Canyon Cowboy, 3/29/19

Howdy pardners,

On a Friday night the ANB and I had a good time making noise at the Canyon Cowboy near Lake Elsinore. We've played here a few times but tonight we brought back Amanda and her Carrie Underwood tribute show. It was a hit.

My evening started with a jaunt down the 71 freeway. It's not much of a freeway, I don't drive it very often, but it gets me where I'm going along with thousands of other commuters on a Friday evening.

As I made my way down the 15 freeway I think I caught a glimpse of the "superbloom".

There was heavy traffic in spots so I'm glad I allowed time. Here's my gear ready to roll down the ramp to the venue.

I tossed my gear on stage and then gave the others room for their setup dance.

Arnie arrived after Jason, John, and I. You might notice my ABG. We'll be doing a few acoustic numbers during the Carrie Underwood portion of the show this evening.

Our soundguy, Scotty, gets Jason's mix dialed in.

While Scotty finishes wiring the stage I took a picture from his FOH.

This is the other side of the room, from the sound booth.

Here's the view from my mic as we are about to start the CU set.

The staff did move tables and chairs so as to give our fans enough dance room. Here's the lovely Ms. Amanda Kate before we start the show.
 

We had a guest star in the house tonight. Andy Wood and a couple of his band were in town from Knoxville shooting promo videos. They stopped by the club and sat in. Ben Eller is his bassist, a cool cat.

They played a few numbers from Andy's new release. It sounded like "farm jazz" instrumental music.

Then we got back on the stage to earn our keep. Here's Johnny!

Seems like it was ladies' night.

This is Stephanie and Nicole. They didn't mind taking a picture with the bass player. Sorry, I don't know who the photobombers were.

Amanda sang a few more with us hairy-legged boys after the Carrie show.

Here's Scotty, our soundguy, in his natural habitat.

All of a sudden it was time to get out of Dodge. We had to leave our cases and junk out on the back porch because it was too crowded to leave it inside.

And here's a parting shot. Hey, wasn't this where we came in?

It was a pretty fun evening even though I had to wear earplugs all night. Andy Wood's bass player, Ben Eller, was also wearing ear plugs. That little room with low ceilings is just plain loud. Their drummer, Julian Garcia, a local guy, had a little more finesse.

Thanks for looking! I don't think I have another gig until next weekend. Until then, take care.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Las Palmas Country Club, 3/23/19

Hi guys!

Wow! It looks like all the regulars, and a few new gig posters, are playing some really fun gigs, overcoming adversities, and entertaining the masses. Nice work everyone.

My gig this past Saturday started with a cruise down the tree-lined main boulevard in my town as I made my way toward the freeway to head out to the desert.

 Again, me and the ANB were playing out in the Palm Springs area. It is "the season" you know. Today's event was at the Las Palmas Country Club. It's off of Bob Hope drive just a few exits east of the 10/111 split.

There was just a little confusion with the directions. The agent gave us the address, which was the Las Palmas Resort. I've played a couple of gigs here in the past so I thought it would be more of the same. This all looks familiar.

However, when I went to the concierge desk to ask where the band was setting up she gave me a look that said, "Hmm, this guy must be the bass player." She made a few phone calls and talked to a couple of the event managers, both of which said there was no live music planned for today. Perhaps my gig is in the country club next door. So I hop back into my trusty Astro van, go back out to Bob Hope Drive, take a left to the next light, pull into the country club, and head toward the clubhouse.

It turns out that the resort address is 41000 and the country club address is 42000. That was a little mixup by the agent. Everyone went to the resort first and were then directed to the country club, even after I texted everyone. But we all know you shouldn't text and drive. This is the view from the front of the clubhouse. It was a beautiful day out here in Palm Springs.

I walked into the clubhouse and was greeted by an old friend.

The room was done up in a country-fied theme, very cute.

Our stage was behind the rail on the other side of the dance floor. Thankfully we were a quartet today so we should fit.

This is the view out of the back door near the stage. Nice place.

Yes, speaking of back doors, one way to get to the stage was to roll/carry your stuff up this grassy little hill from the parking lot. It was a bit inconvenient.

The other way was to roll your gear in through the front door. It was a longer carry but the path was all sidewalk and ramps. There were three steps from the dancefloor to the stage. I rolled my trusty Rock-n-Roller cart around the long way because it just seems so much easier.

I don't think Arnie is having much fun with this load-in dance. I gave him a hand with the PA but at the end of the night he elected to roll out the front door instead.

You might remember Christy from a previous gig at The Club at Morningside. Christy is not only a looker but a hustler as well. She knows lots of golf clubs out here looking for entertainment and we are her favorite country/variety band.

We finished our setup and played a dinner set. Then we took a break to let the club members make speeches and give awards. The band had it's own table for supper. Please pass the bread.

The rest of the guys had the beef. I had the roasted chicken. It was excellent. But we did not get any pie for dessert. Drat.

Terri, our hostess, is finishing up the announcements, stretching while the band gobbles its supper.

Here's the other side of the room finishing up their supper and having dessert.

Then the band is back for our dance set. Yes! We have achieved line dancing! They also loved the variety of pop, classic rock, and oldies that we played.

I tried to snap a few pictures of the band but it was a bit more difficult. Without Amanda there were no long intros I could use for photography. I tried my best. I think Johnny is kicking off his boogie woogie piano number.

Yes, Dave is keeping time on the rim as Johnny plays a couple of choruses solo.

I think my flash caught Arnie by surprise. That auto-flash goes off whenever it wants to.

I had a quick second to attempt a selfie with the band. It almost worked.

After the gig we posed for a glam shot. Half of us had on the same shirts, just in different colors. I thought it worked out OK.

Because Johnny brought only one keyboard to the gig (Big shock!) he was the first one out. Because I helped everyone else with their gear, I was the last one out.

We went very simple with the PA today, only two powered sticks and two powered monitors with one mix. We didn't mic any instruments. We did a good job keeping the volume down and the crowd had fun. Terri tipped us $300 and paid for all of our beer. We thanked her profusely for her hospitality. One of the gentlemen working there wants to hire us for his wedding in September. I think for a couple hundred bucks more than what the DJs charge around here you can get a good country/variety band. He loved our selection of tunes. All in all, a good night.

I was done in time to drive through downtown Palm Springs to hear my friend Rick playing at Las Casuelas Terraza. I was there in time to catch their last two sets and share a couple beers. It's always a blast to listen to other people play music. I get so tired of hearing myself play.

Rick and I had a drink across the street and as we were walking back to our cars we passed this quirky little art gallery that had this picture of the Orange Crush interchange in the window. I drive through this almost every time I have a gig in Orange County. I've never seen an aerial view.

I wonder when this picture was taken. There seems to be so little traffic. I never see it like this during the daytime. Anyway, that was my gig this weekend. Thanks for looking!


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff 

Puttin' On The Hits 2019

Esteemed colleagues,

I submit this humble post because an extreme modicum of interest was expressed by a vast minority of you concerning my efforts in the annual talent show facilitated by my employer. It's called "Puttin' On The Hits" and is a scholarship fundraising variety show extravaganza.

I left my cluttered workbench in the shop to drive across campus to take part in the tech rehearsal on Wednesday evening.

The tech rehearsals were Tuesday and Wednesday. The dress rehearsal was Thursday, we'll get to a few pictures of that later in this post. The performance is tonight, Friday. This is the view of the Sophia B. Clark Theater from the stage. It holds about four hundred.

Oops, there's some bass player's mug blocking the view.

These ladies will be performing "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" in a cabaret setting. There will be a few acts using this "set".

Another act does their tech rehearsal in the cabaret set. The tech rehearsal is not in the order of the show. It's for working out entrances, exits, lighting, staging, etc, of each individual performance.

Here's the view of the stage from the FOH and lighting console at the back of the theater. The spotlight operators are above us about thirty feet.

Now it's dress rehearsal time on Thursday night. These are our Emcees, Jill and John. They are charming but I kind of wish they had better writers. Some of their jokes are real groaners.

It's not a good idea to leave your children unattended back stage.

What self-respecting theater doesn't have something covered in bumper stickers?

These are some of the props used in the acts, mostly lip-synching, a beat up old kit, a Strat copy, a P copy, a couple of plastic horns, etc, enough to create the illusion.

Before dress rehearsal the director, Rondell, and the assistant director, Alli, give the troops instructions and a pep talk. Yay band!

The dressing rooms were spacious but started to smell like a locker room after a while. You stick a bunch of guys in a room and, well, you know.

One dance act uses lighted umbrellas.

This young fellow does his Lady Gaga number with some backup dancers.

Here are the "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" ladies doing their song and dance.

These guys are jamming along to Queen's "We Will Rock You".

This young fellow is doing his act to a song from the musical "Chicago" called "When You're Good To Mama".

This is the big finale dance number, "Downtown" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

Here we are all on stage after the dress rehearsal getting our final direction. I think the show is going to be a hoot. Everybody was having fun.

Here's the front of the theater where the performance was given. It's a very nice theater on campus that hosts a variety of musical and theater productions throughout the year.

This was the list of performances for the event, quite the variety.

Here's a nice picture of Rowena and I doing our "Shallow" number.

And just for grins and giggles, here we are at the tech rehearsal.

 

A good time was had by all. I had fun so I might just do this again next year as long as all I have to do is stand there and sing. I'm getting too old to dance like Janet Jackson. 

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff