Welcome to the second happiest place on earth! (Just kidding!) Actually, Knott's is known as "The Friendliest Place In The West", and I believe it. Today we began our run at Knott's Merry Farm for the holiday season. We'll be playing as a trio off an on, mostly on, from now until Jan. 3rd. All us guys in the band are taking turns backing Kelly (and Kellye) in the trio so that we can share the load.
Since Kelly was out of town our opening weekend of this run, our dear friend Kellye is filling in for her. Here's Kellye at the employee entrance.
After a stop by the entertainment office to pick up the key to our dressing room we make our way to the stage to find the crew putting things together.
It's a pretty simple affair. Everyone is going direct and we have two monitors with one mix. The sound guys wander out front with their iPad to keep the mix mixed. Here's Jeff and Kellye waiting for our sound check.
We're playing in an area known as Fireman's Barbeque. We're surrounded by old time buildings and a very quaint atmosphere. While I'm waiting I wander over to watch the calliope player knock out some Christmas songs. She was pretty cool.
Here's the view from the stage. The folks were very receptive and would put down their BBQ quite often to show their appreciation when I stopped singing.
Just down the street was the big Calico stage where we appeared during the summer season two summers ago. Today they had school choirs singing Christmas songs. It was very cute.
These are a couple of the vendors around the BBQ area, gifts, jewelry, drinks, snacks, souvenirs, etc. Our stage was just inside here to the left.
This is Nolan and John, a couple of the sound tech crew, with their wireless mixer. These kids these days have pretty high tech toys.
We had our fun singing some Christmas songs, some country songs, and telling a few lame jokes.
Kellye does a good job strumming her guitar. She's been playing only a few months. Jeff used the little drum machine in his keyboard and I was surprised how much that fake drummer could swing.
One of the sound techs used my camera to get these photos out front. They were good sports.
We play half hour sets and then retire to our dressing room for a half hour to an hour depending on the day's schedule.
This is the little guard shack where we check in before we park. The kids that work here are always friendly and polite.
We just walk across the street from the employee lot to the park. It's not like Disney where we have to be picked up in a shuttle and get driven for miles. It's a simpler, funner experience.
This Nativity scene is right outside the building where our dressing room is located. I love Nativity scenes.
Here's a shot of the "Kellye" trio in our red look.
Here we are in our black look.
And a couple of action shots.
We had a bunch of kids get up on stage and do a number with us. I've got video somewhere of their singalong. Let me scrape it off the social media. We had fun.
The crowd even laughed and groaned at my lame jokes. And every time I would stop singing they would clap. I guess I should stop singing more often.
Thanks for letting me share my fun. I'll be back at this gig almost every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until Jan. 3rd. Tomorrow night I'm playing in Downtown Disney with the band "Smith", a local country cover band. It's a busy season for me. I am quite fortunate.
I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and will have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. God bless.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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