Keith at Chino Marketplace -- Saturday, 19Oct2013

Chino is really far away, but it's a paid gig, and it turns out to be a pretty nice place to play. It's not even really a "mall" -- it's what we used to call a "shopping center". Just really a bunch of stores that share a parking lot. And the gig is at the "food court", which isn't even really a "court", it's a linear row of restaurants with outdoor seating in front of them. I set up in the center, looking at the fountain (grrr) and the parking lot behind it, and people come and eat on the tables to the left and right of me, mostly obscured by pillars so I can't see them, and they can't see me.

All that, and there's no foot traffic at all except people coming by to eat. The potential audience is probably 10 or 20 times smaller than at Irvine Spectrum. But, unlike Spectrum, where I'm lucky to skim off a couple percent of the constant tide of people streaming by me, at Chino, almost everyone who comes by wanders over to see and hear me better. I get almost the same number of listeners, from a far smaller number of people, and make almost as much in tips (plus I'm getting paid, not charged, to play).

Lots of people came up from who-knows-how-far-away tables, just to smile or give me a thumbs up, and frequently put some money in the jar. A pair of bicyclists stopped to listen in for a while, and then walked their bikes across the plaza just to tip me. Toward the end, a couple came by and sat down, listened for a while, and then got up to move their chairs 10 feet closer, presumably to hear better and be able to make their requests easier. Nice, nice people out there.

Of course, the downside is my old nemesis, the fountain...

Click 'Play' to hear the "podcast version" (it's really just me ramblin' on about this gig). (5 minutes)