The Ranch, Another Corporate Event, 10/21/16

Hello friends,

Since I'll be starting my November gigs in a few days it's probably a good idea if I finish blogging my October dates first. Thanks for putting up with me.

I'll make this quick. This is the second corporate event we've played at The Ranch this week. On a recent Friday night we played a 50th anniversary party for Westbond Inc, a local Orange County manufacturing company. We played on the sixth floor of the Extron building, where The Ranch is located. We had to take the service elevator to the top floor.

The "great room" is a nice event venue and was decorated nicely when I arrived.

But there seemed to be a mess getting everyone on the small stage.

Between Art and Mario you see our favorite sound guy, Mark, doing double duty tonight setting up sound for us and also taking care of his regular duties downstairs in the saloon. I don't think he's had a day off in two weeks.

Here's another shot of the room and the AV presentation.

It looks like we are just about settled on stage.

We retire to our "green room" which is actually the bridal suite. There have been several weddings here at The Ranch and the bride always needs a special place.

We are served supper before we play the dinner set for the corporate attendees. We had a nice spinach salad with apples, walnuts, cranberries, and a selection of hot sandwiches, burgers, sliders, buffalo chicken, etc.

It looks like the attendees will be treated to a nice buffet of their own.

There is a nice sunset from the sixth floor. You can see Disneyland off in the distance. We could even see the fireworks later at 9:30.

Here's a view from my mic just before the doors were opened.

We start the evening by playing some jazz standards for the dinner set. Mario, Kelly, Hal, and I had a good time playing fakebook stuff like "Foggy Day" and "Girl From Impanema".

After our dinner set we were back in the bridal suite waiting for the company to finish dessert and speeches. Here's a glam shot of the whole band. (Jeff couldn't make this gig so Hal was subbing for him.)

Art had a couple of Diet Cokes tonight and the caffeine made him pretty hyper.

Since we were in the bridal suite waiting to go on, the magazine selection was fairly limited.

We went back on after the speeches and played a long dance set. The crowd had a good time and were pretty lively for a corporate event. Then it was time to pack up.

I had actually forgotten my Rock-n-Roller cart so Art let me share his. We loaded up all of our stuff and headed back downstairs. And since we were at The Ranch we stopped in to see our friend Kellye Huff and her band.

We got to visit with the band on a break. Here's Kelly and Kellye.

The boys in the band hassle Mark at The Ranch FOH. I had to leave soon after because Mario pulled Art's finger. Poor Mark had to stay.

All in all, it was an enjoyable evening. Thanks for looking!

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

The Ranch, Corporate event 10/17/16

Hello friends,

The KRB played a couple of corporate events at The Ranch recently. This is the first one. Even though The Ranch is usually closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, it can be rented out as an event venue. This evening was an event for Radians Inc, a safety gear company out of Tennessee. I guess they were in Southern California all week for a trade show, or promotional purposes, or just to party.

Here we are at sound check, 5:30pm.

We had to load in and sound check before the event started even though our first set wasn't until 9:45pm. That was a lot of down time. I wandered around a bit before the guests arrived to see what I could see.

It was a casino night with lots of AMEX cards being given away as the grand prizes. Here's a poker table and a craps table.

Here's a view of the stage from one of the blackjack tables in front of the bar.

I'm not sure what the guests were dining on, but they were going to get quite a buffet.

We had some excellent roasted half chickens on a bed of roasted vegetables and a garden salad.

Finally we got to play our first set after waiting around for four hours. Tough gig, I tell ya. When we took our break, these dancing girls got on stage to entertain the out-of-towners.

They were cute but not that entertaining. But the crowd didn't seem to mind them texting on their phone while they "danced".

I took this picture just as we took the stage for our second, and last, set of the night at 11pm. These folks were partying pretty late for a school night. But they didn't have to go to work tomorrow, right?

We played our last set, had quite a few dancers on the floor. They loved it when we closed with "Sweet Home Alabama". Then while we were packing up our gear, the girls came back to keep the crowd entertained.  The menfolk seemed to enjoy practicing their photography.

I thought it was a bit unusual for a corporate event. I don't think I've ever played one with dancing girls. Usually these events end early but they were still going strong after midnight as we were headed out the door.

I have one more corporate event at The Ranch before I'm caught up to date with my gigs. This one was on a Monday. The next one was the following Friday. I'm sure it will be a more civilized event. Thanks for looking!


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

The Quartet at CalPoly Pumpkin Festival 10/9/16

Hello Friends!

As I've mentioned, I'm behind a few gig posts. Work has been busy, no time to goof off updating my blog. This fun little festival was about 3 weeks ago this past Sunday. Being at Cal Poly Pomona, this is one of the closest gigs I've ever played with the KRB. I'm usually the one driving the farthest.

After I parked in the lot across the street and the cart came to tote my gear, this was the sight as we neared the stage.

That whole hillside was covered in pumpkins. There are about 10,000 people a day attending the festival. Notice the scissor lift. I'll tell you about that in a little bit.

I arrived early so I got to check out the Americana band playing before us, The Desert Croquet Band, whose bass player got a nice sound with his U-Bass.

They were fun to listen to. The lady on percussion sang some great blues too.

Here's the view from the sound booth. The sound crew had a little trouble with power, over heated amps, and such because of the weather today. We muddled through.

I stowed my gear behind the stage and noticed our hospitality tent.

They had a really nice spread for us. I particularly enjoyed the pumpkin fritata.

On a break I wandered around the spectacle.

There were all kinds of vendor booths.

I love face-in-the-hole pictures. I think I found one that captured my personality.

A couple of crowd shots.

I wanted to climb the hay bale mountain but didn't want to hurt myself.

Here's our view from the stage, in the gazebo area.

We had two scissor lifts on either side of the stage, both loaded up with speakers. I'll bet the whole valley could hear our little quartet.

Here's an amp-selfie before we start a set.

Jeff's looking a little fuzzy, perhaps too much pumpkin pie?

Kelly and Daniel smile for the camera.

It was pretty hot that day but we stayed well-hydrated. We played from 1pm-4pm and then let the stage crew do their thing while we got our gear carted out to the parking lot.

It was a pretty fun day but I didn't get a piece of pie. Drat. Maybe next time. Thanks for looking!


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

The Quartet at Schools First, Tustin 10/7/16

Hi,

I'm posting a bunch of gigs together today trying to get caught up. This gig was two weeks after my previous gig. But thanks to the miracle of the internet you don't have to wait that long for me to bore you with it.

Friday afternoon we played a corporate event for the Schools First Credit Union in Tustin. They had won the "best bank" award from the Orange County Register. They threw themselves a little party to celebrate.

I had to fight the normal, horrid, morning rush hour traffic to load in at 9:00am. I'm glad I don't do this every day.

This is the front of the place, all business. The party was out back. I guess it was kind of like the "mullet" haircut back in the day.

The facilities crew are setting up shade for us while Skyler sets up the PA.

Our stage was actually a small portable dance floor. It was just enough room for the quartet.

From the parking lot you can see the nice lawn and the hay bales brought in for the occasion. Most of the attendees sat in the tables and chairs off to the side of the stage.

I didn't need a lot of volume today so I brought my 210 rig.

Our buddy Hal was on keys today. He also brought his Alesis drum machine. I've gotten quite used to playing with drum machines and click tracks. Maybe it's helping my timing.

Here's a shot from my mic. On our first break we had lunch. You see Daniel making a beeline for the BBQ.

Dickey's BBQ served up beef brisket, chicken, mac'n'cheese, beans, salad, and, you guessed it, cookies for dessert.

This is more than I usually eat for lunch, but it was pretty terrific.'

We played three sets as the employees ate BBQ and enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine. It was not too terribly hot that day.

There were a few of these banners around to remind everyone how great they are.

Here's a glam shot of the quartet.

After our three sets it was time to earn our money. I also helped Skyler with the PA. I think it's a bass player thing.

I got back on the freeway headed home just in time to catch the afternoon rush hour traffic. It usually starts about 3:00pm.

But I'm not going to complain too much. My day job is flexible enough I could take a day off to play my gig. It's like I got paid twice today.

Tomorrow we're playing the Pumpkin Festival at Cal Poly Pomona. They usually have 10,000 people a day through there. I have a feeling it's going to be a madhouse of fun and frivolity, pumpkins and kids everywhere.

Thanks for letting me share my gigs.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff