The last week of September was really fun for me and The True Willie Band. We were engaged to play six show in five days at the Alhambra Dinner Theater in Jacksonville Florida. We begin our adventure when I pick up John to ride to the airport together. Once we arrive at SNA we run into a couple of guys John knows from SKB Cases. John and I both use SKB cases to fly our instruments. This is Kenny and Jerry.
Then we meet up with the rest of The True Willie Band before we board the plane. We've all been looking forward to this trip. I took hundreds of pictures but I'll try to hit just the highlights.
Here's a couple of mooks on their way to Florida.
We are flying along the Gulf coast after connecting in Houston.
In Houston we met up with the more talented members of the show. This is Bob and Corrie Sachs. Corrie will be doing the Rebe McEntire tribute portion of our show. Bob is along as coach and mentor to help with Corrie's show. He's a great bass player, arranger, teacher, etc, in the Las Vegas music scene.
We arrive at the airport in Jacksonville and meet our car.
We are not scheduled to load in and sound check until tomorrow but we decided to stop by the venue to check it out.
Even though the venue was celebrating its 50th anniversary, it was quite charming inside and had all the comforts of home backstage.
This is my view as I walked into the main room. I think it's a lovely setting for a concert, a musical, a play, or just about any kind of show.
The backline company did and excellent job with the amps, drums, sound support, etc. Everything was top notch.
Here's the FOH mixer. We'll meet Andrew (soundguy) later. He was a fantastic guy to work with. The whole crew bent over backwards to make sure we were comfortable and had everything we needed.
This is the PA system on stage right. There were also satellite speakers on a time delay. It sounded great everywhere in the room.
After checking out the venue we drove to the hotel. There sure is a lot of water around here. This is another bridge over another section of the St. Johns river.
Here we are checking in to our hotel. It was a nice place to stay with a terrific hot breakfast every morning.
This was the view from my room. I could see the pool and the parking lot across the street. I've had much worse.
My room was large and had everything I needed, coffee maker, microwave, TV, even a separate bed for my bass to sleep in.
That evening the gang decided to go out for some supper. While we wait for everyone the hotel brings out freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. This happens every evening! So Mike and I decide to have a little dessert before supper.
Since three people told us this was the place to go for seafood we figured this was the place. It took a bit of effort to find it but it was worth it. This is called Safe Harbor Seafood Restaurant.
It sat next to a small marina on the St. Johns river.
Tonight I had the blackened red snapper. It was delicious. Those hush puppies are the best I've ever had.
Then Roger treats all of us to key lime pie. You must have key lime pie when you go to Florida.
The next day we head back to the venue to set up, soundcheck, and rehearse Reba's show. We did have one rehearsal before we left to run the material but there are still timing issues, intros and outros, etc, that we need to tighten up to make it more show-y. Bob was a big help in this respect.
When I plugged in my bass and turned on my Eden World Tour 800 all I got out of it was a low volume fuzz. I thought I was in trouble until Andrew (soundguy) told me the backline company had provided a backup. Yay! All was right with the world.
Just before we start rehearsing Corrie's part of the show she joins me in an amp-selfie.
Andrew sets up the mics on the drum set. Dave seems very pleased with his kit. It was a nice DW set.
Mike borrowed his son's Strat. He had a nice Fender Twin amp from the backline company.
Roger and Corrie practice their duet for the big closing number.
We soundcheck and run through some tunes, head back to the hotel to freshen up, then we are back that evening for opening night.
This is Debra. She will be singing background vocals and a duet with Reba later.
Dave and Ruth are in the hallway of stars. All of the performers sign the wall.
Here's the gang having supper in the dinner theater before the show. You also see Cara, our server, who took great care of us as did the rest of the staff, Ivy, Leanna, Tyler, Cameron, and others I'm forgetting.
The Alhambra Dinner Theater even had a special drink menu to go along with the dinner menu.
I tried every item on the menu during our stay. The pulled pork was fantastic and the baked sweet potato was yummy!
The chicken and pasta was spiced just right and the white sauce was very tasty.
Here's the shrimp, locally caught and tasty.
One night I also tried the smoked ham chowder. I'm glad I did.
OK, that's enough food for now. We also put on some shows while we were there. Here's the gang just before we take the stage for the Reba show.
I stuck my camera out from behind the curtain while the announcer was speaking. This is a real community supported theater. Everyone celebrated birthdays and anniversaries just like neighbors.
Here's a picture of the Reba tribute. Corrie brought down the house every night.
Then Willie would come out and blow the roof off. It was a sell out every night and everyone enjoyed themselves.
After every show we would go out front for the traditional "meet and greet". These are such nice people and it was fun to meet them. These are two of the owners, Craig and Gary.
On Thursday we visited St. Augustine, the oldest city in America. Here we are at that well-known tourist trap, Gator Bobs, were we hopped on the trolley for a tour of the city.
The Old Jail was undergoing some reparations after hurricane Irma but it was open for business. Florida was recovering quickly due to the hard work of its citizens.
On the trolley tour we went by many interesting spots. This is the Methodist church that Henry Flagler built.
This is the Presbyterian church that Henry Flagler built.
This is the Baptist church that Henry Flagler built.
This was the ritzy hotel that Henry Flaggler built. Now it's a college, Flagler College.
This is the town hall and Lightner Museum.
The Basilica at St. Augustine.
This is the Plaza de Constitution.
A civil rights memorial.
A civil war veteran memorial.
This is St. George Street, where we did some shopping, eating, and sightseeing. The architecture looks similar to The French Quarter in New Orleans. That's because they were both built by the Spanish.
Then we got back to the hotel to have a little nap, freshen up, and put on the show that evening.
Reba and Willie sing their duet to a standing ovation.
Then it's another meet-and-greet after the show.
The beautiful parts of the band join me in a selfie.
The next morning some of us decide to walk down to the beach. We start every morning with a hearty breakfast at the hotel. Here's Mike having some breakfast.
This was typical of my breakfast every morning, omelettes or scrambled eggs, sausage or bacon, sometimes fruit or biscuits and gravy, with coffee and apple juice. I love a big breakfast late in the morning (9:45am-ish). Then I can skip lunch.
Then we take off for the beach. We took this bridge over the dune to Jacksonville Beach. It was not crowded today at all.
The beach looked great so soon after the big storm. Here we are looking south.
Here we are looking north but there's a bass player in the way.
The bass player gets his feet wet in the Atlantic. The water was warm here, much warmer than So. Cal. beaches.
Here's Mike enjoying his walk.
On the way back we decided to jaywalk across Third Street. I hope the cops don't revoke our shoes.
We head back to the venue that evening to put on the show for another packed house.
John and I are chilling in the dressing room before we go on. I have my ROCKSTAR to put me in the mood.
Here's the Reba show about to take the stage again.
A few shots from out front.
And here's one I took of Reba from my vantage point on stage.
To give you a 'behind the scenes' look at the Alhambra, here are a few shots. This is right behind the curtain.
This is the common area right off back stage, full of pictures and posters.
I notice a couple of big names, Cindy Williams and Lisa Welchel.
Memories of past productions.
Behind this mirror is the back office where the stage crew hangs out.
Here are a few more performance and meet-and-greet pictures from the week. This blog post is already too long. Sorry.
Mike and Dave are ready to put on the Willie show.
Mr. Johnny Fingers is ready to put on the Willie show.
The bass player is ready to put on the show, even with bad lighting.
The meet-and-greets were a ton of fun. Everyone was so nice and enjoyed the show so much.
Here's a nice shot of Willie and Reba.
This is our van ride back to the hotel after one of the matinees.
Here's the entire cast; Dave, Cliff, Debra, Corrie (Reba), Roger (Willie), Mike, John.
Another good shot of the talent.
Live on stage with the Willie/Reba duet.
Reba and Debra performing their duet, "Does He Love You (Like He Loves Me)".
Debra joins me in a selfie.
Here's the band with the whole crew, sound, lights, stage, etc. That's Spencer on the left, Luke and Dave in the back, with Andrew on the right. All of these guys did a fantastic job.
After the last show we get to load out all of our gear. I'm going to miss this place but I'm sure we'll be back.
We flew home the next morning. Since I didn't have an air-worthy suitcase that would hold a week's supplies I took my wife's new suitcase. I was a little sensitive about it being too girly.
But then I saw John had used his wife's suitcase.
I felt a little less self-conscious.
Thanks to Mike's wife, Ruth, I was able to put together a little video of True Willie performing at The Alhambra.
And that was our week in Jacksonville Florida. We had a great time. Everyone was so nice, helpful, accommodating, made sure we were comfortable, and had everything we needed. It was a great stay. My heartfelt thanks go out to Gary, Craig, Bill, and all the staff and crew at The Alhambra for making us feel so welcome. I'm really looking forward to coming back.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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