K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 05July2014

The summer is really here -- the Sawdust Festival is open, and they've changed the rates and rules on the parking meters downtown. A few months ago it went from a dollar an hour to a dollar twenty-five; not so bad. But now it's jumped to two dollars. But what's worse is that you have to pay up until 9pm now, instead of 7pm. Cost of Doing Business, I suppose...

We thought (incorrectly, it turns out) that there was still a three hour maximum, so I arrived at 6:15, so my three hours would span the 9:00 end time. But since that was when all the Sawdust and Pageant of the Masters people were arriving, finding a spot was impossible. I circled, hoping to catch someone leaving, for 45 minutes. The upside was that when I finally found a spot, I only had to pay for two hours...

With so many people, locals and tourists, out, we were amazed to find The Corner open. But right off the bat I had an equipment failure -- my Old Faithful thumbpick cracked at the tight bend. I've been using that one for years, and frustratingly didn't have a spare. (There are some in the guitar case, but I leave it in the van). I had to bind it to my thumb with a rubber band, which worked quite well, except it precluded me from taking it off to play those few songs that I play without a pick.

We had lots of people there listening all day, and some familiar faces. The super-friendly HR lady from Linksys happened by, and my doctor with her husband. She asked for several songs, and then "Your Song" by Elton John, which she said that her husband had sung to her at their wedding. They slow danced to it, and when she turned around, she was crying.

Also our cute little Vietnamese super-fan came by. I'd been holding copies of the CDs that I don't normally bring, just for her. Now she has a complete set of four.

The good part about starting so late is that it's possible to play later. And there were people to play for until midnight, when it finally got slow enough that I could try some new songs out. But then a guy came by and wanted to "buy some songs" with a ten-dollar-bill. So I played a few for him, and then the bar traffic suddenly started up. So I tried to be a party band, playing upbeat songs for the party kids, until finally at 1:00 am, by battery just quit, forcing me to try to finish "Sweet Caroline" acoustically (which was a *big* fail).

So, big night, big fun, big tips, and I sold eight CDs. I need summer Saturdays to last all year long!