Wednesday, April 09, 2008

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.

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