I know, I know. I said I'd put this Knott's Berry Farm summer run into one big post thread. But I lied. OK? Besides, blogs don't work that way. Me and the ANB played again on the Calico stage on a Saturday night to the delight of tens of fans while we made tens of dollars.
I had a very nice commute on a Saturday afternoon, very little stickiness on the freeway. I made my way down Beach Blvd past all the other attractions like the Pirate Dinner Theater, Medieval Times Dinner Theater, Rock'n'Brews (used to be Hard Rock Cafe) and other eaterys and showrooms. There used to be a wax museum around here somewhere.
I pulled into the first row end parking spot I could find, row 22 in the employee lot. I like the end spot because I can leave a little extra room to try and avoid door dings. But that leaves me quite a long carry to the employee entrance across the street. I don't mind. It's my workout today.
Since there was very little traffic on my commute I arrived a little earlier than I usually do. The bluegrass band was just finishing up their set on the Calico Stage.
I tossed my gear in the green room and wandered around a bit while the stage crew made their transition. I haven't ridden this train in decades. I'm going to, very soon, one of these days.
Chris was our crew leader and FOH today. He is a very attentive and helpful young man, good to work with.
Amanda gets her IEMs dialed in with the monitor guy. Oops, I didn't get his name. Jason is also wearing his IEMs. You can tell because he always plays too loudly when he wears IEMs.
Alright! The stage is all set. Time to get on our cowboy clothes and put on a show!
Arnie brought his Kemper unit tonight. He's had it worked on recently but I think it was still giving him fits tonight. He walked back and tweaked it several times tonight.
OK! We are just about to start. The lovely Ms. Amanda Kate does the old country bass player a favor and takes a selfie.
Just before we start, Arnie tunes because he cares.
Jason checks the set list to decide which songs he can play loud and which songs he can play too loud.
My old friend Ian is with us again tonight because our old friend John is still under the weather. Ian did a fine, upstanding job tonight.
Ian brought his own double keyboard stand tonight. There's not one in the backline. That top keyboard is backline. Ian took twenty minutes or so after sound check to program some sounds he liked. The bottom keyboard is one of his usual suspects.
Speaking of backline, last week my backline amp was on the fritz so I went direct and put bass in my monitor, which worked great. The amp had been fixed, plus there was a backup now. But the SVT Pro and 410 cab worked just fine.
Here's a shot from my mic just before Jason counts us off.
Amanda turned around just as I took this picture. We did "I Feel Like A Woman" the third song of the set. The long intro allows me to take a few pictures.
On the first break I wanted to try and find my buddy Skip on his stage. I hustled past The Suffragettes on the big stage.
I quickly walked through the rides and attractions on the West side of the park behind the Calico Mine Ride and found Skip and Dwight on the Boardwalk BBQ stage, having a ball.
They even recognized this old country bass player. They had the kids, and their parents, a-hoppin' and a-boppin' to that old time rock'n'roll that they play.
Their duo is a lot of fun. Dwight runs the drum machine on his mic stand and Skip plays left hand bass. They sound pretty darn good playing the old rhythm and blues.
Then it was back to my gig. I managed to snag another shot from behind Amanda and Arnie.
We started our last half hour set at 10pm. Since they don't allow employees to enjoy adult beverages in the park, I stopped on the way home to pick up an interesting stout I'd never tried before. I like the Stone IPA but I've never tried that brewery's stout.
Yes, you saw that right. It's got a 10.6% alcohol content. The Stone Expresso Totalitarian Russian Imperial Stout is formidable, but really tasty and light for a stout. Sure, it's a little bitter from the espresso but all the roasted malts are pretty mellow. I think I'll have another. This is a really good beer but a bit pricey, $20 for this six pack of cans. Yeeowzer! (Maybe this little corner liquor store next to KBF is price gouging?) But I like to splurge once in a while.
The band is off until Wednesday when we are at Downtown Disney. I think John may be back by then. The following weekend we've got a double on Saturday, a private party in Riverside before the Knott's gig. Then Sunday we have a concert-in-the-park in La Verne. The next few weeks are going to be pretty busy for us. Thanks for putting up with me.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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