K&W at Laguna Beach -- 31July2012

Terrific night! I don't know why a Tuesday had more traffic than Friday or Sunday did -- maybe it was Synchronized Swimming night on the Olympics…

I got there really early to stop by Chico's, but I didn't find the lady anyway. Whatever -- it got me up and playing by 4:45. That's probably too early to get any kind of traffic or response, but it does guarantee getting the Greeter's Corner spot.

After a while, a lady with a sweet smile stopped by. She was clearly enjoying the songs, so I asked her to pick one. She stared at the list for a while and mumbled something that I couldn't catch. After a few tries, I finally heard her: "I had cancer". I guess she was trying to explain her twitchiness, but I was really just looking for a song title. Anyway, she was a total sweetie, and stayed a long time, dumping money in the jar (for which I gave her two CDs), and "sit-dancing" along to the tunes in her twitchy but endearing way.

After a while the sun went down and she was freezing, and tried to leave to go to her apparently-close-by home to get some warmer clothes, but she liked the songs too much to leave. I felt bad watching her shiver, so I finally asked her to find her *least* favorite from the list, so I could play it and she could break loose. But she wouldn't pick so I just refused to play any more until she left -- after I promised I'd still be there until at least 9:30, and she had given both of us a big hug. She never did make it back, though. Maybe we'll see her again some other night.

We also had a pair of young ladies sitting on the bench speaking Romanian to each other. I thought they were waiting for someone/thing, but apparently they were really listening to us. So I started playing the most internationally classic songs I could find ("Let It Be", "Country Roads", etc.). After a while, one of them left, but doe-eyed Renee stayed a while, and it occurred to me that it was a perfect opportunity to try out the so-far only half-baked rendition of "California Girls" that I've been working up, after telling her, "This is for you". She was apparently charmed by that, and came up to apologize for having to go a few songs later, and later on "liked" my page on Facebook. If that's all it takes, I'm gonna have to do that more often.

And later that night, a bunch of local high school girls dropped in to dance, laugh, talk too loudly, and generally start a party right there in front of us. They were there for a long time, but finally left to pursue some local high school boys, as is their wont.

Anyway, we had enough traffic to keep us interested until we finally gave up at 10:15, when a guy who we hadn't realized was "waiting" and not "listening" came up and started his "set" -- singing well, loud, and high, and banging on a guitar plenty loud enough with no amplifier at all. Turns out he's visiting from Colorado and just wanted to give Laguna busking a try. He could have gone to any other corner, but maybe he wanted to hang out so he could ask me all about the harmony box.

I'm not sure how we got to play so long -- two nights before, my set was ended at only 4 hours, mid-song, when the battery that runs the harmony box died. But the extra-long 5.5 hour set, a few CDs sold, and the heavy traffic netted us $112 for the night, even without any disproportionate contributions from my family doctor. When I'm playing alone, I bring the tip jar home and count it up while I'm having a before bed snack, but when I'm with Warren, I have to count it up on-site to give him his share. Uncrumpling, stacking, and counting all those loose ones takes a while, but it occurred to me that I shouldn't complain about how long it takes to count the money -- the longer the better!