Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Sat, 09Jul2011

Can't hardly do better than a Saturday in the summer!  Started off slow, as always, but got really good after it got dark, so I ended up playing 7 hours for my 4 hour gig -- started at 6, played until 1am.

I'd'a quit sooner, but after 10 or so, it gets quieter somehow, so i can hear (and perform) better, and people get more appreciative, and that's the part I'm there for.  I guess I essentially suffer through the first half to filter down to an audience that wants to be there, so I can play the second half.

Anyway, I had several new songs to play, including the love duet from "Tangled", which works really well with my guitar style and voice, and goes over really well with the kids and teens.  It's essentially this half-generation's version of "A Whole New World" from "Aladdin", which I've been playing quite successfully for a while, so I'm sure this one will also become a staple of the act.

I also learned Justin Bieber's "Baby", because the mallrat tweens ask for it almost every week.  I'd'a thought that they'd neither expect nor want me to play the current teeny bop heart-throb's songs, but apparently they do, so I caved.  There's a lot of distain for poor little Justin out there, and I don't know about any of his other songs, but "Baby" is actually a pretty well crafted pop tune.

I ended up playing it 3 or 4 times -- though naturally, no kids came up and asked for it this time.  But just to give it a try-out, I mentioned it to some older teen girls, expecting them to totally reject the notion, but they jumped and squealed instead, every time.  (Their respective boyfriends, however, gave the expected disgusted reaction (which I ignored, of course).).  Daleen was there with the dogs again, and can attest to the huge reaction I got for it, so I may be embarrassed by it, but I guess it stays in.

Somebody out there musta liked me, with or without the Biebster, 'cuz I made $171.  And a couple of people musta *really* liked me, 'cuz there were 4 twenty-dollar bills, despite there only being one CD sold.  Usually I assume any twenties in the jar are generous people buying CDs, but if they didn't even take a CD for it, those are some *really* generous people.

Just before 1:00am, I decided that enough was enough and called it quits, despite still having at least a dozen enthralled listeners.  But I had just gotten several urgent calls from Daleen about taking Geneva in to Emergency because of a (come to find out) bad appendix (not that I could, or needed to, do anything about it), plus I was starving, so I reluctantly shut down.

As I was packing up, a guy walked by and said, "You have a nice voice."  I replied, like I always do, "Thanks, I got it from my dad."