The Runnin' Kind at The Inn at Fawnskin, 8/13/17

Hello friends and neighbors,

On a recent Sunday I played a nice backyard type engagement on the north shore of Big Bear Lake. We played at The Inn at Fawnskin for a local fund-raiser. This was an especially pleasant gig because I got to play with my old bandmates in The Runnin' Kind, friends I've known for over twenty years. We're all involved in different projects these days but we manage to get back together once in a while.

Since (I thought) we had a 6pm downbeat I was planning to arrive at 3pm because I was bringing my PA and wanted to give myself plenty of time to setup and sound check. I left my house a little after 1pm and headed up the mountain on Hwy 18.

Please forgive all the driving pictures. It's just so scenic up here.

I pulled into a turnout to snap this picture of the valley.

This is the west end of Big Bear Lake. Right under this intersection is the dam holding back all the water.

There were lots of folks enjoying the lake today. It's a good sized lake.

On the way up I had passed a sign that read 7,112 feet. The little town of Fawnskin is just below that.

This is The Inn at Fawnskin. It's a log cabin Bed and Breakfast that is just as charming as it can be. Nancy Walker and her husband Bill own and run this establishment.

Yes, that's a face-in-the-hole you see out front. I love those, but I didn't get a chance to take a picture. This is the front door of the place but it was locked. We had to go around back to set up on the back porch. It was a tight fit with five of us.

I arrived right at 3pm thinking I had plenty of time. It surprised me that I was the last one there. Then I found out that our downbeat was 4pm. I had to hustle all my gear and get it set up in a hurry. Drat.

But we managed to get situated in time and started right at 4pm.

The inside of the inn was just as charming as it could be, rustic and classy. This is the gift shop and the parlor. You can see our gear on the back porch.

This is the stairway up to the guest rooms.

This is our hostess and friend, Nancy, with Ian, our keyboard player. You might remember Nancy because we've done several gigs with her Patsy Cline and Women Of Country Music tribute shows.

Here's Paul tuning up. He also played fiddle today. He can also play banjo and guitar and, I think, mandolin.

This is Paul and Bob's gear.

More gear, mine and Ian's.

Paul and Bob (guitar).

Rick on the skins. He'll be working with the KRB for a couple of upcoming gigs.

Another Runnin' Kind alumni, Ian, on the keyboards.

A quick selfie before we start.

Most of the crowd came decked out in their western duds since the event was called "Buckaroo Bonanza" and was raising money for the local spiritual center with a silent auction and a noisy band.

There were tables full of auction items.

These larger items were auctioned live. One of those guitars was signed by James Taylor. I don't know who signed the other.

The crowd is attentive while Nancy auctions stuff and give away raffle prizes.

We didn't really get to play a whole lot. We were contracted from 4pm to 8pm but played only a couple of sets worth of music. We took a lot of long breaks for the auctions. So we helped ourselves to the BBQ pork sliders and excellent slaw with cranberries and walnuts.

That is Rick's wife on the left. She sang a couple tunes with us tonight. She's also one of the founding members of The Runnin' Kind.

This little guy wanted to sit in, but we didn't know any of his tunes.

Nancy also sang a few with us. Here she is giving away some raffle prizes.

One of the volunteers brought us a plate of desserts and set it on my PA column. They didn't last very long.

We were having a ton of fun and too quickly the night came to an end. I got lots of help loading out since I was blocking everyone's car.

And then I had a long, slow, curvy drive back down the mountain. You can't see much but this is the little dam that's holding back the lake.

When I got to my garage, this was waiting for me to unload. Where are my roadies?

Here's a little cell phone video I took. It's not really going to show you how well we played (I kind of stunk up the joint) but hopefully it will show you how much fun we were having. You'll see Carrie Lynn, Rick's wife, on stage for the second number. I think she was looking for a cowbell to play.

 

I was home just before 10:30pm and was able to make it to work on time Monday morning. Sometimes life is good! And the rest of the time it's not too bad. Thanks for looking!


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff