February Frolicing at the Fox With Baton Bob

Baton Bob wowed the crowd
I think he drops the baton on purpose

This was a mere 2 days after our return from New Mexico and all of the Southwestern splendor that permeated that little shindig.  I made it back in time to find out that jack's performance in orchestra went well - missed it by that much, chief!  That heinous rush hour traffic kept me from my destination at Walton High School.  Well, at any rate, I regrouped and licked my wounds.  The order of business here was a wedding reception in the Egyptian Ballroom for a fine family.  The Platinum Band of Atlanta was a 7-piece this evening.  Always important (very important, I might add) to make note of the "dances".  It should be assumed that there are particularly important pieces of music to perform at wedding receptions.  The ceremonies themselves are another story.  The dances include the first dance of the newlyweds, the father/daughter dance, the mother/son dance, and possibly others, including an anniversary dance.

For this evening, the first dance was the now-classic Trouble by Ray LaMontagne.  I first learned and played this years ago at a holiday party with The Brent Whiten Orchestra (it was a good sized group, living up to the name).  Man, that was a few years ago now, pre-dating this blog.  Whoa.  So, I've known this song for a while.  I even have the old chart I made for it.  When I listened to it closely once again, I realized that I had heard the bass incorrectly.  The intro figure flaunts a rather upfront bass, played with a pick and subsequently possessing a lot of bright attack.  I was hearing it start on the G, moving up to A, then B (I know, wrong), then back down to A.  It really moves as G, A, G, A (the V of D).  It's a really nice arrangement that makes the most of the simple folk instrumentation.  The picked electric bass gives the soft acoustic guitar a nice kick, as well as generating the melodic motif before the vocal kicks in.  The first dances are usually shortened a bit, so for this one, we ended the song before the coda.

The father/daughter dance was another one I had played before: Father and Daughter by Paul Simon.  It was in a young person's movie originally, The Wild Thornberries, and later issued on the Brian Eno produced Surprise.  I love Brian Eno and Paul Simon, but I can't help but think that there were a lot of Simon fans scratching there heads with that cd.  Anyways, I played this a few years ago with Platinum and revisited my arrangement of it using my NS/Stick.  There's a prominent electric guitar figure and a strong acoustic guitar part as well.  The NS/Stick allows me to cop the acoustic rhythm with some simple 3-note voicings.  I like the tonality of the E major with the G# on the bottom.  Don't think I didn't try to get that crazy lead line.  I did, but I'm glad that I didn't have to on the gig.  Fortunately for us, we had Steve Cunningham with us.  He came prepared and made it look easy.  That boy is silly good.  He's not afraid either.  I caught him playing some tasty slide on Make You Feel My Love.  He even had some nice things to say about me and my Precision bass, commenting on my Brick House attack.  I'm always a bit self conscious about bringing P-bass to a gig like this.  It doesn't have that full-range thump that boutique basses have.  Still, the more I use it, the more I subscribe to the notion that it sits in the mix like almost no other bass.  In a band situation, it is a reassurring sound.  Granted, mine has a jazz pickup in the bridge, which I can't deny gives it a bit more definition.  It was fun to rock with Steve and the band.  We tore it up on the loud last set, culminating as we often do, with Don't Stop Believin'.  Parking at the Georgian Terrace has been a nice added value lately when we're here.  The load out to the side of the Fox on Ponce was as quick as it could be.  Going through the front is the way to go.