K&W in Laguna Beach -- Wednesday, 26Jul2017

Terrific night, seemingly custom designed to make me forget how terrible the previous outing was. I sold three CDs in the first five minutes, which led me to discover that I only had five with me, even though I distinctly remember making "a million" just a few days ago. Where do they all go?

Anyway, lots of people out on this fine summer's evening. Lots of kids to play for, and requests coming fast and deep.

And then suddenly we had a *huge* group of people that turned out to be a big family vacation group from Utah. They stayed a long time -- their kids came up to do "Let It Go" and "True Colors" singalongs, and even the adults were loudly singing along with "Country Roads" and such. They definitely made our night, if not week.

Later on, two college girls were walking by and clearly intended to just keep on going, like 95% of people do. But one of them was roped in by the song that I was doing, and then they liked the next song, and the next, and eventually they went ahead and sat down when their intended blow-by turned into a six or seven song stay. It's always enheartening when I can catch people like that and keep their interest for a while.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Sunday, 23July2017

Tom (of the "Tommies, our rival street band) has somehow decided that Warren has slighted him in some way(s), so he's abdicated our "every other weekend" deal and is monopolizing The Corner almost every night, but especially weekends. To try to "fight back", we decided to play on the opposite corner, but I don't think it worked. His novelty act (his young daughter and him) somehow trumps our good music one, and they get all the tourist attention. It's depressing and humiliating.

To make it worse, the homeless guys have somewhat gotten the word that they're not welcome on The Real Corner so they tend to hang out opposite, which is great when we're there, but in this case, it meant that we were plagued by three of four of them all night.

We did rope in a small family and I played kids' songs and let the little girls sing along with my toy microphone. That was big fun while it lasted.

And our old friend "Silly Patty" came by for a while, and since I had no audience to service, I got to talk to her for a while.

So, all in all, a pretty awful night -- but they can't all be winners, right?

Keith at Taco Surf -- Friday, 21Jul2017

This was my second time here (of five scheduled so far), and it worked out much better. I mostly solved the feedback problem by moving the amp to my right so it's projecting half of the sound into the room and half out onto the patio (where most of the people are anyway, since it's hot). I also walked out in front of it to hear what it's really like, and the wait staff weren't jiving me -- it does sound OK out there (unlike how it sounds back where I am).

Anyway, with that solved, I feel better about it and can focus on the music instead of the sound. It was a bit less noisy, too -- I think there were just fewer people in the room.

A guy in the back read through the list and decided he wanted none of the above, and did I know any Johnny Cash? I do, and played "Folsom Prison Blues" for him, after which he came up and dropped a $20 in the jar. Nice!

Near the end, a group of college kids came in and sat at the nearest table. Pretty soon I had them singing along to "Do You Want To Build a Showman" (and they even provided Elsa's sole line, "Go away, Anna!", for me), "Hotel California", "Mrs. Robinson", and I volunteered "Don't Stop Believing", even though I keep it off the list. A splendid time was had by all.

Anyway, after the first difficult outing here, I wasn't sure this was what I wanted to do with my time, but this time was much more fun, so I guess I'll keep doing it. For a while anyway.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Wednesday, 19Jul2017

Started out pretty slow, except for a guy carrying an orange Bearded Dragon who told me that he'd buy my CD if I played "If I Fell". I told him I'd be happy to play it even if he didn't buy a CD, but he insisted. I played it, and he said that he figured I wouldn't be able to do the harmony 'cuz it's so clever. I didn't point out that one guy can't do the harmony on *any* song (he was unaware that I do have harmony from the box on lots of non-If I Fell, songs) by himself, easy or not.

The slowness gave me a chance to practice my two new kids songs, "How Far I'll Go" from "Moana", and "True Colors" from either the new kids' movie "Trolls" or 1986 and Cyndi Lauper, depending on how old you are. The Moana song is surprisingly popular with kids and teenage girls -- when "Frozen" was big, it was all over the place. Moana seems just as popular, but quietly, somehow.

"True Colors" turns out to be right in my wheelhouse, and a blast to play and sing, so I'm glad when someone spots it on either the Kids' or Grownup Request lists.

Early on, a group of 5 or 6 old ladies came and sat on the bench, deliberately ignoring us, refusing to look at me, and irritably declining to look at my proffered Request List. Who knew that the bicycle was the logo for the Grumpy Lady's Club?

A couple came up and were standing and embracing and waiting for a song. I played "Leaving On a Jet Plane", and apparently that was right on target 'cuz the guy got out a twenty and had her put it in the jar.

Two ladies came by later in the middle of "Wonderful Tonight", and when it was over, they insisted that I play it again. They were just so enthusiastic and effusive that I had to conclude that they weren't from around here. I asked, and one was from Venezuela, and the other was from Costa Rica. They stayed for a bunch of songs, and basically showed the Americans how being an audience is done.

At one point, I looked over and there was something non-green in the tip jar. People sometimes put weird things in there: business cards, bible tracts, origami, flowers, non-US currency, etc. I went to see what it was, and it was a change purse, full of change. When I counted it later, it came to $8.65. I guess somebody liked us, didn't have any paper money, and didn't want to dump so much loose change in the jar, so they just threw in the whole purse. Weird, but, thanks!

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Sunday, 16July2017

The Tommies let Warren know that they weren't going to be on The Corner this Sunday, but Warren had a concert to go to so I went down alone. Unfortunately, two other guys had snagged The Corner. I asked them how long they were going to be there, and went down the street to wait them out.

Much less traffic down there, but kind of pleasant, and much quieter being away from PCH. After the proscribed "couple of hours" I went back to The Corner and they finished up a few songs and politely relinquished it to me, just as Warren showed up.

So a short night (8-10:15), but a nice one. The sound seemed unusually good, and my voice was strong with a good range. We did have some issues with homeless guys -- Way-Gone Gordon was parked in the middle of the bench, gesturing and arguing with the voices in his head. Fortunately, he does it quietly, so he's not too scary. Later on a guy was across the street yelling "Why you?!?" at, his shoes, I think, over and over in a loop until it sounded more like a European ambulance than actual words.

A teenage girl ("Frankie") came by looked at my list, and asked if she could sing "Part of Your World" from "The Little Mermaid" with me. I said sure, and gave her the toy kids' "microphone". But after a few verses, I could hear that she knew what she was doing, so I stopped the song and put my head mic on her. She did great.

Other than that, we had plenty of nice people to play for, and the usual stream of not-interested bar-hoppers, beach people, and those girls who are so tall and willowy that they clearly grew up on a planet with lesser gravity than ours...

Keith at Taco Surf -- Friday, 14Jul2017

A couple of weeks ago, some ladies came up to me while I was playing at Dana Point harbor, and asked if I ever played at "Taco Surf". I said no, 'cuz I've never even heard of it. They said that they love that place and I'd be perfect there, etc.

So I looked it up, and it looked like a fun place to be and/or play, so I gathered up my nerve and walked in and asked about playing there. They referred me to the owner, and he took one look at my list of songs and asked if I could play Fridays. I told him I could play any night, and he went in the back to consult his calendar. While I was still wondering what the audition process was going to be, he came back with a list confirming me as playing the next five Fridays!

He hadn't even heard me! But I've subsequently gathered that his wife, who runs the joint on Fridays, has been nagging at him that they should have music on Fridays, so he just jumped on a chance to fill them all, sight unseen (well, sound unheard). So here I was expecting to (a) audition in some fashion, and (b) maybe play one night as a trial, possibly even without pay, but instead I had to frantically check my calendar to see if my next five Fridays were free!

So it's a kind of "Mexican Cantina", with the walls covered with surf and beer posters, fake thatching here and there, and crazy rustic architecture. There's a long skinny room as you enter, with the two-sided bar on the left that also serves the outside patio. In between is the main dining room, with eight tables, and a little stage at one end.

I set up and started playing, but maybe because the room is so small, I was having terrible feedback problems with my guitar. It was a struggle to be loud enough to fill the room (and the patio outside) over the load ambient noise of the restaurant without causing feedback.

But, even though I thought it was sounding terrible ('cuz I had to turn the bass on the guitar down to zero) and that nobody could hear me ('cuz I couldn't), the waitresses, bartender, and owner's wife kept telling me that it sounded great, perfect volume, and great music. OK, I guess I'll just have to take that on faith.

Of course, at a restaurant, people are there to have fun with their friends, not listen to a "concert", so it was noisy in there, and people generally had other things on their agenda than paying attention to me. I passed out my songlists to every table, and that kept them a little more involved, but the cleanup lady kept taking them and stacking them on the bar (after the first one she didn't recognize as Important and threw away), and I kept having to go out and fetch them and put them back on the tables. Maybe we can come to an agreement on those, next time...

One guy from out on the patio must have really liked my stuff, 'cuz he kept coming in and asking for a song, listening from outside, then coming back in to clap and ask for another one, and for me to turn it up (which I couldn't do).

Later on, some old ladies came in, and when I walked over to ask if they had any requests from the list, one lady said that she was just still deciding which one she wanted to sing with me. *With* me? I told her that I only had one mic, and she said that was OK, and just stood up there next to me and we sang "Fire and Rain" together. She said that she was sure that the other ladies in the "Ukulele Club" would get a kick out of it, as her friend took pictures (and video?).

Anyway, it was generally fun, if sound/musically disastrous. I guess I'll go back, at least one more time. Hopefully I'll figure something out to fix that feedback problem.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Wednesday, 12Jul2017

Warren and his other friend Jim usually play on Wednesday nights, but Jim couldn't make it so I went down instead. It was a pretty nice night with lots of people out.

For some reason, it was "Buy a CD night" and I sold nine of them. A little old lady came by and sat on the bench listening for a while, and then dug into her purse and was scribbling something in a little book. It turned out to be a check book, and she dropped a check to "the name on the sign" for two CDs, "one for me and one for a friend".

She went back to the bench for a while, before asking if I knew any Mary McCaslin songs. I think she wanted to hear "The Bramble and the Rose", but knowing even one Mary McCaslin song is rare enough, and the one I know is "Waiting", so I did it for her. That great but obscure song pretty much chased the small crowd that I'd gathered away, but it was worth it. Nobody *ever* asks for Mary McCaslin...

Pretty early on, a policeman came by on his official bicycle. He stopped over at the side and just watched and listened for a while. That makes me nervous, of course, but it was way before the 9pm curfew, so I just kept playing -- and actually felt pretty good that he was there to observe the lots of people smiling and having fun.

Warren finally said to him, hopefully jokingly, "We thought you were here to shut us down!", and he said, "Oh, no, even if there were complaints, I'd work to keep you guys here -- I like you guys!" That was amazing to hear!

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Monday, 10Jul2017

Not bad for a Monday night. I love summer in Laguna.

We had lots of kids at first, including a trio of tiny 3- or 4-year olds from Mexico who didn't speak English but were able to choose their favorite kids' songs from my picture menu. Then two ladies came by with their 6-year-old daughters all dressed in formal kimonos. I've been inexplicably learning some Japanese lately, so I went over and said "Konban wa", but only the moms spoke it, so that didn't go over as well as I'd hoped.

Later on, some oldsters came by and listened for a while, then came up and asked me if I knew any Sam Cooke. I played "Wonderful World" for them, and they immediately busted into some wild swing dancing! People cleared out of their way, and got out their phones to take videos. And now that I knew what they were up to, I did a couple of similar songs (like "Dream Lover") until it looked like the old guy was going to pass out, so I kind of stopped to give him a break. (No pictures -- they were moving too fast!)

They told us that they did swing dancing at Laguna Woods, and we ought to be playing for those dances. I said that, despite appearances tonight, we really weren't a "dance band" (lacking bass and drums), but I wonder if there's any opportunities for "concerts" there...

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Thursday, 06Jul2017

Our "every other Saturday" arrangement with the Tommies is fracturing, so we decided to at least try some weekend nights here in the summer. But it turned out that this particular Thursday was the "first Thursday" which makes it "Art Walk", where the galleries and shops stay open late and people come down for the free wine and cheese on offer there.

Which has usually proven to make it a terrible night for busking, 'cuz who can compete with free wine? But we actually did pretty well this time, and had fun.

Since I mostly play in Dana Point during the daytime these days, I'd completely forgotten about the fingerlights that I used to give out to the kids when it's an outdoor night gig. I brought a bag full this time and gave out a handful. It's fun to "make their night" with those.

So we started around 6:00 and by 10:30 we were down to just two people so I figured I'd do my usual Last Song, "Let It Be", but as I was singing it, a big family from Mexico City showed up and was all thrilled and singing along and dancing. And when it was over they wanted "more Beatles!", so I did "In My Life", followed by "Something".

While (and because) they were getting into it, more people showed up out of the empty night, including a young couple. The girl clearly wanted to ask me (for?) something, and finally found an opening and the nerve to march up and ask for "Hotel California" in her strange accent. I said I'd be happy to play it, but first, where was she from? She was reluctant to 'fess up, but finally with the encouragement of my new Mexican friends, said that they were from Azerbaijan. That's a first for me. Not sure why it's embarrassing, though.

When that song was over, she jumped up again and wondered if I knew a song, and she started singing pieces of "San Francisco", the "flowers in your hair" one. Warren and I were both surprised that a 20-somethig girl from Azerbaijan would want or even *know* a song like that, but she and her boyfriend assured us that it played on the radio back there. Gonna have to take their word on that.

I do happen to know it, so I happily played it. Partway through, though, two heavily armored Laguna cops came by and took up a post over to the side. I was sure they were going to call us on the 9:00pm curfew that we were almost two hours over, but it felt like, if they were being polite enough to at least wait for the end of the song, they'd probably only give us a warning.

But, instead, they clapped and told us "Sounding great, guys!", and walked on. That was a surprise and relief.

Keith at 4th of July Street Faire -- Tuesday, 04Jul2017

Last year I was lamenting that my home town doesn't have any "casual strolling" venues like Laguna Beach's downtown. And it occurred to me that we do, but only once a year. So I asked the lady who runs the 4th of July Street Faire (and the Holly Trolley that I play for every Xmas) if I could set up on the corner furthest from the Rock Band Stage (to flee the thumping bass), just for tips -- I didn't need anything from the City except permission.

By the time I thought of all this and asked, she thought it was too close to the event to do that, but promised to look into it for next (i.e., this) year. She invited me to play, and not only reserved me a spot, but, because our City Manager can't seem to do anything half-way, they purpose-built me an "Easy Listening Stage", with a canopy for shade, patriotic banners all around, a tall plants enclosure, fake grass covering the hot asphalt, and chairs and sun umbrellas for the audience.

I had originally agreed to play 2-6, figuring that four hours would be my limit in the usual 90-degree heat, but then they went and built me this fancy stage, and asked if I could extend that to be Noon-6. I reluctantly agreed to start at noon (when the Faire opens), but couldn't promise I'd last all the way until 6.

But I did, and, since I'm writing this, apparently survived it. And it was bordering on fun, too. I had people filling the chairs the whole time (though I suspect that comfy and shaded chairs would have attracted people even without me being there), and lots of people stopped to listen for a while from the street. Unfortunately, the umbrellas happened to be exactly tall enough to prevent anyone standing at the back from seeing my face, which kind of puts people off, and kept them from hanging out too long. That, and the sun.

With the predictably 90-degree heat, it was hard to complain about there being a breeze, but it kept bringing the blue streamers they'd seen fit to hang at the back of the Easy-Up to "attack" me from behind. And people kept finding the "short cut" of walking on the sidewalk behind the street booths, which led them to walk straight through my "stage", despite my guitar and amplifier cases laid out to indicate "no passageway". Rude, distracting, and potentially dangerous, cable-wise.

Anyway, I happened to look at my clock at 5:55, announced that this would be my last song, played "Let It Be", thanked everybody, and started to tear down... and almost passed out. While I'm playing, I never notice that I'm hungry, tired, in need of a restroom, or that my back, knees, and/or feet are killing me. But as soon as I stop, all those things come rushing in. But I've never spun out before. I blame the blood thinners they put me on recently.

I'd been selling lots of CDs lately at my street corner gigs, so I figured I'd better make a whole bunch for this thing, especially the Kids' one. And then I sold... two. It seemed like the relative formality of the setting prevented folks from wanting to come up to the "stage" to check out the CDs, or drop some money in the jar. So I wasn't expecting much, but was surprised when I counted up the "take". I guess even a trickle adds up if you play for six hours straight.

And near the end, despite there being no agreement of my getting paid for this at all, indeed, despite my original proposal a year ago to play for tips-only, a lady from the Activities Committee walked up and handed me a check.

So, yes, assuming they ask me back, I'll do it again next year.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Sunday, 02July2017

It was basically 4th of July (4-day) weekend, so I was worried because every other holiday has been worse than a "normal" day, not better. But it was pretty great. Curse broken?

I had already played at Dana Point that morning for two hours, but I've done that many times before and never had a problem. But this time, after an hour or so, my left (fretting) hand started to cramp up really badly. I stretched it between songs, but it only got worse until, in the middle of "Cinnamon Girl", my big finger got stuck straight out, and I had to try to finish the song with the three remaining fingers trying to form the chords. And failing.

I took a seldom-seen break after that, and sat on the bench. Warren went into the ice cream shop and procured a banana, since their potassium is supposed to fix/help cramping. Meanwhile, I sat on the bench next to the crazy old Korean guy who had been enthusiastically listening (and coming up to raggedly sing snips of songs he wanted me to play; "This lando is my lando!"). He saw me stretching my hand and decided to help by grabbing it and applying some ancient secret Korean juju/massage, while I ate the banana with my other hand. After all that, my hand quit cramping and I made it for another three hours without any trouble, but I don't know if it was the massage or the banana...

We were also visited by a nice Persian lady who came by, and then came back a while later to sit down and listen. She asked for several songs, and sang along with most of them. She told me many things about something, but it so quiet a voice that I had no idea what she was saying.

Eventually she revealed (loudly enough) that she was an author ("nine books in the last year"), and some kind of spiritual/life coach. She produced, and made to take, a book jacket to one of them, featuring quotes like, "... Balance of dimensions and shades of all essence I call Patterns, that enable any individual or nation to succeed and prosper societally, without compromising inner hymns of wisdom to nurture the progressions of Self and the Sound of Humanity..." it goes on. And on. I guess I can see how she could write so many books -- it's just strings of gobbledy-gook! But she was sincere, and a sweetie. She said she's in the process of finding a place in Laguna to start a new "Center".

Towards the end, a young guy stood up against the ice cream shop for a while, then came over to watch from the bench. When the batteries on my amp ran out, shutting down the show, he came up and wanted one more request, "Hallelujah", even though it's completely inaudible out there without amplification. I played it anyway, by feel, since even *I* can't hear the guitar. He's a beginning Player himself, and was obviously watching to learn whatever he could, which I totally approve of since it's how I learned everything I know, too.