I guess the heat (though it was quite nice in the evening) and the three-day weekend kept most of the people away. But I wasn't really at my best anyway, so maybe that's OK. I'm not sure why I go so brain-dead once I'm standing up there, but now, way too late, I'm pretty sure that the vocal enhancements (reverb, compression, etc.) in the harmony box were accidentally turned off the whole time. It sure sounds "flat" in the video, anyway, and I never did seem to Get Into it like I usually do. And half (or more) of what makes you feel like you're singing well is reverb – ask any karaoke fan (or don't -- I don't think they realize why they sound good (to themselves anyway) at the karaoke place (and the shower)). How I can be so clueless as to go the whole 4 hours without realizing it, is the mystery.
Anyway, I had only occasional groups tuned in, though towards the end the usual crowd of shy quiet listeners way in the back by the restaurant developed again. Maybe it's just too loud up front for the actual grown-ups...
A small group of young black kids sat down right at the front table, way too cool to acknowledge me, of course. So I played "Hey Ya", with no introduction. It was fun to watch the pretty girl in the middle as she started to realize that she knew those words from somewhere, then eventually catch on to what song it was, then whisper it to her friends.
Later on, a family was eating nearby and their little red-headed kindergartener was dancing to any and everything I played. So I started playing my most danceable stuff for her. Another mom dragged her even-smaller little boy over to dance too, and the adults in the area started to notice and watch them. She just danced and danced until I ran out of fast tunes, so I was obliged to drag out my "Twist and Shout / La Bamba" medley, though it's kind of embarrassing. It actually went over pretty well...
I had been learning two new songs all week -- the first one is "Come On Get Higher", which is a new song that I've been noticing from different directions, so I figured it might be popular enough that I could play it and a few of the younger people might know it. I played it twice, the first time when almost nobody was there, and then later on when I played it, a girl at the table behind me said "That was good!" right out loud. So I guess that one's a keeper.
The other new song is "Africa" by Toto. I'm not sure how that happened, but I was messing with the chords and they really sound great played on guitar, so I just kept hammering at it until I had something reasonable -- maybe. It's clearly not the kind of song I usually play, but the other Power Ballad I recently added (also maybe), "Don't Stop Believing" seems to amuse people, so...
I was shy about dragging it out, though, but at 9:45 I decided I had better try it anyway (although way too many people are out then), if only to satisfy my own curiosity of whether it's worth pursuing. It turned out to be way too low to sing, but the chorus is way too high. That's the problem with trying to sing songs that are sung by multiple guys by myself. I'd already capoed 2 -- I guess I'll have to go up another one and see if that works any better, 'cuz the song did seem to basically go over OK, even though I completely forgot to kick on the harmonies, and fumbled here and there. I'll keep practicing, and see how it works next week. If I can get it to where I can sing the low notes, and let the harmony box take the really high ones, it might work out.
I did clip two songs from the evening's video, and posted them at: http://www.youtube.com/user/y7alanzo Oddly, they're my only two medleys, the aforementioned "Twist and Shout / La Bamba", and "Over the Rainbow / When You Wish Upon a Star", which I did for another cute little girl who was staring at me from down front early on. Everybody says that they learned the guitar to impress girls -- I just thought I'd impress a few that were over 18...
I did OK though, even with the light crowd -- 57 bucks in the tip jar. Imagine what I could'a made with a little reverb...
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