Yes, we had another cushy gig last night. The drive down to the OC was very nice, not a lot of traffic, the clouds were moving in, and the temperatures were cooling off due to the cold front passing through.
When I pulled up to the security check-in I was curious why this sign was displayed. I didn't ask. At least there were no body cavity searches.
I got there pretty early so I had time to catch a little nap in the parking lot.
The gang arrived and Bill picked us up in the shuttle.
Originally the venue was to be our regular stomping grounds, the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree. But because of the incoming rain, the private party was moved to The Golden Horseshoe in Frontierland. Although I've walked past the room hundreds of times I'd never been inside.
Because of the size of the venue and smaller stage, we were asked to go more acoustic with our act so we left Jeff and Mario at home. Even though they didn't play, they got paid.
When we walked in the room I was quite impressed.
This is one of the original buildings in the park. In fact, it unofficially opened a few days before the official park opening so Walt could celebrate his 30th wedding anniversary and showcase the room to corporate sponsors. The box at stage left was where Walt Disney himself always sat. To this day it's still called "Walt's box".
Here's view of the room from behind my rig.
Here are Kelly and the boys in front of Walt's box during sound check.
And my usual selfie from the top of my amp, the little Redhead.
I think we are just about ready to close the backdrop.
Art and Daniel run over a few arrangements in our green room.
Here's a view from the back of the room before the doors open.
I also took a look at the desserts. We could look but we couldn't touch.
Here's our fearless quartet in front of the character set. Pluto and Minnie stopped by for a visit but we were on stage and didn't have a chance to get a picture. They were cute all dressed up in their western duds.
Daniel used his regular rig for his fiddle. I used the backline Redhead and mostly my Fender JBS. Art went direct with his acoustic.
This sign was on our green room door, which was always open. Weird.
We played just a couple of sets. The first set was 50 minutes. While we were backstage the stage manager came back to say that the client, a tour group from Saudi Arabia, was really tuckered out and would want to leave early. So after a 15 minute break we took the stage and played another 15 minutes or so. We were done by 8:30pm. Unfortunately it had started raining and we had a long carry back to the shuttle.
By the time I got back to my van I looked like a drowned rat.
Who says it never rains in Southern California? But it was a fast moving storm and the rain cleared up while I was driving home.
It was a fun crowd that clapped along with the music and were quite appreciative of the show. We even got requests for, of all things, "Sweet Home Alabama". They really enjoyed that one. They also liked Elvis. We had a request for "Blue Suede Shoes", which I did, and then Kelly decided to medley that with "All Shook Up" so we had what you call "arrangements while you wait". But it went seamlessly even though we'd never done that before. It's fun playing with good people.
While we were there the entertainment office booked us for another private party for the first week of June. So I'll be back at the Happiest Place On Earth real soon.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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