Benefit for Haiti

After being postponed, the date had arrived on September 28 to hold a fundraiser for the building of St. Marc's school in Bois Blanc, Haiti.  Platinum performed at it, and many came out to support the cause.  Time has a way of shifting our collective focus to more recent events.  As we all know, Haiti fell victim to a terrible earthquake on January 12, 2010.  Now was the time to make a difference.  Will Rece was the emcee this evening, along with his lovely wife Virginia.  Together, they relayed the info and helped to award prizes for a significant gathering of generous souls who met to assist Haiti in funding this new school.  The room was rather plain.  The Decatur Courtyard is impressive on the front side.  The back conference/ballroom area needs a makeover.  Still, the load-in was easy and the sound was decent.  Also performing was former Platinum keyboardist Allen Cook on piano along with a wonderful singer.  They were so in tune with each other.  I felt very self-conscious performing in front of him, as we were playing many of the same songs he has played with the band in the past.  The crowd was fun and in a dancing mood, so it went very well.  The 3 fellows getting up on stage and shaking their collective groove things were indicative of the merriment that went down that evening.

Check this out - for you seriously faithful readers who relentlessly pore over every bit of prose I profess, I have an update.  Platinum played the following night in Johns Creek (as opposed to in John's creek - subtle yet important difference).  On this night, we had Che Marshall sitting in on drums.  The drum position, like the bass position, is a formidable part of the big picture.  The rhythm section is supposed to make it sound easy.  Che did an impressive job all around.  The guy brings a small kit, rather a steep contrast to Gus' rack o' toms, splashes and electronics.  Yet he distills it down to the essence of modern swing, covers, and pop.  Big ears, hard hitting, and an uncanny sense of the unexpected make this man a great mate on the stage.  The stage here, at Atlanta Athletic Club, yields an enormous decible level that unfortunately sucks all of the sounds at once out of our ears and back into them again.  Strange sensation.  We were way too loud for our own good.  However, we learned this by the 2nd set and brought it down.  How clever of us!  This was verified by our notable front of house (okay, side of stage) engineer David Junius.  He doesn't mince words, usually.  Pics to follow.

Che Marshall

Glen front and center for Shout!

These 2 are interesting in that they seem to be taken at the same time,
with Glen & Diana getting into it through a disconcerted face off of sorts.