The Club at Morningside, 3/2/19

Hey howdy hey!

This past Saturday was our second consecutive night in the Palm Springs area playing a private event. I accompanied the ANB at The Club at Morningside to play their annual "Country Night". It was actually raining when I left for the gig but I wasn't worried. I was pretty sure it would clear up once I hit the desert.

Driving this way you pass a lot of familiar landmarks. Here you see Hadley's Orchards, Ruby's Diner, and the Morongo Casino. See? I told you the weather would clear.

It's another downright beautiful day in the desert as we pass by the windmill farms.

Turning south off the freeway we make our way to the golf club nestled up against the foothills. I think desert landscapes are awesome.

I arrived at the venue and pulled around back of the clubhouse. It was then that I realized that I've played this gig before with the KRB three years ago.

Yep, same tent setup behind the clubhouse, same tablecloths, same little stage.

My trusty Bob van Astro didn't feel out of place at all on this beautiful golf course. No, not a bit. I used my handy-dandy Rock-n-Roller cart to roll my gear up the slight incline to the stage area.

And here it is, hay bales and everything. Quite a difference from our gig last night, right?

When Jason gets here I'll have to thank him for letting us all use his drum riser. That stage is barely 10'x12' but we'll make it work. The wind was picking up again. There was talk about moving the event indoors but that never happened. The wind eventually died down. Here you might be able to see blowing dust. Actually I just wanted to share another picture of the gorgeous landscape around here. Of all the golf clubs I've played in the area, and I played some nice ones (Dinah Shore, La Quinta, etc), I think this has the most beautiful surroundings.

Arnie and Jason carpooled again. Arnie brought a small PA for vocals only. There's only about 120 people at this hootnanny. We're not going to mic any instruments. Jason brought his small kit again.

Just before Randy arrived I found out that Johnny is not on this gig. That's OK, they want really traditional and vintage country so we can get by without all of John's keyboards. Plus, they would never fit on this dinky stage.

It sure is pretty here.

Arnie and I take a quick tour of the clubhouse. Here's the flyer on the information board inside.

The lounge and the ballroom inside have recently been remodeled. It's pretty nice in here.

We'll meet Kristie in a bit. She led us downstairs to this rec room to use as our green room. We'll take our meal here too.

You can see the event tent out of the window. Our facilities were quite fancy, with cloth towels and combs in blue liquid.

Yes, we all fit on the stage, just barely. I felt kind of sorry for Randy. He did not have the best view but I tried to move aside once in a while so that he didn't have to look at my back pockets all night.

This is Kristie, our director for today. She took great care of us and loved the band. She and Randy have been friends for a while. She's good friends with James East, brother to Nathan East. She told me she has a "thing" for bass players.

And it's supper time! Arnie took a picture of his meal too.

Tonight we were served swordfish, perfectly cooked with a delicious sauce.

Amanda arrived just as we were being served. After supper we donned our cowboy clothes and climbed the little hill up to the event.

Look at that! Now it's a real hoedown! It's not a party until you can break your neck on a mechanical bull.

Arnie and Amanda are ready to put on the show. Our first set was dinner music, lots of ballads and quiet stuff.

Here's a shot from my mic with the guests enjoying their supper.

After the dinner set we took a little break and came back with some dance music. After their supper and a few adult beverages these nice folks were ready to party.

Let's go girls!

Jason wore his new blue Scully shirt again. I guess it sort of matches his kit.

This is what happens when you stare at the backside of your bass player all night. Poor Randy.

There was a good group of people who stayed and partied and had a great time until the very end. They even talked us into a couple of encores. They were having a grand old time.

Then it was time to do the roadie thing again. I packed up all my gear, rolled up a bunch of PA cables, loaded half the PA into Arnie's truck, and generally tried to be helpful. Hmmm, seems like I set up most of the PA too.

And since this venue was closer to where my buddy Rick is playing, I stopped by Las Casuelas Terraza again. The band had the ladies dancing up a storm.

They played until 12:30 on Saturday night. They took a break just a couple of songs after I got there. Mark asked me if I wanted to get up. I told him I just happen to have my bass in the van. So I got up for a few. I sang a couple and played a request that Rick sang. It was pretty dang fun. All those guys are real pros.

Then Rick and I went to another bar across the street to have a beer and chew the fat. I got home late, about 3am. That's too late for an old man like me.

EDIT: Going back over my gig reports I realized that Rick played with me the last time I played at Morningside golf club. We were working with the KRB three years ago. My how time flies.

And that was my weekend hanging out with the one percenters. Next weekend we'll be at Cowboy Country in Long Beach, one of the honky tonkiest honky tonks around. It'll be a bit of a culture shock, but I can take it.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff