K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 25Jan2014

Well, our January heat spell is over so it was freezing out (or, you know, "California freezing", i.e., 50's). We had lots of people come by and listen for a bit, but most of them were ill-prepared for how cold it got, so they couldn't stay for long.

Laguna has fewer teenagers wandering around than Spectrum, so although I played my new secret weapon, "Let It Go" several times, it didn't work as well here. But I did play more Disney than usual and collected a few small crowds when the young families, and young-at-heart older "kids", came by. One young lady told us right out that she was a huge Disney fan, so I held her, and she her friends, captive for quite a while, playing through my Disney catalog.

I sold two CDs, and was able to light up a few faces (in more ways than one) with some fingerlights. A darn good night, despite the cold. Can't wait for Spring, though.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Friday, 24Jan2014

Before I even started, a cute little 4-year-old (with her friend and little brother) marched up and announced that they were going to be my "spinners". I wasn't actually aware I *needed* any spinners, but I accepted her offer. True to her word, as soon as I started playing, she and her friend stretched their arms out and started spinning, round and round. This was adorable, and immediately attracted a crowd, and other parents who let their kids join the party, which swelled to a couple of dozen people within a few songs.

I played through all my best kids songs and kid dance tunes, and the crowd eventually broke up. But only a few songs later, I played another Disney song and started a new party. I must have had 4 or 5 kid parties in all.

The song that really brings them over these days is the newly-learned "Let It Go", the "big number" from the movie "Frozen". The movie is doing record business, and the teenagers are flocking to it, over and over again. So I knew the song would be popular, but I'm afraid I've created a monster.

It's clearly the best crowd-gathering song I've ever played. All I needed to do is start it up and all the teens within earshot (and at Spectrum, there are always a lot of teens around) would come running. And when that one was done, off we'd go through the other Disney songs I know from "Tangled", "Aladdin", and "Little Mermaid", etc. And when parents of littler kids hear Disney tunes, they all stop, and once there are cute kids dancing around, the old people can't help but stop and watch...

By the end of the night, I think I played more Disney songs than non-Disney songs. It completely changed the character of the gig, and it was 10:00 before I knew what hit me. Probably the most continuous appreciation I've ever gotten. I guess I need to learn even more Disney songs!

Also, I had several Returning Fans. A family that had seen me at Spectrum and then again at the Farmer's Market came by. I recognized a cute little toddler fan, and my goofy little Persian friend (whose name I finally asked for is Hannah, pronounced "Hawn-nuh") was there again, too. She kept asking for "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph". I suppose, being Persian, she didn't have a recognizable Christmas Morning at her house, so she's not clear that that's all over now...

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 18Jan2014

It was an unseasonably hot January day, so a lot of people had come down to the beach. We had lots of nice people right off the bat at 5:00 when we started. I started with "Hotel California", as always, followed by "I'm Yours". In the middle of it, some Indian ladies appeared and afterwards asked for "Hotel California". Well, OK.

When it was over they came over and thanked us profusely -- the older lady was bound back to Bombay the next day, and this appeared to have capped off her trip. Her daughter-in-law, amazingly, told us that she remembered seeing us play at the Borders in South Coast Plaza, which, at best, was three years ago. And then she bought two CDs, one for herself and one for her mom. And the son/grandson was pretty thrilled with the fingerlight.

A nice bunch of teens came by and I got them to get up and dance to a few, and then a baby showed up so then everybody was dancing and shaking the tambourines to encourage the baby to dance -- it turned into a real party for a while there.

A nice lady listened for a while and then came up and asked if I knew Paul Simon's "American Tune". A very obscure request, but I do know it, and it's even in the book so I can play it. It's based on a Bach tune, so it's very cool, but also very complicated, and I don't play it very often, but I did OK. She came up afterwards and said that it was "better than the original", which was a pretty sweet white lie...

She may have been put in mind of it because of another guy requesting "America", a different Paul Simon song, which *is* on the list. He seemed to enjoy it, and also mentioned that he remembered seeing us play at Borders. Amazing -- nobody ever says that, and then two in one night.

Later on, another lady just assumed I'd know "Bridge Over Troubled Water", which, OK, yes, I do. And despite my cold all week, I was able to sing it and its way-too-high notes without launching into a coughing fit, so that was good.

According to my new theory, the best traffic-stopping songs are Disney tunes, so that, plus the huge popularity of "Frozen", led me to spend the afternoon learning "Let It Go". But we didn't really have any consistent teen traffic, so I didn't find a spot to fire it up. Finally it got really empty, so I decided to give it a try anyway, just to see how it went. Unfortunately, having only heard it a few times to figure out the chords, I'd completely forgotten the melody for everything except the chorus, so I was just making it up on the fly. Weirdly though, two teenage girls appeared out of nowhere and said "Play some more 'Frozen' songs!". I couldn't do that, but I did play a string of other Disney tunes, that kept them and their late-arrival friends dancing for quite a while.

Greeter Mikey came by and wanted to re-try his Laguna-centric improvised version of "Like a Rolling Stone", with just about the same level of success. He's the guy they make the "bouncing ball" for -- without it, he has no sense of musical timing. But he makes up for it in enthusiasm...

Unfortunately, the hot day had give way to a *freezing* night -- so much so that I broke out for the first time the chemical packet hand warmers that I'd bought back in August. Despite the warning on the label to not put them directly against your skin, compared to our frozen fingers, it was hard to tell that they were actually doing anything at all. Warren even enlisted the two Disney fans to help shake his up, but they never seemingly really got much warmer than the ambient temperature of the air. Can't tell if they can't compete with how cold we were, or if they just don't really work.

Around 10:00, some more teens came by -- out for a birthday. The Birthday Girl liked James Taylor songs, despite being no more than 20, so I sang her some. And when they left, we packed up and went in search of some heat.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Saturday, 11Jan2014

When I got there the parking garage was almost full, but tough parking should mean lots of people, right? I don't know where they were hiding, though, 'cuz it didn't seem crowded at all.

But I had a kid party start up right away with a huge crowd of bystanders. After that faded away, a group of teenage girls in pajamas came by and danced for a long time. They must have been cheerleaders or something 'cuz they had some actual rehearsed routines going on, and gathered a small crowd of people watching them.

My little Spanish fan Gabby came by again, and this time she had her own toy guitar, in pink. I hadn't realized that she's interested in making music, not just listening to it, but she stood out in front of me with her guitar and mimicked my movements -- pretty accurate, too. After a while I asked to see the guitar, and it's just a toy so I thought it might be tunable, but it was so completely random that I couldn't figure out where to start and I didn't want to break one of her strings.

I've been learning Lindsey Buckingham's "Never Going Back Again", 'cuz it's a fingerpicking tour-de-force, and I just decided to see if I could conquer it. I thought I'd try it out late in the evening when nobody was around, but my hands were freezing and stiff, and I played it pretty badly. Of course I have to stare directly at my hands to manage it at all, but when I looked up at the end, two couples had materialized and stopped to watch. I guess it's gonna be worth the trouble, then.

Towards the end another group of teenage girls came by and were dancing to Disney songs. I'm starting to think that my best bet to gather a group is to just play Disney songs all the time. I usually don't play one until I'm asked to, but then as I'm playing it, more people gather 'round, so I'm gonna have to start playing them "on spec".

Anyway, these girls were dancing to song after song, and then they sort of tried to leave, so I cleverly started up "Part of Your World" from "The Little Mermaid", and they couldn't help but come running back. After a while they were holding hands in a circle and running around, and when some littler girls showed up (including my little kooky other Biggest Fan), they just opened up the ring and joined them right in. It was amazing and heartwarming to see them be so easily inclusive. Reminded me of my Indian Princess days...

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 04Jan2014

When we got there, there was already a kid playing his own songs, acoustic and inaudible, but pretty nice stuff. Warren went over and played a little harmonica with him, but fortunately he was about done and ready to relinquish the corner to us.

But it was a not-surprisingly mostly-empty evening. So, as usual, I took the opportunity to play some songs we don't do very often, including a whole set of songs in Drop-D tuning that I seldom do because it's a bit of a hassle to down-tune and then re-tune while people are watching.

Old friend "Don't-call-me-Nonie" and her husband came by and listened for a few songs. An hour later, her sister and her husband came by. They both live down there so it isn't all that surprising to see either one of them, but it was amusing to see them both in one evening.

The actual surprise was my brother and his wife stopping by. They come to see me at Spectrum a lot, but this was the first time they've come by the corner. But they couldn't stay long, as they had reservations for dinner somewhere.

And local artist John Chaney came by and talked to us for a while. He's 60-something now, but grew up in Laguna, so he's a great fount of historical knowledge -- if his sometimes-fanciful stories can be believed.

But he does some pretty cool paintings, and gave me a 5x7 greeting card photo version of one of them. I suppose it was meant as a tip.

I did sell two CDs and also quite a few people took business cards. They never actually call, but it's flattering that they think they might someday.