The last time Arnie Newman's Country Club Band played The Ranch I was really sick and missed the weekend. I'm all better now.
I had Friday off so I spent it working on my new computer, trying to overcome audio latency issues. I thought, rather than using the onboard Realtek sound chip, installing a dedicated soundcard would do the trick so I bought a Soundblaster Audigy Fx. Unfortunately it does the same A/D back to D/A conversions and the latest build of Windows 10 offers me no way to configure direct input monitoring. Drat and bother.
But enough of my first world problems. I know how fortunate I am just being able to own such a screaming computing machine and there are workarounds for my little issue.
Johnny Magic Fingers picked me up at my house this afternoon and drove us to the gig. It's better we are riding together this weekend because Johnny still needs help lifting his gear.
It's a bit brutal leaving for the gig this time of day because of the sun in your face and the Friday traffic.
But we made it to the stage door in plenty of time to get set up before the front doors were opened.
I hauled all of Johnny's gear onto the stage and placed everything where it needed to be. John ran all the cables and hooked it up, after I finished fixing one of his keyboard stands.
I brought in my two basses and, um, that's it. There's a Countryman DI box around here somewhere. That's the extent of my setup. Oh, there's the DI box, on top of that amp that I don't get to use.
John had to borrow a couple of cables from our illustrious sound guy, Mark. Here's a rare picture of Mark with John and Bam Bam.
Mark and Jed are talking about Mark's Taylor guitar. Mark let Jed use it tonight. It's really sweet. Jed enjoyed playing it.
I told John his cabling looks like a messed up spider web, like the spider has been drinking.
We really didn't soundcheck much. Amanda wasn't here yet and Arnie had to run back home because he forgot all of the wireless IEM packs. I didn't care. I was using the house IEMs anyway. So we retired to the greenroom for some eats. I had the green salad and a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich with no bun. Jason ate most of my fries so I was pretty low carb this evening.
As we take the stage I noticed that we had a really good crowd at the start of the night. There were lots of folks celebrating Valentine's Day.
So we put on the show! Claire came out to sit in with us for a couple of sets. We love Claire. Here's a rapid succession of pictures during a long intro.
At the end of the third set we played Jason's rap medley. I usually use a pick for that number. I played my new Kiesel PB5 all night and this was the first time I've ever used a pick on her. She sounded AWESOME! Arnie looked at me and said, "You sound like Chris Squire!" Meh, I'll take it.
On the last break I said "Hi" to our friend, Dr. Melanie. She had friends in tonight. I thought that guy looked pretty great in that shirt.
The club emptied out a little earlier that I would've hoped. I guess everyone got lucky tonight on Valentine's Day. Our last set was a "power 20" so we played four songs with extended solos and called it a night. John drove me home. I couldn't wait to get home to try this new-to-me beer. It from a brewery near me, Last Name Brewing. This is a barrel aged imperial porter called Badlands Porter. It's a limited release brew that checks all the boxes for me.
Yes, you drink it from a snifter or other small glass because it's a sipping beer. This one is 13% ABV and has all the smokey, woody, chocolaty, malty goodness that I love in a beer.
Just for grins and giggles, here's Amanda Kate's latest video release.
The following evening there was some extra signage in the green room to remind the owner to announce the band properly.
My supper was fairly low-carb again. I had the steakburger with no bun and the kale salad. I gave away most of my fries.
Being on the opposite side of the stage from me, I hadn't gotten a good picture of Randy yet. He's ready for his close-up.
I gave my phone to John so he could take a picture of me with my new bass. In this lighting it looks more yellow. It's actually tobacco burst.
When John and I pulled into the empty parking lot we both thought it was going to be dead in here. But hey! We had a great crowd! They really like us!
Here's the talent putting on the show. I snapped a few pictures during an extended guitar intro.
Arnie brought his Tuff Dog Tele but didn't play it tonight. He loves his Little Walter amps.
More guitar intro!
Amanda notices that I'm taking pictures.
We were treated to a real floor show tonight. There were several birthday parties in the house.
I think Johnny Magic Fingers is enjoying the show.
You might remember our friend Brandi from the Old Crow Smokehouse. She doesn't work as the manager there any more but she came in with her friends to celebrate a birthday. It was great to see Brandi again. She loves the band and misses working at the Old Crow but is happy with her new restaurant management job.
It looks like we are getting down to the last set.
The crowd hung out and we played our full four sets. It was a good night.
Then I helped John pack up all of his gear and load it into his car. Randy lent a hand too. With all of John's gear and my two basses, you really can't put much more into his Rav4.
And that was my weekend. Next weekend we'll be at Gilley's Saloon in Las Vegas. I'm hoping to touch base with my Las Vegas bass player buddies. Thanks for looking! Everybody take care and I hope to play for your soon.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
I always enjoy reading your blog Cliff. Keep them coming👍🏻
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