Leap Week Part 1

A rehearsal and then 2 gigs, to keep my musical activities congruent while I try to catch up on some other items.  Older blog posts need to get finished with pics if available.  Our "main" computer isn't recognizing my thumb drive Kodak microSD card adapter as a drive lately.  I finally tried it in the basement PC and it was fine there, showing up as the G Drive.  At least I was able to export the pics from it and can carry on for the time being.  Last night I got together with members of the fine Van Halen & U2 tribute act Running With Desire for a "knock the dust off these old warhorses" session.  It's a bit of a letdown that I must report my choice of instruments for this year's model - no NS/Stick (cue sad losing horns...).  It's a tricky situation.  To be authentic, as I am representing Adam Clayton here, I need to have the P-bass in full snot-tone mode.  I have prided myself in replicating some of the Eno-flown-in textures and Enossifications while anchoring the bottom end via the NS/Stick.  It's a slight trade off, as many of the lines realistically cannot be tapped.  What to do...  I'm still wrestling with it and may change my mind.  We have 3 shows lined up for St. Patrick's day, so in a way, the simple setup of just a 4-string bass is very appealing.  With me, I need extra hardware to make the tapping a reality.  That is a consideration.  I was happy with my bass playing last night on the tunes.  To compromise the energy and ballsy bottom-end might lessen the overall testosterone of the quartet's sound.

Our set list is the same, as usual.  A bit boring, in all honesty.  Oh well, for some reason, we still get hired - only on St. Pat's - I guess playing these old tired "college radio tunes of my youth" once a year isn't too horrific.  Certain faithful readers might remember an old band I was a part of that at least played some more adventurous stuff: Two Hearts Beat As One and The Unforgettable Fire.  I have always loved A Sort of Homecoming.  That is still my favorite U2 song.  Perhaps it's best left that way.  Of course, back in the day, we were playing those songs before U2 released The Joshua Tree.  How many readers even remember those times?  I guess we all do, now that I consider that challenge.  It was a magical time, those mid-eighties.  Well, I guess I'm pontificating on the aspect that promoters don't want Van Halen on St. Patrick's Day.  That is the other half of our playlist...

Marty's upstairs studio with his new iMac.  I drooled on it - ssshhh, don't tell him!

Downstairs in the rehearsal space.

Last Saturday of February: Mardi Gras 4 Paws & The Wimbish House

Spoke with my old friend Greg Hester the other day.  Really, there aren't that many people I can name that I've known longer in the Atlanta area than Greg.  That's a mouthful, right?  Well, you know what I mean.  People with whom I stay in touch and get together with every once in a while.  Yeah, that's it.  Well, he was coming into town to do this benefit for homeless dogs and would I like to come on down and play music with him?  No money or anything like that.  But a chance to get together for old times sake and have some fun.  So I accepted and it was a good time.  I was late, but I had a good excuse.  Sabina has an interview on Tuesday and wanted to look her best (ie younger).  It's no secret that women get their hair "done".  I need to as well!  It ran a little long for her - Spencer nixxed the nap - went to Target in the morning for a Dr. Seuss reading session, long day...  I finally made it down to Cabbagetown, location of the Milltown Arms Tavern, where the Mardi Gars 4 Paws event was taking place.  I strolled up, without my upright but with my Fender Jazz.  I get to the stage and first see Chappy (Mr. Randy Chapman to you) holding his Precision.  He let me take over bass duties, moving to his very pretty sunburst Tele.  Tommy Thompson was there, blowing harp and co-leading, although Greg was in control.  We played 3 songs, I think: Les McCann's Compared To What, Van Morrison's Caravan, and a medley of Greg's own Down and Out in NYC and Sister Blue.  On drums was Greg's old band member Morgan Baruzzini.  Plus, a very "on" Greg Smith on tenor sax.  Great to join up with these long, lost brothers of mine.

I had to breakaway after that to scramble up to The Wimbish House in Midtown for Platinum's 5 o'clock soundcheck.  Located on Peachtree Street near 12th, it doesn't get much more congested than this.  Rough load in, particularly when there are giant lighting and catering trucks taking up the driveway and dock ramp.  I hoofed it, running on adrenaline.  Not so easy as I had brought quite a bit of stuff for this one, including the Stick!  Well, I wasn't late - good news there.  Hate to be late for anything.  There was actually a good amount of room to set up since Glen was forward a bit on the stage.  Good for me - maybe not what Virginia wants in the long run.  My Stick sounded good - really the first time I had played it through my 15 since I got it!  Used it on the dance numbers Moves Like Jagger, On The Floor, and a couple of others.  The soundcheck for On The Floor went really well.  I even got those keyboard taps (the 5th of the chord that occur in the beginning and middle section) on the high part.  I ran it in mono mode as I had only 1 amp and processing path.  As luck would have it, I jumped the gun during the show and plowed into the changes a bit too early.  Stepped on the whole shebang.  Ah, I even went over the stinking tune, carefully mapping out a chart with cues.  We were loud, so atrociously loud!  It was the room, coupled with the hollow stage.  My bass was extremely resonant during the first couple of sets.  Then things got louder and couldn't hear myself anymore.  Bizarre how that can be.  Sometimes with bass I can't tell if I'm on the right pitch!  We used to play The Way You Look Tonight, a la ol' Blue Eyes, with the half-step modulation at the end.  This time we didn't - well, I did.  Caught the fact that Glen hadn't, so I slid back down.  Hey, at least I'm paying attention most of the time!  The bride and groom loved us, as they were so happy we were willing to play the tunes they had picked for their dances.  Easy country tunes, some we had played before.  My Jazz bass really had a good tone, even with dead strings.  I switched over to the Stingray during the last set to get those TLev vibes happening, as I was looking forward to playing some Stick.  The Stick just wasn't pumping like the bass though.  Maybe I need a pre-preamp for the Stick to get it up to active levels?

Chambrel at Roswell with Crazy Marty

Hey there.  Here's a good lesson that I still haven't learned.  Perhaps you young readers will remember my cautionary tale and employ better strategies in your future.  I have a calendar set up on Google.  Works great - syncs immediately and I can check it on my "smart" phone device or on any connected 'puter.  The only problem is, you have to physically go to the web site and view it.  That is where my problem comes in to play.  I check it just fine.  Do you know where I'm going with this?  My wife doesn't want to use it.  We used to send emails back and forth entitled Hancotte Happenings.  This was my calendar, before my phone was smart and  I was with Hotmail.  I still use Hotmail, but Gmail seems to be a bit hipper.  Hotmail is my junk and other stuff receptacle.  Perhaps I need to go back to that system if my wife doesn't wish to enter and take heed to events on the ol' calendar.  Really, my mistake is not communicating, something for which we husbands are notorious.  Well, Sabina gets big credit for making changes to her busy schedule and letting me get to my early-ish gig.
I was with MartaY, aka Crazy Marty, at Chambrel, a senior community in Roswell.  We played for their Mardi Gras party.  It was a lot of fun.  Marty sent us a juicy list of classic R&B hits of yesteryear.

On the list:
Chuck Berry's Maybelline (stay on the I during the verses, then blues form elsewhere)
Elvis' A Little Less Conversation (a bit confusing as there are 2 versions; the original was in G, the newer re-mixed one that everybody knows as it was a recent "hit" is in E, Marty does it in A - the G version moved up a whole step but the high parts sung an octave lower.  Needs to be gone over as there are those tight bass/guitar riffs.)
Freddy Cannon's Way Down Yonder in New Orleans (tricky)
Dr. John's rendition of Iko-Iko [my contribution to the list to make it more Mardi Gras-esque (pronounced "Grazzesk") - I did my best to decipher what the good doctor was testifying on the recording and printed out a lyric sheet.  It's close, not exact.  Posted here for your comments or to line your bird cage tray.]

Iko Iko lyrics as recorded by Dr. John on the 1972 album Dr. John's Gumbo

Ah, we didn't get to any of those.  The big highlight has to have been Brent singing Unchained Melody, killing it on the high note at the end!  He has quite a few tricks up his sleeve.  Marty does a good job giving the old folks what they want.  We had some good dancing going on.  He showed them some guitar abuse with the old Dick Dale surf burner Miserlou.  Also played some real oldies: Can't Help Falling In Love, Brown Eyed Girl, I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Darktown Strutters' Ball, What a Wonderful World, It Had To Be You, You Are My Sunshine, Mustang Sally, and Let Me Call You Sweetheart.  We ended, as we always do for these shows, with Show Me The Way To Go Home.  Very nice to put a smile on those faces.  They really enjoyed it.

Oh yeah, the PA system kept cutting out.  I was surprised that Marty was relying on the in-house system but didn't know how it worked or what it was capable of doing.  It was a powered speaker with 2 XLR inputs that just couldn't keep up with the levels we set.  Fortunately, the sound always returned and we didn't fry anything!  Now we know better.  After the show, I packed up quickly and hustled downtown to make a rehearsal for this Saturday's wedding reception.  I was late, and that isn't good.  At least I wasn't the last to get there.  Glen showed up and proceeded to whip us into shape.  Che Marshall, a locally renowned jazz drummer, will be with us.  It should be a decent show.  I'm even contemplating bringing out the Stick for some of the later evening tunes.  If all goes well, I am planning to reunite with Greg Hester that afternoon for a homeless dog benefit going on in Cabbagetown.

SnapIt Screen Capture Software for Windows

On this blog and in my musical dreamscape world, I have the need to learn songs, import pictures, remember something important, collect data, you get the picture.  A tool that has helped me along the way has been SnapIt Screen Capture.  I had another way of saving a screen shot, but this so much easier to use and yields a crisper image to boot.  I really like that it can save the image as a bitmap, which is an uncompressed format.  That helps in rendering pdf files and eliminates the graininess factor when enlarging images.  It has helped me with saving pages of sheet music charts, pics of venues, family photo albums (ie those Kodak slideshows that my sister-in-law sends that cannot be saved - we run a photo screensaver in our living room so I always want all the pics!), and who knows what else.

Here is some official information you will find helpful once you investigate it:

SnapIt is easy to use screen capture software which allows you to easily capture anything on the screen including winows, menus, full screen, rectangular regions, web pages and take shots of moving images.

- Supports hotkeys, auto-saving, clipboard
- Automatically copies screenshots to the clipboard
- Tracks capture history, auto-saves captured images
- Saves files in BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, and TIFF formats
- Auto-names captured images

Download and install SnapIt Screen Capture 3.7:
http://digeus.com/downloads/snapit/files/3/snapit_3_7.exe

Learn more what is included in SnapIt Screen Capture 3.7:
http://www.digeus.com/products/snapit/snapit_screen_capture_3_5.html

Once you start using this, you'll realize that you cannot do without it.  I hope you are willing to try it as I did.  It makes your computing time more efficient and, dare I say, more fun as well.  Give it a try - the web site has a trial version so you have nothing to lose.  The parent company Digeus also offers other PC maintenance programs that could very well improve your computing experience as well.

"A Sunday Kind of Wedding" at the Biltmore with Platinum

Yes, that title is my reference to the passing of the great Etta James.  Her album at last! (lowercase intentional) included the massively popular At Last as well as another great 6/8 slinky slow shuffle A Sunday Kind of Love.  I used to play it with Atlanta's super diva Heaven Davis (um, wow, like 9 years ago now).  Makes sense, Jack met her a couple of times and he was in his little car seat still.  Here's my pic of us at the Harvest Moon Blues Fest from 2003:

The Heaven Davis Band 2003

 

Now, back to 2012 and the Biltmore, a multi-purpose office, residence, and event facility in Midtown near the technological extensions of Georgia Tech.

Just after soundcheck - time to dig into our boxed lunch of chicken,
potato salad, roll, mixed greens, mixed fruit, & brownie.
Thanks to Affairs to Remember!

The wedding was in the south wing - the reception was in the north wing.  A typical scenario, even for a Sunday.  The gig was earlier, since it was a Sunday - and the day before a "holiday" (Presidents Day).  What is up with schools being closed every time the wind blows, anyways?  Well, we were Platinum Soul, for what it's worth.  This was the deluxe version of PS, with Dianna, Gus, Glen, Derek, myself, and even Anton on sax & EWI.  Check that out!  Usually we are merely the 5-piece version of the band, when Soul is entered into the picture.  At any rate, we played well, perhaps arguably until the bitter end...

We opened with some classic jazz, giving extra caution to the volume level as the Biltmore is only second to Fernbank for reflective, regenerative reverberations due to their high ceilings, large areas with no doors, mucho windows, and a lack of anything absorbent.  Our first tune was Erroll Garner's Misty, in the key of Eb, naturally.  I think I got the bridge correct, after years of second guessing myself.  Come to think of it, this was probably the first tune I learned as far as jazz standards go.  I can remember going over it in my parents' basement at 6512 Rutland Place, Falls Church, Virginia.  The funny thing about that is, I didn't own the Real Book just yet.  This was before I gathered up my belongings that I could fit into my recently acquired Chevy Nova (a Corolla in all but a name) and ventured down to Atlanta to find fame and fortune back in 1988.  I was taking some chill classes at Northern Virginia Community College, one being jazz improvisation.  I remember from that class playing through All Blues (keep in mind that I was primarily a guitar player back then) and messed up on the time of the chords (it was in 6/8, right? - we weren't trying to be clever or cool by playing it in funky 4 back in the day).  Well, our instructor walked in as we were "jamming" and heard my fluff - he came close to really losing it on me!  Made an impression - although I still had a few more lessons to learn on the subject of keeping time.  He stopped us all and lectured me on how the rhythm is generally more important than the note choice - truth!  Anyways, that is my memory of learning the changes to Misty - I had wanted to learn that one as it was one that my father, Capt. John J. Hancotte, Jr. (commander of the USS Providence and the USS Gyatt - his name is worth searching for, but there isn't a typical url that you would be taken to, regrettably) truly enjoyed.  Only much later in life did I learn that it was a song featured in a classic Clint Eastwood movie, as well as being a oft-recorded tune (the Chairman of the Board, for example).  Great tune that every would-be jazzer should know.  Hey, jazz musicians have to know everything - the oldies, the newer ones, Pat Metheny's 19 Grammy triumphs, the albums that Coltrane played on when he wasn't a leader, the rules that Wynton wrote, the wrong and correct changes the Real Book made us have to think about, oh, never mind!  It's a lot of work to be a jazz musician, and in return for what?  Other jazz musicians' respect is what comes to mind...

Always dangerous to give me a mic!

Great show.  My blunders came swiftly near the end.  Signed Sealed Delivered was a bit rough, then segueing into In the Midnight Hour was too much second guessing myself (I kept thinking there was no Bb in the descending opening riff, which there wasn't - we do it in D, not E - so the riff is C///A///G///F///).  The big crime was not moving up a half-step in Last Dance when it was time to modulate.  Ugh!  Then I missed the cue that the closing last dance of Georgia On My Mind was being cut super short (for us).  I honestly don't know what I was thinking, with Glen turning around and rolling his eyes.  Too bad, cause the night had been a good one.  Hey, Derek missed his big Neal Schon moment in the intro to Don't Stop Believin', so it wasn't all me.  Well, half-step mistakes are just about the worst sins a bass player can make.  Rough stuff.  Oh yeah, the father of the groom played my bass for one song - Mustang Sally.  I had my 5-string, which was a bit of a stumbling block for him but he sounded fine.  I walked out front and took some pics.  Felt good to be there, as it always feels good to play for an expectant crowd of good people.  Life is short - let's try to keep the good times coming in between paying the bills and shaking our heads at the world events.

Platinum Soul with special guest FOTG on bass.

Friday Night: A Double Header with Billy Batts Ensemble & Martay

It was a rare night where things work out.  I got to play 2 gigs in one night.  It worked because we were able to start a little late on the latter job.  Still< I made it there close to 10:00; a great time considering we ended the last tune of the first gig at 9:32.  The earlier gig was downtown at the Capital City Club; the 2nd being at Padriac's in Vinings.  A good mix of jazz 'n blues for the early show.  One highlight, selection-wise, was the standard Things Ain't What They Used To Be, as penned by Mercer Ellington although we incorrectly attributed the tune to Duke.  I bet Duke had a hand in it anyway.  A great standard to feature piano on.  I have a version of it by the Keith Jarrett Standards Trio, but I can't think who has recorded the definitive version.  McCoy Tyner did a nice solo rendition, very reverberant.  Well, it's a blues that everybody over 40 has heard, I would speculate.  Nice melody and room to get busy.  Beatles always goes over well in situations like this.  We love to do Dear Prudence - my family thinks that is my favorite Beatles song, mainly because I told them it was a long time ago.  A favorite Beatles song is like a favorite pair of underwear;  eventually it gets a little threadbare and you gravitate to another that serves the purpose better.  Still, just about anything off of The White Album (ironically titled The Beatles) holds its own rather well as well as far as tunes to cover.  I never really get the impression that it was a bunch of solo recordings and not the group getting along as they had.  It really feels like they were playing together in the studio - tracks like I'm So Tired, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da, Savoy Truffle, Everybody's Got Something To Hide, Don't Pass Me By, Glass Onion - all sound like the Fab Four all grown up.  Anyways, we ought to come up with a Beatles set for these gigs.  We do Norwegian Wood, but there aren't too many others we throw down on.  We are in the midst of getting a more recent demo package together (for the mothership group Sweetwater Junction), so that is the primary concern as of late.  Get this, we're even planning a rehearsal for this Sunday!  A first since since I've been with them.

Padriac's always feels like I had just left it the night before, even though it's been 2 solid months.  I almost wasn't going to be here tonight, but luck saw its way to getting me here.  We had a good crowd.  We played a good amount of rock, nice but we lost some folks who might have enjoyed more dance-friendly material in the first set.  Bill showed up to sit in with us on vocals in the 2nd set.  Sounded clear and strong, as usual.  I always want to play a bunch of Zeppelin when he shows up, since he has that range and we used to "get the led out" years ago at Billy's in Buckhead (anybody remember that joint?).  We got some big tips for nice, compact versions of hits gone by - Hank Jr.'s Family Tradition comes to mind.  We got through 3 of Martay's originals but not the "supposed to be played" Pumped Up Kicks.  We rocked through past 1 a.m. - too much fun to give it up.  Brent sounded strong.  Martay finally got his tone dialed in, his fiddling about tempted me to start tweaking and tweezing my dials...  One aspect of getting a sound right in the PA is overloading the convenient-yet-woefully-headroom-deficient powered mixer (a nice Mackie, but still not enough power) with great thumping kick drum.  Those kick transients rob the RMS power from the vocals and such, so much so that it all ends in a distorted mess.  Better, as I have believed for many years, to rock little speakers for mains and a phat powered sub to help with the kick and bass dilemma.  We just had to bring down the kick a bit and it was better.  Something that could be done at home before next time (using a drum machine and an a capella track from an iPod or whatever).  Just food for thought.  We do all this work and then let it sound trashy by not paying attention to the lighted meters - all red is gonna have some grit!  No good pics - just too dark.  Lights for the "stage area" would surely get us out of the dark!

TAAG at Java Monkey & a link to Sheet Music: Pumped Up Kicks

We met up once again to play some jazz and allsorts for a fine group of patrons beating the stormy blues.  The rains had passed and the chilly air had moved on as well.  It was a nice night to be outdoors.  We played a few of the tings we thought we'd play during our Valentine's Day show.  Actually, we still glossed over much of what we should have done.  I think that since we had a crowd (for a change), we wanted to get back to the jazz.  I protested over Dr. Lonnie Smith's Back Track, but that was the highlight!  I will never question their judgement again.  Even some of the fusion numbers like Charlie Hunter's Fred's Life and Guy's own Roll Call went over well.  My electric upright sounded good and is sure a whole lot easier to navigate than the big girl!  One patron asked to try it out - he's an upright player, so he wanted to check it out.  Gave it a decent rating.  For what it is, I like it a lot.  Sometimes I wish that I had gotten the (more expensive) Bass Cello model that Robert has, only because it is easier to play with the strap attachment.  All in all, a fun night with nothing much to recall.

Sheet Music: Pumped Up Kicks: CLICK HERE TO PRINT

Learning this song to play on Friday night. Foster the People is a new-ish band. This was their big hit song, as recorded demo-style by Mark Foster, playing all of the instruments and singing, etc. The bass line is a loop but it's a little tricky to nail it. I don't think people would notice if I don't get the subtle variances in it. Still, I shall try in earnest to commit it to memory. I bet it would sound good on Stick!

After finding this link, I went to my good ol' resource where I actually purchase content from every so often.  This is page 1, which they give you for free.  Of course, the sheet music contains elements you won't find here.  Still, the bass doesn't vary, so this is really all I need to get by...

Pumped Up Kicks at musicnotes.com

Valentine's Night at Nakato with TAAG

I was asked a while back by Adrian to play this couples event night at this chic sushi restaurant.  As I am with a band that takes priority, I asked about the hold for the night.  The hold was removed and I was a free agent for the night.  Well, lo and behold, the best way to get a gig is to have one booked already.  Once I committed to this one, I learned that the other band was indeed booked with another strong hold, which ultimately did become a definite.  Ugh.  That's a lot of how my year has been going.  Well, I got a sub for the main band and proceeded to uphold my commitment to this one.  That's the right thing to do, after all.  Gotta keep the karma police at bay.

We were at the very favorable Nakato Japanese Restaurant on Cheshire Bridge Road.  If you haven't been there, the atmosphere is very warm and friendly.  Great bar, nice sushi bar, fun private dining rooms in the back where you remove your shoes and put on slippers to enter, they have it down.  My trips through the kitchen to load in and out were a vision of hard working chefs and an immaculately clean work area.  We dined on spectacular sushi rolls - the Rainbow Roll is as delightful as it is colorful - as well as fresh seafood: grilled salmon for me, sea bass for Guy.  Nice work all around.  Could have used more soy sauce - my only minor gripe.  Hey, it was quite busy in there and we ate at prime time.

The music, you ask?  It was The Adrian Ash Group: Adrian on drums, Guy on guitar, Jason on sax, moi on upright bass, and special guest Rich Rowlinson on piano.  We have to have a piano player there because the venue has a piano - a grand piano!  Maybe we don't need guitar?  That would be cold to Guy...  I don't deal with those kinds of issues.  I think the venue might have been really happy with a piano trio.  Still, we gave it a good try.  Also had Emile on vocals.  I think we may have wandered a bit in the spirit of it all in the song selection.  It wasn't a bad song selection, but it may have not been the best ones we could have played.  So much of what makes a successful gig, especially from what is essentially a pickup band standpoint, is the tunes that are called.  Does the audience know them;  can we play them well;  are we having fun;  are we getting into the music;  are we varying the grooves enough;  do we get out of them before it gets stale...  (?)   I'm not convinced we were successful in many of those regards.  I should have made a set list.  The ones that I had planned on playing were forsaken for others.

We did have some brushes with greatness: bass instructor extraordinaire Russ Rogers (what can be more intimidating for a would-be bassist such as myself than to look up from my charts and see Russ and his woman sitting at the frontmost table, right in my lap, so to speak?); also had Peabo Bryson there, who reportedly really enjoyed our version of Stevie's Overjoyed.  The second set was much better than the first - more jazzy.  The biggest response from the crowd was for the Dolly Parton penned Whitney Houston signature tune I Will Always Love You, warmly delivered by Emile.  I wouldn't have chosen that one, so there you go.  Sometimes you can overthink the song selection.  Of course, Whitney's funeral is planned for this Saturday.  It was the first time that people have been out of their house and paying tribute to a fallen legend.  I get it.  That is what performing music is all about - can I help you feel something inside?  It's not really about the chops or the athletic aspect.  It's about connecting with folks and making them remember the night.  When we're old and in our rocking chairs, that's all we hope to have - some memories of the good times.

We reconvene on Thursday for another wine tasting event.  Perhaps we will get around to playing the other tunes we left out for this occasion...

A pensive Rich Rowlinson awaiting his fate.

Guy & Rich coming to terms with the course of the evening.

I haven't yet realized the mistake I made in taking this gig.

The Night I Heard That Whitney Left Us, I Was With Platinum at Atlanta Athletic Club

This was a discounted job for a worthy cause.  Sometimes, we wait to play.  This night, we waited... and waited some more.  Sound check was at 5, or so.  Dinner was at 6, or so.  The downbeat was at 9:30, or so.  It actually hit at around 10:15, or so.  Really.  We were contracted to play till 11:30.  Does the client expect us to go later?  I think there are expectations from all around.  The venue is promised a certain to wrap it up.  We can't necessarily go until we fancy that the crowd has had enough.  They want to close up so that the payroll doesn't go into overtime.  The money makes it all complicated, so I'm told.

The waiting around was a drag.  There was a brief power surge/power failure that apparently killed the internet connection/wi-fi router signal, thus ending any chance of comfortably killing 2 or 3 hours with semi-modern cell phone technology.  Kevin's iPad was playing comedy via Nexflix when the occurrence occurred.  ugh.  I eventually came to the realization that I couldn't sit there any longer.  I went to my car to listen to Turn the Beat Around by Gloria Estefan with chart book in hand.  The sound check run through was weak, so I figured I was doing something wrong.  It turns out I was.  Then I got the notion to get moving.  The temps were down around 20 degrees, lower with the wind blowing around.  I ventured over to Target and picked up the latest Stephen King paperback Full Dark, No Stars.  I read 'em all, for the most part.  I got cash at the Publix ATM (no sur-charge) and then wandered in to get some gum - my favorite flavor & brand on sale!  It was meant to be.  I arrived and relished in my purpose.  On the way back, I opened up Facebook and the top story going around was from 11Alive: Whitney House Dead at 48.  That sure changed my night a bit.  I got back and relayed the new to Gus - how the word travels fast.  They knew about it in the green room, even with out wi-fi.  Big concept to wrap your senses around.  Poor girl.  She couldn't ever get back on track.

We played well for the 75 minutes we were up there.  Soundcheck went really well.  Played through some tunes we don't even do: Sledgehammer & Wrapped Around Your Finger - like it was 1986 (ok, and '83) all over again.  The bass line in Wrapped is really nice.  Sting is quite good at being Sting.  His bass is understated in a grand fashion.  I believe it's fretless on that studio track, like King of Pain and many other Police tunes.  The feel gets so much momentum out of the "drop 1" concept, a reggae way of driving the beat without getting in the way.  Gotta respect the flavor.  Ironically, I had my fretless Tobias, which I played on the first few tunes in soundcheck.  I switched to my Stingray for the next tune, which ended up being the Police one - suggested out of the extreme blue, I must say - and enjoyed the upper articulation I had with said axe.  A little flanger and employing the lower octave gave it a slightly Hugh Padgham-esque production aspect.  I hope we can try that one again - thanks as always on things like that to Glen Perdew (Glen, you're so good and connected - you should have a site of your own).  The man is The Human Jukebox and has the best ears I've been around in a long time, perhaps next to my young mentor of da blues 'n jazz Randy Chapman, another man with big ol' ears.

My rig was too loud!  This stage is set into the wall, so to speak.  I was too loud - did I say that already?  I was already lower in level than a typical Platinum gig.  I turned down on the pedalboard, then down again on the amp.  I had mucho articulation - ie the tweeter/horn pad control was not padding as much as it should have been.  Tweeters are fine on bass cabinets, but a little goes a long way.  Any more than 11 o'clock (ie 3 out of 10) and it starts getting too noisy, especially if there's any dirt in the signal.  Mine was probably at 12 o'clock, or halfway up.  Oh well.  It makes me play more carefully, I guess.  Every room is different.  Turn it down, you say - easy enough.  Not for me.  My cabinet is tilted back against the wall with my Eden head next to it on its side.  That coupled with my coordination and I'm just gonna have to let it ride.  The crowd loved us, what little chose to stick around after all the prizes had been claimed.  We played some nice ones for the older Republican crowd: All Night Long (our opening song, which had been changed from the ultra-conservative The Way You Look Tonight, but without my knowledge - I was really for I vi ii V swing in Eb on my fretless until Glen started the keyboard motif signaling Lionel Richie at his peak);  December 1963 (Oh, What a Night);  Love Train;  You Can't Hurry Love;  Shout!;  Respect;  Soul Man --> Hold On, I'm Coming;  Jackson 5ive Medley: The Love You Save --> I Want You Back;  The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face;  Turn the Beat Around;  Last Dance.  Anton showed up from his gig next door at St. Ives Country Club - what a guy!  Very cool to make it and play with us - don't try this at home, kids!  He is really a great fit.  I had fun and played well after all of the waiting around.  You just never know.

Mocha Delite & White Chocolate

More Charts For The Season of Love

Here are more that I wanted to post, but found that it was frustrating (!) to get the last bunch to line up just right, so I left these out.  Here they are now, but I'm only putting up concert pitch charts this time (ie not tenor sax, trumpet, or various other wind instrument pitched).  As you can easily tell, these are from various other sources (The Real Book, The New Real Book, Guy's charts, the Jamerson transcription looks similar to the Standing in the Shadows of Motown book by Dr. Licks charts, although it has been re-typed in a larger font, etc.).  Hopefully I won't be found guilty of any infringement.  These are the best versions I could find, by the way.  Enjoy!

My Funny Valentine
good alt. chord: Fm7(b5) or Db7(#11) in bar 15 (instead of the Ab-6).
Sarah Vaughan sang it with the Db7 chord.
Many different chord progressions for this song.
Miles played a very popular version (or 2), but his changes are certainly not the typical
chromatic descending bass pattern that is usually employed
(his band would play Ab7 / G7 in bar 2, for example).
Check out his changes vs. Chet Baker's changes here.

Darn That Dream
I know this from Miles' Birth of the Cool
I played this with a guest guitarist last Thursday -
not an easy one to sound good on without a heads up!

My Cherie Amour
Not the original key but who can sing it anyway?

Stevie's Overjoyed
Guy has since gone back to an earlier chart to facilitate solos.

Nice bass transcription for Ain't No Mountain High Enough (the Marvin/Tammy version) - 
only 2 of the 3 pages but the chorus just repeats at the end...
Seriously real bass by James Jamerson - gotta try to use a P-bass
with flatwounds and foam under the strings at the bridge.

Beatle John's In My Life - no keyboard solo transcription but who really wants that?  It was played at half-speed and then sounded faster when played at regular speed.  Great trick and execution by George Martin!