Pepper Tree Park, Tustin CA 6/29/16

Hi gang,

On Wednesday evening (6/29/16) we played at Peppertree Park in Tustin CA. There was reserved parking for the band so it was a short roll to the stage.

 It was a good sized covered stage. My thanks to the Rotary, Kiwanis, and Lions Clubs.

The first thing I saw, beside the elevated main arrays, was a nice rack of power amps as I rolled up the ramp to the stage.

I was thinking, "This PA looks familiar". Mario got his own subwoofer and monitor wedge.

This is a real "concert-y" PA system. Those are Eminence subs. I'm not sure what's flying. I forgot to ask.

Here's a shot of the stage and PA. It looked pretty impressive.

That's why this gear looked familiar. This is our buddy Kennedy. He's run sound for us at other summer concerts.

Kennedy is very professional and really fun to work with..... TRISKELION PRO AUDIO

Here's Ken's FOH rig, a nice Yamaha.

I used my regualr rig, GKMB500 and Neo410, Carvin LB76. I brought my Guild Pilot 5 as a backup but left it in the case. Art and Daniel are backstage talking about string theory and physical manipulation of sonic waves for the express purpose of influencing human behavior.

Here's a view of the FOH tent from my mic. That line of bright cones and cable tray are significant. I'll show you why in a moment.

 Ken, Adam, and Andrew (on the far side of the stage) get busy mic'ing the instruments, and the drums too.

Mario complies when Kennedy asks, "Gimme some kick drum."

Art puts barriers in front and in back of his amp to try and tame his stage volume.

Jeff gets his sound check on.

Kelly and I take an amp-selfie while we sound check. (Actually the camera was on top of Mario's monitor, but "monitor-selfie" just sounds wrong.)

The staff kept us well hydrated with a cooler full of "VIP water".

One of the sponsors brought out a couple of new cars to show off.

Remember the bright cable trough and cones? The park is in the flight path of John Wayne Airport here in the OC and every few minutes a 727 would fly right over the stage on its final approach. It's as if they used the bright line in the park to line up their landing. Here's one right in front of the stage.

Here it is behind the stage with gear down.

The park has filled up and the stage is set.

Our lovely announcer talks to the crowd and introduces the band.

One more "monitor-selfie" before we get started.

It was a big crowd and they liked their country music.

It was a concert-in-the-round with a good crowd behind us too.

Here's a few action shots. We had our fun.

Jeff and I harmonize with Kelly.

How's this for a rock star pose?

I was in mix 4, you can tell by the four pieces of yellow tape on the mic cable.

Daniel uses his Bheringer as a stage monitor. His fiddle and guitar are taken direct out of his pair of Pods there under the speaker stand.

Kelly and I sing a duet. I sing to her.

Then she sings about me, something about "Oh my mama tried to warn me, he's done time in California...".

Here's a view of the dance floor and part of the crowd.

I had given my camera to Jeff's wife so she could take some pictures from off the stage. Here's one from behind as we do our first encore, "Don't Stop Believing".

Sometimes I think Mario has the worst view in show business.

Our second encore was "Uptown Funk". The dance floor was pretty full for the whole show, line dancers, two steppers, and lots of folks just shaking what they got.

I guess we're nearing the end of the show.

Now it's time to earn our money. The sound crew was fast and efficient. That's Mario's Dad in the black shirt and jeans. We haven't seen him for a while. It was good to chat a bit and get caught up. Hector is a working musician too, a trumpet player.

And that's it for now. I had a busy 4th of July weekend to post about. Saturday I had a private party in Ojai with Kelly. Sunday was another private party with Arnie Newman in Anaheim Hills. Then Monday we had a 4th of July celebration at the Sun and Sail Club in Lake Forest. It's too bad I can't make a living doing this.

I hope everyone had a safe and sane 4th of July weekend. Thanks for putting up with me.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Woodbridge Village Park, Irvine 6/25/16

Hello again!

Continuing my summer gigs, we played another summer concert for the Woodbridge Village Association at Woodbridge Park in Irvine CA. Whenever I drive down through the OC I almost always pass by the California Science Center in Santa Ana. They have a rocket on the side of the freeway.

The concert was on the south side of the north lake, a large-ish man-made lake surrounded by large homes. We had to roll our gear down the hill to the small-ish stage.

The tent was our green room. It was warm again, and we were staring into the sun again, and we were uncovered, but they kept the coolers full of cold drinks.

As I was putting my gear on stage I noticed this little guy, I think it's a little egret, snagging minnows along the bank. He was eating pretty good that day.

These were our sound guys for this afternoon. Believe it or not, meet Mark and Brian. (No, not the radio personalities.)

Here's the view from the FOH. Mark has a small QSC system that was plenty for this crowd, an 18" sub there in the middle and a pair of 10" speakers on the sticks.

Mario relaxes by the lake after we are set up. It was nice weather as long as you were in the shade.

From my amp-selfie you can tell the sun was brutal. It's a good think I borrowed some sunblock.

Art had played an earlier gig at the Pala casino that finished at 3:30, which was our call time for this gig. Art made it at 5:09 for a 5:30 downbeat. That's cutting it pretty close. Plus, Art had another gig starting at 9:00 later that evening. He never turns down a gig.

We are all sound checked. Daniel and Art are ready to get started. It was a pretty large crowd. Every piece of shade was occupied all around us.

Daniel says, "Hey! Don't take my picture while I'm tuning!".

For this one I put my camera on top of the main and set the timer. It seems no one else was paying attention.

I think they are both trying to touch Mario's nose. Ew.

During the concert we even had some folks show up in their boats.

This is Karen, one of the coordinators who kept the band happy. She and the crew did a great job. Everyone had fun.

As you can see, there were lots of families and kids and good, clean fun. We even did the chicken dance. The kids love that kind of stuff.

There was another photographer at this gig on the lake. He just shared a few of his pictures.

Sound check:

 Some action shots:

 Again, just as it started cooling off it was time to pack it up.

But I'm not complaining. I was home by a little after 9:00pm, which was a good thing since I had to be at church at 6:30am to play three services on Sunday morning. I love making a joyful noise.

Thanks for looking! We had another summer concert on the following Wednesday, then Saturday a private event in Ojai, plus gigs on Sunday and Monday too. It's going to be another busy summer. And I've got to keep up with this gig blog!

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff