Pretty great! Spring Break makes every day almost like a Saturday. Lots of people to play for, tourists and locals. Lots of small families, which is great for me, with my inventory of kids' songs. And for some reason, it seemed like "Ladies' Night" 'cuz there were lots of groups of partying ladies out, too.
We had people around all night long, with lots of requests. One guy came up and told me that he'd been living in Laguna Beach for 45 years, and we were the best street band he'd ever heard. That was certainly flattering...
We had the ice cream corner, and Rasta Ross stayed on the Fingerhut side, so we only had one homeless guy and his backpack on the bench. I was hoping he'd get bored and move on, but no such luck, and he never did catch on that maybe he could make a little more room on the bench for other people. I shoulda said something, but I'm not that guy. The one-legged (and drunk) guy came by for a while, but he demanded some Pink Floyd and when I told him I don't know any Pink Floyd songs, he got mad, threw me an insult, and stormed off. You just can't please all the people all the time.
Spring Break! We can go down on a Monday and have a pretty great crowd. Happily, no Sanchez, and no Tommies! We did have Rastaman Ross on the bench the whole night, but he wasn't taking up too much of it.
Lots of families, so lots of kids. I must have played "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" half a dozen times. A little girl from Chicago came up to sing "Let It Go" with me, but she didn't actually know the words. Cute anyway.
I was playing "I'm Yours" for some teenagers when a kooky face-painted hippie/gypsy lady came running across the street to yell "I love this song!" and crazily dance to it. Never seen her before, and she was a little too much for the tourists, but she was fun to have around for a while.
Later on, a huge group of vacationers came by -- must have been 25 people. Two of the girls were having birthdays, so we sang the song, and tried to shoehorn both names in. It got confusing because there were so many conflicting requests coming in at once. It turned into a dance party with "Brown Eyed Girl" and some of the teens wanted to sing along with "Part of Your World" from "The Little Mermaid". After 6 or 8 songs, a little girl wanted to hear "Beauty and the Beast", which is a pretty song and all, but it just completely brought the party to a halt, and all but the little girl and her mom decided it was time to move on. I'm going to have to be more judicious when asked to do a song that I know isn't conducive to the existing vibe.
Around 8:00, the kids from the ice cream shop came out and offered us some ice cream. I shouldn't really have any because dairy kludges up your singing parts, but it's yummy and free and sometimes I think it actually helps to coat my throat a little. Or at least that's what I'm telling myself as I eat it.
Later on, the kid came out again with a clear cup with some caramel-colored stuff in it with white foam on top. I didn't know what it was, and didn't have a chance to even try it until I was all done and packing up. Turns out it was some kind of coffee drink -- I don't really know 'cuz I don't drink anything coffee related. Sure surprised me, though -- they're not a coffee shop, so I had expected something caramel-ish, from the color. But thanks for the thought, guys...
Anyway, it was a great night. I love being able to be a part of the tourists' vacation memories, especially if there are kids to make it more special.
It's officially Spring Break, so we went down to see if the tourists had arrived. And they had.
I had to set up on the Fingerhut side, since the Tommies were on the ice cream side, of course. Even before I was entirely set up, a little girl who I know from my Santa Claus gigs showed up with her family. She's quite the firecracker, so I played a bunch of kids' songs for her, and she did her lyrics-miming dance moves. That attracted a lot of smiles from the passers-by, and I couldn't help but feel like I was finally competing with the Tommies' cute with some cute of my own.
Warren got there an hour later, and a friend of his with her friend from Romania came by. The Romanian friend wanted to hear "Pure Imagination", even though she'd never heard it, nor seen the movie. She just liked the name.
Pretty quick, the Tommies packed up, so we happily moved over to "the good side". It wasn't like a Saturday, but plenty of happy Spring Breakers came by to ask for songs. My super friendly Middle Eastern superfan came by and stayed for a long time, as he always does. He drives all the way down from The Valley just to hear me play. Wow.
Toward the end, the owner of the ice cream store came out with some visiting (from Iran, maybe?) relatives -- an older guy and a pretty young lady, maybe his niece. She wanted to hear "Hotel California", "Hey There, Delilah", and "Over the Rainbow". She was appreciative, and the ice cream guy was beaming, like a proud papa -- he loves having me there. I like to be on his good side, too, so I brought my last CD over to the lady and told her it was a present. I'm pretty sure ice cream guy snuck a twenty into my jar though, despite my insistence.
After we were all packed up and just chatting, a (pretty tipsy) couple came by and the guy said, "Hey, play me a song!" So I just fired up "Hotel California", since I have it memorized, and it was late enough to be quiet enough that they could hear me without the amp. They listened appreciatively, and he dug a bill out of his wallet and kind of balanced it on my gear. After they'd left, I discovered that it was a ten dollar bill -- a pretty good tip for one song.
Since the Long Beach gig was a fiasco, but mercifully over at 8:00, I drove down the coast to Laguna to see if I could salvage any of the night. The Tommies were just packing up, so I started about 9:30, and Warren joined in at 10. It was quite a bit better than the night before -- lots of people stopped, and less of a bum problem, too.
Only problem was my left (chording) hand started to cramp up really bad around 10:30. Every time I'd lay it out straight to do a barre chord, it would freeze that way, and I couldn't bend it for the next chord. I was trying to adjust my chord fingerings to use the next three fingers (since most non-barre chords only need three), but that was tricky to do on the fly while I was also having to, you know, keep singing and all.
Toward the end, a guy I call "Singalong Chris" came by. He really, really appreciates my guitar playing, but mostly because I play songs he likes to sing. And he does. I'm sure he'd love it if I'd just shut up, but it's *my* show.
There were two other guys from "back East" there, and hearing Chris sing, they decided that this was just a big singalong session, and joined in. I guess all we were lacking was a campfire...
Well, another nightmare gig at the Shoreline Village annex of the Cultural Alliance of Long Beach. There's a stage down on the actual boardwalk, and the CALB guys talked the landlord into booking me there, instead of trying, again, to play upstairs in their gallery. Or so they thought.
When I got there, someone else was already half set up, and wasn't going anywhere. The CALB guy, Tom, didn't know how the double booking happened, but we had no choice to just try again upstairs.
And it was as bad as usual -- only a few couples came up, though my brother and his wife came, so that was better than nothing. And the last hour or so, for some reason, a couple of families came by to play with the Legos, so I got to play a bunch of kids' songs.
But all that was after the parking nightmare. As usual, the Village parking lot was full, so I had to park a half mile away in the city lot, and pay a fortune for the two hour max.
And since I thought I was playing an outdoor stage, I had to haul the whole "Big Rig" in. Tom said that all you have to do is circle a few times, and when we went down, there was a space right out front, so he stood in it and waited for me to go get the van.
I half-jogged back and drove to the gate, but the ticket machine was jammed and wouldn't let anybody in. After getting everyone in line to back out, I got in the even longer line at the "far gate". Tom must have stood in that spot waving people away for half an hour, but at least I didn't have so far to haul the stuff back out at the end.
But that was pretty much the Third Strike for that place. Oh well.
We presume that Sanchez is blasting away every Thursday and Friday, but it's been quite a while since I've verified that. And yes; yes he is.
When he's there, the Tommies move down to the Tunnel where it's quiet enough that they can be heard. That left the ice cream corner empty, since, for some reason, Sanchez usually prefers the Fingerhut side. And he wasn't *all* that loud, so I went for it.
Problem was, a lot of bums were out. One guy was sleeping on the bench, and woke up to drunkenly tell me how great I am: "I love you, man"; "That's beautiful, man"; "That's not just music, that's *art*!"
And after a while, Rasta Ross decided to come over and work on his crocheted Jamaican hats, bracelets, etc. on my side, since, presumably, even he can't stand to listen to Sanchez for very long. With his backpack and craft supply bag, he takes up 3/4 of the bench, and when another homeless guy showed up, the entire bench was full.
But it seemed like, although this was the start of Spring Break week for some people, it being only Friday night, the anticipated crowd of tourists were all apparently on their way to the airport and not here yet. Everyone looked to be locals, and on their way somewhere, so nobody seemed to be ready to stop and sit down anyway.
There was a nouveau hippie guy and girl there, too, but they were polite enough to move to the side bench when they realized I was fixing to play. They had a sign out, but weren't directly hassling anyone for money. They were nicely appreciative of the music, and when I played "Rocky Mountain High", the guy came over to tell me that he didn't have any money, but he wanted to at least high-five me for making a pair of Colorado hippies' day.
Played my monthly gig at the Mount of Olives Senior Daycare. Same old place, same old songs, same old people.
I tried to liven it up with some up tempo tunes, but, as always, I can't tell if they liked it better, or can/will just tolerate nearly anything.
But the caregivers that work there just *love* it when I come by, so I'll take that as a hint that the old folks do too, and keep coming.
Now that it's springtime, the Sundays are getting better, and I had a good Sunday last week, so I tried it again. And, surprise!, no Tommies, so I had The Corner all to myself. Of course, on Sundays people don't stay out so late, but I had a great run until 9:30 or so.
A really nice lady was there right at the start, and she stayed a long time and ended up buying a CD. Then a family came by with a little girl so I played "Do You Want To Build a Snowman?", and she just lit up. After that one, she asked if I knew "Elsa's song", which is, of course, "Let It Go", so we did that one, and she came up and sang along.
A young woman heard me talking to local celebrity artist John Cheney about playing someplace "real". She said that she worked at Tortilla Flats and they don't have live music there yet but they intend to, so she took a card and I gave her a CD to give to her boss. These things seldom work out, but it's always worth a try.
A couple came by, slightly tipsy, and it was the woman's 55th birthday. Her husband looked for something appropriate on my list, but we decided that she really just wanted to dance, so I fired up my go-to irresistible dance number, "Mister Postman". Once she was dancing up a storm, other people going by couldn't help but join in and we had us a little dance party for a while.
I went down at 8:00 to get "in line", but just before I got there, Tom texted Warren to tell him that they weren't there anyway. Wish he'd'a said so earlier...
Pretty great night, though. Lots of people out, and we assembled several crowds and a couple of dance parties. One group came by and parked on the bench to listen for a spell while one of the ladies was nursing her baby. So I played softer songs, and then her husband mentioned that they were Alberta, Canada, so I offered to play "Four Strong Winds", but they'd never heard of it. C'mon people, it's by the most famous Canadian folk duet, and mentions Alberta by name! So we played it for them anyway.
The nursing mother decided she wanted a CD, so her husband came up and bought one. When the song ended I announced that I'd be happy to autograph the CD, and she said, "Oh, yes please!" A bunch of other people saw this and there was a sudden run on CDs, with autographs, like I've never seen before. I think I sold 7 CDs in that burst. Wow.
A little girl came by in an actual Elsa dress, so I played "Do You Want To Build a Snowman?" for her. Then, oddly, when offered the "Kids' Menu", she chose "Kiss the Girl" from "Little Mermaid". And after that, since hardly anyone else was around, we had to do "Let It Go", of course. And then I did "Everything Is Awesome" from "The Lego Movie", just to give her big brother a little equal time.
A group came by that wanted to do some country dancing, so I fired up "Amie" from "Pure Prairie League". That went over big, and pretty soon we had a big dance party going.
Around 11:00, a couple came through and the girl danced her way across the corner and crosswalk, so I roped her in by starting up the irresistible "Mister Postman" whereupon she dragged her boyfriend back over to dance. That opened the floodgates, and by the end of the song, there had to be 10 or 12 people out of nowhere, half of them dancing. It really works, sometimes.
I thought that there might be some people out for St. Patrick's Day partying down in Laguna. But I was wrong. A few people came by dressed in green, or with green party hats on, but they were obviously just changing bars, and didn't stop.
Early on, I did have one elderly couple with their son from Liverpool stop and ask for "If I Fell". The harmony on that song is brilliant but non-standard so my harmony box can't do it, so I just do without. But the son apparently performs "back home", so he chimed in on the harmony. That was pretty cool.
And there was a pair of nice high school girls for a while, until their ride showed up. They were replaced by a different pair of nice high school girls, who claimed to not be waiting for a ride, but eventually actually were.
As I was packing up, the Rasta guy from across the street came over to tell me how much he liked my music, and how he liked that I played for "de chill-dren", (last Sunday) and how he wanted to give me a tip because he "respected" my work. I wish I'd had a recorder going 'cuz it all sounded so great in his amazing Jamaican accent.
He also asked if he could sing a song next time, and I told him that I do know "Three Little Birds", so that'll be interesting next Saturday.
But, note to self: Even "party holidays" don't work down there. It didn't work on New Years' Eve, and it didn't work on Saint Patrick's Day. Got it.
It's still a couple of weeks before Spring Break, but I thought that the heat wave might make for a decent Sunday anyway, so I went down. I knew the Tommies would be there, so I arrived at 8:00, and had only played two songs on the Fingerhut side when Tom quit and I got to move over.
And it was pretty good -- not as many people as on a Saturday, but more relaxed and quiet, so kind of nice. I guess people were less in a hurry to get someplace.
Some young Beatle fans came by and wanted to dance. One of them was a big fan of the movie "Across the Universe", so I played the movie version of "I Want To Hold Your Hand", which makes it into a slow, intense, ballad. I don't usually play it because it's so Not The Right Way, but it gathered a big crowd. Maybe I should do it more often.
Part of that crowd was a couple of Persian guys who stayed long after everyone else cleared out, asking for more Beatles, Cat Stevens, and Simon & Garfunkel. They kept me playing until 11:15, and took a card after asking if I play parties.
I almost gave in to my tired/laziness and didn't go down at all, but I'm really glad I did.
We played pretty ineffectually on the Fingerhut corner until the Tommies relinquished the "Good side" at 9:20. Once we were up and running there, it was pretty great. Big crowds due to the record-breaking heat we've been having so lots of people to sing for.
A bachelorette party came through and one of the girls wanted her "professional singer" friend to sing "Part of Your World" from "The Little Mermaid", so I got out the spare mic, and she sang herself until the friend gave up and salvaged the song by taking the mic from her.
Later on, some your people from Texas watched us intently for a long while, until the kid got the guts to come up and ask if he could sing "Hallelujah". I rewired the mics so that the wired one was going through the harmony box, but I could still come in if the kid needed saving. He was pretty good -- much enthusiasm. Part of the new "More is better" school of vocal filigree, though.
As it got late, there was a lull where there was literally no one there (usually there's at least a few bums), and not even anyone walking by, so we were just chatting. Finally a couple came by and the guy said, "Are you guys done or what?", and I said that we'd be happy to play if he was here to listen. He asked me to do my favorite song, so I did "Over the Rainbow". While I was doing that, at least eight more people showed up and stopped to listen. Pretty flattering to gather a nice little crowd from out of nowhere like that.
I really wish the Tommies weren't always bogarting the ice cream corner these days, but I have to admit that the 9-1 shift isn't all that bad.
Even though it's lame every time I go on a Sunday afternoon, I felt like the 45 minutes at the coffee shop the night before just wasn't sufficient playing for a weekend, so I went anyway.
And I was right -- lame. I knew the Tommies would be on the ice cream corner, but I was hoping the nice weather would make the Fingerhut side worth playing. Not so much. I played from 4:30 until about 7:00 and had almost nobody stop to listen.
I was playing towards the benches, but since the bums don't like (or don't like bothering) the Tommies, they were on the Fingerhut benches, hampering my ability to get a crowd. So around 7:00, I decided that my best bet was to move across the sidewalk and point the amp toward the line that was starting to form outside the pizza place -- which did work a little better. I had a few small families come over, so I played some "Frozen" and other kids' stuff. And once some kids are there, the older people stop to watch the cuteness. Note to self: 4:30 on Sunday, no; 7:00, maybe.
At one point, a professional-looking woman came up as I was starting up a song and made little pinching gestures with her fingers at me. I presumed she was trying to tell me to turn it down, 'cuz I'm paranoid that way, so I stopped playing to let her say it out loud. But she was actually asking me if I had a card, and said that she was putting on a women's golf tournament and wanted to hire me to play the after party. So suddenly the three hours of almost nothing was worth it...
Finally at 8:30, the Tommies packed up so I could move over to the ice cream side. I'd already been playing for 4 hours so I didn't expect my batteries to last much longer, but I played anyway, and started to do really well. Lots of people came by and left a tip, though not many actually stopped. It's flattering when someone tips me to play a song, but it's a bit more flattering when they tip me even though they're not staying to listen -- just "This guy's good" as they go on by.
Of course, being Sunday, it started to get pretty empty at 9 or 9:30, but I just kept playing 'cuz it was nice out, and the quiet was too tempting. I started playing songs I wanted to play, having done the Top Twenty for the last 5 hours, and I was really expecting the batteries to crap out at any minute anyway. I guess it sounded really pretty because the street was so quiet and my voice was in good shape, but I was surprised that people were tipping for obscure songs they weren't familiar with and weren't stopping to listen to.
This is the place that has three hour-long sets per night. Last time I played the 7:00 first shift, so this time I asked for the 9:00 shift, to see if the place filled up later at night.
I got there early enough to hear the end of the first act, a jazz combo with two saxes, guitar, and drum box, playing interminable versions of "Just the Two of Us", "Isn't She Lovely" and the like. Ouch. There are basically two rooms -- one in front of the stage, and one for people who *aren't* there to hear the band. The Stage Room was pretty full, but almost all of them turned out to be friends of the band, and moved to the Other Room to party after they quit playing.
Which left about 5 people for the next guy. He was OK, but not impressive, so when he quit, there were maybe 3 people left for me. I was beginning to regret my "late shift" idea.
But after only a song or two, a whole bunch of people moved back over to listen to me. Flattering!
I played four or five songs of my own choosing to give them an idea of what I was about, and then started taking requests, which came in solid for the rest of the, what, seven songs.
At least the requests were all good choices. Except when the sound lady told me that I had two songs left, and a guy asked for "If I Only Had a Brain" from the Kids' List. I had to tell him that, if I only had two songs left, that wasn't going to be one of them. His second choice was "Wild World"; far more suitable.
And for my last song, I took a show of hands between "Let It Be" and "Imagine", with "Let It Be" winning out.
As I was tearing down, I asked the sound lady if there were any other places I ought to be trying to get into. One of the coffee guys suggested "Bogart's" in Seal Beach, and she said I should look into the "First Friday" event in Bixby Knolls. That's the second time I've been pointed to this legendary "Bixby Knolls". Unfortunately, when I dug up and applied online for that event, they never got back to me. Like most booking people...
