Since my month off of performing, I feel a lot "looser". Surprisingly, I seem to have forgotten almost nothing about how to play the songs, but being so distant from the last time playing them has somehow given me a freedom to reinterpret them, and not play them identically to how I always have. It's hard to describe, but it's fun -- and, I think, more "musical". (Or, I suppose, less -- if what it is is just a newfound sloppiness...)
Anyway, Warren got there plenty early to make sure to get The Corner, called me with the good news and I got there and we were playing by 6:45. The early start turned out to be a very good thing because at 8:40, the beat cops came by to inform us that The Captain had decided to enforce the part of the city statute that prohibits amplifier use after 9pm. This is a real bummer since frequently it only gets really fun after nine, and we've been known to play well past midnight.
At least this didn't come down during the summer. As it is, the audience was starting to fade away anyway, but this will put a serious crimp in how much fun it is to play down there.
The funny part is that, in answer to Warren's query, the policewoman said that, yes, it was in response to complaints from the local businesses. Which is ludicrous, since they're all closed by 9pm, except the ice cream store that stays open as long as there are people buying ice cream, for which they are quite pleased to have us out there bringing people over.
I wonder how hard it is for a non-Laguna resident to get the city to change a law...
