I'm almost a month behind with my gig blog and I apologize. I'll get caught up as quickly as I can. Let's get started....
This weekend was a bit of a treat for me. Me and the ANB played in a couple of five star dive bars, well, as "dive-y" as they get here in the OC. I'm sure there are "dive-ier" places around here but I probably wouldn't play them. Some gigs you just don't need, ya know? Anyway, due to a band cancellation, this Bigshot's gig came up kind of last minute and so as a favor to the owner, a friend of Arnie's, we agreed to play it for decent scratch, a meal, and beer.
The day started with some work in Arnie's studio. We're preparing to cut some original Amanda songs and get some good cover recordings to update the band's promo material. I think Arnie is trying to decide which guitar to use. Eric is at the board. He's a great engineer and bass player too. Eric also works for MxxMaster Sound and had mixed us live several times.
This is only a small part of Arnie's collection.
Eric is so focused he won't even look at me.
Jason is banging away, tweaking the kit to get some good recorded sounds.
I brought three basses today, just in case, my Fender JBS, Guild Pilot 5, and Carvin LB76.
More of Arnie's stuff. He loves his Little Walter amps.
John found some $30 IEM units that sound great. I'm going to have to try a pair.
Here we are, all hard at "work".
We piddled in the studio all afternoon and got everything dialed in. Then it was time to go to the gig. We drove down to Lake Forest on the toll roads because it saved a bunch of time fighting traffic. That reminds me, I have to go online to pay my toll. Here's the front of the place, Bigshot's Billiards Bar & Grill.
Jason arrived first and started the setup dance without me.
Standing on the stage the dance floor is directly in front. This is the view of the tables on stage right.
This is the bar area to stage left.
Arnie and John arrive and we have the full setup choreography going on.
After our setup dance we were hungry.
I had the double burger and slaw. I hadn't eaten all day. The burger paired well with the Newcastle.
The stage is set. We didn't really have a soundguy tonight. Chip helped us get hooked up and dialed in. He plays in one of the bands in the rotation here and told me this place is hard on soundguys so there's a bit of a turnover issue. Chip was a great guy and very helpful but he didn't stay all night because he was doing this as a favor for a meal, he wasn't getting paid.
The stage had these QSC speakers hung all around with a couple up front firing back at us for monitors. It was plenty for the room. I don't know if there was a sub. I didn't see one.
We had a so-so crowd all night long. Grant came by to see us but I forgot to get a selfie. You've seen my friend and fellow bass player Grant in my other posts.
John's about ready to make some noise.
We had a few line dancers and two-steppers. There was also a birthday party in the room.
We tried our best to keep the volume down. It's a loud room and the venue gets complaints often from the residences in the apartment complex next door.
We muddled through and had our fun. We did not get the cops called on us for noise violation so that was a plus. We played a long-ish 9pm to 1am. Then we packed it up, got paid in cash, and headed home.
I'd like to give this room another try. It's an odd room but the food was really good. Hopefully we'll get a call back, we'll see. Thanks for looking!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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