Last Friday I had the pleasure of working with my old friend, Jesse, and his band, Rodeo Revival at the Swallows Inn in San Juan Capistrano. It's a quaint little dive bar right on Pacific Coast Highway just a block south of the SJC Mission.
Here's a crummy phone pic of the front of the joint, a real five star dive bar. You can see the entrance to the Mission in the background under the traffic light.
The band loads in from the sidewalk (no reserved parking) right onto the stage using this door.
This door is usually open all the time, even during our California "winters" because it gets pretty crowded and hot in there.
Here's the front door to the place. It's a friendly neighborhood honky tonk that's been here for ages. I've been playing here with different bands off and on for 25 years.
Here's Art, Chelsea (Jesse's daughter), and Jesse. Jesse needed another player tonight and I knew Art wasn't busy so I was able to throw some extra work his way. This was Art's first time with this band and we all had a mutually beneficial experience.
Drummer Jim is just about set up. He runs in-ears and is plugging his stuff into Jesse's PA.
This is Justin's rig. He really likes that little Quilter amp.
You see Art's rig in the back. It's an odd, small stage. Justin, Chelsea, and Jesse were in the front and Jim, Art, and I were in the back.
Here's my amp-selfie before we get started.
Since the place is a dive I just went "cowboy noire" with my attire.
Even Jim wore his black Ryman Auditorium t-shirt.
Art's girlfriend took a picture of us from out front before we started making noise.
I think Art has had too much ginger ale already. I'm going to have to cut him off.
And the joint is jumping! There were several birthdays in the house and all the folks were having a good time.
This is the back patio where folks go to take a smoke break. There is no smoking inside any public building here in California.
The lovely Chelsea gets ready to entertain us for another set. She and her husband are going to have their son in June. She's got a cute little baby bump now.
Art always has a good time, always smiles, even when you tell him to turn down.
Justin shreds on his Tele too.
Chelsea and her dad, who will be a grandpa soon.
There is a lot of decor in this place that has been contributed by the patrons.
This is one of the autographed donations.
This was one of the birthday girls. She got to play tambourine with the band. Oh joy!
This is Brittany and Lindsay. It was Brittany's birthday too. She said "Urban Cowboy" was her favorite movie and wanted to hear a song from it. So I sang "Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places". Somehow in this place it seems apropos.
Here we are on a break getting a breath of fresh air. The weather was quite pleasant this evening, even at midnight. We're only a couple of blocks from the beach.
And then we're back at it. Jesse has friends in the crowd so they all geeked the camera.
After we have our fun we realized that we lived to play another day. We pack our gear and collect our pay.
This place has a lot of character and the folks here are fun-loving and friendly for the most part. This is a beach town in Orange County after all. But everyone enjoys slumming once in a while. I love playing here so that I can keep my honky tonk cred.
This gig is a long drive for me. It took an hour and forty five minutes for me to get down here on a Friday afternoon. It may be a long drive but at least the pay is lousy. The next night's gig is just about the total opposite. I'll post that one up in a little bit. I played The Ranch with my friends Kellye Huff and the Arnie Newman Band. I was there just last weekend with Kelly Rae. Anyway, let me close this and post up my next gig report.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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