Me and the KRB were back at our old stomping grounds the last weekend of June. We've been playing The Ranch pretty much since it opened, ever since I joined this band about six years ago. Being a holiday weekend I wasn't expecting much of a crowd but it was pretty dang good on a Friday night. Saturday should be really killer. I've got tons of pictures. I hope you don't mind.
We start by loading in via the ramp at the stage door. It's an easy load-in made easier by the fact that we don't have to schlep any amps. There is a very respectable backline here but we don't use it. We all go direct and use IEMs.
I drop off my cowboy clothes and backpack in the greenroom.
I check my hair before I go on stage for sound check.
I brought my trusty Carvin LB76 and my Guild Pilot 5-string for backup. That nice GK rig is there just for show. It wasn't even plugged in.
Art brought a Les Paul for backup but didn't use it either. He loves his sparkly ASAT Tele.
Art and Daniel don their in-ear monitors. That's the monitor room behind Art.
Mario puts in his ears too.
Hal has his ears in and starts warming up.
Here's a shot of the room from my mic. It's a nice looking room even with the lights up.
After sound check the lads retire to the green room for supper.
The food at The Ranch is great. A bunch of us had the chopped kale salad. Art had the Ahi tuna. Daniel and Mario had fish tacos.
Hal and I had the buffalo chicken sandwich. I think it's the best sandwich on the menu.
Here's my IEM pack and set list. I'm in mix 5. Mark Bjork, the soundman here, is one of the very best I've ever worked with.
Hal photobombs my amp-selfie when we take the stage.
Then the lovely Heather, the entertainment manager, graces me with her presence for another amp-selfie before she announces the band.
I've got time for one more before we start the night. Here's Kelly and Heather.
Now it's time for the show! I think Daniel is doing "Devil" again. It's one of the few songs where I have time to snap a photo while not playing.
Mario lays down a wicked train beat.
It certainly seems like the ladies are trying to distract the bass player. It doesn't take much.
See what I mean?
Where was I? Oh yeah. I'm trying to make some music over here.
Is Art smiling in this picture? I can't tell.
I think I caught Mario off guard.
Hal is chomping at the bit, ready to play the next song.
Here's one of Hal from out front, taken by the DJ doing double duty as the photographer.
DJ Leo gets a closeup of Mario.
They're back! I'm trying to think about baseball.
Kelly puts on the show.
Kelly gets some altitude.
More from DJ Leo, Art and Daniel.
These two lovely ladies wanted their picture taken in front of the bass player. Yeah, right.
DJ Leo catches me on the dance floor with one of my two-step buddies. You remember Melanie.
Then I'm back at it, probably singing "Wagon Wheel" or something.
Here's a nice shot across the stage.
And here are a few pictures I took from Saturday night. Let's start with the food! I began with the beet salad. I think it's the best salad on the menu, with the chopped kale salad a close second.
Hal had the chicken tenders.
Daniel had the fish tacos again. But tonight I had the steakburger. Some people call it the "coma burger" because it's a lot of food.
I know there's nothing in the picture to let you know the scale but this is a half pound burger on a potato bun. It can induce sleep if you're not careful.
Since it's pretty much the 4th of July weekend, we got to wear our patriotic colors. Here I am in my red Scully shirt amp-selfie.
Kelly has a top with a stars and stripes theme.
Our dear friend, and original keyboardist, Jeff came out tonight with his lovely wife. It was great to see them.
We had a great crowd tonight. They had fun and let us know it.
At the beginning of the second set, Jeff got up and sat in for three or four songs.
The band put on the show. I hope some of you were able to watch it streaming. I had very few clams tonight.
Hal didn't get the memo about 'red, white, and blue' so I let him borrow my blue shirt. It looks pretty good on him.
Mario loves to geek the camera. He's not really sad tonight. He's having a blast!
See? He geeks the camera again when I take a selfie with him.
Here are more pictures taken by our DJ Leo. Hal tickles the ivory.
Art and his sparkley guitar.
Daniel, Kelly, and I harmonize.
Mario looks like he has steam coming out of his ears.
Daniel and his Tele. Kelly puts on the show.
Kelly gets down!
Another nice shot across the stage.
Get you hands up!
Kelly has great stage presence.
The audience does a cowboy cha-cha, a beautiful dance.
At the end of the night all I have to pack up are my two basses. Oh, and my garment bag (I usually bring four to six shirts to every gig), my lyric bag, and my backpack. I scoot on out the back door to the parking lot to avoid the throngs of fans. (Yeah, right!)
The owner was in Saturday night and came backstage to tell us what a fantastic job we were doing. That was nice of Andrew. He's a good guy. We'll be back at The Ranch again the last weekend of August.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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