K&W at SCP - 23Sept06

Really good. We had good response most of the night, and I played and sang exceptionally well. Coincidence? I think not. Also helping: I was kind of feeling like I had "pretty good" takes of every song we need for the CD, so I relaxed a little and captured "even better" takes of both "Don't Get So Down On Yourself" and "Long, Long Time", and maybe some others, too.

I think, with this set, that we have every song we need for the CD -- I just have to get 'em all found, clipped, processed, and burn it. It's been *far* harder to get done than I expected, but I guess that's the rule with most everything, and I won't bore you with why.

I now have 4 weekends off: next weekend is me and the girls at Surf Camp, the weekend after is "free" (with lots of stuff to do), and the next two will find Acacia and I in Japan.

But I've been bringing a computer in the car every day, 'cuz I have about 50 minutes a day waiting in the parking lot of the bus station for Geneva to come home from school. That gives me a good chance to edit, process, etc. the recordings, and it just may come together, bit by bit.

K&W at Costa Mesa - 15Sept06

A pretty fun night. That place is so full of noise that I didn't expect to be able to get any decent recordings, so I just kind of blew off worrying about it (though the recorder was running). Naturally, I play a lot looser when I don't have the pressure, and end up playing and singing better, and having more fun.

Costa Mesa is usually pretty full of people, and the physical arrangement isn't bad -- lots of people are close enough to hear, though not necessarily within sight. So we had plenty of people, but they were mostly being aloof and buried in their books, papers, and computers. We had some clapping for some songs, and total silence for others.

Then, around 9, a little family came in with two cute little girls, for whom I am a known sucker, so I played some kid songs for them. At the end of each song, I looked around the room to see if any of the adults in the area were at all interested, but no one gave me any indication that they cared one way or the other, so I ended up playing to the girls (and their parents) for quite a while. They must have appreciated it, 'cuz after a few songs, the little girl got up and put some money in the jar, and after a while more, she got up, took a CD, and put some *more* money in the jar.

Anyway, despite the generally ho-hum response, the performance was pretty good -- my voice has been really good to me lately -- and we may have accidentally gotten a CD-worthy version of "You Were On My Mind", which has been eluding us so far.

K&W at Yorba Linda - 08Sept2006

I hadn't been out Yorba Linda since February (though Warren had). It's a pretty nice setup, and we usually get a decent response, if not-so-much by way of tips. It's remarkable how much the architecture influences the success of the performance. You can do bad in a good joint, and do good in a bad joint, but the other two combinations are far more likely.

I felt like it was a lot more of a "classic" K&W performance than last week at SCP. I was more relaxed -- both generally, and in regards to the Live CD Song Capturement Project -- and less focused on getting specific songs. Probably that was due to the audience's non-rapt, but extant, attention, so I was playing songs I thought they'd like, and a lot of requests.

Unfortunately, Warren wasn't feeling well, so he just kind of pretended to be playing, very quietly. I guess he was afraid to try to play out loud while his head wasn't in it. I carried on, of course, and my voice was in excellent form again. It sure is fun to be able to hit those high notes without feeling like I'm straining, and sounding like it.

Surprise of the night: a young girl who arrived late and didn't see the song lists asked for "American Pie". Geneva also likes the new rendition that Madonna put out, so I had written it out and put it in the "Learning Section" of The Book, and I've been tinkering with it, but never did it in public. Since this girl asked specifically, I played it, and pretty much got through it (though it was (and Madonna's is) a truncated version). Fun.

We may have even picked up a song or two for the CD, but it would be better to get them when Warren's actually audible. Next time is loud, bang-ey, Costa Mesa though, where the odds of getting a quiet take are pretty slim. Good chance to just let the recording go and have fun, though.

K&W at SCP - 01Sept2006

Kind of a strange night. Warren was held up at work, so after stalling as long as I could, I played the first 5 songs without him. It's hard enough to just Start Out with him there -- without is even worse.

But we did OK, after settling in. My brother came by, and I enlisted him to take some video with my vidcam -- which in retrospect was a stupid idea. We'd like to have some video clips of us playing, of course, but since I'm still trying to capture some songs for the Live CD, I was obliged to stare down at the book to try to get through the songs mistake-free, which, I'm sure, makes for some pretty unattractive video footage (I haven't looked yet). We'll have to try again sometime when the CD is over with.

We did manage to get some good (audio) takes, though -- especially at the very end of the night. At least two, and maybe four, of those takes will end up on the CD. But there are still a few "essential" songs that have so-far eluded us, so, next stop: Yorba Linda on Friday.

Geneva Got Her Braces Off!

They'll be sticking other miscellaneous little things in there to keep 'em where they belong, but she's pretty glad rid of the railroad tracks. She says it feels really strange, but she's happy to get used to it. And to get to eat all those forbidden foods -- not that she was really avoiding 'em...