Keith in Dana Point -- Sat/Sun, 28/29May2016

Saturday was the slowest day down at the harbor so far, but Sunday at brunch time was pretty good. I'm still trying to figure out when the best times down there will be...

On my way walking down to the playing spot, I passed a young girl in the coffee shop employee T-shirt, and she said, "I just want to say that your music is wonderful!" Seems like all the employee kids like me, but I'm still afraid of the "restaurant owner" who came out to harass me the first time I was there. But on Sunday I saw a guy who I'm pretty sure was him and he went about his business without giving me any trouble, so he's either used to me being there or my paranoid volume level is acceptable.

About 2:30 on Saturday I got my first "competition" down there -- a guy came by with a battery-powered keyboard and set up down the way from me, right across from the restaurant. He clearly doesn't have the nearly-impossible-to-come-by Permit, though I think his keyboard qualifies as "amplified sound", even though he was singing without a mic. Because of that, he was pretty quiet, so I couldn't hear much of what he was playing, but what I did catch sounded pretty lame. I considered warning him that he might get kicked out -- both for amplified sound and being less than 40 feet away from a business's door -- but decided that he wasn't much of a threat, and since he'd arrived when it was almost dead on an already very slow day, he'd probably make no money and never come back anyway.

On Sunday, there was a scruffy homeless looking guy in a wheelchair, piled with blankets and with a guitar case strapped over the top. But he was pretty far away, so no problem. After a while, a guy came down to hand me a twenty, saying it came from the wheelchair guy, "extending professional courtesy" (apparently since he plays guitar too). He slowly wheeled closer and ended up asking for several songs, telling me some stories, most of which I couldn't hear, and handing me some more money, and eventually, another twenty.

He says that he lives in Catalina, and "did wars and policing", and recently came into a lot of money and wants to spend it "on music". He's setting up a big concert in Avalon, and wants me to come play and will pay me "three times my rate". Later on, it sounded like he wanted me to just come and play (where? and for whom?), again at three times. He took specifically two (?) of my cards, and said that he'd have his assistant call me. He didn't sound spun out or anything, but I won't be holding my breath. On the other hand, his generous tipping lent some credence...

More people around ('cuz it was earlier, or 'cuz it was Sunday?), but, as in Laguna, having scruffy homeless guys (another even scarier wheelchair guy (Tourette's?) showed up later) wasn't helping me accumulate much of a crowd, so I quit to go get some lunch myself after only (?) three hours.