Keith at Santa's Workshop, kinda -- 10Dec2011

Well, I went down to play for the kids in line to see Santa again, and as I was setting up, a college-age kid showed up and started setting up a keyboard stand. I asked him if he was playing there, and he said that he was, and he was the leader of a choir and had 19 people coming. He knew the name of the booking lady, and was sure that she'd given him the date, as well as the next Saturday (which she'd also given to me).

So, we decided that I'd give up this Saturday, and he'd give up the next one, and I started packing my half-deployed stuff back up. It seemed a lot easier for me to go home than for him to stop 19 people from coming.

As I was packing up, though, another lady from the Recreation Committee, Cathy, came over and said she was glad that I was there, so I told her that I wasn't really there -- there was some kind of mix-up and I was going home to let this choir play instead. She said, "Why don't you come play for the reception, then?" She was running a side event where people came to ride on the "Holly Trolley" to cruise around the city and see the winners of the house decorating contest.

I wouldn't normally have agreed to play a half-hour gig -- it's just not worth the hour of setup and takedown time -- but since I was already there, what the heck. I had to go into the men's room to get out of the longjohns, but then it was quite pleasant to play indoors where it was quiet and warm for a change. And the people who were coming in to have some coffee and cookies before their bus left were, by definition, in a holiday mood and a great, (captive), and quiet audience. Most of them were older (you know, my age), so I got to play the prettier, and more interesting, sentimental Christmas songs instead of only the kids' ones.

And after they left, there were plenty of cookies to snag as I was tearing down...