The Eyes of the World Are On Atlantic Station

Photo by Dan Barker

Played a swanky birthday party near Atlantic Station with Sweetwater Junction.  It was an African-themed party was grilled steak skewers and all kinds of tasty foods.  Walk in music was provided by a hand-drum player and a compulsory shot of tequila was bestowed upon each guest as they entered.

The space we were in was Von Hoene Photography located in suite B-1, one of several studios in the 500 Bishop Street complex.  There was a closet with a large inventory of camera gear and various lenses.  The load in was up a hill or a large set of stairs and then more steps, then a long push to the stage area.  It was gloriously hot and steamy, even at the late in the day hour of 5 o'clock.  We brought what we normally bring, so the gear was substantial.  What most people don't understand is that it takes a decent amount of equipment to deliver a clean sound.  They also don't realize that many bands don't have a choice of systems to bring depending on the room.  That involves a serious inventory and storage, not to mention loading, unloading and keeping track of the cables and various necessary small pieces of gear.  So we actually had just what was needed for this function.  Brian also brought his brand new Canon HD camera to test drive.  It is impressive what these units can do these days.

We had a nice extended soundcheck that we used to run over a couple of tunes that I hadn't played with them yet.  We are playing some current stuff, in this case, some Bruno Mars tracks from his most recent album.  Who can sing that high?  We drop Locked Out of Heaven down a whole step to C minor, which is better than B minor as far as I'm concerned.  The main riff can still be tackled on a 4-string, as it includes a low E flat but only as a passing tone to the low F and happens so quickly that most everybody won't hear that it's a half-step off.  That's my take away.  I played my Jazz bass almost all of the night.  I had my fretless but never pulled it out of the case, as we just didn't have much room to work with.  I did also have my NS-Stick and I did play it on a few numbers, giving me a low B.  The low B string is a necessity on many of these modern tunes.  I try to get around that with an octave pedal.  Late in the night we pulled out the Dead's Eyes of the World by request and it was nice to honor some music from a different era and mindset.

We finally made it back up for a third set and this one was on fire.  Chris contributed a lot to the evening's energy.  I didn't want it to end, the grooves were so solid.  A seriously fun band to be a part of and for the folks dancing and vibing.  Regrettably, the load-out was just as painful as the load-in was earlier.