Started off a little slow -- lots of people around, but they were strangely unresponsive. But after a while I started getting some people tuned in, and in the last hour or two, had made some real "fans". Fewer little kids dancing than usual, but just as many bands of teenagers asking for the few semi-current songs I do. I must have done "Hey Soul Sister" and "I'm Yours" 5 times each.
Had a big family come up with a little boy, asking for "Twinkle, Twinkle". Of course I said that I didn't know it, but they seemed sincere, so I said I'd try to fake it. The chords are easy enough, and it actually took off when it occurred to me to kick on the harmony box. I might have to take a look at working up a decent arrangement of that, since I do get a lot of tiny kids who ask for "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and such. Might be nice to have one that they'll recognize.
But then another mom came up holding a 4 or 5-year old boy, asking for "any Bob Marley". According to the mom, "One Love" is the kid's favorite, but I only (half) know "I Shot the Sheriff", so I faked the first verse, to a completely blank response from the kid. Whatever.
(I do get a surprising number of requests for Bob Marley, but do you *really* want to hear the white suburban, baloney with mayo, version?!? Or should I just save us both the embarrassment...)
While I was setting up, a lady came over to tell me that she had also been booked for that stage, and somehow knew that it was in fact, triple booked -- yet another group thought they were supposed to be there. They we going to go play at the "for pay" stage, which made sense since they had, indeed, paid. That was confusing because you don't have to pay for the Food Court, and, how did they know that there wasn't already someone else on the other stage, too?
Anyway, I guess it's a good thing that I get there early, 'cuz the double-booking resolution seems to be "first come, first served", 'cuz they lady never implied that I should be the one to back down -- she just wanted to let me know. Not having any way to check, I had to assume that I knew what I was doing (though there's no guarantee of *that*), so I didn't volunteer to leave, either. But I did spend the whole night worrying that I had screwed up somehow, and had "stolen" the stage, and would be henceforth banned (or at least "non grata"). But I've since checked my email, and I do have a confirmation message, so at least the snafu wasn't my fault.
And I'm glad I stayed. While counting the tip money ($113!), I came across a tightly-bundled origami "packet" of three dollar bills wrapped around a (long!) note. (If you're reading this on my blog, you should be able to click the full-text thumbnail and see it big enough to read.) I won't quote the whole thing here, but it starts out: "You are an amazing talented man. Your destiny is big and mighty." And it gets wacky (-er) from there. It ends with "Your wildest dreams are about to come true, get ready for all you wanted and more. You are loved."
Apparently, she (I'm assuming "she") liked my stuff a bit... I can't quite tell if she's a fan or a fortune teller, but since she couldn't have been able to see my palms while I was playing guitar, let's assume the former.
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