David Freeman Music

Last night, Yacht Rock played a private party in Druid Hills--fourth year we've played the same party.  It's an easy event for us because the people are cool, the house is nice (we play in a tent in the back yard), and the food is great.  In particular, the dessert is sugar coated bacon--they order something like fifty pounds of it.  I think I could eat all of it. Kip Conner on sound.  Wish we'd had him Thursday night! We tried out two new songs:   Raspberry Beret and Hip to Be Square .  In spite of my preparations, I still fumbled through both songs.  I think I need to live with them a little longer before I've got it--it doesn't seem that I'm hearing my part in my head quite yet. Mark Cobb brought his electronic drum pad to the gig, and ended up playing some cool stuff, particularly on You Should be Dancing , where he played a conga part alongside the drum part.  Nice. Right at 11:30 PM, the police showed up and shut down the party...

Yacht Rock played a private party for Yahoo last night at Andrews Upstairs in Buckhead.  What used to be a cool room to play has morphed through the years into a pretty horrible sounding space.  The stage at one point was kind of a cool thing with lots of different levels and spaces…now it's a triangle in the corner, and the low end mush is deafening.  It's a tough room for even the best (Kip Conner) sound guys;  we showed up to two people setting up who admitted they'd never run sound for a band before.  The front-of-house person works in the office for the company!  Wow.  Here's a twenty-something inputs…mix it!  Who sends two rookies out to mix a seven piece band for a private event in a club with a questionable PA? As you expect, we had a difficult night.  The set up/soundcheck took over three hours (when we set up and run our own sound with the band's PA, it takes an hour and a half).  They had to hold the opening of the doors wh...

Yacht Rock just returned from the KISS Kruise , which sailed from Miami to Cozumel on Halloween and returned November 4.  It was a surprisingly good time, with great weather and smooth seas! I was fortunate to be able to bring my wife on this trip. The port of Miami…I must point out that this is the spot from which my professional career began.  My first job after college was a cruise ship gig, which I boarded right where the barge in this picture is. Our first night at sea was calm--we were asleep pretty early after a full day of traveling. One of the highlights of our second day on the boat was a photo with KISS.  They were very tall. Day two was our first show.  We were on the pool stage, playing 11:30 PM-1 AM.  Good show! We didn't have a huge crowd, but the passengers on the ship were interested in almost nothing outside of KISS.  The people who did hear us were enthusiastic, though. The next day we were in port ...

Yacht Rock had an unusual gig Monday morning…we were paid by a company to rerecorded the theme to Gilligan's Island with different words relevant to their business.  Pretty funny, considering that we're getting on a cruise ship Wednesday ! photo cred:  Mark Cobb It's a pretty simple song.  I think the rhythm section guys took the second take.  A couple of the guys had vocals stacked in a half hour.  My part was fun…I recorded a piccolo track, four flute tracks, a clarinet track, and four saxophone tracks.  Maybe I was nailing it…almost all were first takes.  I tend to think it was also just "good enough" for a quick recording.  The whole thing sounded really good together!  It was fun (for me) to do something different. davidfreemanmusic.net

Church gig day! My AM gig featured Indra Thomas , an operatic soprano.  She did a few with her accompanist and a few with the band/choir.  Big voice, but I couldn't understand a single word she sang.  It was all vowels and vibrato. My PM gig was pretty good.  We've finally located a guitarist;  he played on two songs with us.  Other than that, I spent most of the gig trying soprano reeds and watching the Giants/Cowboys game on my phone.  The five hour House Live gig the night before did wonders for my flute face. davidfreemanmusic.net

I got a call to play a House Live gig for a private party at a home in Buckhead.  It was a Peter Pan themed party, and Jeff, Wayne, and I were dressed as Indians and situated on the back steps of the house/mansion next to a teepee.  I guess that was better than the two girls who spent the evening in the pool pretending to be mermaids. see the DJ set up on the left?  I was behind the tree next to those windows A beautiful house!  We weren't actually allowed in the house (except that the only way to my position on the steps was through the kitchen, but I promised to keep my eyes closed).  I even got yelled at by the caterer/party planner for daring to take a picture of the pool house.  He then yelled at his assistant and instructed her to yell at the band about it. the pool house I just want to point out that one of my favorite aspects of playing in Yacht Rock is that we are seldom treated as anything less than honored guests--it's not unc...

I played a weird trio gig tonight with David Ellington (keyboard) and Nadav Spiegelman (bass).  We had a lot of trouble finding a groove. This gig was weird before we ever got there.  The contract I signed a few weeks ago said the gig was 7:30-10:30 PM.  Last week it became 6-9, with the first half hour solo sax.  As of yesterday afternoon, this was still the case.  This morning, it became 6-9 PM for the trio, no solo sax.  At 4:15, I got a phone call (still at home) asking if we could start at 5:15 and play til 9.  Jump in the truck and away I go!  Ellington and I were set at 5:15 with Nadav a few minutes later than that.  The client pushed the gig back to 5:30-8:30.  5:30 passed…5:35…5:40…5:45…5:50…5:55…6 PM!…6:05…finally at 6:10, one guy came in and ordered a beer, and the client gave us the signal to begin. So, there was that.  They also tried to stick us with a closet to store dead cases on the fourth floor (we were ou...