Reprinted without permission from Richmond Bride Magazine, winter/spring 2016 issue. 

The Aisle A-List
OUR FOURTH ANNUAL SURVEY RESULTS RECOGNIZE EXCELLENCE IN WEDDING SERVICES

TOP BAND
Three Sheets to the Wind
804-938-6872 or yachtrock.biz

If you rock out to The Doobie Brothers and Hall & Oates, you'll love this high-energy yacht rock band. "We are riding the wave of the yacht rock trend," says booking agent Jack Shannon. "The universality of music from the '70s and '80s translates to all people and makes them want to dance, even if they're unfamiliar with the genre."

Thanks to Sarah Street Photography for permission to post this killer shot from a ridiculously fun wedding in Virginia Beach earlier this year!  Our good friends at Sunkissed Events had everything running smoothly (as usual.) #namedrop

All images by our pals Don and Lindsay Mears of Don Mears Photography. Thanks to Alex and Conrad for having us as a small part of their special day at the beautiful Willow Oaks Country Club. We'll let the pics speak for themselves!

Below are a few screencaps from video shot at our Back To The Future Day show with Teaze at The National. Altamira Film Company is editing the live video and audio. We can't wait to see the final result and share it with you! 

UPDATE:  Here's the finished video!

The ad we printed is a parody of the famous (in advertising circles) "Think Small" Volkswagen print campaign from the '60s. The copy of the original basically recognizes the notion that the innovative look of the Volkswagen "bug" has become comfortably recognizable, but that the experience of driving one is still unique.  We feel the same way about our little yacht rock band in that we aren't so much of a novelty to Richmond audiences as we were when we started six years ago. That said, we're still having fun, and we're still grateful that Richmond is still in on the joke with us.  Stick with us, RVA!  The band is sounding better than ever with the addition of Mister JC Cool on sax. We've got so much more we want to share, and we hope you'll slip into that familiar feeling leisure suit, and check us out again soon!

p: Jason Collins Photography

he drops What A Fool Believes in the set, and we just about lost our minds!  That story really has no relevance to the rest of the Ship's Log post, but it's the only way to link Three Sheets to the ATCQ song Award Tour--the title of this entry. (New York, NJ, NC, VA..)

So here we are on the ninth day of January, and your pals in Three Sheets are already reminded how continually blessed we are to have so many amazing people supporting us on our smooth musical journey. We are grateful for all the clients who chose to book and review the Wedding Band For People Who Hate Wedding Bands on WeddingWire in 2014. We are also proud to be recognized for the fourth year in a row as a Top Wedding Vendor by the editors of Virginia Living magazine as well! If we were to reverse our longstanding opposition to the predatory wall plaque manufacturing industry, we would buy a plaque that looked like this:

And if you think that we're going to take these recognitions for granted, and not resolve to continually improve the performance, technology, and overall show-goer experience in 2015, that what a fool believes! From all of us to all of you, thanks for continuing to support the little yacht rock band that could!

For a book's acknowledgements to be complete, a writer must thank those who have helped the composition, and accept responsibility for any remaining errors. In this blog post, we'd like to shine the light (as it were) on our top-notch Stage Crew for all that they do to have us look and sound our best, while acknowledging that any wrong notes played during the show are entirely the fault of either attempting too many high kicks while playing guitar, or by being distracted by the Sheethearts in the front row!

Any crew acknowledgments have to start with AC Fader--an integral part of our touring crew since the heady days of our Third Thursday residency at Republic. (In pace requiescat.) For the past four years, AC has not only mastered the art of the roaming, sports jacketed, iPad sound engineer for corporate events and weddings, but has also seamlessly integrated our in-ear monitor system with various front-of-house consoles at theaters and concert venues including The Jefferson, The National, The NorVA, and The Hippodrome (as shown below).  Although in most cases, the band travels with a self-contained sound and lighting package, AC's ability (and flexibility) have been proven again and again.  His tap tempo skills on vocal delay effects are legendary in certain circles (our van), and he has subbed for Danny Marnier on drums as well. Add to all that, he is finishing up the final mixes on our relatively-soon-to-be-released double live album, cheekily and tentatively titled Sold Out!

An increasingly familiar face to the Crew is our lighting designer, "Hippie" Alex McArthur. A veteran of national tours as the LD for Dr. Dog, Mike Stud, and others, Hippie Alex is responsible for the images above--both for the photography and for the lighting design. Just as we count on AC to integrate our touring sound gear with existing gear at venues, Alex does the same with lighting. In the pictures above--taken during last Thursday's corporate holiday event--you'll notice existing venue-installed fixtures in the ceiling as well as our truss totems, anchor lights, and moving lights which are part of the enhanced lighting package™ we bring with us when budget allows. You'll also notice that the lights on the venue's Christmas tree appear in various stages of brightness in the series of pictures above. "Why wouldn't we plug the Christmas tree into the stage lighting system?", Hippie Alex asked rhetorically while plugging said tree into said lighting system.

To AC, Alex, and to Guy Centennial, Enrique Pickelle, Bobby Bravado, Patrick Klotsofletters, Stan O'verboard, and to all the other unsung touring and local crew members who have rolled cases, engineered sound, and done your best to make us look and sound our best on stage over the years, you know you guys are the champs!

RICHMOND

For the fifth year running, Three Sheets to the Wind celebrated its successful partnership with The Massey Alliance--the young supporters of the Massey Cancer Center with another sold-out fundraiser.  Over 800 tickets went for $50 each to help the night raise more than $50,000 for cancer research. As Walter Ego likes to say, "We put the 'mellow' in 'melanoma research.'" We are grateful for the chance to give back to such an amazing organization, and want to thank the sponsors, the staff at Massey, the volunteers with the Massey Alliance and everyone who came out to support the cause.  Cheers!

All photos are credited to JFord Photography

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