It was a pleasant, if cool, day here in Southern California, where all the women are strong, all the men good looking, and all the children are above average. We played an above average backyard party hosted by a very nice couple that loves the band and have known Arnie since their daughter, Madison (the grad/birthday girl), was a student at 'Rock Stars of Tomorrow' where Arnie used to teach.
My gig commute started off pretty nice. Here's the view heading into Riverside County from a transition overpass to the Pomona Freeway heading east into the IE.
It was another "May gray" day, a typical weather pattern for this time of year caused by low pressure systems in the area that aren't enough to cause rain, just clouds and overcast. Don't worry, we'll be complaining about the heat soon enough.
What did I say about traffic? It seems I hit the iron curtain when I got to the outskirts of Riverside. It was thick and crawling almost all the way to the gig from there due to the holiday traffic. Ick! It eased up a bit as I drove by March Air Base. This is a view of the Air Museum from the highway. March is a reserve base now. It was a Strategic Air Command base when I was stationed there as a young airman in the late 70s-early 80s.
I arrive at my destination in a newer development south of Lake Perris and March AFB.
As I wheel my gear in through the house, it was the only way into the back yard, I notice some of the refreshments and appetizers are all ready for the party.
That's Wayne, our host, father of the grad, talking to Arnie. Arnie arrived shortly after I did and we decided to set up next to the jacuzzi. We had considered letting Jason use the jacuzzi as his drum riser.
Jason and John arrive and the setup dance continues.
Randy arrives and assembles his weapon of musical destruction. The underworkings of pedal steel guitar have always been a mystery to me.
This is Eli, our taco chef. He worked hard this evening and made us very happy. Tacos in my tummy!
Our hosts Wayne and Robin made sure we had a large variety of brews to sample. I thought this Kilt Lifter was quite interesting.
John was our sound man and our keyboard player again today. He borrowed one of my spare wireless routers so that he could run the sound from his tablet.
The subwoofer was right next to me up front. I didn't have to use a lot of stage volume at all. It looks like Randy and Arnie are almost ready to sound check.
Hey look! The talent is here! The lovely Amanda joins us for an evening of merry music making.
This is John's digital mixer there on top of the sub. I was worried about hum but everything worked just great. You also see my small rig back there by Jason's small kit.
This is Amanda saying, "Test. Test. Check one, two, three."
John stands in the middle of the back yard mixing to make sure all the neighbors can hear us well enough.
Mrs. Arnie joins the party.
I'm not sure if the crowd is waiting for the band or waiting for the tacos. Probably both.
We sound checked a couple of songs. Since Madison, the grad, is singing with us this evening we made sure she got a sound check too.
We are all set up and sound checked. We take a moment to put on our cowboy clothes, grab another beer, and get ready to put on the show.
It looks like John is ready. He's got his tablet in hand, waiting to make adjustments with the monitors or the house mix.
Stage right, Amanda, Arnie, and Randy are ready to get this party started.
Jason is ready too.
We're really having a good time now! The evening started off cool and got cooler as the sun went down.
Arnie says, "We're gonna let Cliff sing one and then take a break." Oh boy! That means tacos!
And here's the band, doing what musicians love to do, eat tacos.
I had a couple of chicken tacos and a couple of carne asada tacos and another beer that I've never had before.
And these were just a few of the desserts. I didn't get a picture of the strawberry cheese cake or chocolate cherry cake.
An then our grad got up to perform a set with us. Can you imagine? Her parents love her so much that they got her a band for her graduation party. Madison did a great job singing everything from Loretta Lynn to Maroon 5.
When the sun went down it got a little chilly but we kept the music hot.
Madison got back up to sing a couple of duets with Amanda.
The cold was relieved by sipping from the mason jar full of moonshine. We passed around the jar until everyone had a taste. It was good stuff! Wayne is really into (legal) moonshine.
The party is winding down as we play right up to 10pm. That's when the cops usually get called.
Amanda sings the last tune, "Here For The Party". It was a great party.
Then it's time for the tear-down dance. The band hauls a lot of stuff around.
After helping everyone load out, one more piece of strawberry cheesecake, a pit stop, I was on my way home and arrived about 12:30am. That's not too late, I guess. I made it to church on time the next morning, barely.
Next weekend Johnny and I will be in Austin with True Willie playing for another private party at the 3Ten/Austin City Live, next to The W. That should be a nice gig. Until then....
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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