Trio Reunion

I don't get called for trio gigs like I used to, so Sunday night's gig was a bit of a reunion--our previous gig was in early November 2016.

We were hired as background dinner music--musical wallpaper--but we happened to be playing for a very appreciative, all Japanese audience who listened attentively and clapped after every song! Not bad a gig, but maaaaaaaaaan...I'm out of improvisationally out of shape!

Florida

Headed to Florida for some Yacht Rock gigs. What could go wrong?

Wednesday: Our carpool uses the Park and Ride at Atlanta's airport, and sometimes we are unlucky to  have this woman as our shuttle driver. We have nicknamed her Tips because she spends entire five or six minute drive to the airport ceaselessly dishing out all sorts of crap about apps that could save our lives (or help find our cars) and the children who might die if we don't. I used to suffer in silence, but now I can't help but actively ignore her. I wish I had a jew's harp or something to play on the ride. Join the resistance!

Our flight to Ft. Meyers was massively delayed. Bad weather in Florida. Two hours late! I ate some horrible "veggies and rice" concoction at a Chinese restaurant.

The gig was a corporate event, heavy on the 80s stuff (the company was founded in 1987). The Great  Bencuya was a freshman in college (you were too, Beth Freeman). I was in eighth grade...in Florida! Damnit! Anyway, not too bad for a private gig on a Wednesday night, and the vegetarian meal was pretty good.

Thursday: We were supposed to have a public show in this same local (Bonita Springs, FL), but the venue and the promoter evidently are fighting, and neither would promote the show. Thus, we sold zero tickets for this performance. The show was cancelled, and we had the day and night off.

Friday: Back in the van, we boogied up to St. Petersburg for a public show at Jannus Live, an outdoor stage that basically faced into an alley in the middle of a city block. Our first really hot outdoor adventure of the year. It was so hot that my saxophones were crazy sharp--both mouthpieces pulled out more than a quarter inch for soundcheck (where a sixteenth in or out is common for most rooms).

We had an opening band for this show, and they opened their set with a wedding ceremony! The bass player married her boyfriend, and then she removed the lower half of her dress (revealing snazzy white pants underneath), and played their gig. Something new I have never seen. They were pretty good.

Our gig was also pretty good! We added a new song for this run--Kenny Loggins' Heart to Heart. In case you missed it in 1982, here's what it sounds like.

Here's the solo. I'm great on this at soundcheck, but I get tripped up on the gig.

We had a good turnout for the show--plenty of new fans sprinkled in among the wedding reception partiers. 

Also, I should mention that the temperature had cooled significantly by our start time, and when I retuned my saxophones, they were much closer to the normal mouthpiece positions.

photo cred: Kip Conner!

A setlist:

This was parked outside of our hotel. Totally a "retired in Florida" thing. Good god.

Saturday: Killed some time in St. Pete until the skies turned angry, and then hopped on I-4 and headed to Orlando.

This evening's show...the House of Blues! I'm a little disappointed that our show was at Disney, which to me (as someone who lived in central Florida for all of middle school and high school), is a bit far away from the city limits--I mean, it's more than 20 minutes from downtown...but...I like playing the Houses (?) of Blues. I take it back. The stages are big, the room sounds good, the crew moves our gear, the green room is spacious. No complaints!

I really don't know anybody in Orlando anymore, and I've been gone twenty-five years, so I didn't invite anyone to the show. When I graduated high school and moved away, I very deliberately shook the sand from my shoes and never looked back. HOWEVER!...I was freaking out for the first five or six songs of the gig just thinking about the possibilities of who could be in the audience...who might be following my career from afar and showed up, or who might be here and not even realize that we used to be friends or classmates. My head was spinning until I finally settled into the gig.

photo cred: Kip!

photo cred: Kip Conner!

photo cred: Mr. Kippen Conner

I took this one.

photo cred: Greg Lee

Wow! We had about nine hundred people in the room with us for our second public show in central Florida. Orlando showed up in force! It was a great end to our trip.


This week! Birmingham, Alabama Friday night and New Town, North Dakota Saturday night. See you at the airport.

ALJO

I played bari in the Atlanta Latin Jazz Orchestra last night. The music is really challenging and the band is stacked with great players, some of whom were able to sightread this stuff! I had to do a lot of practicing the week before just to keep up. We even had a good, appreciative crowd who came and dug the music.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm having what I guess is performance anxiety lately. I find myself dreading going to gigs, and the urge to get up and run out the door during the first five songs is powerful. Once I settle in I'm ok, but...yeah, I don't know what's going on. Things aren't good. Maybe it's better that I don't have any gigs for the next week.

The Fred!

Yacht Rock was back at The Fred (Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater) in Peachtree City last Saturday night for one of their summer concerts. It was, by every measure, a great show!

photos by Beth Freeman.

A few clips:



Fortunately, the video ends before my sax solo becomes a ceaseless river of bullshit.







My only gig this week: playing bari (and a little bit of bass clarinet) with the Atlanta Latin Jazz Orchestra Tuesday night at Cafe 290. 8:30 PM start time!

Sazerac +

Last weekend's gig roundup:

Saturday: I spent last week on vacation (where the most musical thing I did was to quietly mock the Jamaican guitar player on the beach who seemed to know only three chords; he could play your favorite song, but it would always end up sounding like a reggae version of La Bamba). I left the airport and headed directly to my gig for load in (with a quick lunch pitstop). Wouldn't you know it--another private Yacht Rock gig!

Not much to report on this one; we butchered ninety seconds of Fly Me to the Moon, some guy sat in with us and clawed his way through Only the Good Die Young, and at some point early in the second set, most of the groomsmen stripped to the waist and finished the evening shirtless. I mean,  this wasn't like the last five minutes of the reception--it was almost an hour of guys bopping around like they were really excited for P.E.

Sunday: Sazerac! We got a slot on Sunday night's Park Tavern concert series. Love the band, love the music. I wish there was one of these for us every month.

your crawfish boil proportions are a little off

Here are two clips:





In other news, this year's Yacht Rock Revival has been announced!

Privacy

More private/corporate gigs for Yacht Rock. Great for the wallet, not as great for the soul (or ego).

Wednesday: The USS Yorktown is permanently docked in Charleston. It's a floating museum, which means that they also host nifty parties for people who want something other than a hotel ballroom.

I'm a sucker for military stuff. Even with a pain in the ass load in, it's still a freaking aircraft carrier, which is cool. This was a clunker of a gig (at one point late in the evening, the wait staff dancing (2) outnumbered the guests dancing (1)). Tom Young subbed for Greg and Ganesh subbed for Nick.

Pics, babe!

He's a real American

Pretty swank hotel room for the evening.

Friday: Some kind of charity event. Maybe a hundred people in Duluth. On a Friday, it took me an hour and forty minutes to get there. Greg subbed for Nick, and Rob Henson subbed for Greg. No bananas on this one. WTF.