So I was knocking those songs Out. Of. The. Park. It felt great to be playing and singing again, and these old folks know me by now and are a great audience. Also, it's a church (-ish?) kind of building with terrific acoustics and it just sounds great in there. Especially compared to the only other place I play these days: The Corner in Laguna with the Harleys and firetrucks and rude cellphone talkers, etc.
The tricky part was that I had smashed my left thumb in a piano-moving accident three days before (like slamming it in a car door), so the chords where I throw my thumb over the top of the neck were possible, but painful. So, just to add a layer of complexity, I had to try to reformulate those chords to use only fingers, on the fly. I love a challenge...
Anyway, to add some variety for these poor captive folks that have already heard my stuff a half-dozen times, I had a secret weapon that I held back as long as I could stand it: the new ukulele. I've been playing nothing else for the last two weeks at home, and decided that, if there was ever an audience that would like to hear it, it was these guys. Naturally, I've played "Over the Rainbow" for them every time I've been there, and, their possible memory issues aside, it feels like it just has to be getting repetitive for them. So I played it on uke this time. I actually think that both versions sound great, so I'm not really sure which one I should keep in the act. After that, I pulled up a classic 1928 uke tune, "Ukulele Lady", which they seemed to really like, so, although I had planned to just do those two, I went ahead and did "Five Foot Two", which I only learned yesterday. But I mostly got through it, and they loved it.
There's a room in the back corner of the big auditorium, and people kept walking through to get to some kind of meeting that was going on back there. Invariably though, they'd stall a bit and listen to a song or two before going on in. That was flattering.
And after I was done, a guy came up and asked for a card. He runs the "55 Club" that meets there, and wants to hire me to play, maybe monthly, but at least for his Christmas Program in December. He asked me if I knew any Christmas carols, and I said that I don't, but I know lots of Christmas *songs*. He asked what was the difference, and I told him that carols have Jesus in 'em, and only sound good when done by a four-part choir. Christmas "songs", on the other hand, are about snow, Santa, and winter in general. He was OK with that, though I suspect that he thinks that this will be a singalong, which, sorry, I have to arrange the songs to fit my style and abilities, and they're not necessarily the way people singing along will remember them. Oh well, we'll see what happens...
Anyway, that was fun. I wish I got to play longer, but after an hour, it's Senior Snack Time, and I gotta get out of the way for that!
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