Keith in Laguna Beach -- Tuesday, 29July2014

I didn't have anything else to do so I thought I'd see what it was like in Laguna on a summer Tuesday night. Turns out, pretty poor.

Or at least, pretty poor on the Fingerhut Gallery side. The Tommies already had the ice cream corner staked out. There are some benches on the Fingerhut side, but to play towards them, you'd have to play directly towards the Tommies too, and that would be really rude. So it's impossible to build up much of an audience other than my own reflection and people who are willing to sit on the gallery's windowsill.

But the Fingerhut side has other disadvantages. It's mostly where the local homeless guys hang out. There's Disabled Veteran Guy, who's really nice and not scary, but still sitting there with a cardboard sign, which puts people off.

Also big-bearded Gordon, who's OK sometimes, but not when he's drunk. Which he was. He tends to babble stuff at me that I can't decipher, except the part where he hates James Taylor for some unclear personal reason.

And young Crazy Dancer Guy who stops at random spots in the sidewalk, throws his hat on the ground, and dances weirdly to the music that only he can hear through his headphones. Unfortunately, people encourage him by giving him money, though it's mostly on account of his ridiculousness, not his dancing.

And Hawaiian Buddha Guy (aka, Mark) in his weight-lifter leotard, whose Crazy Street Artist routine is, I think, entirely an act. I guess he's decided that paint dribbled onto a sheet of paper sells to tourists better as "art" if they go home with a "wild man" story to go with it.

None of these guys are actually dangerous, probably, but tourists from Poland or Argentina or wherever don't know that, and tend to just hustle by, just in case.

I did have one brave Norwegian lady stop and listen for a while, and then come up to tell me in her outrageous accent that she loved my voice, because "it's like... everything I like!" She wanted to know if I would be there tomorrow, because she wanted to buy a CD, but didn't have any cash with her. But after that compliment, I insisted that she just take one on the house.

Later on a guy came by who was very complimentary about my playing and my singing style, and asked me if I'd ever played on a cruise ship. I told him that I'd thought about it, after seeing a guy on our first cruise who, objectively, wasn't as good as me, but then I'd talked to another guy who told me that it's a terrible gig. This guy said that he'd done it and liked it, saw all these European countries, and since your room and board is covered, the money is mostly free and clear. He said I should re-think it. And, since I don't have a Real Job anymore, I think I will.

Around 9:00 the Tommies packed up, so I moved over to the ice cream corner and did way, way better until it went dead at 10:00, and more-than-tipsy Wendy showed up and stood way-too-close and demanded song after song. Sorry Wendy -- let's just say you're not my Target Audience...