I've got some time before I leave work to drive to Las Vegas tonight so I'll post up my gig from last Saturday. Me and the ANB played at the Buckle & Boots in Lancaster CA, a new honky tonk for us. We go up over Cajon Pass like we're headed to Victorville, Barstow, Vegas, but then turn off on Hwy 138 toward the Palmdale/Lancaster area. It's a pretty scenic drive. This is the area called "Mormon Rocks" just west of the Interstate 15.
After we leave the pass the desert gets pretty flat.
The nightclub is located in a downtown shopping area that's actually pretty nice. This street has lots of shops, eateries, a theater, etc.
I had to go around the block a couple of times because the club is back from the street a little bit and is easy to miss. When I got there I found this suspicious character hanging around.
John got there just before I did and found the place all locked up. We knocked on the door until someone let us in. Here's a shot of the marquis.
The load-in was not bad at all. We parked around back and rolled up to the door right by the stage.
It was a good sized stage with a pretty good JBL sound system.
John and I drove separately. The rest of the band rode with Arnie in his truck. We commenced with the setup dance.
Here's a view of the room. It's a decent sized room and I love the decor. It had a real honky tonk vibe.
Another view from the stage showing the short bar. The long bar is in the back of the room.
This is Dave, the sound guy. He's worked with the Doobie Brothers where he picked up the nickname "Mouse". It's short for "Mighty Mouse". He is a great guy to work with.
My regular "small" rig. I didn't unload my trusty Astro van from last night's gig. I'm getting lazy in my old age.
I thought this was a great photo op.
This is Benjamin helping Paul to get set up. Ben was an upright guy too, very helpful.
Amanda Kate sets up her mic stand.
Here's Ben at the FOH board and light console.
And a view of the stage from FOH. Arnie was the only one with a cowboy hat on tonight. The soundguy, "Mouse", has to EQ the mic a little differently, hence the reminder.
It's time to sound check. Paul is with us tonight on fiddle and steel since Randy couldn't make it this far.
After sound check we went downstairs to the VIP room for supper. We walked past the pool room and bowling alley.
The VIP room was behind the glass. We didn't get a real green room but this worked out just fine.
Here we are looking over the menu and watching the bowlers. There was also a big game of Jenga going on and every time the tower fell it made an awful racket.
This is Chanelle. She was one of our helpful, friendly servers who brought us all kinds of tasty treats.
I tried one of the more interesting items on the menu. This is chicken and waffles BUT the waffles were made of mac-n-cheese and the fried chicken was covered with good ol' country gravy. It was decadent.
We also had a bunch of appetizers, fried pickles, Southwest egg rolls, onion rings. You also see Jason's monster burger. John had a steak salad that looked great.
We enjoy each others' company as we share a meal.
After supper we get into our stage clothes and go back upstairs to see what kind of noise we can make.
On my way to the stage I stop by the long bar and Christa serves me a nice stout (I've been into stouts and porters lately), but I didn't catch the brewery.
Then Jenna wanted to get in on the selfie with my beer. Why not? (Do they know I'm the bass player?)
I'm going to have to get one of these signs to put up in the office.
Here's my "Beauty and the Beast, and the bass player" picture just before we start.
Paul and Arnie are under the red lights.
Amanda is enjoying herself. We enjoy working with her too.
Amanda is probably singing one of those girl songs. Although she does sing a Brooks and Dunn song and a Merle song.
The crowd does a line dance called the 'Black Velvet'.
John brought his full rig to this gig. It looks like his doesn't know which one to play.
Against that brick wall Jason's drums were killing me this evening. The snare sounded like a shotgun blast into the back of my head. I had to wear ear plugs. So did Amanda. As soon as we put ear plugs in, Jason took that to mean he could play even louder. I'm going to have a talk with that boy.
We played a long two hour set from 10pm to midnight. Then we were done.
As we packed up and loaded out the crowd stayed to party to the DJ music. It was a nice crowd and a pretty cool club. All the staff treated us well, made sure we were comfortable, and had everything we needed. We have more dates here. I think I'm looking forward to them.
The drive home was just shy of 90 miles on a dark desert highway. (Does that sound like a song?) I was home around 2am. That's pretty late for this old man, but I can swing it once in a while. Thanks for coming along with me. See you next time in Las Vegas!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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