BassCliff's Gigs: Kellye Huff and the Arnie Newman Band at The Ranch, 10/10/15

Hello friends,

I got a call from my old friend Arnie Newman. His regular bass player had taken a gig with Kiefer Sutherland's band so I was asked to fill in on a Saturday night at The Ranch. Even though I was playing in church the next morning I could not turn down my old friend. (Church services went just fine, even on 4 hours sleep.)

These guys don't like getting to the gig early. When I arrived at 6:30 there was nobody here.

I couldn't put my axes on stage because there were dance lessons going on. I had the green room all to myself. Arnie was supposed to be there a little early so we could go over a couple of arrangements but traffic on the 91 held him up. But it all worked out.

I was surprised that Mark, our sound guy, finally pulled out the GK Neo 412! It was delicious! Mark says he likes the sound so much he's going to let us use it all the time. He was always afraid it would be too loud but he loves the fact that it doesn't get "woofy" like the Ampeg/410 rig. Cool!

Yes, I was set up on the opposite side of the stage than normal. I felt a little out of place but managed to enjoy myself anyway.

The lovely Ms. Kellye Huff joins me for an amp-selfie before we get started. She's really getting pretty good strumming on that guitar.

Randy Hess and I have so many mutual friends that we were both amazed that we'd never worked together before. He really is a heavyweight steel player in the area.

Arnie never goes anywhere without at least one trusty Tele. That's John Higgins, another old friend and excellent player, on the keyboards.

You might remember Jason. He used to drum with the KRB. Just before we started his computer crashed. We had to get the DJ to play one more while he rebooted.

I've known John for over 20 years. We've played in different bands together for a long time.

Arnie puts on his attitude in front of his rig wearing a pretty Gretsch guitar he likes to call "Gumby".

Jason's computer is up and running, he's in a much better mood.

I had a great time. The band had a great time. The crowd had a great time. They stuck around all night long.

It was good to play with old friends again. I had to woodshed about 20 tunes but there was only a couple that gave me trouble. I may have missed a note or two but at least I didn't mess up the groove.

Here are a few pictures from The Ranch's social media sites.

Randy on the steel.