K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 26Sept2015

We made a deal with Tom that if we didn't come down last week, he wouldn't come down this week. So we had The Corner to ourselves all night for the first time in a long time.

I got the chance to play my new ukulele a few times. It works quite well for "Over the Rainbow", "I'm Yours", and "Hey, Soul Sister", since people have heard those songs, played that way. I also played "Ukulele Lady", but I'm not sure the novelty songs that I've learned will work. Like "Waltzing With Bears", they require some attention from the audience to follow and get the jokes, and people in this situation don't really have the span. Not to mention the audibility challenges from sirens, Harleys, and loud car douchebags.

It was a pretty good night for "off season". My little Superfan Natalia (and family) came down again. As always, I played "You'll Be In My Heart" for her while her dad cuddled her up. I thought she'd like my new "toy guitar", so I played "Tiki Room" with it. Then back to guitar to play "Puff the Magic Dragon" for her little brother, but before I got started, Natalia came up and asked if she could play the Toy Guitar. I said, "Sure" and handed it to her. Her mom came up and held her while we did "Puff", with Natalia pretending to play along as part of the band. Very cute.

Also appearing was Phuong and Christopher, our other Superfans. Phuong is a real sweetie, and makes the most surprising requests. She keeps me on my toes, requesting songs I haven't done in ages, like "When You Wish Upon a Star".

Three Canadian ladies showed up and wanted to hear Canadian songs, so I played Neil Young's "Old Man", and Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind". When they told me it was the middle one's birthday, I sang the song and gave her a tiara so she could look the part.

Later on, I was in the middle of playing "Here Comes the Sun" when a college girl stopped. It was apparently "her jam" 'cuz she came right over to stand in front of me to wiggle-dance and smile. At the end, she said "Oh, thank you!", gave me a kiss on the cheek and Warren a hug, and off she went.

A couple came by and after a few songs the husband came over to buy a CD. I offered to autograph it, and the wife said to sign it to her, and that her name was "Lee". (Or "Leigh"?) I wrote "To Lee", and then my name, but it seems to me now that that was probably inadequate. I've never had anyone ask for a dedication before, so I was taken off guard, but I should probably think of something a bit more clever.

Another couple stopped and the lady asked for "Fire and Rain", saying that she likes that song because her name is "Suzanne". Before I could stop myself I blurted out that the Suzanne in the song had killed herself. This Suzanne probably didn't need/want to know that. What a jerk I am sometimes...