It was the annual Comer Brothers Show-Off Event, where we gather in my brother's driveway for him to show off his cooking, and me to show off my playing. Maybe because I had just played (and had a good time of it) the night before, or maybe because I'm getting more comfortable with my brother's friends, but I felt very much at ease this time, and just "let 'er fly". And I always have a great time when that attitude kicks in.
The sound was good, there's no traffic noise, and I wasn't having any trouble with feedback on the new guitar, so I felt good about the music. And with people actually listening on purpose, I feel like I can tell some stories, and I did. But maybe that's the exact opposite of what I ought to do -- if they're listening, probably I should shut up and play...
We both assumed that the odds of us playing tonight were near zero, but out of the blue, Tom texted Warren to tell him that they were out of town and wouldn't be there. Wow!
It's been really hot, and there were lots of people out. Unfortunately, that included some undesirables. Like the meth casualty who loudly proclaims his opinions of the songs, right in the middle of them; street-person aging-hippie/beach chick, Wendy; and the literally crazy cat-lady who only speaks in meows and licked Warren's cheek ("kitty kisses!"), while he was trying to play.
It came down to just Wendy for most of the night, and although Warren valiantly tried to keep her subdued or at least at a distance, she was a thorn in my side all night, keeping me from being able to really get into my playing. I kept thinking that I'd pull her aside and give her the hard truth that I'm just not down there to play for her, but she was half drunk and I didn't know how she'd react, so I held my tongue.
Otherwise, a pretty good night. I hadn't seen my little superfan Natalia for a few weeks, and when they showed up, I knew why -- the formerly very-pregnant mom was toting a two-week-old baby sister. On the outside, this time.
Later on, a couple of college kids came by and listened for a while before looking at the list and requesting "Pure Imagination" from (the original) "Willy Wonka". People sometimes ask for that one by its title, even though they don't really know it, and I lead them to a different song. But these kids knew exactly what they were asking for, so I did it. And pretty well, considering how strange the chords are and how infrequently I play it.
After that, they asked for a dancing song, so I did my favorite, "Please, Mister Postman", and they got up and did some very impressive "American Bandstand" style, hyperkinetic, skirt-twirling, rock 'n' roll dancing. That was pretty great.
During the summer, we get people from all over the world (somebody snuck a United Arab Emirates 10 dirham note (worth $2.72) into the tip jar). I tried to hand a song list to a lady and her friends and she waved me off and said in Boris and Natasha's accent, "No, ve're foreigners! Just play wot you vere playink!" I asked "Where are you from?", and she replied, "Carlsbad". I couldn't stop myself from saying, "Um, Carlsbad isn't a foreign country..." She just smiled and didn't say anything, so apparently where she's really from is Top Secret. I don't think her "Carlsbad" cover story is going to hold a lot of water, though.
But despite the implication that she didn't know any American songs, after a while she came over and put a twenty in the jar. I don't know if it was a tip or if she was buying my silence...
I got to The Corner at 6 o'clock to be (almost) sure to beat the Tommies, and did. I texted Warren to tell him he could come by and join me after work, but he decided he needed to stay home and practice because he and Jim have a gig at the Sawdust Festival on Thursday. So I played from 6 to 10 by myself again.
Now that school has started around here, the only traffic out is childless locals, families with young children, and foreigners. I had people from each category, but only enough to make a good night, not a great one.
Early on, a middle-aged guy came and sat on the bench eating some ice cream. He listened to two or three songs, nodding appreciatively at the end of each (he couldn't clap 'cuz his hands were full -- a common problem, playing in front of the ice cream store). After a few more, he said, "I'm gonna go home and burn my guitar..."
A few more after that (he was waiting for his companions), he finally succumbed and dug through his pockets for enough paper money and change to buy a CD.
When his three lady friends showed up, they were impressed as well, and requested another dozen songs before having to leave.
A young couple came up wet from the beach and stopped to hear some songs. She requested a few in her cute British accent, so I asked where they were from: London, and Canada. I wonder how that happened...
A family came by with two little girls in strollers. They looked too young to decide, so I handed the Kids' List to the mom, but she gave it right to the older sister. I was expecting some strife, but she leaned right over to show it to her little sister, and they calmly discussed which song they'd request. "How about this Ariel song?" "Well, what about this one?" I was surprised and charmed.
I took a chance that since the Tommies weren't there on Saturday, they wouldn't be there on Sunday either, and the bet paid off. And it actually turned out to be a better night than Saturday had been, too -- lots of families out, and just more interaction and enthusiasm.
Lots of kids this time -- I must have played "Twinkle Twinkle" half a dozen times. At one point I was playing "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" for a little girl, and that attracted the attention of three little girls over on the far bench. I asked them if they wanted to sing along to "Let It Go". They did, and stood up by me to sing, but didn't actually sing at all. Fun for them anyway, I think.
Later on, a guy came by who made sure that anyone within earshot knew that he was "in a band" back home in Minnesota. I guess he figured that that gave him license to sing along loudly on every song. Unfortunately, I'm not a Karaoke machine and many of my songs aren't exactly like the original recordings that he was singing from, so he was off whack a lot. He asked about my harmony box, but then kept trying to sing harmony anyway, though he knew I already had the harmonies covered. It was pretty annoying to me, but maybe the people in front of my speaker were hearing me a lot louder than him. Let's go with that...
A young couple came by and danced to anything and everything. Then an older Latino couple came up and asked me if I knew anything with a Calypso beat. Not really sure -- I don't catalog them that way, so she settled for "Time After Time", which I'm pretty sure doesn't qualify as Calypso, but whatever, and they danced some pretty fancy dance school stuff to that and everything that came after. And then another couple joined in so I had quite a dance party going -- probably the longest one ever.
A Mexican family came by and I gave the little boy my "picture menu" of Kids' Songs, and he pointed at the Lion King picture. I had a feeling that he couldn't read English, and wasn't really asking for "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", but was expecting "Hakuna Matata" or "Just Can't Wait To Be King". I've had people ask for "... Love Tonight" before, and it's a pretty song and I do it well enough, but unless the mood is right, it tends to "clear the room". So this time, I ignored the kid and played "Kiss the Girl", "A Whole New World", and "Please, Mister Postman" which seemed OK with him and kept my crowd intact, thankyouverymuch.
I drove down at 6:15, fully expecting to find the Tommies on The Corner and to then just drive around to try and find another place to play -- maybe somewhere along the route between the Sawdust Festival and the Pageant of the Masters. But I was shocked to find that The Corner was empty! That left me with the challenge to find parking in this Festival season and get back down there before anyone could snarf it from me.
Which I did. Amazing! Warren couldn't make it, but then again, we figured there wasn't really going to be an "it" to make. But that left me solo, and I played from 6:30 until midnight. The summer seems to be winding down, though -- the crowds were down, and somewhat apathetic somehow. Still, I had nice people there almost all night, including my little superfan Natalia, who wanted to dance with her mom to her favorite, "You'll Be In My Heart" from "Tarzan", and a few others.
I was playing "Hotel California" and looked across the street and saw a 30-ish lady standing on the Fingerhut corner looking at me. She apparently took eye contact as an invitation, and rushed across the street to sing along. She only *kinda* knew the words, but that didn't stop her from just making up what she didn't know, and she sang *loud*. I've never heard anyone able to sing even close to that loud without a microphone. And she decided to sing it standing two feet away from me, right in my face. All the way through. It was kinda awesome.
Another little girl stopped her family from just walking through because she wanted to hear the music. I saw her standing over to the side, smiling at me, so I said, "I have a song for you!", and started "Do You Want To Build a Snowman". She was pretty thrilled. Afterward, she came over and stood in front of me, so I bent down, expecting her to have been sent over by her mom to say "Thank you". But she didn't say anything, until her mom said, "She wants to give you a hug". Well, sure, absolutely! So I slung the guitar around to my back and crouched down for my hug. Definitely the cutest thing of the month, if not the summer.
As they started away I said, "Does she want to get a picture with me?", and they came back to do that, and for once I gave my phone to someone to get a shot for me, too. (She was a lot cuter before the fake Camera Smile.)
A bit of a problem with the bums. One scary/dirty guy was just hanging out almost the whole night, taking up valuable tourist room on the bench, but at least he was quiet and polite. I also had the reappearance of the old guy who likes to get up and dance/contort in slow motion, which amuses some people and scares others. He also insists on shouting out the name of the artist at the end of every song, as if it's some kind of competition or game that nobody else is playing. The challenges of the street corner musician...
What a great night! I went down early to beat the Tommies to The Corner, but they never showed at all. Whatever -- I had the place to myself all night, and it was *way* more fun than getting stuck on the Other Corner on Saturdays has been lately. Not Saturday-sized crowds, but a nice steady stream of listeners all night. I never had any big parties, but I did have 6-10 people around the whole time.
Indeed, our old Laguna friend Silly Patty showed up, and since it was a weeknight, I was expecting a Nobody Listening Lull at any time so I could go out and talk to her, but it never came. She stayed a long time though, and asked for her favorite songs, "Five O'Clock World", "Fields of Gold" and "Bus Stop".
At 6:30 it's still light out, and there are already lots of people around, eating ice cream and hanging out, so I had a built-in audience right away. One guy with a glaring Aussie accent stayed to listen for a long time and told me where he was from when I asked -- Las Vegas. And later on, a little old lady who we often see walking through with her Cavalier King Charles stopped this time, and asked if I know "You Are My Sunshine" and would I play it for the dog. I do, and did.
I passed out the Song Lists, and they basically never came back. People would make their requests, and pass the lists off to any newcomers. That was cool -- it kept the interest and requests coming, and also saved me the trouble of handing them out over and over.
Of course it was a work night, so Warren showed up at 8:30 or 9. That gave me a chance to twiddle with the knobs to try to get my new guitar sounding right without having his guitar in the mix. I got closer, but it's still not working as well as the old one. I'll get there.
It is feeling pretty close to Right, though, playability-wise, now that I adjusted the action. I'm not having any trouble with the neck shrinkage (from 2" to 1-7/8"), but I do still need to rebuild the nut anyway to shift the strings over. I'm very pleased with the "strumming end" difference, though. Strumming is working much better with this guitar, and I can tell the difference even in just the Final Chord endings. And it's a lot easier on my fingers since I took off the fatter-gauge top three strings and replaced them with the gauge I'm used to.
Anyway, it was a really nice evening. The lower foot and auto traffic made it quieter and nicer to play, and it was great to have a constant moderate-sized audience to play for. A far more pleasant evening than standing on the Fingerhut side feeling frustrated...
Somebody had managed to beat Tom to The Corner (probably Fiddle Girl), so he texted Warren and said that he'd be playing late. So we went anyway to get the no-longer-Fingerhut side at 8:30, since it hadn't been too bad last week.
But, as the stock traders say, "Past performance is not indicative of future results", and it was pretty terrible this week. We moved over when Tom quit, and had some good interaction for a while, but then it died. Is summer over?
But for some reason, there was a lot of dancing. One couple danced to several different songs, and then the guy came up and secretively asked if I knew "Yellow Bird". I do, so I played it, and they slow danced. Must have been "Their Song".
We also had several random Woo Girls dancing, and then a couple that did some amazing, "Think You Can Dance", zooming around, clutchy, jumpy, tango-style dancing. Mikey the Greeter was there, and when the guy went into the ice cream store, he said to the lady, "You guys make a great couple!", and she said, "Oh, we're not a couple." Excuse me?!?
Anyway, that short spell of Good after so much Bad didn't really make the evening worthwhile, so Warren and I are going to investigate maybe finding a spot up between the Pageant of the Masters and the Sawdust Festival, since most folks park somewhere and then go to both, walking between them. Maybe we can find us a better Second Choice...
When they offered me fifty bucks to play for the Artisan Faire again, I said "Sure!", 'cuz I like to stay in the loop for City sponsored events so I do this one almost pro bono. But then I thought, wait, August 15th, in the middle of a parking lot?!? And then I thought, Oh well, maybe it won't be too bad...
And then it arrived and it's even worse than I thought 'cuz we're in the middle of a heat wave. Temps up to 99 degrees, and I'm playing the middle of the day, 11-2. They put me under an Easy-Up, and it's nice to have the shade, but I think the cloth actually acts as a radiator and sends heat down. It's hard to tell if it's actually cooler under the thing or not.
Anyway, the vendors sweltering in their booths clapped a little at first, but then even that became too much effort. And it was what you'd call "sparsely attended". I made a little in tips, and sold one CD, but it was pretty lonely out there. And hot. And yes, for the first time, I availed myself of the chair they set out for me, and actually played the last 45 minutes Sitting Down, which I Never Do.
I drank through two cans of Mountain Dew, and about 20 minutes before the end a nice lady vendor came over and offered me two (?) bottles of water. I guess she didn't see the Dew that was sitting there, still not quite empty. But to be polite I opened a bottle and took a couple of big swigs, only to find that it was "room temperature", and this "room" was 99 degrees. Thanks?
My monthly gig for the old folks. I was worried about the new guitar because of all the feedback problems I've been having in Laguna, so I spent the morning building a soundhole plug, which Taylor says I don't need, but I think maybe I really do and figured better safe than sorry.
But I got there and set up while the old folks were out, and didn't have any trouble with feedback at all. I even took the plug out, and it was still fine. I'm starting to think that the trouble in Laguna is only when I'm on the Fingerhut side, and the amp is pointing directly at the low wall, 8 feet away. Whatever it is, having at least one example of it working really well makes me feel a lot better about the whole New Guitar thing.
Anyway, I played a few songs and then started John Denver's "Country Roads" when a very old guy got up and started chugging across the middle of the room. People do that from time to time at these gigs, and a caretaker always jumps up to intercept them and find out where they're going. One of them ran over to him, and he took her hands and started dancing with her -- which was pretty amazing considering he could hardly walk. In fact, when she started towards him, I thought she was at least going to get his walker and put it in front of him before it was too late and he'd fallen. The power of music, huh?
Later on, I asked if anyone had any requests, maybe from songs that they've heard me play before. Some guy called out "Johnny Cash!", which wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but, hey, I'm all about playing what people want to hear, so I dug up "Folsom Prison Blues" in The Book and had the caretaker ladies boogy-ing in the aisles.
After that one, one of the caretaker ladies called out, "Do some Elvis! It's 'Elvis Week'!" Um, OK. So I did "Can't Help Falling In Love" and most of the room sang along. Then a young caretaker dude called out "Sinatra?" Well, not really, but I do "The Way You Look Tonight", and so did Sinatra, though his version is 60's cool, finger-poppin' jazzy, and mine is based on James Taylor's pretty ballad version. Close enough I guess, and the old ladies loved it.
I also did "Cool Water", which I always do at this gig 'cuz I figure it's the only audience I get that remembers it, and it sounds *so* cool with the harmony box. One of the office ladies came rushing in to hear that one. And I ended with "Bridge Over Troubled Water", 'cuz the acoustics in that place are amazing, and it knocks their socks off.
All in all, a great time.
I figured that since it's summer, there may be enough traffic on a Sunday to make it worth my while. Or, since I'd had a lot of trouble getting my new guitar dialed in the night before, maybe I'd get a chance to see what I could figure out when nobody's there to annoy with all the fiddling. The Taylor website said that the pickups should be immune to feedback -- let's just say that that hasn't been my experience.
But I never got the chance. More people out than expected, and even though I was on the Fingerhut corner, I had people there the whole time. Indeed, my wife had come along with the dogs (who frequently got more attention than I did), and although she was ready to go home by 9:00 or so, there was always someone there listening, so I couldn't just up and quit until almost 10:30. I never thought it would run so late on a Sunday or I'd'a never suckered her into coming along.
Unfortunately, I had forgotten my iPad (sitting on the charger back home, "getting ready for the gig"), so I had to play the whole time from memory, at which I suck. Usually the audience turns over fast enough that you could get away with 5 songs in a loop, but a family came by that knows me from Spectrum and stayed a long time, so I had to dig pretty deep. They also already own my CDs, so the kids were asking for songs that are on it that I had to turn down 'cuz I can't do them from memory. I did manage "Do You Want to Build a Showman?", "Puff", and most of "Kiss the Girl", though. And of course "Over the Rainbow". They apparently have Version 1 of the Kids' CD 'cuz they bought two more once they discovered that there are several new songs on Version 2 (and another copy of the "Favorites" CD). Big fans, apparently.
Anyway, I made do with the dozen songs I can mostly play from memory, and managed to play for three hours. Some middle-aged guys came through and one of them decided to join in on the act, singing along on "Fire and Rain". He wanted to do more, so I fired up "Hotel California", and he let out all the stops. Fortunately he had no microphone, but people passing by gave me sympathetic looks anyway.
I never did solve the feedback problem, though I got rid of it temporarily by turning the bass all the way down. The guitar sounded pretty bad, but at least no feedback. Definitely have to work on that before next weekend.
My new guitar finally came in! It's really pretty and plays pretty great (now that I've lowered the action a bit). When I picked it up, I asked them what strings Taylor had put on it (so I could, you know, replace them with the same kind eventually, assuming I like them). But the shop guys not only didn't know, they didn't know there was two kinds that Taylor uses. I suspect that they're what Taylor calls "HD Light", which is really just Medium top three strings, and Light bottom three. The result is that the high strings feel really tight, and hurt more. And some sound difference too, I guess...
Anyway, Tom wasn't supposed to be down there, so I was really looking forward to playing the whole night on the ice cream corner, with my new guitar. But Tom's plans changed at the last minute and he was going to be there after all.
Well, I had to go down anyway, and play someplace, anyplace, 'cuz, new guitar! I noticed that the alley was empty as I drove past it, but I was aiming at playing by the green swirly artwork bench-thing. But there was already a guy there, so I decided to head for the alley. As I went through the Fingerhut corner, Rasta Ross jumped up and said, "Oh! You can play here! I give you this corner!", which was great of him.
Fingerhut is actually closed, so I could play right in front of the papered-over display window without fear that the ladies would come and tell me to quit blocking it. Facing that way, people can use the low wall as a bench.
Problem was, the window's just a bit too narrow for the both of us, so I was too close to Warren's amp and hearing his guitar too much, and getting feedback from my guitar, and it being unfamiliar and not sounding right all made for an uncomfortable first try.
Still, somehow, we did all right -- I sold five CDs even before Tom quit and we started up on the ice cream side, at 11:20. It sounded better there, since I'm farther from Warren's amp, and there's no little wall directly across from me, to which I attribute the feedback problem.
Anyway, it was pretty dead at 11, but it was fun to be playing the new guitar, so we kept playing until the Changing-Bars people started coming through. They all thought we should keep playing until 1:20 when the batteries disagreed.
Warren always sends a text to Tom to see if he's going to be there, and Tom usually doesn't reply, so we have to assume he will be, 'cuz he usually is. This time Tom actually replied that he would be there, and that his State Program (whatever that is) imposed curfew was over, so instead of staying until 9pm, he'd be playing until 10:30.
Leaving us to start at 9:30 was already pretty bad, but stuck starting at 11:00 is ridiculous. But because he has a legion of kids to do supply runs and take turns going to the bathroom, he can and does spend the whole day on the corner, playing only occasionally, and keeping anyone else from setting up. And I can't think of a way to overcome that.
Warren went down to scope it out, and texted me all of this, also revealing that Rasta Ross was set up noodling with his tabla on the Fingerhut corner, Fiddle Guy was across the street, some guy with an acoustic guitar was in a closed gallery's alcove down the way, and further down, a Chinese lady was singing in Mandarin to a karaoke machine. This is really getting out of hand...
But I went down anyway to try to think of something. Warren thought that the alcove that the acoustic guy had just vacated looked promising, but I thought it was too far from the Corner to siphon off any traffic. I proposed the half-circular alcove between Fingerhut and Chico's, which is usually off-limits when those stores are open, but at 9:05, should be OK since they were both closed. (And Fingerhut is Really Closed, out of business, and there were painters in there, preparing for whoever's next.)
Warren objected that our amplifiers would be pointing directly at the Tommies from there, but I countered that that was a Good Thing, since Warren's supposed friendship with Tom hadn't caused him to do anything to accommodate us, so why should I accommodate him? I was hoping that, at least, some people who were done with the cuteness of the Tommies Show would hear some Real Music coming from across the way, and trade up.
And indeed, right after I started, I had gathered a pretty big crowd, even with no place to sit. Not knowing how this was going to go, I hadn't bothered to deploy all my stuff, so I was playing from memory. But after four songs there were so many people there that it seemed rude to not give them the chance to pick their favorite songs, so I got the song lists out, handed them around, and fetched the music stand and iPad out.
About 10:30, Tom's older daughter Tessa came over to tell us that they were going to play two more songs and then go, so I packed up quickly and rolled over there. We did OK, but obviously, starting at 11:00, the real crowds were long gone. It's not about the money, but as a barometer of how much interaction and appreciation we gathered, the "take" was the worst since the colds of the middle of January.
I'm apparently really going to have to come up with another plan for Saturdays.
