I played another rare reunion gig with my old bandmates, The Running' Kind, up in the local mountains. From the 90s to about 2010 we used to burn down the roadhouses and clubs all over Southern California. This past Sunday evening we played another event at The Inn at Fawnskin to raise funds for the local spiritual center. It wasn't too smoky from all the fires as I headed up into the mountains.
It's too bad we can't take the freeway all the up to the gig.
Up here at 7000 feet the roads get narrow and twisty.
As I turned onto the North Shore Road of Big Bear Lake the threatening clouds opened up with a popup thunderstorm. This is supposed to be an outdoor event.
As I got closer to the venue the rain subsided. This is a very pretty Bed and Breakfast nestled among the pines.
There's a lot of activity so I back into the driveway as close as I can to unload.
My handy Rock-n-Roller cart did OK going over the grass and decomposed granite. I brought my small bass rig and the PA today.
My dear old friends Rick and Bob were here to greet me. Rick hasn't played with us for a couple of years since he moved to Prescott.
We begin our setup dance on the back porch, trying to leave room for the drummer and the keyboardist. Bob plays a mean guitar and Rick plays steel guitar and midi-guitar.
This is me, running sound from the stage.
For some reason Bob brought his double rig. He's finally retired his 80s Strat in favor of a new Strat by a builder name Suhr.
Rick's rig consists of his new Infinity dual 12 neck pedal steel. He uses a sound module with his Casio midi-guitar to get all the horn, strings, piano, organ, and a host of other sounds. He didn't play much piano today because we had a local piano player working with us. We'll meet him in a bit.
The event crew was working hard setting up everything while trying to keep is covered from the intermittent rain.
Our dear old drummer friend, Rick, arrives and gets set up. (Yes, there are two Ricks in the band.) Also you see Mike on the keys. We've worked with Mike a few times now. Nancy, our hostess, who is also a singer, works a lot with Mike.
Our setup dance is complete. You can hardly see all of our gear on the "stage". We'll just be doing some back porch pickin'.
Across the road you can see the north shore of the lake. It sure is peaceful up here, and a LOT cooler than down in the valley.
We're just about to start with the musical portion of the evening. Here's a selfie with the regular members of The Runnin' Kind. (That's right, Merle Haggard named a song after us.)
Our special guest on piano, Mike. He usually plays a lot of piano bar/single gigs up here on the mountain.
Well guys, what do you want to play now? Since this event was called a "Buckaroo Ball" we did a lot of old school country. The folks were dressed for the occasion.
On a break we pause for a band picture.
On the next break we sneak in the chow line for some BBQ chicken and pulled pork sliders.
Since there wasn't a band table our hostess said we could eat in the living room, as long as we didn't make a mess.
The porch/stage was off the living room. You can see the guests enjoying their meal.
The most interesting auction item was this Strat-like guitar signed by Neil Young.
This is our hostess, Nancy. We've done a lot of gigs with Nancy and her Patsy tribute show and "Women of Country Music".
Somebody brought the band a couple of plates full of desserts. Nice.
In between musical numbers Nancy would take the stage to hold the live auctions. Here's one of the paintings being sold.
Everyone had a good time. The clouds broke and the sun came out. The lights in the back yard were lovely as the sun set.
During a live auction segment, Rick had to go to the little drummer's room so Bob thought he'd fill in.
At the end of the night it seems to take a long time to strike the stage. We were all talking and getting caught up since it's been a while. We had a ton of fun pulling out the old tunes.
We all loaded up our gear and headed down the mountain promising each other that it wouldn't be so long until we do this again.
I love these guys and we sure had a grand time remembering our songs. We had a few interesting moments like, "Oh yea, THAT's how this song goes." It was totally fun.
This coming weekend I have The Ranch with the ANB on Friday and Saturday. Until then, thank you for stopping by.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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