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.