This weekend we are back at our regular haunt in beautiful uptown Anaheim, The Ranch Saloon. Amanda will not be with us much this month. She was planning to lay low until her CD release party on Oct. 9th but she ended up getting ill, along with her whole family, this week so it's good we had planned to work with Royce again.
My commute after work down the 57 freeway was uneventful with fairly light traffic for a Friday. As I wait at the last traffic light on my journey you can see the Extron building where The Ranch is on the ground floor.
There's not much of a setup dance for me. For this gig I just bring a couple of basses and plug one into the DI box. We all tried to arrive a little early so we could run some tunes with Royce during soundcheck.
Arnie brought his new IEM rig and Mark, the excellent soundguy at The Ranch, patched it in. This is Eric. He designed this IEM rack and stuck around for a couple of sets to make sure everything worked as it should It works really well.
Yes, that's the same Eric who has subbed for me a couple of times. He's real good with sound gear and studio engineering stuff. Johnny Magic Fingers was the last to arrive. I helped schlep his gear so we could get started quicker. He and Mark are trying to get rid of a buzz at the moment.
The cute and perky Ms. Royce seems like she's happy to be here. Us hairy legged boys will try to be nice to her.
Jed is becoming a regular fixture in the band for the larger gigs. Randy was busy tonight so our good buddy Tommy is sitting at the pedal steel this weekend. Tommy's a good ol' boy who's toured with quite a few folks out of Nashville. He's on the West Coast for a while following his wife's job around.
After running a few tunes at sound check we retire to the green room for some supper. I have my favorites, Buffalo Chicken Sandwich with an Heirloom Beet Salad.
We enjoy supper, we enjoy each others' company, we get dressed, then we hit the stage. No impressive stacks of 1000w amps for me, just a little DI box and ten strings between two basses.
The cute and perky Ms. Royce joins me for a "Beauty and the Bass Player" selfie just before the band is announced.
Since the owner is out of town this weekend, our sultry and graceful entertainment manager Heather announces the band.
Royce can belt out a sassy girl song too. You go girl!
I think John approves.
Everyone complimented Arnie on his new shirt. He must've gotten it for his birthday.
Just a few of the distractions in front of the bass player. But I had only two clams tonight. Not bad.
I ran into one of my two-step buddies, Melanie, in her pretty blue dress.
A few out front photos popped up on the social medias. Royce did a great job.
Jed got to sing a couple songs tonight. He's a good harmony singer too.
Here's a couple more from out front, borrowed from our adoring fans' social medias.
On the way home I picked up a sixer of an IPA that I actually like, the Stone Delicious IPA, not overly hoppy or citrus-y and 7.7%. I enjoyed a couple with my midnight snack of cold cuts and cheeses.
Saturday night's commute was a little bit brutal. There used to be a lot less traffic on Saturdays but that's not true any more. There's traffic all the time. The meter was even on at the onramp to the freeway. I know, the rest of the country thinks we're crazy for putting stop lights at the end of the freeway onramps. You're right.
That's correct. You must come to a full and complete stop before entering the freeway. Guh.
How about another glam shot of my new-ish gear hauler in front of the venue? Ain't she purdy?
Saturday night started off a bit slow because there was a rodeo going on. But after the rodeo it got really busy. Royce says, "Let's go girls!"
The line dancers do their thing.
The whole band wore plaid tonight except for me. I didn't get the memo.
See what I mean? This is a shot by the pedal steel player, Tommy. It's not often you get to see a shot of the stage from that side, right?
Here's one of Tommy's artsy pictures. I think it's a pretty cool perspective.
Arnie wails while I wear my black Scully Gunfighter shirt.
I was really having problems with my IEMs tonight. At the start of the second set I checked my pack. Three out of four bars on the battery. OK. Good to go. Not. About four songs into the set my ears go out, totally. I just pulled both my IEMs and went ambient. There's not a lot of noise coming off the stage, except for drums, and I could barely hear the mains. I muddled through. It's what we bass players do. On the break I got fresh batteries that lasted the rest of the night. But then my left earbud became disconnected and I had to pull it and go ambient on that side. Later in the set, during a long intro I was able to plug my earbud back in but I did about half the set with one IEM. I just smiled, played my little bass, and sang my little songs.
Now I'm at home enjoying another Stone Delicious IPA and telling you good folks about my little gig. Thanks for looking.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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