Poolside With Platinum and then, Later That Night at Northside Taven for Chapo!Palooza!

Somewhere in Northwest Marietta, we convened at Pinetree Country Club for a wedding reception inside of a very large tent.  It was set up next to the pool, a very large one at that.  It was quite warm and the load in was particularly cumbersome, shall we say.  The only way I could see getting my gear inside the tent, after more than one failed attempts, was to back up my car along a sidewalk path to a gate, then wheel my cargo across the pool area to the opening of the tent.  But ahhh, air conditioning makes all the evil go away and all is forgiven.  So glad it was one of those tent scenarios.  Ahhh.

The stage was very small.  Glad we were a 5-piece.  Also glad I didn't bring too many instruments.  In general, there's almost never enough room for all of the instruments I want to bring.  I almost relocated my pedalboard to the top of my amp.  Then Glen suggested that I could at least have it to the side.  Better to have it on the floor and to the side than to have it up where I couldn't easily access the foot switches.  Good call, G-Clef.  We set up quickly and got around to our little soundcheck.

It was one of those nights where we really had it going on.  Many of the 5-piece nights are like that, I suppose thanks to Glen and his vocal chops.  It's easier to go from one song to the next when there aren't 8 people to cue as to what the next song is.  This allows for impromptu set changes, which keeps the party going in a non-stop fashion.  A couple of gents cornered me during the break and asked about the band.  They were in a band years ago.  They kept asking whether we drank during our gig.  I explained that some bands do, some don't, this is one that doesn't.  It is a professional band and we simply work better that way.  It can mess with your mind in a bad way if you drink on the gig when you're not supposed to, and not because it impairs your judgment.  It is more of a mind game; when everybody is on the same page, we can exceed our own expectations.  It's actually hard to explain.  I just know that it doesn't pay to be deviant.   Better to channel one's energies in a more positive way with regard to breaks between sets and such.

Photo by Gus Melton -
he does the right thing every time, WWGD

Still with me?  After the gig, I loaded up as quick as I could, dealing with the tent and table truck who chose to block our path early in the loadout timezone.  I wanted to make it down to the Northside Tavern for Randy Chapman's birthday bash.  Chapo!Palooza!!!  Lately, as the years have gone by, it's really my only chance to see old friends who I used to play with:  Ron Roper, Lee Griffin, Bill Burke, Dan Seifert, Derryl Rivers, Jon Liebman, and Rich Iannucci, to name a few.  I made it for the 2nd set and they just slayed it.  Rich just tore my head off - so did Lee for that matter.  Randy has never sounded better.  He twisted my arm (not really) and made me sit in for the 3rd set.  I had completely forgotten Ron Roper's hit tune It's Alright.  I used to play it with him all of the time.  Damn, I sure done forgot the form.  We did some others that let me save face a bit.  We ended with Steely Dan's Black Friday, down a whole step to D.  Fun and very strange chord changes.  Thanks to Bill Burke for letting me play his bass and rig.  Regrettably, the only decent shots I took were of Lee and Bill, with one including Ron and Randy's back turned to me.  I tried.   Happy birthday Randy!