Filmtex @ El Milagro with Tuff Change- Pretty hot gig report

Well, not the report actually, but it was pretty hot yesterday- 93 degrees @ downbeat. Certainly we were lucky that it was a "different kind of hot" in that there really wasn't much humidity- only 32 %. Could have been worse- it was 60% in Houston!
Fredericksburg is about an hour and thirty from our house and it's a nice drive through the Texas Hill Country. Load in is from a parking lot behind the restaurant so parking isn't an issue here, at least.
We set up outside on the patio and they have power there for us. Even though it's just a single extension cord, we've rarely had any difficulties.
Here's the "stage":

I have everything in bins except the lights because I don't have my trailer and most of it rides in the back of my truck. If you don't like the weather here in South Texas, just wait five minutes, it'll change!
Here's a shot of the patio, I like getting there a bit early:

Takes me about an hour to set up everything, and usually my guitar player gets there just as I'm finishing. They had to drive up from San Antonio and I-10 is under constant construction. I'm sure you all know how that is.

Here's a better shot of Gene:

Our drummer, Isaias ran a little late, he worked overtime and then took a longer route because of the construction. He got there about 10 minutes after start time and literally ran back and forth with his gear. Go figure, upset because he was late! Isaias is a "new hire" for us and this was only his second gig. It was obvious that he had put in a lot of time learning our sets. Me and Gene both thought he did a really fine job last night-even added a bunch of backing vocals too.

Your's truly trying hard to avoid bass-face.It's gonna be along weekend.

You can just see my "rig of choice" for this show. American Special P, Squier VM Fretless P, Hartke HD 150, Audio-Technica wireless, Boss compressor.
(For those that might be interested. FOH- Mackie Thump 12's, Soundcraft UI16. Monitors- Mackie Thump 12 and SRM350's (Gene & Isaias), Shure beta 58a for me, Heil 50 on the kick and Audio-Technica 4051b overhead. Not sure what Gene uses and Isaias uses a headworn "Garth Brooks" condenser.)
One last shot from the balcony:

We had a great time, as always, and though the crowd was a bit light, I had a blast walking around meeting everybody. There were two birthdays and several anniversaries. Met one couple from the Netherlads and their friend from New Zealand, a very nice family from Amarillo, some West Texas folks, a couple from Dallas and a whole lot of other interesting people. That's the best part of doing this for me. YMMV

As BassCliff would say "Thank you for your indulgence." For me it's -"Audios from South Texas". (Sorry no food shots or hot babes. Maybe next time!)

 

Mr. BassCliff,
Many thanks for your kind reply. Indeed we do have a little shad over the "stage". It actually a patio in the midst of several two story buildings including the birthplace of Adm. Nimitz, just across the street from the War in the Pacific museum. There are a few other businesses in the area, in fact that's an art gallery right behind us and generates quite a bit of traffic. I think they do wine tasting too. We have quite a bit of walking-by traffic as there are many restaurants and shops right there on Main St. I had a couple tell me last night that they were at a restaurant across the street and heard us and came over. They stayed the rest of the night and may even have contributed to our "love bucket" (tip jar).
We are basically a "classic rock" band, but we do quite a variety. From Elvis and Ritchie Valens, to Grand Funk, Santana, Roy Orbison, Chuch Berry, Johnny Cash. They let me sing a few C & W songs like Neon Moon, Folsom Prison etc. as well as a few pure blues from Jimmy Reed, Zuzu Bollin, etc. We also do some SRV covers (of course) and a GFR medley-I'm Your Captain & Some Kind of Wonderful. Just a big variety of stuff. One thing I'll have to say- these guys are a lot of fun to work with. They keep things casual and "band drama" to an absolute minimum. We do a lot of laughing at our shows- I think it's catching!

 

Absolutely. Even though it was hot, hot, hot- it turned out to be a really nice day after all. I really like laying here. Besides the nice customers the staff at this place is really tops. They treat us like royalty. Management is exceptionally easy to get along with and they have things set up so we can all do our jobs easily. From parking and an easy load-in, to permanent-temporary power that actually works. Everything is top notch. In January when it was 22 degrees during our last set they had a huge propane heater set up center stage front just for us. Great gig.