Ater two weeks without a gig the KRB had a fund raiser to play for on a Sunday evening. We played at "The Ranch at Laguna Beach", a hotel with a 9-hole golf course and other amenities. The event was a fund raiser for the Laguna Beach Seniors, their annual Legacy Ball.
My evening started right after church. I had to load up and hit the freeway. I brought my small rig and added my ABG so we could do a little practicing in the green room.
It was a pleasant drive, only a little over an hour since there was little traffic on a Sunday afternoon. It's almost always a treat to drive along Pacific Coast Highway.
On the grounds guests are greeted by this big rock. To the left are the event rooms and restaurant. To the right are the hotel rooms, tennis courts, etc.
I decided to park before unloading because I found a space fairly close to the load-in spot. Parking is at a premium around here.
This is a new facility on the grounds. This new patio area and renovated restaurant were under construction the last time we played here.
I was pretty early today and was set up before anyone else.
Jack, running sound today, and Art were here just before I was but it takes them longer to set up.
It was a very pleasant day today, a little on the cool side with a moderate breeze coming in from the ocean. Here's a view of the stage area and patio from the balcony above.
You see Art's yellow truck. He got here early enough to snag a prime parking spot. We had to roll our gear from there all the way up the hill around the patio rather than schlep our gear up the stairs.
The venue was really strict about noise this evening. It seems there is "one guy" who lives in the canyon that gives the venue a lot of grief. They didn't want any speakers facing back toward the open end of the canyon, i.e. our monitors. We had to turn our monitors sideways. Plus, there was a decibel meter at the edge of their property. It couldn't be any louder than 60db at the edge of the hotel property. Yeah, I know. I belch louder than that. But we're talking about the volume at the property line, not the volume on stage. We didn't have any complaints about our volume this evening.
This was the logo for the event this evening.
The guests had their dinner and live auction inside the ball room. The silent auction was out on the patio with us.
Kelly has arrived and is very festive looking.
The lads and I run a couple of songs for sound check. One of them is a new one for us, "You Look Good" by Lady Antebellum. It's a silly pop country song that's more old school R&B than country but it's kind of fun.
Then we retire to our green room to go over some vocals and change before showtime.
We have a nice view of the 9th hole from our green room. We'll be having supper here later on our break.
It's time to get the party started!
This is the new guy, Skip, on keys. Jack is checking out Skip's new hat he just got at Boot Barn.
Here's an action shot. What is that weird looking thing? Oh, that's my face.
In between our songs the auctioneer, Zack, here in the sport coat, would say a few words, encourage the bidding on the silent auction items, and tell some corny jokes.
We played an hour set from 5:30 to 6:30. We then had a two hour break in which to have supper in the green room. Then we were scheduled to be back at 8:30 for another one hour set. Our event hostess, Lindsey, apologized for the long break. I told her, "I'm in this business for the breaks!".
Here we are bellying up to the buffet.
It was a very nice supper of BBQ chicken breasts, salad, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. I also had a nice Stone IPA to wet my whistle
After a long break we made our way back to the stage area. It was fully dark by 8:30.
The guests inside had finished their supper, some speeches, the live auction, etc, and were just a few minutes away from hitting the dance floor.
We had a small crowd of dancers join us.
Most of the guests left early, as they usually do at these kinds of affairs. We had perhaps a couple dozen people stick around for the dance set. They had a good time but we ended up quitting early anyway, done at 9:15 instead of 9:30. We all made a hasty getaway.
I helped Jack load up his PA and I was still home before 11:30. It was a pretty easy evening even with the one hour drive to and from the gig.
Next weekend I'll be in New Orleans with the True Willie Band for another private event. That should be a trip. Thanks for looking!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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