It's been rather hectic at work and I haven't had time to goof off and post up pictures from my gigs last weekend. I thought I'd go ahead and post a couple of weekend gigs in this blog entry so as to get caught up in a hurry. The weekend was one big blur of a gig anyway.
We started off Thursday evening with a concert at Memorial Park in Azusa CA, "The Coolest City In California".
It was actually kind of warm and muggy. I pulled up to the park and realized that I'd have a long carry, and I haven't bought myself a 'rock-n-roller' cart yet.
But my Neo 410 cab has good casters on it so I can roll the amp, cab, gig bag in one trip and grab my basses and accessories on the second trip. I don't mind the workout. This lady was setting up to sell some crafts to raise money for the rec center. It was a pretty nice facility with indoor basketball and outdoor skate park.
Since it was a quick two set gig I just brought my Guild as a backup. I've been in the habit of using my Randall amp but bringing my GK as a backup too. It paid off in Beaumont, as you'll see later.
The sound company, STEVE SHOEMAKER LIVE SOUND, were already set up and were EQ'ing the mics as I was setting up. Steve and Allen were top notch pros, were very attentive, knew their stuff, and took good care of us. They are providing the sound all season for this concert series. Here's the view from the FOH.
Mario sets up his kit. He's always so cool about it.
This is Steve, the sound guy, setting up the mic on Daniel's rig.
Art is ready, willing, and able to play some geeeetar!
As you can see, the banner on the stage says Azusa is the coolest city in California. Now that it's on the internet, it must be true.
The flyer said "Fantastic Food Court" and all I saw was a waffle truck. He served all of his burgers and sandwiches on waffles. It sounded interesting but I'd brought snacks.
Since this gig was fairly close, we had friends and family join us. Mrs. BassCliff and a couple of our friends were there but I didn't get a picture.
The kids were tearing it up at the skate park next to the stage. The homeless guy seemed to enjoy himself too.
Just another "amp selfie" of the bass player.
Kelly is putting on the show but the only ones excited are her daughters. The folks in Azusa were pretty cool. They just wanted to sit and listen. They let the kids do all the dancing.
Daniel and Kelly certainly look cool.
Our own "Mr. Cool", Mario points at his cool drum set.
Kelly and Jeff strike a cool pose.
Here's phone pic shared by one of my friends on the FriendFace.
This was our sound crew, a couple of really nice guys, Steve and Allen, of Steve Shoemaker Live Sound. They followed our stage plot to the letter and gave us four monitor mixes. Jeff and I don't mind sharing a mix. Neither does Art and Daniel. But there were plenty of monitors to go around. I would recommend them for your live sound event.
The crowd was a little subdued, content to sit and listen, clap and cheer, but not a lot of dancing. That's OK. It makes us play better when we know people are actually listening. We did have a couple of little kids come up on stage and Kelly had to shoo them away. I don't know where their parents were. I guess they were too cool to watch their kids. But regardless, we had our fun then packed up to go home and get rested for our other gigs this weekend.
Friday, 7/24/15:
Continuing with my weekend, this was our gig Friday. We played this gig last year too on the same day that our "Nashville" show opened at Disneyland. That was a hectic day. This one, not so much.
The Sun and Sail club in Lake Forest is a well-to-do senior community with an exclusive lake, clubhouse, pool, jacuzzi, tennis courts, and separate dwellings (houses, not condos) that are nicely appointed. This second annual chili cook-off benefits several good causes like providing help to homeless veterans.
I got there pretty early due to the light traffic so I got to park close to the clubhouse.
This is the view of the lake from the clubhouse patio.
Jack has been here for a while and pretty much has the PA all set up. Daniel and Art start setting up when they arrive. I guess it's difficult to set up before you arrive.
Perhaps you noticed, they went all-out on the decorations this year.
I found my date for the evening.
Even Jack (You remember Jack, Kelly's husband?) uses our stage plot. He give us four monitor mixes from his A&H board, too.
I was getting in the way and had to take a little time out.
It wasn't long before my big, strong bandmate busted me out. (I just love face-in-the-hole pictures!)
Daniel and Art are thinking about sound checking.
Jeff seems happy to sound check this evening after breaking me out.
Mario could care less. He's up on a nice, big drum riser all by himself.
Actually, the residents built that riser thinking it would be a big enough stage for the whole band. (Ha, ha!)
OK, we've loaded in, set up, and sound checked. When's supper?
We all went upstairs to wait for the festivities to start and hung out in the lobby area.
"So, hey! Have you played any good gigs lately?"
"I been thinking about playing a good gig. Maybe somebody will call me with one."
"OOooo! Look at the pretty pictures painted on the wall."
The chili tasting has begun! These folks take their chili tasting seriously.
Here's a view of the ballroom from the upstairs lounge.
Finally we hear those three words that every musician loves to hear, "Time to eat!" It's supper time for the band. We get to go in the kitchen and fix our plate. We feasted on hot dogs (Can you tell I like mustard?), chili, corn bread, cole slaw, and baked potatoes.
And later on a break there were lots of desserts! I had about six.
Jack and Kelly go over a couple of details just before we start playing.
And the band gets busy! (Right after this picture.)
Jeff is looking over the set lists.
Art, Daniel, and Kelly are ready to put on the show.
Just as I was taking my "amp-selfie", Kelly got her girls up to sing a song.
Kelly's Mom lives here in the complex so it's sort of a family affair. Kelly's Mom also got up to sing a duet with Kelly. They used to sing together a lot. And, of course, Grandma loves to see her grand daughters sing on stage. Here's Kelly hawking her girls' CD, Songs About Dogs.
Kelly rocks the crowd. They were really a lively, fun bunch.
Kelly joins Mario up on his riser. I was going to jump up there but Kelly beat me to it.
A good time was had by all. We were fed, the bartenders slipped us a couple of beers, and now it's time to pack up and get ready for another gig the next day. Art and Daniel roll their stuff out to the parking lot.
The next day's gig will be posted up shortly. Thanks for looking.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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