Keith at Private Party -- Saturday, 08Nov2014

A guy who works for the city and knows me from my playing at the Santa's Workshop hired me to play for his combined wife-birthday and wedding anniversary party. I thought, "Oh boy, I get to play indoors!", but it turns out it was on the "terrace" at the Community Center, outdoors after all. Oh well.

But that's OK, I'm used to it, and I got paid. It was a kinda fancy, but pretty quiet affair. They put up a little stage under an Easy-up, which was nice -- makes me feel like I'm For Real. But like always at a party, I start playing when the first guests get there, and it's too quiet and small for them to applaud after the songs, and as the party fills up (to a hundred or so), that atmosphere lingers. So I was "background music" -- which is fine. I could tell that people were enjoying it by the smiles, if not the applause.

The tricky part of playing a party is that the audience doesn't turn over. At the street corner, I could play six songs in a rotation and almost nobody (except the bums) would notice. But at the party, I had to play three and a half hours without repeating any songs. Fortunately, I happen to know plenty of songs so it's no problem to do just that.

The best part was that there were lots of affluent-looking people there, and quite a few of them came up to get my business card. Presumably, they liked my stuff and are thinking of hiring me for their upcoming events. One lady said she was with the Dana Point Yacht Club and they have "socials" that I'd be perfect for. I gave her an "Audition CD", just to try and cement that idea. And another lady specifically asked me if I knew any Christmas songs, to play at her Christmas party. Why, yes. Yes I do.