Me and the ANB (a.k.a. Arnie Newman's Country Club) are at The Ranch again this weekend. It's one of our monthly haunts. We really like it here. And I guess they like us here too. Here's the flyer we used on the social medias.
Yes, Austin is back from his European tour with Kiefer Sutherland. That means no Candy on fiddle. Sorry.
I got to the club about 5pm, before the doors open. This place looks good even with the lights up.
I found Austin and Arnie in the green room going over tunes that we'd learned while Austin was away.
Here's Randy arriving last. He pulled up to the back door and rang the doorbell. He'll have to wait until the dance lessons are done before he can set up.
In the meantime we enjoy our supper together. Tonight I wanted the grilled fish tacos and the heirloom beet salad (my favorite salad). That's a mango and corn salsa you see on the fish tacos. Man, these tacos are great. If you can't tell, there are three tacos there. Yum!
Somebody had the Ranch Steakburger tonight. We call it the "coma burger". It will put you to sleep if you're not careful.
Then I went out front to chat with our soundman, Mark. Here's a picture of his office.
I found my IEMs on the monitor console on stage right. Mark always has everything laid out perfectly. He is great at his job.
I slip behind the monitor console to put on my IEM unit. I like to run the wire under my shirt.
Here is Heather and Dev. Heather, you may remember, is our Entertainment Manager. She takes great care of us. Dev is the dance instructor tonight, helping the patrons to have fun on the dance floor.
I brought my two favorite basses tonight. I actually played both of them. No, I did not use an amp tonight. (The rest of the band was a little annoyed.)
Arnie and Austin are tuning up before we start.
Here's a selfie with the line dancers who are going to try to distract the bass player tonight. Jen gives us a smile.
Johnny Fingers is ready to tickle the ivory.
After the first set the band makes its way to the bar to enjoy a cold one while the DJ keeps the line dancers happy.
As we start the next set I grab a photo of Randy, our steel player. He likes his special wrist band. Steel lives matter!
This is not a good photo of Dr. Melanie, on the right. She was in town again and joined us for a night of dancing fun.
Amanda joins me in a selfie before we start the set. (She says we're "cheese-ing" again.) We are both wearing blue under the blue lights. Maybe blue is our color?
Sure, Jason will behave himself for a while.
But then he's all,... Come at me, bro! Ready, Aim, DRUM!!
Before the set I take a nice photo of Austin and Amanda, the kids in the band.
Arnie points his weapon of musical destruction at me. I hope it's not loaded.
We never did Amanda's "Shania" song so I had to take pictures when I could, between songs and before sets.
We had a good line dancing crowd tonight. It seems some people like to line dance in the same place all night long.
Later in the night we are about to start another set.
Have we started the set yet? I don't think so. Amanda is still line dancing with the crowd.
My buddy Dan was asking about the thinner snare under Jason's computer/octopad. He puts a cymbal on top of it. When he hits it, it sounds very similar to hand claps. It's pretty effective on certain songs.
Jen and her friends danced in front of me all night long. I played in front of them. We had our fun.
There must've been a quick guitar intro because I stepped out front a little to get this picture.
I also had time to take another picture of John.
Austin is wailing on his acoustic guitar.
Our last set was only a half hour, "power 30" it's called, when the crowd is too thin. So we got off fifteen minutes early tonight. I don't mind. It was a really fun night and the band sounded pretty dang good even though we hadn't played Austin's tunes for a while. I'm glad I brushed up on a couple of them. Since I don't have to tear down anything, I made a pretty quick getaway. Here's a shot of the place as I'm leaving.
The Ranch is on the bottom floor of the Extron corporate HQ. That's right, the owner of The Ranch is also the president and CEO of Extron. Andrew knows how to run a business.
Saturday night at The Ranch started off with a 39 mile commute through very light traffic.
I guess it was just so stinkin' hot that many people decided to stay home in the air conditioning. But it was nice and cool at the club. For supper I enjoyed my favorite Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and a Caesar Salad. The ROCKSTAR is not only an energy boost, it's an ego boost as well.
The rest of the lads also enjoy their supper in the green room.
Shelly is giving the dance lessons tonight, a dance called "Lonely Drum" which is a song Jason sings. We'll do it in the first set.
Here's my "just about to get started" selfie. DJ Leo is playing the last line dance before we start.
Amanda saw me taking a selfie and looked at me like, "Don't you want a selfie with me?" Of course I do.
I tried to take an artsy-fartsy picture of Arnie but he geeks the camera. I had bad lighting anyway.
The club owner sits in at the top of the first set and sings for the audience.
The boss sings seven or eight songs and then the band starts our regular show.
Did you notice Jason's new hat? I told him it was a great drummer's hat.
Arnie is about to kick off another line dance number.
At the beginning of the third set I talk Randy into letting me take a picture of him putting in his IEMs.
Austin and Amanda. I wish I had their talent when I was that young.
Toward the end of the night I take a picture of the line dancers over John's keyboards.
Oh, and here's John to play them.
Here's a view of stage right from the bass player's perspective.
Amanda noticed me taking a picture and gives me a cute smile. She's such a sweetheart.
Arnie kicks of one of his newer tunes, "Freight Train". It has a long guitar intro so I can snap his picture.
Later in the set Austin kicks off one of his songs with a long guitar intro.
Then at the end of the night we all get to load out of the door on stage left, right out to the parking lot. It's very handy.
Here are a few moments from the weekend recorded off the live stream. I hope you enjoy.
It was a fun weekend at The Ranch. The crowds were a little lighter than normal. I think it may have been because of the heat. Thanks for coming along this weekend.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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