Saturday, March 3, 2018

Elks Lodge Birthday, 2/10/18

Hello everyone,

Oh boy! I'm a month behind with my gig blog. Sorry about that. Let's start with this one...



Me and the ANB had a fun time playing a birthday party for the family of clients who come to see us at The Ranch. Arnie has known them for a couple of years and it was very nice of them to invite us to play for a special 60th birthday.

The evening started about 4:45pm with me picking up Johnny Fingers and all of his gear. John brings three times as much gear as I do. Yeegads.


It was only a 40 mile haul to the venue but the traffic was sticky in a few places so it took a little over an hour to get there. Here we are looking at the San Gabriel Valley as we go over Kellogg Hill.


We arrived just after dark to the Elks Lodge 888. We loaded in the back door.


We rolled through the bar area. (It's like a time warp in here.) The crowd was arriving as we did. But everyone was respectful and gave us room to set up.


There were two large rooms in the front of the lodge. This room where we set up was for music, dancing, and the buffet line. Here we are plugging stuff in. The room behind the camera was used for the main dining area.


John ended up using only two of his keyboard but used both of his powered speakers because he loves to run stereo. I brought a thermos of coffee, just because.


It looks like we are all set up and ready to make noise. It's time to put on our cowboy clothes.


But first! We were invited to partake in the buffet even though it meant we'd start a little late. Nobody minded. The food was really good. Here's Jason, first in line.


We had pulled pork and chicken. There were rolls for sandwiches but I passed on most of the carbs. That coleslaw was excellent. The baked beans were Grandma's special recipe. I asked our hostess about the special ingredient. She said it was Canadian bacon and maple syrup. Those beans were just about the best I ever had.


We are just about ready to start. Francelle lets me take a nice picture.


Then Francelle's fan club decided to photobomb. They were having fun dancing this evening.


Francelle begins our dinner set. You see my goStand with the clamp-on sheet holder.


 Arnie and Francelle cut up on the mic.


John wowed them with a boogie-woogie tune called "Mama Screw Your Wig On Tight".


Jason was having fun too. He brought his smallest kit. It was a small gig.


Here's the birthday boy, Rich, with Francelle. Rich's family was mostly French-Canadian. Francelle was a big hit because she is from New Brunswick. They were speaking French all night.


You might remember Yvonne from last weekend at The Ranch. She's also part of this clan.


We played until 11:30pm and had to call it a night. It was a fun party. Now it's time to get to work.


By the time we packed up, helped John and Arnie with their gear, dropped John off, unloaded his gear, and drove home, I got three hours sleep before playing in church the next morning. I needed a nap after church.  ;)

Now I'm gonna learn a few new tunes for the True Willie rehearsal tomorrow. I've got a gig with Arnie on Friday evening. Other than that I'm not too busy this week. Thanks for looking!

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff 

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