It was a big side-less tent, set up at a fancy country club in Capistrano, with an open bar to help encourage high bidding on the baskets. I played over to one side, and was pretty much ignored as "background music" the whole time. Which was, of course, the whole idea -- the people were there to look at and bid on the baskets, not interact with me. So I just did my part, and hopefully they all did theirs, and brought their checkbooks.
Fortunately for me, after a while my co-worker Bonnie showed up with her boyfriend. He's a big Beatles fan, so at least I had somebody to play for, part of the time. And while they were standing in line at the bar, I started into "Hallelujah", and Bonnie turned around and gave me a big "thumbs up". I talk to her at work about my gigs, so it's good that she now knows what that's all about.
Usually, Jim & Warren play downtown on Thursdays, but Jim was out of town, and Warren wanted to go do the Full Moon Drum Circle, so I thought I'd see what Thursdays were like. Terrible, it turns out.
Fortunately, I went down late (6:30), so I didn't blow the entire evening. But almost nobody was out, and those that were didn't stop (except my cousin and his wife, without whom the night would have been a complete bust). It didn't help that one of the scruffier of the homeless guys was hanging out the whole time, and while he's nice enough, he tends to put people off.
So let's just consider it rehearsal time. It was reasonably quiet, although Sanchez was across the street. Of course, when the gallery closed, he cranked it up, quite rudely, until I just gave up and went home at 8:30 or so. It's getting clear to me that I draw the most interest when I'm playing the soft, pretty stuff ("Over the Rainbow", "Homeward Bound", "You've Got a Friend", etc.), but it just doesn't sound as sweet when it's covered over with Sanchez's buzzsaw clamor. I could have cranked up also, and played my loudest songs, but what would be the point?
Anyway, the *real* reason I was anxious to go down there was to deliver a gift. Mikey, the happy/crazy Greeter-to-be, likes to wear those "miniblind" glasses -- he clearly means it to be part of his "look" (along with the sequined jacket, conductor's hat, and white gloves). But he told me Sunday that some college kid had tried to steal them from him (fortunately unsuccessfully), and he'd already lost his previous pair somehow. For homeless Mikey, they're "hard to come by", but they're pretty easy to find on-line, so I bought him a set of six, in various colors. He was thrilled. Now he has lots of backup pairs, and he can mix and match colors to create his various outfits.
I went down kinda late and fully expected to just drive right back home after finding all the good spots taken. But I was surprised to find nobody out at all, so I got Greeter's Corner, no problem.
After just a couple of songs, a trio of ladies came by just at the last two lines of "Landslide". One of them stopped right in front of me and listened, and then complained that the song was over. I said that I'd be happy to play it again if she wanted to hear it, and did so. She stood and listened, and started to cry halfway through. I never know what to do in those situations, but she had asked for it, and could easily walk away if she wanted to, so I just kept going. When it was over, she thanked me as she dried her eyes, and off they went. OK...
For the next song, I fired up "You've Got a Friend", and an elderly lady and her son (I'm guessing) came by, and she dragged him to a stop as they fumbled for some money for the jar. By the time she came over with the dollar, *she* as crying, but smiled at me through the tears, gave me two thumbs up, and walked away before the song was even over. Apparently there's a story there, but I guess I'll never hear it.
But two ladies crying, for two separate songs, in one night? That's definitely some kind of record...
I guess we're in the leading edge of Tourist Season, 'cuz there were several groups of people who were clearly Not From Around Here, taking pictures of stuff. If they've neglected to notice it, and I get to the end of a song, I try to point out the "gate sign" hanging above their heads. It says, "This gate hangs well, and hinders none, refresh and rest, then travel on", and has been there since at least the early 1920's, 'cuz I have an old postcard picture of what's now called Greeter's Corner, and the sign is visible in it. I printed that picture and have it on the back of my song lists, so I can show it to people, who then, duly impressed, take pictures of it (and a story) back home.
That happened a couple of times, and one of the (Japanese) guys asked, "Is this an old town?" I told him "yes", but I suppose that Laguna, settled in the 1880's is pretty new compared to, say, Tokyo, which grew up from a fishing village called Edo, founded in the early 1400's.
Anyway, I made $64, and sold all four CDs that I had with me (I don't take very many down there 'cuz I usually sell none at all). One guy came up and put a five dollar tip in the jar, and then asked me, "How much for the CDs?" I told him "Five bucks", and he said, "Oh!", and happily took one. I really don't know why that doesn't happen more often, 'cuz a lot of people tip a fiver, but they seldom take the CD they're entitled to.
I had some little girls that I wanted to give some fingerlights to, but the flaw in this scheme is that, if I give some lights to some kids who have been listening and/or dancing and, you know, being part of it, there are usually a bunch of kids just hanging around at the edges, *not* participating, but once they see the lights being given away, they all come running. So I end up hoping that the deserving kids will stay around until the undeserving kids wander off.
And that finally happened, so I gave lights to two little girls, but there were a set of four more that had been dancing and stuff, but were being distracted by the moms. The new lights I got recently come in a little plastic wrapper with four in a set, so I walked out and just gave the packet to the "leader" (there's always one), and told her to pass them out to her friends. I started into the next song, and then I looked up and realized that they didn't know what these things even were, so I stopped and went back over to do some fingerlight tech support. Once they saw that they were flashlights, they were delighted, but they sure must have been baffled before that...
Anyway, I sold 8 CDs, made $135, got lots of nice comments, and had lots of fun.
Tuesday night was too cold, so we went down on Wednesday when it was supposed to be warmer. And it was, but it was also windy! Not constantly (or I'd'a just gone home), but gusty. I had to keep turning my head sideways to block the wind from the mic so it wouldn't make that wuff-wuff noise. And early on, it blew my tall cylindrical tip jar over, sending dollar bills flying. Fortunately, some guys were there listening at that time, and they helped me round 'em up.
So I looked around for something heavy to put in the jar, but all I could come up with were my keys. That worked for a while, until a gust came from the opposite direction and blew the jar, head first, right into the trashcan! Fortunately, it was pretty clean in there, and the jar landed against a paper bag that kept most of the money contained. Had to dig for my car keys, though.
I got there just as Tom was packing up to leave Greeter's Corner -- perfect timing. Not nearly as many people out as the last few weeks, so it's clearly not anybody's Spring Break anymore.
But we still made 48 bucks, partly due to a guy who came up with his girlfriend quite early, and while she read through the request list, he pulled out a stack of bills which turned out to be all twenties. He asked if he could make change out of the jar, and I said, "Sure, but I don't know how much is in there." There's always at least ten that I leave in there as "starter", but it seemed like there was only about three more, so far. He dug around and found ten ones, somehow, and seemed satisfied (for a ten dollar tip, and he hadn't even heard us play yet!) -- and then proceeded to put several of those back in the jar as his girlfriend asked for songs. We need more guys like him!
I've been trying to learn "God Only Knows", 'cuz it's a great song, and also 'cuz I figure I ought to have at least one Beach Boys song, here with summer coming up and playing in Laguna Beach so much. The "normal" part of the song is working out pretty well, despite the somewhat odd chords, but I can't do (a) the orchestral "stings" that transition to the (b) Ba-ba-pa keychange verse, nor (c) the final rondo chorus with several overlapping singers at once.
But I can never tell how a song's going to work in Real Life until I actually try it. So I played what I've got so far, and it seems OK, even with all that stuff kind of faked over. I'll keep on it, and see what I can do.
Nice weather, lots of people out. Mostly on their way to something else, though, until later in the evening. One good thing was that my Maintenance buddy turned the fountain water down much lower than usual, so the water noise was lower than usual too.
Pretty straightforward night overall. I did have one nice shave-headed foreign-accented guy who really liked my stuff. Reminded me of the Dean on "Community", but taller. He hung around a long time, left and came back for more. Asked for a few songs in his outrageous accent, and bought a CD, too.
I did have a little two-year-old come over to stand right in front of the stage and just *stare* at me. I was in the middle of a song that I know by heart, so I was able to sing straight back at her, and walked to the edge of the stage, and knelt down to get closer to her -- much to the delight and picture-snapping of the parents and crowd. With my creaky old knees I had a tough time getting back *up* again, while keeping the guitar and vocals going, but it was worth it.
Anyway, a great if mostly uneventful night. Almost broke the tips record with $180 in the jar. Spring has been a long time coming, but it's finally here.
They moved the Farmer's Market from Friday (where I had to miss some work), to Saturday. But I guess a lot of the vendors that they had on the roster were already booked somewhere else on Saturdays, because it's quite a bit smaller, and therefore quieter. Fewer vendors, and fewer shoppers, too.
But it was a nice day out, and a few mommies brought their kids over to listen a while, so it was fun, even if it was mostly just a nice little (paid) practice session.
And I guess it was a good thing that it was a nice quite environment, 'cuz I set everything up and started playing, turned up to what seemed like a nice moderate level. But then when I was tearing down, I went to unplug the second speaker to find that I had strung the wire over to it, but never actually plugged it in. Oh well, at least nobody came over to complain that I was too loud.
Fortunately, it was only a two-hour gig, since my fingers were pretty sore already from the ill-advised four hours the night before in Laguna, and I had another gig coming up later that evening at Spectrum...
I was hoping that Greeter's Corner would be open when I got there, and it was! Mysteriously, Sanchez was set up on the gallery corner across the street -- probably Tom had been blocking him, and had only recently left. But even more mysteriously, Sanchez was playing *really* quietly. I didn't really have a theory about that -- "He's learned some manners" didn't seem likely...
Anyway, I set up and started playing, enjoying the relative quiet. But after an hour or so, a lady came out of the gallery, and just interrupted me in the middle of a song, asking me if I would "turn it down. It's even louder than the music in our store!" Well, that was pretty unlikely, since I was already quieter than I usually play, so as not to annoy Sanchez when he was being courteous for once. But I politely told her, "Sure", and did so.
But aha! This explained Sanchez's low volume -- clearly his grating sound, right outside their doors, had finally broken the camel's back, and they had come out and told him to turn down, and were now also hyper-sensitive to even my mellow songs and volume. It also explained Sanchez's even deeper than usual scowl...
And then, to make it worse, two minutes later a cop car pulled up, and the cop came over and asked me to turn it down because they'd "had complaints from local businesses". Gee, I wonder who that could be? I told him that the lady had already asked me to, and that I already had. He then asked me if there was another guy somewhere. I told him that had been a guy across the street that had just stepped away (I think he went to buy more batteries again), but he had been playing quieter than he ever had. As annoying as Sanchez is, I still didn't want to throw him under the paddy wagon...
After the cop left, it occurred to me that he'd never said anything about "*no* amp", only "turn it down". So I actually feel pretty good about the whole thing -- the cops (or this cop, anyway) don't seem to be liable to try to enforce the non-existent "no amps" law, but they are available to the shop owners if the music gets annoying enough. Maybe Sanchez will take the hint and quit coming. Or at least play a bit quieter, so as not to incur the gallery ladies' wrath again (though he did turn it back up as soon as they closed the shop, so maybe not).
The rest of the night went pretty well. I had some good little crowds, and made decent tips ($59). I really shouldn't have been out there anyway, since I had two gigs pending the next day, but with Spring Break and all the people out, it's just too tempting.
It was the confluence of Art Walk and Spring Break, a momentous event predicted by the Mayan calendar. Warren figured Jim would want to quit a little after 8:00, but wanted to keep playing himself, so he invited me to come take Jim's place again. Sounded like a great idea to me.
When I got there, they had procured the corner in front of Fingerhut Gallery, 'cuz Sanchez had beaten them to the Greeter's Corner. That was second best, but we'd had good luck there the night before. Unfortunately, Art Walk is unlike any other night because everybody is intent on the wine and cheese at the galleries, and not wanting to hang out much outside where there isn't free stuff.
It's frustrating, because it's the night with the most people out and about, and they're generally well-lubricated as the night goes on, but I've never been able to really snag a crowd -- all I see is people in a big hurry to Get Somewhere.
We had some small successes, and some high school boys that had hung out with us a while the night before came by for more, but I'm starting to think it's the *worst* night to be out there, not the best.
As I drove past The Corner on my way to find a parking spot, there was nobody there. Yay! Unfortunately, just as I got back there with my stuff, I saw Tom, getting his guitar out of the case. There was no point in asking him how soon he'd be done, but he volunteered that he'd have to be there until he'd gotten enough in tips for the bus fare home. (I'm sure he did way better than that -- even after the recent fare hike, it's only two bucks.)
Warren showed up a few minutes later, and we debated on where to set up -- Acoustic Alley is the general Second Choice, and it sounds great there, but the tips were dismal last time. I suggested that we set up across the street on the other corner, where it seems a bit rude to whoever's on the main Corner, but people have been doing it to us all the time lately. Warren was reticent at first, because of his bad experiences with the ladies who work in that gallery, but we decided to give it a try.
And it worked out quite well! There wasn't quite as much traffic as in front of the Ice Cream shop, and there's no bench (though there's a low brick wall/shelf thing that folks can sit on). But, next door is BJ's Pizza -- and this probably only works when there are a lot of people out -- but when it's crowded, people waiting for a table have to wait outside, right down the sidewalk from where we were playing. And we were apparently an appreciated diversion for those people, 'cuz most groups would eventually send one of their party down to put something in the jar, for a pretty amazing $89 total.
We never did get hassled by the gallery ladies, either, so this is definitely our new Second Choice location.
Tuesday night was too cold, so we went down on Wednesday when it was supposed to be warmer. And it was, but it was also windy! Not constantly (or I'd'a just gone home), but gusty. I had to keep turning my head sideways to block the wind from the mic so it wouldn't make that wuff-wuff noise. And early on, it blew my tall cylindrical tip jar over, sending dollar bills flying. Fortunately, some guys were there listening at that time, and they helped me round 'em up.
I got there just as Tom was packing up to leave Greeter's Corner -- perfect timing. Not nearly as many people out as the last few weeks, so it's clearly not anybody's Spring Break anymore.
It was the confluence of Art Walk and Spring Break, a momentous event predicted by the Mayan calendar. Warren figured Jim would want to quit a little after 8:00, but wanted to keep playing himself, so he invited me to come take Jim's place again. Sounded like a great idea to me. 
As I drove past The Corner on my way to find a parking spot, there was nobody there. Yay! Unfortunately, just as I got back there with my stuff, I saw Tom, getting his guitar out of the case. There was no point in asking him how soon he'd be done, but he volunteered that he'd have to be there until he'd gotten enough in tips for the bus fare home. (I'm sure he did way better than that -- even after the recent fare hike, it's only two bucks.)
Warren showed up a few minutes later, and we debated on where to set up -- Acoustic Alley is the general Second Choice, and it sounds great there, but the tips were dismal last time. I suggested that we set up across the street on the other corner, where it seems a bit rude to whoever's on the main Corner, but people have been doing it to us all the time lately. Warren was reticent at first, because of his bad experiences with the ladies who work in that gallery, but we decided to give it a try.
And it worked out quite well! There wasn't quite as much traffic as in front of the Ice Cream shop, and there's no bench (though there's a low brick wall/shelf thing that folks can sit on). But, next door is BJ's Pizza -- and this probably only works when there are a lot of people out -- but when it's crowded, people waiting for a table have to wait outside, right down the sidewalk from where we were playing. And we were apparently an appreciated diversion for those people, 'cuz most groups would eventually send one of their party down to put something in the jar, for a pretty amazing $89 total.
