Up early to ready the fem-car for Sabina's blueberry picking excursion over the South Carolina border with the boys and her co-worker Nancy. The dvd player gave me a scare but worked just fine after relocating the power plug to the front - is there an issue with the mid compartment outlet? I was quite bleary-eyed, as I had foolishly taken my time getting out of the door the night before, and then consequently basement surfing when I got home. Silly middle-aged man who never learns the value of sleep...
Sweetwater Junction on this occasion is the standard road weary line up of Brian Molin, Chris Garner, Mark Letalien, and Dan Barker, along with myself. Brian gets us there and back with no issues - a good time in his trusty hands. Killer guitar chops at will, ready to slay or smolder. Chris has the impeccable voice and is a great guitarist as well, acoustic flavor much needed on some of the songs. Mark is always working the groove, laying down a deep pocket for me to tag along, a sonic hammock if you will. Dan brings a lot to the band. I enjoy his 3 keyboard setup, his cool sounds he gets, the way he ends up standing for much of the set, and his good natured hangability. We made the most of occasion with good camradarie! Had the opportunity to ride with Mark - shoulda woulda coulda! Rode with Brian, as he had rented the big van and we needed to practice some harmonizing, which we did. Only problem there was, Brian rocks the mighty mackie powered mixer with a whopping 8 (count 'em - 8) XLR inputs. This meant that Dan would be without a vocal mic, and he was singing his parts really well in the van. It also compromised some other sound issues, like Brian's guitar amp not going through the PA. Easily solved by turning the amp up to 11 (or 10.5).
Played adjacent to the golf course where I'd been before. Had to load the gear into carts as they wouldn't allow a trailer down the path. Other bands have ruined that practice with their careless driving, destroying the Our dances we prepared for certainly set the tone for the festive celebration: Grateful Dead's
Shakedown Street; James Taylor's
Shower the People; Nat King Cole's
L-O-V-E; and the parting song for the end of the night: Grateful Dead's
And We Bid You Goodnight, an a capella/hippie folk ditty/sort of Amazing Grace type spiritual. The crowd was very appreciative as we eased into the night with our light jazz:
Freddie Freeloader; All Blues (in 4); Just Friends; Chitlins Con Carne; great weather and good stuff for the cocktail hour. Folks giving us props even as we were still in the midst of the slow stuff. The dance stuff came quickly after dinner - hippie but oldies for the folks footing the bill. Gave them a lot of music, as the speeches were short. Got out of there late, after consuming too many Krispy Kreme donuts (hey, so glad they weren't Dunkin' Donuts)! Back home in time to catch a few zzz's before a church service in the early morn.
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| Do you see this view? |
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| String quartet during ceremony and just afterwards. |
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| Detail of string quartet - great expression that is silently saying "Eat shit bass boy!" |
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| Dan getting down on All Blues. |
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| A rare shot of me from a distance! |
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| Dan & Mark, kicking back. |
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