Basstravaganza at the Double Down, Wednesday Nov 24, 2021

 

(I came home, went to bed, and went on vacation immediately after this, so that is why it has taken me a week to do this half-assed review!)

As everyone in Las Vegas knows, Basstravaganza is an annual event (that got derailed last year due to the pandemic, of course) wherein Thee Swank Bastards - a band with revolving members - starts off the Double Down Saloon's anniversary weekend by inviting the same number of bassists as the number of anniversary years to join in the instrumental fun. Led by guitar whiz Jesse Del Quadro, there is normally a revolving number of drummers, also, but this year everyone was sick or unavailable so only the lovely'n'charismatic (and energetic!) Courtney Carroll was holding down the beat all night long (except when she moved over to bass herself and another bassist sat in on drums). The players ranged from the exceptionally talented to clowns like me who only pick up the bass for Basstravaganza,  and the instruments ranged from the standard to the unique to a banjo bass to a tuba! Of course for the finale, as with every year, every bassist gets up on stage (or the floor) for a rousing rendition of Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom" that inevitably becomes a massively crazy mess that eventually simply dissolves - in this case, something seemed to blow out and we lost a number of players, but pretty much just at the right time!

I was keeping away from the crowd as much as I could so as to not catch anything so I did not even attempt any photos this time, but the event is well documented on Facebook for those who are interested. Hopefully, next year will be less contagious but just as sick!