Buckle and Boots Watering Hole, 8/24-25/18

Hello friends and neighbors,

This weekend me and Arnie Newman's Country Club are at the Buckle and Boots Watering Hole in Lancaster CA. It's a good-sized metropolis in the high desert north of LA, a little weird, but that's OK.

I left work a little early because even though we don't play until 10pm we have an early load-in so as to be sound checked before doors open. I'm just going to share a bunch of pictures from my commute because I think the drive up to the desert is so scenic. This is the transition from the Eastbound 10 to the Northbound 15.

I actually hit the traffic just before the real rush but it was still sticky heading north with the "get out of town to Las Vegas for the weekend" crowd.

I got a little break in traffic just before I hit the Cajon pass.

Once in the Cajon pass it was sticky again. It got worse later. Arnie and Jason arrived a little later than planned because they couldn't leave work as early.

Here's where we got off the interstate and take Hwy 138 toward Lancaster/Palmdale. You see Mormon Rocks again there on the other side of the freeway.

It's quite scenic, if you like desert, going over the pass in this direction.

Once though the pass we head down into the desert floor.

Then we pick up the two lane highway with Joshua trees on either side.

The Pear Blossom Highway, as it's called, is about half four-lane and half two-lane. Here we are approaching Palmdale from the south.

I didn't take a picture of the roundabout this time because there was a lot of rookie traffic going through. But I did manage to get a good shot of this mural as I entered the downtown district of Lancaster. Let's keep Lancaster weird. (Think "Portlandia".) 

I arrived early and knocked on the door but got no response. I ended up calling the club and asking someone to come open the door. One of the owners, Kayla, opened the door for me. She's a nice lady.

And here's all my gear ready to be put on stage. It's been a long drive. I think I'll have a beer first.

The honky tonk is empty. Doors haven't opened yet.

I made a pit stop and noticed another one of their clever signs. This is a good one after you've had a few beers. Not only is it a vision test, it's good advice too.

 Here's another sign out in the hallway that I can appreciate.

This is Adam, just your friendly neighborhood combat veteran who was most helpful in schlepping our gear onto the stage. Thank you for your service Adam!

Johnny Magic Fingers is setting up while Ben and Rob get the stage wired.

Benjamin plugs stuff into the snake.

Austin arrives, then Arnie and Jason arrive soon after. The setup dance begins in earnest. I've already done my setup dance so I just cut in when I'm needed.

The setup dance continues. We didn't get a real soundcheck tonight because Arnie and Jason were running so late. We made it work.

Ben and Rob get Jason's kit wired up.

Austin and Arnie are just about ready to go.

John give me a smile even though he's a little under the weather. He thinks he caught a bug on the plane to/from New Orleans last week.

Misty is kind enough to come up on stage and take our order for supper. We like Misty.

Jason obliges when Rob says, "Gimme some kick drum."

After our very quick sound check, more of a line check, we go downstairs to the bowling alley to have our supper.

We get to hang out in the VIP room. It's not private but it's pretty comfortable.

Tonight I tried the bacon-wrapped chicken tenders with some sides. The food here is terrific.

This is Lorena. She brought us our food and took great care of us. That's John's steak salad.

We head back upstairs after supper to find Katie giving the dance lessons.

Since I've got a little time before downbeat I let Melissa draw me another pint of brown ale.

Then Katie comes up on stage to announce the band just before we start.

Arnie says "Hi" to Katie.

And we have achieved line dancing!

 Arnie and Austin put on the show. We play one big two hour set here. It goes by pretty quickly.

Jason does great with his left foot on the kick drum.
 

This is quite the line dancing room but there were quite a few two-steppers also.

We had a total blast on Friday night. Then we were back for more fun and excitement on Saturday night. During my long commute, here I am driving over the California Aquaduct which carries water from Northern California to Southern California.

Here I am entering that roundabout in the middle of the desert. It's got two lanes with different destinations.

The inside lane is supposed to end up turning left (West) or completing the U-turn while the right lane, the outside lane, has its choice of turning right, going straight, or turning left, but no U-turn. Of course, the driver in the car next to me, on the inside lane, decided he had to go straight and cut in front of me as I was turning left. Oops. But I arrived safely at the venue, the first to arrive.

The rest of the band was running late again but finally arrived, got set up, and we headed downstairs to the VIP room for our supper. I'm glad they still wanted to feed us. I hadn't eaten all day. I got the monster bacon cheese burger with a couple of sides.

That burger is bigger than it looks, bigger than The Ranch burger. Here's Arnie, who also had the burger, and Austin talking about girls, trucks, music, beer, and other such important topics.

Yes, I also enjoyed a couple of the brown ales on tap since they were out of the Old 38. Arnie's into lite beers, Bud Lite and Michelob Ultra. Ugh. After supper I got dressed in my stage clothes, no shorts, and headed upstairs to find another bass player in the house! This is my buddy Keith. We chatted and had a good time talking about gear and stuff. Then I introduced Keith to Channelle. You guys remember Channelle, right?

It's funny. When Keith said he had some fresh produce that he wanted to share with the band, I thought it was a metaphor for something else. But he actually had lettuce and tomatoes for us. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to pick up some. I love fresh produce.

The DJ is playing the last line dance before we start our set. It's a pretty good crowd tonight.

Arnie stops at the short bar to pick up a bucket of suds from Katie and her friend.

I've got my big glass of beer ready for our "a holler and a swaller" moment in the middle of the set.

Jason is ready to do some thumping.

Even though Johnny Magic Fingers was really feeling under the weather, he played like magic.

Austin and Arnie are ready to put on the show.

Jason points his stick at the bass player.

Here's my selfie just before Katie announces the band and we get started.

Arnie kicks us off with one of our favorite George Jones songs, "Love Bug".

We played a few two steps and slow couples dances but tonight we were heavy on the line dances, rock-n-roll, and pop. Jason even did his 80s-90s rap medley. The crowd was into it and it was pretty fun.

"You got to fight....for your right....to PAAAAAAAAAARRRRRTY!!!!"

After our single two hour set it was time to pack up while the DJ kept the tunes emanating from the speakers.

This is one of the owners, Kayla, who came up on stage to take care of some paperwork with Arnie. I took the opportunity to take a picture with her. We love and admire Kayla. She is a beautiful and formidable woman. This picture does not do her justice.

Since Jason is still recovering from knee surgery and Johnny is feeling under the weather, the rest of us pitched in to help load out all of our gear.

Then I drove home on a dark desert highway, warm wind in my hair. Next time we are busy at The Ranch, rehearsal on Monday then back for Friday and Saturday nights. The following weekend we'll be at Gilley's in Las Vegas. September is going to be really busy with flydates too, for both the ANB and TW. I'll try to keep up with my gig reports. I want to thank you for coming out to the desert with me and sharing my fun. You guys are the best.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

Downtown Disney, 8/22/18

Hi folks,

Yes, for this gig me and the ANB were once again the Happiest Band On Earth. Since the hotel construction has been delayed indefinitely we've got a few more gigs on the ESPN Zone stage in the Downtown Disney District. The commute was pretty painless. Here we are going over the hill on the 57 into the north end of the OC, headed south to Disneyland.

Instead of a picture of how far away I had to park, I thought I'd show you something fun, like the coasters in Disney's California Adventure.

I found a map. We're halfway there, living on a prayer. We're gonna make, I swear.

I just have to go around this traffic circle and down the street. I'm going in!

Two blocks later I roll into the DTD district and up to the stage. Everyone is well on their way to being set up but Austin is not here yet.

Since it was so empty at this end of the district, The Mouse decided to bring in some food trucks. Here tonight was The Habit (burgers) and Brewwings (chicken, wings, waffles).

There was also an ice cream truck. In front of the theater were placed a bunch of tables and chairs.

The lovely Amanda takes a selfie with the old bass player.

Here's our lovely sound man, Brent, from Mxxmaster Sound. We've worked with Brent a couple of times. We use MxxMaster a lot.

Austin looks like a young Chris Stapleton.

Amanda and Arnie get ready to entertain.

Jason clicks his sticks to count us off.

Johnny Fingers says, "Hey! I wasn't ready!" Just kidding. We're doing Amanda's song with the long intro.

Amanda sings to the growing crowd.

I try to step out front for a picture but can't get very far.

Johnny Magic Fingers kicks off his big boogie-woogie piano number.

The crowd is starting to notice us.

We took a couple of breaks between our 40 minute sets. Here I am after dark in front of our sign.

We had quite a few dancers this evening. A few of them were really good.

The couple in front were from Arizona and could really cut a rug. They showed us how to swing.

On our last break I walked down just past the monorail track to refill my water bottle. Here's a shot looking back at the west end of DTD.

This was the seating area for the food trucks in front of what used to be the AMC Theater. The Mouse tried to make it pretty and inviting.

Here's a shot of the stage. Johnny Fingers has a very important phone call.

Jason brought his small Breakbeats kit. Since his knee surgery Jason is using his left foot on the kick drum. Hence the different positioning of his kit. Arnie brought his Little Walter combo and a few guitars.

Austin's rig, my rig.

Brent's rig. Here's the FOH console but Brent used his tablet from out front most of the night. Mxxmaster has a lot of these nice little QSC systems, digital mixers with powered subs, mains, and monitors.

Here's Johnny's rig. He could run a PA with it.

It's been a while since I've done an amp-selfie. Why not? I brought my tripod for my phone and used it tonight.

At the end of the night Amanda bids goodbye to a cute little fan.

You can tell it time for the band to stop because the fireworks have started.

Then it's time to earn our keep and get all of our crap off the stage.

I rolled out to the parking lot to find my trusty Astro van waiting patiently for me. He's such a good van.

Thanks for coming along with me this evening. For the next gig we'll be at Buckle and Boots in Lancaster, with Austin but without Amanda. I know we're all going to miss her.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff