K&W in Laguna Beach -- Friday, 23May2014

Sanchez is always there on Friday nights, but for some reason he always sets up on the Fingerhut Gallery corner, even though the ladies in there hate him. While the gallery is open he plays quietly, so I tried to play equally quietly so that he wouldn't feel like he had to turn up to compete.

But even though we were both playing quietly, after a while a cop came walking up, talked to Sanchez, went inside to talk to the gallery ladies, and then to Sanchez again. I was sweating, and started playing my quietest songs, as quietly as possible, but after he had given Sanchez the warning, he walked across the street, and right on by without saying a word. Whew.

Two moms came by with three little kids, and gave each of them a dollar to put in the jar. Since hardly anyone else was there, even though I was mid-Hotel California, I managed to tell the little girl that she could pick a song from the list. It was hardly surprising that she chose "Let It Go", but although the moms were actually getting ready to go, I had basically shanghaied their kids and kept them there for a half hour or so with Disney songs, then dance songs, and fingerlights. And having those kids there brought in some other kids and their families, and we had quite a party going on for a while there. Sometimes you gotta do whatever it takes.

But later in the evening, the gallery closed so Sanchez cranked it up. A lot. I was forced to play only my noisier "rock" songs, which, for me, a few is plenty. And to make it even harder, a homeless guy called "Digger" came by. He plays guitar and sings on the streets for money too, and has a huge loud voice. He proceeded to sing along to all my songs, and can bellow as loud as I'm singing, even without an amplifier.

So about 9:30 I decided that it wasn't fun anymore, and decided to save some finger strength for Saturday.

As we were packing up, a guy came up and told me how "beautiful and pure" my voice is. He said that he writes movies for movies, mostly documentaries. He said that it was mostly instrumental music, but he wanted to buy a CD and take my card, just in case, someday. It'll never happen, of course, but it was flattering anyway.