Double Bass Tough decision -- bring or leave the DB???

[Don Hergert]

Already left... If you're in Lone Pine or Bishop we can pick you up in the morning on the way up to Coleville.

No stops in Tokyo unfortunately.

We'll be in Grass Valley Monday afternoon.

 

[james condino]

Soooooo....I spend every weekend driving around to gigs all over Dixie stuffed in a Prius with at least one double bass (95% of the time my ALCOA), two big cabs, the mains for the PA system, plus a couple of other big road cases for my pedalboard, music stands, mic stands, amp, costume changes & such, and often a guitar in a big case but Don's original post was worried about fitting one bass in a 21' RV????????????

Here is the partial load from tonight; sometimes I still find a way to sleep in the thing. For some reason that I cannot understand right now, I though it was better to leave the neck on for the drive. Regardless, it was a killer outside gig on beautiful night with a packed pub full of rowdy beautiful people dancin' & grindin' away into the sunset.

 

[Jason Sypher]

Soooooo....I spend every weekend driving around to gigs all over Dixie stuffed in a Prius with at least one double bass (95% of the time my ALCOA), two big cabs, the mains for the PA system, plus a couple of other big road cases for my pedalboard, music stands, mic stands, amp, costume changes & such, and often a guitar in a big case but Don's original post was worried about fitting one bass in a 21' RV????????????

Here is the partial load from tonight; sometimes I still find a way to sleep in the thing. For some reason that I cannot understand right now, I though it was better to leave the neck on for the drive. Regardless, it was a killer outside gig on beautiful night with a packed pub full of rowdy beautiful people dancin' & grindin' away into the sunset.

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Yeah. No car has ever thwarted me getting to the gig! It’s Tetris. That’s why I bought a Mini. I could get two basses, an electric bass, a few cabs and an amp anywhere on the continent. But the second you have a big car or big house or a lot of whatever you immediate start to feel like you don’t have enough! It’s human nature I guess. It’s all good as long as the bass player and the bass get to the gig!

 

[Don Hergert]

Yes, but can you take a shower or relieve yourself in it? And where do your wife and dog sleep? And where is your refrigerator and meals for 2 weeks, and your other instruments and, and, and...

I know we lose things with complexity and I also know one year pretty soon we're going to say that RV'ing is too much work and it isn't worth it. But in the meantime it's a way we can manage to be camping in the middle of the jamming community which is where we like to be.

 

[Don Hergert]

Btw, I absolutely loved my 06 Mini Cooper S, it was the funnest sports car I've ever driven, but European car makers need to get their synthetic materials working better and lasting longer. Mine died a premature death due to plasitcitis and I still miss it today. I'll stay with US or Asian cars in the future.

 

[Jason Sypher]

Btw, I absolutely loved my 06 Mini Cooper S, it was the funnest sports car I've ever driven, but European car makers need to get their synthetic materials working better and lasting longer. Mine died a premature death due to plasitcitis and I still miss it today. I'll stay with US or Asian cars in the future.

They’ve come a LONG way. That car was perfect. Manual 5. Zip zip…

 

[Jason Sypher]

Yes, but can you take a shower or relieve yourself in it? And where do your wife and dog sleep? And where is your refrigerator and meals for 2 weeks, and your other instruments and, and, and...

I know we lose things with complexity and I also know one year pretty soon we're going to say that RV'ing is too much work and it isn't worth it. But in the meantime it's a way we can manage to be camping in the middle of the jamming community which is where we like to be.

Wife stays at home. Sleep, if you want to call it that, in a $29 Walmart tent, cooler that ends up a swamp with all the food I never cooked, mason jar pee-pot, Coleman stove for constant coffee, eat food at every camp that offers it to me. Dog? Well, I guess that’s ME! Oh, what’s a “shower”?

 

[Don Hergert]

Transformed into the jamwagon after arriving at Grass Valley this afternoon. Raining now but we'll start jamming at least when the sun comes out.

 

[Don Hergert]

Spent the evening jamming with my Alcoa. It's been a while. Wow it was fun. Jammed first with a group of friends that live within an hour of our home. Then branched out and jammed with some folks we didn't know so well. Great fun.

I had forgotten how much I love jamming on the Alcoa. Played for about 4 hours, no blisters, hands no worse for wear. Tone and volume were as desired in setup,

A great evening. Want more!

 

[Don Hergert]

So the festival is over now, my wife and I have rescheduled a few things to allow staying at the venue an extra day to avoid high winds and low temps with our RV on the 500 mile trip home. Just about everyone else has left. It's cold here today so if we jam it'll be inside somewhere, but I really doubt that will happen. We're resting up and replenishing and re-packing the RV for travel.

I did jam with my Alcoa again yesterday, sort of a randomly disjointed jam, one that was not as satisfying as others had been, but it was still fun playing the DB. We also jammed nightly with me on other instruments, so cumulatively this has been a great jamming experience for both of us.

At this point in most bluegrass festivals we evaluate our experience, plus there's a reflective sadness in seeing everyone leave. My wife and I both really enjoyed the festival and really enjoyed seeing friends, ironically most which live within about 60 miles of our home. Overall we're both saying we'd do this festival again, but 500 miles is a long distance for a bluegrass festival so we do have to think twice about it. This is the largest and most popular bluegrass festival in this state, and they do typically have a number of big name artists here -- big name for bluegrass that is. This festival is pricey though, and the travel expenses are high, so we have to budget for it all year long.

Tomorrow we're heading back home, but enjoying a number of stops on the way and just taking our time.

 

[Don Hergert]

We arrived home this afternoon. Unpacked the RV, un-bagged the DB, then unpacked our luggage, then normal tasks, feeding the cats, paying bills,etc. Busy busy busy...

Two weeks and two days, may not seem a lot for some of you folks who are on the road all the time, but for us we were starting to miss home. Our little dog was too, today he's just sacking out taking in the home vibe. Our cats missed him and us too, and are making it clear to us, as we are to them. The last time we were away from home for more than two weeks was in 2019, when we were away for this same festival then, as well as later in that year for a bluegrass Alaska cruise. I dunno, maybe we're just out of the habit, but we really missed home for the last week.

Some interesting notes...

I had brought the DB of course, but I also brought a bunch of DB support and miscellaneous instrument support stuff. Extra strings and goodies that I always carry in my bass bag. My bass amp kit which includes a voice mic which I can use with it. My bass stand kit which includes a mic stand and a music stand. My electronics bag which includes all kinds of chargers and dongles, etc. Two bags of acoustic stringed instrument repair and setup tools and supplies; stuff I used to use when I did this kind of work for a living plus a few newer tools and supplies. All in all probably almost 100 lbs of stuff that I didn't even open up once. That said, it didn't cost me anything except the lifting energy required to load and unload into/outta the RV, and had I or our friends at the festival needed them and not had them, I would have felt stupid. I know I can't bring everything, but having some things along adds confidence.

My wife and I both brought our laptops this time, and we both used them. We had AC hookups into our RV 95% of the time.

On one of our two camping stops, on the way back, we jammed with some of our local friends and others who happened to be there with their instruments. Some really good, somewhat random bluegrass-ish jams.

 

[BucketOfFish]

@dhergert I used to go to the Idyllwild bluegrass fest in the early 70's but, rumor was the town grew weary of the crowds so it ended.
Now it's an annual Jazz festival. Either way it was/is a great excuse to escape the summer hell-hole in the Coachella Valley.
Is there any internet source for BG events in So Cal?

 

[Don Hergert]

@dhergert I used to go to the Idyllwild bluegrass fest in the early 70's but, rumor was the town grew weary of the crowds so it ended.
Now it's an annual Jazz festival. Either way it was/is a great excuse to escape the summer hell-hole in the Coachella Valley.
Is there any internet source for BG events in So Cal?

I remember the Idyllwild bluegrass festival. It was fun. But i understand cities voting not to do that kind of thing... Temecula also did a bluegrass festival for a number of years, our band played for it a few times. Finally they stopped doing it. I think the businesses who really need the income don't usually get much out of the bluegrass crowd. The thriving businesses like restaurants and hotels probably would have done fine with or without.

There are two very active bluegrass associations in southern California -- SouthWest Bluegrass Association and North San Diego County Bluegrass Association. Then there's also California Bluegrass Association. All of these groups put on festivals, support home and camping jams and get the word out to their members with their web presence and with newsletters. We're members and enjoy hearing about events, even if we cannot participate.