Keith in Laguna Beach -- Friday, 22Aug2014

When I got there at 4:00, there was a passel of young neo-hippies camped out on the corner. I was afraid that they'd be strumming guitars or something and block me out, but they were just hanging around, and ended up liking my music and requesting songs for a while.

I had some trouble with some of the other homeless guys, though. The guy who was such a troublemaker last weekend came around and decided to "help" by bellowing his own songs. Nothing recognizable, but *amazingly* loud. He wasn't acting particularly drunk otherwise, but this was aggressively rude. I suppose I could have cranked up a bit and drowned him out, but I guess I wasn't drunk enough to play his game.

"Frisbee King" Blair had shown up just a few songs before the interruption, which was unlucky for him, but lucky for me 'cuz it gave me someone to talk to while the troublemaker wore himself out. Unfortunately, Blair had better things to do, so after a while he went home. After 20 minutes or so of being ignored, the bellowing finally stopped, and Troublemaker and his drinking buddy Incomprehensible Gordon wandered off. It's wild and wooly out there, I tell ya.

I also had to deal with the Hawaiian Buddha (aka Mark) who kept wandering through, dressed even crazier than usual (Palm fronds and seaweed strapped to his chest, and is that a trash bag diaper? And I can't even guess what's on his head...), and shouting at nobody. It was a bit alarming, actually, but he kept the worst of it across the street. I did keep wondering "Where are the cops when you need them?"

But it was a pretty slow night for a summer Friday. I did have people stop and listen but only in small groups and I never got a critical mass to get some real participation going. People were listening and smiling and choosing songs but for some reason it was one of those quiet nights with little or no outward applause. On the other hand, I did sell 12 CDs and the tip jar was pretty heavy, so it was a quiet night but a good one.