K&W in Laguna Beach -- Friday, 16May2014

We arrived at 4:30 to be sure to get The Corner, but that turned out to be completely unnecessary -- especially considering that it was way too hot for anyone to sit on the bench anyway, so it was probably an hour and a half before the sun went behind the buildings and it was cool enough for anyone to stop and listen. Noted for next time...

Pretty early on some people were on the bench so I tried to give them a song list, but they said, "We don't know these songs". I asked them where they were from, and they said "Europe". We thought that seemed a bit vague, and Warren asked "Where in Europe?", to which they replied, "Budapest". Did they really think that we had never heard of Budapest?

By around 7:00 we had were a bunch of families there for a round of "Let It Go", bubbles, etc. That party had mostly faded out when a police car came around the corner and stopped. He rolled down his window and yelled "Sir..." at me, so I stopped the song and went over there so he could lie to me that "Technically, you can't have amplification", and ask me to shut it down or at least turn it "way down". I told him I'd do that.

I finished the song, and the last of the listeners left, and I decided that we might as well quit. But as we were packing up, it occurred to me that we have never been cop-hassled when Sanchez wasn't on the other corner. I had to wonder if the cop was called to talk to "the guy playing guitar on the corner" and I'm a lot easier to see, with my top hat, while Sanchez is mostly hidden from the street by a big bush.

So, since we were quitting so early, the Fingerhut Gallery was still open, so I decided that this was our big chance to go talk to the ladies in there and see what was what.

They told us that, no, they like our music and they'd never called the cops on us, it was "that guy", meaning Sanchez, still hammering away outside. I agreed with them that his stuff is pretty annoying, and they laughed when I suggested that "it might not be so bad if he'd learn another song". (All his stuff is modal, droning, and in the same key. I suspect there are at least three or four "songs" there, but they all sound alike.)

I asked them, then, when they call the cops, could they try to be a bit more specific about who they mean, so the cops will hassle the right guy. They agreed with that idea going forward, but said that they hadn't called the cops this time. Which left us with a mystery, 'cuz the Ice Cream store guy loves us, and Chico's and the new massage place above it were closed. (I hate to think it, but could it have been Sanchez himself?) Unfortunately, the cops will never tell us who called, which seems to me to violate some kind of "know your accuser" statute, but who wants to argue with a cop? But at least we know that the Fingerhut ladies didn't, and won't, call -- so next time I'll try to have the courage to ask the cop if he's sure the call was about us, or "that guy".

Anyway, the New Song Of The Week was "I'm Into Something Good" by Herman's Hermits, though it was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. I thought it might be a nice jolly tune to play, possibly along the lines of "Mrs. Robinson", which is a big crowd pleaser these days. I played through it, but there was hardly anyone around, so it's hard to tell if it's going to work out or not yet.