Platinum Rocks the Intercontinental on Perhaps the Worst Day of Traffic Ever!

It took me a solid 90 minutes, okay, maybe a bit less time but not much, to get to this deluxe hotel in the heart of the Lenox area.  Long lines at the 400 toll booths (which are rumored to be around perhaps only one more year, is that right?), and then turning onto Peachtree from Piedmont.  This is one challenging load-in, with a very congested dock, tight turns, and then the imposed parking deck with the potential of getting stuck with the tab at the end of the night.  Virginia has never done us wrong on that end, so there were no worries.  All in all, I think we had a good night, but perhaps we were out of sync a bit.  I made more errors than I had in a long time; an unfortunate return to form.  I replaced the 2 9-volt batteries in the 6-string and it was fat and bright.  Had the Stick along again, for the hip-hop and easier tunes.  I learned that a tune like Flo Rida's Club Can't Handle Me, with it's chugging 8th note bass line, just doesn't work so well on the Stick, no matter how much I practice that tapping motion.  It becomes too bright and light, even with mad bottom end poured into the tonal circuit.  That is a cool advantage of the NS/Stick, the ability to finger pluck on the instrument as one would on a bass.

We didn't have Kevin, he was out with the flu.  Rough going, I'm sure Kevin.  Better to have it now than over Christmas.  We missed him quite a bit, although we were joined by a real talent: Tyron "Bogey" Thornton.  Tyron has his own band: Bogey and the Viceroy that stays busy, from the looks of it.  Bogey did a good job; nice stage patter and presence.  Hard for anybody to walk into another band and front them.  What he didn't know, Glen could certainly handle.  Hard to overstate Glen's importance in this group.  He would be a logical front man, but then who can play all of the keyboard parts?  Allen, of course, but there are so many tunes we've amassed, just over the course of this year alone.

The front line also included Marguerita Smith, who has performed several times with us recently.    She has become more comfortable in her role, adding her own twist to program.  She really shined on Aretha's (You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman.  Aretha's song, but of course it was written (and later recorded) by Carole King, with lyrics supplied by Gerry Goffin and inspiration delivered from producer Jerry Wexler.  We've been able to keep it in Aretha's key of C, which is nice in that it gives it a classic familiar sound and certainly pushes the vocalist to her limits.  Glen worked out the harmonies so that they all moved together.  I'm just glad that I can remember the tune!  That is, without having a chart in front of me.
The bridge does a bit of a maneuver:

I (maj7)  -  v        I (maj7)  -  v
IV(maj7)  -  i        IV  -  iii  -  ii  -  V

That Gm7 is the odd chord.  Your ears tell you it's a dark one, but after hitting the dominant chord throughout, going into the chorus and so forth, it's not the chord you would expect.  My little analysis above is most likely way off base.  It's more like this, now that I consider it a bit more closely:

I(maj7)  -  ii/IV     I(maj7)  -  ii/IV

It's too much to think about there!  Songs like this tell me that there are just no rules to writing songs!

Marguerita also stole the show on Midnight Train to Georgia.  Who doesn't want to be a Pip when they hear that song?  Check out her myspace link here.

He, before I forget, about that parking.  We finished at midnight.  Took a while to pack it all up and then go down the elevator.  Well, I got my parking card stamped, but that doesn't help as far as the machine to process it is concerned.  By a stroke of good fortune, an official looking man was walking past as I was preparing to go through the un-manned gate.  I showed him my card and let me out without any questions.  What if he hadn't been out there (at 12:50 am)?  I would have had a tough time getting out without paying.  That was two times this week that I got lucky on the parking fees.  Karma is energy being thrust around this world.  I intend to keep it bouncing around by doing my part and helping others as much as I can, that's for sure.