NorCal Bassix Bass Day review

[Editor’s note: Wade Craver and sent us this nice piece following his NorCal Bassix First Annual Bass Day event on May 2nd. We donated some notreble t-shirts, stickers and postcards for the event.]

NorCal Bassix – Bass Day, what an event! No one left this venue dissatisfied. In addition to their new expansion, the new store Music Max in Palo Cedro, CA has expanded the horizon to the benefit of our locals and it’s about time! As one local Redding DJ, Ryan, of HankFM who also plays bass put it, “I was in awe. I’m speechless. And that doesn’t happen often!” There were giveaways, generously donated by supporters such as Roland, notreble.com, Stagg, Conklin, Music Max and NorCal Bassix (founded by Wade Craver). In fact, it went over so well, that this First Annual Bass Day can only get better, especially if we can expect to see this kind of caliber of performances each and every year.

The Bass Day event was free for everyone all day and performances started with two young students of the Bass, Baily Stover and Conor Pritchard, performing their work. Followed by Alex Mires, who is establishing himself quick! Then gradually, it became an all out string Warr! Warr Guitarist, Jimbo, was there to show off all his CHOPS with Andy Cervantes attacking his massive 10 string and then plenty of groove was happening from7 string bassist, John Ady. Then, Wade Craver did a little slappin’ and poppin’ to show off his rhythm and skill.

We also had local upright Bassist, Bruce Calin to give us plenty of insight on the evolution of the Bass and then Stew McKinsey brought some of his creations and answered a lot of questions that our local bassists had. We also had a special presentation from one of the top Bass cabinet makers of our time, Mark Wright of Accugroove, who was daring enough to bring these one of a kind cabinets for display and for play! Not only were we entertained, we really learned a lot! In fact, summing it all up here is so pale to comparison of actually being there! Please visit norcalbassix.com for details about the entire event.

But it didn’t stop there! The featured performer was none other than solo bassist, composure, Grammy-nominated and bass player of the year. . . just to name a few, Michael Manring himself! As soon as he plugged in his Zon Hyperbass, the floodgates were opened and our humble, generous gathering of over 100 people was graced by the most incredible bass playing anyone has ever heard! I don’t feel as if I can exaggerate enough about this man and in my passion to capture the event, I had to remind myself to look outside of the scope of my video camera to see it in full view because I was right up front! And each time that I did that, I had to remind myself to go back to my tiny, video screen to make sure that it was all captured perfectly. It was really hard to stay focused on the job, I have to admit. I can’t believe that I was there and that all of our hard work really helped to turn this event into a sincere success. The fact that Michael Manring agreed to show, was inspiration enough and so we look forward to making it all happen again next year. Thanks Mr. Manring. It was a pleasure meeting you and watching you play “some really weird bass” for us, as you said and no, we didn’t mind at all.

Please stay tuned for more events at norcalbassix.com. And help support our local music store or visit online at musicmaxonline.com. We really enjoyed having everyone there and hope that it only gets better from here!

Photos and text by ConArtistE