugged in the temple! His hand grazed my hat. Woah! That was close.

Lonely Boy

Let's see...

Sunday night I had my usual church gig. I wore a new suit and got lots of comments about it. Nothing more to report there. I got the suit on sale.

After that I ran over to Tucker for a quick recording session for Nathan Beaver's next record. I nice tune--something about was sort of Lyle Lovett-ish to me. Anyway, Mike Barry (trumpet) and I cranked it out. In an hour we'd triple tracked it (including me going back and laying alto in with the tenor), so yeah, it was a super easy session. Have I mentioned that there were charts, and how grateful I am when there are charts at a recording session? It's almost like you had a plan before we got there!

Two people from my Sunday church gig played a wedding Saturday morning and used my iRiver to record their efforts. I partially edited the audio--I gave up at 4 AM. A couple of more hours during the day on Monday and it was done. It took that long because I was messing around with reverbs, EQ, compression, and a little pitch correction. Raw audio out of board can be a little naked and harsh.

Yesterday was Monday, which means that in addition to laundry, it was back to teaching time. With the exception of my first two students, I don't think anyone else had put much time in to his or her lesson preparation. Lots and lots of B.S., lots and lots of excuses, and they were all one right after another. I'm not saying that nobody practiced--I'm saying they didn't practice enough.

Jack spent the afternoon at my parents' house, so when I finished teaching I ran over there and picked him up. By the time we got home, it was around 10 PM, and then it took an hour to get Jack to go to bed. I watched half of Mad Men and gave up for the night.

My latest musical obsession is Lonely Boy by Andrew Gold. It's an old Yacht Rock tune that we haven't touched in months. I probably like it because I can play the piano part, but whatever--it's a great tune! I love you, Andrew Gold, for that song.
I pointed out to a high school student of mine that Andrew Gold also wrote Thank You for Being a Friend, and that it was the theme to Golden Girls, and he had no idea what I was talking about. It's probably a good thing, because that show was really stupid.

Yachts are for Rich People

Yacht Rock played some guy's 40th birthday party last night at his neighborhood pool clubhouse. Very impressive. A significant upgrade over my neighborhood, my pool, and my pool's clubhouse! If I had the money to throw myself a birthday party like that, I would not spend the money on stuff like that. That's how rich these people must be.

The band purchased a pair of amplifiers for the main PA, and last night was their first test. Passed with flying colors! We were upstairs in a room with a wood floor, lots of windows, and a high ceiling. Loud would be an understatement. One of those nights when I could feel my hearing getting crushed...in twenty years when my ears are totally shot, I'll look back on a night like this when I raped my ears and my plugs were in a bag not six feet away. Nice going, Freeman.

Anyway, we were loud. It was fun, and the sound was actually pretty clear. It was a smooth sonic boom. Mark Bencuya (our keyboardist) said he could hear everything I was doing for a change. Usually I guess he hears me waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off in the distance. For some reason (room acoustics or the PA), he was able to pick up on my stuff. I hope that hearing me helps reassure him that I've radically improved in covering the parts. I think he's probably more concerned about the second keyboard situation than anybody else in the band--maybe last night will help to let him know that it's working just fine.

I bet I played as much on the keyboard as I did on saxophone last night. How weird is that? I used the band's Nord Electro running through my rig. It is sweet. You hear people moan and groan about weighted keys on a keyboard...it definitely helps with touch. I guess a little resistance there is a good thing. I dug it. Unless something catastrophic happens in the next three or four months, I'd bet I'll be investing in a Nord, assuming things continue with the current band situation and playing this much keys. The Nord's sounds are really sweet (and accurate for things like a phased Rhodes). I feel like I graduated from trying to cover the parts to being the guy in the second keyboard position.
The other night I bought a slightly bigger mixer for running the sax, EWI, and two keyboards into my powered monitor. I have a little Mackie, but I'm one channel short, so I bought a Yamaha board that had a couple more channels. It's going back to the store today. I think that the preamps are kind of lame compared to the Mackie. I had the gain almost wide open, and the channel faders almost wide open. I grabbed the Yamaha over a similar Mackie because it was $50 cheaper, but I think I'm going to go back and get the Mackie. My head is telling me I'm not going to be satisfied with what I've got here.

I've got my church gig tonight and then a recording session for Will Robertson. Will is awesome! He writes the horn arrangements, then sends you pdfs of the charts and an audio mock-up. The horns are able to walk in there and knock it out because the charts work and we've heard the tune already. I wish everybody could be like Will. That's the way to do it. It works great on both ends--the players get the work done faster, and the arranger gets the right notes without having to hunt for the right harmony notes.

Ahh...Thursday

I've woken up really early today, and I'm alone in a dimly lit room watching a SportsCenter rerun...it's like being in a hotel room, except I'm at home.

I was really excited about Thursday's Yacht Rock because I was borrowing a Nord Electro for the tunes where I played organ, piano, or rhodes. Very cool. I usually mix my sax, EWI, and keyboard with a small Mackie mixer, and I thought I'd be able to add the Nord in there too. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to put both keyboards into the stereo channel like I thought I could. Bummer. Therefore, the Nord went to the house and was heard through a nearby (but mostly inaudible) monitor. It was a major disappointment...I only heard a handful of notes that I played. Mostly I just watched my hands. Even worse, when I jumped from the Nord to my Triton, the latter was super loud because it was jacked up in my personal amp.

One funny thing...during the fourth song of the night, some drunk guy in the front row, fell face first onto the stage. Just splat, right on his face. Then he laid there. In a couple of seconds, a bouncer came and picked him up and got him out of there. And the band played on! It was so funny, though, that I completely lost track of where we were in the song.

Yesterday (Friday) we went to the zoo. Jack ran us around there. I think he had a good time!

After that I headed down to Avatar to record the Yacht Rock Christmas song. I don't think I should give out any details, except to say that it sounds really good. I got there and hung around for about three hours before they got to my part. I "read" many many Playboys, Gun magazines, and Guitar magazines. Mostly Playboys.

On the way home I stopped by Sam Ash and bought a slightly bigger mixer (to avoid the Nord problem from Thursday). I bought a two tiered keyboard stand too, but I don't really like it. I'm going to take it back and get one from Guitar Center.

Yacht Rock is playing a party in Sandy Springs/Buckhead tonight. It's indoors, so I don't think we'll suffer like we did last weekend in the heat.

The Who's on the Boat

Let me begin with the end of the gig...a big thank you to the two super hot lesbians who were dancing right in front of me through the encore. I enjoyed that.

The encore was Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who). It was very well played, but I wish we had done something where I actually had a part to play. This song choice was a flip of the bird to our audience...we're always seesawing back and forth between giving the people what they came for and trying to annoy everyone in the room. Even though it went over well, this was more of the latter--we will not give you more Yacht Rock! Anyway, it was cool to hear it, but not much fun for me because I swung a tambourine until it ended.

I had a great night playing. It was easily the best Yacht Rock gig I've played in the past five or six dates. That was a relief. If you were betting on what would go wrong with the EWI last night, I'm here to inform you that I think the USB cable might have been the thing. I had no issues with it at all. Thank God. I'd sure like to get past the constant fear that it will crap out on me at a crucial moment.
I played last night with charts (technically, I did double check where the string lick started Love is Alive, but I wasn't staring at a piece of paper). I was down to a handful of things that Brandon used to play, and I needed to play then correctly a few more times to get them in my head. It sure is nice when you can get off the page, particularly on gig like that where it's a show, and we're expected to interact with each other and the crowd. Another way to think of it is that I can't be dancing around and then try and look down to pick up where I am in the chart. It's tough to do. Add sunglasses, and you're in trouble.
Tim Smith (of Sheryl Crow's band) came and hung out last night (Peter Stroud might have been there, too, for a little while, but I didn't see him). When you think about it, it's pretty wild to be that close to an international act--the layers between our band and their band are so few, it's not inconceivable that someone from our circle could be tapped to join Sheryl Crow's band. I'm not saying I expect it; it is worth noting that it's not a big leap between here and there.

Post-gig I heard multiple comments from band members about the show (first set ok, second set was a mess). I'm not sure what to make of that. Was my playing not what I thought it was (not likely--I think at this point I know what I'm capable of doing, and if I feel like it's working, I have faith that it is), or is my part musically irrelevant enough that even if I'm having a good night (or a bad one), it has no effect on the overall show, or would it be explained away that even though I played well, overall we were pretty limp and that's what the comments were referring to? It's tough to say, but does get my wheels turning a bit... am I still just hanging out and playing sax solos (and the rest is just self-amusement)? Sometimes it feels like I'm just along for the ride.

Ahh, but the EWI may be fixed! Stay positive!

Andrews Upstairs

We played Andrews Upstairs last night. It was PACKED! We did well.

In general things went better than the night before (when I sucked real bad). The only song that really bit me in the butt was I Just Wanna Stop. The song started before I got to the keyboard, and so I chased the chords for most of it. I think I played alot of A Maj 11. A big mush of tonality! The other thing that was kind of funny (to me): on Love Will Keep Us Together, I had the idea on the way over that I would play the clav part on the keyboard so I wouldn't have to dance between sounds quite so much--the idea being that I could play the EWI stuff one handed and the clav part one handed. First time I tried it, I had the wrong hand on the keyboard, so I couldn't play the right note on the EWI. Second time I tried it, when I played the note on the keyboard, I instictively blew air into the EWI! Ahh! Next time, I'll have it down. It did solve a problem I was having--I just have to get the kinks ironed out.

Oh yeah, one other thing...in Rosanna, I play the synth solo, and then as soon as that's over I jump to the organ part, and while I'm playing organ, I have to use my foot pedal to dial back to my horn section patch. Well, I missed the right number on the horns, and so I got no sound for about 8 measures while I tried to figure out what had gone wrong. Oops. It's such a schizophrenic gig for me (play keyboard for 8 measures, play the horn part, pick up the saxophone, go back to the keyboard), that sometimes I lose coordination and get stretched too thin.

I'm off the Athens to play a wedding in a little bit. Time to go!

Seasickness

Last night was a strange one, and not in a particularly good way.

From about Tuesday night on, I've been dealing with a cold, giving me some snot, some body ache, and sinus headaches for a few days. Because of that, I've been laying low, trying to sleep and let my body do it's thing in destroying whatever this is.
My problem with this (other than feeling run down), is that I did not devote the time to practicing for the gig--going over and over my parts so I get them right the first time. Therefore, I had lots of strange little mistakes all night. Nothing major, but I was permanently a couple of seconds behind where I needed to be, so I wasn't able to anticipate things well. I was groggy.
This is also why I will be building my setup in the garage in an hour and playing through everything.

Special thanks to the group of women who showered me with attention, even though I denied their repeated requests to take my shirt off.

At some point in the first set, whatever Nick ate for supper decided to try and kill him, and he causually came over at one point to let Dannells and me know that he might throw up on us. Wonderful. So we had that working against us, too. By the time he left, he looked really rough. Hopefully he was able to let go of whatever was bothering him.

One cool thing that happened: we whipped up a tribute for John Hughes, 80s movie maker--we played "Don't You Forget About Me". It was super cool. Awesome song, and an awesome moment. I hope we get to hit that one again tonight.

The show must go on! We're at Andrews Upstairs tonight, beginning around 10:30 PM. Tonight will be better.

My Arms Hurt

My arms are sore from lots of playing/practicing. The same sort of stuff I used to encounter in college from time to time--tender forearms and elbows. That's never a good feeling, and it's especially bad considering the amount of stuff I need to play before the end of the week.

Speaking of pains in my arms, my left arm has hurt right in the spot where you'd have a patch on your shoulder. It's been that way for a few days. My bet is because I was practicing me tennis serve. It feels like somebody drove a nail into the top of my bicep. It didn't get any better with me swimming back and forth the length of the pool today. Something in that over the top motion is not happy.

Late Night Yacht Rock

Last night was a late one...

We (Yacht Rock) played some sort of benefit last night--connected some way to the DJ named Bert on V-103...I don't know either.

So, we loaded onto an uncovered stage in the parking lot of the Northern Tool Rental around 5:30 PM. No cover means that if it rains, we're dead; if it's sunny the next three hours or so will fry our gear. There was no way to put a cover over the stage due to some electrical wiring directly overhead.

We ended up dragging it out and didn't leave until around 7:30 or so. Each set up (keyboards, drums, etc) got a tarp over it. We went to Mark Bencuya's to change and eat. We rolled back over to the gig around 9:45 PM.

As we began to do the final prep for our gig, somebody checked the weather and noticed a stripe of rain headed our way. So...we waited in a tent next to the stage (and we started drinking). After about an hour and a half of hanging out, it still hadn't rained, so we got up on stage and started firing up all of our equipment. In the middle of that, we started feeling a couple of drops, so we tarped everything (individual tarps, and then two enormous tarps that covered the entire stage). Just in time...it started raining pretty hard. We stayed in the tent and drank.

Around 1 AM, it was finally deemed safe enough for us to hit it. By that point, we were all fairly drunk. We got up there and knocked it out, though. Not a great gig, but we didn't have any problems. I guess we just didn't have any excitement by that point. We finished at 2:30 AM.

After tearing down our gear, we then had to carpool back to get our vehicles that we'd parked several blocks away. Then come back...load gear...and leave. I left around 3:30-3:40 AM. I guess I got home around 4:15 AM.

I slept on the couch (with Jack wandering around) for the morning. I finally got up around 1 PM today.

At my church gig tonight, one of the altar boys fainted. That was about it.

Choppy Seas

Mustache Rock endured some choppy seas last night. Here's how it all went down.

Things were going pretty well, and the crowd was fairly thick, and despite it being super hot and super humid, there were no big problems. I'm still trying to get my coordination down between playing keyboard and then jumping up and playing sax. Evidence of this: I muted my wireless on Careless Whisper because I could hear the keyboard coming through the mic and I was worried about it creating a feedback loop. Unfortunately, when I popped up to play the sax line, I missed the mute button, so I played with no mic for a second. I grabbed the nearest mic and pulled it in front of my for the rest of it. Oops. I think I was getting a little to slick on the muting thing.

In the middle of Silly Love Songs, Nick's sister came on stage to inform Peter that his car was being towed. That messed us up pretty well...we cut the tune short so Pete could find his keys. I, being on the side of stage, missed the everything and couldn't figure out what the hell was going on. I just heard Pete yell something about "MY CAR!"

A couple of tunes later, we were playing I Keep Forgetting (me playing the rhodes part). We had talked about slipping into Regulate (a rap hit based on a sample of I Keep Forgettin', with me switching to another synth part and Bencuya taking over the rhodes), and half the band tried to go into that, and half didn't; when the spot came around again, we collectively flinched, but stayed in the tune. Then it was just a grind to the end of the song.

I think the song after that was probably Rosanna, and the EWI ran out of batteries in the middle of the solo! It hung up on one note most of the way through. What a mess!

So...anyway, we got through it. The rest of the night was kind of a grit-your-teeth-and-get-through-it. I can't think of any more disasters, but I think everyone just wanted to get out of there. All part of the fun, I must say. I really can't get pissed off about anything that happened--that's live music! Dealing with it on the spot is part of the magic.

We debuted Sailing last night. Musical Xanax, somebody said. It was fun. I put a lot of work this week into getting the string part happening, so I hope that one's a keeper.

Ooo...also, I switched up a part I was playing in Lido Shuffle from the EWI to the keyboard (the synth solo towards the end). I got it about eighty percent right last night. I'm pleased about that. Next time it'll be twice as good.

Peter Stroud and his wife made it out to the show last night. It's always cool when he comes by.

No gig tonight, but Saturday night is a Yacht Rock private party (I think) in Buckhead.

Friday/Saturday

Friday night, we played Mara Davis' 40th birthday party at the W Midtown (Colony Square). That was a pretty good one. The load in was a little rough--into the tunnel under the hotel, up the elevator to the top floor, down a long hallway, and you're in there. Not the easiest, but I had my cart, so it was not bad. After we set up, we walked to the park to go eat, and I got lots of looks due to my current style--bald head, mustache, and I happened to be wearing a Mac shirt with a big rainbow across the front. The party itself was pretty lame, due mainly to loud house music and a poor attempt at a roast. Our part of the show came off really well. It was pretty easy. I think we played about an hour and a half and we were done.

Saturday night we played Smith's Olde Bar. Everyone from Yacht Rock was involved, but it was the release of Y.O.U.'s new EP (which is awesome, by the way). For this gig, we added my friend Eric Alexander on trombone for five songs. I like the sounds we got without having a trumpet present. Eric and I play well together, too, so this gig was a ton of fun. I did a few of the arrangements, and we adjusted a few of Nick's arrangements to make it work for the two horns, and everything worked well. I dug it.

Playing a gig like that always causes me to reevaluate my career. Sometimes I think there's so much pressure to make the money I need to support my family, I forget about the raw energy of getting up in front of a crowd who's there to see you and letting it rip. The story of my musical life, I guess...trying to play enough money gigs to keep myself afloat, but also trying to play in every creative musical situation that I can get to.

Double Duty

I did two gigs yesterday (Thursday).

First I went to the 10 High and set up my Yacht Rock equipment (EWI, keyboard, amp, sax stands). Then I went and played my first gig.
I did a gig with a DJ and a percussionist...live house music for a private party for Microsoft. We were at Rathbun's Steak House on Krog Street in Inman Park. We were fed well (see the picture--I ate everything pictured). It was a cool gig--very easy. It started late and ended early, and we made big bucks, so I like all of that.
After that, I jumped in the truck and boogied over to the 10 High to play Yacht Rock. That went well. I'm getting more comfortable with the different parts I'm covering. I've gotten past being overwhelmed by things like "people are going to be able to hear me playing keyboard!" Now it's all fun. I like doing it alot. The place was packed, as usual. I didn't screw up "Africa" like I have the past two times we've played it, so I was very pleased with myself there. I had to punish a bad tenor reed that went mushy on me. We played "Who Can it Be Now?", and the top note of the sax riff, and F#, was not working. My reed was too soft. Kind of embarrassing. Sooo, when the gig was over I pitched that reed. Same thing happened to me last night at a rehearsal, so I pitched that one too.

It's a tough thing with reeds. They've got to be strong enough to withstand me playing full blast--dare I say, overblowing!--on gigs like the 10 High, but I need them to be flexible enough to not sound like I have sock in the bell on quiet gigs. I am definitely guilty of sometimes whittling them down too much so that there's not backbone left in them. Anyway, I'm breaking in some more today.

Jack and I are off to the pool.

Tonight, Yacht Rock is playing Mara Davis' birthday party. Very cool!

Tomorrow is the release of the new Y.O.U. "Long-Playing E.P." at Smith's Olde Bar. It will be cool. You should get there.

Yacht Rock Wedding

We (Yacht Rock) played a wedding reception at Chateau Elan last night. It was pretty cool. I get concerned when I think about whether or not we have enough material to make it through four hours of partying, but we had plenty of tunes we could have done that we did not touch. We probably could have cobbled together an entire set of material if we'd needed to continue.
Nothing really new to report on the music front. I am enjoying my moment as a keyboardist in the band. Now that I'm past the shock of playing the thing in public, it's fun, and not an insurmountable challenge. I do think it's kind of a silly situation. The argument for a second keyboardist is to cover more parts and fill out the sound, but when I am charged with filling that role, I am in no one's monitor, so nobody hears me (other than what's coming out of my own amp), so how do they know if I'm playing acceptably or not?
I rode home with Mark Dannells and Mark Bencuya, and they talked about bands and music that I'd never heard of. I feel like I know nothing about music compared to these guys.

Today, I'm taking Jack to the pool and playing my church gig tonight. Nice and easy!

I previewed a track from the upcoming Y.O.U. release. It sounds awesome. Their CD release party is this coming Saturday night at Smith's Olde Bar. You really need to come check it out. Their music is very cool. Wes Funderburk and I played on the track I'm listening to. I'd forgotten how many horns we'd stacked on this sucker. I think I played a couple of tenor tracks, a couple of alto tracks, and at least one bari track on it, and Wes played tenor trombone and a slide trumpet thing. It sounds great! Wes is as good as there is.

This week is a wild one. Y.O.U. has a rehearsal for the CD release Wednesday night. Thursday, I have a private gig in front of the usual Yacht Rock/10 High gig. Friday night Yacht Rock is playing Mara Davis' (Dave FM) birthday party. Saturday night is the CD release for Y.O.U. I'll do my best to keep you posted.

new pics, new promo

Check out some new photos by a Yacht Rock fan--added to the gallery page of my website. Pretty cool. They're from July 2, 2009.

Also, I added two promos for our upcoming special event, titled "Mustache Rock", coming up July 30 at the 10 High and August 7 at Andrews. You can view them (if you dare) on the live performance page of my website.

Other than that, I've been banging on the keyboard alot lately trying to get good for this weekend's Yacht Rock gigs.

My Broken Body Clock

So...

I woke up at 5:30 this morning, wide awake and thinking about the keyboard parts I need to practice for this week's Yacht Rock. It's now 8 AM, which means I've been hammering out string parts to Magic and Don't Go Breakin' my Heart for a couple of hours. I feel good about both songs, though. Those are usually the ones that kill me, and once I've really trashed them, I lose all confidence in what I'm doing. This time will be different. I noticed that most of my keyboard practice as of late had been the frantic "what chord is next?" kind of stuff, so instead I practiced everything slowly with the metronome and got it all down.

Waking up absurdly early happened to me last week, too. I'm guessing it's a combination of trying to keep up with Jack (going to the pool, mostly), trying to get all my stuff done, and also work. Sometimes I accidentally crash a little earlier than I should, and then I wake up in a panic over what I didn't practice the night before.

For some reason, this is a bad week for teaching. Everybody is out doing something else this week, and I think I have about three students a day. Not good for the wallet! Next week is local marching band hell week, so that should pretty rough too, but the middle schoolers will hopefully be back in the groove.

...and no, this picture is not of Reggie. It looks alot like him, though!

Busy

Not much to report these days. Yacht Rock is losing Brandon Still, one of our keyboardists to a touring southern rock band called Blackberry Smoke. It's a great move for him--he gets to experience the world! Blackberry Smoke is out a playing shows--very cool--and they've got a European tour lined up in December. That should be amazing. I've never played in a touring band, so I'm envious of his experiences. However, at this point in life (for me), I don't think I could do it unless it was something I had to take, like Paul Simon's band or something. I have too many things that I'd have to let go of (local gigs and teaching) to go ride around in a van and make $8 a night! Not to mention Jack and my family. Go Brandon go!
Anyway, I'm trying to cover his parts as best as I can, so I'm practicing alot of keyboards. I am, in fact, awake a 5 AM thinking about the chords to "You're So Vain." I need to get in the room and deal with that, I think.

...and we're baaaaaaaaaack!

Yeah...last night we played a free (to the public) show at the Park Tavern. We had an awesome night. Plus, all my equipment worked!
The sound was great, the women were hot, the food was good, the crowd was responsive. I think it was one of the best ones we've done.
There was no traffic, too, so everything was cool. I hope they're all like this from here on out.

Friday Yacht Rock

So...I turned up to Yacht Rock last night, and they'd closed the parking lot in front of Andrews in order to make a "beach" for a Fourth of July party. Hmmm. Where will our fans park?
The crowd rolled in late, but they all made it eventually. It turned out much better than we expected (numbers-wise). We had thoughts of everybody holding out for the party at Park Tavern today (we're there 8-11 PM tonight).

In the continuing saga of what can go wrong with my equipment...you may recall how my EWI has run out of battery at Andrews the past two months. This month, I put in new batteries before the gig. Predictably, my EWI died right in the middle of the first set. I don't know what happened. Maybe there was a bad battery in the group of four (they're rechargable batteries, so maybe one was old and had lost its juice). Anyway, that was not cool. I put in another four batteries and everything was fine for the rest of the night. What a pain, though...it messes with my head.

There were lots of weird things last night. I think we were all a little flat, and labored to get to the end of the gig. I didn't feel like I was there. Kind of like the gig was going on in the background, and I was paying attention sometimes, but sometimes...I don't know. I wanted to be awesome, but I couldn't get it going. Lots of "oops, I missed that" kind of stuff (in both corners of the room). It happens...we'd played really well the night before at the 10 High, but there wasn't much magic at Andrews. We tried, but it wouldn't come.

Fingers crossed...hopefully we can summon the spirits from Koko's Boat House. Hope to see you tonight at the Park Tavern.

Thursday!

I woke up today and both my arms were asleep. I was like a rag doll--I could barely roll myself over (one arm was in the way!). At least I hadn't metamorphised into a roach.
Between my arms not working and having no idea what time it was, I'm off to a weird start.

I am pleased to report that after several weeks of wondering, I have solved the problem I was having with my EWI. Namely, I was concerned about it not reacting to me in a predictable fashion. I got out my manual Wednesday night and tweaked my settings, and it's back to normal. I guess the thing gradually got off, and I'd never bothered to notice. I had to reset the pitch bend, because it turns out it was always on (probably half my problems!). The breath sensor I reset to feeling good, and then I padded it a little to compensate for the fact that I've been playing in hot and humid conditions (the 10 High and outside) lately, and if I don't take that into account, and starts to play on its own.

I am still interested in eventually getting a second EWI, due to the fact that I can't take it to just anyone and have it worked on, and at this point I'm using it on average two gigs per week. There's no running it to Bryan Lopes' house to have something fixed right before!

Last night at the 10 High went very well. We were at capacity before we got on stage, and there was a line snaked around the side of the building. Very cool. Playing for a packed room is an amazing feeling, and of course there's lots of love for the saxophone. Whenever I walk to the front of the stage, people (and by people I mean HOT women!) start cheering wildly. It's easier to really go for it when the audience is like that. It can feel a little silly playing something like Baker Street and trying to really milk it when the crowd couldn't care less. I become much more aware of my stage movements, and I feel stupid.

On the subject of equipment, I feel like both reeds I played (tenor and alto) are going a little dead, but it's a nice spot for what I'm doing--that is to say, I'm not playing in a quiet, acoustic setting, so the fact that they feel like cardboard at a softer volume isn't as important as their ability to take alot of air and not close up on me. The end is near for them, but I may be able to squeeze a few more notes out of them. Both have lasted about twice as long as usual. The reed gods are on my side these days.