BassCliff's Gigs: August 2016

Hello friends,

Kelly had to take a night off from the Knott's run in order to play another gig. So I filled in for Kelly again with Jeff and Daniel. Do you think anyone noticed?

I could get away with bringing only one bass to this gig but I also brought a backup as well as a couple of costume changes, just in case. Here's my cart waiting patiently for the light to change across the street from the west employee entrance.

Just inside the park, my gear and I get to stroll by the arena where Snoopy does his "On Ice" shows.

My hat and I arrive just in time to wait for the train to go by.

You might notice that I seldom wear a hat. I'm not a hat person. Plus it's hard to find a hat big enough to fit my fat head. But you'll see why I pulled this old hat out of the closet.

This is the view from the stage as we do a quick sound check, about 15 minutes before we go on. This is the only reason I wear a hat to this gig. I don't like to wear a hat. But I like the sun in my eyes even less.

Just as we finish our first set the sun has gone behind the old mine ride. Whew!

We retire to the air conditioned green room. It's not as fancy as The Ranch but at least it's very cool inside.

As my backup bass I brought my Fender JBS. Those are my cases sitting in the corner there. This is a pretty cushy gig. I just walk on stage and plug in my bass. The sound crew sets up mics, stands, monitors, etc. I don't have to lug an amp or set up a PA system.

Yeah, The green rooms are due for renovation. I've heard it's in the works but don't know when it's going to happen. Not only is the furniture old, there are problems with the plumbing which preclude us from using the restroom. In fact, the door is bolted and screwed shut with a big "out of order" sign. We have to go outside and around to the other side of the building to use the public restrooms. But at least there are two air conditioners in the green rooms. They keep the thermostat on about 68ºF. Perfect for cooling off between sets.

I think Jeff is happy the sun has gone down for our second set. Jeff also plays the drums on this gig, using his keyboard patches. It makes our little trio sound a little bigger.

Daniel plays his acoustic fiddle for this gig. For most gigs he usually plays the solid body fiddle that he made himself. But here at Knott's we like to do things naturally.

This is Rod, our sound man for tonight. He's a really nice guy, been working here for a while.

Unfortunately, when we started this set, Rod forgot to turn on my wireless mic. Luckily, Jeff was singing the first song so we were able to signal Rod to give me a hand. Both of mine were a little busy at the time. But it was not big deal. Things happen. We just made a little joke about me singing a solo, so low that you couldn't hear me.

Rod took a picture of our little trio.

On our last break I wandered over to see the circus stage. There were three lovely ladies on the trapeze.

Yeah, I know. You can't see very well. I couldn't get very close because of the big crowd and I didn't want to push my way through. It was a circus over there!

Here's a shot looking back towards our little stage in front of the Calico Saloon.

Unlike most of our gigs, we did not get a meal provided. But I brought snacks!

We had lots of adorable kids in the crowd dancing and running around the square. A few moms did the electric slide. The gig was over quickly, two one-hour sets and one forty minute set, so I unplugged my bass and walked away while Rod and his crew strike the stage.

I was able to get away in time to stop by a little pub on the way home to hear some friends of mine in their 80s band.

The Cords were playing at The Black Watch Pub. It's an unpretentious neighborhood watering hole with some nice local IPAs on tap. That's my friend "J" on the j-bass and fronting the band. My friend Larry is playing the Les Paul. Dave is behind the keyboard.

They had the crowd rocking for the last set. There were quite a few friends in the crowd. A couple of the ladies had moved some tables so that they could dance. They even drug me on the dance floor. You don't want to see a picture of that. But a good time was had by all.

The KRB has one more free summer concert appearance in Brea this coming Friday, Aug. 19, playing for the Brea Fest. (Brea Fest Facebook Page)

And that's all the news that's fit to print. Thanks for looking! Until the next gig, this is BassCliff signing off.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, friends and neighbors, inlaws and outlaws!

The KRB had another epic weekend at The Ranch and then most of us pulled a double on Saturday playing at The Sawdust Art Festival in Laguna Beach. I've got tons of photographs with fun, food, fans, and frivolity. Bear with me.

It all starts innocently enough on Friday afternoon loading in the stage door at The Ranch. This is really a convenient venue to load in.

As I carry my instruments in the door I see some of the guys are already here getting set up. Mario, Art, Daniel are being assisted by our favorite sound guy, Mark.

Just for grins and giggles I brought three basses to the gig tonight. The Guild is my backup and the Kingman was just in case I wanted to sound acoustic-y.

No, I did not use the GK rig. We're all IEMs with no amps on stage. As Daniel gets his ears on. Mark looks at me like, "Hey, are you taking my picture?" He doesn't really like having his picture taken but I just told him I needed a new dart board cover.

Mario gets his ears on.

Jeff gets his ears on.

Mark is at the helm so we do a quick sound check. We're all dialed in so it never takes very long any more.

Then we retire to the green room to go over the set list and order our supper. We have menus printed with our names on them. I feel special.

The manager, Vince, says it's time to get the doors open for business.

Our lovely entertainment manager, Heather, takes a selfie with me. She is such a doll and takes good care of us. She used to be a professional dancer, Broadway type musicals and stuff. You can tell by her legs. <wink, wink!>

Oh boy! Supper arrives. We were all hungry and helped our selves to chopped kale salad with chicken, onion soup, seared Ahi tuna, Whitetail fish tacos, Caesar salad, and that's my lettuce wrapped steakburger, a veritable feast.

After supper has settled it's time to hit the stage. Heather announced us so I took a picture of her with Jeff and Kelly. Pay no attention to the guys in the background.

Daniel kicks off the intro to "My Church" as Kelly charms the microphone. I really like this song.

Mario is hanging tough. His tooth was still bothering him Friday night. He got it fixed on Saturday and is feeling much better.

Once again, here's Daniel tearing up "Devil Went Down To Georgia".

And that's all the pictures I had from Friday night. Let's continue with Saturday's double starting with the Sawdust Festival then back to The Ranch.

Saturday morning I made my way to Laguna Beach. We had an 11am downbeat so I wanted to arrive before 10am. It looked like the traffic was not going to be a problem.

And it wasn't, until the freeway ended and condensed down to the two lane road through Laguna canyon.

At this point it was slow going. I don't think there are any plans to widen the highway all the way into Laguna Beach. The locals do not want any more traffic in the area than there is already. I can't say as I blame them.

I made it to the venue before 10am and managed to park right out front in the metered parking. I just fed the meter with my debit card and hoped I would be done with the gig in time.

The annual Sawdust Art Festival is a charming gathering of lots of local artists, both original work and reproductions, painting, ceramics, pottery, photography, jewelry, leather, just about any kind of media with which to craft is represented here. It's really a big whoopty-do.

I made my way to the tavern area where our stage was located.

I'd heard the stage was small, but I didn't realize how small. It's going to be cozy today. It's a good thing we're just the KRB Quartet.

Before the place filled up with people I took a couple of shots of the maze of vendors.

I thought this guy's surfboard art was pretty cool.

The rest of the crew starts to arrive. Jack is running sound for us today. We just need a small system, a couple of monitors and a couple of powered Mackies on sticks.

Jeff and Daniel go over the set list. Jeff has to figure out drum patches and tempos. We're using his keyboard's drum machine today.

OK, is it time for coffee yet guys?

This is the view just outside the tavern area. The doors are open and the place is starting to fill up. It's a pretty big area with probably a couple hundred different vendors.

It looks like Kelly has her coffee and is ready to go.

On our first break I went to the deli right in front of the tavern and had an excellent turkey/BLT wrap. It was deliciously huge.

Daniel really got the crowd going with his fiddle.

It was a good crowd all day long. In front of the stage area, in addition to the tavern, were four food vendors all serving an excellent selection.

On one break we went upstairs to the upper deck to check out the other entertainment. This is a lady named Patty Booker on the pink P-bass, a local artist with a couple of CDs to her credit. She writes some good ol' country music. You might recognize Paul, the fiddle player who worked with us last week.

Here we are about to begin another of our five sets that day. At least it was a half hour on and a half hour off. We alternated with Patty and her band.

Here's Kelly giving us a nice smile in front of the crowd.

Jack took a few action shots of the quartet.

Kelly and I sing a little duet.

Jack takes a shot across the stage.

The tree we were under, while providing very nice shade, also shed all over our gear all day long.

You can see the tree droppings all over Jack's Mackie powered mixer.

Jack used the powered mixer to power the passive monitors and just sent a signal to his powered Mackies for the mains.

The crowd really enjoyed Kelly. They didn't throw any food at me.

After the gig I loaded out and still had 10 minutes left on my parking meter. Not bad at all.

Then I went straight to The Ranch. I was actually hoping to get a nap in the green room but that didn't work out. I just hit the caffeine hard and muscled through the night. I brought my old Fender with flats tonight in case I wanted to use it on our vintage country tunes.

Ahhh! Here's the coffee!

Our lovely server, Katie, lets me take a picture with her. She has such beautiful curly hair. I'd never seen it down before. She always puts it up before beginning her shift. We all love Katie. She takes really good care of us.

Since Mario was already booked on another gig, my old friend Rick sat in on the drums Saturday night. He's worked with us several times before. Rick and I used to play in a band together four or five nights a week, back in the '90s when the work was plentiful. I've known Rick for over 20 years, one of my best buds.

Since I had that huge turkey wrap for lunch I had only salad for supper. Here's my beet salad and kale salad with grilled chicken. Those were Rick's fish tacos.

Here we are about to get started. One of Kelly's friends was watching on the live stream. She texted Kelly and asked, "What happened to Mario's hair?"

Here's my amp-selfie for a Saturday night.

Heather announced us again. Here she is with Kelly just before the lights go up.

Our dear friend Kellye Huff stopped by tonight and sat in for a few numbers the last set of the night. It's always a joy to see her.

Here's a band-selfie after we finished Saturday night. It was epic fun working with Rick again. He'll be doing a couple more shows with us next month.