I had pretty much decided to quit playing Tuesdays until it gets warmer, but it was a nice day, and a pleasant evening, and we got a lot of people to stop and listen for a while. It was a bit early, but I snuck in a few Christmas songs when a family with young kids came by.
I watched as a car pulled into the very closest parking spot. A lady got out, opened the back door, and lifted a very old Samoyed from the back seat. She carried him over to the bench, and sat down with him on her lap, and just sat and listened, and petted him. I grew up with Samoyeds, so I went over between songs and petted him a little. She said he was 14 years old, mostly blind and lame, and she just liked to get him out once in a while -- 'bout to broke my heart. After while, she carried him back to the car and left.
We had a young couple from Brazil come by and buy a CD, and then a nice lady stopped and just kind of adopted us for a while. She asked for several songs, and then asked if I knew any "spiritual" Christmas songs. Not too many, as it turns out, but I do have "Oh, Holy Night" in the book for just such an occasion, I guess. And it's pretty much fun to sing (belt) -- and especially so when I'm warmed up after playing for a few hours.
It was pretty cold out, but a gig's a gig. Actually, Spectrum, although technically outdoors, is pretty well sheltered from the wind, and generates a bit of heat on its own, so it wasn't too bad. And, I did have my hat...
The parking lot was pretty full, so I expected a lot of people, but they must have been actually *shopping* 'cuz there weren't many people walking by me. But I had lots of cute kids and a set of teens braving the cold in their best micro-dresses for a birthday party came by for a while.
One little girl in a bear skin vest didn't know much of the rest of it, but she sure knew how to "*WASH* the spider out!"
Unfortunately, she and her friends jammed up the bench and kept the tourists away, so, although her contribution was nice, I'd'a rather done without it and had some space for a real audience.
But actually, even after they finally left, hardly anybody stopped to hear us anyway. There were plenty of people out -- they just wouldn't stop. Was it something I said? Even Warren noticed, and at one point said, "Tough crowd!"
One guy seemed to like us, though -- he came up and bought a CD, and then left. But about 10 minutes later, he reappeared and bought another one. I guess he figured he has his Christmas shopping all done now.
We had started around 5:00, and by 9:30 I was starting to think that we were wasting our time and might as well go on home. So naturally, people started to show up and hang out. We had finally got a pretty substantial crowd put together, when we heard a loud ruckus approaching. It was a group of Hare Krishnas, or kids playing at it, with drums and bells and singing. They got to the corner and circled the gate pole for a while, apparently oblivious that there was already someone there.
Then they went across the street, but settled into the alcove next to Fingerhut, where they were nicely projected, and so still too loud to play against. That went on for a while, and just when Warren had decided to go over to try to get them to move on, they left. Unfortunately, they went up the street, across, and back down to our corner again. But this time they circled the pole only a few times, and were finally gone.
A very "rock and roll" couple came by: big hair and makeup, leather, jewelry, etc. They were pointing and whispering about the various equipment Warren and I are sportin', but were clearly also enjoying the music. After a while, they even got up to dance. Then they introduced themselves, told me that they were also players, and wondered why we weren't playing someplace "real" -- something I've often wondered myself. The woman took my card, and her husband said "You've got management now!". I wouldn't mind that a bit...
Well, we must have been having fun, 'cuz we played from 5 to 10:30. Pretty great night, for "winter". It did get pretty cold later on, and my back gets all tense and really gets to hurting, but I don't much notice it until I stop playing...
Around 9 or so it got pretty slow, so I started playing some songs I don't do very much, one of which was "Still Crazy After All These Years". Just as I was getting to the end of it, a lady came running across the street and said, "Oh, I love that song! Can you play it again and let me sing it?!?" I figured she might as well -- there weren't many people around, so I gave her my mic and we ran through it again. She was pretty good, too.
A nice lady came by with her husband, and she asked for quite a few songs, and I played some stuff that I figured she'd like. I kept her there for a long time, playing songs she couldn't resist. When they finally got up to leave, I fired up "Over the Rainbow", and they turned around and sat back down. After a while, she started crying, which wasn't really my intent... I don't know what significance that song holds for her, but it's nice to get such a strong response, I guess.
Click 'Play' to hear the "podcast version". (Fair warning: it's really just me ramblin' on about this gig for 3 minutes.)
Better turnout than last time I played a Friday here -- must have been the nice weather. Lots of families out so I had several kids parties start up. I've gone by to hear the other acts that play there, and I've never heard any of them play kids' songs in the early evening, and transition to adult songs later on, and then mellow out for the later hours with love songs for dating couples, like I do. Don't know if they're unable or unwilling, or just insensitive to the crowd...
Anyway, I had the three toy tambourines and four egg-shakers all passed out, and I was playing "Mister Postman" which is my go-to kids' dance song, and I realized that nobody was dancing. Apparently, it takes all their bandwidth to just shake the tambourine or shaker, so they stand stock still. But they're having fun, so I guess it's OK.
One guy came by with his little daughter and they know me and must have my CDs. She danced with her beautiful ballet movements while her dad asked for a string of songs, including "Waltzing with Bears" which I never play anymore unless someone asks for it. It just doesn't work unless you're listening to the lyrics, which nobody does at this kind of gig...
Toward the end a fashion-model made-up Chinese lady was listening but too shy to ask for a song until I called her out. She wanted to hear "Your Song" and "Hotel California", though she was much too young to know them from their initial runs. Then her mom came over and the consulted in Chinese about the list for a while and settled on "Imagine", which took a while to decode from their accented pronunciation, but they seemed to really enjoy it.
As I was packing up, a drunk Aussie came over and asked if he could use my mic, as his friends kept walking on. I figured he wanted to say (or sing) Happy Birthday or some such, so I reconnected everything and powered the amp back up, and gave him my head mic. He started "beat boxing" into it, which didn't work with that kind of mic, and got a lot of beer spit all over the little foam ball. Yuck -- thanks, dude.
Click 'Play' to hear the "podcast version". (Fair warning: it's really just me ramblin' on about this gig for 5 minutes.)
The weather was quite nice, so there were lots of people out, and we got a good response just about the whole time we were out there. I sold 2 CDs and we pulled in $86, which is not bad for November...
A nice family stopped on the bench to eat their ice cream, and the two little girls knew all my Disney songs. When they finished their ice cream, I gave 'em some fingerlights -- I always have to wait until they're done so I don't get the parents mad at me for distracting the kids prematurely. Lots of people find it cute when there are kids playing and dancing to the songs, so a bit of a crowd had formed. When I ran out of Disney songs, I decided to play "Puff, the Magic Dragon", which always goes over pretty well. I started it up, but then realized that (the way I play it, at least), it's pretty lively, and a perfect opportunity for the kids to play along. So I stopped and passed out the three toy tambourines to the three kids that (I *thought*) were tehre, but as I was doing so -- just like when I start giving out fingerlights at Spectrum -- more kids appeared out of nowhere. Fortunately, I also had four egg-shakers, so I got those out and passed 'em around and covered most everybody.
By the time I re-started the song, there was a huge crowd gathered, and with all the added percussion, it was quite a song, and quite a scene. Definitely the highlight of the evening -- I'll have to try to remember how I did that...
Click 'Play' to hear the "podcast version". (Fair warning: it's really just me ramblin' on about this gig for 4 minutes.)
Only problem with that is that I don't have my usual amount of time to sing in the car on the way to the gig to warm up my voice. So I got there and started with "Hotel California" as I always do, but then I played my go-to "warmup song", which is (somewhat inexplicably since it's not actually that easy to sing), "Rhythm of the Rain". As I was singing it, an old guy came over and was inspecting the CDs on the table. He came over at the end of the song and asked me "Which one has *that* song?" I had to apologize that, although the "Favorites" CD has 25 songs on it, "Rhythm of the Rain" isn't one of them. He was affable about it, and bought one anyway.
Later on, a little girl in a Tae Kwon Do outfit and her parents came by. I started playing my kids' songs, and another family heard that and came over, and the kids were thrilled to recognize me from Spectrum. I did a bunch of Disney songs and the kids' favorites, and then the mom looked at the list and exclaimed, "Oh! Do 'Rhythm of the Rain'!" That was weird.
Click 'Play' to hear the "podcast version". (Fair warning: it's really just me ramblin' on about this gig for 4 minutes.)
