I ordered new batteries for the amp, and even though they haven't arrived yet, we decided it's still fun enough to do an only-2 hour set down on the corner. It's been warmer so it's not an endurance test anymore, either.
Not many people, of course, but Silly Patty came by, and crazy-dressed Mikey (who may be on the verge of becoming Laguna Beach's official new Greeter) was there for a while, too, so we had some friends to play for.
The batteries, as expected, lasted just over 2 hours, but the evening was young so I sat on the bench with Patty and we ran through Elton John and Kiki Dee's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart". We had so much fun with "Baby It's Cold Outside" that we're working up a new duet, now that it's not so "cold outside".
And I was home early, for a change.
It turned out to be easy to remove the batteries from the amp's case, and run the wires outside to connect each battery in turn, instead of both at the same time. I was hoping to discover that one of them was damaged/dead in some way, or something. And the sun came out so I thought it would be worth going down and killing two birds.
I got started at 3:20, and although it wasn't exactly beach weather, there were lots of people out. Even before I got started, my friend Susie and her husband came by. Their little south-Laguna store, Twig, is closed for remodeling, so they had the day off to go for a stroll downtown.
The first battery lasted and hour and ten minutes. I swapped in the other one, and only got forty-five minutes more. The combined time was just about what I was getting when they were both connected, so no surprises or revelations there. I guess I just need to buy new batteries, but the good news is that I found out that these batteries are pretty commonly used in Uninterruptible Power Supplies, emergency lighting, fish finders, electric wheelchairs, powered scooters, and other stuff, so they're pretty easily available on Amazon. I ordered two, with higher Amp-hour ratings than the originals, for less than the amp store charges for one.
The second battery gave up during the last chorus of "Hallelujah", just when I had some people snagged and actually plunked down on the bench to listen. Bad timing, but once the batteries are dead, I'm done. I'm getting pretty tired of hassling with batteries -- hopefully, the new ones will put all this behind me. But I may have to start coming down on more Sunday afternoons -- I made $29 in only 2 hours, with lots more friendly people than we see on Tuesday nights.
The lady who used to do PR for Toshiba, back 25 years or so ago, now runs a guitar slide company with her husband. They have an annual party at their house on the occasion of the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) trade show in Anaheim, and upon learning that I play guitar, she invited me. I don't know how to "jam", but, in keeping with my new "go anyway" policy, I went.
They live in a historic 1911 house, with a (new) 3-car garage that's entirely a music room with her husband's keyboards and her drum set. Their friends brought over lots more amps, guitars, basses, mics, etc. It was a loud electric 12-bar blues jam all night long, and quite good. Not my thing, of course, so I listened some, but didn't bother to join in.
But after a while, a second jam formed in the living room of the house, with all the acoustic guitar guys. We all kind of settled in, tuned up, and then, "Now what?"
One of the experienced guys finally said "Who's a singer?" and I raised my hand, expecting to be one of many, but I was the only one. Whoops. One of the other guys suggested "I've Just Seen a Face", which I know, but I told them that I couldn't do it in the original key. The better players in the circle were able to fake it in my key (with help by watching my hands), and the beginners followed along as best they could.
I had snuck my "street rig" amp into position, for just such an occasion, so I decided that if I was gonna be The Singer, I'd better "suit up", and did. While I was getting my mic, harmony box, and music book at the ready, a guy started in with "The Weight", but nobody knew the words. I got everything up and running just in time to start in on the first verse, but it was in the original key, *way* higher than I do (or *can* do) it. I screeched it out anyway, 'cuz *somebody* had to...
After that, I suggested "Hotel California", but in *my* key. We went through the first verse while I shouted out the chords, and then we went on through it.
From there, I tried to find the most straightforward songs in my book, since nobody seemed to have another plan in mind. I don't know if this is how these things are supposed to work, but everybody seemed to be enjoying it.
After a while, a lady came in who was a singer for a local country band, and she wanted to sing some stuff. We did "You've Got a Friend", and "Long, Long Time". After she left, some of the other guys (I guess we had 7 guys playing) got up to take a break, and one of the guys started a 12-bar blues jam, and the host showed up to play some slide on his dobro and sing some classic blues lyrics. I carried the chords while the other guys "soloed".
And then one of the guys started doing his original songs, and I watched his hands and tried to contribute some fingerpicked filigree onto his 12-string strumming. Sounded OK, maybe.
Anyway, it was fun -- both the "doing my songs" part, and the "try to keep up" part. I must have been enjoying myself, 'cuz I didn't get home 'til 2am. I reckon I'll be back next year, maybe a little more prepared.
Another short session, testing whether the addition of the monitor speaker is what's made the battery life so short. I started out with the monitor attached (to get the volume and mix right), and then unplugged it after a while. The batteries still only lasted two hours, so, drat. I guess my next experiment is to rig it up so I can run each of the batteries individually, and see if anything surprising comes of that.
Not much traffic down there, of course, on a Tuesday night in January. We pulled in seven bucks, though -- enough to pay for parking, if not gas...
A guy came by with a big camera, and asked if he could take some pictures of us. We agreed, of course. He seemed to be doing some kind of actual Photography, not just taking pictures, so I gave him my card and asked him to send some pictures along. He said he would, but I haven't seen anything so far.
We had a weird break in the cold weather for an almost summer-like weekend and a lot of people came out to the mall. But it was oddly difficult to get anyone to stop and listen. Maybe I was just off my game...
It was the first outing at Spectrum for my new wireless guitar interface, making me completely disconnected. I didn't really expect it to be that different, but it is. Obviously, I can now walk around the stage (but only if I don't need to see the song sheet or click the harmony box's buttons), but what I didn't anticipate is that I can also turn around as much as I want to. When there's a cable attached to the guitar, it's risky to spin in place, 'cuz you wind yourself up, and have to remember to un-spin the opposite direction, and also be sure not to trip yourself on the wire that you're wrapping yourself up in. With the all-wireless rig, there's no worries.
And this is especially useful at Spectrum where I'm out in the middle of the corridor, with people coming in from both directions. I've settled on playing away from the fountain, but there are some people who camp out at the tables that line the sides of the fountain behind me, so now I can periodically turn around to see if anyone's back there, or acknowledge some applause, or just to get a different outlook. I'm pretty pleased with it.
Anyway, despite not feeling like I was connecting very much, I sold 4 CDs and made $129 (and somebody put a twenty in there), so I guess I didn't do as bad as it felt like I was. The money's nice and all, but I'd be happier with the evening with less money and more connecting. I need to work on my "patter"...
I really only went down there to see if, by charging the amp for three days straight, it'd last longer than 2 hours. It didn't. I thought that maybe the last time I'd only gotten 2 hours it was because I didn't charge it enough. Nope.
And it was cold. Really cold. I was hoping, against my own best interests, that it would hurry up and crap out so I could go home and get warm. When it finally did, I packed up like a zombie hoard was on its way, and practically ran to the car.
I did get a chance to try out some new songs. Stuff always sounds different out in the real world than it does playing at home. I've (inexplicably) worked up a medley of "My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys" and "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys", which seemed pretty cool at home, but didn't really fly out there. I'm not sure I'll ever have the guts to play 'em with people actually listening, anyway. But I also learned "Please Come to Boston", which sounded pretty good at home, and even better out on the corner, so I think that one's a keeper.
Nobody stopped to listen, of course, except one lady who may or may not have really been stopping to smoke her cigarette (though she did drop some money in). Mostly people just sped by, on their way to someplace warmer, I guess -- but several of them tossed a buck in on their way past. Not sure how they made the decision to tip me when they couldn't have heard more'n a half verse on their way by, but I guess they either had pity on the blue-lipped singin' boy, or I'm just terrific in small doses.
So, although the tips-to-passersby ratio was high, it was almost completely deserted, so I only made $8.50. Sorry Ma, you can't get that operation yet...
But I was really only down there to time the amp in a real-world situation. On the other hand, until it warms up a bit, I guess the battery-life issue is moot. I've had my fill of freezing to death for a while. And the homeless guys have heard all my stuff by now.
January is as empty of gigs as December had been full, so even with the cold and likelihood of empty streets, I decided to go down to Laguna just to get a playing fix. And it was pretty much as expected.
But after a while Silly Patty showed up, though she spent most of the time talking to the homeless guys. I did get her to come up and sing the Girl Part of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with me, which I can still get away with 'cuz it's an "it's cold" song, not particularly a "Christmas" one. It was a bit tricky, 'cuz I only had the one mic, and it's a head-mic at that, but she held it out and we tried to sing into it together like John and George.
It went pretty well, so I had her sing "Santa Baby", which, OK, *is* a Christmas song, but there wasn't anybody there to complain (nor listen, for that matter), and we were having fun.
After that, I sang a few more songs, and suddenly the amp started cutting out, due to lack of power. I should be getting 6 hours out of it, since I installed a second battery, but I only got 2. On New Year's I was only out there for 1:45, so I don't know if it would have done more or not. Seems like I got 2:30 at least at Naples.
I don't know if I just didn't charge it enough, or if there's something wrong with the batteries, or what. Both of the batteries are almost new, but I don't know how to test 'em except to just use the amp and see how it goes. I guess I'll charge them for a couple of days, and just go down and do another evening down there, and see how long I get. If I don't get more than 2 hours again, I'm gonna have to go talk to the guys who sold me those batteries...
