A White Wedding at Cherokee Town Club

"I'm dreaming of a White Wedding, just like when we said START AGAIN!!!"  Hmmm, whaddya think?  A nice Bing Crosby 'n Billy Idol mash-up, with Bing's voice lifted like in Natalie Cole's Unforgettable?  Produced by Steve Stevens.  That would be cool!

Yes, folks do get married this close to Christmas.  I always assume it's going to be a Christmas party on the Saturday before...  don't assume.  A lot of stops were pulled for this one.  The dance floor was covered in a giant white sticker!  All white everywhere.  Everywhere!  It looked really good, actually.  There was a lighting technician, plus Jason's lighting rig as well.  This was a big production.  The in-house power was nasty, with hums being generated from Derek's and my rigs.  Actually, mine was okay.  I think Derek's was sorted out eventually.  It was an entirely new system (!) that hadn't exactly been tested completely just yet.  Nooice!  We had a horn section, which doesn't happen often these days: Anton and tenor sax plus Jordan Shalhoup (one of Gus' former music students!) on tenor sax and Caleb Williams on trumpet.

 The deal for the band was we had to accompany a guest singer/friend of the bride and groom on one of the special dances.  The song was Thank You For The Music by ABBA, or Aᗺᗷᗅ if you're one of the converted fans.  There's no denying this bands long-standing success.  Their music is undeniably infectious, no matter what your disdain for their brand of anglo-pop might be.  The song has a ton of chords and then, as luck would have it, there are other versions and we ended up changing the key.  The guest singer Ben plays guitar and is actually a professional touring singer/songwriter.  He had a bit of an attitude, confident and somehow condescending without insulting us too terribly.  He was wonderfully demanding of Jason as far as the reverb program, amount of decay, the gain, the monitor mix in general.  I haven't witnessed that kind of "Star Power" in, well, forever.  He did play and sing very well, but boy, what a memory he gave us.  He told us we needed to practice the song 3 or 4 more times while he steps out to get some dinner so that he can relax a bit.  Well, we did need to go over it once again.  Derek and I both copied the chord sheet I made, transposing into the new key, G from E.  Better to not take a chance on transposing on the fly with 300 or so people standing around and videographers catching every nuance.  The good news is we nailed it.  I remember Glen telling us that, which made me feel good.  When Glen hands me a compliment, I'll take it.  Also at soundcheck, we went over Son of a Preacher Man, which we had played years ago.  This time, the bride was to sing it with us.  I was hazy on the form and my ears failed me on the bridge section.  Glen gave a quick listen on his phone and set us straight.  The bride absolutely killed it (in a good way!) during the show.  It was a highlight.  We had a great meal of pork and beans, country club style, up in our green room.  The food was gone before Glen could have any;  a server brought him a separate plate to enjoy.

We played a lengthy jazz set, originally a trio of sax, bass and drums.  We ended up adding the other 2 horns and Derek on guitar.  Glen was playing grand piano in the library while we were swinging.  I played my upright, which Anton still seems to really like.  I used my new upright pedalboard to eq the doghouse a bit.  Think I need a more robust eq real soon.  I just thinned out the tone too much.  I was frustrated, but I played fairly well.  I even took a solo on one of the tunes.  We played On Green Dolphin Street and Anton sure likes to stay Latin with the E flat pedal over the solos.  I think it would be better to swing and pedal the E flat to satisfy his craving for the tonic.  It was a long set of jazz, biding for time, then the dances.  Long set indeed.  The dance sets were fun, awesome energy and the horns added more than I can recall.  They were tight and punchy.  Lots of dancers, great fun had by all.  The way all of these gigs should be, except for the special guest star attitude,  Really...

This is great.  Saw that they had 2 artificial snow blowers at the valet station!  Only in Atlanta!  We don't get snow, and if we do, it's a miserable form of sleet and snow that melts and refreezes, making the roads hazardous beyond your normal Northern blizzard.  So the wealthy rent these machines (not to mention the lights) to blow fake snow into your face as you step into your car after the party.  The picture just doesn't do it justice;  all I can do is try to convey while I'm trotting back and forth to get my gear to my car.  With all of these guests, there was no way to move our cars to load up!