Smack Dab playing at the World Famous Rib Joint in Dana Point, CA on Sunday October the 12th, 2025.
Smack Dab is Lloyd Brown, lead vocals and guitar; Allison Friedman, lead vocals and guitar; Marc Repaire, lead guitar and vocals; Kent Richards, bass and vocals and myself on drums. You can reach us at SmackDabGroup@gmail.com.
So we had the pleasure of playing at the World Famous Rib
Joint in Dana Point, CA on Sunday the 12th of October, 2025. It is always super fun to play a gig, and
being that the Rib Joint is both close to my house and unpretentious, it has
become our most frequented gig venues, and they even pay us a little bit! All that fun and money! Whoo hooo, it is soooo fun to be a rock
star! Money for Nothing, and Your Chicks
for Free!!!! Well, this time I thought I
give a little more background on what it takes to play a gig, even at a lowkey
place like the Rib Joint.
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The World
Famous (well, at least that’s what I call it) Rib Joint at 34294 Pacific
Coast Highway, Dana Point, CA 92629.
Although quite rustic, they have indoor restaurant seating, a cool
little bar where the locals hang out, and an outdoor patio where we usually
play in the summer. They also feature
live music, which is absolutely great!
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Gotta love the Rib Joint! The building was originally built in 1940… I don’t really know what the significance
of 1973 is, maybe the obscenity case Miller v. California, which had
its origins in Dana Point… You tell
me! |
Besides the fact that we have been playing together for more than two years, we still put in some extra time before a gig, and this time was no exception. We did a rehearsal on Tuesday the 7th of October, 2025, focusing on songs that we felt were a bit rusty, and also our two new songs; Little By Little, written by Mel London and originally made popular by Junior Wells in 1960 and much later by Susan Tedeshi, and the ever popular Play That Funky Music, written by Rob Parissi with Wild Cherry. By the way, if you want people to get up on the dance floor, you gotta Play That Funky Music, whatever your skin color, because it is a dance floor magnet!
On Friday the 10th, I ran through the first set
by myself out in the Drum Cave, which gave me an almost two hour work out. It is funny how you forget songs if you don’t
play them for a while!
On Saturday morning on
the 11th, we got together for another band rehearsal, and again ran
though some stuff we hadn’t done for a while.
We also got the latest setlist, and you gotta love Marc Repaire for
being such an organized person! Not only
did we get the setlist sent to us on our phones, we also got paper versions,
which I love, because I can put them by the PA, and have the list at the ready! As long as I have my reading glasses, I can
actually read the setlist! Ha, Ha,
Ha!
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Setlist for the first set, Smack Dab at the World
Famous Rib Joint, Sunday the 12th of October, 2025. Gotta love how Marc puts an old-fashion
date stamp on the list! |
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Setlist for the second set, Smack Dab at the World
Famous Rib Joint, Sunday the 12th of October, 2025. This time we decided to just play two
longer sets with one break, as opposed the usual three sets. For me, I probably prefer three sets and
two breaks, since it allows we to get up and stretch my legs! |
On Sunday morning the 12th, I again got out in the Drum Cave, for a hour pre-gig practice. I primarily played some of the songs that I struggle with; American Girl (which, for some reason really beats me up; must be the repetitive bass drum pattern), Remedy (again, the bass drum pattern messes with my head) and the forever crazy Everlong, which I need to practice all the time, to make sure that a) I don’t get too rusty, and 2) that I have enough stamina at the end of the evening to actually play the song!
Since we were scheduled to play from 5 PM to 8 PM (or at
least so we thought), I started loading up my truck at about 1:30, to make sure
I had enough time to get everything loaded and to take a shower afterwards. I picked up my neighbor and bass player Kent
Richards about 2:40, and of to the Rib Joint we went! We usually carpool; no need to burn more
gasoline than we must!
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Sunday the 12th of October, 2025; getting
the truck all loaded up; five speakers, the PA head, the bass drum and the
infamous “sterilizer” drum trap case which weighs in at about 100 lbs. The case earned its name some years ago,
when after a gig my Brother-From-Another-Mother Al Chavez helped me to load
it up in the truck, only to pull a muscle in his groin, which put him out of
commission for a couple of weeks… If
I’m alone, I gotta empty out the trap case before I put it on the truck, then
fill it up again… |
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Sunday the 12th of October, 2025; in my new
truck I have enough room for Kent’s bass amplifier in the back of the
bed. Kent plays a cool little Markbass
CMD 102 2x10 combo. By the way, for
the weight (only 38 lbs), it is probably the best bass amp out there, plenty
of punch for even outdoor gigs… |
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Sunday the 12th of October, 2025; with the
exception of the bass drum, I usually stuff the drums in the backseat of my
truck, and as a rule, I have cases for all the drums, no exceptions… |
We got to the Rib Joint around 3 PM, and we started setting up. As we were setting up, we got word from Netta the manager / waitress / barkeep that somehow we had gotten our wires crossed, and that we were supposed to play from 6 PM to 9 PM, not 5 PM to 8 PM, which is what we originally thought. No big deal, these things happen, and when you play in a band, you gotta go with the flow! By 4 PM we were all set up and ready for sound check, which is greatly helped by both Marc and Kent being wireless, so they can walk out into patio area and get a feel for what the sound will be up-front.
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Smack Dab set up and ready for sound check! Kent is showing off his Fender Jazz
bass. |
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The view from the driver’s seat... Gotta hydrate; to combat cramping, I
usually drink two liters of Tonic Water during a gig, since the quinine in
the stuff supposedly help… |
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Smack Dab is ready for yet another gig at the World
Famous Rib Joint! Note that we bring
our own rugs, since it is hard on the feet to be standing on the asphalt for
3 plus hours… From left to right;
Lloyd Brown, Allison Friedman, myself in the background, Marc Repaire and
Kent Richards. |
So, as some of our usual fans started coming in, we started playing at about 5:30 PM. Here are videos from set number one and set number two:
Below are a bunch of Drumcam videos that I took during the gig, enjoy!
Even though we were playing on a Sunday night, we had a decent turnout, and as always when our fans are dancing and having a good time, the band is having an even better time! For me as a drummer, there is no better seal of approval than having folks out on the dance floor, enjoying the music and doing their thing. With the exception of maybe one or two songs, we played through both the setlists, and with one 15 minute break thrown in, we ended the evening at about 8:50 PM. After flailing away at Everlong as our closer, I was pretty much spent, but, as they say, there is no rest for the wicked! With everybody’s help, I had the truck packed up at about 9:50 PM, and I dropped off Kent at about 10 PM. I had already enlisted my son Matt to help me get everything off the truck and back in the garage, and we were finally done about 10:30. Then, after a little snack and some more Tonic Water to drink, I collapsed in bed! Nevertheless, as usual with Smack Dab, we had a great time, and I’m looking forward to our next gig!
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