One Million Pictures from Hawaii

...but first...some other random gigs!

First up was our trip to Charleston (Isle of Palms, to be exact). We played the infamous Windjammer, a dive bar right on the beach that attracts some pretty big names. If you've ever seen us at the Park Tavern in Atlanta, this had a similar, but sandier, feel.

They did have dogs in the bar, though. All total, there were three chocolate labs, and they were all very sweet.

I had wireless microphone troubles again on this gig (for whatever reason), and it squashed my whole mood about this one. It was probably an ok gig, but I was preoccupied with the equipment gremlin. 

Here's a random hotel room--the window was on the side wall, just past the desk. Not something you see every day.

The next day, we played a wedding behind a beach club. When we showed up for load in, the tent company was only this far into setting up. Evidently, whoever packed the truck forgot one critical piece that held the whole tent together, and so the entire operation ground to a halt until it was delivered. 

Soooo...knowing that we would probably be faced with a frantic load in/soundcheck situation, the van headed back towards the hotel so that we could eat. This was some pad Thai with rice noodles. It didn't taste like much of anything, even by strip shopping center standards.

Here's our green room. No walls = excellent ventilation! Kudos for the non-styrofoam coolers, though.

And look! A tent! A stage! It all came together in time. How about that!

This gig was much better than the previous night. Did this tent sound better than the previous night's tent? No idea, but my wireless microphones did some sort of electronic belch at soundcheck and then began working fine, and so did I. Also, this crowd was outstanding in terms of looks and enthusiasm.

Oh yeah, and we let Peaches (James, our lighting guy) set up his lights and do his thing. Pretty epic for a wedding reception.

The following week, we played a fundraiser at the Atlanta Zoo. Fine for a Thursday. Whatever. Better than the 10 High. The hardest part of this one was the downtown traffic and the rain.

Here we go: the Hawaii portion of the blog. Actual number of pictures from this trip: sixty-three.

Sunday morning began the long day of travel. People who envy your trip to Hawaii probably don't consider the entire day spent on an airplane. It's definitely the equalizer in this equation.

Both sides of this trip had layovers in Los Angeles. Our flight out of Atlanta made it as far as taxiing to the runway (so I am told--already asleep at that point) before a broken fuel pump (a critical component, I would say!) sent us back to the terminal. After a maintenance check, it was determined that our jet would not be flying, so everybody had to get off and get rebooked on other flights. Some of us went to Seattle, and some of us went on a later flight to LAX.

Unfortunately, the later flight meant that we missed our connection to Kauai. Delta rebooked us onto an American Airlines flight (I did not know this was a possibility).

Pizza at LAX. Not bad at all.

And then we had to go through one thousand frantic steps on the Hawaii government website to prove that we did not have COVID and didn't feel sick. Major pain in the ass--I had to repeat the entire process three times before it finally worked. The big hiccup was that we had done all of the preliminary stuff based on a different flight to Hawaii, so each of us had to create a new trip--like filling out an online customs form with all the "what flight are you on," "where are you staying," "what is the purpose of your visit" kind of information.

I was so frustrated that I almost ate my phone.

We got on the plane at the last minute, but it wasn't even half full. 

Six hours later, we landed in Kauai, and our luggage made it, too!

Made it! Here's my room.

Here's the view from my room. Aloha!

First exploration of the resort (the Grand Hyatt in Kauai).

not a dog, but pretty cool

also not a dog

My run/hike took me up the coast on sort-of-a-trail. Here are a third of the pictures I took!

After lunch, I did my best to lie around and do nothing. It's not my thing, but I tried hard.

This seal is good at it.

Dinner was...I don't remember what this was. It's roasted peppers and rice noodles and tofu and tasteless. I ate a bunch of bread with it.

Tuesday morning's breakfast of champions. A large coffee and three bananas was $12.52, by the way. $2 per banana. 

Speaking of coffee and fruit, our rooms had bidets. It's an interesting experience.

Day two run went in the opposite direction. Not as much to see, as it was mostly just a sidewalk along the main road.

Is a dog.

Lunch time! Here's what I ate every day for lunch. It's a veggie burger, fries, and a side salad.

Tuesday night, we played our show--a corporate thing for a tech company. Great gear, considering that we were on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! 

When I am in Hawaii, I eat all the pineapple. That's the law. I don't know what the red powder was, but it wasn't enough of a deterrent to slow me down.

On our final day here, I ran more or less up the coast again, but more on the road/sidewalk, which eventually gave way to a dirt road.

We hung around most of the afternoon, even though we'd lost our hotel rooms.

Waterslide. Did it ten times. 

And then it was time to go home. The shuttle dropped us off at the airport, but I guess Delta didn't know we were coming? It's odd(really irritating) that there was no one working the counter at 5:30 in the afternoon. 

Also irritating was the limited food options at the airport. I couldn't find any meat-free options, so here's my dinner (plus water from the water fountain).

It looks like a regular jet, but the inside was like a refrigerator. Nooooooo! It was so cold, I couldn't sleep.

We landed at LAX at 5 AM, and per usual these days, we had to go out on the tarmac and get on a bus to another terminal. 

LAX at 5 AM. No people and no food options, and a very grumpy Dave. The coffee shops opened at 6 AM, but the line was immediately (and consistently) twenty-five people long, so I walked up and down the terminal for an hour and hated everybody and everything. 

I sat in a middle seat next to a big, stinky guy...and Monkeyboy. My neck was stiff from sleeping. It sucked real bad.

The following weekend, we played a wedding in Atlanta. Yay for local gigs! This tent did little to keep us warm, however. The outdoor gigging season has ended, or should be ending--my hands do not like the cold.

Not too bad of a night, though! 

Speaking of outdoor gigs...we're back at Chastain Amphitheatre in Atlanta for a fall/Halloween show. Hopefully there will be enough lamps on stage to keep us warm.

Three More

Three different, unusual gigs for the Yacht Rock Revue over the past few weeks. 

#1. Thursday, September 16: Total Request Livestream from Venkman's. This was loose and kind of fun--sort of 10 High-ish, but none of us was drunk. All the requests had been submitted via social media earlier in the week, so there were no true surprises, but I did have to drag a few out from the basement of my brain.

It was funny to me that we had comments on a few songs like Silly Love Songs and Reminiscing that we played to death ten years ago--"Y'all should add those to the setlist!"

#2. Saturday, September 18: Birthday Party at the Buckhead Theatre. This one was a low key, almost background music sort of thing. People were very reserved (or very old), and so the sound was, dare I say, studio quality.

There were some good moments on this one, and I took a few good solos. We also had a bass playing Republican governor/TV personality in attendance who asked to sit in, and we said no thank you.

#3. Mission Ballroom in Denver, Colorado. We flew out the afternoon before (it's difficult to fly west on the day of show and then stay up to play the show in a different time zone).

I woke up on the flight out to find that my radicalized, fire breathing, super patriot seat mate was watching the Benghazi movie (13 Hours) on his iPad at the same time he was watching Full Metal Jacket on the in-flight entertainment, so I turned on MSNBC and went back to sleep.

Denver is beautiful. I went for a run and the weather was perfect.

Then, I walked over to an excellent Indian restaurant, called Mint,near our hotel. The waiter recognized me from two years ago ("You sat over there last time, right?"). You, sir, have just increased your tip!

I had vegetable biryani and a side of roti. 

 

And then I went back to my room, took, a shower, and went to bed. There was nothing else to do.

I slept for as long as I could, but it was still only 8:30, so I put on my shoes and went out for another run. 

After coffee and a shower, it was time for more Indian food! This time was aloo mutter and a side of roti. Outstanding!

Back to the hotel I went, but there wasn't really anything to do, so I took a Lyft over to the gig so that I could practice a little bit before soundcheck. I figured that was nicer than playing for an hour and a half in my hotel room.

The usual set up and soundcheck.

This is Saki...or is it Psaki? I don't know, but I'm a sucker for dogs at our gigs (maybe not the dog in Birmingham that pooped in the middle of the floor, though). 

More pre-gig noodling:  I was playing saxophone in a room backstage, and all of the sudden there was a metallic clang, kind of like kicking a fork on a concrete floor. It turns out that one of my resonators had broken free inside my horn. It's nothing major, but a weird, random occurrence nonetheless.

We were supposed to hit the stage at 8 PM, but it ended up being delayed forty-five minutes because it took so long to check everybody's COVID vaccination/test results. I guess these are the times in which we're living. Anyway, I felt really out of it for the first hour. I'm not sure why, but I just couldn't get my head in the game. 

Lot of people here.

And then it was over. Saturday morning, we went back to the airport and flew home.

I ended up leaving my little pouch of cables and headphones in the seat pocket on the plane home, and didn't realize it until I walked up to baggage claim in Atlanta. A Delta person tried to call the gate, but no one answered, so she made me a special "ticket" to get me through security (which was weird, because I never ended up showing it to anybody). I went through regular security (take your shoes off, the whole thing), rode the train out to Concourse E, walked to the end to the gate, and there was a plane, but no gate agent. No gate agent across the way, either, so I walked down the concourse until I found a two agents handling a flight to Jamaica. I explained my situation, and the guy (with a perfect Jamaican accent!), said "No mon. I don't know who told you that, but you need to walk down to Delta customer service, and they will help you." I walked all the way back to the center of Concourse E to the Delta customer service, and the first agent I spoke to didn't want to help. Se called the gate (of course nobody answered), and then kept trying to brush me off with stuff like "They throw stuff like that away when they clean the plane." The lady next to her was more optimistic, and she finally said, "I can walk him down there." She did, walked straight onto the plane, and returned three minutes later with my stuff. How about that! 

Here's my flute solo on Lowdown from the Denver show. Fueled by the food of India!

Travelin', Man

Saturday, August 28: Atlanta. Hometown show at Chastain (or whatever it's called now)! It was such a wonderful experience to play for friends and family. It's safe to say that we gave this one a little bit extra. A great night.

Friday, September 3: Columbus, Indiana. We played some kind of fundraiser thing in an airport hanger. Maybe it was for the local animal shelter?...nothing's coming to mind. Anyway, Columbus is more progressive than you might think if I said "small town in southern Indiana," and many of the cool residents were in attendance, and they were digging us. This one was easy, and a good way to easy back into reality after the Atlanta show.

Saturday, September 4: Columbus. Originally, we were scheduled to play a public concert in Columbus on this night, but it felt apart because of COVID stuff, so we had the day off. 

First stop: Yat's! It's decent cajun/New Orleans food, and it's a nice change from the usual rotation of Mexican/pizza/Chipotle/sub food. Yat's does participate in the shitty-instant-rice thing (as I mentioned in the previous blog post), but it's easier to overlook it in this situation where the rice isn't solo. 

Also, bonus points to Yat's for having vegan food! I had the vegan white chili (which is my go-to at Yat's), and it did the job. I also had a half serving of the beans and caramelized corn thing. It was ok, but the white chili thing is much better.

This is Hank. I talked to him and his brother Mushroom outside of Yat's. I think Hank was embarrassed because Mushoom wouldn't stop barking. He's a sweetie.

After lunch, I practiced flute for a few hours (as quietly as I could), and then went for a long run (long for me). I tried to go to the Indian restaurant, but it was closed. I then tried the pizza place, but they were also closed for the night. The Mexican place was still open, so I had veggie fajitas that gave me a bellyache. I guess I should've gone with the tacos. After that, I went back to my hotel room and practiced saxophone for a couple of hours (also as quietly as possible, though I was in between the elevators and Monkeyboy, so it was fine), and then went to bed.

Sunday, September 5: Westfield, Indiana. Before we headed north to our final gig on this trip, I went for a run in the opposite direction to yesterday, and quickly found my way to corn fields and dirt roads.

We all met up at checkout and decided to try the pizza place. Food was good, service was slow. The weather was nice, though, so no big deal.

This day's show was a benefit concert in Westfield, which is a northern suburb of Indianapolis. Nice place for a gig. Pleasant weather, easy load in, good looking people to watch during the show.

Wednesday, September 8: travel day. We got home from Indianapolis on Monday afternoon, and two days later we were back in the air, making our way to Tucson, Arizona. What had originally been a direct flight turned into two, with a layover in Salt Lake City. Enough time to eat a burrito and walk around for a minute.

The lady who sat next to me on the flight from Atlanta to Salt Lake was impressed by my ability to nap on a plane. "You were so still! For hours!" Like, maybe she thought I was dead? It's a gift, lady.

We got to the hotel in Tucson a little before midnight. Check out these hip, modern rooms! And a squared off toilet!

Thursday, September 9: Tucson, Arizona. I fought it as long as I could, but finally at 9 AM I put on my shoes and headed out in the hundred degree heat. Unbelievable that anybody willingly lives here. My morning run had a lot of walking in it.

For lunch, I found an Indian place that served empanadas (say whaaaaa?). They also had a some more traditional kind fare, so I went for that.

This place seemed to attract middle aged white males (myself included). A woman entered and ordered lunch, and one of these dorky guys said to her, "I once ate Indian food for two weeks straight," and SHE FELL FOR HIS TRAP! He proceeded to tell his victim all about the two week trip to India that he and his wife took eight years ago, and the different cities they visited ("The call it the triangle"). She finally picked up her order and bolted.

This evening's event was a corporate party featuring several of the music's original artists, so after lunch we had a a few hours of rehearsal to refamiliarize ourselves with their music. First up, we played with Mickey Thomas of Starship (Fooled Around and Fell in Love, Nothing's Gonna Stop Us, We Built this City). Following Mickey was Wally Palmar of The Romantics (Talking In Your Sleep, What I Like About You). Then Peter Beckett, Voice of Player (Baby Come Back), Elliot Lurie (Brandy), and Robbie Dupree (Steal Away). 

For dinner, I headed around the corner to a ramen/sushi place and had Vegan Street Noodles. I even sat I the same spot I sat in the last time we were here. Pleasantly spicy.

This gig was decent (not great), mostly because the rented gear was so beat up. One of my keyboards was messed up and wouldn't let me use a sustain pedal. The original choice for Monkeyboy's guitar amp had a bad tube in it. The basses were dirty and rusty. The drum monitor died during the show. Worst of all, a few of the wireless microphones quit working in the middle of the show, and when Zach opened them to try and change batteries and frequencies, the old batteries were held in place with chewing gum wrappers! This was the rental company's first show after shutting down for COVID, and they didn't check anything before sending it out.

Nevertheless, we played well, and the audience gave us good energy. I remembered my parts, and (most importantly) remembered to transpose my keyboard down for Nothing's Gonna Stop Us, and then remembered to change it back (a legendary mistake I made the first time we played with Mickey). 

And it didn't go too late! 

I woke up in my clothes at 2 AM next to a bag of chips, and Speed on the TV. Goddamnit that movie is stupid. So then I had to get up, take a shower, brush my teeth, take out my contacts, and officially go to bed for four more hours.

Friday, September 10: travel day. We left the hotel at 7 AM, and just as we were getting in line to drop our bags, our first flight (to Los Angeles) was delayed by about two hours. Finally, we got on the plane and flew to LAX, got on a bus to take us to a different terminal (because LAX is one of those airports that's forever under construction), got off the bus, walked to the gate for our flight to Atlanta, and got on that plane.

The Queen, The Kippen, and The Pilot

It was a long day, and a long flight (cue the shrieking toddler two rows in front of us), and because we missed our original connection, we ended up sitting in the last two rows (48 and 49) of the plane. It finally touched down in Atlanta around 9:30 PM.

Saturday, September 11: Birmingham, Alabama. There was just enough time to repack my suitcase and sleep before we got in the van and drove to Birmingham for a wedding.

This room was really cool looking, but maybe not suitable for a nine piece band. There was so much natural reverb that it was tough to hear anything clearly. Also, it got pretty dark once the sun went down! But whatever; it was pretty easy. Birmingham's got a nice vibe. They're trying to be cool.

Lots of fun in the green room (which was also the loading dock, but pipe-and-draped for a little privacy).

Sunday, September 12: home!

Outside of all this, I did squeeze in a quick recording session at the end of August. Someone I've never met (I still don't even know his or her name), texted me out of the blue. All the text said was "saxophonist?" I replied, "yes," and we said that he had something that he needed me to play on and how much would I charge. I gave him a price, he sent me an mp3, and I recorded a few passes, and texted him links to the folder I'd put them in on Dropbox. He sent me a similar thing to show me what he wanted (I don't understand why this didn't happen BEFORE I recorded the first round of solo, but...), and I sent him a couple more passes more in line with what he wanted. He liked it and sent me the payment. We never spoke. I have no idea who he is, what he did with it, what he played on it--nothing.  Isn't that wild? Is this the future?

Anyway, here's a sample: