K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 17Jan2015

I got to the corner at 6:00 and was bummed to find the Tommies already there. I sure didn't expect to see them so early in the year, but they've moved closer and gas is cheaper, so I guess we're stuck with them.

I set up on the Fingerhut side and played to my reflection in the window for a while, but although I had a few interested people, they don't stay long when there's no place for them to sit.

Warren rolled up at 7:30 and pretty soon a couple came up with their son and they had just bought him a guitar like Warren's, and he'd taken two lessons so far, so they hung around to let him watch and get some inspiration/aspiration.

And a guy came by who was completely impressed and wondered why we weren't playing someplace real, and I said that I've been wondering the same thing. He suggested a place called the Village Inn in Balboa, so I guess I should check that out.

Finally the Tommies relinquished the ice cream corner about 9:30, so we moved over and played for some very polite teens for quite a while. Even though it was pretty cold, we did snag in a few people. One lady stopped dead in her tracks for "Margaritaville" (really?), and then asked for "Leaving on a Jet Plane", which she captured in its entirety on video. That's always flattering.

During the week, I'd discovered a tuning/capo trick that lets me get set up to play Fleetwood Mac's "Never Going Back Again" without completely screwing up my guitar, so it becomes feasible to play it. So I did, 3 or 4 times. It's really flashy and tends to make people stop and stare, so I'll have to remember to polish it up and pull it out more often.