Yep, lot of gigs this week. And I didn't even tell you about the paid rehearsal we had on Monday but that was not big deal. We rehearse on stage at The Ranch when the owner practices his songs with us. Then he feeds us. After that we rehearse stuff for our shows. It's a cool deal. But I digress.
Last night Arnie Newman's Country Club Band played a Merle Haggard Tribute at Stillwater Spirits and Sounds in Dana Point. The show still needs some polish but we had our fun and the crowd enjoyed it.
As usual, I take off from work a little early to drive down into Orange County. The traffic and the clouds got thicker as I made my way into south Orange county. It's just our friend "OnShore Flo" keeping the temps down.
Now we're getting close. I exit the 5 freeway and head over on PCH.
It's a crowded parking lot behind Stillwater. I find a spot on the end way in the back so Big Betsy doesn't get any door dings.
I brought a friend to the gig tonight. My fellow bass player Dave was kind enough to send a ReadHead t-shirt for me to model around at my gigs. These are all the rage. Get yours while supplies last! RedHead works in the New England area of the East Coast. Our soundman Paul gets in on the fun.
Being a Merle tribute show, along with his '52 Tele he brought out his Tuff Dog Tele, just like Merle's.
I used the backline amp this evening, even though my rig was in the truck. This Rumble 500 is a killer little amp very similar to my rig with two 10" speakers and a 500w amp but in a combo unit.
I had two monitors this evening, the QSC for vocals only and the JBL for instruments if we wanted. John likes a little kick, snare, and hi-hat. I put just a little bass in there but the stage is so small I can hear everything just fine. We really have to keep the volume down on stage and let Paul do all the heavy lifting. He makes us sound good when he doens't have to fight with stage volume.
John brings a little rig to this gig because of the small stage, only two keyboards instead of four.
Here's Paul, fresh from his day job where he's the owner, mixing our sound and having fun with us.
Jason gets his IEMs dialed in. He did a good job inside the cage this evening.
Arnie and Randy get sound checked before we put on our cowboy clothes.
And then it's time for some Mandatory Merle. We played a whole hour of Merle hits and one tribute song called "Monday Morning Merle" by Cody Johnson.
At one point during the second set, after Merle, we had a "piano player's choice" and John wanted to hear Arnie and me sing "The Whisky Ain't Working Any More" by Randy Travis and Marty Stuart. Now that's country!
I stuck my camera over the shield and caught Jason testing the air temperature.
It was a light crowd this evening but one new friend was very impressed with our classic country and put a $20 bill in the jar as he left.
Here's a shot of the stage while we take our last break. We were told to take an extra long break since it was kind of slow tonight. The soundman was calling the shots, and he even bought me a beer, so I took advantage of the long break.
I met Mitra and Lisa. They are coming to see us at The Ranch this Saturday. They love the old country too.
Soundman Paul was having such fun he got up and sang a song with us. He's also a bass player.
Hey! What's this? A late crowd hits the dance floor. Yee haw!
Turns out this bridal party was club hopping and decided to join us during their adventure. We were glad they did.
We were done at 10pm and our friends, The Working Cowboys, were playing down the street at the Swallows Inn
until 11pm. We hustled over there to catch the last couple of tunes and
visit with our dear old friend Bob. Bob plays a mean guitar. Here's
Gladys, Melissa, and Bob is between Arnie and me.
We had our fun, we said our goodbyes, and then when I got home I unloaded my rig since it had been in the truck all week but I hadn't used it since Sunday. Mrs. BassCliff's car is parked in the driveway so I back in beside her car to put my rig in the garage.
And just for grins and giggles, Here's a picture of the onboard mileage computer. Big Betsy has been averaging over 24mpg since I got back from Las Vegas a few weeks ago. I think that's impressive for a vehicle this size.
OK, I promise, no more features about my new gear hauler. I guess the "new" is starting to wear off and you guys are probably getting tired of it.
This coming weekend we'll be at our regular haunt, The Ranch, for a ton of fun and some good food. Thanks for hanging out with me all week.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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