So the audience is only "far away", not "stupid-far". Most of the night, I had people camped out in the sofas and along the planterbox bench, just listening. To me. Wow. They're a bit far away to want to shout out requests, but some were brave enough to. And quite a few young families were out, and would let their little kids dance with (or stare at) me from the "dance floor" in between.
Early on, a birthday party of 20 or so 15-year-old girls came by, in costumes. Chicken, clown, cheerleader, superman, cone-head, etc. There was also a couple of young guys hanging out with me, one of whom had his Christmas-present ukulele with him, so I had just fired up "I'm Yours". The girls heard that and had to come over and sing/shout along, and then ask for a few songs before moving on into the food court for dinner. That was fun.
My brother came by, and heard a few songs before the thumpa-cart guy started up his break dancing show, which he apparently does once a night. This meant that his music got twice as loud, and that it was apparently time for me to take a break. I'm not sure if I "own" the sonic space there, but since he had drawn a much bigger crowd than I had, I guess he's somewhat entitled -- though I'll have to send a message to the management asking what the deal is there.
After he was finished, I started to play my new "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" for my brother, got through the first line, and the power went out. I had just bought a new parabolic heater that day, specifically to try to keep warm out there, but it had apparently been too much for the circuit. I called Maintenance, and they poked around for half an hour before discovering that it wasn't a circuit breaker at all -- they had put that outlet on a timer, since it used to be powering some tree lights or something. My brother gave up and went home before they got it fixed, and I took the chance to go talk to the thumpa-cart girl to ask, when/if they got my power back on, could they maybe keep the thumpa-music down a bit. She was really nice about it, and it worked, for a while, most of the time.
But the new location is much more prominently "just outside the theaters", and after 9:00 or so, lots of people on dates come wandering out, so I started doing the softer more romantic stuff, and drew in a lot of people. And when the thumpa-music was down (or later, off), I could really hear myself pretty well, so I was able to really get into it, and felt like I was giving some pretty good performances. I guess the difference is that I'm finally far enough away from the turtle fountain that I don't even notice it. Yay!
I guess some other people noticed that I was "on", too, 'cuz I made $82 in tips and a few CD sales. Part of that was a twenty dollar bill, which was, presumably, for a CD (or 2? I keep forgetting to count how many I'm putting out.)
Naturally, since I was doing so well, I didn't have any cameras set up. Or is it that I was doing well because I didn't have any cameras intimidating me? Either way, a really really good night. I felt good, was singing strong and playing well, I didn't get too cold, and just had a blast. After last time, I was beginning to think that they'd "ruined" the place, and that I wasn't going to want to play there anymore. Now, I can't wait to go back.
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