Well that was less painful than a root canal (without anesthesia)

I'm glad it's over, but if you twist my arm really hard, I will admit we had fun. In fits and spurts. Punctuated by long periods of misery. Of course, it's hard to wait (and boy, did we wait.) We got there at 1:00 sharp, only to be told the Hawaiian dancers would be going on in 15 minutes, so no chance of setting up our stuff then. But, let me set the stage (so to speak) before I go into the story.
The Fiesta was for Our Lady of Guadalupe School (in case you didn't figure that out from my prior posts.) This is a lovely little parochial school in the heart of La Colonia, Oxnard. It is a real jewel in the middle of a cowpat (meaning Oxnard, best known for having the highest murder and gang-related crime rate in Ventura County.) The event was for Palm Sunday, and it was very cool to see how many people showed up (at least 500 people throughout the day.)
We (meaning the Colonel and I, because as I mentioned before, we have no roadies) dragged our stuff about 100 yards in the heat (about 80 F) and set it next to the stage. How much stuff? 2 guitars, 6 mike stands, about a million pounds of amplifiers, pedal boards, bags of cables, cords, and electrical gangs, a keyboard, stands for said pedals and keyboard, 2 monitor amps, 2 powered amps, a 16-channel mixer, a preamp (also weighing a million pounds all by itself) and the various other things that pack our car so full the gas mileage drops by at least 5%. The Hawaiian dancers went on and were absolutely lovely--so graceful and really transported one to another place (when you weren't flipping out about someone trying to help themself to a piece of expensive equipment lying next to the stage or out of the car!) My favorite part was the little girls wearing their leis and their bright dresses and makeup--so cute!
Well, they got a big hand and up we went. The stage was a standard porta-stage; a large trailer where one side folds down and you're in a steel 'cage.' The Colonel was going up the steps, when suddenly the steps FAILED. My heart leaped in my throat as I saw my hubby hit the stage in slow-motion, but he was OK. It was like he was on an escalator going down. We fixed the steps and soldiered on, spreading out our tons of stuff and getting the cords connected, etc. Did I mention the stage was at least 40' long?
At this point I noticed that the shirt I had ironed for the Colonel that morning was, how shall I say--ventilated. Seriously. He had a huge rip running from the armpit halfway down the side. He was chagrined but said, "I *thought* I felt something rip when I was lifting stuff on the stage." We got everything set up, then went in search of a shirt dealer (hey, this is a big fiesta, they were selling snow cones and tacos, of COURSE they would be selling shirts, right?) We lucked out and the Colonel scored a Spartans Pride t-shirt (SPARTAAAAA!!!) for only $5. We were happily paying for the shirt when the entertainment chair came up to us and said, "The Ballet Folklorico (Mexican dancers) are going on in a few minutes, and they have no room with your stuff on the stage. I apologize but you're going to need to move it again." She must have seen the look on my face because she started babbling, "I'll send the gal over with lots of drink tickets for you guys!" (Water & soda only, it's a school, remember?) I asked if we could just move everything over to one side like for the Hawaiians and she was amenable. So back we went, but fortunately the singer had shown up by that time, and the moving went much quicker. The Ballet Folklorico was really neat, all elementary school kids except for 2 young men and ladies (jr high age.) Reminded me of when my daughter danced in a similar group. Good times, good times. They did "La Raspa" and "El Jarabe Tapatillo," 2 of my faves. They did a really good job, too! The crowd was noticeably larger for the Ballet vs the Hawaiians, but I think a big part of it was the parents. ;-)
At last we were able to get on and start setting up--at around 3:00. We'd been there for 2-1/2 hrs at that point, and I was starting to get grumpy. I was looking forward to mixing a couple of drinks from the car (we had brought our traditional bottle of rum to toast the gig and settle the nerves) when I saw...we had parked RIGHT IN FRONT of the cops, who had a fingerprinting station and Lost & Found set up. I didn't want to have any issues with LE, so we actually played sober. Not fun. I commented as such to my bandmates, who were in full sympathy, but wanted me to go and get the bottle anyway. Since I work for cops, I knew better.
Then, the best part of the day happened! The Easter Bunny took the stage and showed off his best moves. He had the crowd PUMPED! I've posted a link to my Very FIRST Youtube upload, yay! Please check it out & let me know what you think!
We finally started about 4:15. We had the usual issues (surprisingly, feedback was not one of them) including a problem with the new powered monitor. The Colonel, in an impressive display of multi-tasking, ran both his single-channel amp and the mixer. Pat the singer was at her alma mater and we could tell she was a bit nervous--we'd sing a song and then she would say, "And that was...oh yeah, --- by ---."
I really enjoyed a couple of songs we did--namely, 'Suavecito,' written by Carlos Santana's brother George, and performed in a band called Malo. At one point, a blue balloon cut loose from some screaming kid and floated past me--it was just a really beautiful day, and the balloon made me lose some of the tension and uptightedness I incurred through the day.
Another good one was 'Sabor a Mi' by El Chicano. Pat does a really good job on this one and the crowd was really responsive. My amp sounded just about the best I've ever heard from it (no dicking about with 2 guitars on this gig, I didn't want to bring my $2K Martin to the ghetto!) and as a result the lack of struggle with the second guitar left me tons of room to adjust the reverb, choose the correct channels on the amp, and just basically enjoy myself.
The set was punctuated by raffle numbers drawn by the folks who put on the fiesta, but overall we had yet again another learning experience and--actually got a call for an encore (from our die-hard groupie core comprised of Rob & Pat's sisters, and co-workers of Pat, about 6 in all.) We closed as usual with 'La Bamba' but then went on to perform 'Volver Volver,' as done by only about a million Tex-Mex and Mexican artists. My favorite version is by Freddy Fender and Willie Nelson, by the way. We do the 'Los Lobos' version, which is also good. Hey, it's a good song no matter who performs it. Even us LOL. In our defense, this was only the 3rd time we had done it live, but we muddled through effectively. Afterward, we actually had 2 people ask us for our business card/phone numbers! So I rate this a success.
As a very nice ending to the day...Pat said we were going to get paid for this gig (YA-HOOOO!) but they didn't know how much yet. So, stay tuned for the gripping finale!

December 26, 2009 - The Tower Club! (cue ooh, ahh from crowd)

We were STOKED to find out we were going to play at the Tower Club-a very exclusive club in the tallest building in Ventura County (Morgan Stanley Building, 22 stories, in Oxnard, CA.) Hey, it may not be much to those who dwell in Las Vegas, or who live east of Earthquake Country-but we were very happy! For 3 of us, it was our first time in the club. We were impressed by the marble entryway, glass facade, and gruff security guard--til we found out what we would have to go through to get our equipment (a Honda Element STUFFED full of guitars, amps & gear, a Chevy Impala LOADED to the gills with 400 watts of Galen-Kruger Bass stack, and a Chevy truck packed with a 7-pc drum kit) up to the 22nd floor...when the freight elevator (Notice the EL VATO label, in case you had any doubts that you were in Oxnard) would only go up to the 21st floor. MEH. We moved our crap from the 21st floor to the 22nd floor elevator (which refused to stay open, necessitating the need to wedge it open while we hucked our crap into the elevator) then dragged it into the Sunset Room--which was absolutely breathtaking. As you can see from the pictures, the view was spectacular. Well, we unloaded, set up, did a sound check, then went to dinner at a Ventura County landmark (kind of like Norm's in Los Angeles.) The waitresses wore white uniforms (rather unsettling.) We were the only patrons in the restaurant, which was weird, considering it was 5:30 pm on a Saturday night, about 1/2-mile from the mall (in a city of around 200,000 individuals.) The upshot of the meal was, while it was tasty, the restaurant would not warrant a repeat (unless you happened to be starving and coming from said mall.) I had the fish and chips, which were absolutely delicious (and the waitress was generous with extra pickles.) The bass player, unfortunately, found a HAIRPIN (yes, one of those double-curvy old-fashioned kind) on his plate. Management comped him a pie (he chose dutch apple, and went away a happy camper.)

On to the evening. We went and changed into our "fancy" duds and then went back to start the show. Here's the Colonel and I in our "fancy" duds, in the "fancy" bar. It really was swanky, with waiters walking around offering crabcake appetizers on elegant plates. We got a couple of drinks and went to meet our public.
The first set was a bit rough. It started OK; we usually open with 'Big Me' (by the Foo Fighters) because, well, we know it pretty well & it's a cheerful little tune--and a couple of practices ago I got the bright idea of running it into Soul Asylum's 'Runaway Train,' since it starts in C (and'Big Me' ENDS in C! Brilliant!) so that went well. Running songs together makes you sound like you know what you're doing. ;-) The next song, 'I Should Have Known Better,' got two leads (inadvertently) but since I was doing them, I didn't mind. I don't think anyone noticed. Too much. So we plugged along, but into the 8th song ('Black Magic Woman,' on which I solo) I was distracted and left the acoustic pedal on...which led to the most horrible feedback trouble since the first time I had ever played it in public ('what do you mean, I have to be BEHIND the amp?') and the Colonel was hissing at me to turn UP, then turn DOWN! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! I had the deer in the headlights look, and felt like all 100 people were looking at me going, "WHAT is she DOING up there?" So I went and hid behind a fake tree (which shielded my guitar from the amp, thereby producing a passable tone) and we were able to finish the song. We had 4 more songs to do, and I had NO alcohol to kill the pain of the Black Magic debacle...but we soldiered on, and at the break, the Colonel and I headed straight for the bar, where I ordered a rum & diet coke--and knocked it back before you could say 'Abraxas.' The Colonel was amused and told me to slow down...but not before I ordered one more, 'for the gig.'

We had a relaxed 10 minutes, then went back to sing 'Happy Birthday' to the birthday girls, as they cut the cake. Someone had loaded the cake with those trick candles that reignite after you blow them out, so that was pretty fun watching the two gals trying to blow out their candles. I was concerned the singer wouldn't have any breath left, but she proved me pleasantly wrong as we went into our next set, opening with 'I've Got The Music In Me,' which she does very well. However, the fluorescent overhead lights were on and the crowd hadn't had enough alcohol to loosen it up enough to dance...so for the next number, 'Love Shack' (my personal fave of all the songs we do--I only have to sing and play tamborine on it) we asked if the management could turn the lights down a bit. They obliged--and left us standing in the dark. I could see the Colonel and the bass player exchanging concerned looks, the bass player more so because he wasn't wearing his reading glasses either, and so he was laboring under a double whammy. ;-) The lights were fixed by the next song, though, and the second set went much smoother than the first--with the exception of one song, 'Hippy Hippy Shake,' which starts off with me saying, 'For Goodness' Sake--' but the drummer forgot this. So we started that one twice. The crowd was much more lubricated by then, and in a forgiving mood. We then launched into 'I Saw Her Standing There,' and the rum & coke kicked in--and I was channeling Jimmy Page, and banging away on my Taylor solid body for all I was worth, and feeling like a ROCK STAR!

Well, the rest of the night was pretty much more of the same--we won some, we struggled on some. But we did get a lot of positive feedback.

The worst part was the lack of roadies...we had to stop at 11pm, and the crowd evaporated like beer at a Superbowl party. We generously told the singer to leave (since after all, it *was* her birthday) and spent the next hour deconstructing and loading our stuff from room to elevator to elevator to floor to cars (parked about 50 yards away--and those were the closest spots available.) Oh, the glamorous life of a cover band! But every gig brings lessons, and this one was no exception--probably the most important being 'Check the pedals, especially when changing from the acoustic to the electric guitar' and secondly, 'Get to the gig extra early to set levels.'

'Til the next show!