Keith in Laguna Beach -- Sunday, 11Oct2015

I had such a great night on Saturday that I thought I'd take a chance and see if (A) the heatwave would bring out some people on a Sunday, and (B) the Tommies would take the whole weekend off. Mostly right on both counts.

I got there at 6:00 just as the sun was setting. Angel and his protégé were taking up the whole bench with their palm frond origami rose workshop, and there was hardly any foot traffic. I stalled a while, wondering if it was even worth setting up. Took the opportunity to talk to Angel and the Kid, who also work downtown Huntington Beach, and knew that you can busk there, but no amplifiers. Good to know. I also finally just came out with it and asked Angel to do me the favor of moving the workshop down the bench so that I could possibly build up a seated audience. I told him that I really didn't come down there to watch people walk by. He laughed, understood, and moved his stuff down. It was worth the trip down there just to come to that understanding with him -- assuming he remembers for next time.

The weird part was that, as the sun was setting, there was nobody walking around. But fortunately I had stalled long enough to see that the second the sun got below the horizon it was like the school bell had rung, and people started flooding the sidewalks. I guess everyone had just stopped to watch and photograph the sunset. Suddenly it was busy enough to be worth setting up, so I did.

Obviously not as many people out as on a Saturday, but it was nice. Now that most of the tourists are gone, "my age" couples from around town come out and they all like my stuff, so I had at least a few people on the bench and standing around making requests all night.

A family was over on the side bench with a little girl, so I walked over to give her one of my picture-menu Kids' Music lists. After a while, the lady brought her over, pointing to "Do You Want to Build a Snowman". The lady had an accent, so I asked where they were from, and she said that the little girl was from Russia, but she's from Poland. Not the mom, then?

Anyway, I played the song, but I started thinking that the little girl hadn't been able to read the song name and had probably just chosen it by the image, and that she'd probably actually wanted "Let It Go". I suggested that, and the "mom" liked that idea, as did a couple of extra little girls that had appeared during "...Snowman". One of those agreed to come up and sing along, but I didn't pressure the Russian girl to try.

Oddly, about 9:00 the Tommies appeared. They set up on the other side, and with the new amplification system apparently pointed to reflect off the picture window, I was beset with Tom's unvarying "chunka chunka" strumming for the rest of the night. Up close you can tell the songs apart, but from this distance, they're all the same tempo, and Tom's style never changes, and they all sound alike. But for the casual observer, Tomi's cuteness beats my musicality, and they assemble a bigger and more demonstrative (and undoubtedly more generous) audience than mine, to my continual chagrin. Oh well.

Toward the end, a guy and his wife appeared, and he plays guitar and some of the same songs I do, so I suspect his requests were more about research than entertainment. But that's OK -- I learned most of what I know by watching other guys, and I'm happy to pass it on.