David Ellington and I played our monthly duo gig at Sun in my Belly in Decatur tonight.  It was nearly a solo--traffic was so bad--it took me an hour and forty-five minutes--that I started looking for a bridge to jump off.  The situation was madnes;  it's a 24 mile trip, one that I made post gig in thirty-five minutes.

Once we'd played a tune or two I finally settled down.  What a shitty way to start a gig!

Anyway, check out our work.  New tunes for this gig were Driftin' (Herbie Hancock), Little B's Poem (Bobby Hutcherson), and Best of Times by our man David Ellington.

We're back there Friday, March 27, 7-9 PM.  Please stay off the roads that day.

Callaway Down There

February 25, 2015 Yacht Rock played a corporate party Monday night at Callaway Gardens...waaaaaaaay down I-85 (and then down I-185), almost to the Alabama state line.  A long drive, but we've been kind of starved for gigs lately, so I am thankful to be working!

Luckily, this was a pretty rockin' party, with people on the dance floor from just about the first song, and it stayed that way for the entire gig.  It's so much easier to play a private gig when the people are into it.  Just about everyone was in a costume (60s and 70s);  our favorites were the members of KISS--Ace Freely even brought a guitar.  Nice touch.

The Beatles at Smith's

February 22, 2015 Smith's Olde Bar...every time I think this place is dead and we'll never set foot in here again, there's a night like this one where the crowd is great and the sound is good and the gig is fun, and I know we'll be back.

More Dave and Dave

February 20, 2015 David Ellington and I brought our duo to the west side last night, crammed into a nook in a bar.  We are very thankful for the gig, indeed--without this place and our monthly restaurant thing in Decatur, I'd have no jazz outlet.

The music played before, after, and on the breaks was really loud--REALLY LOUD!!!, and definitely not in line with what we were doing during our set.  I think that from now on I'm going to iPod the breaks through Ellington's amp to try and keep things the same.  Plus...holy shit--it was loud.  Ellington and I laughed about the difference in volume between our stuff and their canned music.  On one break, a customer came over to me and asked me if I could turn down the music, and I had to break it to her that it was not something I could control--it was the bar's stuff while we were relaxing for a moment.  I felt like we were the break music between the barrages of hipster rock.

We're not back until early April.  Hopefully we'll be outs…

February 18, 2015 Another cruise!  Somebody thought this was the twelfth ship on which Yacht Rock has sailed.  I really can't remember.  We've done two Rock Boats, Weezer, Live Loud, VH1, Zac Brown, Train, Jillian Michaels, KISS, Kid Rock, the Grammy Cruise, and this one.
Friday:  For this cruise (Sail Across the Sun with Train), we flew into Ft. Lauderdale and took a van and trailer down to the Port of Miami.  Lots of people crammed into the van.

Port o' Miami.

My room, just down the hall from the last cruise's room (5584 vs. 5514).

I got a little practicing in every day--about an hour and a half.  Fortunately, there was no cabin on the other side of this wall so I only had one neighbor, and that person never said anything.

Our first show was in the theatre on the first evening.

Nice picture from show, courtesy of a girl named Shelley.

After that, most of the guys moved to another room to serve as the backing band for John Driskell Hopkins (just as they had at the Greg Lee Show at Edd…
[null, {"document_url": "http://davidfreemanmusic.blogspot.com/2015/02/", "unformatted_src": "http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t148RykZkRs/VO4U0HdJmUI/AAAAAAAAQcI/b-NrIAlJYfQ/s1600/IMG_4305.jpg", "src": "http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-t148RykZkRs/VO4U0HdJmUI/AAAAAAAAQcI/b-NrIAlJYfQ/s1600/IMG_4305.jpg", "formatted_filename": "IMG", "alt_text": "Image"}, null, {"document_url": "http://davidfreemanmusic.blogspot.com/2015/02/", "unformatted_src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_4PfdFaVOmo/VOoWtykRL7I/AAAAAAAAQa4/0kSCl31IQuM/s1600/IMG_4291.JPG", "src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_4PfdFaVOmo/VOoWtykRL7I/AAAAAAAAQa4/0kSCl31IQuM/s1600/IMG_4291.JPG", "formatted_filename": "IMG", "alt_text": "Image"}, null, {"document_url": "http://davidfreemanmusic.blogspot.com/2015/02/", "unformatted_src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Odh9lJa7s64/VOdl4dcXN_I/AAAAAAAAQZY/71zlpelTg9A/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-02-20%2Bat%2B1.12.41%2BAM.jpg", "src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Odh9lJa7s64/VOdl4dcXN_I/AAAAAAAAQZY/71zlpelTg9A/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-02-20%2Bat%2B1.12.41%2BAM.jpg", "formatted_filename": "Screen BShot B Bat B", "alt_text": "Image"}, null, {"document_url": "http://davidfreemanmusic.blogspot.com/2015/02/", "unformatted_src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iypTwCDKz2I/VOQdXehqxEI/AAAAAAAAQPM/h7g2dEycIIY/s1600/IMG_4136.jpg", "src": "http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iypTwCDKz2I/VOQdXehqxEI/AAAAAAAAQPM/h7g2dEycIIY/s1600/IMG_4136.jpg", "formatted_filename": "IMG", "alt_text": "Image"}, null, null, null]