The Ranch, 3/17&18/17

Hey gang!

We've just finished up a really fun weekend at The Ranch. I know you've seen me post about this place for the last few years but it's such an epic-ly fun room to play. If I may, I'd like to share a few more pictures of the place.

When I arrive Friday afternoon for our load-in/sound check, most everybody is already here.

After our sound check we retire to the greeen room for some supper.

Mario, Hal, and Art are enjoying their salads (a beet salad, a chopped kale salad, a Kenter green salad), some Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna, and Yellowtail Fish Tacos.

I also had a salad and the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich.

Man! The food here is nothing but perfect. I have to over-caffeinate or else I'd have to take a nap after supper.

I brought my usual WMDs (Weapons of Musical Destruction) and set them in front of that beautiful backline amp that I don't get to use because of the nice IEM (In Ear Monitor) system here.
 

Yes, since it was St. Patrick's Day, I tied my daughter's green-ish scarf around my headstock.

And Art brought his green Strat for his backup guitar.

Here's my amp-selfie just before we got started on Friday night.

I was told by a couple of people that I should keep the scarf on my bass' headstock. I guess that gives them something to look at besides my ugly mug.

Yes, it was pretty light for a Friday night. I think it's because a LOT of people went to traditional Irish pubs to celebrate St. Paddy's day. We may have started slow but it did pick up later in the evening.

I included this picture just to show you that sometimes I just have to use a cheat sheet, until repetition allows me to work without it. I have a small sheet music holder that clips to my mic stand.
 

I've performed this song about a half dozen times and will probably need another six times until it really gets stuck in my brain so I can lose the crib notes.

It's early in the night and Kelly gets us started.

I guess we're rolling now.

Art and Daniel are throwing it down.

Hal is pounding the keys like he knows what he's doing. Thankfully, he does.

It was a quiet Friday night. As I strolled by the FOH booth on the break I noticed the decibel meter.

I snore louder than that!

Kelly puts on the show.
 

The line dancing crowd shows up. The crowd there is so good it's like a floor show every night. Great fun!

Kelly belts out another tune while the bass player thinks, "A, A, A, A, D, D, E, E..."

More line dancers putting on their show!

Here everyone is enjoying a two-step, some more than others.

One of my favorite couples, Ryan and Kaylee. I love how they love each other and have so much fun on the dance floor.
 

At this point in the evening I jumped up on the drum riser with Kelly because I had a little bass solo to play with her vocal line.

Toward the end of the night, perhaps after a couple of green beers, the scarf went from my headstock to my head.
 

Here is a teeny, tiny cellphone video of one of our newer cover songs.

Continuing now with a few pictures from Saturday night. Art didn't get a nap today so he's hitting the Diet Coke for its caffeine content. He's "hittin' the sauce"!

Tonight I had the beet salad and the Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna for supper. Yes, that's basically really good sushi.

Heather, the entertainment manager, joins me for an amp-selfie before she announces us.

Our dear friend, Stephanie, stopped by tonight and sat in for a couple of tunes.

You might remember Stephanie from our Disney show from summer 2014. It was great to work with her again.

Also from Saturday night, Art and Kelly share some fun.
 

This is the bass player and his newest Scully shirt. I'd like to pick up a few more. You can see my sheet music holder clipped to my mic stand. I don't think it looks that intrusive from out front.

Kelly and Stephanie reunited.

Shhh! Don't tell anyone but Kelly was at the hospital on the day Stephanie was born. Their families have been good friends for a very long time.

The bass player and the piano player are in the zone, the Twilight Zone.

Kelly really knows how to charm the camera.

Here's a nice picture of Stephanie.

I wonder if April and her friends dance in front of the bass player just to try and get him to mess up? Nah, they're not that mean.

Art, his grin, and his sparkly ASAT Tele.

I think Daniel is swooning just a bit with Stephanie in such close proximity.

Kelly and the lads play and watch the line dancers do their thing. It's almost like we're performing for each other. Feel the love!

Kelly and Steph sing Miranda's "This Ain't Your Mama's Broken Heart". 

Here's on more of Kelly, just because.

Megan and Rebecca came out tonight, two lovely two-step buddies. They are very sweet ladies and we enjoy a spin around the dance floor.   

Stephanie has been playing Elsa in the "Frozen" show at Disneyland for the last year or so.

Do you know why you should never give Elsa a balloon? Because she'll "Let it go,...Let it go..."  <chuckle!>

That's it! I guess we had about as much fun as was available this weekend. Thanks for looking!


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Downtown Disney 3/12/17

Hey howdy hey!

It's just another gig at the Happiest Place On Earth for the KRB. This one had a few different wrinkles. I parked as close as I could to the entrance by the ESPN Zone and rolled in my gear. As I was showing all my cases to the security guards I recognized someone in line behind me.

These days getting into Downtown Disney is almost as easy as getting on an airplane. At least I didn't have to take off my boots.

I dumped my gear on stage and the the band walked all the way to the other end of DTD to the ID office to get our official contractor's badges. Here's Art waiting to take his picture.
 

This card allows me to park farther away and gives me access to a restroom that only the employees use. Goody.
 

Then we had to walk all the way back to the stage and set up.
 

It was a warm sunny afternoon, not a typical March afternoon at 85 degrees. Are we there yet?

We finally made it back to the stage, the guys rolled in their gear, and we begin the setup ballet.

I brought my Neo410 since we were outside. Art said I sounded really good tonight.

Mario brought his clear kit. I think he's planning on getting lighting for it too. That would be cool.
 

That guy sitting next to my amp, Skip, is on keys tonight. He made a good first impression.

Jack and Skyler are doing sound for us tonight. I guess Jack, Kelly's husband, works cheaper than Sean from MxxMaster. (Joke!)
 

Jack brought all his powered Mackie speakers. Skyler gets our monitors mixed.

Jack brought his SWR 118 cab for use as a sub. It's fun to have a little more "oomph" out front.

He powered it with his GK MB500, just like mine. You see it next to his A&H mixer. Only his MB500 was turned up louder than mine.

Here's Skip during sound check with his headset mic and trumpet. He's not bad on trumpet and plays great keys.

Here's my amp-selfie now that I have my cowboy shirt on.

Not only do we now have contractor badges, we even have our own sign with its own bar code. That Mouse thinks of everything.

It looks like the stage is set, we are sound checked, and Mario is taking a bite out of the set list.

Daniel must be doing "Devil" but I don't think the band is awake yet.

On our first break an old friend dropped by. It's Jeff! He was in great spirits but didn't get up to play. He's still pretty weak from his latest surgery a couple weeks ago.

If I may, I'd like to post a link to a GoFundMe page for Jeff. Every small donation is a great blessing. Thank you.

Click here to support Jeff Linder Family Fund by Kelly Rae Roemer

With Jeff in the audience we really started putting on the show.

Here's the stage after dark, all lit up.

The crowd actually hung around and milled about between sets waiting for us to play more. It was pretty cool.
 

I think we're starting our last set, the one where the fireworks go off in the middle of the set. We get to take a little break while the fireworks go off.

 

At about 9:25pm the fireworks start. We leave the stage for about 15 minutes and I grab a picture. What's a visit to Disneyland without fireworks? OOoooo! Aaaahhh!

The crowd stuck around to her our last few songs of the night. We played after the fireworks until 10pm.
 

Then at 10pm we hastily pack our gear and get home before we all turn into pumpkins.
 

It was a pretty fun night. Skip did a great job on keys. I could tell that he really did his homework. He's been playing top 40 most of his musical career but he really enjoys country. It's "fresh" to him, and a bit of a challenge. And it was great seeing Jeff again. Tonight was the first time he's been out of the house in quite a while. I keep praying for a miracle.

My next entry will be about our regular engagement at The Ranch. It's always a ton of fun playing there. Thanks for looking! 

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff