Keith at Mission Viejo Artisan Faire -- Saturday, 15Aug2015

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?