The Ranch, 5/18-19/18

Hey guys!

Let's get this Ranch weekend started!

Or maybe not. I left work a little early as I usually do so that I can make it down to the OC and soundcheck at The Ranch with the ANB. Unfortunately, there was a fire along the freeway and three lanes were closed which caused a huge backup.

Instead of the normal forty minute drive to the club it took me two hours and fifteen minutes. Egads! Why didn't I get off the freeway? As I listened to the radio traffic reports, all the side roads were already jammed too and not any better getting into the OC. So I just stuck it out. We didn't really need to soundcheck anyway since we had just rehearsed there Tuesday night. When I arrived the dance lessons were in full swing. The patrons are learning the two step.

Tonight I was hungry for the yellow tail fish tacos and a beet salad. The food here is just terrific.

Our DJ Leo plays the last line dance before we take the stage. It's like a floor show here every night.

Randy is rip-roaring, raring, and ready to go!

I catch a break in a song and decide to snap a couple of pictures during the show. This is the bass player's perspective on stage.

John is in good spirits. He's having a garage sale tomorrow. I might stop by and see if he has any good junk for sale.

Arnie plays an intro on guitar so I step out front a little to grab a picture.

Candy, Randy, and Jason are also putting on the show.

Amanda is dancing again!
 

Before we start a set the lovely ladies join me in a blue selfie. The Keith Urban song "Blue Ain't Your Color" comes to mind.

Arnie noticed that the bass player was taking a picture. He points and says, "Hey! That bass player is taking a picture again!"

Here's a crummy selfie for you.

Jason is a rock star.

Rigs of Dads. Arnie's Little Walter(s) and my backline rig, which I left turned off most of the night because I use the IEMs.

This is Arnie's new mic, an AEA ribbon mic, I think he said a 454 model.

Wow! Look at that! We managed to get the whole band together on a break and take a picture in the green room.

It's kind of a light Friday night. We got the word that our last set will be only a half hour. That's pretty cool. Meanwhile the line dancers are not slowing down.

Arnie is trying out a new guitar from a luthier frined of his, Peterson.

I think Arnie likes this guitar, very Tele-ish. Here's the FriendFace flyer that Arnie (or Jason) posted.

Since we were there two night I'll also post up some pictures from Saturday night. My commute was not nearly as grueling or time consuming as Friday evening's.

The "May gray" is in full effect here in So Cal but my steakburger and ROCKSTAR brought a little sunshine into my evening.

As we take the stage I take a "Beauty and The Beast, and the bass player" selfie picture while Jason photobombs.

Arnie tunes up while the DJ plays the last line dance before our downbeat.

Amanda gives me a smile as I take a photo just before we start the first set.

John is excited tonight. He made money at his garage sale today.

And then there's this guy.

Paul covered the fiddle spot tonight, when he wasn't playing his acoustic guitar. Every country band needs an acoustic guitar. Randy agrees. Arnie just photobombs.

Somehow I think I manage to take a few pictures during an intro or something.

I hope you remember Heather, our entertainment manager. She always takes great care of us.

I think this is toward the end of the night, maybe the last set. I stand behind John and take a few pictures.

I think Paul played on a stool most of the night. He had a really cushy gig tonight.

Here's another. Amanda goes for her mic. I guess she's going to sing.

Yes! She is singing! I walk upstage to try and get a picture of her.

We had some pretty great fun tonight. When all was said and done I had to load up two basses and a couple of bags. Sometimes I love being the bass player.

Randy and Paul are packing up their stuff. That's our soundman extraordinaire, Mark, rolling up cables, moving gear, putting away microphones, etc. (Don't tell him I took his picture. He hates that.)

Even as extraordinary as Mark is, he still has a brain fart now and then. Tonight when we started the second set, my bass was not in my IEMs, was not in the house. Egads! Johnny and I were waving and trying to get Mark's attention. Usually when he sees that kind of stuff Mark is thinking, "Oh, he wants more bass in his monitors." I knew Mark had me muted on the board and just forgot to push the button. But I wanted to be sure so I put down my six string, picked up my four string and started playing it. Well, the four string started working. Not because the six string had failed in any way, but because when Mark saw me switch basses he looked at the board and realized that he forgot to un-mute me. Mark was very apologetic but, hey, it's no big deal. Stuff happens. But it did throw me off for a while, and the whole band for that matter. You might notice in the video below that I'm playing my four string Fender on a song that I usually play my six string. This song, "Til The Coast Is Clear" really needs that low D (on the B string) to sound like the recording and I kept messing it up because I had to constantly rethink the bass line. Then Arnie skipped a song on the set list and almost trainwrecked the band when he started the wrong song. It was a very weird second set. Anyway, here's my parting shot as the lights come up and the late crowd is still dancing to the DJ as we load out.

OK, one more. As you can see, the band has their own parking spots near the stage door. It's kind of cool.

Here's one shot of the whole band from Friday night taken by Mrs. Arnie. What a great looking stage.

Thanks for sharing my fun! I hope you enjoy my little corner of the musical interweb. I'll be back next week with another Old Crow Smokehouse gig on Friday and a private birthday party on Saturday. Until then....


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Old Crow Smokehouse, 5/11/18

Hey party people!

Me and the ANB had a great night at The Old Crow Smokehouse in Huntinton Beach on a Friday night.

This room has a late start, 9:30pm, so I didn't have to leave work as early as I do on other gigs. The traffic wasn't bad, even though this was the "rush hour" because I was travelling opposite to most of the commuters. There's a game on at Angel Stadium tonight. The lights are on as I drive by.

Just like earlier in the week when we played at Stillwater, I drove until my tires almost got wet, then I turned right. Just across the intersection here at Pacific Coast Highway is the Huntington State Beach.

It was a gloomy "May gray" day with overcast skies and misty rain off and on. It's the normal weather pattern here. Don't worry, we'll be complaining about the heat soon enough. I pulled into the parking structure below the shopping center where the venue is located.

I had a short-ish roll to the elevator up to the second floor.

You can see the waves on the beach from here. It's not really 'fun-in-the-sun' weather right now but the beach is always nice.

Here's the front of the restaurant. There's nobody dining on the patio right now because of the light rain. These tables will fill up later when the rain lets up.

The Old Crow is pretty much in the middle of this retail shopping center, Pacific City, right on Pacific Coast Highway.

Looking across the street you can see Ruby's Diner at the end of the pier.

I roll into the joint to find Arnie and Jason just about set up.

I toss my gear on stage and then Johnny arrives. He asks to use my Rock-n-Roller cart because he forgot his. I help him with his gear. It's what bass players do.

This fellow is preparing meat for the BBQ right near the stage, in the kitchen behind the glass.

The room has the ball game on the TV. The last time I checked the Angels were up 4-2 in the 6th.

This is Josh, our sound guy. We've worked with him a few times in this room. I think he's getting used to us. You also see the ADA lift where we store all of our cases and junk. I hope we don't get in trouble.

Here's my favorite bar manager, Brandi. I have never paid for a beer in this joint. She's very good to us.

Brandi even took our supper order and served us at our table. I enjoyed the sausage with some baked beans and coleslaw. They've got terrific food here.

After supper we have a quick sound check. Everyone seems to be playing at a reasonable volume this evening. I think I'm really going to have fun.

Now I'm going to put on my cowboy clothes so I can properly entertain the masses. That's right boys and girls. Appearance is important.

I use my trusty Astro van as my dressing room down in the parking garage. I just change into my Scully shirt and eel skin boots. I look sharp. When I get back Arnie is emailing his logo to the soundguy so he can put it up on the TV screens around the room.

Here's a shot of the room from my mic. It's a great crowd despite the weather. There are visitors from Chicago in the house as well as a birthday party. A few musician friends showed up too.

We got the show started and tried to keep it at a fairly brisk pace. I didn't have a chance to take a picture until Johnny played the intro to his big boogie woogie number.

Arnie says, "Are there any Haggard fans in the house?"

We had line dancers on the non-existent dance floor. 

Arnie says, "Here's my friend Cliff to sing you a real country song."

I think because we didn't play so loud tonight, like we did last time, the crowd stayed, they danced, and everyone had a good time.

Well, looky here! Our dear friend  Grant was in the house, just like he threatened us he would be.

 I didn't get a chance to visit with Grant as much as I'd hoped. Instead of three sets we were asked to play two longer sets with only one break in the middle. I didn't mind and I think it helped to keep the crowd there all night. The place was jumping. I think Arnie has a fan.

The birthday girl shared her cake with the band. I'm sorry I didn't offer you a bite, Grant.

This lovely young lady was having fun all night long.

As was the whole crowd. I was quite pleased that several of the younger folk came up to me and complimented the band tonight.

I'm not sure what's going on here but I had a chance to use my camera, so I did.

It was a generally younger crowd tonight and I got many requests for real, classic country music. It was pretty cool.

This is not a good picture but I found out that this young lady, Devin, is also from Louisiana, as am I, so we chatted about Southern stuff and things we had in common.

Then at 12:30am, after two long sets, we had to pack it in. The whole room was screaming for an encore but the soundguy had already turned on the house music and was not going to turn it off. I think he wanted to go home. Party pooper.

I gave Johnny a little hand with his gear and then I headed out too.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my fun. We'll be back in this room in exactly two weeks. Next weekend we will be at The Ranch. I know you guys like that place. Until then, thanks for looking!


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff