K&W at Java Joe's Open Mic -- 29April2008

Quite a bit better this time, I think, than the last few. The monitor sound was way better, eventually. The sound guy, Scott, was trying to figure out how to make my mic louder, and to patch it through to the monitor speaker during the first half of the first song. This was screwing me up something awful, but once he settled on something, I could at least hear what was going on.

We played "Copperline" first. I wasn't sure how it would go over, because, although I play it pretty well, it's not well known. But this is a crowd of mostly "music people" and I could see that a lot of them knew it, and hopefully appreciated the novelty of an amateur attempting it.

Then we did "Crying". I like to show off my vocal chops in one of our three-only songs, but it clearly loses something in this "party atmosphere". I did see some people listening intently, though, so I think we got to some of them.

Last, we did "You Were On My Mind", at a bit faster clip than usual. This went over very well, I thought -- suits the room on a Tuesday night. I looked up to see Patrick and Jean, some new friends, dancing away, and apparently singing along, all the way at the back of the room. That was encouraging both because it meant that the song was working, but also let me know that the sound was getting out there. That part's hard to tell with this setup.

Anyway, I think we impressed some folks. I had made up some "posters" that Chuck will put up around the store, and some little quarter-sheets that people can take home to remind them that we're there for a full gig on Thursday night. I guess we'll see if any of them were impressed enough to actually come by.

(The picture is actually snagged from a video that new-friend Mark took last week. But I imagine we looked about the same last night...)

Keith at South Coast Plaza -- 28April2008

Another quietly appreciative audience. Got plenty of requests, though -- the first one from a friendly girl at the back named Michelle, who asked for, of course, "Michelle". A guy down front marked up a song list, choosing several James Taylor songs, which suits me fine.

Also, the lady that's hiring me to play her art show was there, and her boyfriend brought up a list with a dozen songs on it. She was there to listen to my set and she'd brought a highlighter to indicate songs that she likes. By the end of the night, she'd pretty much colored the whole sheet yellow. She discovered that she basically likes all my songs, so I guess I'll have to ask her if there were any that she *didn't* like, so I can avoid them.

She was there the whole night, and used the time to stuff invitations into envelopes. It's not invitation-only, but she was sending out "notices" to everybody she knows. Turns out, she's not "running" the show, like I thought, she's the artist. The shop is a mosaic store, but she does "contemporary florals". There was a sample on the invitation, and it looks like "toile painting" to me, but, whatever. She says that there'll be mosaic art, and several of her canvasses, both. Should be interesting, because the "shop" is a converted old house in Long Beach, and she didn't even really know where she was gonna put me, yet. We'll see.

I looked around the store when I got there, and didn't see the "no tip jar" manager, so I put the jar out, just sitting by itself on a stool. I didn't put the CDs out because I forgot to make some more and there are only a few left. So, since the little sign refers to buying CDs, and uses the CD stand as its stand, there was no sign at all for the jar. Still, I made $21, which is pretty good. There were quite a few people appreciative enough to walk up and stuff some money in, even though there was very little clapping.

There are a few "regulars" there that I'm starting to recognize. One nice old lady painstakingly walked up and asked me "Where's your partner?" in her Jersey accent, as if I'd had him bumped off or something. I assured her that he was doing just fine, but was home with his wife this time.

K&W at Java Joe's Open Mic -- 22April2008

We didn't have an upcoming gig to plug, but these open mics are so much fun we decided to just go out and play anyway. It's too bad the sound is so bad that it's nearly impossible to play.

We played "South of the Border" first, then "I Only Have Eyes For You", and then "Bus Stop". New buddy Mark Hermann had a video camera set up and has posted videos of all three songs (among others), here.

I didn't realize it at the time, but my voice is kinda wobbly at first -- I guess I was more nervous than I thought.

Anyway, it's always fun, even if it's scary (*especially* if it's scary?), and we made more contact with "the crowd" up there.

Keith plays for the Indian Princesses -- 19April2008

The Indian Princess Nation that I was in for 10 years as my girls went through the program asked me to come back and play a "concert" for them as their Saturday Night Campfire program. I've been "gone" for a year, so there were a few new dads and daughters, but most of them know me, have my CD and know all my songs, and are my biggest fans.

As soon as I got ready to play, they were already shouting "Waltzing With Bears!", so, although I had planned to save it for the end, I went ahead with that. The kids all jumped up on the benches, put their hands in the air and swayed back and forth, and held up their lit-up cell phones. Several of the dads said that it was like a Springsteen concert.

I ran through all my "hits": "...Bears", "Lollipop Tree", "Marvelous Toy", "Love Potion #9", "Last Unicorn", "You Got a Friend In Me", etc. Also, of course, my sing-along "I'm an Indian Princess" song with the cue-cards, and my Princess-themed "Three Mile Hike" to the tune of "Gilligan's Island".

I also did "Teddy Bear's Picnic" which is new (to them, 'cuz it isn't on the CD), and "Octopus's Garden" (which really just doesn't go over, somehow). I'd also learned a new song, "You Can't Be a Pirate", which is pretty funny and went over really well. I had set up my video camera on a tripod and just hit "record" to capture the whole thing, so I clipped out that song and posted the video so the kids (and you) can go see it. Click here.

The only downside was that the stage is a nice concrete platform with a fire-ring built into it at one end. That's cool, but they put the fire-ring on the upwind side (the campground is only a mile from the beach, the wind always blows one way). I was smothered in smoke half the time, which was affecting my voice. I had some real trouble on the high notes of "House at Pooh Corner", but I don't think the kids noticed. You can see the clouds of smoke blowing by me on the video and in the picture above.

I had been "assigned" to make a pitch for the older-girls (Trailmates) program that we're in now, so in the middle of the show I had all the near-graduation Princesses come down to the stage and get in a huddle for a "secret message". I told them about the program in a stage-whisper, sent them back to their seats, and then "realized" that my head-mic was on the whole time! Not so secret after all. (Of course, the intention was that the dads get the info, too.)

After the traditional final song of my new-lyrics version of "Goodnight Irene", I had some CDs ready for the girls that didn't have one already, and I had brought a Sharpie to autograph them. I had a crowd of girls around me, waiting their turn for an autographed CD. That was pretty fun, too. After a while, a guy in the crowd said "Can you get a CD if you're not in the group?" He'd come down from Ventura just to camp there, had heard the music, and come up to listen with his kids -- and now he wanted to buy a CD. Flattering.

Anyway, it was a terrific time for me, since they're the best audience I'm ever bound to have. Not to mention that kids are twice as demonstrative than adults, and they all know my stuff already, so they're ultra enthusiastic. After the show, I walked around all the campfires just to talk with old friends, and the dads were appreciative, too. With any luck, they'll ask me out again sometime.

Another paying gig!

Back in March, I played a solo gig at Costa Mesa that I thought had gone pretty poorly. I played well, but nobody seemed to care. But then at the end as I was collecting the song sheets, a lady asked me if I "played events". I've been telling myself to quit waffling on this point when asked, and just say "yes" -- so I just said "yes". She said that she had an art show coming up and might want to hire me. It seemed to me like she was needing to consult with someone else, or maybe was just gonna recommend me to someone else, so I just gave her a card, a song sheet, and a CD, and told her to email me if it came together. I didn't really expect anything to come of it.

But 6 weeks later, I get an email, and it's On, if I'm available May 18th, and what's my fee for 3 hours of playing? Surprise! Somehow, $250 seemed like a good number to ask for, so I did, and she went for it!

It's at an art "store" in Long Beach, in an old bungalow house in a little district that's becoming an art/craft/design center. The store actually does mosaic -- designs, installations, and lessons. So I guess it'll be a mosaic show, but whatever. She thinks there'll be 300 people coming through. Should be fun, and real money!

I feel a little weird about doing it without "inviting" Warren, but, like the wedding gig, she happened to "audition" me when I was solo, so that sound and band-size is obviously what she's expecting to hire. When the wedding-lady took me off-guard at Tustin, I stammered through offering a two-man band as even better, but she said that she liked what she'd been hearing just fine. She may also have been wary of what the cost might be if there are two guys instead of one.

Anyway, I had really thought that we'd get lots of offers to play "events" from people who hear us at a coffeeshop somewhere, but it hasn't happened much. But suddenly, two paying gigs in two months. I'm pretty sure I'm getting better, but I'm not *that* much better than I was a year ago, so it's probably just coincidence.

K&W at the Santa Ana Zoo -- 12April2008

Well, *that* didn't go as well as we'd planned. Started off poorly when I got there at 10:30 to find that the portable stage and amplifier that were supposed to be there at 10:00 were nowhere to be seen. So I sat around for 45 minutes, waiting for the stuff so I could start my own set up, and our 11:00 publicized start time was more like 11:45. Old friends Bill and Mary Jane were there on-time at 11, so they sat around waiting. My parents were clever enough to show up late, so they were there just before we started.

I gave my video camera to my dad, and he got a couple of songs, but he wasn't feeling well so they had to go home early. Not that they missed anything -- I was totally "off my game". I don't think I've played that badly in years. Partly, I was tired since we'd played a gig just the night before. I also just felt burned out, somehow. Of course, the new situation was distracting, it was hot and windy, and I always screw up when there are movie cameras around. I could go on making excuses, but, bottom line, I sucked.

My brother showed up a little after my parents left, and took over with my video camera, and Warren got a few songs with his little camera too, but again, garbage in, garbage out. Even the songs with no big mistakes in them are lackadaisical and dull.

Oh well. We'll try again, but without a gig the night before, and see if I can pull out of the dive. Warren, apparently, was playing as well as ever, although even though he could hear himself OK, the cameras couldn't. He must have been getting into it though, 'cuz he broke a string, first time ever, and had to do half the gig with 5.

K&W at Costa Mesa -- 11April2008

Another "room full of middle-aged dudes" night at Costa Mesa. And Mr. Superfan was back! Fortunately, there weren't any groups of loud people for him to yell at, so it went quite a bit better than last time. And, now that I know to be aware of it, I was careful not to let him hijack the set list this time, either.

I don't think he noticed or minded, though -- he thinks all my stuff is pretty amazing. It's great to be appreciated, but weird to be so powerfully so. Compared to my normal amount of response, it's frankly a little scary.

K&W at Java Joe's, open mic -- 08April2008

That was really fun. We're getting to know the other guys that hang out at these Tuesday night things, and they, us, so it's just plain fun. We did our three songs ("Carolina In My Mind", "Long, Long Time", and "Five O'Clock World"), and watched several of the other guys get up and play. Including an old-timer who plays a left-handed guitar, left-handed, but strung right-handed! Essentially he's playing it upside down, so although he's playing the same chords we're used to seeing, his hand comes at the strings from the wrong side. It's freaky-lookin' to a guitar player -- especially one like me who's constantly on the lookout to learn new stuff from scoping other players' hands.

We had a nice long chat with one of the guys, Mark, one of the few who still plays at Borders. (Most of the other guys have gotten fed up with the ill-treatment.) He told me how he'd been playing at the Mission Viejo store, and somebody walked up and asked him to play "Waltzing With Bears"! He's shorter and stockier than I am, but he's an "old guy with a little beard", so it was an honest mistake.

Anyway, the plan was to play on the Tuesdays that are in front of some other gig that we have in Yorba Linda, either at Java Joe's itself or Borders, but it's so much fun that I'm tempted to go out much more frequently than that. Unfortunately, that'll be a pretty expensive habit to cultivate, with gas prices being what they are.

K&W at Mission Viejo -- 04Apr2008

They wanted us in for the apparently annual "Educator Appreciation Event", with book discounts, food, prizes -- and us -- for teachers of any stripe. But the "reception" was from 4 to 8, so we started an hour earlier than usual -- tricky on a work night.

But it was fun. Operations Manager and sweetie Sally was there. She's a big James Taylor fan, so she loves it when I show up. I'd been working hard on "Copperline" just to get it ready enough to play it for her. I've been trying to get as much on her good side as possible to try to get Geneva a summer job there, but it was all in vain -- you have to be 18. Oh well.

Had quite a few friends drop by, too. Two guys from Princesses with their families; Acacia's friend from up the hill and her mom, by coincidence; and one of Daleen's student's dad ran by, also by coincidence. Also one of Geneva's friends from school, with her little klatch of friends. That's what you get in the "neighborhood store", I guess.

We played a full (and manager-authorized) three hours, with pretty-good to very-good response. Sally came by once in a while and waited for another James Taylor song. Sold 6 CDs and made $14 each, which is pretty good, these days.

The new "stage" arrangement, back by the windows rather than in the middle of the floor is an improvement, but it's still the worst sound of any store we play. For some reason, all the conversation carries everywhere; we're way too close to the blender and grinder, and I guess my own sound is coming back at me far too well, 'cuz I get un-fixable feedback on both the guitar and mic. I finally fixed most of the feedback by just unplugging my little monitor speaker, relying on the room's echo to fill in.

Maybe we need to experiment with different locations -- maybe just ti our right 15 feet so we're in the corner of the café, near the magazines. We'd be farther from the grinder, and maybe the oblique angle off the glass will help with reflections.

Keith solo at South Coast Plaza -- 28March2008

Another quiet but pleasant night. I do love the acoustics at the South Coast Plaza store.

Unfortunately, Big Earholes Guy manager was there, so I couldn't put the tip jar and CDs out. But that's OK, simplifies pack-up anyway.

I had a group of 4 teenage Latinas show up and ask for mainly Beatles songs. Lots of 'em -- including "Yesterday" which I have in the book, but don't normally do. That was pretty fun for a while.

And towards the end, an young Asian lady and her mom showed up, listening intently, and the mom was requesting songs with her daughter as intermediary. They stayed through the end, and then the daughter came up and introduced herself as "Fatima", and told me that she's "the band" there for next Friday -- her first outing with Borders. She had lots of questions about how it works and what to bring and what to do, and I answered as much as I could -- I know how hard it is to get started.

Her Borders blurb says, "Fatima sings in English, Vietnamese, and French, and is easy and fun to listen to. She's a musical breath of fresh air." She told me that she sings and has a guitar and keyboard player backing her up. I hope she does well, she was a sweetie.