Keith solo at Mission Viejo -- 05Jan2008

Well, I hate to say "Triumphant return", but it kinda was. The last time I/we played the Mission Viejo store was exactly 51 weeks ago, last January. We didn't know it at the time, but we got black-listed after that show, though we still don't know why. It could be that someone complained about the 15 or 20 Trailmate friends that showed up and kind of disrupted the place. It did seem kind of tacky, but how am I supposed to control my "fans"? Or it could have been my inability to hide my displeasure with the contingent of loud, rude, "regulars" who park down front in the comfy chairs, and hold boisterous conversations, making it hard to play for the people who'd like to hear the music.

Anyway, somehow, I got booked back there (probably one of the booking guy's frequent mistake/oversights -- this it the first one that was in my favor, though). First happy surprise: no regulars. Or at least, none of the noisy rude ones. I may have recognized one of the nice older ladies, but she's one of the quiet, supportive ones.

Second happy surprise: the manager was "Sally", a sweet little red-haired lady who's always loved us -- particularly because she's a huge James Taylor fan. She was thrilled to see me, told me confidentially that all the bands that "they" have sent in the last eight months have been "crap", and was, of course, totally unaware of our black-listing. She said she'd email the District Manger first thing Monday and get that fixed.

Third happy surprise: she'd come up with a new "stage" setup. Instead of putting us out in the main aisle of the store, facing into the café, but with our back to the books, she cleared a space over against the windows, so I could face into the whole store and not have distracting traffic behind my back all night. Better sound, too. And, if the Regulars had shown up, the comfy chairs were as far away from me as possible, rather than right in my face.

Even better, the process of her announcing that "the entertainment is here" and that the sitting people would have to shuffle their tables back to clear me some room, while, you'd think, somewhat annoying, was a good introduction that got the audience ready to accept my presence. This is hard to describe, but *very* useful, in terms of getting "into" the room and getting connected to the audience.

My cold, which had almost undone me the night before, was under control, so I was singing pretty darn well. I was somehow ultra-hyped-up, though -- nervous about the "new" setting, or needing it to go well, or caffeine mixed with cough medicine, or a combination, I guess. I was pretty spun-out and ragged the first half-hour or so, but settled in and did OK for the rest of the night.

I actually had most of the room involved -- almost competing to get their requests in. One of the coffee girls spent her break listening and requesting Willie Nelson tunes. A girl to my left with lots of books and a laptop, usually a recipe for someone who will *not* be involved, asked out of the blue if I knew "Lemon Tree". This is a very unusual request from a 20-something college student, and it was amazing to be able to say yes, since I'd learned it for my "Dad's Album". Of course, I don't play it very often, and it's way trickier than it sounds, but I pretty much nailed it anyway.

My buddy Ralph from Indian Princesses showed up with his daughter, and his wife and her friend. Also, our neighbor Patty came in with two of her kids. Playing in a place that's near enough for friends to come by is why I want to get "back in" to this store. I was afraid to send out a broad notice since my cold was getting so bad I was afraid I'd either have to cancel or play/sing badly, but hopefully it won't be another year before I play there again.

One more anomaly -- the website said that I was starting at 7:00, so I did. Usually, that means that the store closes at 10:00 (and stores that close at 11 start the music at 8), but at 9:30 or so I asked the Willie-fan coffee girl what time they closed, and she said, "11 o'clock -- you have time to play 'Pancho and Lefty' again!" So I did, of course, but it also meant that I ended up playing from 7:15 until 10:30 -- pretty long to sing on a trashed voice. (Made 40 bucks, too, and on only one CD sale -- and with the tip jar in a pretty inconvenient place. I'd expected to come home empty-handed!)

Anyway, great night, big fun for me, Sally seemed *very* pleased. Sang nearly every song I know, and some I barely do. Limped home with trashed voice, fingers and knees -- but worth every bit of it.