After that amazing show at the House of Blues the night before, me and the ANB made our way down to Huntington Beach to play at one of our regular haunts, the Old Crow Smokehouse.
For me, getting there involved another trip down the 57, down the 5,
down the 55, where I drove until my hubcaps were almost wet, then I
turned right.
I drove into the parking structure under the upper scale shopping center that is Pacific City, parked way off in the corner, and loaded up my handy dandy Rock-n-Roller cart.
I wheeled toward the elevator and who did I see? Johnny Magic fingers
had snagged the prime spot right by the elevator. Man, some guys have
all the luck. But those guys are not bass players.
My favorite bar manager, Brandi, met me with a glass of Patsy. It's one of my favorite stouts.
Brandi and Anastasia were both at the House of Blues concert the night
before but I didn't see them. There were too shy to push their way up to
the front of the crowd. John and I complete our setup dance, just the
two of us. The stage looks a little bare despite the holiday
decorations.
You guys remember Anastasia, right? She was kind enough to bring us
supper tonight. (The food here is great!) I asked if she'd like to sit
in with us later. She said yes!
I was in a festive mood and felt like taking advantage of the venue's
hospitality. I had the ribeye steak. Oh my! What a great slab of
protein.
While John and I are having supper (John had the steak too!), Arnie,
Jason, and (Surprise!) Randy arrive to perform their setup dance.
That's Travis handing the sound and stage crew duties. He was a really
great guy to work with. I hope I got a better picture of him. We
shoehorned Randy onto the stage. It was really cozy tonight.
It was a lively crowd but perhaps a little lighter than normal. We
chalked it up to the holiday season, shopping, traveling, family
visiting, etc.
John admires his musical monument.
Here's Travis getting the drums mic'd up and generally taking care of the band. He's a great, hard working soundguy.
Travis sticks his ear in the monitor to make sure Johnny hears what he wants to. Travis has an EQ and he knows how to use it.
The first set was really fun. The crowd loved all the country swing we could throw at them.
They even got in a little line dancing.
I stepped out to the patio to cool off on the break. It was still a good crowd, only a few empty tables.
This was the view downstairs. It looks like Santa has been visiting. On
the other side of Santa's place is PCH. On the other side of that is the
Pacific Ocean.
I turned around to show you the front of the place.
Here's a blue bass player in front of the band logo. Somebody said I looked like a Smurf.
We are just about ready to kick off our second and final long set. We play two long sets here from 9:30 to 12:30, with just one break in between.
As promised, we got Anastasia up in the second set to sing a few with us old hairy legged boys. She was having fun.
The crowd here knows and loves Anastasia.
Yeah, she's got some sass too. "I'm a redneck woman, I ain't no high class broad."
She knows all the words to every Charlie Daniels song.
Kick'er off there Wichita. Let's play us some more Merle. Arnie was on fire tonight.
The crowd made room for a line dance. Most places don't allow drinks on
the dance floor. But since there isn't really a dance floor, anything
goes.
At end of the night I remembered I wanted a picture of our stage setup. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
Then it was time to load out and say "Good night" to Coastal Eddie.
I just love face-in-the-hole pictures. After I took one for a group
leaving the Old Crow I tried to get a selfie. I guess it sort of worked.
Merry Christmas!
Then it was back up the 57 to the old homestead. Here's Angel Stadium at night.
We'll be at The Ranch
next weekend and for New Years Eve. May this Christmas season bring you
love, hope, peace, and joy that follows you and yours into the New
Year. Thanks for looking!
This was my first time playing at a House of Blues event and it was a
doozy! The event was the 5th Annual California Country Chistmas (90s
Edition) with over twenty local country artists taking part. We were the
backing band but had a few other musicians sit in with us during the
evening. Mrs. BassCliff and I also brought toys to donate to the Spark
of Love Foundation.
Like I begin most of my gigs, I'm sipping my ROCKSTAR while driving the 57 down to Orange County.
I park in the structure next to the House of Blues and load up my handy dandy Rock-n-Roller cart. I noted that I parked in P2.
I roll my gear up the ramp to the second level to find that the HoB is on the third level. Oops.
John and I arrived at the same time but he was the first to find the service elevator.
We roll our gear right in the front door like we own the place. We later
found the hallway that goes from the service elevator back around to
the stage door. Oh well.
The room was pretty hip, very industrial looking.
I snag a picture of the FOH console and stage as I roll around to the ramp backstage.
Rather than roll around, some of the guys just toss their gear up on the front of the stage.
This is Green Room A. There were four green rooms backstage. They gave us one of the larger ones.
Jason sets up his drums while the stage and sound crew start running
wires and setting up gear. You see Craig (FOH) on the right, Jacob
(Crew) in the middle, and Johnathan (Monitors) on the left. There were a
few more crew members around, all did a fine job.
Alec and Arnie talk about how the guitar setup is going to work during
the show. Alec brought a couple of his group, Truxton Mile, from
Bakersfield to play this benefit.
Arnie brought two of his Little Walter amps. I just used the backline. I
was not impressed with this rig. Maybe it's too old and beat up. I
could not get a good sound out of it. This rig would either sound woofy
or farty, not the usual chewy mid-range goodness you get out of most
Ampeg rigs. Perhaps it needed some tube maintenance.
I made it work. At least I could hear myself. Jason had a rat's nest of
wires on the riser. He needs lots of cables for drum mics, a vocal mic,
stereo out on his track machine, and a line for his IEM setup.
John and Daniel wait patiently for their turn to sound check. They talk
about the immenant collapse of the Chinese economy and the effect on the
global banking industry.
This is the good looking side of the stage, stage right, with Randy, Austin, Amanda, and Crystal.
See what I mean? I got a little of stage left in this picture.
In the picture above, do you notice that room with the obnoxious
wallpaper above the stage? That's called the "Stage Box", usually for
VIPs. I wonder if there will be any?
Daniel gets his turn to sound check. This sure is a big empty room. I hope somebody shows up tonight.
Uh oh, I got a little too much stage left in this picture too. This is
my secret identity. I haven't changed into my honky tonk hero costume
yet. But I did put my jingle bells on my headstock.
Johnathan is at the monitor board while John gets his turn to soundcheck.
We're all done with soundcheck and the stage is dark. Now we're looking for food. I guess the caterers are not here yet.
I just thought I'd wander out front and take a picture of the stage from the floor.
As long as I'm here, let me take one from FOH too. We were wondering
what that fence-like structure was doing in the middle of the dance
floor. They move it back around the FOH once soundcheck is done.
Catering was set up in one of the green rooms of the smaller venue next door.
I hadn't eaten all day but I didn't want to get really full because
downbeat was only an hour away. I stayed with protein and salad, a
burger (no bun), a really good chicken breast, and salad. I also had a
couple of chocolate chip cookies after the show.
The artists gathered in Green Room B to practice the group numbers they were going to do at the end of the two sets.
I was able to get Mrs. BassCliff special passes so she could watch the
show from the "Stage Box". This was her view. You can see the set lists
on the floor shining in the blue light.
It looks like we are just about to start. Look at that, seems a few people showed up.
So we get welcomed, announced, and we kick off the show. This is Melissa
Farrior taking the stage. She sang "Heads Carolina", I like that song.
This is Kaitlyn Weathers. We've worked with her before.
The show progressed pretty smoothly and quickly. The performers were
told to announce the next performer coming up. We played a couple of
instrumental bumper tunes only when we needed time to swap some gear
onstage, pedal boards for guest guitarists or guitar swaps for Arnie and
Austin. The organizer, Daniel Bonte, along with Pepper from KFROG radio
make some announcements. We've worked with Daniel and Pepper before
also.
We took a couple of moments to honor the firefighters, putting their lives on the line to save lives and property. The firefighters are also the main organizers of the Spark Of Love toy drive.
Everyone got out their cell phones and lit up the room. It was really cool.
At the end of the first set all of the artists in that set came out for a big singalong.
As the song progresses we really start having fun with it.
All the artists and the crowd were having a great time singing "Standing Outside The Fire", a Garth song.
We take a bow and then take a little break to regroup for the next set.
On the break I met Rocky from the band Redneck Rodeo. He's going to sit in when his band plays a couple of tunes.
(Yes, since it was a 90s theme I wore my collar tips.) I went upstairs
to check on Mrs. BassCliff. She was enjoying the show. This is the view
of the crowd from upstairs. They filled every bin the venue had with
toys for the underprivileged.
On the half hour break we found out that one artist we thought was not
going to be there was, indeed, there. So we had to learn his song on the
break. We listened in the green room and I wrote out a quick Nashville Number System chart
on the back of a setlist and we were ready. On with the show!
Here's Rocky and his band Redneck Rodeo playing their two songs. Rocky
played his P-bass. They also brought their drummer and a guitar player.
While I'm taking pictures Arnie gets my attention. He said the amp quit working.
So I play bass tech, run out on stage, checked cables, connections,
settings, and get the amp working again. I think I fixed it just by turning it up. Yay me! Here's Arnie rocking it
up with Redneck Rodeo.
This is Michael Austin, another up-and-comming Nashville artist who's hoping to make it big.
Here's a nice shot of the bass player with the mic stand in the way. We get no respect.
Are we having fun yet? Austin, Amanda, and Crystal must be waiting for the raffle to finish so we can get back to having fun.
I think this is Sheyna Gee. I had a second so I took her picture.
This is Paul Justin. He played my bass. It was sort of a last second
decision. Redwood Black did not bring their bass player. Paul knows them
and has worked with them a lot. Paul didn't know he'd be playing
tonight. That's why he didn't bring one. But they decided to all play
together anyway. He said he wasn't scared of my six string. He usually
plays a five.
This is the end of the show where all the artists came out, sang
together, thanked everyone, and then had a big singalong with the
audience. "Friends In Low Places" was the closer and the crowd ate it
up.
Arnie is pointing at one of his favorite bass players.
"Blame it all on my roots. I showed up in boots and ruined your black tie affair."
"I didn't mean to cause a big scene..."
It was a fun night. I was surprised and pleased at how well everyone
worked together and dealt with last minute SNAFUs and just had fun.
The view from out front.
"I've got friends in low places, where the whisky drowns and the beer chased my blues away. I'll be OK."
Hey! Looky who showed up at this shindig. It's Tammi and Jacqueline. I think these two really like us.
And here's what we get paid for. It's all over but the shouting.
I
had a Coors Light, a couple of chocolate chip cookies, and then I was on my
way home. I didn't even get a flat tire this time. Tonight we are headed
back down to the OC to play at the Old Crow Smokehouse in Huntington
Beach. It's a loud, inconvenient room but it's full of good looking, fun
people, we get great BBQ, and I've never paid for a beer in there as
long as I've been working there. So I'm not going to complain.
Thanks for looking at my little gig. Now lets see if I can get some video for you. Tonight really was a blast.
