I suppose this trip/gig/event began when I took an extra long lunch hour (only an hour and a half) to run down to the city of Orange to see about the warranty on my SKB case. I had contacted SKB support via email through their support webpage. They told me to speak with Mike or Ricardo at the SKB offices.
Here's what the case looked like. It was busted at one of the feet.
I took it down to SKB and met Mike, such a helpful young fellow. He said, "Aww, we can't fix that. We'll just give you a new one."
I was really impressed with the facility. I didn't realize how BIG the SKB company was. This is just one of the buildings where they package all the product.
They have manufacturing and shipping all over the country. Very impressive. Mike printed out a receipt for me so that I could go to another building in the industrial complex and pick up my new case from the shipping warehouse. It was another huge building full of product.
Here I am loading my new bass case into my trusty Astro van. I'm going to buy another SKB case when I buy my new Carvin bass.
Then after work I ran home and loaded my stuff for my weekend in Vegas with the Arnie Newman Band. Mrs. BassCliff is making this trip with me, hence the extra suitcase. I just bring instruments to this gig since I'm going direct and using IEMs.
We stopped for a moment in Baker to make a pit stop and grab a cup of coffee. It was a balmy 57 degrees. Maybe you can tell by the huge famous thermometer.
We made it to Treasure Island about midnight. Here's the view from my room on the strip here in downtown Las Vegas. I've had worse. At least I can see part of the strip.
We will soundcheck tomorrow (Friday) about 3pm. Then we put on the show at 10pm. We're planning to do a new tune so I'm running through it in the hotel room.
Then Mrs. BassCliff and I decide to have lunch with Johnny Fingers and his wife. We walked across the street next door to the plaza to the food court.
Here's a selfie looking south on the Vegas strip. I really like that the city is building more of these elevated walkways. The traffic here can be brutal.
John and I enjoy our lunch in the food court.
I decided on Indian food. The palak paneer and the tandoori chicken were excellent.
Then we made our way back to Gilley's to load in while the ladies went shopping. I helped John get all his gear on stage.
I sat my two instruments on stage and I was done with my load-in. Lucky me.
The calm before the storm, inside Gilley's BBQ and Saloon. It's a pretty cool honky tonk.
Here I am checking out the mechanical bull. It can be pretty entertaining.
I'm not a cowboy. I just found the hat. I'm thinking "I make this work." Arnie's not so sure.
Jason is trying to silence a rattle he has in the floor tom.
I put my two basses on their stands, plugged into the DI box, and I was done.
Here's John getting his four keyboards and sound module wired up. In our IEMs we had a separate mix for every one of his keyboards, five channels of just keys on our iPad mixers. Wow. It was nice but unfortunately took an inordinate amount of time to get all of his channels sorted out.
Here's Daniel and Drew, the sound crew, getting the stage wired up.
Here's my iPad mixer, basically one page for drums, one page for instruments, one page for vocals, etc. New for me this time was a room mic to mix in some ambient sound. The club provides the iPads and wireless packs. I use my own IEM earbuds but they have some to loan out too.
A close up of the mains at stage left. The "rh" is for Renkus-Heinz.
Here's Daniel at the FOH mixer looking toward the stage across the dance floor.
Drew expertly wires up the drum mics.
Jason's been a bad boy and has to be put in a cage.
Here we are actually sound checking now. Francelle gives us a cute smile.
I took a selfie just so you guys would believe that Arnie's band actually lets me play with them.
Sound check went from load-in at 2:30 until 6pm. That's too long in my book but I'd rather get it right. Now it's back to the room, nap, eat, freshen up, and put on the show starting at 10pm.
Here are a few shots from Friday night. It was a really good crowd in the place on Super Bowl Weekend, plus George Strait is in town playing a couple of concerts.
The place was pretty packed.
The line dancers were out in force.
I actually played my JBS for almost half the night since we were doing so much "vintage" country. The crowd just ate up all the Haggard and Jones we could give them.
Here's a nice one of Arnie and Francelle just before we start a set.
It was really fun to watch the crowd tonight.
I think we're about to start the third set. There are crazy lights in here.
It was a good night. But my IEMs kept going between sounding really good and distorting. It was distracting. I don't think it was the sound guy or the equipment. I think it has to do with consistency of performance. You know how sometimes when you get excited you sing louder or play harder? That may have been happening to us tonight. I kept adjusting my monitor mix to get it comfortable, but then it would change. Then again, maybe it's just me. I'm still getting comfortable with this material and the band's idiosyncrasies. I'm sure it will be better tomorrow night.
On our last day in Las Vegas I wanted to show Mrs. BassCliff more than just the casino, hotel, and honkey tonk. We decided to go downtown and take in some touristy sights. This is the pawn shop on the TV show "Pawn Stars".
Inside was a lot of cool stuff, very collectible Greek, Roman, even Judean (mite) coins, nice artwork by Dali, Picasso, Rockwell, antique firearms, a few musical instruments like an original Steinberger bass. But the only picture I took inside was this photo op.
I did buy one of the employee-style polo shirts. I can't wait to wear it to work and see if anyone notices.
Mrs. BassCliff and I were all set to ride the SlotZilla Zoom Line down Freemont Street. We bought our tickets online and had a 7pm appointment.
Unfortunately, the 7pm appointment means that you can get in line at 7pm and then wait another two hours to get on the ride. We couldn't wait that long so we got a refund and told ourselves that we'd come earlier next time. We were meeting family that evening, Mrs. BassCliff has a cousin in town, and didn't want to change our plans.
So we went back to Treasure Island, I put on my cowboy clothes, and we entertained the masses. Here's Francelle belting out a tune while Arnie adjusts his IEM mix. I think he had the wrong frequency on his wireless pack. He said he was hearing my mix. Oops. The sound guy fixed it on the break.
It was a lively, dancing crowd. We even had a few friends from Southern California visiting after the George Strait concert.
Francelle sings a tender love ballad.
At the end of the night Francelle joins me for a selfie. I tried to get a band picture but everyone split in a hurry.
I had a tough load-out. I put my two basses in their cases and carried them up to my room.
The next morning we got ready early. I took one more parting shot in front of the honky tonk. There's a line at the door because of the Super Bowl Party at Gilley's. For $150 you could get all you could eat and drink during the game. I think I could get my money's worth. But we had to get moving.
Tip the bellman and the valet a few bucks and they treat you like you're somebody. All of the folks working with the guests are very nice. It's rare that you run into someone in a bad mood.
On the way out of town Mrs. BassCliff and I attended the late service at Life Springs Church. Well, look who's on stage with the worship team. It's my friend Charles. (You might remember him from previous Vegas trips.) He was rockin' the house of the Lord today. I thought I had moves, but you should see this guy make a joyful noise! It was a great worship service.
After church we decided to take a photo op with my trusty Astro van. His name is Bob van Astro, as named by my youngest daughter.
We said our goodbyes and hit the road. Johnny Fingers and his wife arrived at Baker at the same time we did so we all had lunch at the Mad Greek. The big thermometer said it was 77 degrees today.
I couldn't decide between the pastrami sandwich or the hamburger so I enjoyed their pastrami burger and fried zucchini.
Wow, talk about road food. It was really good.
We hit the road and were home in time to enjoy the halftime show and the entire second half of that terrific Super Bowl. Thanks for coming along with me on this trip. I think Arnie has another Gilley's trip planned for the last weekend of March. So I'll get to hang with Charles again.
I'll be working with the ANB this Wednesday at Downtown Disney. Then we have a private party on Saturday. So until then, thanks for looking!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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