It's another weekend at The Ranch for the hard working Country Club Band. Arnie is a slavedriver. At least I had a pretty good commute down to The Ranch today. The freeway didn't slow down until I got about a mile from my exit.
Let's hear it for couple number one! Some folks get here as soon as the doors open and dance all night long.
Arnie puts some extra twang on his guitar. He loves fresh strings and puts on a new set before just about every show we do.
Then it's time for supper. I didn't have lunch today so I really enjoyed my grilled fish tacos and beet salad.
Out front Dev is giving the customers a line dance lesson. There are two free dance lessons every night right here at The Ranch. Three on Sundays.
Arnie brought a selection of guitars. I played my Fender for the first few songs that the owner sang with us. I switched to the LB76 after Andrew's traditional country warm up.
And away we go! You could tell the band was a bit tired but we had our fun. Everyone played well, even the bass player.
The dance floor was happening most of the evening.
It's.....it's,...it's Jason up on the drum riser, rising to the occasion.
Amanda sings a sassy girl song.
There was a large bridal party in the club tonight. They must've been practicing their wedding flash mob dance.
Now she's probably singing a drinking song.
I think she's singing "You Shook Me All Night Long".
John's happy. He had a little issue with his keys when we started but he and Mark got it all straightened out.
This guy walked right up to the stage and shook my hand. I hadn't seen Trent for quite a while. We got caught up a bit on the break. Trent is playing a booze cruise in the Dana Point harbor tomorrow. That sounds like fun.
I see Jacolyn was in the house tonight.
Wherever Jacolyn is, Tammi can't be too far behind.
Even on the last break the DJ can keep the dance floor full.
Sometimes it's good to be the bass player.
It was a fun night. Then I met Big Betsy out in the parking lot so she could take me home.
Here's a picture from Friday night taken from behind the sound booth.
This picture is from another night but it's a nice perspective.
Then Saturday night was just pretty dang epic! It started with a fairly easy commute from my house down to The Ranch. There was only one sticky spot on the way where a couple of CHP cruisers were on the side of the road with a disabled vehicle. Those looky-loos will slow down traffic every time.
I hadn't eaten all day and after checking off a few things from my honey-do list I was really hungry when I arrived at The Ranch. I ordered a lettuce-wrapped Buffalo Chicken Sandwich and a couple of chili dogs. I needed protein.
While I was having my supper, Shelly was teaching the crowd a line dance called "Body Rock" which is usually done to the Bruno Mars song "Uptown Funk". Yes, we play that one.
We hit it after the dance lessons. There was a really good crowd in the room tonight, lots of parties, birthday, bridal, etc, so there was a lot of energy.
Amanda was terrific tonight.
This must be at the end of the first set when we played "You Shook Me All Night Long" because I had time to take a few pictures, even a picture of the drummer, Jason.
And the keyboard player, Johnny Magic Fingers.
And all of the guys on stage right, Randy on pedal steel guitar with Daniel on the fiddle.
At the beginning of the second set I reminded Amanda that I hadn't taken a selfie of us all weekend. She's so nice to this old country bass player. (Sorry for the bad lighting.)
Amanda is singing "I Feel Like A Woman", the Shania Twain song. The dancers are doing a "Black Velvet" line dance to this one.
It's a long intro so I take another picture of Johnny in his castle of keyboards.
I even have time to walk out front for a second to get another picture of Amanda. Why not?
The line dancers are really enjoying themselves tonight.
On the last break I run into a few friends. This is (l-r) Sonia, Melanie, Mary, and Jamie. Dang, sometimes it's good to be an old country bass player.
Then we are back at it for the last set. This was some other song that had a long intro, I forget.
I was so embarrassed tonight. Maybe you guys are familiar with a little song called "Wagon Wheel"? No? Maybe? Anyway, it was on the list in the last set. I sing the song, have been for years. When I walked up to the microphone the first verse just went away, poof, gone, nada, nothing. Nobody helped this old country bass player. Drat. So we just played through the changes until we got to the chorus and I finished the song from there. It wasn't until we were done with the last set that I remembered, "Headed down South to the land of the pines....". Oh bother. So anyway, here's a picture of the monitor room just off of stage right.
That's a Yamaha M7 for the monitors! I've worked with lots of sound companies that don't have this kind of rig for their FOH. We sure are spoiled here.
When we are done at the end of the night the DJ plays for the dancers as long as he can but eventually has to turn up the lights and give last call.
Then I toss my two basses into my new gear hauler and head on home.
I've started keeping a little step stool in the back. Mrs. BassCliff likes to have it to get up in the cab when she rides with me. Plus, if I have a lot to load it helps me get in and out of the bed. Hey, I'm old.
If any of you are ever in Southern California I would be honored if you could visit us here at The Ranch. It is such a great venue I'm sure you would enjoy it. Just let me know and I can put you on my guest list. Thanks for looking!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
No comments:
Post a Comment