McG and GHG at Bobby V's Cocktails 6-22-19

Hello fellow gig report perusers.

Our little rock n roll combo known as Goat Hill Gamblers had a fun gig Saturday night at a new venue for us.

Bobby V's Cocktails is a quick 25 minute drive from home. It's on the same street as Disneyland where Mr. @BassCliff has the classy Downtown Disney gigs. Our venue was a couple of miles west, other side of the tracks, well outside the refurbished area around D'land in Anaheim. Not a bad part of town, just old and threadbare.

On the outside the place looks like a serious dive bar unchanged from the 60s.



The load in is really easy here. Park in front, open the cargo door...


And roll in the front door. (That's Jackie who books many of our gigs working the door tonight)


It's just a short roll from the door to the stage.


Panning around to the left it's easy to get the rest of the place in one shot. Yep, small room.


For as divey as the outside looks it's really pretty nice inside. Apparently it was a major dive for many years. The new owner bought it about a year ago and did a good job fixing it up. They say more improvements are coming. Better PA, Curtains and baffles to help the sound. They are very much into promoting live music.

Coming in we ran into our sound tech friend, Scott. This is the sixth or seventh time we're worked together in three different clubs. You never know where he'll pop up.


Swinging into action, Jay and Scott doing the set up boogie.


Before you know it our little group is all set to make some noise.


This was the inaugural gig for Jay's new Vox AC30. He only had a three hour rehearsal last week to dial things in, so tonight was a lot of experimenting. It's a great sounding lead guitar amp (not to mention cool looking). By the time the county fair gigs roll around next month he'll have things tweaked nicely.


Fletcher brought his 1965 Princeton for rhythm duties. I love that amp!


Gil's mid 60s vintage Ludwig drum kit is really nice.


I brought my usual rig. This room doesn't really need two cabs for volume but the 210 and 112 sound so good together. I'm goin' for the tone at the expense of extra work. At least I have my priorities straight.


I took a quick selfie while waiting for start time. Hmmm... I'm feeling all fuzzy and out of focus. Hope I play ok.


Back in a minute with more...

 

I knew very little about this place. When we got there at 7 for an 8:00 start the place was dead. Not one customer. Only a couple of people wandered in over the next 45 minutes. I was thinking "great, an empty room rehearsal is coming". Then right before we started people started rolling in. 20 within 15 minutes. It swelled to 30 or more soon after. That was a decent crowd for the room size. They were into the music too. Even called for an encore.

The only pic of the crowd I got was this birthday party. They were whooping it up pretty good.


Here are some shots Fletcher's wife took. She always gets so artsy. I wish she would do a few regular ones now and then.

Gil playing rhythm and singing lead with Fletcher on drums.


Swapping places Fletcher does the lead caterwauling while Gil beats the bongos.


Gil and Fletcher


Jay, Fletcher and me.


Me and Fletcher


Jay ripping a solo.


All too soon it was time to tear down, load up and skedaddle.

Jay and I were hungry after burning calories (we're both the constantly-moving kind of guys on stage).

So where did we decide to go? Anybody who reads my reports know we're a broken record when it comes to a post gig munch.

Yep, you guessed right!



The drive thru was about 20 cars long so we went inside. Packed in there too but we got a table.


And the payoff... Soooo good. I dived right in remembering to take a food pic after taking a bite.



That was the tasty end to a tasty evening. I'm sure we'll be back at Bobby V's. I'd like it to become a regular place.

Looking forward to seeing pics and words from all you other guy's gigs.

 

Ha! Yeah, I guess we're a little spoiled sometimes. Now and then we have to bring our own PA. Our own guy, Rocky, is usually there regardless if he's doing the sound and lets us know how the mix is.

Thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks and you're welcome. It WAS one of those fun gig experiences.

It definitely is cool when a bar owner thinks about the music from the band point of view. That's what this guy seems to be doing.

Hi Cliff. I really dig the look too. So mid-century. Up until I was 15 I lived only a couple of miles from there (1955 to 1965), when they were carving Anaheim out of orange groves. So much of the area had the Bobby V's architecture.

Thanks Tony. Heck, I post so many In-n-Out pics maybe I can get an endorsement deal.