Got to play on the big round stage this week, which gets a lot more traffic (being out in the flow) than the little stage tucked back over by the food court. There's still no seating near the stage, and I actually think it's less conducive to people just standing (or dancing) out in front of me, but I sure get a lot of people streaming by. Unfortunately, not a lot of stopping to listen awhile (probably due to the sudden cold snap), except the anonymous (and silent) people sitting back around the tree's planter box. (Though I have a feeling that there were more people listening than I'm aware of, due to the 360-degree configuration. There were some occasional bursts of applause coming from weird angles, and I'd turn to find a group out behind me somewhere.)
I guess I'm getting used to the silence, though -- it didn't bother me much this time. And I suppose I should just assume they're really listening, and talk to them accordingly despite their silence and distance. I *am* the one with the amplifier, after all. (Though nowhere near the amplifier that Movie Girl has, with her Way-Too-Frequent and Very-Loud "Theater X Is Sold Out" and "No Outside Food" announcements.)
I had a pretty good idea after the last cold night gig. Normal people combat the chill with a hot beverage, but I can't stand coffee (even though I *tried* to drink some of the un-asked-for Starbucks that a thoughtful guy brought me last time) or tea, and hot chocolate kludges up your throat. I thought, "Maybe I can stand tea with enough lemon in it." And then I thought, "Why not just drink the lemon-sugar-water, and leave out the *tea*?" So I 'waved up some lemonade, put it in a thermos travel mug, and sipped it all night long. Yummy, warming, good for the singing, and a lot less burpy than carbonated Dew. Win-win.
And I had another left-field kind of idea -- it would be fun to give a little present to the little kids that came to dance for a while; specifically, "Finger Lights", little colored LED flashlights that you can strap to your finger. They're cheap (4/$1 at the swap meet), and will be fun for the kids to dance with, and then keep. So I brought a pocketful on stage, and, naturally and disappointingly, never got a Kids' Dance Party started. I did give a few away to some tween girls who were hanging out (and doing gymnastic routines), and a little girl (3?) who kept coming up to the stage to tell me who-knows-what in not-only baby talk, but *Farsi* baby talk. Anyway, it'll probably be a better trick back at the old stage location. We'll see next time.
I also bought a little tambourine to see if I can get a little more participation going in the Dance Parties. And it worked a couple of times, though with bigger kids than I'd anticipated...
It occurred to me that, since the iPad is sitting there on the music stand (being the Music Book) anyway, I could just fire up the recording program in the background, and let it record the evening's audio, albeit poorly, with its built-in mic -- just in case anything great happens. It kinda worked, though it picks up the crowd chatter almost as well as me, and the guitar is over-loud because it's acoustically aiming right at the iPad all night. Here's a song that came out pretty OK, though: Over the Rainbow
Probably because of the huge traffic, I seem to have sold about 20 CDs, which probably also accounts for the near-record $152 in the jar. Also, I had a guy ask me if I play "corporate" gigs (to which I replied "I'll play anywhere!"), and as I was packing up another guy asked me if I'd play the 20 minutes before the Navy Seal movie (he'd rented the whole theater for him and his Seal pals), next Saturday. Um, sure, I guess. I don't know if either of these guys will actually call, but it's nice to be asked.
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