Toscana Country Club, 2/24&25/17

Hello gang!

Toscana Country Club has turned out to be some steady work for us. They hire us for a few events every "season".

It was a very pleasant drive out to the desert today. The weather was great and I had left in plenty of time to allow for the Friday afternoon "getting out of town for the weekend" traffic, but there wasn't much.

Because of all the recent rain the landscape was almost verdant and there was plenty of snow up in the mountains. This place can be pretty at times when there's no drought.

I arrived at the country club gate just behind the wine truck.

The actual venue is that big tent behind the fountain on the far side of the parking lot.

There is new construction going on to the left behind the fountain. Perhaps that will be a new event venue to replace the tent.

I roll my gear in through the courtyard. It was such a pleasant afternoon.

The view here is outstanding. I snap another picture just before I roll into the tent.

This is the organization we are benefiting tonight, Child Help. They provide assistance and support for abused, neglected, and abandoned kids. They make available education, prevention, group homes, foster care and adoption services, treatment facilities, etc.

We're just a quartet today. Here we are taking the stage and doing the sound check thing.

I brought my small rig. It was plenty for this room.

The room looked really nice. Those are some big balls.

I rolled our cases and covers down to the storage and changed into my jobbing toga.

Since this was more jazz, pop, easy listening, we left our Scully shirts at home. Hal will be playing the drum machine this evening. He's really good at it.

I'll also be reading a bunch of standards out of our customized fake book. Kelly's had to transpose a lot of standards from guy keys to girl keys.

Here we are just about to start our cocktail set.

The patrons mingle and enjoy their adult beverages.
 

After the cocktail set we retired to the patio for our supper.

I know this doesn't look too appetizing in the picture but it really was great. That's a flattened grilled chicken breast with a potato pancake and green beans. It was delish!

After our supper we then played a dinner set for the guests while they dined. Here's the golf card just so you can see there were a couple of celebrities in attendance.

You might notice John O'Hurley (Mr. Peterman on Seinfeld) and Cheryl Ladd (Charlie's Angles) on the lists. Here's Mr. O'Hurley calling the live auction. Several items went for $10,000 and one item sold for $27,000.

Here's a shot of the crowd just before we took the stage for the dance set.

It was a short dance set. These things usually peter out early and tonight was no exception. We were done by 9:15, packed out, and on the road by 10pm.

I was home before midnight and I didn't even have to unload my gear since we are going right back out there to play another gig in the same room tomorrow night. Saturday will be the full band so it's back to Scully shirts and I-IV-V changes instead of "Fly Me To The Moon".

The next day it was, again, a very pleasant drive out to the desert, not much traffic at all.

Right here in the middle of the wind farms just north of Palm Springs is the exit for hightway 62 out to Yucca Valley, where you'll find a hip little joint called "Pappy and Harriet's" in a place called 'Pioneer Town'.

I've played Pappy and Harriet's back when Harriet still owned it, but after Pappy died. It's local, hip, cool, and quite a few "heavy's" will stop by from time to time. It's had a couple of owners since I've played there. Its most recent claim to fame was last spring when Sir Paul McCartney played there after his appearance at the "Desert Trip" festival. HERE is a video about that event. And HERE is a video of part of the performance. (There's a ton of other videos on Youtube.) A coworker of mine went. I would've gone if I'd heard about it in time. But I digress....

Back to my gig. It was another fund raiser for a scholarship fund that the country club members provide for local students. I arrive just after Art did. Here he is rolling his gear into the venue.

We set up on the same stage as the quartet last night. The last time the whole band was here the stage was bigger. We had to make do.

The rest of the band arrives and we perform our delicate set-up dance.

You can tell it's a country gig by the hay bales. Actually they are straw. You can also tell it's a country gig by the jail, and the horse, and the cactus, and the wagon wheel.

We finish our setup dance and this is the final product.

The room is now decorated and set up. It looks like it will be a nice party.

Since we have time I wander around the facility. These are some of the donated items being auctioned for the fund raiser. There were several baskets of wine. You also see some bicycles and cycling clothes.

After we set up, sound check, and dress we wait for our supper. I think the lads are all texting each other, "I'm hungry!"

We were seated in the enclosed patio of the club. It's a nice room but was kind of cool. They had the heaters on for us.

They gave us the cloth napkins. That means the dinner rabbit gets to pay us a visit!
 

Supper tonight was much like last night, except that the chicken was barbecue and the potatoes were au gratin with some mixed vegetables along with our green beans. It was quite tasty, good BBQ sauce.

Here's a glam shot from Kelly's new iPhone 7.

I gave Jack (sound guy) my camera so he could snap a couple before we got started with the cocktail set.

I like Mario's yellow kit. Seems he's hitting the coffee pretty heavy tonight.
 

The guests get to partake in the huge buffet outside.

Then after their supper they get to dance. It was a lively crowd for a while.
 

Yes, we even had line dancers.

We finished up early again. These things always do. We loaded out and headed for home. "We fooled'em again" was the sentiment.

My trusty Astro van has almost 150,000 miles on it and still going (fairly) strong. I made it home in time to get up on time for church the next day. 

My next gig will be with the True Willie Band, another fly date up to Feather Falls CA for a couple of casino shows. Stay tuned for more bass player shenanigans and weekend warrior frivolity. Thanks for looking!

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

True Willie at Carson Valley Inn 2/10/17

Hello friends,

On Friday I made a quick trip (fly date) to Reno to play a date at the Carson Valley Inn with the True Willie Band. It was quite an adventure. Here are the lads at one of our recent rehearsals. Roger usually rents the large room at the Riff Haus in Fullerton. (I don't know what's up with their website. I guess it's either hacked or they lost their domain name.)

That's Roger (Willie) on the left, Mike on guitar, and big Dave on drums.

John (keys) and I carpooled to Long Beach Airport. We got started at 6am on Friday morning. John seems upset that he has to pay two baggage charges for his gear. They would not let him check one of them at the gate to avoid the extra charge.

It's been a while since I've boarded a plane from the tarmac. Long Beach Airport (LGB) is a smaller airport and is pretty convenient, depending on where you're going.

It was a fully booked plane both ways. The rhythm section was together on the outbound flight.

Here we are on final at Reno-Tahoe International Airport (RNO). It's pretty stormy, a little windy, and very wet. They've been having rain and snow for days. You can see the standing water.

We land safely and start gathering our gear and baggage. I'm happy to see that my new SKB-44 Pro and its contents survived its maiden voyage.

I think we've just about collected all of our gear. Now it's time to catch our shuttle to the Carson Valley Inn, usually about an hour away from the airport.

This is Mark, our helpful and friendly shuttle driver. We enjoyed talking to him about the local scene and points of interest.

It was cold, rainy, and windy all the way there. The Carson River had overflowed it banks and several roads in the valley, including Hwy 395 were closed.

There was water everywhere. We passed a semi rig hauling cattle that had been overturned by the wind. It was pretty brutal.

Here's some drone footage that someone posted to Youtube.

But Mark knew the valley well and took us along Foothill Road, it actually was along the foothills and above all the flooding, but we had to take it all the way around the valley in order to make it to the hotel because of so many road closures. It took less time to fly to Reno than it did to drive to the hotel. The flight was an hour and twenty minutes. The shuttle ride was almost two and a half hours because of road closures and traffic. After all that, Mark was good enough to give us a hand with our luggage and instruments.

Since we were running so late we went directly to the ballroom where we were performing. Our soundcheck was supposed to be at 2pm. We made it just in time. Roger got into his Willie get-up because one of the local newspapers was there to do an interview.

It was a lovely ballroom with chairs set up for about 200 guests.

Because we were so late, the staff brought us some sandwiches to munch on while we set up and sound checked. It was a plain turkey sandwich with mustard but I was glad to have it.

It was going to be an intimate concert. The QSC sound system was more than adequate for the room.

Yes, my new case is labeled "BassCliff". My daughter had made stencils and painted the distinguishing marks.

Mike warms up his 335. He's really a fine player and a funny guy, loves to quote Monty Python.

Big Dave is very happy with his backline kit. It was very nice.

Derrick, the one man stage crew and FOH guy, gets John's keyboards squared away. He bent over backwards to make sure we had everything we needed.

Willie and I grab a quick selfie before we start our sound check.

Derrick gets Willie dialed in.

John brought one keyboard. Mike and Roger brought a guitar. I brought my Carvin. Dave brought a stick bag. Everything else was backlined. Here's some of the gear. This was Mike's amp.

Here's my bass amp and QSC floor wedge. That Mark Bass unit was just perfect for this gig.

After we finish sound check we all hustle up to our rooms to get ready for the first show. I took a quick shower and started pounding the coffee. I've been up since 5am. I was very glad that our first show was 5:30 and the second show at 7:30. We would be done at 9pm.

Here's shot of the lads backstage with our banquet hostess, Cindy. She was bubbly and doted on us all night long.

Then Cindy took a picture of the band just before we took the stage.

Joey, one of the executive managers, speaks to the guests and announces the band as Mike and I check our tuning.

I got the feeling that this is more of a small-town place. Joey spoke as if everyone knew everyone else and these folks were all regulars that came out to see the entertainment here. It was very charming.

As you can see, most of the guests were very mature at the first show. The second show had a wider age range. Both crowds were enthusiastic and really enjoyed the show.

Here's Roger with an adoring fan. We had dozens of guests taking pictures with us.

This is the end of the second show. During the second show the band really came alive, like we all got our second wind. We got a standing ovation and played an encore.

I got to sell CDs after this show. John usually does it but he had a lot of gear to pack up so we could all make our dinner reservation. We all went to the steakhouse there at the hotel.

We started with a nice green salad with a terrific creamy vinaigrette dressing. (And a tall IPA with a shot of Patron.)

For supper I had the turf-and-surf special, a petite filet, lobster tail, bacon wrapped scallops, shrimp, clams, vegetables, and the biggest twice-baked potato I had ever seen. It was the size of both of my fists. I ate it all.

When we left the steakhouse a few of Willie's fans spotted him and wanted a picture.

We decided to check out the lounge, where these guys played last year. There was a terrific trio there called "The Vegas Road Show" and the three of them put out a TON of great music.

We sat around, had another drink, and listened. Barbara played left hand bass and keys. She played such great lines with her left hand that I told Barbara I'm going to steal some of her licks. Her husband Cody played excellent guitar. They both sang great. Both of them have worked with lots of famous people, being based in Las Vegas for 20 years or so.

I decided to go outside to find the marquis and get a picture with "True Willie" on it. But it was on the other side of the building. It was too cold (29 degrees F) to walk around the complex.

 When I came back in, what did I see?
 

Yep, Willie sat in with the band. These three could play anything. Barbara even played trumpet while kicking left hand bass. She played Maynard Ferguson's "Chameleon" and just blew it out of the park. It was fun talking to those two. Andy, the drummer was a great guy too. He played quietly but with a lot of intensity. It was a good hang.

The next morning we met for breakfast in the coffee shop. I had sausage and scrambled eggs. John had chicken fried steak and eggs. 

We were relieved to hear that Hwy 395 was open and that we would have no trouble getting back to the airport. Willie was so happy that he even loaded his own guitar on the shuttle.

But then Roger took off. When I found him out in the parking lot I wondered what he was looking at.

When I walked around to that side of the building I had to take a picture of the mountains too.

Of course Mark, who knows everything, says "I've got a great place where you all can take a picture". So on the way to the airport we make a quick stop for a glam shot.

It was a beautiful drive back to Reno.

The flight home was uneventful. That was a good thing considering all the excitement the day before. We got a really nice write-up in the local Tahoe entertainment news.... Doppelganger in a bandana: True Willie Band emulates Willie.

Thanks to the photographer we got a few action shots.

We get to do this again in a couple of weeks. We have another fly date up to a place called Feather Falls Casino and Lodge on March 1st. I'm hoping the weather will be a little nicer.

But before then I'll have a couple of gigs with the KRB at one of the Palm Springs golf clubs. Those are always cushy gigs except for the drive. Until then, thanks for looking!

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff