Laguna Hills Birthday Party, 8/27/16

Hi,


(Note: In my previous post I said we were playing a wedding today but this turned out to be a nice birthday party instead.)

Me and the KRB had the pleasure of playing for a 60th birthday party for a lovely couple. It was planned and arranged by their three daughters and hosted at a friend's house in Laguna Hills. Of course, the day started with a trek into the OC. There was a little more traffic than I was counting on but I made it to the gig in plenty of time.

You just never can tell about those 57 and 5 freeways. At least there were no wrecks. The party was in a residence in the Nellie Gail Ranch area of Laguna Hills, a nice part of town. It seems there was a riding camp going on.

As I passed the equestrian center I noticed some activity. There are horse trails all over this community.

As my trusty GPS guided me to the venue (I didn't have time to look it up on a map so I left it up to my phone), I pulled around the corner to find Art letting me know I had arrived.

Art was talking to Skyler in that little black car. Skyler and Jack are running sound for us on this gig. I pull up and parked across the street. We had to roll our gear around the left side of the house and set up on the basketball court. It was at least a 200 foot carry. I really got a workout today as I also helped the guys with the PA equipment.

Yay! I won! I got my gear on the court first.

We kind of made a mess while setting up but it looked much better when we picked up after ourselves.

I brought my "big" rig since we were playing outdoors and running our own sound.

Skyler found himself a shady spot under the trees beside the "stage" to tweak the mixer and spin the tunes. Skyler also does DJ work.

Jack checks the monitors and the mains. He's started stealing my mic check speeches. You know, "One hen, two ducks, three squawking geese,...".

This is one of our lovely hostesses, Lindsy, and her pet horse. This horse was very well behaved and didn't eat much.

There was an impressive balloon arrangement. I thought I'd grab a shot for the future when I turn 60 (next year).

OK, it looks like the "stage" is all set. We used about half of the court and the rest was dance floor.

Here's a sound check picture taken by Skyler on his phone as he listened out front.

Here's the view from my mic as Art walks up. It was a beautiful back yard with a pool, spa, BBQ, outdoor fireplace, etc.

Art and Mario are just waiting around for the guests to arrive. We're all dressed up and ready to play.

Jeff enjoys a little snack before we get started.

We decide to have a seat in the yard while we wait. Mario says, "Look at the grouse!"

It was a lovely back yard in which to entertain.

I think we're about to get started, the guests are arriving for the surprise party. Art and Daniel are ready to make some noise.

I think this is the only gig Mario had today so he's happy to be here.

Jeff seems to be having difficulty finding his hands. Either that or he's wearing his dad's shirt today.

Skyler is ready to do the sound guy thing under his tree.

Kelly and I have a moment before we start.

And Kelly kicks us off with a little something we like to call...., music.

After our cocktail music, the three daughters take center stage and read a delightful poem they wrote for the occasion. It was funny and touching and really expressed how they felt toward their parents. It was a really nice group of family and friends.

Then it was time to dance.

After our first set it was time to eat. The band lucked out and was among the first in line. We're not shy.

Potato salad, green salad, BBQ beans, pulled pork sandwiches, BBQ chicken, sausages, etc.

I also helped myself to a nice, big, crisp, juicy dill pickle. Them's good eatin'.

Then for dessert there were cakes and candies.

It was a pleasant evening for the guests to enjoy their meal under the moonlit sky.

Here's a shot of the stage after sundown. Jack brings just enough lighting for the crowd to see us, but not enough to help my little camera take decent pictures.

We are just about to start our last set. We had two hour sets and one half hour set, done by 10pm.

My little point-n-shoot just doesn't have enough flash. Sorry for the fuzzy picture. But you get the idea.

Yes, we had dancers late into the evening.

Here's an action shot that someone posted to FriendFace.

Then after all the noise was over, I helped Skyler haul gear to the street. I was really sore the next day.

The long carry we had for this gig made me love my Rock-n-Roller cart even more. The KRB is off until our next engagement at The Ranch in two weeks, Sept. 9-10. I have a gig with Arnie next Friday, Sept. 2.

If you're interested, I've got some audio of our Brea Fest gig a couple weeks ago. I don't know how long I can store the files there but hit the links and you can hear all three sets, live as they occurred. Since the mix is right off the board you can't hear much crowd noise, but they were there!

Set 1
Set 2
Set 3


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Brea Fest, 8/19/16

Greetings to you keepers of the bass realms, purveyors of punch, lords of the lows, and the rest of you good people,

Me and the KRB had a grand time playing at the city of Brea's annual Brea Fest, A Taste of the Arts festival. There was even a write-up in the local OC paper, but we didn't get our name in print.

Traffic wasn't too bad getting down to north Orange county from work. But once I got off the freeway I had to wind my way around the street closures.

We got to pull into the circular driveway and unload. Unfortunately, the stage was blocking the collection box for residents' water bills. I saw a couple of people try to pull in but were directed away. They seemed a little inconvenienced to have to park at the curb and walk over the the drop box. But hey, I'm in the band. Sorry.

Here's our sign. I unload my gear an put it on stage before I go park in the below ground parking structure, a minor inconvenience.

It's a good sized stage, not overly large, so we'll have to keep our gymnastics to a minimum. Here's the view from the FOH mixer, a Yamaha QL5 IIRC.

Art arrives in his signature pickup. It's running well with the new transmission. Devon (FOH) and Peter (sound tech), are a little bored waiting for the band to arrive and are chillin' just checking their phones.

We have worked with Devon and Peter a few times. Trinity Sound Company has always treated us great and made us sound fantastic. We had so many compliments tonight. Shucks, we're just up there beating and banging on things and these guys make us sound wonderful.

Half the band is here now. Here's Jeff taking a picture of me while I take a picture of him.

I am thankful for these trees on the west side of us. We didn't have the sun beating down on us today.

Here's one side of the mains, JBL subs and NEXO tops. There were a bunch of JBL monitors on stage too. We had six mixes today. Good stuff.

Here's your sign, again. I know, I'm a goof.

OK, the rest of the band is here now. We're just waiting on the talent.

Just some of the sound company amps and power distribution in use today.

I'm sure you all are familiar with my "lazy rig", my Carvin RL210 cab with the GK MB500 on top. It's small, light, sounds great, and gets plenty loud.

These lovely ladies were very hospitable. This is Michelle and Ariel of La Paz Cocktail Mixers. This business is located in Brea and their company supports all of the civic events. They offered me a margarita and then kept refilling it all evening.

Here's Mario giving Devon all the kick drum he can take. I think the sound of Mario's kick drum brought a tear to Peter's eye, it sounds so good.

The Boss Lady is ready to sound check.

I guess Daniel and Art are really ready to sound check.

Jeff asks me if I'm ready to sound check.

I play my one note sound check and then Jeff snaps a picture of Kelly and me.

Never mind me. I was just practicing my cymbal choking.

Well, I guess we're not quite through with sound check. We're getting a level on Daniel's fiddle while Kelly keeps open the lines of communication.

I don't know if you noticed but our backs are to the street. We are blowing our sound right into the Civic Center, a building of concrete and glass. Devon did a terrific job mixing and EQ'ing the band so we didn't get too unruly in that environment.

We play our opening number and then the mayor of Brea gets up to make a few announcements. Yes, that's the mayor, Christine Marick.

Then on with the show!

Here's one action shot from Mrs. BassCliff's phone.

Woot! Woot! Special guest in the house! This is fellow TalkBass.com member, johnnyplaysbass (Jonathan), who came out with his lovely wife to spend an evening at Brea Fest. Johnathan and his wife hung out all three sets. I told him he was a glutton for punishment.

Johnathan plays bass in a Journey tribute band. We do a couple of Journey songs so I felt a little nervous playing them in front of him. But Johnathan was kind and very complimentary. It was great to meet up. Johnathan has not one, not two, but three Fender Jazz Bass Specials. Both of us also own a GK800RB. I had a blast talking gear, gigs, and other such musician stuff.

Now to the food! For another TalkBass.com friend, code named "dbase", Slater's 50/50 was there fixing burgers for everyone.

Mrs. BassCliff had a pork belly taco from the Tempo Urban Kitchen.

That taco looked so good, on the next break I had one too. I also has some jambalaya, some pizza, and an Ahi poke salad on basmati rice.

Jeff had some really good looking bruschetta.

And Kelly snagged a couple of tasty treats from a place called Cake On Top.

Here's the band finishing up their culinary delights before we go back on stage.

Then we had to get back to the show. Here's Daniel playing the intro to "My Church" on his Tele.

As the evening cooled off the crowds got bigger, and livelier.

I thought these projected images on the sides of the buildings added a nice touch.

These ladies were just hanging out, sitting on the stage during our break because there just weren't enough chairs around. They were more than happy to give this old bass player a smile.

During our last set the mayor got up and made another quick speech to thank everyone involved. It really was a nice event.

Here's another shot of Kelly in front of the crowd.

Toward the end of the night we let Daniel loose so he can thrill the crowd with "Devil Went Down To Georgia".

Right after we finished, since the pizza place had leftovers, they brought the band some goodies for the road. Yum!

I tried my best to eat my slice of pizza while packing up. We all had more fun that we expected to. I hope we get to play this event again next year. It's a blast!

That's my gig and I'm sticking to it. If you enjoyed it half as much as I did, then I enjoyed it twice as much as you. Thanks for looking!

I think we had a wedding the following Saturday. I'll post that one up soon. Until then, all the best to you and yours. 


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff