I know you've seen me report this gig quite a few times. But it's because of the "quite a few times" that I love this gig so much. I've met incredible people who I'm proud to call my friends and I love getting together with them whenever I come to their town. Oh yeah, I get to play some country music too. We'll get to that soon enough.
For this trip Randy, our pedal steel player, accompanied me and I was happy to have a travel companion. Randy drove up to my house, we loaded his gear into my truck, and headed out to Vegas. We stopped in Baker to pick up some liquids and leave some liquids. (Sorry if that's TMI!) Here's Randy in front of Big Betsy with the big thermometer in the background. (He's saying "I love you" to Mrs. Randy.)
As we drove by the big thermometer in Baker I tried to capture the essence of the temperature experience. Big Betsy said 75 degrees but the big thermometer said 80. I think it was on the fritz.
We arrived at Treasure Island in good time. Our helpful, friendly bellman made sure all of our gear was accounted for and would make it up to our rooms in short order.
My valet was a quite affable fellow so I felt very little paranoia about leaving him in charge of the safekeeping of my beloved Big Betsy.
My room was not very high up in the hotel but it was the very last room in the wing. Therefore I got TWO windows in my room. Very cool!
This is the view from the right window.
And this is the view from the left window.
Even though I usually bring a Bible and have Bibles on my phone and my tablet, I always check to see if the Gideons have left a Bible in the room. This comforts me and gives me hope.
I even thumbed through the entire Book and didn't find a single hooker's phone number (as someone suggested earlier on a previous trip). Praise the Lord.
After the bellman brought up my gear I wanted a nightcap. I moseyed over to the CVS next door and couldn't remember if I liked the Lagunitas Super Cluster Ale.
So I picked up a sixer of cans (that's all that was available even though I like my beer in bottles) and, once I tasted it, remember that this is NOT my favorite Lagunitas brew. Oh well. At least it's 8%. As long as it's really cold it'll be a fun brew.
And, here ya go, just to prove that it's really your old country bass player, me, here in Las Vegas, here's a selfie with the room magazine.
I'll have a few more pictures after sound check tomorrow, um, later today. It's already 2:30am so I have a little more than twelve hours to sleep and get ready to load in. But all I have to do is take the elevator downstairs to the honky tonk. Wish me luck. Wow, I really love you guys right now.
<the next morning...>
Earlier today about 3pm I slid downstairs to put my basses on stage and then got my truck from the valet so Randy and I could unload his rig. I'm wearing a t-shirt from the festival we played in Hanford earlier this year. JJ Brown, a Hanford local performer, just won a trip to Nashville. I'm hoping he does well. He's a really talented young fellow.
Jason, Randy, John, and I begin the setup dance. Royce and Arnie will arrive a little later. The sound crew here is great to work with, Daniel and Bob.
Right at the top of our sound check a fellow came up to me and asked me who's leading the band. I pointed him toward Arnie. He and his crew wouldn't be able to come back later so they wanted to hear us play five songs. He tipped everyone in the band $100 each so we played five whole songs for our sound check. The small crowd was enthusiastic.
Only in Vegas could you get tipped so well during your sound check. Royce and I went over to say thanks when we were done. Turns out they liked us so much that they are going to try their best to come back tonight. I asked them what they were in town for and they said, "Monkey business". OK, sounds good to me.
It was going on 5pm and I hadn't eaten all day so I made my way to the "Sad Cafe". It's the employee cafeteria where we can eat for free all weekend. Next time I think I'll sit by the TV set with sports instead of CNN.
Since this is my one meal today I enjoyed a plate of salad and a plate of protein. That spicy Texas sausage was terrific. Everything else was just so-so cafeteria food. At least there was lots of it.
Here's our little flyer that Arnie used on the social medias. I'm looking forward to seeing who shows up this weekend. We've got quite a few friends in town plus others who are driving in.
Thanks for coming along. I'll be back later to share some of the fun and frivolity here at Gilley's Las Vegas. I hope we make Mickey proud. (Mickey Gilley, not Mickey Mouse!)
<that night...>
It was Friday night at Gilley's Las Vegas, not a bad night at all. Seriously! Here's your old country bass player on stage just a few minutes before we hit.
Here's a shot of my iPad mixer. You see the page with my bass channel and the keyboard channels. I should get my Las Vegas bass playing friend, Andy, up here to show him how I mix my ears. He was asking for some pointers. I'm sorry I didn't think of that tonight.
You guys are aware, right? My friend Andy has also given up music and joined a country band in Las Vegas.
Here's the lovely and talented Ms. Royce just before DJ Shaddix turns it over to us. We love working with Royce. She brings it.
Randy winks and points while Arnie stomps and twangs.
I complimented Royce on how pretty she looked tonight. She sang great too.
Jason wasn't too thrilled about having to play the house kit tonight but I thought he did an admirable job.
John was in good form tonight. I love working with this guy.
And, of course, I had to take a selfie with a couple of local celebrities in the house tonight. Here is Andy and his beautiful missus. I'm really happy you guys stopped by.
The first set was pretty good. Our second set was nothing to write home about. But our last set was off the chain!
We ended up the night with a terrific crowd. In fact, you remember those guys from out of town who tipped us really well to play five songs during sound check? They ended up coming back and hanging out with us. They gave us another $100 tip to start the last set with "Folsom Prison Blues". We were more than happy to oblige. The crowd loved it!
We ended the night at 1:30am. It was a pretty dang good night. Here's something that I've always wanted to show you guys. It's beautiful. It's a carving in the casino that I find fascinating.
Here's more information.
And here are a couple of close-ups.
This tusk carving is very detailed and beautiful. To think that it took generations to finish is hard to imagine. A friend of mine always says, "Everything was better then. Everything is worse now." Sometimes I believe him.
Thanks for coming along. I'll be back later with more of the fascinating adventures of this old country bass player right here in lovely downtown Las Vegas.
The next day I met most of the LV bass player crew for an early supper at my favorite Las Vegas Mexican restaurant, Casa Don Juan, over by the airport. We chatted, visited, got caught up, and spent a couple hours just enjoying each other company. Here we are after supper, Charles and his lovely wife, and Tony. Tony's coming out to the honky tonk later.
Those kids looked so cute in their Batman t-shirts. I did not know it was Batman day. It's also the 21st of September, just like the Earth, Wind, and Fire song, Mrs. wintremute reminded me.
Driving back from Casa I noticed the new stadium for the Raiders is coming along.
Across the street from my room you can still see the fake facade on the upper stories of the Venetian. That has been like that for what seems like almost ten years. I'm curious what kind of construction or construction problems they are having.
Now I'm going to have an energy drink and head down to Gilley's to twang up some honky tonk.
<later that evening...>
It was a really fun Saturday night here on the strip in downtown Las Vegas at Gilley's Saloon, Dance Hall, and Bar-B-Que. The crowd started off good and just got gooder.
Here's Johnny Magic Fingers playing his big hit, "Mama Screw Your Wig On Tight". This guy can really do the honky tonk piano.
Royce and I just sort of do a little dance with our jazz hands while Johnny plays the intro. Arnie is pointing at Johnny and saying something clever, maybe.
Jason keeps time during the intro. I'm not sure what he's looking at. We used no tracks this weekend so there was no computer or Roland module.
All of these pictures started during the second set. I had forgotten my phone in my room. I ran up on the first break to get it so that I could take a selfie with the lovely and talented Ms. Royce. She really killed it this weekend.
I gotta tell you, during the second set the the list called for "Work Hard, Play Harder". When Jason counted it off, Arnie started playing the intro to "Here For The Party". I could see the look on Royce's face and I didn't know what was going to happen. At the end of the intro was a break and Royce started singing the lyrics to "Work Hard". Then you could see the light bulb come on in Arnie's head. Thank goodness both songs are in the same key. That intro actually worked and the rest of the song went off without a hitch. Just one of those things.
And now I'd like to you meet my new favorite Gilley Girl. This is Valerie. She was kind enough to take a selfie with this old country bass player. I tried to tip her, just a couple of bucks for her time and trouble putting up with me but she said, "Hey, don't worry about it. We both work at the same place." I like this gal. She's very down to earth, and tall!
We got up for the last set and really lit the place on fire.
By now the crowd was lit and having fun.
We ended at 1:30am. The screen comes down in front of the stage playing country music videos while the band and sound crews strike the stage. I put two basses in cases and I'm outta here!
In the morning Randy and I will head back home along with a few tens of thousands of our closest friends who were attending the iHeart music festival in town this weekend. We're looking at a five or six hour commute for a drive that should take only three and a half. Oh well. That's Vegas, baby. I'm gonna grab some shuteye and I'll relate to you again in the near now. I love you guys. I mean it.
One of Royce's vocal coaches from her early days was in the crowd tonight. Let me see if I can post the video that Andrea took of her student.
I still need to get caught up with several more gigs. Now I'm just about three weeks behind. Thanks for putting up with me.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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