This past Saturday me and the KRB played for the Banning Stagecoach Days rodeo, carnival, festival, etc. It was a nice local event, well attended by happy people. We had a ton of fun.
Earlier in the day I was visiting Jeff, our previous keyboard player. My commute began with a slog back out of Orange country in order to make my way to the desert. That mountain peak just to the left of center is Mt. San Antonio, also known locally as Mt. Baldy.
I usually take the 10 out to the desert, it's a straight shot on an eight lane freeway, but the 60 was closer and shorter when heading out of the OC. The 60 freeway takes you through the "bad lands" on a narrow four lane freeway with lots of curves. It's pretty fun for a freeway.
Here's a nice little sign to let you know there's a rodeo ahead.
And here's the main entrance. I just told them I was with the band and they let me in. Works every time.
I pulled around to the end of the festivities, next to the arena where the stage was located. The parking lot was full. There are lots of people here.
I unloaded my gear at the back gate near the stage and was able to park fairly close. I just told them I was with the band.
When I arrived there were a couple of "school of rock" ensembles playing before us. This was a really good blues band. They did a killer version of "Chain Of Fools".
This ensemble played some great classic rock covers. Both bands really did the material justice despite the fact that they were playing material older than they were. I was impressed, especially with the bass player, Stephanie.
I told her about my favorite online forum, Talkbass.com. I asked the guys to please be gentle with her. She's a nice young lady who plays great.
Oh boy! Another lanyard for my collection.
This is Dustin on the FOH. He and his crew, Chuck, did a really nice job for us. Dustin volunteers all his time and equipment for this event. This was the third year he's done it. That's dedication.
Since the other groups were playing until 7pm I had time to wander around and check out the happenings. We didn't start until almost 9pm. I found the beer tent. The larger tent in the background next to the arena was ours.
As I wandered around the venue I saw this behind our tent. It worried me a little. Sure enough, later in the evening half of the festival lost power but just for a few minutes. Then we were up the rest of the night.
There was a huge crowd to see the rodeo. In talking to Dustin I found out they had to turn away attendees last year. This year they added a thousand seats to the arena and they still sold out.
I'm glad we started after sunset for this gig. It would have been right in our face again.
The rest of the gang arrives and stages their carts near the stage. Skip has a very compact rig.
I don't know how these two got past security.
Rick is subbing for Mario tonight. We set up our gear while the sound crew does their line checks and gets organized. Art and Daniel must be talking about the physical makeup of the third ring of Saturn. I think they have the rest of them figured out.
Skip seems happy. He's always happy.
This end of the stage became the designated cart parking lot.
The stage is all set. We did have our usual compliment of monitors or mixes but we got everything adjusted so we could all hear everything. We didn't have to play loud under this tent. We kept the stage volume down so Dustin could do all the heavy lifting.
OK! We are ready to have some fun now!
Skip got a new shirt. We all really like it.
In fact, I wanted a selfie with that shirt. I wish someone would've told me my hair was flat.
Rick and Kelly got to wear the plaid tonight. Plaid is the new black, ya know.
Everyone knows the drill. Daniel sings, Kelly poses, Art has the rabbit ears. I see Kelly's had a costume change.
Rick is working hard tonight. His DW kit sounds great. The sound man was raving.
The dark, brooding, mysterioius Skip.
Kelly must be singing "My Church". Another costume change.
It was a fun family affair. I didn't get a picture of all the dancers but we had quite a few two-steppers and line dancers.
I grabbed this picture just after we finished an electric slide.
On the next break we had a little celebration.
That's right. It was the bass player's birthday.
We had a jovial time razzing the old man. Lori and Art had a little too much fun.
Here's the whole merry band of traveling minstrels having a party.
We were done right at midnight, kind of a late gig for us, and we rolled our gear out to our vehicles to make the trek home.
I had only an hour drive. Everyone else had at least twice as far. Usually it's the other way around.
Me and the KRB will be playing at Downtown Disney on Wednesday night (9/13). When we're done with that gig we will load right into Cars Land and sound check for our gig the following evening (9/14). That way we can just walk on stage and play. It's a corporate event done in magical Disney style. It'll be good, corporate, professional fun. Until then, thanks for looking!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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