It was just another weekend at my favorite honky tonk, The Ranch. Me and the KRB had a grand old time. I thought I'd get this gig report started and share some fun from Friday night.
Don't worry, this isn't the outfit Jeff wore for the gig, just the sound check.
It seems Mario was napping during sound check.
Here is Art pulling up a tune on his phone while Daniel is being patient.
It really wasn't as much of a sound check as it was a run-through of a few tunes that we haven't done for a while. Kelly wanted to dust off some old favorites.
Yes, I know. That beautiful GK rig is just sitting there, not even plugged in. This weekend I'm just using my trusty LB76, my tuner pedal, and a Radial J48. The Guild is my backup.
We're not even using the Meyer wedges because we're all IEM. Hey look! Daniel and Mario join me for my sound check amp-selfie.
Then we retire to the green room to feast on the sumptuous culinary delights from the gourmet chefs in The Ranch's kitchen. A couple of the guys had the fish tacos tonight.
I enjoyed my kale salad with grilled chicken along with some fried shrimp. Oh man! That shrimp was the bomb!
And for some reason the coffee was particularly good, better than Starbucks!
After supper half of the band got busy. Art had to change some strings.
And Daniel helped Jeff to program his keyboard. They were mostly working on drum patterns for the trio gigs we do.
Then it was time to hit the stage and take another amp-selfie. Dang! The smoke machine fired off just as the camera's timer took the picture.
I'll try it again.
Drat! Foiled again! That dang smoke machine is really cramping my style. Let me try it one more time.
I decided to make this one black and while so as to lessen the effects of the smoke. Anyway, we're just about ready to get started.
Even though Andrew, the owner, was in the house tonight the entertainment manager, Heather, announced us. Here she is with Art, Kelly, and Daniel.
Jeff tinkles one of his intros so I have time to snap a picture.
As I take a picture of Mario he adjusts his mic to the proper alignment.
Art points at me while Daniel plays another long intro.
I think Kelly is singing "My Church" here. I like this song. We get to harmonize a lot.
Toward the end of the evening a nice lady comes up to the stage and just starts throwing money all over the place.
She started at one end of the stage and worked her way all the way across. She scattered about a hundred dollars everywhere on the stage.
I'd never seen anyone do such a thing. After the set I introduced myself and thanked Christine for that big round of folding applause. I'd say Friday night was a success.
I took a few more pictures on Saturday night. We'll start with my supper. I was in a buffalo chicken sandwich mood.
Man, I tell you, this is a great sandwich! The chicken breast has just enough kick in it, spicy but not too hot, and the fries were perfect. Plus, since Jeff's wife made salsa, I brought some chips for later along with some peanut M&Ms for snacking.
We watched some of the Angels game. They came back from being behind but ended up losing the game. Drat.
Kelly joins me in an amp-selfie just before we get started on a Saturday night. That dang smoke machine messes with my camera every time.
Then I find Mario and Jeff in the corner. It looks like they are worried about X-File stuff or something.
Then Jeff shows me what they are looking at. Maybe we should take it seriously?
Heather was pulling double duty tonight. Not only did she introduce the band, she also took pictures for the club's Facebook page and website.
Art, Jeff, and Daniel, a couple of minutes just before we get started on a Saturday night.
It looks like Jeff is having trouble locating his hands.
Kelly sings the intro to some line dance. Wow! I've never seen her take a bad picture.
I think this is later in the night, when Jeff kicks off a keyboard intro to some song I barely remember. It looks like he found his hands.
Daniel is getting serious about his guitar work. He looks a little like Sean Connery in this picture.
This is Mario's view while Kelly sings a song for the West Coast Swing dancers.
At the end of the set Daniel WOWS! the crowd, and me, with "Devil Went Down To Georgia".
I forget which song this is that Mario sings. I think it's his new Justin Timberlake song, "I Can't Stop The Feeling".
At the end of the set I tried to capture the crowd on the dance floor. We had a pretty good crowd on a Saturday night.
This is just a picture of the backline guitar amps the club has available. We don't use them.
This is the most excellent salsa that Jeff's wife made for us tonight. I brought the chips and M&Ms. We all had a good time snacking in the green room.
Mario is getting down with his bad, funky, self.
It was Heather's turn to take pictures. I caught a picture of her with her camera.
This is Veronica, Jen, and their friends. They kept playing "air bass" in front of me, so I walked out to the front of the stage and played for them. We had fun. They let me take a picture of their whole group.
Continuing with the evening, these are friends of the band, Bill and Kim, as they dance on by the stage. They are newlyweds in love and are both excellent dancers.
You also might remember Mr. Mohawk. That's Ryan and Kaylee, another beautiful young couple that has a great time on the dance floor.
We're about to start another set. Art, Jeff, and Daniel get the mood.
This is the little machine that Mario uses to play backing tracks on a couple of songs and also has sound effects. What's it called? An Octopad?
Silly Mario. He's always trying to come up with a different expression when I take his picture.
Daniel and Art do some picking on "Whiskey's Gone", a Zac Brown song that I really like.
Kelly never, ever takes a bad picture. I grabbed this one on the intro to "Tik Tok". We usually call a Black Velvet line dance to this one. It was a great night but no one threw money all over the stage. Oh well.
At the end of the night all I have to do is unplug, put my bass in the case, and walk off stage. The DJ keeps the dancers going until closing time.
And that was my weekend at the classiest honky tonk this side of the Mississippi. Thanks for looking! I'll be back soon with another gig report.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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