After that amazing show at the House of Blues the night before, me and the ANB made our way down to Huntington Beach to play at one of our regular haunts, the Old Crow Smokehouse. For me, getting there involved another trip down the 57, down the 5, down the 55, where I drove until my hubcaps were almost wet, then I turned right.
I drove into the parking structure under the upper scale shopping center that is Pacific City, parked way off in the corner, and loaded up my handy dandy Rock-n-Roller cart.
I wheeled toward the elevator and who did I see? Johnny Magic fingers had snagged the prime spot right by the elevator. Man, some guys have all the luck. But those guys are not bass players.
My favorite bar manager, Brandi, met me with a glass of Patsy. It's one of my favorite stouts.
Brandi and Anastasia were both at the House of Blues concert the night before but I didn't see them. There were too shy to push their way up to the front of the crowd. John and I complete our setup dance, just the two of us. The stage looks a little bare despite the holiday decorations.
You guys remember Anastasia, right? She was kind enough to bring us supper tonight. (The food here is great!) I asked if she'd like to sit in with us later. She said yes!
I was in a festive mood and felt like taking advantage of the venue's hospitality. I had the ribeye steak. Oh my! What a great slab of protein.
While John and I are having supper (John had the steak too!), Arnie, Jason, and (Surprise!) Randy arrive to perform their setup dance.
That's Travis handing the sound and stage crew duties. He was a really great guy to work with. I hope I got a better picture of him. We shoehorned Randy onto the stage. It was really cozy tonight.
It was a lively crowd but perhaps a little lighter than normal. We chalked it up to the holiday season, shopping, traveling, family visiting, etc.
John admires his musical monument.
Here's Travis getting the drums mic'd up and generally taking care of the band. He's a great, hard working soundguy.
Travis sticks his ear in the monitor to make sure Johnny hears what he wants to. Travis has an EQ and he knows how to use it.
The first set was really fun. The crowd loved all the country swing we could throw at them.
They even got in a little line dancing.
I stepped out to the patio to cool off on the break. It was still a good crowd, only a few empty tables.
This was the view downstairs. It looks like Santa has been visiting. On the other side of Santa's place is PCH. On the other side of that is the Pacific Ocean.
I turned around to show you the front of the place.
Here's a blue bass player in front of the band logo. Somebody said I looked like a Smurf.
We are just about ready to kick off our second and final long set. We play two long sets here from 9:30 to 12:30, with just one break in between.
As promised, we got Anastasia up in the second set to sing a few with us old hairy legged boys. She was having fun.
The crowd here knows and loves Anastasia.
Yeah, she's got some sass too. "I'm a redneck woman, I ain't no high class broad."
She knows all the words to every Charlie Daniels song.
Kick'er off there Wichita. Let's play us some more Merle. Arnie was on fire tonight.
The crowd made room for a line dance. Most places don't allow drinks on the dance floor. But since there isn't really a dance floor, anything goes.
At end of the night I remembered I wanted a picture of our stage setup. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Then it was time to load out and say "Good night" to Coastal Eddie.
I just love face-in-the-hole pictures. After I took one for a group leaving the Old Crow I tried to get a selfie. I guess it sort of worked. Merry Christmas!
Then it was back up the 57 to the old homestead. Here's Angel Stadium at night.
We'll be at The Ranch next weekend and for New Years Eve. May this Christmas season bring you love, hope, peace, and joy that follows you and yours into the New Year. Thanks for looking!
Merry Christmas!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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