Knott's Berry Farm, 7/20/19

Say there friend and neighbors!

This was kind of an odd evening at the second happiest place on earth, Knott's Berry Farm. Arnie's Country Club Band and I played another Saturday night on the Calico Stage. It started off in its normal fashion with a typical Saturday afternoon commute down to Buena Park where Knott's is located.

I usually take a picture of the entertainment board as I make my way to the stage. I can never remember our set times.

I made my way to the green room and had a cold drink of water.

I had arrived early so that I could stop by the lost-and-found where they had my boot bag. It had dropped off my handy-dandy Rock-n-Roller cart the last time we were here. I was so glad someone had found my boots and turned them in. After I picked them up I stopped by the Wagon Camp Stage to catch a couple of numbers by Krazy Kirk and the Hillbillies.

These guys used to be known as Billy Hill and the Hillbilles before they left Disneyland. The Mouse made them change their name because Mickey owns the name "Billy Hill". These guys may look old but they are very talented and entertaining.

I'm as old as these guys are. I wish I was as entertaining.

I hung around for a couple of tunes then went back to my stage to sound check. We found out that there was trouble with our sound system and the techs were working on it. We hung out in the green room where it was cool and listened to a few of Amanda's rough mixes from her new album.

About 7:10 they told us to get our stuff on stage so we hustled. We were trying to make our 7:30 downbeat for our first set. It was a cluster but we were ready.

Arnie checks his guitar and mic. We start to do a little sound check.

But then we were told that the sound system was not fully up yet. So we took a break and ended up missing our whole first set. The crowd was ready for us. We told them we'd be back as soon as the technical issues were resolved.

This is Danielle, our stage manager, on the phone trying to get someone out here to fix the PA. You also see the bass and drums backline. Johnny and Arnie bring their own rigs.

It's about dark now and we still haven't started. Be we will start at 8:45. We ended up doing only two sets tonight.

Here we are backstage, just about ready to go on.

Johnny always tears it up on "Mama Screw Your Wig On Tight".

The first set was a little rough. My vocal went out of my monitor and was replaced with lots of guitar. I smiled and muscled through it.

Dave did a great job tonight. He'd done his homework, plus he had just worked with us at Swallows Inn the night before last.

We are just about ready to start our last set at 10pm. Here's our normal "Beauty and the Beast and the Bass Player" picture. John has the unintentional photobomb.

At the end of the night the stage crew strikes the stage. I helped Johnny get packed up and the crew loads up the cart to take out to the security gate. I always roll in with my handy-dandy Rock-n-Roller cart so that I can take my gear directly to my truck and get out of here a bit quicker.

I stopped at the store across the street and found they were out of the Stone Imperial Russian Stout. But I did find a six pack of North Coast Brewery's Old 38. This is the stout they have on draught at Buckle & Boots in Lancaster, a room we play occasionally. It's a good one, roasted, malty, coffee, full bodied goodness but not a high-gravity beer at only 5.4%.

I'm going to pour myself another and call it a night. I'll be off on vacation for the next week, missing three gigs with Arnie and the gang. But I will be back for my True Willie gig at the Laguna Festival of Arts on the 30th of July. Everybody take care and thanks for following along!


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

Swallows Inn, 7/18/19

Hello friends,

On a Thursday night the hairy legged pickers and I played at our favorite dive bar in San Juan Capistrano, the Swallows Inn. We've played this honky tonk a bunch so I'll make this report short and sweet.

As with most of my mid-week gigs, I have to put in for a couple hours vacation time so I can take off early and fight the traffic into the OC. It was normal rush hour traffic. Luckily I was heading the opposite direction most of the time. Here I am driving by Angel Stadium just north of the Orange Crush, headed into south Orange County.

I arrived in plenty of time and got one of my favorite parking spaces at the end of the building. From here I just have to roll around the corner to the stage door. All my gear fits right at the end of my truck bed, easy to load and unload.

I roll around the corner, just two doors down, and toss my gear on stage just as Johnny Magic Fingers pulls up in his little black SUV. That was fortuitous timing on our part. I'm still helping John schlep his gear until his doctor clears him to lift more than ten pounds.

Here's all of my gear on stage.

I carried all of Johnny's gear on stage too. He also brought the sub-woofer for the PA.

After John and I got set up I went next door to check out a boutique shop that my friend Jefferson told me about. Here's the back patio of Swallows Inn.

Here's our friend Jefferson doing his single act at the grand opening of the western wear boutique. He started at 6pm, we start at 7pm.

It is a very nice shop. I bought Mrs. BassCliff a little something which she really liked. Score! They also had whiskey tasting, which I did. Then I had to get back to my gig. The San Juan Capistrano Equestrian Coalition was having an event here tonight with raffles and a silent auction. That's what you see on the shuffleboard, where people usually sit.

Arnie arrived so I helped him schlep and set up his PA. Dave was the last to arrive. I think that may be why Arnie told him to sit in the corner.

John does double-duty as the soundguy when we run our own sound. There was absolutely no feedback tonight. Pretty good!

This is a crowd that likes their classic/vintage country, two-steps and swing dances. They love it when Johnny does his big boogie-woogie number.

Because John has missed quite a few gigs since his surgery, tonight we dedicated the tip jar to him. The folks here at Swallows were very generous in contribution to John's medical recovery fund.

On a break John has a sit on the bench out front. It was a quite pleasant evening.

Our friend Shayna was in the house tonight. She loves to line dance at The Ranch but doesn't mind coming out here to two-step.

Terri and Christi really enjoyed the band tonight. They danced in front of us the whole last set.

Arnie was on fire tonight. He pulled out a song that none of us had ever done before, but we'd all heard it and were familiar with it, and we nailed it. It was pretty dang fun playing, by request, "Cold Shot" by SRV.

Dave was a blast to play with this evening. He was groovin' and swingin' and just having his way with those cool beats. He let the band really click.

Yay band! We played until 11pm and had to call it a night. The place was still packed. Everyone stayed all evening and showed their appreciation.

Look at that tip jar! I don't know the final total but I'm sure Johnny made over $200 in tips that night, maybe close to $300. Then I helped Arnie pack up and load out the PA. Then I helped John pack up and load his gear. Then, last to leave, I rolled my gear out to Big Betsy.

Sorry there was no food shot at the gig. But the next day John took me out to lunch at Chili's. I had the Boss Burger. You're looking at a half pound patty, cheese, brisket, rib meat, bacon, and sausage on that burger, 1600 calories! Oh man! It was great! I don't think I'll have to eat for a couple of days.

Tomorrow we will be at Knott's Berry Farm for our regular Saturday summer gig there. Dave will also be joining us on drums. I'm looking forward to that. In a way it's a good thing that our gig in Santa Fe got cancelled. John, Dave, and I would have gotten no sleep this weekend if we'd had to work with TW on Friday night. We were scheduled to work late Thursday night, fly out early Friday morning to soundcheck in the afternoon, and play Friday night. Then get up early Saturday morning to fly back just in time to get to Knott's to play Saturday night. Whew!

Thanks for hanging out with me at my favorite dive bar. I'll see you guys again at Knott's.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

Slidebar, 7/14/19

Greetings friends and neighbors,

Arnie Newman's Country Club Band had a Carrie Underwood Tribute show featuring the lovely Ms. Amanda Kate this past Saturday afternoon. It was a one hour set in a small bar in downtown Fullerton, the Slidebar Rock-N-Roll Kitchen. This area of downtown Fullerton is chock full of bars, lounges, eateries, little performance venues, and the like. There must be quite a nightlife here on the weekends.

I ran into a bit more traffic than I was expecting on a Sunday afternoon, but nothing I can't handle. I always try to leave a little wiggle room in my travel plans. That 57 freeway can be unpredictable, as can all of the freeways here on So. Cal.

The Slidebar is an unassuming, trendy kind of place in the midst of lots of other unassuming, trendy places in the neighborhood. I parked in the lot behind and found a spot close enough to unload and roll into the Rock-N-Roll Kitchen on my handy-dandy Rock-n-Roller cart.

Jason arrived shortly after I did and we began a setup mambo duet.

We were playing on the back patio room. We stored our cases in an adjacent room where they often have live simultaneous music on the weekends.

Also adjacent is another room with another stage where they often have simultaneous music on the weekends too.

I asked our soundguy, Cameron, if all the entertainment alternates sets or if they go all at once. He said they all play at the same time. It must be quite the cacophony. Cameron assured me that the sound separation, and volume control, limit the crossover.

I see this venue went all out on their promotion. Amanda had a banner on the Slidebar website too.

I'm done with my setup so I wander around getting the lay of the land. I'm standing on the outside of the patio looking in. I kind of dig the "drum" stools at the bar.

I turn around to show you the patio extends further outdoors.

Because this is a small space, small stage, and sometimes other performances in close proximity, they really try to keep the decibel levels comfortable. Cameron asked me to turn my cabinet around. No problem. Shucks, if I'd known I probably could've just gone direct and not used an amp at all. I had plenty of bass in the monitor. If we play here again I think I will go sans amp.

I was really glad to see a shield go up in front of Bam Bam. But it turns out he took it as a sign he could just play as loud as he wanted too. Sigh.

Here's Cameron, our soundguy. He was great to work with, did very precise work, knew the gear, knew the room, and had us dialed in quickly.

Jason is ready to pound. We did a power trio using a lot of tracks for this show. It's not my favorite scenario but it is what it is.

The lovely Ms. Amanda Kate joins us. She was the star of the show today.

We had a couple of problems syncing with the tracks, never having done this style of show before. Plus Jason and Arnie were playing so loudly it was uncomfortable and distracting. Add to that the fact that there were a couple of songs on the setlist that I hadn't played for months and should've refreshed. It was obvious that Arnie was not prepared for this type of ensemble either. I was not pleased with my performance. But Amanda was the most professional and put on a great show despite all the issues. Arnie may have been out of sorts because he was having an issue with his eye. He wore sunglasses because it was so red and looked painful. You see Amanda gasp.

We got drink and food tickets at this gig. I did not stick around long enough to take advantage of the kitchen but when I found out this place had a tap with the Garage Marshmallow Milk Stout, nitrogen infused, I was a much happier camper. It's like s'mores with coffee and 7.1%.

My glass of stout made an excellent setlist holder.

I missed a couple of changes on #2 and #12 because it had been so long. I promised Amanda that I would nail these down before our next show.

It was an OK crowd for 5pm in the afternoon. We had a few friends of the band come out to see us.

Amanda put on a great show, carried the whole band despite the volume, Arnie's clams, and my forgetfulness.

Even among seasoned musicians, I just can't understand why they don't play to the room, play to the song, and not just get loud and try to show everyone what a fabulous player they are. It's really selfish. I was so disappointed with the whole show that I just made a hasty getaway. We'll talk about it later, I didn't want to do it there.

I guess with all the good shows we have, we have to have a stinker once in a while. Well, this was it. If we ever do another "power trio with tracks" show I'm going to suggest a rehearsal to smooth things out and talk about VOLUME. Sheesh. But then, I'm just the bass player. Do you think anyone would listen to me?


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff