I’m sleepy.
I didn’t get home until about 1:45 a.m. because last night’s concert with Josh Groban was in Uncasville, Connecticut, at Mohegan Sun Arena.
How did I end up at a casino? You might well ask…
A couple of weeks ago I got a call from a violinist/contractor in Philadelphia asking if I was available to play four dates with Josh Groban. Initially I turned the gig down since I could only play three of the dates, and most contractors want musicians who can play an entire run. This contractor was fine with my playing only three dates.
The first show was at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City on July 21st. I left home at about 10:45 a.m. to allow for the requisite “getting lost every time I drive in New Jersey” and traffic, plus I wanted to go to the Coach Factory Store in Atlantic City before the 3:00 p.m. rehearsal. Good thing I left early. The traffic was stupid heavy. People need to just stay home. I got to A.C. at a little after 2:00 p.m. which really wasn’t enough time for me to park, drop off the cello, and go to the store. As it turns out, most of the orchestra was late because of the traffic. NOT a good thing. (I did go to the Coach store later and got an amazing black bag…)
The local orchestra for Josh Groban’s concerts consists of eight violins, two violas, two cellos, one French horn, one harp, one saxophone, one trumpet, and one trombone. A typical rehearsal for a gig of this sort is to have someone from the artist’s band go over the charts with the local orchestra for about an hour or so. Our rehearsal was led by Tariqh Akoni, an amazing guitarist on the tour. Tariqh is incredibly nice and reminds me of Mr. Clean because of his shaved head and big hoop earrings. We went over the music for about an hour, and then we waited until the stage was set for the sound check with Josh.
The sound check consisted of our running through a few songs with Josh to get used to the click tracks (we all wear earphones so that we can hear the metronome beat and play together without having someone conduct us) and to make sure all of the microphones (attached to our instruments) worked and the balance was good.
The stage for Josh’s concerts is really elaborate and there are several 18-wheelers that drive it from city to city. The orchestra sits in a straight line on a riser at the back of the stage.
OK. Time to shower and get ready for my drive to Wilkes Barre. More later…
