Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 07Nov2009

Quiet, but nice. It was kind of like Borders -- people seemed to like the stuff, but it started out without anyone clapping, and that kind of self-perpetuated. There was hardly anyone there at 6:00 starting-time, but after a while the place was jammed -- more people than I've ever seen there before. Unfortunately, they weren't there to see, or interested in, me. And after dinnertime, it went back its normal half-empty state.

But a few people tuned in eventually, and I had fun. I brought my 3 best, and least "Christmasy", songs to try out -- just 'cuz the actual Christmas season, when counted in number of gigs, is terribly short. I'd expected some dismay from the audience, but when I announced that I was intending to be the first to affront them with too-early Christmas music, there was applause! I guess I'll bring a few more next week.

I kept trying to find something that would "click". I did "Don't Stop Believing" a few times, but it didn't catch on until later in the night when some kids responded, big-time. I asked (knowing the answer) if they were watching "Glee", and got a big "Whoo!" from all 4 of them, so I did my other two "Glee" songs: "Sweet Caroline" and "Alone". They even got into "Caroline" with the "Ba, ba, bas" -- which is definitely what I'm hoping for.

It seemed to be "Let's request songs Keith ought to know but doesn't" night. A girl walked all the way up from her group way in the back to ask for "Here Comes the Sun", based on, I suppose, my having just done "Lucy in the Sky". A huge linebacker of a high school kid asked for "The Times They Are A'Changing" (?!), and settled for hos second choice: "some Johnny Cash" (I did "Ring of Fire"). A guy sent his wife up to ask for "Hotel California" (so I did "Desperado" as the next-best-thing), and a nattily-dressed little foreign man clapped appreciatively for "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and came right up afterwards to ask for "that sunshine on my shoulders song".

And, my biggest fan for the night, a 20-ish kid in a Dodgers cap, started clapping loudly (and virtually solo) for any Beatles songs I did. He came up and put money in the jar and proclaimed "Please play some more Beatles songs, sir!" So I did, and did, and he came up and put more money in the jar, and repeated his request for "more Beatles", so I did. But then a girl requested something (something non-Beatles), so I did that one, and after that, the kid came up a third time to put yet more money in the jar, and request yet more Beatles. I was out of Beatles songs by that point, though, except the "in process" ones in the back of the book, so I did a few of those. I thought I had a lot of (enough of!) Beatles tunes, but apparently not -- gotta go learn some more, I guess. I'm gonna need a bugger notebook, and a stronger music stand!

Anyway, aside from those few demonstrative people, it was pretty quiet (and pretty cold). Still, I made $48, which is less than previous weeks, but nothing to sneeze at, especially compared to the frequently single-digit nights at Borders.