Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 23June2012

A terrific, record breaking, night. Perfect weather and a summer Saturday brought out lots of people, and they all end up coming past the dead-center Main Stage at some point. And they were all apparently in the mood for some live music, 'cuz I had lots of people in front of the stage, on the planterbox benches, and when I'd remember to turn around, the tables were all full and sometimes there were people sitting on the fountain edge benches, all the way around.

I get lots of requests from the teens for Taylor Swift songs, so I learned her "Mean" song the day before. My wife and daughters came by, so I dragged my daughters up to sing it along with me, and they saved me from getting lost more than once. It's kinda tough to learn to play and sing a song that you've only heard a few times, but I'll get it. It's a cute song and it does seem to go over well.

Later on, one of my patented Kids' Dance Parties started up, and with the volume of traffic pouring by, it quickly snowballed into the biggest one ever. I had 15 or more kids at one point, and with the attendant parents, strollers, etc., we were clogging up the whole plaza to where people could hardly get through. Definitely a new record for "pulled in" audiences.

One of the moms was trying to get her kids situated to take a picture in front of me, so when that song ended, I got down on the edge of the stage to pose for one. Suddenly a half-dozen other moms were out, cameras in hand, rounding up their kids for a picture. That was odd, and fun.

Earlier that Saturday, I had checked my CD inventory and figured I'd better make some more up, just in case. So I had lots, I thought, when I put 22 CDs out. But at the end of the night, there were only 2 left. That's probably a record, too.

The fountain came on full-force at 10:30, a half hour later than last time. But I still had lots of people, so I just turned it up and kept playing anyway. About 15 minutes later, the horrible salsa-jazz muzak came back on, loudly, so I had to turn it up a little more. I was thinking, "Are they trying to get rid of me? What's next, guys with firehoses? Tear gas?"

The fountain shut off entirely at 11, but that just made the muzak more obnoxious, so although I tried to play some more, it was no use. When I finally gave up and quit, there was $183 in the jar, another new record. Also in the tip jar was a napkin-note saying, "You have a beautiful soulful sound. NICE", which is worth way more than the dollar bill it was wrapped in.