Downtown Disney, 2/20/19

Hey there Mouseketeers!

We play the outdoor stage at Downtown Disney District once a month or so. You've all see me report on this gig. It's a bit of a hassle getting in and out but it's good "exposure". It's an old fashioned kind of gig with amps on stage and wedges on the floor. I loaded up my usual rig before leaving home and it waited patiently for me all day right outside my office window.

It had sprinkled a bit at work today and rain was forecast. As I headed toward The Magic Kingdom it seemed the clouds were breaking up a bit, like magic.

I pulled into the Simba Lot (one of the employee lots) and saw actual patches of blue sky.

I loaded up my handy-dandy Rock-n-Roller cart and headed for the stage, stopping for a photo op a little over halfway there.

I tossed my gear on stage and then let Daniel finish his last bit of setup dancing.

You've met Sean of MxxMaster Sound. He and his company work with us a lot. His tech Gary has worked with us before but only once about a year ago. I had to apologize because I couldn't remember his name. Sometimes I'm such a bass player.

The lovely Ms. Amanda Kate could not be with us tonight due to a studio session in LA. So Ms. Crystal Cooper joined us on stage to sing the female lead.

I think Jason was a bit chilly, wearing his hat, gloves, and ear muffs.

Johnny Magic Fingers enjoys his hot tea while Arnie checks his phone.

Crystal is ready to have some fun. Johnny hurries back to his keyboards. Arnie is still checking his phone, maybe looking at the weather.

Daniel makes sure his phone is in tune.

Just before downbeat I ran to the little bass player's room and took this picture on the way back. It got dark all of a sudden.

Arnie sang his opening Merle song. I sang my Hal Ketchum song. Crystal got halfway though "Blue" and the rain started. The Mouse's people told us to take a break until 7pm to see if the shower would pass. We covered our gear and put instruments in cases.

The shower did not pass so we were told to strike the stage and wait around until 8pm. OK. Gary covers some speakers. I helped roll up some cables. Everyone got their gear off stage.

It was coming down pretty hard for a while. The staff brought towels for us to dry our gear. That helped.

Our handler led us into one of the cast member areas behind the closed theater. We parked our gear in the hall and waited for 8pm to get here, or the rain to leave.

I wiped down my gear and explored the theater a bit. I'd never been in here. It seems to have been decorated in a modern art deco. All the theaters were padlocked and nailed shut with 2x4s. Luckily the bathrooms were open.

At 8pm we got word that we were released. We had to stick around so that we could get paid under contract. Had we left early without "authorization" we would not have gotten paid. I waited with the gear while the sound company loaded out to their truck.

It wasn't raining when we left but the evening had been pretty much ruined for music. Everything was wet. By the time the Mouse's crew would have cleaned up the stage and the band got set up again, there would have been very little time for spontaneous synchronous otoacoustic emissions for attendees' tympanic membranes.

Well, we began at 6pm. We ended at 6:09 pm. It's too bad. I was looking forward to working with Crystal for the evening. She had studied the material and was ready to share the fun.

We don't get rained out very often at Disneyland. This is only the second time for me and I've been working steadily in this park for the last seven years. It's almost as if Mickey has a magic umbrella. Tonight was a rarity. This is also the first time that they've made us wait so long before releasing us. There must be some new managers on board. Our stage manager seemed a little frustrated and apologized for all of the inconvenience. She was very pleasant. We knew it wasn't her fault.

We've got a wedding reception coming up on Saturday evening but nothing on Friday. Thanks for looking!


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff 

The Ranch, 2/15-16/2019

Hello ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, boys and girls, sisters and brothers, in-laws and outlaws,

Following our noteworthy debut of the Carrie Underwood tribute show, me and the ANB are having our regular weekend engagement at The Ranch Saloon. Friday night was pretty light, especially compared to our Wednesday night show. Heather told us that Saturday night was sold out. I said, "Great! It'll be like a Wednesday night in here!" It got a laugh.

Since I had the day off work I left my humble abode that evening in the midst of a little rainstorm to make my way back down to the venue.

When I arrived to the green room I found Arnie practicing for his solo guitar gigs he has coming up. He's great with the Chet Atkins picking stuff.

Tonight I decided to have some chicken tenders and a green salad. It was a tasty, light supper. I tend not to eat all my fries but Jason doesn't let them go to waste.

Our lovely Entertainment Manager, Heather, will be announcing us onstage tonight since the owner is away. Andrew will be back tonight to sing a few with us.

Here's Heather, Amanda, Randy, and Daniel just before downbeat.

Bam Bam counts us off and we're into the show.

On the break I wander up to the bar for a cold one. You can tell it's a light Friday night. We ended up getting off a half hour early. I'm not complaining.

Before we start the next set the lovely Ms. Amanda Kate and the old country bass player take a selfie.

We did a couple of the new Carrie Underwood songs tonight along with Amanda's song, "The Package", hence the acoustic guitar.

Saturday night at The Ranch was quite fun, a big crowd, lots of friends, and plenty of spontaneous synchronized otoacoustic emissions from the stage.

The weather had cleared and the traffic was fairly light for my freeway jaunt down to The Ranch.

I hadn't eaten today so I was hungry when I arrived. I helped myself to the steakburger and a salad. It hit the spot.

As we take the stage I notice the room is pretty full and the DJ had the dancers warmed up for us. Do I see someone special in the crowd?

Before we hit I took a few pictures of the band. Here's Magic Fingers Johnny and me at stage left.

Jason points his stick at his favorite bass player on stage tonight.

The lovely Ms. Amanda Kate puts up with her bass player in such a nice manner.

The guitar man himself, Arnie looks serious for a moment.

For our acoustic numbers, Arnie brought his little AER amp. He actually brings a couple of acoustics when we do the Carrie Underwood material. One is in drop-C tuning.

Yes! There is someone special in the audience tonight. Johnathan, who plays in a Journey tribute band, and his lovely wife are sitting right next to the sound booth. That's pretty much the best place in the room to hear the band. I'm glad you guys were able to join us Johnathan!

Toni and her crew, Sonia, Jen, and Amy were also in the house tonight. 



Our friend Monique was in town from Nashville and joined us on stage. Jason and Monique worked together for years back in the day.

This is Monique's friend, Gabby. We had a good time getting caught up. Monique had moved to the Bay area and then to Nashville. She's been gone for a few years.

Monique got up on stage and just slayed "Broken Wing" (Martina McBride). Monique has a very soulful voice.

We played our four sets. The crowd is starting to thin but they still want to line dance. DJ Leo plays all the requests.

While Johnny is packing up all his gear I put three basses into three cases and walk off the stage.

I did come back and help John with some of his gear. That's a lot of stuff for an old man to lug around. That's why I try not to lug around a lot of stuff. I'm an old man too.

Weekends at The Ranch are always fun. It's our home base, our showcase, our paid rehearsal, a place to stretch out and do a few non-country songs because the crowd there pretty much likes it all.

Thanks to you all who share your gigs too. Thanks for looking at mine. I'll be back in the next post with some social media pictures, just for fun.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff 

Tribute To Carrie Underwood, 2/13/19

Greetings friends and neighbors,

It's been a hectic, inconvenient, and somewhat stressful run-up to the debut of "Blown Away, a Tribute to Carrie Underwood featuring Amanda Kate with Arnie Newman's Country Club Band". We got'er done and it was a pretty successful "off-off-way-off-Broadway" opening.

That's right, every table and booth had been reserved by all of our friends and fans. There were even a few industry folks there interested in booking the show for their corporate clients and others. The day before we had a rehearsal at The Ranch to run the show and get lighting and other logistics ironed out. Here we are setting up for rehearsal on Tuesday evening. There's a rare glimpse of our sound guy, Mark.

These were the tools of our trade. Part of the show will be on acoustics.

John doesn't have an acoustic piano but he's got a mean accordion patch in there somewhere.

Here we are enjoying rehearsal. Crystal is joining us for this show. Crystal and Amanda have been singing together for almost two decades. Jason is on a little cocktail kit we were thinking about using for the acoustic part of the show but it ended up being more of a hindrance than a help, so we nixed the idea.

The day of the show I headed down into the OC at rush hour. The traffic was thicker than usual. I'm not sure if this is a good sign.

I arrived plenty early and found Jason already there putting the finishing touches on his electronics. He would be triggering some loops and tracks for our play-ons and segues. Everything seemed to work OK.

On the big screen is the poster advertising this special Wednesday night showcase.

We gather in the green room to have supper and change our strings.

I had my favorite Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and a chopped kale salad. You can also see most of our first set.

While we were readying ourselves, Melanie and Toni were taking a photo op next to the banner. That's their dance partner, Jason.

Just before we take the stage the ladies grace this old man with a selfie. I'm a lucky old country bass player.

We take our places on the sides of the stage so we can make an "entrance".

It's a great crowd tonight. Last Wednesday there were 25 people in the room to hear the band. (Wednesdays are usually a 'try out' night for new bands who want to get in the rotation.) Tonight there were 400 in attendance. We were delighted that so many of our friends and regulars at The Ranch would come out and support us this way. Jason triggers our walk-on music, we take our places, then start the opener right on time.

Amanda was really shining tonight.

We had hired an extra AV guy, Alex, to run the lights so that Mark could concentrate on the sound. We even got approval from the boss to add an extra 5db to our sound pressure levels, all the way up to 90db. Mark can really work magic if you give him room to work.

Amanda looked fabulous in her green sequins jumper.

Randy, Daniel, and Crystal were having fun and taking names.

We did have an open dance floor so people took advantage of the dance-able tunes on the set list.

Amanda was very personable to the audience. She took a minute to tell the folks what some of these songs meant to her. For example, "Cowboy Casanova" is a song that she liked so much she bought a horse and named it Cowboy Casanova. Stuff like that.

Tonight was all Amanda, all the time.

Crystal was featured on a couple of tunes this evening. Those two sing very well together, almost that "sister harmony".

I can't get enough of that green jumper.

The first set went by pretty quickly. The dancers found plenty to dance to.

On Wednesdays they like to split the show into two sets rather than one long one. That's OK. I need a beer anyway.

On the break I ran up to the bar to grab a cold one. Everyone is still here! Wow!

After a quick costume change for Amanda, we were ready for the second half of the show.

We started the second set with a few acoustic numbers, "Leave Love Alone", "Mama's Song", "Jesus Take The Wheel", and one of Amanda's originals, "The Package". The acoustic portion of the show was really fun. I'd like to do more of that kind of stuff.

Amanda enjoyed singing to her Mom and her Grandma, who were both in the audience tonight. It was a special evening.

Both Amanda's Mom, 70, and Grandma, 90, have had health issues lately but they were both doing great tonight and enjoyed the show.

I had a ton of fun tonight. I got in trouble for a couple of measures in "Before He Cheats", just a brain fart. Hopefully nobody noticed. It won't happen again.

Here's Arnie. We must be doing the Carrie Underwood cover of "Sweet Emotion". That's FUN to play.

Crystal is a talent in her own right but she is more than happy to support Amanda.

Did somebody say something funny?

Amanda, Amanda, Amanda. What can I say?

After the show we schmoozed and rubbed elbows. Look who was in the crowd tonight, one of our favorite fans, you know her, you love her, it's Tammi!

This is Toni. She reserved a whole section and brought all of her crew out to see us tonight. We love Toni.

Amanda and Toni.

Randy and I pose with a couple of Toni's crew, Ed and Dorothy.

Tonight, in addition to the Carrie Underwood material, we did two of Amanda's originals, the acoustic version of "The Package" and another called "Temptation". It's more of a rocker.

This is "The Package". 

This is Amanda covering Carrie Underwood covering Aerosmith. Carrie actually performs this song in her concerts so we thought we would too. 

Here's one last bit of cell phone video scraped from the social media pages, just to give you an idea of how much fun we had.

It was a really good debut of the tribute show. Thanks for looking!


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff