This is the first of our five trips to Gilley's Las Vegas this year. We haven't been here since last December for the National Finals Rodeo.
Since I just ordered my bed cover and I'm not expecting delivery until next week, I put three basses, a suitcase, a garment bag, and a laptop in the back seat. The weather was threatening and it had rained pretty good earlier in the day.
Turns out that I did not get rained on but Big Betsy and I had a nice long drive through the desert up to Las Vegas from Southern California. I was pleased to see that, according to the onboard trip computer, Betsy averaged over 25mpg for the trip. I was more nervous about letting the valet park her than I was with the bellman delivering all my basses to my room.
All my gear made it to my room just fine. My room is in good order.
I'm on the side of the wing that I like, it has a view of the strip. I'm only on the 7th floor so the view is not as impressive as when I stay on the upper floors. I just take what I get and don't complain. I'm always glad to be here.
I always save all my loose change to a pocket in my backpack. It's been getting pretty heavy. Then I take it to the change machine in the casino to cash it in for tip and beer money. How many dollars do you think I have here?
I could not find the change machine in its usual spot so I went to the cashier window. She said that it was moved inside the cashier's booth because it was always getting broken. I guess that makes sense. The last time I was here it was out of order. But before she could turn my change into folding money she had to verify that I was staying at the hotel. OK, no problem. I gave her my name and room number. She called the front desk.
Did you guess how much change I had? The clerk asked me if I had a dime. (I'm thinking, really? I just gave you ALL the change I had.) I had $31.90 in loose change. She found two nickels (on the floor, I guess) and gave me a brand new $20, a new $10, and two new dollar bills. I thanked her and let her keep the two dollars for her trouble. I invited her to hear a good country band tomorrow night. She liked that.
Then I stepped into Gilley's to see who was playing and check in with the soundguys and DJ. You might remember Bob. He works with Daniel. We chatted for a bit. I also said "Hi!" to DJ Shaddix. He'll be back on Saturday night. DJ Caffeine works Friday night.
The Rob Staley Band was playing tonight. They had a good crowd for late on a Thursday night. Rob plays a few of the same rooms that we play.
I caught their last few numbers. The bands start earlier and end at 12:30 on Thursday. When they were done I jumped up on stage, the security recognized me, and said "Hi!" to Rob, Jordon (bass), and James (git), and then got out of their way so they could do the roadie thing. I guess I'm not the only one who has to do that.
My spare change was more than enough to buy my beer for the weekend. Tonight I thought I'd start with a small selection of Lagunitas. I'm sipping the Hop Stoopid right now and I like it. It's light and tastes like an ale instead of an IPA but still has a little kick to it.
Friday: I had a full, fun-filled, exciting day here on the strip in downtown Las Vegas thanks to my friends Charles, Tony, and Andy. You guys are the best. I feel honored and privileged to have you as friends.
My day started when Tony picked me up to go on a tour of his work facility. He showed me a great frontage street he uses to avoid the Strip traffic and the freeway.
Dang, I look tired. I never sleep well the first night away from home. Anyway, this is the front office where Tony works. It's an impressive office.
I met a few of Tony's coworkers then we walked out to the flight line. The company had a few planes in the hangar for service.
This is just part of the fleet at Tony's company. We were hoping to tour the 747 but it was locked up.
So instead we boarded a G550. That's the plane behind the G4. There were a couple of guys on board the G550 doing maintenance on the radar something-or-other.
Here we are just about to board this sleek craft.
I tried out the "big boss" seat. I could get used to this.
Then I got to sit in the left seat, as long as I promised not to touch the red button. Tony showed me the systems displays. For a 15 year old plane it's still really smart.
Please keep your fingers away from the fan blades, Nongerfingerpoken! I was a bit surprised at how simple these jet motors are.
After my tour Tony dropped me off back at TI so that I could make my way to sound check. Hey look, there's a band here tonight.
At least one of those guys in the poster looks familiar.
I brought my two basses and put them on stage. This is one of the easiest setups I have in all of my gigs. Everybody else just makes a big mess on stage.
Our crack sound team, Daniel and Bob, waits for everyone to get settled before they start wiring up the stage.
Five minutes later, I'm done setting up. The sound guys plug in my mic, give me a DI box, and I'm all set, ready to go. What's taking everyone else so long?
Jason brought the big kit. I'm glad I'm wearing IEMs this weekend.
Arnie ponders his pedal board. Amanda is flying in and won't be at sound check. But it's not a big deal. We've done this gig a bunch. The sound crew knows us, the FOH board remembers us too.
Right after sound check Arnie and I meet Charles and his wife at Casa Don Juan by the airport (Sunset Road) for some really tasty Mexican food.
I had the Milanesa and it was terrific! The best I've ever had. It's basically a very thin chicken fried steak. It was really great.
Then I introduced Charles to Big Betsy. I think she likes him. She let Charles climb into her bed.
Oh yeah. There's a gig I have to play around here somewhere. Arnie and I made our way back to the hotel in Big Betsy. We met up back on stage ready to have our fun for the night. Here's Amanda and I with our "we're just about to start" selfie. Dang, I look tired.
Arnie keeps pointing that thing at me. I'm afraid one of these days it's going to go off.
Since John's away this weekend with family stuff, Paul joins us as the utility guy.
Amanda is so cute when she's having fun. We had a lot of fun tonight.
This looks like Arnie is doing a mandatory Merle song. This crowd enjoys the vintage and traditional country we do. I saw so many people singing along with our repertoire. It was pretty cool.
Uh oh! Three bass players in the same room. Will there be a rift in the bass-time continuum? Tony, Andy and Mrs. Andy were in the house. I love you guys. Thanks for coming out.
The evening began with a seemingly light crowd but after we started all their friends showed up.
"Gosh, they really liked that song. What should we do now?"
"I know! Let's do 'Muskrat Love'! One, two, three, four!"
Amanda was pretty incredible tonight. She brought the house down. "Broken Wing" almost brought tears to my eyes.
Paul had fun playing acoustic guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and banjo tonight. He also plays pedal steel and can sing harmonies.
Just another shot of the crowd having fun. We were having fun too.
Go Amanda! Go!
She blew the roof off with her rendition of "You Shook Me All Night Long". So much so that it got pretty warm in here and people were shedding clothes.
After all was said and done, we didn't have anything to say or do. So I went back to my room, opened up a can of this Lagunitas Super Cluster Ale. This beer is pretty hoppy but not like an IPA. It's a "Citra-hopped Mega Ale of Intergalactic Proportions". Not bad at all but it won't be one of my favorites.
Saturday: Today got off to a slow start. I slept in until 10am and then I took a nap until 1pm. I still look tired, or maybe I just look old.
Arnie and I got together in his room to run some new Chet Atkins tunes and brush up on some older stuff that needed some work.
Then later Amanda and Paul joined us. We started working on one of Amanda's tunes she wrote with her Mom. Here's a rough recording. (Next time I'll spit out my gum.)
Afterwards, since I hadn't eaten all day (again) I went down to the employee cafeteria, otherwise known as the "Sad Cafe".
I helped myself to lots of protein and salad. I enjoyed a couple of pork fritters, a pork chop, and cape fish in a white mushroom sauce.
I passed on all the pastries and cakes and settled for a small bowl of soft serve.
We had a great time on a Saturday night right here on the strip in downtown Las Vegas at Gilley's Saloon, Dance Hall, and Barbecue, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average. We began the evening by stopping by the DJ booth to say "Hi" to our favorite Las Vegas DJ, DJ Shaddix. He also has a radio show here in Vegas. DJ Shaddix plays some really great country music on our breaks, killer two-steps and swing numbers, deep album cuts.
We make our way to the stage so Amanda and I can take our "we're just about to start" selfie.
Arnie's pointing that thing at me again.
Hold still Jason while I take your picture.
OK, maybe not.
I just wanted to show you the iPad, we get to mix our own IEMs. It works great but it's not in stereo like at The Ranch. You also see my lyric sheet for my new Mavericks song, "Ride With Me", because I haven't quite got the words memorized.
Here's Paul, fiddling around.
And Amanda kicks us off!
Amanda was on point tonight, slaying it all night long.
I'm going to ask Jason what he's looking at.
Arnie and Amanda are singing something, a song, I think.
Yes, Paul plays the banjo too. Please don't hold that against him.
Like last night, the crowd started a little thing but grew as the band drank more beer.
The mechanical bull was pretty busy tonight. It can be a bit distracting. Even Amanda mentioned it, over the mic.
Just for grins and giggles, here's the set list we used this weekend. We always overload the sets so we can pick and choose something a little different each night.
You might remember Lindsey. We've done a couple of selfies at previous performances. She's real nice.
Even at the end of the night we had a pretty good crowd.
You don't have to go home but you can't stay here. Arnie is doing a "turn and burn". Arnie, Amanda, and Paul are leaving right now. I think they have gigs tomorrow so they'll get home about 5am, grab a few hours sleep, and then play their gigs. That sounds a bit brutal. At least I'll get six hours sleep before I drive home.
Sunday: Charles and I after church, just before I hop in Big Betsy and drive home. Charles had just returned from the BassHang in SoCal.
This is something I don't see often. This is the solar generating plant at Ivanpah. It was dark because it was such a cloudy day.
Here are a couple of pictures driving through the Cajon Pass from Victorville, the "high desert", to San Bernardino.
This coming weekend Johnny and I will be flying to San Antonio with True Willie to play a couple of nights at the Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino and Hotel in Eagle Pass Texas. That sounds like it could be a kick in the poo.
Thanks for coming along on my little trip to Vegas. If you had half as much fun as I did, then I had twice as much fun as you!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
