Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 20July2012

A much slower night than the Saturdays have been, but still fun. The official "shift" is 6:00 to 10:00, but it really seems pointless to start at 6 on a work night -- there's nobody out that early. Of course, it works as a warm-up period for me, so maybe it's OK. I can get those initial jitters out of the way, get my voice and fingers warmed up, and be fully in the swing by the time the real traffic starts up.

It was opening night of the new Batman movie, so I assume that a lot of the people zooming by were on their way to the theaters. I saw a lot of Batman T-shirts. Maybe that accounts for some of the lack of traffic, too.

Not a lot of little kids out at first, but a Kid Dance Party started up later in the evening. After a few songs, I climbed down and sat on the edge of the stage for a Mom Picture Party with a bunch of the kids around me. Then I brought a little girl (maybe 4 years old) around to sit between my knees, lifted the guitar up over her to sit in front of both of us, and let her strum (with a little help) while I handled the chords and sang "Twinkle Twinkle". She was a little baffled by all this, but her mom was thrilled.

It being a Friday, and Spectrum being literally across the street from work, I invited everybody to come over and see me. As expected, no one did, except the one guy who I *didn't* invite, because he lives in Colorado, who had just flown in (with family in tow) for the week, was looking for a restaurant, and accidentally came upon me as I was setting up. He said they'd come back by afterwards when I'd be playing, but, as expected, they didn't. Oh well.

Anyway, it's kind of nice playing at this stage, 'cuz the people who settle in on the planter-box benches are clearly there to listen to me, unlike the food court where they could just be there 'cuz the chairs are comfy. It's gratifying when people are strolling past, get caught up in a song, find a place to sit, and stay for a while.

The day before, I'd stopped at the Goodwill Store and bought some really great "working" cowboy boots. I know it sounds silly, but wearing cowboy boots makes me "braver", and I felt quite a bit looser up there singing and dance/shuffling around in them. Not to mention that the soles are nice and flat and click the harmony box's buttons a lot more reliably than my hiking boots' too-textured soles do.

There was $93 in the jar, just about half what the Saturdays have been. I also didn't sell many CDs this time, except for the three that went to a set of little kids whose mom was too busy with her phone call to police the fact that they were taking one each. But that's OK -- they helped clean out the really crappy colored CD cases that I shouldn't have bought and have been embarrassed to be selling anyway.