BassCliff's Gigs: The Ranch, 6/8-9/18

Hello dear friends,

Me and the ANB are playing our monthly weekend at The Ranch. Before I start with the gig let me share a few pictures from our paid rehearsal this past Monday. Can you believe we get to rehearse in this place too? Complete with the backline, the sound man, and we get fed! Wow, I'm one of the luckiest bass players on the planet.

Here's Arnie and Candy going over some parts to a Merle Haggard medley that he put together.

After we rehearsed with the club owner and ran through all of his songs, we retired to the green room for our supper. I just love the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and the Beet Salad.

Then John and I are back on stage to rehearse the new material.

In order the control the volume, the backline now includes a smaller drum kit.

The soundman, Mark, devised the shield you see there. He put the top of a music stand on the legs of a snare drum stand, then draped black tablecloth material over the music stand. It's a small but effective drum shield.

We had a good rehearsal and decided to knock off a little early. We can stay until 10pm if we want but once we heard the Disneyland fireworks show start we called it a night.

Then comes Friday and it's been a long, busy week for me so I was not 100% but I had my fun anyway, and didn't stink up the joint too bad. I was pounding the coffee all day and had my usual ROCKSTAR about a half hour before downbeat. The caffeination protocol is my only hope when I've been burning the candle at both ends.

After drinking a pot of coffee at work I left about 4pm to drive down to the OC. It was a pleasant commute, mostly. One (1), because my favorite on-ramp to the southbound 57 freeway was open again after being closed for over six months. This cut about 15 minutes off my commute. And two (2) was because the commute was relatively unsnarled, traffic-wise, until I hit Fullerton right by Cal State.

But even then, the traffic was moving along at a good 20-30mph until it loosened up just before the 91. We've all seen much worse.

When I arrived, Arnie was visiting with his friend, and luthier, Chris Peterson. Chris brought out a couple of guitars for him to try. Chris had been experimenting with B-benders and wanted Arnie's input. Here's Arnie taking a picture of Chris' work.

It's still a bit early so I snap a picture of John as he's taking his sound check.

Jason doesn't really have to give the sound man some kick drum. Mark (soundman) had us all dialed in from rehearsal earlier in the week.

Another potential "Rigs of Dad" entry. My rig and Arnie's rig.

Then I saw Katie, and she still had her hair down! Katie is our favorite.

I ran out front to grab a selfie and chat for a while. Katie was folding napkins, very important work, so I didn't want to disturb her too much. I wandered on back to the green room to await my supper. Here's a shot of the club right after the doors open.

I was in the mood for some fried pickles. They are so good here at The Ranch. They go great with the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich.

I pause to take a selfie on stage just before we start.

Amanda notices and wants to join in the fun! The lovely Amanda is such fun to work with, sings great, and brings great energy and personality to the band.

John is ready to start his honky tonkin' piano playin' fun tonight!

On a break Randy and I enjoy an adult beverage and watch the line dancers on the floor.

We both enjoy the El Technico on draught.

Then it's back to work entertaining the masses.

Amanda saw me taking pictures and decided to be extra cute.

Here's a picture with Jason and the stage right people.

I took this just before we started the next set. We're a little blue, sorry.

Here's Randy and Candy.

There was a bachelorette party here tonight and they all were wearing blonde wigs to celebrate.

Yes, they were having their fun too.

Every night Mark always has our IEMs ready on the monitor mixer.

This is our amazing Entertainment Manager, Heather. She not only takes great care of us but she scolds us when we're bad.

What can I say? I'm a creature of habit. Saturday night I had the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and Beet Salad for supper.

Here's Arnie about to kick off the evening.

I didn't take a lot of pictures tonight, sorry. I was talking to a minor celebrity in the house tonight on the last break and thought I'd show you a view of the line dancers.

That minor celebrity was a fellow named Jamie Hunting. He's been playing with Roger Daltry lately. After talking to Jamie we were back on stage for our last set. Amanda gives me a smile as I take a picture from the bass player's viewpoint.