Not that he really wanted to -- he immediately asked me to get my guitar which was pretty close-by in my car, and we launched into whatever songs I thought I could remember all the words to without my Book, and could play Loud. I beat my poor index finger to a pulp, using it as a pick and strumming songs that I usually play with, shall we say, a bit more finesse.
Indeed, it was harder than usual to remember the words to the songs because my brain clearly has the words linked to the hand actions, and since I was playing them "wrong", the associations were broken. Weird how the brain works...
But we got through a bunch of classics, to much delight of the assembled cast of characters: Drunk Guy Who Wants to Sing, Crazy Spin-Dancing Lady, Maurice the Foreign Lothario, Mikey the new Greeter (who switches the Crazy Loon character on and off at will), and several Silent and Serious observers who got pulled in by the music. Not sure why this particular, peculiar, crew assembles around Warren and not, say, Steven and Noah right across the street...
Anyway, it was big fun. Warren has a mic on a stand that I was able to sing through while stress-testing my guitar strings. This was nice for two reasons: (1) I could be heard a bit better, and (2) it made me more confident (or less paranoid) about using a mic/amp on the streets. I'm now only 1 for 2, getting busted for amp use, instead of 1 for 1. That helps me decide to build up my own (subtly) amplified rig for street use.
Warren decided that he'd had enough about 10:00, and since my alarm goes off at 5:30, that seemed like a pretty good idea. But I couldn't resist going across the street to once again try to jam with Steven and Noah, despite their down-tuned guitars. They were celebrating a huge-tip night, due to the big turnout and Steven's aggressive approach where he hard-to-ignore-edly just asks passers-by if he can play a song for them. He usually tunes this to who they are, e.g., "Hey lovebirds, can we play a love song for you tonight?" It's way too bold for me, but it was really working -- people who were snagged in by it usually left a tip as well. Important for these guys who are apparently living on this...
After a while of that, I decided that I really did need to get to bed, so I walked back to my car by The Alley, and heard a kid banging away on a solo mandolin and singing old-timey Bluegrass stuff. Wow! I started to put my guitar back in the car, but just couldn't resist putting it back on and walking over to try to lend some guitar support.
I played along to that song and one other, figuring out the chords as we went, since I can't "read" mandolin chords like I can a guitar's. Three fashionable ladies surprised me by stopping to listen to the kid and his "down in the holler" style, telling us how great "we" were (I told them that it was "all him", and I was just strumming along), and asking him his story when the song was over.
His name is Zack, he's 16 (!), lives in Mission Viejo, and his dad taught him how to play. He plays in a couple of Bluegrass bands at festivals, mostly in Northern California. I was ready to play with him some more, but it was 11:00 and his mom pulled up to take him home to get to bed for school tomorrow, providing me with some apparently-needed collateral parental guidance as well.
All-in-all, a crazy fun musical night. Definitely need to do that again, even if my fingers still hurt...
Friday, June 08, 2012
Keith at Twig, etc. -- 07June2012
Wow -- what a crazy, great, crazy-great night! I started out at Twig, as usual for the First Thursday "Art Walk". Had a pretty good turnout early on, and lots of fun with Susie, her life-of-the-party sister "Don't-Call-Me-Noni", and Noni's friend, all shaking my kids'-giveaway egg-rattles and baby tambourine, and singing along out on the sidewalk to "Don't Stop Believing". It's so much fun when it turns into a party...
But by 8:30 it seemed to be Over, so I packed up and was driving back up PCH by 9:00, and was surprised by how many people were still thronging the sidewalks. I decided to turn up Forest (the main "music street") to see if/who was still playing. As I went by "Greeter's Corner" where Jim & Warren usually play, I saw Warren, but no Jim. And half a block up there was a rare sight -- an empty parking spot -- so I snagged it.
April was holding forth in the Alley, as expected, but like every other time I've seen her, she was busy talking to someone, so I've never actually heard her allegedly great singing. Across the street from Warren was the fledgling Steven & Noah duo. I went over to see how "Jim & Warren" were doing, but it turned out that Jim had gotten delayed enough that it wasn't worth coming out, so Warren was soldiering on as a solo.
Not that he really wanted to -- he immediately asked me to get my guitar which was pretty close-by in my car, and we launched into whatever songs I thought I could remember all the words to without my Book, and could play Loud. I beat my poor index finger to a pulp, using it as a pick and strumming songs that I usually play with, shall we say, a bit more finesse.
Indeed, it was harder than usual to remember the words to the songs because my brain clearly has the words linked to the hand actions, and since I was playing them "wrong", the associations were broken. Weird how the brain works...
But we got through a bunch of classics, to much delight of the assembled cast of characters: Drunk Guy Who Wants to Sing, Crazy Spin-Dancing Lady, Maurice the Foreign Lothario, Mikey the new Greeter (who switches the Crazy Loon character on and off at will), and several Silent and Serious observers who got pulled in by the music. Not sure why this particular, peculiar, crew assembles around Warren and not, say, Steven and Noah right across the street...
Anyway, it was big fun. Warren has a mic on a stand that I was able to sing through while stress-testing my guitar strings. This was nice for two reasons: (1) I could be heard a bit better, and (2) it made me more confident (or less paranoid) about using a mic/amp on the streets. I'm now only 1 for 2, getting busted for amp use, instead of 1 for 1. That helps me decide to build up my own (subtly) amplified rig for street use.
Warren decided that he'd had enough about 10:00, and since my alarm goes off at 5:30, that seemed like a pretty good idea. But I couldn't resist going across the street to once again try to jam with Steven and Noah, despite their down-tuned guitars. They were celebrating a huge-tip night, due to the big turnout and Steven's aggressive approach where he hard-to-ignore-edly just asks passers-by if he can play a song for them. He usually tunes this to who they are, e.g., "Hey lovebirds, can we play a love song for you tonight?" It's way too bold for me, but it was really working -- people who were snagged in by it usually left a tip as well. Important for these guys who are apparently living on this...
After a while of that, I decided that I really did need to get to bed, so I walked back to my car by The Alley, and heard a kid banging away on a solo mandolin and singing old-timey Bluegrass stuff. Wow! I started to put my guitar back in the car, but just couldn't resist putting it back on and walking over to try to lend some guitar support.
I played along to that song and one other, figuring out the chords as we went, since I can't "read" mandolin chords like I can a guitar's. Three fashionable ladies surprised me by stopping to listen to the kid and his "down in the holler" style, telling us how great "we" were (I told them that it was "all him", and I was just strumming along), and asking him his story when the song was over.
His name is Zack, he's 16 (!), lives in Mission Viejo, and his dad taught him how to play. He plays in a couple of Bluegrass bands at festivals, mostly in Northern California. I was ready to play with him some more, but it was 11:00 and his mom pulled up to take him home to get to bed for school tomorrow, providing me with some apparently-needed collateral parental guidance as well.
All-in-all, a crazy fun musical night. Definitely need to do that again, even if my fingers still hurt...
Not that he really wanted to -- he immediately asked me to get my guitar which was pretty close-by in my car, and we launched into whatever songs I thought I could remember all the words to without my Book, and could play Loud. I beat my poor index finger to a pulp, using it as a pick and strumming songs that I usually play with, shall we say, a bit more finesse.
Indeed, it was harder than usual to remember the words to the songs because my brain clearly has the words linked to the hand actions, and since I was playing them "wrong", the associations were broken. Weird how the brain works...
But we got through a bunch of classics, to much delight of the assembled cast of characters: Drunk Guy Who Wants to Sing, Crazy Spin-Dancing Lady, Maurice the Foreign Lothario, Mikey the new Greeter (who switches the Crazy Loon character on and off at will), and several Silent and Serious observers who got pulled in by the music. Not sure why this particular, peculiar, crew assembles around Warren and not, say, Steven and Noah right across the street...
Anyway, it was big fun. Warren has a mic on a stand that I was able to sing through while stress-testing my guitar strings. This was nice for two reasons: (1) I could be heard a bit better, and (2) it made me more confident (or less paranoid) about using a mic/amp on the streets. I'm now only 1 for 2, getting busted for amp use, instead of 1 for 1. That helps me decide to build up my own (subtly) amplified rig for street use.
Warren decided that he'd had enough about 10:00, and since my alarm goes off at 5:30, that seemed like a pretty good idea. But I couldn't resist going across the street to once again try to jam with Steven and Noah, despite their down-tuned guitars. They were celebrating a huge-tip night, due to the big turnout and Steven's aggressive approach where he hard-to-ignore-edly just asks passers-by if he can play a song for them. He usually tunes this to who they are, e.g., "Hey lovebirds, can we play a love song for you tonight?" It's way too bold for me, but it was really working -- people who were snagged in by it usually left a tip as well. Important for these guys who are apparently living on this...
After a while of that, I decided that I really did need to get to bed, so I walked back to my car by The Alley, and heard a kid banging away on a solo mandolin and singing old-timey Bluegrass stuff. Wow! I started to put my guitar back in the car, but just couldn't resist putting it back on and walking over to try to lend some guitar support.
I played along to that song and one other, figuring out the chords as we went, since I can't "read" mandolin chords like I can a guitar's. Three fashionable ladies surprised me by stopping to listen to the kid and his "down in the holler" style, telling us how great "we" were (I told them that it was "all him", and I was just strumming along), and asking him his story when the song was over.
His name is Zack, he's 16 (!), lives in Mission Viejo, and his dad taught him how to play. He plays in a couple of Bluegrass bands at festivals, mostly in Northern California. I was ready to play with him some more, but it was 11:00 and his mom pulled up to take him home to get to bed for school tomorrow, providing me with some apparently-needed collateral parental guidance as well.
All-in-all, a crazy fun musical night. Definitely need to do that again, even if my fingers still hurt...
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1 comment:
Great fun! ....and good work playing so many songs without The Book... not to mention strumming through them... I think you got through to quite a few listeners (and circus clowns)...
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