Super Bowl Sunday

I dragged myself out of bed this morning and played my church gig.  No gig last night, but I still found enough stuff to keep me up past midnight.

Church gig number one was fairly straight forward.  I ended up using every instrument I'd brought-flute, clarinet, soprano, and tenor.  When we were excused for the sermon I was able to carry everything but the  clarinet off stage, so I didn't spend ten minutes packing up afterwards.

We had some "road map" issues on one song.  It's funny to me how differently some musicians hear music than others.  In this case, a couple of guys had trouble figuring out how to get to the last page--lots of measure numbers going back and forth--when it seemed obvious to my ears that we were playing the chorus again, and then taking the outro.

The other thing that stuck out to me about the morning service was the way the drummer was playing.  He's a college student who probably hasn't played a bunch of gigs at this point, I'd guess.  On several songs, he was wandering back and forth between the hi hat and the ride every couple of measures, like he was trying out several different approaches within the song.  It got me thinking again about how drummers are very responsible for shaping the arrangement of the song we are playing.  I think some of the younger guys I have played with in the last couple of years don't realize that what they're doing and when they're doing it changes how the guys around them play.  This guy would open up the groove to the ride and then come back down to the hi hat, and then we'd go into the chorus and he would realize it needed to be bigger again and he'd go back, and probably didn't think about how that was forcing the intensity of the music up and down.  It's a lot like a driver who stomps on the gas and then takes his foot off, then floors again, then coasts again.  We're moving along, but you're making me sick!

My second gig began a half hour after the Super Bowl began.  At that point, it was 9-0 Giants.  Not too many people there!  I'd bet there were fewer than a hundred in the congregation.

My newly overhauled flute felt awesome--that thing is playing better than ever.  My soprano felt good and sounded good, but I had all kinds of trouble playing in tune.  My left hand and my right hand were very far apart.  Not too fun.  I didn't do anything really noteworthy.  We finished about fifteen minutes early.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Taste of Dunwoody

Yacht Rock played the Taste of Dunwoody last night (Friday).  We did it last year;  I bet we'll play it again next year.  It sold out, and I think we have a lot to do with it.  A good number of our fans turn up, and I know they're not there for the food!

The weird thing about this gig is that it was held in the W Hotel, or whatever it's now called--it's the hotel on the north side of Perimeter Mall.  The room is kind of small for a seven piece band, especially when it's lined with vendors trying to talk up their specialty foods.  I'm curious as to why the event is not held at the Crown Plaza at Ravinia across the street, or even at Villa Christina, both of which have significantly larger spaces.

The gig itself was pretty good.  Our stash of alcohol was inconveniently located in a room on the tenth floor, so I think everybody stayed pretty sober.  Good thing, too, because the ballroom lighting options were either overhead florescent lights, or almost total darkness.

Another crappy feature of this venue was the thermostat, which evidently didn't care that there were several hundred people and several little cooking stations and a band dressed in plastic clothes.  It was super hot--like outdoor hot.  The EWI did not care for this;  my solo on Hey Nineteen was a little slippery because the heat and humidity in the room caused it to react strangely (until I could adjust the sensors).

I screwed up part of my Dannells duet on Still the One.  I'm finally off my chart, and I can play the thing perfectly at soundcheck, but I can't quite do it on the gig.  I've got no good excuse.

We played Whatever Gets You Through the Night again--a fun song for me and one that goes over very well, but I'm worried it's going to disappear again because Nick hates it.  I like it a lot.  Figures.

The gig ended promptly at 10:30, which was so very nice.  I was home by 12:30.  It probably would've been earlier if the load out wasn't such a rat maze.

So it goes!  Big week next week.  Stay tuned.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Booby Night

Yacht Rock played the 10 High last night (the usual guys except Ganesh in for Pete and Daniel on drums).  Pretty good night!  We did kind of a greatest hits set list because of the subs, but I was much more on it than last week when I couldn't remember anything.

We had a big crowd last night--I heard it was a bunch of lobbyists.  They paid, we played.  Some of them had nice chests.

Tenor reed=good.  Alto reed=bad.  Therefore, alto reed=dumpster behind the 10 High.

davidfreemanmusic.net

The Weekend

Another busy weekend…

Thursday:  Yacht Rock was back at our regular gig, the 10 High, for the first time this year!  It was just the way we left it--dark, stinky, and dirty.  Too bad.  We had everybody there except Mark Cobb, who is out on paternity leave.  Daniel Morrison filled in for him.  He was solid.

Mark Dannells played really well.  I, on the other hand, just kind of spaced on a lot of stuff.  For instance, we were playing What a Fool Believes for probably the five thousandth time, and I couldn't remember whether I pedal on an F or a Bb, so I guessed (correctly).  I had lots of stuff like that--I felt confused.

I'd spent most of the day rebuilding my rack.  UPS was a bit rough in getting it to Miami last week, and broke both rack rails loose.  I took everything out, put new screws in the rails, and put it all back together. I also strapped my power supplies to the power strip in there, since UPS had helped them get out and bounce around.  Big fun!  I got it all back together, and then had to set up my entire Yacht Rock rig so I could test everything and make sure all my connections worked.  Success on my first try.

Friday:  Yacht Rock played our second gig at the Georgia Theatre in Athens.  It's sooooooo cool in there. We sold it out again.

This time the on stage sound was much better.  I could hear things very well.  I played pretty well--fewer brain farts than the previous night.  It took a while, but at some point I was able to forget that we were recording and just play.  Dave Barbe brought his mobile recording unit over to capture our sounds.  Hope we get something good!  Short of that, I hope we can fix it!

Mark Bencuya played a couple of good solos.  His spot on Peg had this cool start-stop thing that I liked, and he got off a really screaming synth thing on I Wanna be Your Lover.  Really good stuff.

The second set featured a couple of our Dazed and Confused tunes, so I didn't really do much after the break.

Saturday:  we rode up to Nashville to play the Mercy Lounge.  Good news in Tennessee!  Not only did we sell it out;  the club got so many calls about tickets after we'd sold it out, they turned their phones off that afternoon to avoid it!  The next time we go up there, we'll be in the Cannery Ballroom--much bigger.

This was a fun gig.  Walter Egan sat in with us.  In addition to Magnet and Steel, he played on Go Your Own Way (he and Dannells played the guitar solo in unison).  He was very generous in hanging out with us, swapping stories and putting up with our silliness.  He spent the entire second set sitting right behind me on the corner of the stage.

Ganesh Giri Jaya played drums with us.  He was really great.  It makes me wonder if he wouldn't be better off on a smaller kit like the one he used in Nashville--he was so relaxed and smooth.  I really dug it.  He looked like he was having a blast, too.

Sunday:  we got up and drove home.

I played my church gig that night.  I guess the only noteworthy thing was a vaguely latin sounding song that I played flute on.  It was short form--just a verse and refrain.  I came in the second time around playing vaguely latin flute, and there was never a good spot to get out of the way of the vocals, so I ended up kind of smothering the song.  Oops.  It wasn't on purpose…I just couldn't find a logical place in the arrangement--the intensity never changed, and if I'd stopped it would've sounded wrong.

I know what else happened…I was messing around with the band mix, and I couldn't get the piano to come through the mix, so I swept the mid EQ around and it suddenly jumped out!  I think I laughed out loud.  I ended up pulling the fader down quite a bit once I found that bump.  It was kind of funny how that worked.  I did the same thing to the acoustic guitar.  Every week I get a little better at it.

This week is kind of slow.  It'll be a good chance to catch up on some other things.

davidfreemanmusic.net

Weezer Cruise

photo courtesy of Julia Wallace

As I write this, I can still feel the boat moving, even though I'm at home.  Here's everything I can remember…

Thursday:  we got on the boat later than we usually do.  I think, in fact, that most people were already on there--we went straight through registration and hopped aboard.  A late morning flight and a stop for lunch got us there just in time for the lifeboat drill.

The rooms were bigger than usual.  We even had room for a couch!  

The bathroom had a countertop, which I like a lot better than the usual glass shelf above the sink.

We played pretty early on in the cruise--something like 8 PM--on the stage in the Criterion Lounge.  Much bigger stage than the Candlelight, and they gave us an hour to set up and and hour to soundcheck.  I like that.  Sometimes it's a real "throw and go" thing, and there's no time to hear what things sound like until you're into the gig.  

The first set went pretty well.  Things sounded fine (lots of low end out towards the front line--possibly a hollow stage?).  I had my own monitor, so I could hear my stuff.

We're used to the way these boats work, so it was no surprise that there weren't many people in there with us, but the ones who came saw and believed.

We finished around 9:30.  Some guys went to bed.  I wandered the ship with a large cup of whiskey.  It was a REALLY slow night--not a lot people out, and not much partying going on.  What do you expect with a boatload of hipsters?

I saw the first half of the first song by song by Dinosaur Jr.  Too loud and not my thing (i.e. I didn't like it).  Check out the guitar set up (left side of the pic) and the bass set up (right side).  A bit much. 

Back to the Criterion Lounge to see who had followed us.  There was some band--a guy with a DJ set up who also played guitar, a bass player, and a drummer.  The DJ guy would get a groove rolling, and then the trio would play along with it--like chords and the bass line.  I was sitting next to the front of house guy and I said "Wow!  A song with no hook!  How about a melody?"  At that moment, the song ended and I exploded with drunken cackling laughter and several people turned around and looked at me, so I removed myself.  Oops.

I went up on the Lido deck, sat in a lounge chair, and listened to some indie rock band.  Nothing memorable, so I gave up and went to bed.

Friday:  we got up and started preparing for our big show on the Lido deck.  Unfortunately, it was uncovered!  NOOOOOOOOO!  Neither my electronics nor my acoustic instruments like direct sunlight.  That sucked.  The gig was good, though, and we had (as usual) a significantly larger audience.  Reports from out front said that Baker Street sounded huge.  The Caribbean has been alerted to my presence!

Here's a cool article about our Friday performance.

The rest of the day was easy.  More sleeping and more eating of copious amounts of fruit, but I took a day off from drinking.  I hung out a little at the end of the night at the mid-ship bar waiting to see if a party materialized, but no avail.  Instead I had the experience of listening to Nick tell people I was the biggest asshole in the band, and then later on some girl got in my face because I wouldn't dance with her (I was leaning against a pole watching the band).  That's how Friday's fun ended.

Saturday:  Cozumel!  We got off the boat around 10 AM.  The original plan was that we would rent scooters and not wreck, but the cheaper option turned out to be hiring Jose to drive us around.  $80 for the day for four of us (Mark Dannells, Greg Lee, Ganesh Giri Jaya, and me).  

The first place we went was the Mayan ruins.  Not much to look at--a stone pyramid and an old Catholic church.  They did have some dogs.

We met up with some fans in a stretch Lincoln Navigator--totally homemade!  There was a weird air conditioner unit built on the top, and the windows were smeared with silicon caulk.  We started drinking with them, passing around a bottle of tequila.

From there, the four of us moved on to the tequila tour, where our tour guide, Gabriel, got us drunk on more tequila shots.  He was loud and sweaty.  Dannells bought an $80 bottle of tequila.

Jose!  get us out of here!

From there we moved on to another restaurant.   

 They also had a dog.

I had a margarita and some kind of cheezy chicken and peppers thing.  The Navigator crew showed up shortly thereafter.  

Once everybody was finished eating, we ditched Jose and got in the Navigator with the crew.  Our next stop was some tourist trap place called Carlos and Charlie's on the main drag.  More alcohol.  I danced;  I was part of the conga line.  Other highlights included doing the dance along with Y.M.C.A., except the DJ would kill the music and say "Why are you gay" in the chorus.  The servers also opened a tank of compressed air and shot it at the dance floor while pouring tequila into the stream.  That looked cool.  I got sticky.

We got back on the boat, sat in the hot tub and listened to Dinosaur Jr (from behind the stage, which was still WAAAAAAAAAAAAYY too loud, but tequila and beer got me through it).  I ate and got back to my cabin.

The next thing I knew, it was 4:30 AM and I was still in my swimsuit, still in my room.  I changed and went back to bed.

Sunday:  thanks to a TV in my cabin, I saw a lot of football stuff.  That ate up a good amount of time.  All the bands on the boat took a photo, and we met a couple of significant people:  Brian Ray, who plays guitar with Paul McCartney and also worked with Etta James, and Josh Freese, who plays drums with everybody.  I never know what to say to those people, other than thanks for checking us out.  They're not any different than any other high caliber musicians I know, they just happen to be on bigger gigs.

So…football football football.  Dannells told his fitness joke at the Weezer Q and A.

We played our final show of the cruise at 10 PM back in the Criterion Lounge.  This show was the best attended, but sounded the worst--speaking specifically of the sound (not the playing).  The production was all digital so all the settings were saved from our previous show, but it seemed like the bass was all over the place, and Dannells was EXTREMELY UNHAPPY with the amp he borrowed.  In spite of that (and this one happened to be a "throw and go" with a thirty minute change over from the previous band), I think we performed really well and the crowd was extremely enthusiastic.  Ganesh played his ass off.

Josh Freese (with a fake mustache) sat in with us on Peg.  No big deal for us…just another performance of a song we've played hundreds of times.  He had fun--how often do you get to play a Steely Dan song with a band who can really nail it?

It reinforces my feeling that the difference between that guys with whom I play locally and a guy like that is more about the opportunity than some giant leap in talent.  I think we can hang just fine.

Some more drinking…I was doing my best to plow through the remainder of the whiskey we'd smuggled on the boat.  I gave up pretty early (2 AM, maybe?).

Monday:  we didn't have to get off the boat until 9 AM (usually it's an hour earlier).  Nice.  Not so nice was that our flight wasn't until 7 PM, so we tried to kill off the day in Miami.  The cruise organizers helped us leave our gear at their hotel, so we caught a shuttle to the airport and then city bus to South Beach.  Hours later, we arrived!  Pretty cool--I'd never been there before.  We ate at an awesome restaurant (I had 4 steak tacos and a side order of rice--for my homies!)  We took a stroll on the beach.  

Finally we ended up drinking mojitos at some lounge (called "The Mojito Lounge").  A real stick of sugarcane jammed in there.  Nice.

At the end of the day we cabbed it back to the hotel (our cab driver's name was "Louis XVI"!), shuttled it to the airport, and flew home!  The end!

davidfreemanmusic.net