K&W at South Coast Plaza -- 14March2008

Not a lot of people there, but we almost always had somebody listening, so it was OK. While we were setting up, a pair of ladies sat down up front, and were watching intently, clearly waiting for us to start. They listened closely for several songs, asking for favorites, and clapping appreciatively. After a while, they had to leave, and the older one (the mom?) got a fiver out of her purse as they were packing up, and asked, "Where's your tip jar?" This being the (only) store that's told us that we can't have a tip jar, that was a tough question. I felt like I couldn't blurt out "We're not allowed to have one" over the microphone, but we kind of fumbled around awkwardly for a while and settled on letting her drop the fiver on the extra speaker over next to me.

Then, to top it off, she asked, "Do you have CDs?" We are, of course, not allowed to sell CDs anymore either (well, we are, but only "through the store", which is far more trouble than it's worth). I said, well, yes, I have some in the suitcase here, and got one out and handed it to her. She asked how much it was and I told her that she'd already paid for it (with the fiver). But she didn't want to let it go at that, and fetched out 2 more dollars to drop on the speaker. Awkward. Having a tip jar seems a little needy and tacky to me, but not having one turns out to be worse. People want to be able to show their appreciation, and you have to give them a way.

We had a gap for a while where nobody (appeared to be) listening, so I played some new stuff I've been working up: "Hey There Delilah", Tom Waits' "I Hope that I Don't Fall In Love With You", and Roy Orbison's (via Chris Isaak) "Only the Lonely". I don't usually learn (i.e., obsess over) three new songs in one week, but they ganged up on me, what can I say?

After a while, a couple that we've seen there before dropped into the comfy chairs up front and wanted to hear some James Taylor. Apparently, the guy is learning guitar, and wanted to watch me play some of those. I pointed out that James is a much better (trickier?) guitar player than he's generally given credit for, and the secret to playing his stuff is to have 35 years of playing under your belt. Not to be too discouraging, but just strumming the chords doesn't work with 95% of the James songs.

And then after they left, my brother and his wife came in. While they were there, another guy requested some Gordon Lightfoot. This is the same store that I got two Lightfoot requests last time. Fortunately, right after that I went home and learned his Biggest Hit, "If You Could Read My Mind", so I played it, and did pretty well, considering I just learned it.

But then Roy wanted "10 Degrees and Gettin' Colder", another Lightfoot song he knows I play, so I did that, which spun me off into some other songs in that "Drop D" tuning: "Can't Find My Way Home", "Four and Twenty" and "Five O'Clock World".

We played well past the "2 hours" maximum, but we know that place is friendly, and we ran into the nice manager on the way out and talked to him about it and he didn't have any problem. He loves us. I'm sure we could, and probably will, appeal the No Tip Jar rule with him and he'd let us do it again. Or maybe we'll just put it out next time and plead ignorance/forgetfulness if called on it.