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.