Keith at Borders Mission Viejo -- 23Aug2008

Wow, what a night! I drove over there wondering, as I often do, why I was still doing this. Clearly it's not about the money, but there's usually not much appreciation either...

Anyway, I went over to the Info desk to get somebody to fetch the store's equipment, and as the guy went off to get it, the college girl behind the counter suddenly asks, "Are you Keith?". I said yes, and she asks, "Are you ever looking for a violin player?" Huh?!? That's pretty out of the blue, and strangely worded, but I recover and say, "Sure! But we don't get paid or anything." She's aware of that, but wants to sit in anyway, and says that she's "classically trained, but I can improv". I'm thinking that anybody with the guts to ask, probably knows what they're doing, or thinks they do -- and if not, what have I got to lose? Anything to shake it up.

So I start setting up, but thinking about it, I realize that since I only play there once a month, and it's 50/50 whether Warren will be there too (which would complicate the issue, with two "lead" players), that tonight's a pretty good chance for her to do it, if she's gonna. I found her at the cash registers and told her as much, but she said that she's working until 10:30 (a half hour past closing time). I presumed she'd get a dinner break sometime, and suggested that she go home and fetch the violin then. She said she'd think about it.

Well, she must have decided to go for it, 'cuz an hour or so in, she showed up with her case. I asked her what songs she thought she could handle, and she started with Paul Simon's "America", to my surprise -- not really an "easy one". But she kept up, and played around in the right key, and it sounded good to me. Then she chose Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight", which has a signature Stratocaster riff, and I thought she meant to play it on the violin, and she said, no. Huh? Then why this song? But I played it anyway, and she did better, 'cuz it's a more obvious chord progression, and slower.

Then she asked for "Whiter Shade of Pale". Cool! It's got a signature Hammond organ line that's based on a tune by Bach -- she can play that line, and it'll sound great! But, again, nope. And again, why'd you pick it, then? But she played some stuff that was similar, and it sounded OK anyway -- though the official line would have been more impressive.

She said she'd have to get back to work after one more, so I suggested "Let It Be", 'cuz it's pretty straightforward, and she's bound to know it. And it did work out well.

Between the songs, I tried to impress upon the audience how cool this was, but I guess it was just "some people playing" to them, and nobody seemed as excited as I was to have her there. Oh well. I had to ask her name so I could introduce her -- it's Melina. I talked to her at the end of the night, and she had fun, and I told her that she's welcome any time. I don't know if she'll be wanting to come to any gigs that aren't in the store she works in, but we'll see what happens.

Of course, Daleen thinks that if I want a violin player, I should recruit Geneva. And I love that, but she just doesn't have the time, nor inclination. I guess I should have been working on her, and with her, over the summer...

Anyway, after Melina left, I kept playing, and after a while, some new people filtered in that, for some reason, were really enjoying the music. I had 3 or 4 people around the room that were really into it, and asking for songs, and clapping -- for real, not that "polite" stuff. Their interest seemed to be contagious, and for the last half hour or more I was more connected to an audience than I've ever been. By far. It was amazing. And of course, it's a loop where I play better and better, and people start listening more, and around we go. Exhilarating.

And, for a while at least, I knew why I keep doing this...

K&W at Brea Downtown -- 22Aug2008

Pretty fun. We started off strong due to the crowd of teens who watched us finish setting up, waiting to hear some tunes, and were then very appreciative once we started up. It's always nice to have somebody to start playing for, right off the bat.

We had lots of people stop for a while, all through the evening, and pretty good feedback, generally. But I felt sort of "out of it" for some reason -- like I wasn't really running the show, but that it was running me. Hard to describe, but it just didn't feel right, a lot of the time.

Daleen, Acacia, and all three dogs came along, which made for a pretty tightly packed van, but they walked around the area a lot, and then spent some time near us, attracting more people than the music was, it seemed.

There were a lot more very loud cars and motorcycles going by, and sometimes stopping for far too long right in front of us, due to the crosswalk there. Loud mufflers, and cars with very loud music coming through open windows. Probably more of a Summer thing.

Anyway, it was fun, and different. Don't know why I couldn't get "into it", but I guess there are good nights, and bad nights. Still, I was playing and singing well enough -- that wasn't it. We made pretty good tips, though -- $63 (we'd thought it was $70, but Acacia (who, for some reason, just *loves* to count the money) neglected to subtract the $7 "seed money" that I'd put in). We were thinking that we ought to make a bunch more in the Summer than we had last November, but it's not materializing. Maybe it's the economy...

Huntington Gardens & Griffith Observatory -- 20Aug2008

For another of our day-trip "vacation" days, we combined a trip to the Huntington Gardens and Museum, with a stop at the Griffith Park Observatory. With the gas prices these days, we didn't want to drive up there twice...

Huntington Gardens is Daleen's "favorite place" -- they have more plants than you can shake a stick at. Not exactly *my* idea of a good time, but we walked through a few hundred miles of paths through plants, and Daleen and the kids loved it. Must be a Girl Thing.

They have a big Desert Plants section, and some nice Japanese Gardens. Recently, the Chinese, not to be outdone (especially by the Japanese), put in a section of their own, which is even more elaborate.

After the plants, we went into the museums to look at the paintings, which are more interesting to me -- to a point. They really mostly have portraits, and they all start to look alike after a while with the rosy cheeks and lipstick and mile-high wigs and frilly satin and lace -- and that's just the men...

So after the obligatory half-hour in the gift shop, and the obligatory droppage of 75 bucks, we were off to lunch on the way to the Griffith Park Observatory. It was famously recently expensively renovated, and looks exactly the same. They wanted to leave the iconic building alone, so they jacked it up and added an underground "second story", with more exhibit space and another little theater.

I was kind of disappointed that it's still all at elementary school level -- I was hoping that they'd get beyond the "how much you weigh on Jupiter" stage, but I guess schoolkids are their target audience. The planetarium show (with the new comfy seats), on the other hand, despite being "for beginners", was excellent. They really put it together to illustrate the concepts perfectly. "How to explain stuff" is kind of my "thing", and this was simply amazing. Brilliant, even. And well presented too, with a live Actor Guy doing the narration.

So that was pretty fun, too. We had arranged to meet the Spencers there, so the kids had friends to hang with, and from there we went into Hollywood to have dinner, which was a special time, too. A great, if long, day.

K&W at Costa Mesa -- 15Aug2008

A pretty typical outing for Costa Mesa -- some people listening, and some people completely indifferent. I felt good though, singing and playing well, and feeling loose.

But we were cut pretty short, because the store's hours changed and, of course, nobody told us. So we arrived at 7:30 thinking that we were playing 8-10 (or 10:30) for an 11:00 closing time, but the coffee girls told us that they now close at 10, so we only really had from 8-9:30, and even at that we were pushing this cranky crew by cutting close to their "get out of here" time.

It wasn't so bad -- it would have been nice to have been told beforehand, but it wasn't the end of the world. But I could have done without that particularly unpleasant coffee girl's "nyah nyah" attitude. She seemed evilly delighted that we had gotten screwed out of our play time, and that was uncalled for. I get it that we offend her hard-core punkette sensibilities, but she doesn't have to be a jerk about it.

LA Science Center -- 11Aug2008

We couldn't take a long vacation this year 'cuz we have the new puppy who Daleen won't leave with anyone else during the formative stages, so we were supposed to take some day trips. Those didn't hardly materialize, but I took the day off and went to the LA Science Center with the kids (Daleen wasn't interested, saying she'd seen it.)

Turns out, she was right. I don't know how long it's been, but it was all *very* familiar to me. The kids must have been pretty young, though, 'cuz they didn't remember any of it.

We walked around all the usual exhibits, but I'd gotten a time-specific ticket for Geneva to see the plastic-ized skinless people. Acacia and I opted out -- we didn't feel the need to see the insides of people. For one thing, it's kind of expensive -- for another, I'm not sure it works both ways -- they probably wouldn't pay *me* 18 bucks to see the insides of *my* stomach. Acacia and I went over to the space museum and looked at the satellites and space capsules instead.

After that, we saw a really cool 3D IMAX movie about prehistoric "sea monsters". It was pretty amazingly realistic, and big fun. We had a little more time after that, so we sped through the Natural History museum. They've refurbed the stuffed animal dioramas by cleaning them up, and repainting the backdrops, and they're *really* good. They're incredibly realistic, and the transition from the real dirt, rocks, and plants to the painting is almost completely invisible. It's pretty amazing.

Anyway, a pretty fun Dad-n-Daughter day.

Drama Reunion Party -- 09Aug2008

(Who's that way-too-skinny kid in the back?!?)

OK, I was never actually in Drama at high school, but they'd do a musical every Spring, and they needed singers, especially *boy* singers, so they'd raid the music department to get some. My senior year, I was in the Concert Choir and the "song and dance" 12-kid group, The Mariners, so I got shanghaied into "Mame". I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but I let them talk me into it.

It turned out to be great fun. I never actually saw the play itself, so I have very little idea what it's even about, but we had fun learning the songs and dances for the "production numbers", and I met a lot more girls, and that's what counted, back then.

So, every 5 years or so they throw a Reunion of all the kids that were in Mr. Meyer's (now called "Bob") Drama productions. He taught there from '65 to '74, and all the kids loved him (I didn't actually get to know him at all, but whatever). It works out really well since Drama productions tend to be mixed-grade so you got to know people older and younger than you were -- and of course, by now, the few years' differences are invisible anyway. And the Drama Reunions also kinda serve as Mariner Reunions, since most of us were in the musical, at least.

At every Reunion, they have a long slideshow, using the old round slide tray projector, and everybody sits around and makes cracks at their friends' previous selves. This time, since the slides are starting to dissolve, a guy volunteered to scan all the slides, pictures, programs, yearbooks, and anything else he could dig up, including some previously unseen black and white stuff taken for the school paper and yearbook, and made an incredible "Ken Burns" style slideshow, complete with music. I had access to a projector, sound system, and screen, so I volunteered to be the tech boy. Again.

Anyway, the slideshow was really well done, and everybody loved it. Funny part was, we had to wait until around 9 to start the show so it would be dark enough, so it was over a little after 10, and (most) everybody got up; said "That was terrific"; and went home. Buncha old fogies. So much for that "wild drama party" reputation...

I had a great time seeing a bunch of old friends -- though several that I wished were there didn't make it. Laura, Dawn, Craig, Todd/Dirck, Clark, Saskia, and Michelle were there, but no Johnny, Dave, Ken, Sherry, Mindy, Leslie, David, Janelle, or Denise -- even though I had personally talked, I thought, those last two into coming. I guess I'm just as easy for pretty girls to lie to now as I was back then...

Keith at South Coast Plaza -- 08Aug2008

A very quiet night, no doubt due to it being opening night of the Olympics. But I had taken the day off so we could spend the whole day shopping -- first at the "Japanese Mall" (pretty fun, and a great call-back to the trips the girls and I have taken) just south of South Coast Plaza, and then at the SCP itself. We met up with our Princess friends of 11 years now for dinner at Ruby's, and then I went to Borders to set up. Daleen and the Spencers came by later, though the kids were out having fun being in the mall unsupervised.

But it's always nice there with the good acoustics, and with the room nearly empty and deathly quiet, I had fun playing in the crystal clarity. And it was nice to have the Spencers see me in such a good acoustic setting for once. Todd's mostly heard me out in some campground someplace...

K&W at Irvine Spectrum -- 01Aug2008

We were suddenly OKed to play at the Irvine Spectrum Food Court, and since Friday was the only free weekend night we both had free in August, we jumped on it. No pay, of course -- but at least they don't *charge* you, like the $50 you have to pay to play down in the middle of the mall.

It's a bit challenging, but it was fun anyway. There are a lot of people, but many of them are just there to eat their pizza, not to hear some music. Of course, that gives us the opportunity to turn them into fans, assuming we're interesting enough. We had old people, parents, teens, kids, and babies. It was unusually eclectic -- we'd bounce back and forth between "Sweet Baby James", "Hey There, Delilah", and "Rubber Duckie". Had some kids that were fascinated and got themselves lists so they could make requests, and other kids that showed their coolness by showing their contempt.

The biggest problem is the acoustics -- it's outside, so we have to be really loud to start with. But back behind the audience is the kids' fountain, with "spitting" giant turtles and the "jumping water", all programmed in loops so the noise comes and goes -- but mostly comes. I had it turned up *really* loud (*I* thought), and a dad in the first row of tables comes up between songs and asks if we could maybe turn it up a little. "Up"?!? I thought he was about to complain about it being too loud from where he was sitting. So I floored it, which brought even the vocal up to the point of clipping distortion from the speakers. But, oh well.

I had (foolishly) thought that I might get away with playing the electric guitar all night (4 hours! 6-10), 'cuz I use it to practice as I walk around the block twice a day at work, and I'm getting pretty used to the string spacing, and the sound. But the overall acoustics and bad settings made it pretty awful, so I gave it up after 8 or 10 songs. Too bad, though -- it sounds better to be on an electric for the "rock and roll" songs (such as we have), and it's a lot easier on the fingers, too.

At about 9:20, I suddenly wondered if the effects processor was being overloaded by the sheer volume, and looked to see if the caution light was blinking or not. It wasn't, though it should have been, which made me notice that the reverb was turned almost all the way down. That was because I had last used the amp at the wedding, and there was a lot of natural echo in the room, so I turned the amp's reverb way down. After I noticed that and turned it up where it belongs, the whole sound was *way* better -- too bad I figured that out just when it was almost time to quit.

Anyway, it was fun, and different, (and we made $64 to split) so we'll do it again -- a few times anyway.