Me and the ANB just finished our Friday night at The Ranch Saloon. We play here at least one weekend a month. It's our home base here in the OC. I began my weekend by taking off from work just a little early so I could join the band running a few tunes during sound check. As I leave work you see the construction of the stadium coming along nicely.
Here we are just about ready to run a few tunes. Can you tell me who's missing?
Mark, our illustrious sound man, is here but Amanda has yet to arrive. Randy's not here yet either. I actually made it a little earlier than I thought I would. We learned a half dozen new songs and wanted to run them before doors. We got through most of them. Here's Mark helping Paul get set up with all of his utility instruments.
Tonight Paul played pedal steel, fiddle, banjo, and acoustic guitar. It was great having him on the gig along with Randy, who also slung a six sting for a few tunes. After sound check we retired to the green room for supper. Here's the salad course.
Paul had the Ahi tuna. I had the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. The Ranch has great grub.
We take the stage as the line dancers finish up their line dancing lesson.
I think Johnny is almost ready to start.
Jason is getting his computer ready to start.
There's nothing but blue light on the stage before we start, that's why we all look so, um, blue, even this "Beauty and the Beast and the Bass Player" picture.
I turned on the flash for my picture of Heather and Amanda. Heather, our entertainment director here at The Ranch, is announcing us tonight. She always takes great care of us, whatever we need. We all love Heather! (And Amanda too!)
We played a couple of sets before Johnny Magic Fingers played his boogie-woogie number.
We had TWO pedal steel players in the band tonight! Paul also played acoustic guitar, fiddle, and banjo.
Jason played drums and cymbals.
Amanda got jiggy with her own jiggidy self.
We also try to keep the line dancers happy, mostly. They love us, they really do.
On a break I was happy to dance with a couple of my two-step buddies, Melanie and Shelly.
Our last set was cut short a little bit because it was a little slow tonight. We cut out early so I was able to stop by the local 7-11 before they closed and found a limited release of this LaGunitas Undercover Investigation Shutdown Ale. Good stuff!
On my way to the gig Saturday I stopped by Last Name Brewery because a friend was celebrating his birthday there and there was live music. I listened to the first song while I enjoyed their oatmeal stout.
I stayed longer than I should have but the commute down to The Ranch was easy as there was very little traffic.
It seems the whole band was running late tonight. Arnie had called me and said his truck was overheating again, he would be running late. When I arrived, Paul and Randy were working on Randy's steel guitar because one of the mechanisms was not working right. We all ended up eating about 7:30 and our downbeat was 8pm. I enjoyed the chicken tenders and a chopped kale salad.
As I take the stage and put on my wireless IEM pack I take a picture of Johnny talking to the two steel players.
The DJ has the line dancers doing one more before we hit it.
Heather, the entertainment manager, announced us tonight. The owner is on vacation. Amanda looks especially lovely in her fancy dress.
I'm not too sure about these two guys. I think I've seen their picture on the wall at the post office.
Amanda kicks us off and we sure are glad.
Here's John doing his big boogie-woogie number.
I couldn't take a lot of pictures tonight because there weren't a lot of songs with long intros, but I managed a few. Here's Jason geeking the cell phone camera.
Here is the rest of the band to the right of me on stage.
It was a good crowd tonight, lots of lovely people having fun.
On a break I head to the bar and snap a picture of the dance floor as the DJ plays "The Wobble". These folks love to do the wobble.
After the band gets beered up we hit the stage again. We did "You Shook Me All Night Long" and it has a long intro so I took a few pictures.
Then on the break I got to two-step with Melanie. For some reason she likes this old country bass player.
And before we knew it, it was time to pack it up and go home. The DJ keeps the dancers on the floor until the bitter end.
But us working stiffs load up our vehicles with all of our gear.
I put my two basses in their cases, ran them out to my van, then helped John with all of his keyboard gear. He brings more gear to the gig than any three musicians I know. But he has all the sounds and is not afraid to use them.
The next couple weeks are a bit light for us, only three gigs. We've got the Sweet Onion Festival next Saturday then Downtown Disney and a "Night In The Country" festival event in Hanford CA the week after. We're all driving four hours for that gig so it should really be a blast.
Until then, this is your old country bass player signing off.Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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