Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Friday, 11July2014

Really nice weather, but not many people out, since it was a Friday. The people that were there seemed to be on their way to something, not just strolling, so most of them couldn't/didn't stop. I did have some young families, so of course, a lot of "Let It Go", including one on-stage sing-along.

But sometimes when there's only a few people, they get embarrassed to be clapping into the silence, so they don't, making the silence even worse. Then other people come up, and when the next song is over and nobody else claps, they don't either, and the cycle perpetuates. I hate to be an applause whore, but if I want to play to awkward silence, I can play at home for my cat.

So I did the unthinkable: I took a break. My wife was there with the dogs, so I just sat down and waited 15 minutes or so. And it worked -- by the time I started up again, the non-clapping people had wandered off, and the new crowd wasn't in that mode. It doesn't happen very often, but I'll have to remember this "fix".

I knew I had to play at the Sawdust Festival (for money!) the next day, so I tried to quit earlier than I usually do, but around ten o'clock, people started hanging out, asking for songs, and dancing (!), so I ended up playing until 11:30.

A few days earlier, I got an email that they're going to start using an agency to book the music, starting in August. That probably means the same agency that books the other Irvine Company mall, Fashion Island, and since I made that guy mad (for having the gall to expect him to return emails) a year ago when trying to get in there, I'm pretty sure I won't be playing at Spectrum any more, after one more later this month.

This is the only booked and scheduled gig I have, so I consider it my "best gig", but it is pretty awful, really. The $50 fee, the obnoxious house music that won't turn off and the fountain noise... I have a feeling that I'm the last band that puts up with it, so they had to find a new method. Of course, they'll have to radically improve the conditions to get any "real bands" to play. And pay them, instead of charging them. Doesn't seem fair that after 6 years and more than 150 performances there, I'm gonna be shut out.