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.