If you all are enjoying your weekend half as much as I am, then I am enjoying my weekend twice as much as you. Me and the ANB had our second engagement at a new-ish place in Lancaster called the Buckle and Boots Watering Hole. It is a fine establishment with a real honky tonk feel, a nice sound system, a good sized stage, and helpful friendly people who take real good care of us. We had a great Friday night crowd too.
My gig began with a drive up through Cajon pass. There was plenty of traffic headed that way, the "Friday get out of town" traffic, including a long freight train.
There were not one, but two minor accidents going up the pass that brought the traffic to an absolute standstill when we weren't driving 10mph. It's a good thing I left early. It's normally about a ninety minute drive but this afternoon it took two and a half hours. But I made good time once I got off the 15 Fwy and headed toward the high desert on Hwy 138 past the Mormon Rocks.
In addition to all the beautiful desert landscape you also pass over one of the California Aquaducts on the way to the Palmdale/Lancaster area. This section runs alongside Hwy 138 for a little bit.
It's a man-made river moving water from Northern California, where they get lots of rain, to Southern California, where we don't get so much rain but still have a lot of farming.
Another odd feature of this drive is the fact that Hwy 138 has a "roundabout" in what seems to be the middle of the desert in the Palmdale area. They are not common in the US. Once you see drivers going through them you'll understand why.
After successfully navigating the roundabout I made it to the venue in short order. The club is located on Lancaster Blve in an area of Lancaster known as "The BLVD". A nice street full of shops, eateries, and entertainment. It's pretty cool.
I was the first to arrive at the venue. Here's my trusty Astro van parked near the load-in door right by the stage.
Here's my handy Rock-n-Roller cart parked next to the stage. John arrived just a couple minutes after I did so I helped him with all of his gear.
We had the same crew here with us today. On the left is Benjamin who is always asking what he can do to help us. On the right is the FOH guy, Dave (a.k.a. Mighty Mouse) who is one of the least grumpiest soundmen I have ever met. It's a pleasure working with him.
The club has a real honky tonk vibe and is a great place to hang.
I took pictures of a couple more interesting signs. Here's an omage to Garth.
And I guess this is pretty good advice.
I shied away from the whisky but Katie, who is also our dance instructor this evening, pulls a tall Old No. 38 Stout for me. I've really been into stouts and porters lately.
Then I head back to the stage for my one note sound check. The rest of the band has arrived and are pretty much ready to make some noise.
The lovely Ms. Amanda Kate lets Dave know what she needs in her monitor, a little less 10K and a little more 5K. Amanda is using a new wireless mic from Audix so the EQ has to be tweaked a bit.
Jason is at Comic Con in San Diego this weekend so we have the talents of Jeff Sorenson on drums tonight. He's a killer drummer, rock solid, did his homework, took visual queues really well, and generally did a fantastic job tonight.
We have the effervescent Randy on steel tonight. He's got finger picks and he's not afraid to use them.
Johnny Fingers has sound checked and is ready to go. He's got ten fingers and uses them all.
We have a lot of down time between sound check and down beat. This is a late starting gig. We play 10pm to 11:59pm.On my way downstairs I stopped by the bar to grab another beer to go with my supper. I ran into a couple of old friends you may remember from our last engagement here. This is Chanelle, who would bring us our supper later.
You also may recall Jenna, who will be behind the bar pulling draughts and pouring drinks tonight.
The band heads downstairs to the Underground Bowling Lounge that also has a game room. This is kind of a happening place, later on.
We get to hang out in the VIP room, just behind the pool tables you see above and next to the lanes. This is where we chill and have our supper. Arnie and Randy had gone to see Shenandoah the night before and were regaling us with stories of that night and also "back in the day" when Arnie used to tour with them.
Last time I had the chicken and mac-n-cheese waffles smothered in country gravy. Randy had that tonight. I wanted to try something different. I enjoyed the Wrangler Steak and Chips along with a compliment of onion rings, fried pickles, and Southwest egg rolls. This meal was amazing.
We ate, we changed, we made our way back up to the stage to find Katie giving the dance lesson. Tonight she was teaching the "Cowboy Hustle".
It was a pretty packed house tonight. Everyone had fun.
Here's Dave at the controls. The band sounded really good tonight.
There's a huge Jenga game going on while the DJ plays up until our downbeat. This is the view from the soundbooth looking toward the stage.
I decided to have one more stout to sip on during our two hour set.
Randy is ready to do some slippin' and slidin'.
This crowd loves to line dance but there are quite a few two-steppers and swing dancers also.
Amanda and I do a little cheesin' before we start.
Katie gets up on stage to announce the band.
And away we go! We play one long two hour show and we are done.
I think Jeff was having fun tonight.
Johnny Fingers was smokin' on his boogie woogie tune, "Mama Screw Your Wig On Tight". The crowd was amazed that his fingers never left his hands, even though they were almost on fire.
It's a tradition in Nashville, at some pont during the evening, to have what's called "a holler and a swaller". We'd been going non-stop for over an hour and just needed a few second to yell "Yeeehaw!" and take a long drink of brew. The crowd joined us.
Toward the end of the evening these young ladies wanted to let us know just how much fun they were having.
Then the clock struck midnight and it was time for all of us to turn back into roadies.
It's a pretty easy load-out so I just roll my handy Rock-n-Roller cart out to my trusty Astro van.
We packed our gear, loaded up, and headed out on a dark desert highway back home. We are scheduled to return here next month for both Friday and Saturday nights. I don't mind this long drive at all. This place is fun to play, the food is great, the pay is really good, and we are treated very, very well. I hope this place becomes a huge success. I've met a few of the partners and management and everyone is on the ball and working hard. This place should do well.
The rest of the month is slow for me. I've got a few True Willie gigs on the next three Saturdays. Then the ANB will be busy for the next few weekends with The Ranch, Gilley's Vegas, and then back at Buckle and Boots, plus a mid-week concert in the park. I guess I'm busy enough. Thanks for putting up with me. You guys are great.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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