Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Sat, 23Jul2011

This was my last Summer Saturday Night before school starts up again.  I apparently asked too late about open dates in August, and only got a few "early shifts", which won't be nearly as fun -- the party never really starts until after dark...

I had an inexplicably tough time with the sound.  For some reason, they've pushed the stage back 6 or 8 feet, maybe because the power in the light post is dead, so now I'm plugged into the jacks in the planter box.  That's bad for two reasons: it puts me even further away from the audience across the plaza, and it puts me closer to the noise of the turtle fountain (and, these days, the very noisy kids playing therein).

It seemed like I couldn't hear myself, but when I'd try to turn it up to try to overcome the noise, I started getting feedback.  It was really keeping me from being able to get comfortable, and just settle in and play.

Still, I got some people interested, and had a Kid's Dance Party going for a while there.  And later on, I had a group of 8 or 10 high school kids who were counselors at a Summer Camp in Irvine.  They were just there to hang out, so they parked right down in front of me.  And, of course, being counselors, they were all outgoing, happy kids, so we had a great time.  One girl was a huge Beatles fan, so I did lots of their songs, and, of course, the Justin Bieber song, and the Princess songs.

And, surprisingly, (and flatteringly) when I got home, two of the kids had searched me out and sent me Friend requests on Facebook.  I accepted their requests, but suggested that they may want to "Like" my "Band Page" instead.  This is exactly why I started one, but I'm not sure what to put on it to make it worth peoples' while, so I haven't publicized it much yet.  I've put up my videos, and some pictures, and I'm announcing future gigs with the "Event" feature, but all that is better presented on my website. But, these days, if you ain't on Facebook, you don't exist, so I guess I'll keep it going and try to flesh it out as we go along.

(To check it out, just do a Facebook search for "Keith Comer, Good Music".  I currently have 9 "fans" -- when I get up to 25, something magical happens, but I can't quite tell what it is.  The Page somehow becomes more "real" -- gets a title or something?  I guess I'll find out when/if it happens...)

The odd thing about the Spectrum food court is that it's become a big-time hangout place for the local Persian community.  It's been that way since we started playing there a couple of years ago, but it's getting bigger and bigger.  And they don't seem to have the same ideas about appropriate bedtimes for the kids that us Western parents do.  Around 11:00 or so, it gets to be almost all Persian families, 15 or 20 of them, with the men sitting around one big table, and the women around another, and the kids, clumped up in groups by age, running around nearly unsupervised.

Sometimes that's pretty fun, but sometimes the kids get a bit overbearing.  And the little ones usually start to see how far they can push me with getting up on the stage.  It gets pretty distracting, but I don't mind that much, except when they're horsing around and about to knock over my music stand or accidentally unplug something.  And I keep wondering how I can be being pestered by such little kids at almost midnight...

But the "ringleader" of the little ones is a 3-year-old girl named Shadeen that's so cute it's impossible to get tough with her.  She's constantly asking me to play "Twinkle" (which I know, and do play for her), but also "Spongebob Squarepants", which I don't know, but may have to learn, just to quiet her down.

Anyway, a pretty good night, but not as great as I was hoping for, as my last Summer Saturday.  I made $93 in tips though, so I can't complain.