Fight With Grace Benefit 5/5/16

Hi,

This past Thursday the KRB played again at the annual fundraiser for the Orange Coast Memorial Breast Cancer Center. This is the third year we've played at this event. This is the gig report report from last year.

I took a whole vacation day from work to drive down to Costa Mesa during the morning rush hour traffic, no wrecks but sticky in all the usual places.

The event is held at The Turnip Rose Promenade event center, a nice classy little facility.

A view from across the courtyard.

We gather our Rock-n-Roller carts by the back door to load in.

We set up as tightly as we can in our usual corner. They did away with the dance floor this year in order to put in more tables to accomadate more guests.

Jack is running sound for us again today. He also brought my 210 cab and GK800RB that I had used at the Pet Expo a couple weeks ago. Jeff asks for "more me".

It was a patriotic red, white, and blue theme today.

There was a ton of gift baskets to bid on, as well as the designer bag centerpieces on each table.

I think we are ready to sound check.

Art and Daniel are ready.

Here's Kelly, being the band leader and keep us guys in line.

I had a small selection of music to read today. Kelly does "God Bless The U.S.A." in a different key than the record. The other tunes were for Deana Martin, Dean Martin's daughter.

This machine was a Godsend. With a push of a button I could get a cup of coffee with a double shot of espresso. It was great for this early morning gig.

There was also a full bar for those who like to imbibe with their lunch. I passed.

We put our junk around the corner, out of sight of the patrons.

Deana Martin gets her sound check. She sang a jazzy tune to a track this year. While she's in town she will be recording a big band record at Capital.

It looks like the guests are arriving.

The room was very festive with all the red, white, and blue.

We played our first set and then the speakers and auctions started. This is Jody Ferragamo, Vince's wife, a great lady, very funny and very personable.

Vince Ferragamo took the stage to auction off some big ticket items.

In between our two sets we were served lunch on the patio. There is a small restaurant in this facility called The Rose that serves great artisanal food.

We had a wedge salad with blue cheese, egg, grilled chicken, avacado, bacon, and cheese bread. It was delish and really hit the spot.

After lunch we had a guest singer sit in with us. This is Don Drysdale's daughter, Drew. She's a real cutie with a great voice.

Jack got in the spirit with his blue cowboy shirt.

After the gig we asked the celebrities to take a picture with the band. Here you see Deana Martin and her husband, John.

Then Vince and Jody Ferragamo joined us.

The event raised over $300,000 this year for the cancer center. It's neat being a part of it. After all was said and done, we went back to being roadies.

I stuck around to help Jack wrap cables and load the PA. Then I left just in time to hit the commuter traffic on the way home. Such is life on the So. Cal. freeways.

But it was a good gig. Tomorrow we'll be playing at Sea World. I still have to read the email about what to do/say in case we get accosted by the PETA people. Plus I'll be driving more than I'll be playing. But it should be fun.... different anyway.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Arcadia Performing Arts Center 5/4&12/16

Hi gang!

I'm working with a lady you all know, Kellye Huff, playing in a pit orchestra of sorts in a Broadway revue show by the students at the grade school where she is a vocal coach. Each grade performs a few numbers from musicals like "Annie", "The Music Man", "Phantom Of The Opera", and the like. Wednesday (5/4/16) was the first performance. This coming Thursday (5/12/16) is the other performance.

The Arcadia PAC is a nice facility located on the campus of Arcadia High School.

Here's my amp-selfie with Kellye and her daughter.

No, that wasn't my performance outfit. I changed into my job clothes, typical black.
 

Since Jack had my 210 rig, I brought my 1x15 cab and Randall amp.

I thought this would be better than my GK 410. We didn't have to play loud at all even though we were set up behind the curtain. The sound guys took all the instruments direct. That's Dr. Stephen on the piano and conducting the orchestra.

I'd say the theater held about a thousand. I don't know how many attended the performance but I'm sure it was mostly parents and other family members.

I had to set up three music stands because some of these charts (I was reading the piano scores) were twelve pages long.

I would much rather read a real bass book. Sometimes it gets a little tough trying to read my notes up an octave. Too many ledger lines can confuse me. I'm just the bass player.

I caught Mario trying to text while drumming.

Here's Mike's rig and pedal board. I don't know why he needed that pedal board for this gig but at least it didn't get in his way and he always plays at a reasonable volume.

I don't know why one would need all the gadgets and doo-dads for a kids Broadway revue. I guess it's a guitar player thing.

Here's a picture Kellye took of the band just before we got started. The stage tech, Keith, was making sure everything was in order.

Here's Kellye conducting her students. They were fearless. I love working with kids and these kids put on a pretty good show.

Here's a view of the kids from behind the curtain. They liked to turn around and check out the band. Dr. Stephen is checking the lines on his score for the next musical entrance.

Tonight (5/4) was the 3rd and 4th grades' performance. On the 12th will be the 4th and 5th grades' performance. If I get any interesting pictures I'll share them.  But it will be mostly the same, just different songs. The kids did great. They had a lot of fun, as did I.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Stagecoach, 4/29/16

Hello friends and followers,

This was my first time, and the band's first time, playing at the Stagecoach Country Music Festival. It was quite an experience, quite a hassle, but very fun. Since I played only one show Friday night I went home but half the band stayed behind to back Kelly girls in the "Songs About Dogs" show. Here's my Stagecoach story. Please bear with me, I took a ton of pictures.

The traffic heading out to the desert was heavier than usual. I guess when you have over 100K people going to a festival in Indio that tends to happen.

You've seen the big casinos along the way, as well as Mt. San Jacinto. But I think the windmills are cool.

A little over 95 miles and I arrive at the check-in station. Everyone checked in at the Indian Wells tennis club about 10 minutes away from the festival grounds. There was a big tent for the festival goers to check in. I arrived about noon.

I looked at this line and thought, "Wait a minute, do I have to wait in this line? Don't they know who I think I am?"

So I asked one of the attendants about artist check-in and he directed me to the East Box Office. No line! Woo hoo!

Five minutes later I had my wrist band and I was ready to head to the festival.

The "A" is for "Artist". There was a chip in the wristband which they would scan when I wanted access to all the special areas. Pretty cool.

I shared my peanut M&Ms with one of the security guards so she took my picture.

A quick ten minute drive and I was at the festival parking.

I was directed to the artist's parking area, not quite in the front row but pretty close.

This is Misha. She gave me a nice cool bottle of water while I waited for my cart to take me onto the grounds.

This is Cassandra. She provided a fun, safe, and enjoyable conveyance into the festival. You could tell she wasn't a rookie. She had a bandana to filter all the dust. I'm bringing one next year. They were quite popular among the staff who had to be outdoors a lot.

It was quite crowded on the backroads behind the festival. In front of us a couple of vehicles was a water truck spraying water to keep the dust down.

I arrived at the Honky Tonk to put my gear behind the stage and took a picture of the goings-on.

They had DJ music going most of the day along with line dance instruction. This is one of the lovely dancers who was helping to instruct.

Here are a couple of shots of the Honky Tonk and its 20,000 sq. ft. dance floor.

Here's a shot of the stage from the front. I'm standing about in the middle of the dance floor. They will move that DJ table just before we start our show.

I ran into a few friends from The Ranch. Here's Shelly, one of the dance instructors who was also working in the Honky Tonk this weekend.

This is my buddy Thom, one of the regulars at The Ranch. He won tickets to the festival that The Ranch was giving away.

This is the little compound behind the Honky Tonk. There were several Star Waggons used by the DJs, the bands, and the dance troupes who were performing this weekend.

This was our "green room".

Once I got settled I snapped a selfie with my artist wrist band.

 Art is a little impressed with our accommodations.

Art, Mario, and I head out to find the artist's catering. We had heard that it's somewhere over by the main stage, called the "Mane Stage".

It's a bit of a walk to the main stage and VIP tent.

Our wristbands get us into the VIP tent. There is special food and drink in here, but it's VIP and not "artist" (i.e. FREE).

From here we are able to get pretty close to the "Mane Stage". If I read my program correctly, Drake White and The Big Fire are on stage right now. Being unknown and playing early in the day, it's a very light crowd for them. But at least they are on the big stage.

We ask around some more about the location of the artist's catering tent and finally find it. Now! That's what I'm talking about!

For lunch there is a soup bar, a sandwich bar, a salad bar, a taco bar, a pizza bar, a sausage bar, and more.

With a scan of our wristband we're in! I have a nice carne asada taco, a couple of brats, salad, and veggies.

They also have a desert bar and a drink bar.

In addition to water and sodas, they have a nice selection of specialty teas. I had the cinnamon fig tea. It was tasty!

After our late lunch (they close between 4pm and 5pm to switch over to dinner), we wander about checking out the smaller stages. This is the Palomino Stage.

We make our way back to our trailer and check out the sites. There were a couple of tractor displays.

Here's the entrance to the Honky Tonk. We'll slip backstage and exit to our trailer.

Now we're just chillin', waiting for the rest of the band to arrive. Jeff and Kelly both have RVs with their families. Daniel and Mario will stay in the provided hotel rooms.

The dance troupes are hanging out waiting to go on and show those whipper-snappers a thing or two about dancing.

This is the light guy, hanging out behind one of the main stacks.

I couldn't really tell what kind of gear they were running. All I know is that it was loud!

This is Sarah, our monitor person. She was great. We didn't get much of a sound check so she did what she could to dial in our mix according to our verbal instructions. She knew that board like the back of her hand. It was fun to watch her work.

After we found out that we are not getting a sound check until 8:00 pm (we start our show at 8:15) we decide to run over to the Mustang stage to see Marty Stewart. The festival grounds are starting to get pretty crowded.

Marty Stewart and The Fabulous Superlatives put on a great rockin' honky tonk musical performance that is a lot of fun.

Kenny Vaughan on guitar and Chris Scruggs on bass. Sorry, I forgot the drummer. They sounded bigger than just the four of them.

Kenny sang a couple and Chris played his upright.

Then they went all acoustic and performed Marty Robbins' "El Paso". They really killed it.

Then the bass player sang a song! That's his 2 year old son behind them banging on the acoustic guitar.

I had to leave before they were done. Marty Stewart is still great. I hated to leave but had to get ready for our show. Here's Kelly and I all dolled up.

Here's my backline rig. It sounded pretty dang good, a Harke 4x10 and a 1000w head.

My amp-selfie while we have a quick 15 minute sound check.

Mario and his backline kit.

Our crowd starts to gather.

Jeff had a problem with his big keyboard, it was making noise. So he decided to do the whole show on his key-tar. That's Sean, the FOH guy beside him.

Here's the "stage right" part of the band, while we sound check.

You see Art and Daniel's backline rigs, a Twin and a Nashville 1000. Hey, look! I think the crowd is ready for us to get started.

And away we go!

The crowd was really off the chain.

I've never seen so many line dancers before.

These young ladies have a thing for bass players, I think.

They were having their fun!

Daniel WOWS them with his signature "Devil Went Down..."

Here are some action shots taken by Jeff's wife on her cell phone.

I think Art is really enjoying himself. You could tell by how loudly he was playing.

I think they were kind of digging the band.

Here's one Mario took from his kit.

We ended up playing a little over, a couple of encores, but our show went by in a flash. I packed up and headed over to the big stage to catch a little of Eric Church's show.

Then I left early to drive home and avoid the big crowds getting off the grounds. I stopped by the trailer for a quick pit stop.

And then I drove home, happy and tired. It was quite and experience. I hope we get to do it again next year. I'll make plans to bring the family and stay all weekend. It's easy to get used to this VIP "artist" treatment. For weekend warrior types like me, it's really a treat. It's just a taste of how the big stars are taken care of.

Thanks for looking. I appreciate you folks putting up with me hogging all this bandwidth.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff