The ANB and I had a fun little mid-week gig in a nice little room that you've seem me play a bunch. It's not a long night here at Stillwater Spirits and Sounds, only three sets between 7-10pm. This restaurant has an outdoor patio along with a small stage and dance floor inside. The venue hosts a variety of bands and genres, tributes, disco, 80s, and Wednesday night is country night.
The gig starts for me as I leave the office just a little early to fight the rush hour traffic through the OC. I usually hop on the freeway just at the south end of "the merge", where the 60 and the 57 share the same fourteen lanes for a few miles.
If you're heading into South OC you'll have to go through the "Orange Crush" where three freeways meet. This is just south of Anaheim Stadium where the 57, the 22, and the 5 all come together. It's gets really sticky through here sometimes. Today it wasn't too bad.
I made my way down to PCH in Dana Point to where Stillwater is just a couple miles off the freeway very close to the ocean.
This is the back door to the restaurant. The stage entrance is an unmarked door to the right of this one.
I couldn't get away from work as early as I wanted so I was last to arrive this time. John, Arnie, and Jason were pretty much done with their setup dance so I got to do a solo dance.
After rolling my gear into the back door I discovered that the club had purchased some new backline gear. I found this Rumble 500 (2x10 combo) on a speaker stand right where it needed to be. All I had to do was plug in my bass so I rolled my gear back out to my trusty Astro van. This thing sounds really good.
Yes, both of those monitors are mine. The monitor on the left was for bass and kick drum only. We play at such low volumes this helps me to hear everything without getting too loud. It seems like there is a different remote for every screen in this place.
You might remember the sound guy, Paul. The last time we saw him he was recovering from eye surgery and wearing a patch. We don't get to call him "Pirate Paul" any more. Paul does great work and is very pleasant to work with.
Johnny Magic Fingers is all set up. He's using half as many keyboards as usual so that means he has twice as many fingers for each, right?
Jason is all set up and plugged in. Now he's getting centered, "Be the kick drum. Be the snare drum. Be the cymbals." That backline acrylic kit sounds better than it looks.
This is the banner that hangs on the back wall of the stage.
These are some of the greats that watch us perform, also on the back wall of the stage.
The curtain opens and away we go! This crowd likes the two-stepping vintage and traditional country tunes. So do we.
If you know where to look you'll see True Willie in the crowd, sitting at the table to the right with the golfer hat on. Drummer Dave also stopped by tonight.
I caught this fellow showing his appreciation with some folding applause. These folks are generous. I was able to pay my bar tab with my tips.
Jason looked like a real cowboy tonight in his cowboy shirt wearing his cowboy hat. Pretty fun.
It was a great two-stepping, fun crowd tonight. Carl and Shannon also stopped by. We played their wedding last weekend. They're going on their honeymoon next week.
Arnie and I schmoozed with some of our friends at the end of the evening. This is Paulette, Amy, and John. That's Brian doing the photobombing.
Amy has a twin sister, Terra. They both sing and used to be in a band together. We're always hoping that they'll both want to sit in sometime. One of these days.
This is just inside the back stage door where we store cases and junk. It's time to be the roadie.
Since I didn't have much to load out I helped Arnie with his amps and powered monitors. The venue has JBL monitors (you see them against the wall) but Arnie usually brings his EV monitors because they sound better.
And that was our Wednesday night. This weekend we have a couple of private parties. Friday we're driving out to Indio to the Empire Polo Club. That's where they hold the Stagecoach and the Coachella festivals. But I think this is a corporate event. Saturday we will be out in that area again at The Club at Morningside to play another corporate event. That's a lot of driving. I'd better check the oil in my trusty Astro van. Thanks for looking!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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