Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 26Nov2010

They've been doing construction next to the Food Court for the last month or two, demolishing a big restaurant, with no indication of what they'll put in. Well, it's finally done, and the answer is: nothing. They just paved over the whole place so it's one huge patio connected to the east side of the Food Court itself, and probably tripling the area.

But they didn't equip it with more tables and chairs -- the outside seating area of the Food Court never really filled up, so the idea clearly wasn't to add capacity to it. So all that's in the new area is three new sun-umbrellas with some outdoor comfy chairs and couches, two little vending carts, and empty space. Lots of that.

When I got there, I hunted around for where they put the stage in this new setup, and it was way over at the edge of the Food Court, "behind" (from the Court's point of view) a planter box with big trees in it, facing out into the new area. People in the Court, my usual audience, couldn't even see me. From the stage, there's nothing but brick pavers for miles, until you get out to the new comfy chairs clump, waaay out there. And over to my left, the two carts.

One of which made matters even worse -- it was selling T-shirts with live LED images on them that would react to sound/music. Pretty cool technology, but in order to demonstrate them, she had specially chosen thump-thumpy music blaring out so the display shirts would move. Loud -- really loud. I thought (hoped?) that she was far enough away that it wouldn't be a problem, and it was mostly OK (from where I was standing anyway) while I was playing, but as soon as a song was over: thumpa, thumpa, thumpa. Really annoying. And the space between her and me must have been even worse.

So basically, it's terrible. People wander through the space, and occasionally smile or nod my way on their way past, but there's nowhere to sit, so there's nothing resembling an audience -- even an accidental one a la the diners in the Food Court area. Some folks would take the only option and sit out on the comfy couches, where they could probably hear well enough, but there's no possibility of any kind of relationship -- no point in even clapping, and definitely too far away to shout up a request. Indeed, old Toshiba friend Glenn and family came by and did exactly that, though he did make the trek up and back to say hi, and then again to ask for a few tunes.

And occasionally, someone would come and stand up close, over to the side by the table, and listen for a few songs. Had some families with little kids so I played "Roll Over, Beethoven" so they could dance, and a really nice couple who ended up buying two CDs, and some others. But it took a lot of guts/dedication to do that, so it didn't happen much.

Not to mention, cold. I had brought our bathroom space heater, but of course, I couldn't even tell it was even on unless I was touching the front grill. The readout on top said 48 degrees. And I'm standing there, almost completely still, for 4 hours straight. It gets really hard to play when your fingers are frozen stiff.

Anyway, enough whining. I was upset that I hardly have any gigs there through December, but now I'm glad. All these issues are solvable -- maybe some furniture is on order, maybe someone will tell the T-shirt girl to turn it down, and the maintenance guys will undoubtedly start bringing out the umbrella heaters someday. I just figure that whoever has the rest of the gigs in December can deal with them, and I'll cruise in to all-fixed-up, later on. Hopefully.

Inexplicably, there was $35 in the tip jar. A third of that was the nice lady who bought the two CDs. Not sure when the rest of it came along, but I guess I was playing OK. Or maybe it was just pity for that guy playing guitar up there and turning blue...

K&W at Borders South Coast Plaza – 19Nov2010

Early in the week, I was walking around the parking lots with my electric guitar, and a lady pulled up in her car and shouted, "Do you give lessons?" I told her, "No, but I know a guy who does." I gave her my email address so she could contact me and I could give her Warren's info, but I also told her that she could come see us at Borders on Friday, meet Warren in person, and even maybe discover that the crazy guy who plays guitar while walking around the buildings really isn't crazy after all.

And she actually showed up. She's a big "music fan", and seemed to really enjoy listening to us and asking for songs -- and not just as an "audition" for Warren as a teacher. But she (Lisa) wasn't the only one. There were several people who were joining in, listening and requesting. It was almost like having an actual audience!

But Lisa is apparently a rocker at heart, because she requested almost exclusively the faster songs on the list. As a result, I think it was our hardest rocking gig ever. I don't generally like to play the rock songs on the list, because I think they sound a little pathetic on acoustic guitar with no bass nor drums, but I have a few on there anyway. She asked for all of them, and the Friendly Guy Who Works There came up and asked for "Roll Over Beethoven", too. So we played a lot of fast songs that we seldom play, some that we haven't played for years, and more of them in a single gig than ever before, I'm sure. "Take Me to the River", "Don't Stop Believing", "Daydream Believer", "Peaceful Easy Feeling", the aforementioned "Beethoven", and there was an older guy there who asked for "Dream Lover", and "Teach Your Children", and a nice lady next to Lisa who asked for "Country Roads". Some "harder" than others, of course, but it sure seemed like a lot of *strumming* to me.

And big fun. Lisa and Warren wandered off to talk business toward the end, and set up a date for the first lesson, so apparently we passed the audition -- all good, all around. But do I need to get a tattoo now?

Keith at San Mateo Campground -- 13Nov2010

A guy in my old Indian Princess nation invited me back to play for their campout and I jumped at the chance -- even at the expense of having to postpone a Borders Mission Viejo date to do so. The San Mateo campground is just 17 miles from my house, and has a really nice little amphitheater, with nice benches and a stage and power and even lights.

To make it more fun for the kids (or to buy the audience's favor), I went to the swap meet in the morning and bought 60 tiny LED flashlights, and gave one to each princess. The picture above is half the crowd with their lights.

I started with my greatest hit, "Waltzing With Bears", and a bunch of the girls (and several dads) got up and danced between the stage and the front row. Nobody dances like little girls, aged 5 to 9. And after each song, they all went back to their seats, only to leap up and dance all the way through the next song, and the next...

It was huge fun for me, and all too nostalgic. We did all the hits, including "The Indian Princess Song", with the cue cards. Since there were several dads there that came up and welcomed me, I asked for 3 volunteers for the cards of girls "who have seen this before!", though I think one of the girls that I picked may have fibbed a little, 'cuz she was completely confused. But that was, and always has been (though inadvertently), part of the fun.

It was far too short, because (a) they scheduled in the girls' skits in the middle (though that was fun/nostalgic too), and (b) it got really cold and a lot of the girls just wanted to go back to the tents and go to sleep. I had made up 30 "Bears" CDs, and left them (and a donations hat) out for the guys to take, and 15 of them disappeared. I heard a lot of girls begging their dads for one, only to have the dads tell them that they already had one. Apparently the girls wanted a back-up -- even more flattering...

About a dozen guys came up while I was taking down the equipment to thank me for coming out, and several girls, too -- some of them even without their dads making them do it. A lot of them mentioned how much they missed having the music at the campouts. Me too! Call me any time!

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 12Nov2010

A bit disappointing after last Friday's success -- I guess it really was the nice weather, and last week was *before* the time change which probably helped, too. A lot fewer people this time, and less "connecting" going on, but still better than sitting at home watching TV.

I did have some people listening -- Daleen came by for a while with the dogs, and there were some friendly people along the way, and a pair of teenage-girl Beatle fans at the end. And sometime in the middle, there was a guy looking on my table for a business card (which I'd neglected to put out), needing my email address, saying something about wanting to hire me. He discovered the email address at the bottom of the song list, and insisted that that was enough, and left. I didn't think much about it, until I got an email on Saturday morning, which I'll just quote in full:

---

Dear Keith:

I heard you play at the spectrum today and I just wanted to say thank you very much for playing. I was having such a hard day and I took a very long walk to calm down...maybe a 5 mile walk I would say, and I ended up in the spectrum where you were playing. See, I've been diagnosed with depression and have reoccurring thoughts of suicide, today being no exception, but for some reason hearing you play made me feel so much better. I know it may not seem like a lot to you, but it meant a lot to me. It really makes a difference to people, even if it's just one simple song. Thank you for giving me something worth living this day, and something to keep me going in the future.

I appreciate what you do. You don't have to respond, just thought I would let you know that you make a difference.

---

So... there's that.

Kind of makes worrying about the "take" in the tip jar fade in relevance...

You know, I'm obviously glad to have had a positive impact on the guy's life, but I'm not sure how much credit I can claim, since I was completely unaware and just doing my usual show (which, let's face it, I do for the attention). But still, nice.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 05Nov2010

Somebody has snapped up almost all of the upcoming Food Court Saturdays, so I broke down and requested a bunch of Fridays, 'cuz I thought they'd be better than nothing. But I wasn't expecting there to be many people on a Friday, to the point where I brought out the electric guitar, figuring that I could play around with switching to it while there wasn't anyone there anyway.

But I was way wrong. There weren't many people at first, but, possibly because it was a wonderfully warm evening, people started showing up, and for no apparent reason, there were lots of attentive, appreciative people out there, all night long. I half-expected, after this presumed disaster, to have to tell the booking lady that I'd need to beg off of all those other Fridays I'd booked, but it turned out to be the best Spectrum gig I can remember.

Part of it may also have been that, for some reason, the sound was way better than it's ever been there. There was a new maintenance guy who turned the "house music" completely off (as opposed to just "down"), and there were a lot fewer screaming kids in the fountain, and maybe just a lower general hub-bub of people, or maybe I just had the knobs adjusted different. Or maybe it was because the stage got moved back in front of the ice cream bar store, so I didn't have a wall right behind me, which I now think may contribute to feedback which in turn prevents my being to turn it up as much. Whatever -- I could hear myself far better than I ever have been able to before at this place. That really helps me play and sing better.

So people were staying, and listening, and asking for songs -- it was great. My voice was even better than two weeks ago (when I thought it was "all better"), and I was able to really go for it. While I was setting up, I had asked the maintenance guy when he gets off (11:00), and told him that the last 9-10 hour was generally the best for me, so he didn't need to hurry to come out and get the lights (and shut me down). He heeded that and showed up to stop the fun at 10:30 -- literally leaving several people "begging for more".

One of whom was a guy who was there with his self-professed First Date, and who was trying Way. Too. Hard. When they arrived, they sat down right up front, and he spent most of the songs singing along and expansively miming all the lyrics, for the presumed "benefit" of his date. I don't usually think this of people, but I had to suspect some kind of "artificial courage" was at play.

Anyway, after a while, he came up and asked if I could play "Fire and Rain" and I told him I could play it with both hands tied behind my back. He said that he wanted it to become "their song". I said OK, and started flipping to it in the book, but then, thinking about it, I said, "You know, it's not really a love song." He started squirming a little at that, but then I thought about it more and said, "Actually, I guess it is kind of a love song, but the girl is dead". That got him really squirming and laughing nervously -- I suppose that wasn't the most tact I've shown lately, but I wasn't really thinking. I went ahead and played it, but I'm not sure it'll really become "their song", nor even if there'll be a second date.

So, other than that lapse of judgment, it was a really great night. I guess I'll keep the rest of those Fridays -- even though it is quite a bit tougher to play a 4 hour gig after a day's work. On the other hand, it's a great startup for the weekend. Not to mention the $75 in tips, which is a recent record -- and then there's that great "Stickin' it to The Man" rush 'cuz it's all tax free.