KC at Yorba Linda - 14April2007

This was scheduled as a K&W gig, but Warren got a better offer (a unique opportunity he couldn't, and shouldn't, pass up), so it was just me. Probably for the best, too, because I'm coming down with a nasty cold, and had a *terrible* sore throat. I've played/sung with a sore throat before, and the adrenalin or whatever made it seem to go away, but this one was un-ignore-able for most of the night. For the first hour or so I was constrained to some kind of little half-voice, which, even then, wasn't terribly accurate when I'd send it after some note or another.

It wasn't so bad that I had to just give up and go home, though I had half a mind to do so, but I had a good start (the hard part -- getting that initial connection), and a good audience that didn't seem to notice the flaws, so I kept going. Right at the beginning I had a gramma and grampa with three little kids, so I got to sing some of the kids' songs, and several audience members were throwing out requests.

For the last hour or so, an older lady and her daughter sat down in the comfy chairs, and related how the grandson/son (2, but not present) "plays my CD every day". They knew, and requested, a bunch of songs off of that CD, and I could see their lips move as the sang quietly along. They really liked "Teddy Bears' Picnic" (which I ought to record and add to the CD someday), and they were delighted by the new "Matilda" verse for "Waltzing With Bears". They had clearly seen me/us before, and I wish I'd'a had the presence of mind to ask them how they knew I was coming back, or if they're just there every Saturday.

There was also a beautiful Asian-American lady, by herself, who sat and listened closely for the whole last hour or more. She requested a few songs, the same ones that I think are my best (for singing, i.e., "Crying"), but when I asked her if she had more requests, she just said "I like them all." It was kind of unnerving -- I was starting to think that she wanted to ask me something, or was studying my guitar playing, or something. At the end, while I was tearing down, she come up and asked what kind of guitar I have, 'cuz she thought it "sounded beautiful". That was nice.

Anyway, it was pretty good, but pretty bad, too. I had fun, but it was tough to be that bad of a singer, and the bandwidth I was spending on worrying about and trying to control my trashed voice made me make guitar screwups that I've never even imagined. Which, of course, made me start to think too much about my hands, which makes it worse, 'cuz my hands know how to play that stuff, but I don't. I had considered bringing along the computer to record the night, but I'm glad I didn't -- I wouldn't want a recording of the many songs that were the worst I've ever done. Oddly, though, there were half a dozen that went really well -- I was kind of singing really "gently" to spare my voice (and not push it to cracking), and that treatment worked nicely of a few of them.

I had been working (some more) on "Mother Goose" all week, but was afraid to try it, or most of the songs that go even a little high. I've also been working on "American Tune", which I thought might be safer to try without Warren there, but it goes *way* too high, so I didn't risk it. Next time, assuming I'm well by then.