A Friday Night Wedding at The Gardens of Great Oaks in Roswell with a Scaled Down Platinum

It was a strange night on Thursday.  Our guitar player couldn't make the gig, so we got a sub.  The sub subsequently cancelled on us 90 minutes before the downbeat.  I tried in vain to find someone who could and would make it.  Not a big money gig so it's not the most enticing gig.  Well, we ended up not playing.  That's the way the patio jazz goes.  It might have been interesting to do it as a 3-piece, a la Sonny Rollins (Way Out West, Live at the Village Vanguard), Branford Marsalis (Trio Jeppy, The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born), or Joe Henderson (State of the Tenor).  Like how I'm comparing myself to a member of those famous groundbreaking recordings?  Don't mean to be that self assured.  Trios without a chordal instrument can be very challenging, but I think we might have been able to get into a nice standards vibe.  I didn't plan on upright bass, as it was in the 90's still at 7 o'clock, but that would have been the instrument for the format I'm talking about.  At any rate, we will be back in 2 weeks to make another joyful noise.

Friday I played a wedding reception in Roswell, close to home.  Brought Jack with me to soundcheck, and then shuttled him over to Kaikudo before returning to eat a very tasty chicken and mushroom ravioli dinner.  We were inside - yes!  The Ajax Hall at The Gardens of Great Oaks is a decent sized room considering the locale.  All of those facilities along Mimosa Boulevard in Roswell are grand buildings, but not necessarily the roomiest to hold a band, guests, and a dance floor.  It was well thought out that we would be a smaller-scaled version of the classic Platinum band: 5 members consisting of Virginia leading Glen, Gus, D-Mac and myself.  Virginia held her own, covering tunes that Lexxi and Dianna have been singing for years.  A good friend of the bride and groom played Glen's keyboard and sang Sister Hazel's This Kind of Love.  There was an unfortunate part of the song when the keyboard's volume cut out completely and he continued to go on a capella.  Glen rescued him with the proper TLC on the volume pot.  DJ brought his small but mighty junior system - actually, is that a new system he has?  QSC powered speakers?  Those speakers are, from my limited engagement at Wizard Electronics, the only brand that contain a built-in cooling fan along with the heat sink.  I'm told it makes a big difference, as the speakers are generally pushed close to their operating limit for hours at a time.  Heat is usually the culprit in their longevity, or lack thereof.  When it's a smaller PA, that means my bass doesn't go direct.  I'm responsible for all of the thump.  Can't skimp on my rig in a small room.  My single 15 is enough, but i wouldn't consider a 12 anymore.  That is solely for jazz and lighter applications.

We played much of usual stuff, with Glen handling most of the lead vocals.  We threw in Margaritaville, as Buffett was requested.  I was ready to sing some lead, but it wasn't meant to be.  I did sing a bunch of backups.  Played the NS WAV and my Stingray.  Nice to switch back and forth.  Used the NS in the last set on Moves Like Jagger - fun to have the synth patch on an EUB and see if anybody notices.  We also busted out Digital Underground's Humpty Dance, coming out of This Is How We Do It.  Last song of the night was Shower the People (again on the EUB), and I had the benefit of recently playing this with Sweetwater Junction up at Brasstown Valley, thus remembering that crucial middle harmony for the chorus.  We sounded like we had rehearsed it!  A good time was had by all - drinks were bestowed upon an appreciative band!  Now it's a party for all!