Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 05Aug2012

I asked for dates in August too late, and got stuck with just a Sunday. The stores all close at 8:00 on Sundays, so I figured I'd play from 4 to 8, instead of the usual 6-10. But that was a mistake -- I had almost nobody listening until about 7:00. And it was *hot*.

There's a little kiosk out near the stage these days, with a guy selling balloon animals. After a while, a lady came to join him, drawing caricatures. Once she'd set up, she needed to be drawing something to help attract attention, so apparently she chose me. And later on, she tossed it in my guitar case with the other tips. That was nice of her. On the other hand, the music, running way past "closing time", kept her in customers far longer than she expected, so I guess I repaid her efforts a little bit at least.

Oddly, despite Sunday afternoons being when you'd expect more kids to be out, I never did snag any for the usual dance party. And as much as I was dying to find some kids to give my new "daytime present" wedding bubble favors to, no kids ever slowed down enough for me to be able to hand any out.

But pretty much as soon as the sun went down behind the buildings and it cooled off a bit, people started to slow down and listen. Then it got pretty fun. As different groups of people found out that they could ask for songs off the list, I got three deep in requests at one point. And I finally got some little girls to give some bubbles to.

And it just kept being really fun, even though the mall was theoretically closed at 8. I guess nobody told the people that...

But after a while I was feeling really tired and my fingers hurt, but I kept and looking at my clock, and thinking, "Gee, it's only 8:30". But at 9:30 I realized, "But I've been playing since 4!", so at 9:45 I told the remaining listeners that it was past my bedtime and shut down. If I ever get stuck with a Sunday again, I'll start at 6.

I had sold out of the 8 "Favorites" CDs, several of the Kids' ones, and a few of the "Dad's CD" that I brought, and there was $97 in the jar. The "setup fee" (illustrating that it's really more of a "tribute") is cheaper on Sundays -- only $25 instead of $50, so at least I made more than the Center did. I can't help thinking that I'd probably have done better on the corner in Laguna, but it's nice to have the "big setup" with the good sound once in a while.