Keith at Viento y Agua -- Saturday, 03Jan2015

I saw a notice on Facebook that they were looking for musicians for the upcoming Saturday night at a place called "Viento y Agua" (Wind and Water) in Long Beach. I looked it up and it's a funky coffee shop with a "Day of the Dead" theme. It looked fun, and got good reviews, so I sent a message to the booking lady, and she set me up.

Unfortunately, the way it works is three bands play for an hour each, minus 15 minutes setup time for the next band. That meant that I'd be driving an hour, playing for 45 minutes, and driving another hour home. For no pay. But I thought I'd do it at least once, just to get some experience paying in this kind of place, and to have it on my list, since it's well known, at least in the Long Beach music scene.

I left really early, and traffic was light, so I got there way too early. But I figured that, since I was the first one on, I could just start early. Unfortunately, the girl behind the counter didn't agree -- there's a paid sound person coming (Wait -- the sound person gets paid, but the musicians don't?!?), so I shouldn't play with the equipment, etc. So I got my stuff ready, and had plenty of time to look at the too-young clientele and worry that my stuff was gonna flop here...

The sound person, Allesandra, finally arrived, and was much more friendly, and I was ready to go in no time. To get the right mix and volume, she wanted me to play something, so I played bits of Elton John's "Your Song". The dozen or so people, despite being all involved in their computers and homework, all perked right up and seemed ready for me to play some songs. I fired up "You've Got a Friend", since I can play it in my sleep so it's a good one when I'm nervous. And they liked it.

I said, "Well, if you're all gonna be *listening* and such...", and passed out my song lists to every table. Right away, they wanted this and that song, and we were off. Sometimes, when I put out the lists, people choose kind of lame songs, and when I'm limited for time, that's no good. But these people magically chose all my best stuff, so it was pretty close to the set I'd have chosen by myself. Except for a few unexpected choices: the guy who wanted to hear "Kiss the Girl" from "The Little Mermaid", and the girl who wanted "Beauty and the Beast", and Allesandra asked for "Ruby Tuesday".

The time went too fast, but every song landed well and got a nice round of applause. Allesandra puts out a tip jar, and people actually got up out of their seats to walk up to the front and put something in it. It barely paid for the gas to get there and back, but I had a great time, while it lasted.

After me they had booked a bluegrass band with six people, who could barely fit on the little stage. There was no third band on the chalkboard schedule, so either they couldn't find anybody, or there's a possibility that a band can book two slots. I left two CDs with Allesandra, one for herself and one to pass on to the booking lady, so hopefully I can get a better berth next time.