I had two rehearsals earlier in the week with Arnie and his band. Monday we rehearsed in his home studio for a special project he's putting together. Arnie's got a really nice home studio. Here's the recording room, completely decked out with drums, amps, keyboard, plenty of guitars including a bass or two and even a pedal steel.
This is the control room with lots of bells and whistles.
We were rehearsing material for Arnie's new show project, "Big City". We rehearsed the next evening at The Ranch as per their usual schedule. The logo for the new show is already on the kick drum.
Arnie brought out one of his vintage rigs because we were shooting a promo video at The Ranch.
Arnie used his Tuff Dog Tele and his new strap, made by the same guy who made Merle's strap.
Here's Paul, usually on fiddle, steel, or banjo, warming up with one of Arnie's other Tele guitars.
Arnie gets to hold the white spot as the video guy sets his camera.
Mark, the sound man, brought out all the backline for the video. Too bad it was just props for the show.
I used my Fender JBS for the video and recording to give it a more vintage look and sound.
Adam was running a few cameras that evening.
After we were all set up and sound checked, we had some refreshment.
We helped ourselves to salad, fish tacos, burgers, soups, and other great Ranch food.
Then we got down to business. Here's Arnie with a hat made by the same guy who made Merle's hat. Arnie wants a very authentic look and feel to this new project. He spent hundreds of dollars on that strap and hat.
The lovely Brandi Smith joined us for the promo video and will be joining us as we play The Ranch this weekend.
And then this guy showed up to also be in the video.
That's our local Willie tribute guy, "True Willie" is the name of his show. Roger is a nice guy and does a great job with the whole Willie package. Yes, we all wore black suits with skinny ties for the video. It's a pretty good look I suppose.
Our local tributes to Merle and Willie.
Here they are posing for some promo pictures.
Brandi and "Willie".
And a couple of black and white promo shots.
Here's a few pictures I took from Friday night. It started off kind of weird and not too much fun because of the gremlins in my IEM mix. But we got it straightened out after the fist set and the rest of the night was really fun. Here the gang is in the green room running over tunes waiting for supper.
Supper arrives and I enjoy a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and a nice kale salad with grilled chicken while I go over the set list.
After the dance lesson I take the stage to tune all my strings. I brought three basses tonight.
No, sorry, I didn't get to use the backline GK rig. Too bad. I really like that Neo412 cab. We're all using IEMs but Arnie brought his Little Walter for his vintage Merle sound.
Here's my amp-selfie with Arnie. Notice anything different?
The lovely Brandi Smith joins Arnie and the boys on stage this weekend.
Brandi lets the bass player have a picture with her too. Lucky guy.
Jason got his microphone out of the way before he stuck his tongue out at me.
John says, "Hey, what's over there?"
Oh! It's line dancers!
Then Saturday night started off with the bass player wondering if he was going to get a new set list.
Here's Brandi (this weekend we were 'The Arnie Newman Band Featuring Brandi Smith') with Randy on steel and Paul as the utility guy.
Jason was getting serious. Or was he worried that the huge microphone would fall on him?
Here's John behind his armada of keyboards.
The entertainment manager, Heather, and I have a quick dance in the green room. She is such a sweetheart and takes such good care of us.
Arnie wants a picture with Heather too.
John bangs out his big hit, "Mama Screw Your Wig On Tight".
Our friends Rebecca and Megan pause for a picture with Jason.
We were having so much fun tonight that the end came much too quickly.
Here's the flyer for the "Big City" project's first show, the Merle Haggard Tribute to benefit the Cyctic Fibrosis Foundation.
It's going to be epic fun. If you're in the area I hope you stop by. Thanks for looking.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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