I had a True Willie gig at the Laguna Beach Pageant of the Masters Festival of Arts. This is the entrance to the festival, this picture taken from the paylot across the street. We had received cash from the festival organizers so that we could park as close as possible once we unloaded.
Before I parked I pulled my trusty Astro Van into the fire lane behind the stage to unload.
Gee, wasn't that a glamorous shot? Well, you know this life isn't all glamour, right? Mine is the life of a small-time rock star. I rolled my gear up on stage and took a setup selfie. The mural behind us was very nice.
This facility was recently remodeled and rebuilt. It is an excellent venue. Here's a shot of the stage as Mike (git), T-Willie, and John (keys) get set up. The drummer, Dave, is not here yet. (Gee, that reminds me of a comedy bit. "Dave's not here man!")
You also see Sid, FOH sound guy in the white shirt, and Chris, his crew, setting up at the same time we are.
My rig, complete with my Fender (w/flats) for backup. I always think I'm going to use my Fender on this gig, being a vintage tribute act and all, but I just never have time to swap basses. At least we haven't worked that in yet.
Here's a shot from the FOH mixing booth. Sid doesn't even have it uncovered yet.
You can see the crowd already gathering, claiming their space, opening up their Merlot, and getting ready to enjoy the show. I heard a couple of the staff here say that True Willie is the only band during the festival that the crowd arrives early just to hear the music. All the other bands are just there, background noise. It kind of makes you feel special, but puts on a little pressure.
Dave's here!
Johnny Fingers is all plugged in and ready to sound check.
As I head to the green room I wander by some of the art on exhibit.
We had a nice room. It was air conditioned.
While I was there a couple of nice ladies brought us some hospitality.
It was quite welcome as I had come straight from work and didn't have dinner. I feasted on pita bread, hummus, and cheese, with grapes and cookies for dessert.
The crowd was starting to fill in as I made my way back to the stage.
Here's my amp-selfie just before we start the show.
This is Mike on the geeetar. I'm not sure if he's comfortable in that hat. But Mike sure is comfortable with his tobacco 335!
Dave is a heck of a nice guy and a solid, steady drummer. It's really a pleasure playing with him.
Here's the view from my mic as we are about to start our set. It was a terrific crowd.
True Willie gets us started with one of those songs that Willie Nelson used to sing.
We played one set and took a short break. Then I gave my camera to Dave's wife to take some pictures out front.
OK, one more. As you can see now that the sun has set a bit, that really is a nice mural behind the stage.
However, that is a solid wall behind us and the Sid, the FOH guy, said my stage sound was too boomy. Not too loud, just woofy. I think it was because of the curved wall behind us. But no problem, I adjusted my EQ and Sid was happy. I wasn't playing loud at all, but my tone was getting in his way out front. Sid is also a bass player and he likes to mix the bass so that it has definition. That is so cool. Some of the sound guys we have worked with crank the low end so that the bass is an indistinct 'bowff, wooff, waff, fufff' sound instead of hearing the actual notes. It was refreshing.
Roger, as True Willie, not only looks like Willie, he sounds like Willie, and tells stories like Willie. He had the crowd in stitches a couple of times.
Mike Fleetwood, yes, that's his name, is an excellent guitar player. In fact, he plays so well that I wish he'd turn up a little bit. I always put his guitar in my monitor so that I can hear him.
And then there's this guy.
When True Willie and I sing "To All The Girls I've Loved Before" all the old ladies in the crowd just go nuts, and some of the younger ones too.
T-Willie and I admire Johnny Fingers and his work on "Mama Screw Your Wig On Tight". It's a great instrumental that features the piano.
Then we are back singing more collaborative stuff like "Pancho and Lefty" and "Highwayman".
Dave does a great Waylon, sounds just like him.
Mike handles the Kris part on "Highwayman".
We had two seemingly quick sets and we were done. Here's Chris packing up the house gear.
As I rolled my gear across the street on my Rock-n-Roller cart (small-time rock star, remember?) I took a parting shot.
The True Willie band will be back again a little later during the Festival of Arts for another musical engagement on Aug. 23rd. We'll probably have to learn a couple of new songs before we come back. But then, we had tunes on the setlist tonight that we didn't get to. It was a very fun gig and we got lots of positive response. True Willie tends to draw an older crowd but there are quite a few folks younger than I. In fact, Dave and I were talking and I asked him, "Where are all the young people? These folks are all my age!"
How about some cell phone video from this gig?
We had a great time. The next gig I have with TW will be at the OC Fair on Aug. 9. Stay tuned. Thanks for looking!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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