I had lots of little kids though (including the little dynamo pictured in this multiple-exposure), and from 10 'til 11, finally there were some nice people getting into it. I had one guy come up to read through the list, but since I was in the middle of a song, he stood around awkwardly for a while and finally decided to write his request on one of my cards. He kind of showed it to me and then tossed it on the ground near me, and went back to his seat. When I finished the song, I picked up the card, and had to laugh -- it was "Hotel California", of course. It just seemed like a lot of effort on his part for something that was essentially foregone. I think about half the requests I get are for that one, and another quarter are for "Hey Jude".
I used my even-more-evolved iPad-based songbook again, and it's definitely working out well. I specifically did some lots-of-words (so small font) songs, and had no trouble reading the words, wearing my blended bifocal "gig glasses". The ability to get to new songs quickly is really great, and the multiple "views" of the list -- by name, artist, capo setting, etc. -- is really useful. And the wind couldn't flip the pages on me, either. Still worried about view-ability in the summer sun, though.
It's kind of freaking me out to have these nights with almost no applause, but then finding $75 in the jar. It definitely indicates some kind of social issue with the distance (physical and social) that keeps people from "appreciating" me with simple clapping, but they do come up with their hard-earned cash. They obviously like what they're hearing, but are somehow unable to show it by clapping after the songs. Weird.
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