Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Saturday, 06July2013

It was unexpectedly not-incredibly-hot, so there were lots of people out. Before I even started, I had a cute little girl, who just needed any kind of music to start her dance, which was just bounce/hopping up and down. So I played my usual "Hotel California" first, and then "Twinkle Twinkle" for her. She was quite thrilled -- maybe too much so, because she spent the next hour coming up to say "Twinkle Star!" at me between literally every song.

I played other songs just to keep the adults from walking away, but I'm not a monster -- I ended up playing "Twinkle Star" 4 times before her mom finally had pity on me and took her home.

Later on, I had 4 or 5 kids that were kind of dancing along, so I thought I could get them more interested if I gave them some fingerlights. As soon as I started handing them out, though, a million kids came out of the woodwork. I literally gave away 20 or 25 lights -- it was completely out of control. They're supposed to be for kids who are really there to listen or dance along, not just every kid at the mall!

A little while after that, a bunch of parents kind of joined the crowd of kids -- they usually stand out at the edges. But I had this huge crowd of kids, and then the parents, too. And one of the moms asked for "Old MacDonald", which I don't know, but figured I could fake the chords, and probably remember the words, so I fired it up, and the crowd doubled again! Probably the most "successful" song I've ever played, and I didn't even know the chords! I don't really want to turn into Raffi, but I'll definitely keep that one in the line-up (and learn it properly).

Anyway, I had lots of nice people all night, and ended up playing until 11:30 again. I didn't quite manage to break the $200 line like last week, but at $187, I came pretty close. And seven people liked what they heard enough to take home a CD. That's always flattering.