Last Friday we (Arnie Newman's Country Club Band) played one of our regular haunts. The pay is not great, it's a long drive, it's a long carry, but the food is terrific! So I acquiesced.
It was another drizzly commute that took longer than it should have. For this gig we normally pull into the underground parking as close to the elevator as we can get. I didn't get very close. When I park I have to consider the size of my truck and chances of door dings. Close enough for my handy-dandy Rock-n-Roller cart.
I roll my gear up the elevator and through the mall to the venue. Then I went back down to help Johhny Magic Fingers with his gear.
It's nice here by the beach, a bit warmer than inland where I live.
Inside the venue it's looking very festive. There are decorations hanging everywhere. All this stuff hanging from the open industrial ceiling actually helped the sound.
Here's the view from the stage. It was a little slower than usual due to the weather. I think people are afraid that they'll melt in the rain.
Johnny begins his setup dance. Jason is already done. We're putting a LOT of gear on stage for just the four of us. Wait, actually there's five of us tonight. More on that later.
We finished our setup and then sat down for some supper. I really like the sausage platter here. With some Sriracha BBQ sauce it's killer. You can't tell from the angle but those are a couple of huge sausages. I was stuffed. (No jokes, please.)
Jed is also here tonight. He and Arnie brought the IEM rack and put it on stage. Jed plays and doubles as the sound guy. We also had the house soundguy, Josh, running FOH. You might notice a new addition. Arnie bought a couple of paddle antennae so that our wireless pack don't drop out. It works much better than the little stock antennae.
Since we were using our IEMs we could move the monitors out of the way and give us a little more room on stage.
Another thing I was very pleased to see, especially in this room, was a decibel meter with a strict 105db limit for the band's stage volume. I was close to heaving. Jason was being very reasonable.
We tried a couple of Christmas songs. Johnny played a jazzy version of "Linus and Lucy". It's pretty cool but I'm still learning it.
The place got fuller and a little livelier a little later in the evening. We ended up having some fun.
The dance floor, such as it is, was pretty full for a while. This picture is just bad timing.
Jed sings over a long guitar intro so I took his picture.
This gig is two long sets starting at 9:30pm and finishing up at 12:30pm. Then we begin the tear-down festivities.
When I got home I enjoyed a seasonal gift from a friend. This is a potent (12.9%) chocolatey, smokey, burboun-y, woodsy treat for a tired old country bass player. Willettized Coffee Stout - Lagunitas
Thanks for looking. Merry Christmas! Spread the JOY!
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
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