Warren plays a hollow-body electric, though, and has been getting away with using a small amp, on the premise that it's just bringing him up to match the volume of Jim's acoustic. And lately, since they seldom see cops on foot to catch them, Warren's been using a mic on a stand as well, which is clearly over the line, but, so far, so good.
So I decided the give it a try, and rigged up my little battery-powered amp for my guitar and head-mic. I even found a way to add reverb to the voice by running the mic into, then back out of, my iPod. Sweet.
The idea was to just barely enhance the volume so we *seemed* to be acoustic-only, but be loud enough to be, you know, heard. But apparently somebody in the ice cream shop that we were set up in front of decided that either (a) we were interfering with their hip-hop radio jams, or (b) The Rules are The Rules, or (c) they just didn't like us being there. So they called the cops.
We managed to get through one whole song ("Hotel California"), and The Man showed up and asked to see our "Amplifier Permit". Obviously, we didn't have one, but he let us off with embarrassment served and a warning, but also a promise to cite us if he caught us using the amps again. ("Amplifier Permits" are issued by City Hall, but, he said, "They're stingy with them.")
We briefly half-tried to play acoustic, but my guitar was drowned out, and Warren's was totally inaudible. Warren suggested a place he calls "Acoustic Alley" up the street, so we packed up and walked up a ways, but it was occupied. So we went up to the next corner, where there are some little "conversation pit" benches set up, and the traffic noise is much less. We played there for a while, where we could at least hear each other, and basically played for ourselves for a while, garnering an occasional smile from passers-by, so I guess we weren't *completely* inaudible.
After a spell, Warren decided to go check if the Alley was available, and while he was gone, I launched into "Over the Rainbow". As I started the verse, one of a pair of old ladies blurted out "Oh! I love this song!" and they stopped to listen. Then, halfway through it, up comes my high-school friend (and fellow member of the Spanish Armada, but that's another story), Susie Elliott!
Susie stayed and clapped loud and long after every song (best shill ever!), and we started to accumulate a (single-digit) "crowd". (I assumed that she had seen my announcement on Facebook and decided to come down since she lives in Laguna, but nope, just coincidence.) It was quiet enough to almost hear me, and Warren's "acoustic/electric" was surprisingly loud (if you can call it that). I was playing as loud as I could, at first with my "strummy songs", but then, embarrassed by the lack of finesse that those feel like to me, graduated to some fingerpicked ones. I was picking as loud as I could, and wondered what would happen first: ripping the strings off my guitar, or ripping the fingernails off of my fingers.
A couple strolled up and started talking to Susie like they were old friends, which didn't strike me as unlikely in Laguna, and grandly appreciating the music. The wife sat right down on the bench next to me, and they asked for their favorites, clapped loudly, and chatted Susie up a bit. After a while, they had to go, but needed a business card first, so he could call us up to play one of his backyard business parties, and also insisted on my digging out the Tip Jar, so he could put a twenty in it. And it turned out that they *weren't* old friends of Susie's, they were just super friendly.
After a while of that, Warren and Susie went to check if the Alley was open, and it finally was so we moved down there. What a difference! The narrow passageway and hard walls provide a lot of "focus" for the sound, and you can actually hear and be heard. We played there the rest of the night, and with Susie and the after-dinner strolling crowd to play for, I had a great time. A lady came up with a handful of change, but couldn't find our tip jar to put it in, so I had to dig it out yet again. We ended up with $32 to split, and decided to pack it in about 9:30.
So, after a quite inauspicious beginning for my first time out, it ended up pretty great. I'm up for another go.
P.S. Susie told us that she's up and bought a gift shop, right down the street on PCH, and will be happy to host some live music (inside, where amps are allowed!), once she opens in September sometime.
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