2026-07-21 Sunset Grooves at South Whidbey Community Park

What's this? Sunset Grooves first show since November! Over the last few weeks, we have gotten together to rehearse for some summer shows, but also to get a new guitarist in the mix as Dennis is moving to Poland in the fall. We had no gigs, so there was no big rush, but with these gigs coming up, we started moving forward with a kid named Robby. Early 30s, came out with a blue Ibanez and a fun, youthful energy. Helps that he's a solid player and a cool dude.

Fast forward to yesterday, when we played our first gig this year, on Whidbey Island, of all places. We got drafted to play on a Tuesday night, outdoors at the South Whidbey Community Park. Logistically, it was sort of a pain. We had to be there around 3:30 to setup the PA and stuff. But we also had to catch a ferry. I could have worked half a day, and then left for Mukilteo, but instead, I took a few days off to hang out with Marci at home instead.

Headed out the door about 12:30 to catch the 2:05 ferry. Got to Mukilteo around 1:30 and got on the ferry about 1:50, which I guess was the 1:30 ferry, which was running late. Whatever. I ended up on Whidbey Island around 2:15 or so, it's a short ride.

A ferry from the ferry

Did I mention that this would be the hottest day of the year? I got to the park and there was 0 shade. Trees all around the place, but none where we would be setting up and playing. I parked under one tree in a corner and waited for the other guys to show up.

After 45 minutes or so, Dennis and Eric showed up, followed by Robby, his girl Terry, and then Jen and Dusty. We parked and proceeded to set up in the blazing sun. I brought my bucket hat just in case and boy am I glad I did that.

My view from the stage

Before the gig, during soundcheck

Had a tent during setup to take shelter and hide the guitars

Before setup, we were on top of that retaining wall

We finally got dialed in, then did a quick soundcheck. Jen's daughter Erika ran sound. Too bad Riley isn't in town, he might be able to do the same thing for us, make a few bucks. Helen, Jen's other daughter, was there as well and she sang a few songs with us. Her and her pal also ran around on the lawn getting the crowd hyped, it was pretty funny.

I went in with my new wireless rig again and this time, I put the pack on my strap at a thicker part. Happy to say it lasted the whole gig and had no drops. I was able to move around and it was really cool to not worry about the cord. In-ears sounded pretty good and I had a nice show. But for real, it was so dang hot. By about song three or four, I had so much sweat pooling up in my eyes. Luckily, I brought a bandana to wipe sweat, but instead, I tied it on my head during the intro to "Hooked on a Feeling." That thing saved my eyes, for sure.

So hot out

I also brought a fan and had that blowing behind me for the whole show. Poor Dusty had nothing. He got a blister on his hand as well, wrapping it up with gaff tape during one song, then getting it stuck on his hand during one of his acoustic numbers. It was pretty funny.

Robby did great; he and Dennis have great chemistry when they play and it is really cool having a second guitar to fill things out. But, Dennis' last show with us is in a few weeks, when we hit the Aurora Borealis for his goodbye party. He'll be missed, but Robby is a more than adequate replacement. Like I said earlier, he is energetic, eager, and loves to play. He kept saying how much fun he had yesterday simply setting up gear.

With him in the band, he may bring in a new network of fans and friends to check us out. As it was, he had a friend and his wife from work come to check us out. This guy may or may not be affiliated with the Seahawks and he really liked us, so we'll see if that pans out to be anything interesting.

As it stands now, if we can get some gigs and if Robby can inject some new life into the band, I will stick it out. I was thinking of bailing, but then these gigs showed up, so that's cool. I will have to miss a gig for the first time; I have an Embers reunion scheduled at the same time, but I found a sub for them, a guy who played in the other yacht rock band in town. Hope he works out (I don't think he sings, though).

We finished up and packed out in the sunset, which was way nicer than doing it in the dark. And then I bailed. The guy that booked us said to catch the 9:30 ferry, otherwise we'd have to wait an hour for the next one. I jumped and got there in time to get on. And then it was 45 minutes to home from there.

Anyway, it was fun to play the show, it was a hot long day, and I hope we get a decent payout soon.

7/19/25, Sunset Grooves at Lisa's 45th birthday party

This party popped up fairly recently, like within the last month or so. A woman wanted us to play her party, having found us on Gigsalad or something that we post on. She wanted 70s and disco but after seeing our set list, she decided to give us a try. All we knew was that she lived in a huge house and the party would be in her backyard.

Lucky for me, it was a rare local gig, being only 6 miles or so from home. I made the 15-minute drive and got there first. After doing some Zillow snooping earlier in the week, we saw that the client's house was valued at $6 million, after having purchased it for $3 million a few years earlier. Not a bad increase, I suppose! It definitely was very nice, with a nice sized yard, but not my style, who cares?

I brought the same gear as the night before, Goldie and the Hog, same pedal, all of it but wardrobe. As this was a disco themed party and I don't have any disco gear, I brought my flamingo suit and would play it by ear. Lisa showed me to our "green room," which was their guest bedroom with en suite and we were ready to get ready.

Back of the house, view from the "stage"

The rest of the crew showed up and we did the thankless job of loading our gear again. Luckily, they had a cart and a relatively direct way to the backyard that wasn't too obnoxious. We were told they had a food truck on the way and to me, that was the most exciting part of the night. And the weather, it was perfect, definitely less cool than the night before.

We had Isku, the sound guy who ran our show at the Central last week, and he was great. Personable, super helpful in all ways (setup, sound, teardown) and wasn't weird about anything. We'll be using him again.

Setup was fine, we had a quick soundcheck. My main issue with where we were staged was the uneven lawn. I mean, I could stand fine, but it was a little lumpy in spots; it just made it awkward at times. Not a big deal. IEMs were the MVP again, as the mix was untouched from the night before. We really should bring our rig with us. It makes it so much easier and more efficient.

Still getting ready.

Following setup, it was time to get some grub. The food truck was there and we were helped by a wonderful order taker. No picture of her, but she was super kind and friendly. I ordered the quesabirria plate and vowed to return for churros after our first set.

Thank you Isidiro's!

Eric with the burrito stank face.

Dinner conquered, it was onto getting dressed and then on with the show. The set was a three-pager, pretty daunting. My fingers were still a little tender from the night before, but what are you gonna do?

Fortunately for us, we didn't do them all. We were a little concerned going in as the party was disco themed, even with the words "DISCO FEVER" spelled out in huge letters on the lawn. We are not a disco band and though we did a few, we were left to present the songs we know. That being said, this truly was more of us simply being background noise as the partygoers were just on the lawn talking, drinking and partying. We never had more than 2-3 dancers at a time and for the second time (the first time being last night), we had people from the crowd join us to sing some songs. Both nights, it was "My Life." At Sand Point, the guy was pretty good, could keep a melody at least. Last night, it was more comedic; no melodies were kept but the effort and energy was an A+. Highly entertaining.

DISCO FEVER

Earlier in the party, guest of honor on the right

It was a long night. Being pretty close to the lake, any of our bags and cases on the grass were a little damp by load out time. No lighting made it awkward too. Everyone not in the band was pretty well toasted. I was walking into the house and I hear someone say, "Steve Aoki." I looked over at a woman who then says, "You look just like Steve Aoki... That's a cool thing, he's awesome." I wasn't sure how to react. I'm not one to get offended, and I her intent wasn't to offend, but it was just weird. Plus, I'm not that great with small talk in a party situation. My bro came by and he talked to her, so I bounced.

Sound-wise, I watched a video back of what we did. Instrumentally, Isku had us dialed pretty good. Vocally, I was really down in the mix. I like to hear how I do overall, good or bad, but it seemed pretty quiet to me. From what I could hear at nearly 1AM after I got home, it was ok. I'm putting it on the PC now to take a closer look and listen.

In the meantime, it was a fun and busy weekend. I hope to be +$800 in my band bank account in the next few days as a result. I love to play, but man, by the end of last night, I was feeling it for sure. Jen did a great job with the limited energy she was getting back from the crowd. She's gotten great at clever segue ways and putting herself out there with her wireless mic. Eric was on night 3 in a row of shows, he had his Dream Commander thing on Thursday night, so he definitely was feeling it. Dennis busted out the slide guitar whilst Dusty sang and played acoustic on a couple songs. Eric moved to drums for those as well. I just wanted to play and sing well and I think I generally accomplished it, as long as the crowd was as inattentive as they were.

The flamingo suit strikes again!

Overall, I'll take it! Next up, Planets at Tim's Tavern on Friday!

Gig report: 10/6/23 Sunset Grooves at the Central Saloon

This gig fell into our laps due to Dennis' other band (Prince tribute) not being able to make their schedules work. We normally wouldn't play the Central as it's more of an originals rock club, but there was a pay guarantee and it would be an easy short set.

I showed up around 7 and parked around the corner. Always a little sketchy in the Pioneer Square area these days. I don't love parking by the beggars and addicts, but it's a free spot and generally, if I leave them alone, they leave me alone. I packed light, with my bass and pedal bag and wore my stage get up as I didn't feel like dealing with the hassle of changing in the bathroom at the Central.

Grunge wall

Just in front of the stage

We were playing with a band called the John Hughes Experience, where the band played 80's songs with projected content behind them. They did a sound check and seemed to sound OK. While they were up there, Dennis mentioned he had had the sound guy at a previous show there and had some issues. He said the guy wasn't great and that he was sort of not easy to work with.

Sound check seemed to take longer than we expected, but eventually, they finished. We then got up there and started our setup. As usual, I brought my Zoom B2Four pedal, a few cords, my IEMs, a bass, and that's it. While setting up, Ben, the bassist for the JHE offered his Ampeg Portaflex and 15" cabinet, which I appreciated. I didn't think I'd need it as I was going to use my in-ears, but sadly, that wasn't to be the case.

As mentioned earlier, the sound guy was struggling. Don't know if he had an off day or what, but when I told him I also had in-ears (as do Jen, Dusty and Dennis), he responded, "You guys have 4 IEMs?" As if being a sound guy wasn't in his job description for the day. He plugged our transmitters into a console behind the bass rig and then scooted back to his sound booth to get us dialed in.

He went first with Dusty, then Dennis, Jen and me, and for each one of us, he had troubles. We could hear him on the wedges, but he couldn't hear us speaking back to him via our mics. Or he could hear us speaking, but we couldn't hear him on stage. Back and forth it went. When he got to me, I could hear him in the in-ears, but he couldn't hear me out front. It was stupid. Finally, I just decided to use the floor wedges and the Ampeg and try my luck. I did ask if I could use the DI he had plugged in to the Ampeg, and he acted like it was a huge deal. I plugged it into the Zoom and we were good to go.

Ampeg on the right.

Getting ready to play.

We had a quick 1-hour set, and we stuck to some heavier tunes due to it being a rock club after all. Soundwise, I could hear myself pretty well with earplugs in. Even though I don't usually like hearing bass in the floor monitors, it didn't sound too bad and I augmented it a bit with the Ampeg behind me. Vocally, I didn't have much in the monitors, but luckily I could hear my head voice via my earplugs.

Many, many years ago, 20 or more, I played the Central with a little power trio called Ethyl. Back then, I had just started singing background vocals. One night we sound checked and then we played. I recorded all our shows back then and upon watching back, I realized I did not have enough of my vocals in the monitor mix. Everything I sang was flat and really rough. These days, I sing a lot more and am a bit more confident in what I'm doing. Last night, without much vox in the mix, I made an effort to hear the note I was playing on bass and stack on top of that. I think it worked out ok.

Performance-wise, no glitches or trainwrecks. We dusted of Toto's "Hold the Line" for the first time in a long time. We just practiced on our own at home and trusted that we'd get it right, and it was pretty good. Everything else was pretty well received also. Nice Friday night crowd for us.

Following us was the 6-piece John Hughes Experience. They started their set with "Video Killed the Radio Star," which would've been great, if the sound guy had the keyboards dialed in. For whatever reason, there were no keys on this keyboard heavy song. The poor keys player (who looked a lot like a skinny Kevin from "The Office") just banged on his keys, but the sound guy didn't go fix it until AFTER the song.

Aside from that glitch, the set went pretty well. They played along to videos and had vintage 80's videos between songs. To me, it brought the mood down a bit because everyone had to quiet down to watch/hear those videos. It's a cool idea and the executed it pretty well, but it was a weird dynamic for everyone to have to pay attention between songs without banter.

John Hughes Experience.

Ben and his Ric sounded great out front. He played some really great lines and was true to the songs bass parts. I do wish he had done the galloping bass part in "Don't You (Forget About Me)" instead of playing it straight, but I'm picking nits. Otherwise, they were really good and, for a first show, impressive. There were some deep cuts that had me and some others looking on our phones to see what the songs were, but I'd play with them again, for sure.

Next up: Sunset Grooves at the Sleight of Hand SODO winery.

Gig report: 8/23/23 Sunset Grooves at the Seattle Aquarium

We got booked for this really cool gig at the Seattle Aquarium, where we were the featured entertainment for a 21+ event on a Wednesday night. They closed the aquarium to the public and sold tickets for the privilege of being in the aquarium after hours, with food, drinks, music, and free run of the exhibits.

Stage just on other side of the windows

I arrived at about 3:30 and was pleasantly surprised to see a stage set up for us. I was expecting to be on the floor, but it was not their first rodeo. In fact, it may have been a little overkill, but it was great to see and have at our disposal.

20' x 16'!!

As usual, we spent an hour or so setting up. That meant PA, lights, mics, etc. I traveled light, with 2 basses, a pedal board, and a clothing bag. That's it. Poor Dusty and Jen pretty much bring a SUV full of stuff, with drums, the aforementioned PA and lighting stuff, sound gear, various odds and ends. It's pretty rough.

After setting up, we had a few minutes of downtime as they finished closing up the aquarium and setting up the room with some tables and food and drink stations. We went upstairs to the "green room," a regular meeting room, and chilled for a few minutes before soundcheck.

A few weeks ago, I purchased an Xvive wireless transmitter/receiver for in-ear monitoring purposes. It transmits the signal from our sound mixer to my ears. I had a wired solution that worked, but it was kind of a pain to use and have to detach every time I was taking off my guitar, etc. I've been practicing at Jen's house with the Xvive and though it works, there are some clicks and pops from time to time, depending on where I stand (even within 3' of the transmitter).

At soundcheck, I could hear and the Xvives were doing their job, but there was a lot of interference. Not sure what that was from. It basically sounded like someone was hitting the mute/unmute very quickly. It was annoying and I tried changing channels, but it still happened.

Doing some quick research indicates having the transmitter right next to the mixer (where there's a WIFI component) may be an issue. For me, I was pretty much all the way across the stage as the mixer was in the back left corner and I was on the front right corner of the stage. I didn't notice if it got better when I was next to it or not, but a solution may be to run an XLR cable to my part of the stage as if I was running a wedge, but then plugging in my transmitter instead. But, thinking out loud, if that was the issue, then the other guys would've had the same issue as their transmitters were all right next to the mixer as well.

For the show, though, the sound was good enough for me. I sang right up on mic and trusted Carl, our sound guy, to do what he needed to do. We got on stage and started playing. There were quite a few people in the room, but I didn't take any pictures.

As usual, we started the set with some "slower" tunes, even though that seems to lead to a slower start with the crowd. Trouble is, if we start with a banger and it is still received slowly, then we are down a song that we know would kill in the second set.

That said, the first 5 songs went great. "Brandy" was sort of a mess, at least for me, and I think Dennis got lost as well. I have had some trouble with this song, despite knowing the song really well. I don't know what it is, maybe the yips or something. I know my parts, but for some reason, my fingers just get lost and goofy in the verses at times.

The rest of the set went pretty well. We had a few dancers here and there and definitely got good responses from everything. I'm always surprised when I see people singing along to "Hooked on a Feeling" and "Come and Get Your Love," which, to me, at least, aren't super popular songs. But I think both of those got some juice from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.

Took a quick break after the set and Carl asked me about changing my bass tone. I played The Hog and I thought it sounded fine, despite the wireless issues I had with my IEMS. He said it sounded muddy and without definition, so we looked at my pedalboard, which I had doing an amp emulation of a Trace Elliot. For some reason, the treble was at 10 and the bass was at 0, and my treble was off on my bass. I ended up playing my gold bass, diming the treble and then adjusting the treble and bass on the B24 pedal, which helped with the bass definition.

I also tried to change the channels on my Xvive and it seemed to work, but then it didn't. It was still a pretty choppy and lame connection. But off we went anyway, starting with "Don't Stop," which always kills. "My Life" was a winner as well; I always love playing that song.

"Maggie May" was a bit of a mess though. Not only is it a challenging bass song, it also has a strange structure to it, with 3 verses before the chorus, then another verse. Or something like that. We can usually make it through a few verses and then before the third verse, Jen missed her cue and sat out like it was the instrumental part, which it wasn't. I shouted "third verse" at her and she jumped in.

She has a tendency at times to go off of audio cues, rather than going off the structure of the song. In the case of MM, there's a bass riff that leads into the 3rd verse and if she doesn't hear it, she thinks we're going somewhere else. I'll have a chat with her, because we've done the song fine before.

Dennis also broke a string in the song so he had to switch guitars right before his solo, so we extended it a bit, and it was a bit clunky, but in the end, we got there. "You Can Do Magic" was next and Eric had mentioned we were playing it too slow in practices and we ended up playing it way too fast this time around. It was almost comically fast, but like MM, we got there and it was fine.

The next few songs were great and people were really into it. There was a group of women at the front of the stage and they were dancing and having so much fun. It was almost like comic dancing, as they were cracking each other with their moves, but the thing was, they could actually dance. I had such a great time watching them and enjoying themselves.

As far as the setlist goes, we played all the tunes except "Fox on the Run" and "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy," as they were more for encores than anything else. The aquarium was looking to get people out and as we started tearing down, it was time for them all to bounce. We finished the teardown and we bounced as well.

Overall, a really fun night, despite the technical issues with my receiver/transmitter and having to pay $24 to park at the end of it all. Not sure what my take home will be, but I'm already looking forward to getting back on stage again.

Photo dump!

Opposite the Aquarium. My car in the foreground (not the Prius)

The Seattle Wheel, as seen on sporting events

Backside of the stage

My basses for the night

Looking at a fish

Next up: Planets in the Ocean at the Blue Moon, of all places.

Gig report: 7/21/23 Sunset Grooves at Sand Point Country Club

Been looking forward to this gig for a bit. A country club? At Sand Point? Sure! Don't know much about either, but do know enough to know that the terms Sand Point Country Club mean lots of drinks, lots of well-heeled customers, and hopefully lots of pretty views.

That's pretty much what turned out last night!

I left the house around 3:45 for a 4:30 arrival time. Traffic was lame and it took about 5 minutes longer to get there. Fun fact: it's only about 2 miles from Robb's house (my other band's rehearsal home).

I turned off into a neighborhood with a guard post (is that what it's called? Really just a booth at the entrance; I didn't even stop) and followed Waze's directions. The neighborhood was really beautiful, with newer and beautiful homes up and down the streets. No mansions, but definitely upper-upper-upper middle class. Tasteful, just large enough and not cookie cutter, really gorgeous.

Of course, the country club was part of this neighborhood and it featured a beautiful golf course that had some sweet views of Lake Washington. I drove down the path to the club and found a parking spot. I met up with Dennis and got busy trying to figure out the lay of the land. That got us nowhere, but a few minutes later, the other mates showed up and we also met up with a point of contact that wasn't really our POC, but was able to fill in admirably.

We were at the end of the deck.

It seemed like when we got to the "stage" area (in our case, an outdoor patio/deck area overlooking the golf course), no one knew we were supposed to be there. There were tables and club members milling about, with barely any room for a 5 piece band and sound guy. After some back and forth, we were able to get some direction and got situated. For future gigs like this, I think we need to have at least one bandmember do recon with the POC prior to a gig. We probably spent 30 minutes trying to figure out what to do, when a quick pre-visit could've gotten all that info ahead of time. That said, the young lady that was our actual POC seemed like she was more interested in not helping us and treating us like unwelcome visitors.

Finalizing the setup.

Anyway, we did the load in and setup and did a quick soundcheck. For basses, I brought both L-1000s. I thought about playing one in each set. I could play the Hog in set 1 since there's no slapping (the Hog has a thumb rest that makes slapping not great), and then the Gold in set 2 with the 2 slapping tunes. Spoiler alert: the Hog stayed in its bag all night.

I did bring my Orange Terror Bass and Avatar 212 just in case, but when I got to the place, I realized it would be overkill, so in the trunk that gear stayed. I ended up using my B2 Four pedal and I'm glad I did. It made setup a breeze. I just plugged in, got my IEMs working, and I was ready.

After that, we got to our "green room," which was a conference-type room downstairs from the main part of the club. Pretty nice to get to hang out and eat there. Speaking of eating, they had a giant buffet that was just opening up. They said we could go get food, so I went in and took inventory. They had salad (3 types, I took a garden variety), poké bar (!), seafood boil (skipped that), beef tenderloin (so good), shrimp cocktail (took 2), and a variety of desserts (lemon bar please). I do wish I had taken more, but what I did take was delightful.

Grateful to be fed!

From there, it was time to get changed. I went with the white pants and a vintage yachting-themed t-shirt I bought years ago, before I was ever in a yacht rock band. I was hoping to have suspenders to finish off the look, but went with what I hoped was a nautical looking belt instead.

The fit.

The rest of the band looked appropriate, with Hawaiian style shirts and their white pants. Jen picked up a great little white dress that swished around when she twirled. I joked with her that she'd get a lot of tips because it was pretty low cut.

Jen, Dennis, Dusty.

Jen, Dusty, me.

We always start the set with some "mood setting" tunes. A little slower, since we want to bank the "hits" for when the people start dancing. That said, I always love playing "Steal Away" and "Baby Come Back." Those are fun and easy enough (though the high backing vocal in BCB is always challenging for me, range-wise) and get us warmed up. By the third song, "Listen to the Music," we got a few dancers.

B2 Four and setlist.

As we continued, the sun was at our backs but there was a nice breeze. More people jumped in front and danced. One guy must have shouted for "Free Bird" at least 20 times. It was only funny because it wasn't funny any more. We also had these dudes come up and want us to do certain songs (I couldn't hear what) because they wanted to do a dance-off. We didn't meet their request, but on one song, people cleared out so these guys could dance by themselves. It was semi-entertaining.

Of course, we had several instances of requests that we didn't accommodate. One guy wanted us to play "Don't Stop Believin'," which we don't do, nor does it (IMO) qualify as yacht rock. Other guys tried to play Jen's bongos and/or shakers. They were pretty obnoxious. In a few tunes, Jen got distracted by said dudes and missed the third verse in "Maggie May," and later in the set, forgot to do the half time part in "Ride Like the Wind." I had a few mess ups as well. When you play 99% of the time to your band mates, when you get out in the wild, the crowd will surprise and distract you with their antics sometimes. Oh well!

By the end of the night, it was dark and folks were still dancing. We ended our set and of course got the "one more song" request, but as it was 11:00 in a neighborhood setting, we declined (plus, we were at the end of an almost 8 hour day by then). We packed it all up and about an hour later, were headed back to our homes. Overall, a really nice night, and once the money hits the bank, well worth the time.

Next up: 8/23 at the Seattle Aquarium!