On a Friday night me and the ANB played a regular haunt again, the Old Crow Smokehouse in Huntington Beach. It's a pretty nice but very casual bar and BBQ with live country music several nights a week. We are there once a month or so as our busy schedule allows. Even though this room is loud, a long schlep with the gear, and over an hour away, it's a fun room with a mostly young crowd that likes country music. Plus we get a great meal and free beer.
I left work and headed down into a dark and stormy OC. I ran into a lightening storm right around Angel Stadium and it rained off and on all night long, mostly light, sometimes heavy.
I parked in the underground parking at Pacific City, where the club is located. The only spot I could find was just about as far from the elevator as you could get. Oh well. At least I have my handy dandy Rock-n-Roller cart.
Let's see. Where did I park?
I really like this place. As soon as I rolled in the door my favorite bar manager, Brandy, and her friend, Allison, had a nice, cold, dark Patsy ready for me. Yum!
The room was buzzing with barbecue sauce as we did our setup dance.
Jason used his small kit, I used my small rig, John brought only two keyboards, so we fit on the stage pretty well.
Here's a shot from the console. I know, it's a weird place for the FOH mixer but this place wasn't really designed with musical performance in mind. Yes, the Dodger baseball game was on but we have a 9:30 downbeat and figure the game will be over by then.
Our soundman, Andre, shows up ready to rock. Andre is the "nice" sound guy. The other one, Josh, is the "grumpy" sound guy.
We find a spot in the crowded venue to have some supper. The rain drove everyone inside. We commandeered the short bar to use as our supper table. Tonight I enjoyed the sausages. I love a good sausage.
John had the steak and Arnie had a burger. Jason got here early and had the ribs.
After supper I went to the little bass player's room to freshen up. Look what I found on the wall while I was hanging out.
Then we take the stage to do a little sound check. John gets his set list in order.
Arnie tells Andre, "Turn my monitor up until it hurts Cliff's ears."
Here's a selfie in front of the crowd while Andre dials in the sound. I'm sure this is a hard room to mix.
After our quick sound check we leave to stage to sip a beverage. Then the unthinkable happens! There are two outs, bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers are down 5 to 6 with a man on third and the winning run comes to the plate. All of a sudden, the power to the stage and all the TVs goes out! It's blank! The crowd issues a collective groan and the restaurant manager, Saul, races to reset the satellite gear.
Alas, by the time the TVs were back online the game was over and the Dodgers had lost. At least we didn't have to watch them lose. The TVs came back up with the post-game show. When we took the stage at 9:30 the sound guy put up the band logo so we look all official and stuff.
Several people asked us for cards tonight. Arnie doesn't have any business cards. (I know, right?) So I just reminded them to take a picture of the sign and contact us through the website.
On the break we talked to Anastasia. She gets up and sings with the band sometimes. We were going to get her up tonight but I guess she was too busy.
This old bass player taught these ladies how to floss. We were goofing off and having fun. This is Cheryl, Suzie, and Valerie. They were excellent students.
Even though there is no dance floor per se, it doesn't stop the crowd from getting out there and shaking what they got.
It was a lively crowd this evening. We got lots of requests for classic country from the young folks. It was cool.
Arnie hits them with one of his classic rock tunes, "Ain't That America". (Little Pink Houses?)
I think Jason wants to do his rap medley.
John says, "Oh no! Not again!"
But it was a good call. This crowd ate it up. They weren't expecting that from a country band.
We came, we ate, we drank, we made noise, we had fun, and now it's time to roll on out of here.
The rain had slacked off so we didn't get very wet at all as we loaded out. It was a fun night, even if I did have to wear my ear plugs.
Next Saturday we are playing a corporate event at a fancy schmancy resort in Newport Beach, Pelican Hill. The gig itself should be pretty easy, just getting in and out will be difficult. But that's why I make the big bucks (yeah, right). Until then, thanks for looking and tagging along.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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