Keith at Private Party -- Sunday, 06Apr2014

One of the ladies who saw me play at the "Make Music Downey" festival almost 10 months ago was apparently impressed enough to hold onto my card all this time. She called me up out of the blue and asked me if I was "the guy who plays the James Taylor songs". I thought, well, I'm not *the* guy who plays the James Taylor songs -- he's older, balder, and speaks with a Carolina accent -- but I'm *a* guy, and probably the one she's looking for.

She wanted me to play at her house for a family party -- her sister was coming out from Texas, and there were birthdays and graduations to celebrate. I set up in the living room, and it was a little strange to just set up and play in somebody's house. Or maybe it's not, but *I'm* sure not used to playing in somebody's house. Or indoors, for that matter...

But I gauge the success of a show and how engaged the audience was -- by how many songs get requested, and how many I have to pick myself. And after I played my customary "Hotel California" intro song, I didn't have to pick a single song for the whole time (four hours).

One lady in particular became a running joke among her family members by choosing songs one after another, before anyone else could get a word in. People would come and go from the room, and conversations would start up in this or that corner of the room, but they were generally reasonably polite about it. It was, after all, their party, not my concert. And I was being paid...

And as I was packing up, the brother-in-law came up and told me how much he had enjoyed my playing and the great songs on my list -- and he slipped me 40 bucks. Now, that's a tip.