Giracci Winery 10/16/20

 Hello my friends,

This past Friday was another "Wine Down Friday" at the Giracci Vineyards here in Orange County. I left work for the gig at 3pm and the day was still quite warm. Thankfully it cooled off nicely as the evening progressed. We played three sets from 6pm to 9pm.

Tonight we played under the gazebo rather than in the dirt in front of the barn. Not having to play in the dirt is nice but the gazebo, as you know, has its own challenges. It was a shot load-in from Big Betsy to the "stage" area.

Perhaps you noticed I was first to arrive. After unloading and parking I noticed Arnie had pulled up. I gave him a hand schlepping gear and setting up the PA.

Drummer Dave arrives and joins the setup dance. We set up as far forward as we could to get the bulk of the sound out from under the gazebo. It worked out well and lessened the standing waves that gazebos create.

There was a wedding party rehearsing for their ceremony tomorrow. They interrupted our setup dance just for a few minutes while they practiced their moves.

The food truck arrives with Greek and Mediterranean food. I love this stuff.

Drummer Dave and Magic Fingers Johnny continue the setup dance. Johnny is pulling double duty as the soundman tonight.

Johnny doesn't run any cables or lift any gear besides his own, but he knows how to run a board.

It looks like we are dangerously close to sound check. It's a simple setup, single sub, two speakers on sticks, two monitors out front, and one monitor for Dave. Johnny takes a feed into his rig from the monitor send.

Johnny Magic Fingers uses his fingers to dial up a sound out front on his tablet.

Dave and Arnie try to decide whether to soundcheck with our Bette Midler medley or just play a blues jam.

Arnie and I both brought our acoustics but played them on only one song tonight. Arnie went direct without an acoustic amp.

OK! We're all set up and sound checked. I look back at the stage area as I walk over to my green room (Big Betsy) to change into my cowboy clothes.

Folks are lining up to enter the event. All the tickets were sold out. Pretty cool.

After donning my jobbing toga I walk back to the stage and find that there is still a line waiting to get in. Verrry cool.

It seems the stage is just as I left it. I placed my rig out from under the gazebo. We had placed the floor wedges way out front on the stairs. We could still hear them just fine but they did not add to the ambient noise under the gazebo. This was the most pleasant experience I've ever had playing under a gazebo.

We had time to stop by the bar before downbeat and pick up a barley pop, just enough to wet my whistle.

Yay band! This is our selfie just before we start making noise.

Our crowd was till arriving as we began but they were already well into the wine and the food.

I think this is where Johnny Magic Fingers plays his big boogie-woogie number. The long intro give me a chance to snap a picture of him tearing up his keyboard.

It was a lovely, pleasant evening. We've been playing so seldom lately that any chance to get our strings in the breeze is a treat.

I brought my usual rig, Kiesel PB5, Fender Kingman, GK MB500, Carvin RL210. I did run it direct into the PA so I could keep the stage volume down.

On the last break I visited the food truck. The proprietor loved my Johnny Cash song.

The grilled chicken pita sandwich was calling my name.

And it tasted great. I washed it down with an 805.

"Well, my Mama met my Daddy down in Alabam. They tied the knot so here I am..."

Dave did a great job tonight keeping a lid on it under the gazebo.

Well drat, that one table up front never showed up all evening. They must've heard I was going to play bass tonight.

Regardless, it was a great crowd and we had a ton of fun.

Some of our biggest fans danced on up to the stage to share in the fun. Yay band!

Too quickly it was over and we turned back into roadies.

Next Sunday we have another event at another local winery, A Stones Throw Winery in San Juan Capistrano. I haven't the foggiest idea what that event is about but we'll be out in the fresh air and sunshine making noise and hopefully entertaining real live people. Thanks for looking in on me and my little music thing. You guys are great.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff