Yes, last Saturday was a double for me. I got together with my old band, The Kelly Rae Band, to play a one hour show at the Irvine Global Village Festival. I figured this was a big to-do but I didn't realize how big. The performers had their own parking lot and the staff sent two carts, one for me and one for my gear, to take me to our stage. There were three stages on the grounds for this two day festival.
On this side of the festival there was a huge field with a stage on both ends. The entertainment was staggered.
We rolled up to a huge covered stage. Unfortunately it is facing the sun. That's been the story of my life this summer. Since I'm the first to arrive at the stage I have my helpers toss my gear into one of the dressing tents.
I know Kelly Rae is here because her daughters are also performing in the kids stage on the other side of the festival. I make my way over there in time to catch the last couple of songs. Kelly's daughters, 12 and 14, are quite talented singers and help their Dad write songs. They have two CDs out already. You might remember Kelly's husband, Jack, he's playing the bass and our friend Daniel on the fiddle. Everything else is tracked for this performance.
After their performance I said "Hi" to everyone and helped Daniel roll his gear over to our stage for our performance.
This will be our view for our show, right into the sun. This time I put on some sun screen and wore my sunglasses.
We put our gear on stage and did a quick line check. There was no time for a real sound check so we just made sure we could hear everything, took a band picture, and hit the stage.
From left to right you might remember Guitar Art (he's been with Kelly for probably ten years now. Jack, playing drums, is new to the band filling in for Mario or Rob because neither one of them could make this gig. That's Skip in the hat. He joined the band after Jeff's passing. Skip has also filled in with the ANB on occasion. The lovely Ms. Kelly Rae still knows how to put on a show and please the crowd. Then you see the old country bass player with Daniel on fiddle next to him.
About ten minutes before show time we get a quick monitor mix. The crew seemed a bit inexperienced but they made up for it with their eagerness. They were nice folks.
Here's Jake on the backline kit. When we were placing our gear on stage Jake hit the kick drum pedal. It sounded like a tympani. Boing! For $350 you can pick up your own Rogue Drum Set from Guitar Center. Let me tell you, it's worth every penny.
Jake was stealing table cloths off of the tables in the dressing rooms to stuff into the kick drum. Being a good drummer he always has a drum key with him so he was able to perform a quick surgery on the kick drum and tune the snare and toms enough to get through the set. Wow.
And away we go! It was a ton of fun playing and singing with my old friends.
You can see the other stage on the other side of the grounds. There was a Latin jazz band setting up to play after we were done.
My buddy Skip. His duo was also working at Knott's Berry Farm last summer when the ANB and I were there for the "Hot Summer Nights" gigs.
Kelly works the stage while she sings. That girl can not stand still. Jake and I got along great.
And she's off again.
The one hour show went by very quickly. We did some tunes that I haven't done since I left the band January 2018. Sometimes I would walk up to the mic not knowing the next lyric or what harmony part I should be singing. But somehow I would just open my mouth and out it came. It was real seat-of-your-pants fun. Then it was time to roadie on out of there.
There were hugs all around and promises to get together and do it again sometime. I'm glad I was available for this event. Art and I had a great time. I don't think I've ever met a happier guitar player.
Then I fought the traffic back up the 5 freeway to The Ranch for even more musical merriment. There was already a line waiting to get in when the doors opened at 5:30. It turned out to be a good night.
That was my afternoon. My evening has been posted an earlier entry.
The next time you hear from me will probably be from Jacksonville. Hopefully I'll get a chance to meet one or two fellow bass players while I'm there. Y'all behave while I'm gone now. Thanks for putting up with me.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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