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| Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life... |
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| Purple Rain |
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| Ghostbusters costume |
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| Thriller! |
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| Stay Puft Marshmellow Man! |
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Thriller/Purple Rain
Friday, October 19, 2012
The Final Countdown
Yacht Rock is in final preparations for the big event: Thriller/Purple Rain at the Variety Playhouse. It should be a really good gig--we're getting more comfortable with these special occasions (and having a week to focus solely on twenty songs helps).
We had a big rehearsal Wednesday night at Avatar--the band and the choir, all laid out the way we'll be on stage at the Variety. I was seated next to the great Mark Bencuya.
We were super loud. We took a break between albums, and I was shocked to hear (without earplugs) how cranked my amp was. At the end of Lady in my Life we inserted a sax solo, and when I went out front to play it, WOW! The loudest thing in midtown. It was awesome. I'm not sure how the choir handles the volume.
Last night (Thursday), we played a private event at one of the office buildings in Atlantic Station for Live Thrive, a company that helps companies become more environmentally friendly.
Office buildings don't handle lots of gear and catering coming through. Horrible, horrible load in. It would have been more efficient to hire a helicopter to drop our gear on the nearby terrace.
The office had some pretty amazing views.
This event was not well attended. At one point, I counted forty-two people in front of us. Thus, we didn't have much enthusiasm in our playing. Mentally, though, it was a nice break from the stuff we've been playing all week.
Come see us play at the Variety on Saturday!
davidfreemanmusic.net
We had a big rehearsal Wednesday night at Avatar--the band and the choir, all laid out the way we'll be on stage at the Variety. I was seated next to the great Mark Bencuya.
We were super loud. We took a break between albums, and I was shocked to hear (without earplugs) how cranked my amp was. At the end of Lady in my Life we inserted a sax solo, and when I went out front to play it, WOW! The loudest thing in midtown. It was awesome. I'm not sure how the choir handles the volume.
Last night (Thursday), we played a private event at one of the office buildings in Atlantic Station for Live Thrive, a company that helps companies become more environmentally friendly.
Office buildings don't handle lots of gear and catering coming through. Horrible, horrible load in. It would have been more efficient to hire a helicopter to drop our gear on the nearby terrace.
The office had some pretty amazing views.
This event was not well attended. At one point, I counted forty-two people in front of us. Thus, we didn't have much enthusiasm in our playing. Mentally, though, it was a nice break from the stuff we've been playing all week.
Come see us play at the Variety on Saturday!
davidfreemanmusic.net
Monday, October 15, 2012
AM/PM
Sundays are church gig days.
AM: Paul Poovey did a good job subbing on trumpet with us. Things were pretty solid--no train wrecks, and not much rushing by the horn section. Good playing all around, though I played a couple of gruesome wrong notes.
A couple of slots where we normally would have played were taken up by a guest--smooth jazz guitarist Roland Gresham. He did a couple of tunes with pre-recorded tracks. It put the whole band to sleep.
PM: The PM gig was ok. I had a good soprano sax reed and a bad flute face (that's what happens when you haven't picked up a flute in two weeks), so I leaned more on the former. I didn't play anything noteworthy, regardless of the instrument.
I must comment on the outfit of the lady in the second row. Fedora, olive t shirt, pleated high waist camouflage pants, half a forearm of bracelets on each arm, knee high black velour boots with four inch clear stiletto heels and gold metal toe caps. What the hell are you wearing? Did you just come from a Duran Duran fan club meeting? Hungry like the wolf?
davidfreemanmusic.net
AM: Paul Poovey did a good job subbing on trumpet with us. Things were pretty solid--no train wrecks, and not much rushing by the horn section. Good playing all around, though I played a couple of gruesome wrong notes.
A couple of slots where we normally would have played were taken up by a guest--smooth jazz guitarist Roland Gresham. He did a couple of tunes with pre-recorded tracks. It put the whole band to sleep.
PM: The PM gig was ok. I had a good soprano sax reed and a bad flute face (that's what happens when you haven't picked up a flute in two weeks), so I leaned more on the former. I didn't play anything noteworthy, regardless of the instrument.
I must comment on the outfit of the lady in the second row. Fedora, olive t shirt, pleated high waist camouflage pants, half a forearm of bracelets on each arm, knee high black velour boots with four inch clear stiletto heels and gold metal toe caps. What the hell are you wearing? Did you just come from a Duran Duran fan club meeting? Hungry like the wolf?
davidfreemanmusic.net
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Too Much Guitar
Yacht Rock played the Candler Park Fall Fest last night, doing our Dazed and Confused set list with special guests Derek St. Holmes and Rick Derringer. Lots of guitars on stage; lots of guitar amplifiers on stage; lots of stage volume.
My position was directly behind Mark Dannells' amp, which fortunately is a closed-back cabinet, so it didn't send much my way. It turned out to be a pretty good spot--I had almost nothing to play, so I mostly hung out and watched my friends rock. Nice work!
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| with Derek St. Holmes |
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| Rick Derringer |
davidfreemanmusic.net
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Derringer and Primrose
More stuff! Yacht Rock had a Friday morning (noon) rehearsal with Rick Derringer in final preparations for the Candler Park Fall Fest Saturday evening.
So…Rick Derringer. The man, the myth, the legend, the Sloopy. I have no opinion of his playing--I just can't tell which rock guys sound good. Maybe it's because I have no feeling for what it takes to play the instrument, but I also think that the tone of the rock guitar disguises lots of elementary technical stuff.
From rehearsal, we loaded into the Grand Hyatt for a private event for the Primrose School. Rumor has it they were going to try that "curtain falls/instant band" thing like we had Tuesday night, but it never materialized. Thankfully…
These people were a bit stiff--it felt very suburban and upper middle class. There was a great disparity between the talent and the, shall we say, well fed. They were generally polite, with the exception of the woman who poked me in the side repeatedly while I was playing to try and make a request that I could not hear.
Anyway, the party went fine. It looked like it was going to get rough when we had to follow a full dance floor doing Gangnam Style. How about a triple shot of Bee Gees? In the end, they loved us and we got away without becoming totally annoyed by the situation. Ahh, the corporate event.
davidfreemanmusic.net
So…Rick Derringer. The man, the myth, the legend, the Sloopy. I have no opinion of his playing--I just can't tell which rock guys sound good. Maybe it's because I have no feeling for what it takes to play the instrument, but I also think that the tone of the rock guitar disguises lots of elementary technical stuff.
From rehearsal, we loaded into the Grand Hyatt for a private event for the Primrose School. Rumor has it they were going to try that "curtain falls/instant band" thing like we had Tuesday night, but it never materialized. Thankfully…
These people were a bit stiff--it felt very suburban and upper middle class. There was a great disparity between the talent and the, shall we say, well fed. They were generally polite, with the exception of the woman who poked me in the side repeatedly while I was playing to try and make a request that I could not hear.
Anyway, the party went fine. It looked like it was going to get rough when we had to follow a full dance floor doing Gangnam Style. How about a triple shot of Bee Gees? In the end, they loved us and we got away without becoming totally annoyed by the situation. Ahh, the corporate event.
davidfreemanmusic.net
Friday, October 12, 2012
Scream on the Green
Yacht Rock zipped up to Nashville yesterday afternoon to play a forty-five minute set at Scream on the Green, the last installment of their downtown concert series Live on the Green. The opener was The Delta Saints, and Here Come the Mummies followed us as the headliner.
Any gig that begins with a crew loading our gear from the trailer to the stage is a good one. They also ferried it back after we finished. Very cool, though I have enough personal stuff (saxophones, EWI, computer) that I get nervous when the guys want to grab stuff and walk offstage with it.
We played for a bunch of people. 10,000? I'm not sure. A few weeks prior they'd had 15,000 for Alabama Shakes. It wasn't totally full like the crew had described, so I'll guess 10.
Great sound on stage and out front (at least it sounded great for The Delta Saints).
Once we finished, we packed up and headed back to Atlanta. Ouch!
davidfreemanmusic.net
Any gig that begins with a crew loading our gear from the trailer to the stage is a good one. They also ferried it back after we finished. Very cool, though I have enough personal stuff (saxophones, EWI, computer) that I get nervous when the guys want to grab stuff and walk offstage with it.
We played for a bunch of people. 10,000? I'm not sure. A few weeks prior they'd had 15,000 for Alabama Shakes. It wasn't totally full like the crew had described, so I'll guess 10.
Great sound on stage and out front (at least it sounded great for The Delta Saints).
Once we finished, we packed up and headed back to Atlanta. Ouch!
davidfreemanmusic.net
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Quartet!
I had a terrific quartet gig at the Georgia Aquarium Wednesday night. The band was Tyrone Jackson (keyboard), Kevin Smith (bass), and Marlon Patton (drums). We played for the International Titanium Association--I did not make that up.
This was my first time recording the band by taking the signal from my mixer--usually, I hang my recorder on the music stand in front of me. It took a little while to get the balance right--I think it's better from Nothing Personal on down.
I'm still better than last night's sound man.
David Freeman Quartet - October 10, 2012 by David B Freeman
davidfreemanmusic.net
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Good and Bad Soundmen
Yacht Rock began yesterday with a rehearsal for two upcoming shows: Candler Park Fall Fest and Thriller/Purple Rain at the Variety Playhouse. Good soundman Hans showed up with our gear after driving it back from Connecticut for us. We loaded in and rehearsed. I sucked real bad on the Thriller/Purple Rain stuff. It was painful and embarrassing. I will hopefully get some time to work on it early next week.
Later that afternoon we loaded into the Hotel Intercontinental for a corporate gig that night. We were set on stage behind a curtain; at some point in the evening, magic words would be spoken, the curtain would fall, and we would be playing--instant insane party.
As you can imagine, it never actually works. The curtain will fall and they'll pull it off to the left, they said. It fell and they pulled it off to the right, except for the end, which was still hanging up there at the end of the gig.
Because there would be no front monitors, we were all on in ear monitors. Unfortunately, the sound in them was pretty bad. I didn't even bother trying to tweak a mix, because I knew I probably wouldn't use them. Sure enough, I made it through half a song before I tossed them on the floor. It was easier for me to hear instruments acoustically and the vocals in the house.
This sound guy was bad. In the first set, I noticed that he would finally bump up the sax solo when I was halfway through. During the second set, if I didn't walk out front, (maybe I should wave to him?) I'd get no bump at all. For instance, Maneater had no sax solo. I was playing, but it was tucked way down in the mix. Goddamnit.
At the break, the guys who were still on in ears were complaining that all of their supposedly pre-fader mixes were changing constantly as the sound guy adjusted the front of house mix. Way to go.
Early in the second set, I turned my amp off so I could listen to the PA. It was vocals and stage left keyboards; everything else was about a third of their volume. It made for a pretty shitty mix, if I do say so myself, and pretty much crushed any fun that I might have had. I bet the beginning of Grease sounded great without the horn part.
As if the idiot soundman wasn't enough to make us homicidal, we had to contend with a contentious crowd who didn't like what we played, and then did like what we played but didn't like that we wouldn't let them play tambourine and shaker. How about I come to your office tomorrow and use your computer while you're on a business call? Mind if I surf some porn? I'll only be a couple of minutes…
davidfreemanmusic.net
Later that afternoon we loaded into the Hotel Intercontinental for a corporate gig that night. We were set on stage behind a curtain; at some point in the evening, magic words would be spoken, the curtain would fall, and we would be playing--instant insane party.
As you can imagine, it never actually works. The curtain will fall and they'll pull it off to the left, they said. It fell and they pulled it off to the right, except for the end, which was still hanging up there at the end of the gig.
Because there would be no front monitors, we were all on in ear monitors. Unfortunately, the sound in them was pretty bad. I didn't even bother trying to tweak a mix, because I knew I probably wouldn't use them. Sure enough, I made it through half a song before I tossed them on the floor. It was easier for me to hear instruments acoustically and the vocals in the house.
This sound guy was bad. In the first set, I noticed that he would finally bump up the sax solo when I was halfway through. During the second set, if I didn't walk out front, (maybe I should wave to him?) I'd get no bump at all. For instance, Maneater had no sax solo. I was playing, but it was tucked way down in the mix. Goddamnit.
At the break, the guys who were still on in ears were complaining that all of their supposedly pre-fader mixes were changing constantly as the sound guy adjusted the front of house mix. Way to go.
As if the idiot soundman wasn't enough to make us homicidal, we had to contend with a contentious crowd who didn't like what we played, and then did like what we played but didn't like that we wouldn't let them play tambourine and shaker. How about I come to your office tomorrow and use your computer while you're on a business call? Mind if I surf some porn? I'll only be a couple of minutes…
davidfreemanmusic.net
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