K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 30July2016

I tried to get there early, but the summer traffic jam got me. When I got to The Corner at 6, there was a Digeridoo and Hand Pan band already set up, playing cool weird drone-y space music. Fortunately, they were just about done and turned the spot over to me.

I was near the end of the first verse of "Country Roads" when a kid came by whose dad said that it was his favorite song and that he knew all the words -- so I called him up, "Let It Go" style. And he did, too.

The bubble machine was, of course, a big hit. One family stopped and the kids asked for song after song, but none of them were from "Little Mermaid"! I finally resorted to turning it on for "Over the Rainbow". Close enough, right?

Another family stopped and the dad was completely thrilled that I knew "Moonshadow", reportedly a *huge* favorite of his little boy. But everybody *except* the little boy was stoked to hear it, despite their excited urging -- I think it was way past his bedtime...

Crazy local character David stopped by, with his wacky no-bones dance moves and caricature "business" (he gives them away for free, since he's still learning the trade). Somehow he always arrives when I'm in the middle of a slow mellow song (what are the odds?!?), and his herky-jerky chicken dance doesn't quite work, but he throws it out there anyway. He did a sketch of Warren and I, as shown. I'm sure he'll improve with time.

Anyway, a nice busy day and evening, with lots of people out. Strangely not as many in my Target Market as usual, which affected the audience and tip jar. But we had some fun and made some people happy, and that's what it's about.

Keith in Dana Point -- Sat/Sun, 23/24July2016

Last weekend I nearly died out there playing in the sun in this heatwave, so I found me a cleverly-adjustable sun umbrella, and attached an extendable window-washing pole to the amp's rolling cart to get it up high enough to clear me and my hat. Took some finagling to get it positioned right, but it worked great. A nice lady came by and said, "Oh good, you got an umbrella. I was worried about you!" Nice to have that one out of the way, but there are plenty of other reasons to worry about me...

I also finally broke down and bought an "Under the Sea" bubble wand the last time I was at Disneyland. Then in a perfect storm of happenstances, two sisters came by, each holding their Ariel Barbies. I showed them the list, and they chose "Part of Your World", my favorite song from "The Little Mermaid", and I fired up the bubble machine, as I played it. Four (or more?) more little kids appeared from nowhere, and it was a bubble party!

Of course, what I hadn't thought of was, once you start, how can you turn it off? I stood there for a while after the song was over wondering, "Why did I go to all that trouble to learn how to play this guitar?"

I went down from 9 to 11 on Saturday morning, just to try to determine when the best time to be down there is. And then I went down again in the evening and had a pretty big crowd around 7:30. And then again on Sunday, brunch-time. Somewhere along the line, a lady picked up a business card, and on Sunday afternoon she emailed me and hired me to play a birthday party in September. That's how it's *supposed* to work!

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 16July2016

Now that all the art festivals are open, it's getting tough (and expensive!) to park down there, but it's worth it. Nice night, lots of people. It never really "clicked" somehow, but fun anyway.

A couple of little girls with too-big ice cream cones wanted "Let It Go" (imagine my surprise!), and the littler one came up to theoretically sing along, but she was far too interested in the ice cream to actually do any singing. Cute, though.

It was the first weekend since the release of the global "Pokemon Go" phenomenon, and hundreds of people were playing as they walked by. You can tell who's playing (versus just texting or trying to find the next bar on the map) 'cuz they almost always have an external battery wired to the phone they're glued to, since the game is a huge battery drain.

Some of my old Indian Princess friends came by, and naturally wanted to hear my Princess campout greatest hit, "Waltzing With Bears". I never play it anymore, but it's still in The Book, and I mostly remembered how to play it.

Around midnight an older fellow showed up and hung around at the side bench, apparently waiting for us to finish, 'cuz as soon as I gave up at 12:30 and started tearing down, he came over to rant at me about how there are plenty of "number ones" and these musicians these days don't play them. I pointed out that this was pretty much *exactly* my philosophy too -- I play the most-known hits of the best-known bands (in an admittedly time-limited swath) -- but he kept telling me, again and again about the "number ones" like it was some kind of X-Files conspiracy. I'm with you, dude, and I'm on it!

Keith in Dana Point -- Sat/Sun, 09/10July2016

I decided to try some different times, to see when the best time to play is. So I went from 9-11:30 and also in the evening 6:30-10:30. Neither was great, but both were OK.

In the morning, the Harbor Patrol/Sheriff/Fire boat came and docked right next to where I was playing. I thought, "Oh boy; here we go.", but decided to just keep playing and let them interrupt if they thought they had a reason to shake me down. I have my Permit, and am following (most of) the Rules laid down, so I should be OK. So I just kept playing, and playing, and they never even came by. Must have just come for some coffee.

And then on Saturday night, another heavily belt-accessorized guy came tromping up the Promenade towards me in his mil-spec boots, but he cut across the patio and never even approached me, either. Now, I'm glad nobody's called me out (yet), but why did I go to all the trouble to get that Permit if nobody's gonna check it?!?

(I actually think that I'm doing it so brazenly, and sounding completely professional, that they just have to assume I'm legit, so they don't hassle me. Which it great, I guess.)

I decided that I had to try Saturday night, just as a place to play when it's not Our Turn in Laguna. But it was kind of tough to gather an audience, because the patio space is owned by the coffee/ice cream shop, and they take the chairs away in the evening (even though they're still open!), which seems kind of mean.

But I can still play to the people strolling (and jogging, and dog-walking) by, and I had a pair of moms come by with their two bestie daughters. After I roped the girls in with my picture-menu Kids' request list, they just plopped down to listen. Some college girls came by and decided that they could do that, too, and we had us a great little concert there for a while.

A family came by who had recently relocated here from Pennsylvania, so they wanted all the "California" songs: the one about the hotel, and "Ventura Highway", and then they mercifully branched out into other types of songs. They stayed for at least an hour, and while I was playing for them, I looked over and there was a little dinghy docked over the railing, and the people were just chilling and listening to me like they had front row concert tickets. Apparently they could hear just fine from over there, although I'm theoretically not supposed to send any sound out over the water.

A 12-year-old kid came up to me and asked if I knew "Peaceful Easy Feeling". I do, and after he had sternly instructed his dad to take pictures and video, I played it, and he stood next to me and acted out the words in gestures -- I don't think he was even singing. Not sure what that was about. After the song, as he was walking away, he stopped and asked, "Can we order you for, like, a party?" I suppose so, kid, but I'm not a pizza...

On Sunday, I went down again in the morning, though it was already too hot. A nice old lady was up at the tables and she waved, then blew me a kiss, and stayed the whole time I was there, reading her book and clapping loudly between songs. Sweet.

I've been putting business cards down next to the tip jar, and lots of them disappear when I play down there. I hope something eventually comes of that...

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 02July2016

Another pretty great night -- summer's definitely finally here. A lot of traffic on the way down there and parking was a nightmare, but worth it. Lots of friendly listeners, requests, dancing, free ice cream, and tips. We must be getting better -- we seem to be inspiring lots more five-dollar bills these days, and somebody slipped in a five Euro note. Cool.

Had another "Let It Go" singalong, and also played "Do You Want to Build a Snowman", though a teenaged girl on the bench was vastly more thrilled about it than the little girl I was playing it for.

Near midnight, a couple showed up and the guy was delighted to find "Your Song" on the list because it was "their song". He's shown here applying chapstick in anticipation of some smooching during their slow dance to it.

It was delightfully free of bum interference all night, until the very end when sweet but addled and Way Too Friendly Wendy came by. But it was almost midnight and time to quit anyway -- I couldn't get any of the Woo Girls to stop, despite my best efforts.

I sure wish we could play there every Saturday, but at least Tom seems to be holding to the deal of trading off every other one. It could be worse.

Keith at Uncorked -- Friday, 01July2016

I've finally broken my "Every Gig" rule for these posts, in that I didn't post one for last time at Uncorked, simply because nothing novel happened. But this time was different...

Not *all* that different, but it was really fun because there were *some* people there, but it wasn't full, so it was quieter and people were more inclined to listen and request songs. I had some appreciative people at first, and one guy asked me to play "Vincent", which *never* gets requested, and a lady wanted me to play "Lemon Tree" because her husband had never heard it. Um, OK.

But as it got later, it mostly emptied out, and then a couple came in and Mister Big Beard was *totally* down to pick some songs. And he did, wall to wall, for an hour or so, until an older couple came in and he insisted -- no, demanded -- that they pick some.

The old guy decided that looking at the list was "cheating", so he just named stuff, songs or artists, that he wanted to hear. I knew a few of them, and had "adjacent" songs for the rest. Like, he asked if I knew any Marty Robbins, and I played "Cool Water" instead. I ended up playing a bunch of stuff off of my "Seniors" list that I created for when I play at the old folk's home: "Tennessee Waltz", "South of the Border", "Today", "I'll Never Find Another You", "Moon River", etc. It was refreshing to get away from my Top Twenty for once.

When it was closing time, the lady went up to one of the guys and told him how great it was to come in there and hear some soft, nice music, and how they'd definitely be back. Sometimes I wonder if I'm "worth my salt" playing there, but I hope that helps them feel like I'm justified.