The Georgian Terrace Trilogy: A Platinum Recurrence

As fates would have it, our next three gigs would be in the very same venue in the very same room.  To this day, I still envision our orientation to be what I refer to as width-wise (ie not at the end of the long room, rather on one of the long sides).  That was how we had set up the first couple of times we performed there.  Well, this worked out.  We are the kind of band that has a lot to offer, but we don't necessarily do it quietly.

We had rehearsed the previous Wednesday at Crossover and went over Satellite by Dave Matthews Band.  I'm playing acoustic guitar along with Derek on it.  We've raised it up a whole step to accomodate Virginia's range.  I think the point was to do it as an acoustic number, but the whole band played.  Glen played my bass, as he does on I'll Be.  I'm starting to think we should rethink our stategy and make it a song without the standard rhythm section.  Still, it has that terrific 3 over 4 feel that Gus can do so well, so it really did sound good.  I enjoy my brief moments on guitar and hope we can keep a few of them on the list.

I took the bold step of hauling out the upright for this gig.  I like playing the first set on it I the tunes are mellow enough.  I actually even like playing non-upright tunes on it.  The problem was I had forgotten about feedback issues.  Without a notching eq in line, I was fighting a good bit of boomy howl.  It certainly doesn't help that my amp is virtually right behind the bass.  A lot of no-no's compounded to prevent me from having a relaxed time with it.  I set out to make a makeshift upright mini-pedalboard for the next time I bring it out.  I'm not the only one bringing extra stuff; Anton has a hip new Moog keyboard that gets unreal fat tones.  He also has a new 2-tier stand for his rig.  He set it up facing backwards (a la Miles!) since we were dealing with these massive pillars in front of the stage.  Cool keys Anton!

The first dance was L-O-V-E, Nat King Cole version with Johnny on vocals.  What else is new?  We still do Lovesong, Whatever It Is, Just My Imagination --> My Girl (cool transistion with the bass but we do leave out the very cool bridge of Imagination - need to put that back in there, then a chorus and then jump to the next one), Wake Me Up, Suit & Tie --> California Love, and Marry You by Bruno Mars.  I found a great bass transcription from the SNL performance of Suit & Tie.  It's really well done.  Perhaps with the author's blessings, I could repost it.  I've been trying to get it under my fingers and in my head for a while now.  It's a tough little chart, with a fleet fingered 2-cotave run before the 2nd chorus and has me gasping and marveling at the same time.