K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 26Mar2016

Some schools take Spring Break the week before Easter and some take the week after, so this weekend was perfect timing to get both groups. And the weather finally cooperated -- it got a little chilly after sunset, but not so cold as to send unprepared people (or Woo Girls in micro-dresses) home. We started an hour earlier than usual, at 6:00, to be sure to capture The Corner against the growing competition, and catch some of the earlier beach-going groups. Which worked quite well on both counts.

We did pretty well, as did the ice cream shop. And there were families with kids to play for, which is always fun. We had one kid, mom, and gramma come by, and I gave the Kid's List to the little girl but her mom said, "She doesn't know any of these songs!" I said, "She hasn't seen any Disney movies?!? Where are you from? [Implied: What barbaric, joyless, totalitarian regime did you escape from?]" Answer: "England!" Me: Huh? (But it did explain the Mary Poppins accents.)

So they took a look at the grownup list instead and settled for "Imagine" for the little girl, followed, incongruously, by "Tainted Love" for the mom.

Later on I was playing "Wild World" when a couple came through and kept on walking, even though the wife was singing loudly along. The song ended as they got across the street, and she yelled, "Father and Son!", and I said, "Come on back and I'll play it!", so they did, and I did. Sometimes it pays off to have 350+ songs in The Book.

Two ladies came by with a 18-20 year-old daughter. They asked for something and I played it, but then were reticent (or unprepared) when I asked if they had another request. So I said, "Come on, just admit it, you want "Hey There, Delilah" (since that's what nine out of ten 20-somethings end up asking for). They looked amazed and embarrassed to admit that, yes, that's exactly what they were too shy to ask for...

I used the new drum pedal a bit, but it was having a weird effect on the vocal. I think it was causing a brief overdrive condition in the amp, which made the vocal seem to drop out every time I'd hit the drum. But only on some songs, inexplicably. I'll have to experiment more.

Not too much interference from the bums this time. Willie was there, but not too drunk, so a bit more cooperative. But around 11:00 "Big Jim" showed up. He's usually not too bad, and has that oddly very common creepy homeless guy defense mechanism of being effusively complimentary to stave off people chasing him away.

But he was drunk (surprise!) and decided that I was there last week (which I wasn't) and played "Heart of Gold" (which I don't), and insisted that I play it again (which I can't). I did play "Old Man" for him as an alternative, which he appreciated, but he wouldn't shut up about "Heart of Gold", and started to get belligerent about it, and how I was lying about not knowing it.

I took a break and went off to the side, trying to at least clear my throat of the evening's way-too-much cigarette smoke that he was contributing to, but although Warren tried to reason with him, after a while it looked like he wasn't going to give up -- so we did. It was 11:30 and traffic was nearly gone anyway.