The Ranch 5/27-28/16

Greetings!

I'm in the middle of a couple of weeks without gigs. It's OK. I need a break once in a while. But I've got one more gig to post up then I'll be all caught up. Here it is.

It's actually been three weeks since The Kelly Rae Band has played a gig together. It seems we kind of missed each other because we were having a ton of fun and got lots of compliments, from other musicians even, about how we sounded tonight. Friday was a little slow because of the holiday weekend but still a lively and fun crowd.

I set up two of my basses next to the back line.

But, alas, it was just a prop since we were all using IEMs with no amps on stage.

I didn't even plug in the amp. It was just for show.

Mario and Daniel are warming up for our quick sound check.

I almost caught the sound guy, Mark, in my amp-selfie. Instead we have to settle for me pointing toward him. Mark does not like to have his picture taken.

I was the guinea pig tonight and tried some new rechargeable batteries in my wireless IEM pack.

The "eneloop" rechargeable batteries from Panasonic really held up. After four sets the battery indicator had gone from five bars to four bars.

After sound check we retired to the green room for supper. I ate pretty light tonight and had the beet salad along with the kale salad and grilled chicken.

Then we watched the Angels beat up on the Astros.

Art, Daniel, and Kelly are ready to put on the show! Andrew did not open for us tonight

As I took my amp-selfie, Heather surprised me with a terrific photobomb!

Heather is the entertainment manager. Here she is with Kelly.

Heather announced the band tonight since Andrew was not in the house.

Megan was the birthday girl tonight. She brought a bunch of friends to celebrate. I got a birthday two-step.

This is Megan's friend Rebecca. I like two-stepping with her too.

Here's the band playing some kind of line dance to "Timber". It's going down!

Our friend Kellye Huff was in the house tonight. She sat in for a couple of tunes. Here she is with Heather and a couple of Kelly's friends.

We didn't have to sound check Saturday night so I ordered supper as soon as I got there. I had the seared Ahi tuna and a kale salad with grilled chicken.

Then we watched the Angels and Astros again. Jeff is a huge Angels fan. Too bad they lost tonight.

Soon it was time to get on the stage and put on the show. It seems we're a little confused here.

Heather announced us again. Here she is with Art, Daniel, and Kelly.

Mario says, "No, no, no, no, you mustn't take my picture."

Art's girlfriend, Lori, came by tonight. Here's Art with Lori and Heather.

Daniel really WOWs the room with "Devil Went Down To Georgia".

There were a couple of ladies who were ten-stepping and playing air fiddle. It was very cute. Daniel got a kick out of them.

We had a pretty good crowd all night, not bad for a holiday weekend when everyone usually heads out of town.

But the night eventually came to an end and I had to pack up my basses and go home to post a gig blog.

If you're ever in Southern California, perhaps near Disneyland, I'm sure you would really enjoy a night at The Ranch. The food is great in the saloon and there's also an upscale restaurant right next door if you'd like to have a fancy sit-down meal before you go dancing. The Ranch Saloon is a fabulous live music venue.

My next gig will be with The Arnie Newman Band playing the first show with his "Big City" tribute to Merle Haggard. Here's the flyer with more information. Thanks for looking!

Thank you for your indulgence,


BassCliff

ANB at a Diamond Bar Wedding 5/21/16

Hello friends,

I had a weekend full of music that got started with a wedding reception with my friends, The Arnie Newman Band.

The reception was held in a big fancy gated community here in the So. Cal. called "The Country". We had to show our ID at the security gate. They were not impressed when I said "I'm with the band."

The hills of Diamond Bar were quite scenic behind the custom homes. This was a large community with large houses on large lots.
 

This was the residence where the wedding and reception were held. It was quite the place.

We set up next to the "back house", which was basically a large man cave built by the owner a few years ago. You can see the tables set up on the lawn on the left.
 

The guys are figuring out placement and power, the typical setup dance we do in a strange place.

We had our own band table behind the performance area. We had to share it with the photographers, wedding planner, and the rest of the hired help. 

Arnie used his Little Walter again. I brought out my MB500 and Neo410. 

Here you see Ms. Francelle, our singerbabe for this evening, setting up her mic stand while Randy and Paul talk shop. She's worked with Arnie before. He has a few female vocalists in the rotation since Kellye Huff left.

Randy gets his rig warmed up. He uses a pair of Peavey 112 amps, small, light, and sounds great. 

It looks like we've just about got everything in place and plugged in. I think we're just about to sound check.

We had to arrive pretty early. I got there at 2pm so we could be all set up and sound checked by 3:30pm as per the bride's mother's request. Arnie had been there since noon.

Looking out from the stage area you see the back of the house and the catering tent. They were fixing up some pretty fine BBQ.

Chicken, ribs, tri-tip, now that's what I'm talking about!

The reception area was quite charming. 

This is the gazebo behind the house were the ceremony took place. Arnie and I set up a couple of his powered monitors and a wireless mic for the preacher.

The witnesses sat by the pool and watched the ceremony.

As we gazed into each other eyes we realized that this was truly a Kodak moment.

After we got the ceremony gear set up we got our cowboy clothes on. Arnie looks like the owner of The Ponderosa.

The band had a lot of time to kill, we were not scheduled to play until 7:30, so we hung out in the man cave. That's where the bar was.

I enjoyed a few Lagunitas, as did the rest of the band.

I thought this was a cute touch. Since the guests would be dancing in the driveway, the hosts provided comfortable shoes for everyone to dance in.

We tried to hide all of our junk behind the garage. Bands can be so messy.

We're all ready to play, but there's still plenty of time to have a brew and take pictures. Here's Randy, Francelle, and Paul.

The official ceremony has ended, the happy couple is hitched, and the guests greet them as they come into the reception area.

And now it's supper time!

It didn't take long for a few hungry musicians to polish off a bunch of BBQ. At this point I've been here six hours and we haven't played a single note yet.

Finally! It's time to start rockin'! Francelle joins me in an amp-selfie.

Francelle and Arnie are howlin' at the moon.
 

Jason hydrates as he runs the computer and the drum pad thingy.

The guests stayed all night and partied hard. Since everything ran late we ended up playing until midnight but a good time was had by all.

Here's Arnie putting the last of his gear into his truck. It was a very long day but a fun, rewarding gig.

The gear is all loaded, the guests are all gone, and the happy couple is off on their honeymoon. It was a good night. Thanks for looking.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff