K&W at Borders South Coast Plaza -- 17July2009

Well, that was pretty dreadful, so here are some pictures of our new kitten:

I suppose I've performed worse -- I imagine those first few, or dozen, or hundred, performances were pretty awful -- but I'm pretty sure that the ratio of Artistic Capability to Art Delivered has never been worse. I played pretty badly, and not only was my voice not cooperating (until about halfway through), but I wasn't focused enough to ask it for much anyway. I won't go on about it -- let's just say I had an "off night" and move on.

Roy and Keri came by, and brought friends, which left me with the quandary of whether to do new songs that aren't very solid yet, but that my brother hasn't heard, or to do old favorites that are good and solid, to impress the friend. I guess I ended up doing a little of both -- the friend asked for "Pancho and Lefty", and Roy asked for "Hallelujah". I also played my new "Billie Jean", and some others.

But, like I told Warren, the upside to playing badly all night is that I don't have to comb through the 3 hours of video looking for "good takes" -- 'cuz I already know there aren't any.

Next week we're going on a "Mexican Riviera" cruise (me and the family, not me and Warren), so I'll be off of performing for two weekends. Let's hope I get my mojo back during the break.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum - 11July2009

Wow. I had thought that after the big night we had at the Myrtle Court the night before, that this solo gig at the Food Court would be (a) a disaster 'cuz of my trashed voice, fingers, and knees, and (b) a disappointment 'cuz of the huge crowds that the other location gets and the usually dismal (and disaffected) turnout that this one does. But I was way wrong. Mostly.

It started out really good -- lots of people's dinnertime, I guess. I started on time at 6:00 (for a change) and had a good response for a while, but then it emptied out and I was left playing to mostly empty tables, and no response at all. At 7:30 I decided to give my knees a rest and, wait for it, Took a Break (gasp!). I wasn't really even sure *how* to take a break, but since there was nobody there who was even gonna notice, I just turned down the amp and walked away. Wasn't that tricky, after all.

After some of the crowd had "turned over", I got back up there and got to have a fresh start. Newly-arriving members of the audience tend to emulate the behavior of the already-there people, so once dead silence sets in, it's hard to break. But with the fresh start, you get to try to "get it going" again. I'm gonna have to use this trick again.

The really surprising part was that my voice, although completely trashed the night before, was in outstanding form for the second half of the show. Really high and clear, and responsive. I really had no right to be able to sing at all, after the four and a half hour show on Friday, but it was the best I've sung in weeks -- maybe months. Was Friday night's beating a "warm up"?!? Mysterious.

I had lots of appreciative people, all the way through. Families, single guys, teens, some little kids. Had a cute little gonna-be First Grader, Camilie (?), befriend me, and request a bunch of songs she'd never heard of, just because she'd recently learned to read and was having fun doing so. And a little Kindergarten Cyndie Lauper dress-alike who just wanted to dance and dance with her grandpa.

Weird moment early on: a pair of apparent military guys came right up and stood 3 feet away as I tried to finish "Homeward Bound". I'm trying to sing and wondering what the heck this is about. At the end, the Big One said something appreciative (whew!) in his Texas drawl, and then asked, "Can I play one?". That's a new one, so I said, "I don't know -- are you any good?" He said "I ain't *bad*", so I asked the Little One, "Is he any good?", but of course the friend wanted to see this happen, so he said, "Sure!". There weren't many people there then anyway, so I gave him my guitar (he declined the head mic), and I sat down with the friend to see what would happen.

He started with some song I'd never heard, strumming some chords and eventually singing, but without the mic that was completely inaudible. He quit that after a half a verse, and tried again with Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", but he didn't really know the chords, and messed up the words, too. So after a verse of that, he just wanted off, and apologized for being too nervous. I told him that everybody has to start somewhere -- it gets easier. And off they went.

Anyway, lots of people dropping lots of little bits of money in the jar and guitar case. I made $66 -- half again more than the "Main Stage" the night before. 66 bucks looks like a lot of money, when it's almost all ones and quarters. But it's apparently all about the "connection" -- and I'm beginning to think, counter-intuitively, that people tip a "full" jar more than an empty one, so I started the jar with several bills in it, instead of the usual two, and 4 bills in the guitar case. Seems to have made a difference. Or maybe I'm just good...

Naaahh...

K&W at Irvine Spectrum (MC) - 10July2009

The girl who books the gigs at Irvine Spectrum offered to let us play the "Main Stage" (called, inexplicably, the "Myrtle Court"), one time only, without the usual $50 "setup fee". I've been wondering why other bands would play over there when it chops 50 bucks off of their "take", so we jumped at the chance.

Wow -- it's a lot different. It's basically just a wide spot in the (outdoor) mall, with a long rectangular fountain/pond running down it. They put up a stage at one end of the pond, and there are tables and chairs running along the sides. It's not the Food Court, so the tables fill up with people who are just sitting, or have found some coffee or juice to drink. The traffic, and there's a lot of it, flows around the stage and pond, and the band has the quandary of playing facing west toward the pond and the sitting-people, or facing east toward the flow of transient walking-people.

We decided to play toward the pond -- wrongly, I think now. It seemed like the only actual definable "audience" would be the sitting-people, and it would be rude to play with our backs to them. And they were largely appreciative, but they were also fairly distant, and the "connection" was hard to hold on to. Playing the other direction, we'd be the stone upon which the current breaks, but even if we'd only "captured" a couple of percent of that flow, that'd be a pretty big audience in itself. The video is pretty funny -- since the camera is pointing at the two of us, it catches us playing away, oblivious to the constant traffic flow and social interactions happening behind us. We did capture some of them -- there are a few sit-able planter-boxes back there that had people listening most of the time, but I think we'd'a connected better, and made more in tips, if we'd'a played the other direction. Next time -- if there is one.

The other problem with playing westward was that the sun was shining, hard, right in our faces when we got there. Twice as bad with the reflection off the pond. It was pretty ridiculous at first -- I couldn't see a thing, even with my sunglasses, and it was baking the wood of my guitar and warping it out of tune in nothing flat.

But the sun went down behind a big archway after not-too-long, and it was pleasant the rest of the night. The "hallway" is narrow enough to have a nice reverb effect on the sound, when it was quiet enough to hear it. And we had *lots* of people, who were really "there". It was pretty terrific. I tried to stick to the upbeat songs, but you know I have to throw in a crooner once in a while. And because of recent events, I worked up an acoustic bluesy version of "Billie Jean", which I wasn't so sure about but seemed to go over pretty well.

One odd coincidence: I'd been flipping through the "in-process" songs in my Book the afternoon before, and came upon "California Dreamin'". My chordsheet isn't quite right, and I needed to work up the correct chords for the flute solo section, so I tore it out of the book to work on it. I didn't get to it that afternoon, but, sure enough, somebody asked for it at the gig -- maybe the third time, ever. But I knew exactly where the sheet was -- on the floor in the bedroom, so I knew I couldn't play it. For fun though, I strummed out the first verse from memory before stopping cold and saying, "Nope. I don't know that song" to some scattered laughter.

We started about 6:20 -- stalling in hopes of losing some of that sun -- and had plenty of audience to keep playing past 10, so we just kept on going. Of course, by then my knees were shot, my fingers were hamburgered, and I'd lost the bottom fourth of my vocal range, but whatever, right? But at 10:45 the "house music" came on from the speakers along the walls, and we couldn't compete, so that was our last song.

Tips came in at $42 -- not even enough to have covered the setup fee. This was no doubt mostly on account of playing "backwards". The tip jar was behind us where we couldn't even watch it. I think people are intimidated somewhat by having "the artist" see them putting money in the jar, but they also seem to need the "credit" for having done so. If you're not watching, they don't "need" to tip. Also, the people who were really listening -- at the tables -- were far away from the jar, so they'd mostly just get up and walk away.

But that's OK -- we're not in it for the money. It was a terrific night. We probably played "at" a few thousand people, and "for" several dozen, at least.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 27Jun2009

It's finally nice and warm, and a lot of people were out. Unfortunately, it's also warm enough that the kids' fountain also has lots of people, making lots of noise. Hadn't thought of that.

Daleen's birthday was on Tuesday, so her parents met her at the food court to have dinner with her, and marginally, see me. Geneva came by a little later, since she was gonna meet up with some friends and see a movie later. Apparently, she's the only one in my family that understands the job description of "shill"...

But that's OK -- like I said, lots of people out. And, later on, a friend from work, who's always thought that my walking around the block twice a day with my electric guitar and headphone amp is the most hilarious thing she's ever seen, finally showed up to see what all that practice is for. Fortunately, she came late enough that I was past the "can't quite find the groove" phase of the night, and I was hitting a lot of home runs.

She'd brought her husband and two little kids along, and the 3-year-old boy went straight from the stroller to soaking wet in the fountain, while his 2-year-old sister watched carefully (and dry) from the sidelines. Vickie got to hear a lot of my best tunes while her husband walked all the way to the other end of the mall to buy some towels at Target. And I guess she thought I was pretty OK, 'cuz she said later that she thought that they ought to come and do that more often -- the music is good, and the kids had a blast. She'll bring towels and dry clothes next time, I imagine.

Near the end of the evening, a guy, his wife, and 14-year-old daughter were having a late dinner at the table right in front of me, and the adults were clearly in my Target Audience, and liking my stuff. Finally the wife finishes eating, and between songs comes up to me and says, "Do you know 'Carolina'?" I said that I did. She said, "You want me to harmonize it with you?" I have a basic policy/belief that anybody with the guts to ask something like that, can probably handle it, so I said, "Absolutely!" I dug out a second microphone (kept in the gig bag for just such an occasion), and we fired it up.

Her name was Joy, and unfortunately, although she professed to having "harmonized" to JT songs for 30 years, I think she can really only "hear it" if someone else (on the record) is reinforcing her part in her ear. She seemed about to sing, many times, but held back most of the song (and "Sweet Baby James" which we tried after), seeming to be waiting to hear where her part was. She was about to give up, but her husband yelled, "Let her sing 'Over the Rainbow'!", which I was happy to do. And, since she was on melody, she powered through that one, with only a little confusion since I've added back the "missing second bridge", cut from the movie version, which she'd never heard.

Anyway, it was fun for both of us to try, and it made her evening. I think she may even come back for another go, some night.

And I must have been doing something right overall, 'cuz I made $63 in tips, which I think is a new record for a solo gig. Some of that was CD money, 'cuz two ladies came up and bought one of each, each. Said they were preschool teachers, so they wanted the "grownup" record for themselves, and the "Waltzing With Bears" one for their classes. Flattering.