Tres Gique: Weekend Wrap-up

[mdlbear]

This is the second or third (depending on whether you count this one) post about last weekend's Tres Gique rehearsal session. The first was titled Weekend of Win, which sort of gives you the general idea. There will be one more, on the River aspects. You'll find the links for the weekend's music here. (There's also a technical report on issues of interest to some of my coworkers; I probably won't post it on LJ.)

cflute got in late Friday night, after nearly missing her flight because she believed the airline when they said it would be leaving two hours late. If I hadn't already had a flight tracker up when N. called from the car, ...

Saturday we went up to our secret mountain hide-out $COMPANY to use one of their conference rooms; ended up in a lobby/lounge area in the administrative half of the suite that offered a little more convenience, comfort, and space without having to move tables around.

We started out with a couple of songs that we all agreed we wanted to work up: "Gilda and the Dragon", and Fred Small's "Big Italian Rose" and "Everything Possible". Then a couple of older ones that we're all pretty familiar with: "Cicero" and "The Owl and the Pussycat". At which point I realized that I ought to have been recording, and hauled out the Zoom H2. We did "The River", "The Toolmakers", and "The Stuff That Dreams are Made Of".

The final chords of "Stuff" were interruped around 12:30 by Colleen and chaoswolf arriving with lunch, in the form of a big pot of chicken curry. Yum. Kat stayed for the afternoon, though I think she was mostly bored.

In the afternoon we did another run-through of "Stuff", worked pretty hard on "Millennium's Dawn", and finished on a high note with "Quiet Victories". That's the point where Joyce decided it was worth investing in a bass, which she'd been thinking of for a while.

Sunday we gathered at Joyce's place, which meant that Dave didn't have to schlep the sound equipment. The room is wonderful for sound; the four-footed denizens less so, between interruptions and allergies.

Sunday was awesome. It was clear from the first song ("Cicero" again) that Joyce has found her instrument of choice, and that the band is clearly a band and not just a bunch of random filkers getting together the Friday before a con.

OK, there's undoubtedly a lot of New {Instrument, Group} Energy involved, but we can put that to good use. There's still a little doubt about whether we can sustain a once-a-month practice schedule both logistically and financially, and whether we can do enough work, separately or in small groups, between sessions to make it work. But at this point it looks hopeful.

cflute left Sunday evening. The weekend was intense, highly productive, and way too short.