Thoughts on The Hat

I've been thinking about the response I had at the Santa's Workshop line the other day, and I think it was at least partially the effect of The Hat. At 6-foot-2, I'm a somewhat scary Big Man, and any given kid is in a foreign place (mall or Civic Center park), confronted with a Stranger, and is bound to be a little apprehensive in interacting with me. Mom seems to be OK with it, and the Big Man is playing and singing My Kinda Songs, but still...

But when I put on The Hat, I'm suddenly Something Else. With The Hat on, I'm not a Big Scary Man anymore -- I'm a Character; a Clown maybe; or something from TV. Kids are suddenly completely confortable talking to me, telling me their stories/concerns, asking for songs (sometimes while I'm in the middle of singing other songs!), screaming demands at me ("Play it again!"), etc.

It's magical, and quite wonderful. I'm thinking of wearing it year-round. Or at least whenever I'm likely to be playing for little kids.

Keith at Santa's Workshop - 15Dec2010

What a great night! They re-routed the line to see Santa so that it's on the sidewalk, putting the people too far away if I set up on the lawn like usual, so I moved to the in-between "rest area". I set up so that I could play to the head of the line, but that coincidentally put me right in front of some (anchored-down) park furniture -- a bench, two chairs, and a "coffee table". I didn't realize that parents would allow their kids to come and sit there, right near me, but they did, and what an audience!

And a huge turn-out. It's supposed to go from 6-8, but they obviously can't turn people away, so I was playing until 9 when the line finally played out. It moves quite slowly, so I had some of those kids for 2 hours. I played and played, and they danced and sang along and requested songs, some real, some made-up. Sometimes I'd do a song, and they'd all scream, "Do it again!" Even with several "greatest hits" non-Xmas kids' songs mixed in, it was tough not to be too repetitive, with 3 hours to fill, but nobody seemed to mind.

Lots of cute, cute kids to play for. Most of them dressed up for Santa (and the pictures) -- red velvet with white fur trimmed dresses, sequins, sparkly shoes. And it's so fun to say, "I'm gonna play a song now about a dragon -- a magic dragon..." and have some kids shout, "Oooh! 'Puff the Magic Dragon'!" They're so excited to have guessed it! And I got to enlist kids to "help out" with the "...like a lightbulb!" descant for "Rudolph". Everybody sang along on "Jingle Bells". And there are lots of kids who know a full hand-gesture routine for "Up on the Housetop", miming the words "up", "reindeer", "Santa Claus", etc. I love audience participation!

I did work up the guts to put out the card table with the basket of candy and business cards on it, despite being pretty sure that Mister Cranky-Pants was there. All the candy was gone, though nobody seemed to have gotten the implied, stealth, "tip jar" aspect. But I didn't mind at all -- I had a blast. There was a pretty thick cloud cover that might have meant rain, but really only served to keep it merely cold, not freezing, so I didn't even have to play with frozen fingers. What a great night!

And a good thing, too, since the weather report is for rain all the way through the weekend, probably killing my Spectrum gig on Saturday, and the last Santa night on Sunday. Bummer. Now that I got this great setup (accidentally) figured out, I want to do it again!

K&W at Borders Mission Viejo -- 11Dec2010

That was pretty fun. Due to various complications, I haven't played at the Mission Viejo Borders since May. When I got there, I was reminded of one of the downsides of playing in these no-stage bookshop venues: a lady was completely camped out in the corner where we need to set up, and was steadfastly impervious to my setting up of amps, stands, cables, etc. all around her. We get the same situation at South Coast Plaza, too, where someone is parked there, and we have to gently dislodge them. Awkward.

Anyway, we managed to get going eventually, but I had a lot of trouble getting the sound right. I guess the adjustments that get it working outdoors don't work so well indoors. And it's complicated since there's a tone knob in the guitar, on the pre-amp on the ground, and on the amp itself, all fighting/enhancing each other.

We did get some decent response, and I managed to goad several people into requesting songs. The good part was that, due to the "holiday hours", the store was open an hour longer than usual, so we had time to do more stuff. I sprinkled in several of my more pop-like Christmas songs, and Warren didn't complain too much about it. And, later in the evening, when the requests tapered off, I played through some unusual stuff: "Waiting", "People's Parties", "Landslide", and "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", which I've recently figured out how to use the harmony box on, and worked far better than I'd expected/hoped. Demands a bit of fancy footwork, but I guess I'm getting the hang of it. Next up: "The Weight", which requires some really complicated foot-button pressing but sounds great, if I hit it.

We pulled in $19 in tips, which is pretty good for this place. I have a busy week coming up -- The Mission Viejo Santa Claus line on Wednesday and Sunday, Spectrum on Saturday, and the South Coast Plaza Borders on Friday with Warren again. 'Tis the season, I guess...

Keith at Santa's Workshop -- 01Dec2010

This is my third year playing for the families waiting in line to see Santa Claus at the Mission Viejo Civic Center. This year it's a little different -- they took out the stage (which was too far away from the "audience" anyway) and replaced it with Other Activities: cookie decorating and a projected loop of animated Christmas specials (Charley Brown, Frosty, Chipmunks, etc.) with (fortunately), the sound quite low. This was pretty smart, but it turns the lawn behind me into a Destination. It's a little odd to have people milling around behind me while I'm trying to play.

But it wasn't a problem -- this time anyway. The turnout was very small, here on December 1st, and a Wednesday. In fact, I always set up to play to the "middle" of the line, but the line was so short all night that it never even reached back to where I was playing. Everyone could hear me, but nobody was "in front" to see me (and I, them).

So mostly I seemed to be playing for the middle-school girl volunteers that pass out the hot chocolate and wear the Rudolph and Frosty suits. And that's OK. It was almost like a dress rehearsal for the rest of the nights.

I am pretty thrilled to be on the bill with such eminences as Suzanne's Dance Factory and Brownie Troop 367. I'm definitely on my way to the big time now...

There was some email discussion about whether or not I could put out my card table with CDs and a hat. Someone on the Committee doesn't like that because this is supposed to be a "free event". I'm not actually forcing anyone to buy one, but whatever. I have more of a problem that they won't even allow a tip jar. I don't need the money (though it's nice to feel appreciated), but it turns out that if I don't put out a jar/hat, people walk up and try to hand me money. Even in the middle of a song.

So the (possible) stealth solution we came up with was to put a low basket on the card table, filled with mixed peppermint candy and my business cards (which they specifically said I was allowed to put out). We figure that if anyone decides to leave a dollar in the basket in exchange for a mint, I can't stop 'em.

But, since the line never came back that far, that scheme didn't get tested. We'll see how it goes next Sunday.