Monday, June 20, 2005

Cruisers Opens

Many thanks to the friends, fans, and supporters that showed up to check out the Cruisers Grand Opening weekend and ribbon cutting in Frisco, Texas.

I don't know if you've ever been to the first weekend of a major new restaurant before, but there are always challenges. For Cruisers, no amount of shakedown could have kept their computers from crashing during the rush--which was basically all day. Saturday night and Sunday the crowd was non-stop, as families and couples came by to take in this motorsports free-for-all for the senses. Food orders backed up a bit, but give them a minute. These guys know how to run a restaurant, and they'll have it nailed down in a jiffy.

Beatles tribute band, A Hard Night's Day, played Saturday night in the bar--a large glassed-in room with windows that open out to the huge patio on the side of the building. A hard-sided room like this is a volume control challenge, but they adjusted well and turned out a fun night of music.

By Sunday afternoon, it was my turn. My video director, and fellow musician, C. Aaron Moore dropped by early to show his support--thanks guy! He left at the end of the first set as the crowd dwindled for a moment. Suddenly, a group of about 70 showed up and packed the place. It was an upscale Harley riders club from Allen, loud and full of energy. I couldn't hear myself sing, but they were a good bunch and stayed for about two hours.

Right after that, a number of folks showed up to see me, just in time to mellow out for the last set.

Having discussed the acoustics of the bar with the owners, we already know we have to make some adjustments. They will have some acoustics experts visit shortly to offer their opinions. In the meantime, I will see if I can reconfigure my set up. First, since the room is glass-sided, we know the sound will improve when the windows are opened, but I don't think we can do that until later in the evenings. Another option is to move the speakers to strategic positions around the room, and to keep them at low volume. That way the sound doesn't have to project from one end of the room to the other and the amount of decibels introduced into the room will be lower.

A third option is to move the music to the patio, which is just beautiful in the evenings. Do that and the acoustic problems just go away.

All involved will work diligently over the next week or so to make sure Cruisers is a great experience. I predict big things for this venue, and I just can't wait to get back and play next Sunday.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home