SWJ goes to Augusta

I finally got back with the Sweetwater Junction band after a several weeks (months?) of missing out on their gigs.        We actually got together for an evening at the EastCoast Entertainment Atlanta Office the Wednesday before for a mini-showcase.  It was us and 1 other band.  How lame that I didn't even get their name!  They were decent, a large band that, get this, doesn't have a bassist but uses tracks.  Imagine that!  All the power to 'em.  Still, to hire a band for potentially thousands of dollars and they are flying in the most bassic (had to do it) instrument of all.  How terribly Britney of them!  Well, they did a lot of songs that I know from playing with others.  We did a medley of our best stuff and I think we did a great job.  Chris sang his butt off, especially on "Into the Mystic", which I tried to work up at one point, but that high G is just so strong and, well, I'm not...  It was so hot in there that I felt like I was still at work...  Somebody introduced us as a bunch of nice, white boys.  How true, isn't it?
So then on Saturday July 30th we met at the Citi Storage to load up the trailer and get on the road.  We were a little late but actually had enough time to get everything up and running before the doors opened.  We were in a former Medical Building (?) that is now an event facility.  On the way over I texted Greg Hester in case he was in town.  He was and he came out to greet us as we were loading in.  It wasn't the best time to visit as we were scrambling to get everything set up.  Too bad.  I wanted Greg to hang and even show us around a bit, but there really wasn't time for all of that.  My rig was good to me.  Loving the Eden head and all of the power that it wields, now that I have it in bridged-mono.  My wireless scared me a bit, as everything was on but no signal was coming out.  It turns out that I had plugged my cable from the bass (my Stingray) into it, but I didn't get it all the way in.  Ooops.  No signal.  So simple yet so stressful for a moment.  I am really bugging Walt with my bass on just about every gig lately.  I actually wish I could set up on the other side of the stage so that I could just have my volume up along with Brian.  Walt is right, of course, and I tend to play too loudly in general.  Next time I need to remember that I'm wireless, so that I can go out front during soundcheck and hear the mix for myself.  I tried a direct out but I got a bad buzz (not 60 cycle) that my ground lift couldn't fix.
The gig itself went great.  We didn't do any jazz or lukewarm oldies.  It was straight to the rock, more or less.  Some Motown and stuff.  We really know a lot of tunes.  I'll say this: the groom (and the bride, but especially the groom) had such a great time dancing to our music.  He and everybody else were just soaking wet at the end of the night.  It was quite a hot one.  They had great Southern cooking with sweet tea and beer & wine for the party.  The ride back was mellow - thanks to Brian for careful driving and stroking the checks back at the storage facility.
As you can see, these are some of the worst pics I've probably ever taken.  You should (not) see the ones I threw out!  A funny note: the next day I got together with my buddy John Kunberger, who was visiting from Florida.  We went out to the Braves game (thanks Sabina!) but before that, we went to Wax n' Facts, a terrific record shop in Little 5 Points.  Who should we see as we were walking back to the car but Brian, yes, from the night before!  How crazy is that?  He was going to the Further show that night.  I know John would have liked to go, but it just wasn't within my means.  We had fun and it was great to visit like the good ol' days.