Keith at Fête de la Musique, Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 21June2014

This was the 7th annual "celebration of music to start the summer" Fete, and my third. This year they expanded the time from two hours to three, which is no problem for me, of course. I was assigned my usual spot in front of Johnny Rockets restaurant, at the corner of Ocean and PCH.

It's a pretty good spot -- I'm under a canopy out of the sun, and a lot of people pass by walking along PCH. Unfortunately, it's not a very wide spot in the sidewalk, so people feel uncomfortable standing there for very long, so nobody stays for more than a song or two, and I can only collect a crowd of 5 or so.

Still, people were friendly. Most of them had no idea why there were so many bands all over town. But lots of people took advantage of my request list, and I sold 11 CDs, which may be a new record.

They always have a party for the performers the night before in a zillion dollar mansion overlooking the ocean. I've never made it before, but this year, I made myself go, even though I knew I wouldn't know anybody. Except the organizer guy, who almost didn't recognize me without my hat, and who immediately clamped onto me and made me get up and perform -- mostly, I think, just to dislodge the people who had monopolized the "stage".

I had brought my guitar just in case, but had thought it would be, like, a living room kind of thing. But it was a loud party, and the only way to be loud enough was to hook into the *terrible* amps they'd borrowed. So I played two songs, sitting down ('cuz I'd forgotten my strap), with a mic on a stand (instead of my usual head-mic), and barely being able to tell what I was doing with the weird sound. It felt weird, and it sounded weird (though a whole bunch of people improbably came up to me afterwards to tell me how great I sounded). More "dues" I guess.