This gig last Saturday wasn't too far out of town but since they offered to put us up, Mrs. BassCliff and I used it as an excuse to visit a mountain resort town, Lake Arrowhead, for the weekend. The True Willie Band played The Tudor House on a Saturday evening. The Tudor House folklore includes stories about the gangster Bugsy Siegel and was the area's "Speakeasy" during prohibition. The Braken Fern Manor across the street used to be the brothel and is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a former call girl. I didn't see any ghosts. But we didn't stay in the manor, it was booked up.
Mrs. BassCliff does not like driving on mountain roads, it's a white knuckle ride for her. But I drove like the old man that I am and we had no trouble getting there once we found our sign.
We arrived at the venue quite a bit before call time. There was no one here. We decided to have some lunch and come back a little later.
We went to the Lake Arrowhead Village, the big shopping, eating, tourist trap in the area, and had lunch at the Arrowhead Pizza Deli place.
This was our view as we dined on the patio.
I enjoyed a very nice antipasto salad. Everything was very fresh.
After lunch we rolled back to the venue. The large room backstage was our green room and even though there were a lot of props stored back here the staff managed to make it look like a parlor. It was quite comfortable.
Up those four steps was the stage. I thought the room was gorgeous.
This is David, our sound man. His wife Joyce ran the lights. They were a couple of real pros and very nice people.
To get to the sound booth you had to go outside the building and up these two flights of stairs. It could be a bit inconvenient in the winter.
Here's the control room, everything we need to put on the show.
Here's the view looking out of the crow's nest.
I got my own rug for my rig. The stage was hollow so the rug and my crate helped to de-couple my bass cabinet. My small rig was plenty for this size room.
Here's my traditional amp-selfie.
The rest of the lads arrive and do the setup dance. David helps Mike (git), Dave (drums), and John (keys) get wired in.
Dave gives Dave some kick drum at sound check.
John tickles the ivories for sound check.
Mike brought his vintage rig since this was not a fly date. Everyone is in shorts, except the bass player. Why is that?
This is the Braken Fern Manor across the street. It's a bed-and-breakfast now.
This is the cabin where we stayed. Mrs. BassCliff and I shared the cabin with Dave and Mrs. Drummer. We had a good hang.
It was rustic and cozy and had all the comforts of home. Well, I guess it is someone's home when it's not rented out.
The band made its way back to the venue after freshening up. We had spaghetti and salad backstage while the band wives dined with the customers and had beef brisket with baked potatoes.
We also got a tiramisu cake that was fabulous.
Our restroom backstage was down in the basement. Also down there used to be a secret tunnel that went across the street to the manor.
I stepped out front to say "Hi" to the missus and took this picture of the stage bathed in blue lights.
I stuck my camera out from behind the curtain. We are just about ready to take the stage.
As the M.C. makes a few short announcements I take our pre-downbeat pictures under the blue lights. John and the bass player.
Drummer Dave, who sings a great Waylon.
Guitar Mike sings the Kristofferson part.
It didn't take any pictures during the show. It would have been weird taking picture on stage because it was so intimate. But here's our standing ovation. We played one more after this.
Then it was time for some meet-and-greet. Here's True Willie and our new friend Kelly.
Some nice ladies even wanted to take a picture with the bass player. That's Divette to my right with her friends to my left.
Then it was time to get back to our roadie roots.
The four of us retired to our cabin, enjoyed a couple of adult beverages while we played cards until midnight. Fun stuff. We taught Dave and Mrs. Drummer how to play Hearts. They kicked my butt.
The next morning we went in search of the best breakfast in town. This is the entrance to the lower level of Arrowhead Village.
This is the place in town with the best breakfast reputation, Belgian Waffle Works.
While we waited for a table we enjoyed watching the activity on the lake, skiing, boating, and the Arrowhead Queen taking passengers around the lake.
And this was breakfast. That waffle was like a Monte Cristo sandwich next to my scrambled eggs and biscuits covered with sausage gravy.
(I didn't eat until lunch the next day.) After breakfast we walked around the village and took in the Octoberfest vibe.
I thought this lederhosen bear was cute.
OK, why not?
Then we enjoyed a really entertaining oom-pah-pah band.
After that we made our way back down the mountain and back to real life. It was a fun weekend. I hope yours was too. Thanks for looking!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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