Keith in Laguna Beach -- Sunday, 02June2013

I meant to go play for the late afternoon and be home for dinner, so I went down there at 3:20 and was setting up on The Corner when I realized that I didn't have the little battery that runs everything. So I drove home, debating all the way about whether I'd just give up, or drive all the way back. But I had nothing better to do, so I fetched the battery, a slice of reheated pizza, and went back. There was, amazingly, still no one out on either Corner, so I set up and played, but by then it was 5:00, and quite cold and gloomy, and quite dead.

But I had another reason to go down there. I had had an inspiration -- I remembered buying some big vinyl three-fingered "Mickey" gloves, like, 20 years ago, so I dug them out of the closet and took them down to kooky heir-apparent Greeter, Mikey. He wandered by a while after I started, and I don't think he was even planning to "greet", but, when he saw the gloves, he freaked out and had to give 'em a try.

The combination of the gloves themselves -- and Mikey's amped-up enthusiasm with having them -- sent his dancing/waving act sky-high, and drew like 5 times more attention than he usually gets. People were standing and just watching him for 5 and 10 minutes at a time -- laughing, taking pictures and video, and ignoring the stiff with the guitar...

Fortunately, it takes a lot more energy to greet than to play, so he tired out and left, after thanking me a few dozen times, and my "business" picked up. I played to a lot of nobody, but I'd somehow brought in $50 anyway by the time the batteries gave out at 8:30.

Near the end, a girl wandered up and sang along with me for "Let It Be". Afterwards she revealed that she's a "busker" herself, and had made $120(!) that afternoon, playing by the shopping area along the docks in Dana Point. I'm gonna have to check that out if/when the corners in Laguna get too busy in the summer...