After Laughlin and Palm Springs, we had a couple of days off... Then, it was time to hit the gravel and head out to play a private show in another casino... This time, in Lake Tahoe!
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| This show called for Miss Neva Moore and Miss Judy Luck to dance with us. Here they are, in my (Spike) home bar, The Breezeway, having a quick bite before heading out. |
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| Ah, the Harris Ranch, along the long, long, straight, stretch of freeway called the 5. |
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| Lake Tahoe is an eight hour drive from Costa Mesa, CA. The girls made the most of the drive though. |
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| As we arrived into Tahoe, we were greeted with some amazing midcentury stuff, including this neon 'Stardust Lodge' sign! |
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My 'breeze block' obsession was satisfied by this wall which belonged to the Lake Tahoe Taj Mahal??
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| Harrah's, and the group who hired us, really took good care of the band, giving us big deluxe rooms. Each one was designed with TWO separate full bathrooms! This is the kind of touring that we can get used to! |
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| The next morning really showed us how beautiful Tahoe is! |
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| At soundcheck, we were greeted with one of the most amazing entrances to a show that we had ever seen. |
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| Both sides of the walkway into our venue had posters of vintage tiki bar advertising... It really was thee best themed and designed show that we have ever played. |
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The promoter 'redesigned' Harrah's historic ballroom into the Lava Lounge!
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| Upon entering the venue, we were greeted with an 8' smoke spewing volcano on the left side of the stage... |
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...and a chopped 1929 Ford Model A with a stone moai behind it, on the right!
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| Another moai, out in the crowd... This place looked better than a LOT of tiki bars that I've been to. |
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Here are the boys, dialing Christians bass in...
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Doug vs the volcano...
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| The stage hands are busy with decorating while Shorty loosens up on the steel guitar. |
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Another view, looking out into the crowed, from behind the volcano. Tiki event promoters, take note. This was AMAZING.
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Seriously... Amazing....
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Here we are at soundcheck...
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To say that 'everyone who is anyone' had played this stage would be grossly underselling the place. Opened in 1959, the absolute greatest entertainers in America have graced this stage. These two big posters highlight the golden era of Harrah's entertainment.
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| Everyone from Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Bobby Darrin, Ann Margret, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, among other legends, have played here! The last name that I saw, before we went on stage was a little known band from LA in the '50s called The Lancers. We performed one of their songs that night! A jumper called, 'Rock Around the Island'! |
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Photos of Mr Harrah with his star friends lined the luxurious backstage hallways. I was most excited by the photo of Herb Alpert (of Tijuana Brass fame). He's the snappy dresser on the right.
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| One last meal before showtime. What a buffet at Harrah's! It was all shrimp and prime rib for the band. You can see Shorty showing off his shellfish right there... Neva looks like she's feeding Judy... Doug's all business. |
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A quick shower and change and we were at home in the greenroom. Thinking too hard about the legends who had sat in that room was unnerving. The room was gorgeous with vintage paneled walls and marbled mirror ceilings.
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What got me though, was the original pink and grey bathroom in our dressing room! Wow!
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Dig that tile!!
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...Meanwhile, in the girl's dressing room.......this was going on... Whatever 'this' is.
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Then it was time to rock the Lava Lounge!
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Unfortunelty, the only live shot of us from the show is this one that I took of Doug while he was in the middle of a drum solo. The show went great though! A very polite dining crowd during the first set, and crazy dancing during the second set!
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Shorty and Neva
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The girls, looking to climb the volcano...
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...and with the big 'stone' moai.
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The view from backstage
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Because I know you're waiting for it... more, of the girls
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The whole group, after the show...
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That's when Shorty said that he'd see us later... and sped off in the hotrod.
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When we caught back up with him at the Hard Rock Casino... Celebrating leopard jackets and a certain 'Cat' band.
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During this trip, we also learned of BB's passing. It was a solemn moment coming across one of BB's Luceilles and a stage jacket of his. He was truly an American treasure.
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In happier news, it turns out that Buddy Holly was quite the leatherworker! He hand made these moccasins...
Neva enjoyed them.
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I tell you one thing... I loooove me some Elvis. The girls HAD to go pose for this for me. Elvis' karate jacket thing.
Super cool...
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Speaking of American treasure... (that's a reference back to my BB King caption. I know it was a couple of pictures back) I swear, Christian has to be the luckiest bastard that I know... After a night of losing a TON of money while gambling, he jumped right back up after the show!
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The girls weren't very impressed though. The gambling bored them. Once we were finished trying to take down the mighty Hard Rock Casino, we all hung out in the bar there till about 3am, watching and making fun of '90s music videos. Good times with our group!
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The next morning, we packed it all up and hit the road for home... Where the girls had to stop to take this picture at Andersen's Split Pea Soup.
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It was a super fun three show trip. With our band having as many members as we have, it's hard for us to go get on the road very often. Sure is fun when we make it work though. I'm very lucky to have a band made up of such amazing and fun people.
If you want us to come, drive out to you, start telling your local clubs or promoters! No telling what we'll be able to make work! Hope you dug the tour photos.
I'm ready to go back on the road! Aloha!
-Spike
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