Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 26Mar2011

More fun at Spectrum! It had gotten kind of dreary, so there weren't as many people out as last week, but still, lots. Played for lots of dancing kids in the first half, and lots of dating couples in the last.

I'm starting to think that the way it works is: at 1 year old, the parents park the stroller in front of me and hope the kid is absorbing some of it. At 2, the kid just stands and stares. At 3, they kind of wobble back and forth. At 4, they run around in circles with their arms out like an airplane (or fairy?). At 5 and up, they actually start to put on some "moves" that we would call dancing. But, to each his own, right? I think that even the 2 year olds are "dancing", they just haven't moved it from their minds and into their feet yet.

I made a new sign that hangs from the speaker and encourages people to come up and make requests. I really don't need (though I don't *mind*) a tip for a song, but people either figure that's the unwritten agreement, or really do appreciate the songs. Either way, I made a record $136 in tips, selling 4 CDs. I can't wait for it to really warm up, so more people will be out, and they can hang out later.

I guess the sign really did work in getting more people to request songs. But despite the direct reference to the list, a lot of them were just making stuff up without looking. I had some middle-aged Persian women rearrange the chairs to form a little "front row" (of 4). One of them asked for "It's Now or Never", which, um, no... But I played "I Can't Help Falling In Move With You" instead, which they audibly swooned over. Had a guy ask for some "America", for which "The Last Unicorn" wasn't good enough (of course). I guess I should learn one of their songs, and now that I have the harmony box, I might be able to do justice to one. And another guy seriously wanted some Hendrix -- and not one of the soft ones (I could have pulled off "The Wind Cries Mary" or the coincidentally-in-process "Little Wing", but he wasn't interested in either of those). He settled for, oddly enough, "Peaceful Easy Feeling".

Played several Happy Birthdays -- I should really work up an actual decent arrangement one of these days. One was for a pair of twin high school girls. It was tricky to fit their names into the line: "Happy *birth* day dear Savanna-and-Mackenzie...". They were there with a dozen friends, all dressed to the nines in their micro dresses and 4-inch heels. Not sure why...

When I got there, the table with tablecloth was already out, so I never saw the maintenance guys. I expected them to come get the cloth sometime after 10, but they never appeared. At all. Which was nice, because I got a really nice crowd around 9:30. The cool part is, without a hard stop, I can play forever. The problem is, without a hard stop, I don't know how to quit. So I ended up playing until 11:40 -- I just can't resist a tuned-in audience. Five and a half hours does seem a bit long, but with the afternoon nap, caffeine, and adrenaline, I don't feel it (until I get home and crash).

But since they don't bring out the lights anymore, nor a heater, I have to bring my own. I'm starting to look like Jed Clampett on the move out to Californee, with my guitar on my back, pulling a train of the amp (on a cart), side speaker, two tripod stands bungeed on, tip jar/bowl, dish heater, clamp-on "spotlight", and suitcase with all the cables, etc.

I will have to look for a new tip container, though. The bowl is nice, but the wind-tunnel effect at Spectrum keeps threatening to blow the money away, and with the inexplicable new volumes, the bowl I have isn't cutting it...