This morning was the first morning that was cold enough that I needed to turn on the car heater as I was taking Acacia to school. As it finally heated up, she said "Smells like Christmas in the house". At first I thought she was smelling some pine scent that I hadn't noticed, but then I realized that she was associating the smell of artificially heated air with Christmas, since the Christmas season is when we start using the furnace in the house.
Ah! The cheery scent of burning duct-dust!
Strange weekend. RSM, usually my favorite place to play, broke our streak of "pretty good" gigs, and SCP, usually one of the worst places to play, was one of the best gigs I can remember.
The RSM gig wasn't all that bad, really. It was unusually empty, but we had some nice people listening. Geneva did fine for her songs, as usual. But I felt completely "off", mainly 'cuz the sound was inexplicably terrible. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with it, so I couldn't fix it, but it was muddled and confusing and I couldn't tell what I was doing, so I couldn't perform well. We struggled on, of course, but it never did feel right.
Conversely, at SCP on Saturday, the sound was crystal clear. I could hear myself (guitar *and* voice) perfectly -- from full voice to whisper, strumming or barely picking. It's baffling, 'cuz this was with essentially the exact same setup, speakers and amp-wise, and I didn't touch the amp's knobs between Friday and Saturday. Apparently, it was "the room", either the shape, or the ambient noise, or something.
Also, my parents' old friends, Maryjane and Bill Wiley came by, so I had someone to play to, which always does wonders for my performance. (Jessica Ching came by too, later, though she looked bored the whole time.) It definitely becomes a feedback loop for me -- the clear sound and sympathetically focused attention helps me sing better, and hearing one song go really well makes me give it up even more for the next song, and on and on, and up and up.
My voice is back in shape, finally, after that bronchitis or whatever, and/or the clarity of sound made me *think* my throat is back in shape, which encouraged me to do little things that I don't usually expect to get away with, or can't usually hear whether or not I did/can. It was an amazing feeling -- to feel like I could do anything, and it all worked. Not to keep ranting about this, but it also made me connect to the songs more myself -- I was starting to choke up during both "Jenny Dreamed of Trains", and "Puff". It's hard to sing with a lump in your throat.
(I know, I know -- what a old softie I've become. Truth is, it took me a long time to *stop* choking up on those two (and "Pooh Corner" -- that's why I don't even *think* of adding that new third verse). I usually only get through them by deliberately *not* thinking about what I'm saying.)
Another strangeness -- it seems to have been Repeat Night. We kept getting new people come in and requesting songs that we'd already done. Since most of the crowd that was around the first time would have been gone by then, I went ahead and did 'em. I hope Bill and Maryjane didn't mind too much -- they were there most of the night. By my recollection, we did 49 songs, but 7 of those were repeats.
Anyway, small crowd, even smaller *listening* crowd, low tips -- but still the best night for a long time. Makes it all worthwhile. Sure wish I'd'a had a recorder running.
Yesterday I took some time off of work to be a chaperone for Geneva's school's field trip to the House of Blues. They took all the instrumental music classes, so there were 220 kids, 4 busses full. (These are all pretty good kids, so the chaperoning part was pretty easy duty, though they got pretty loud and rowdy on the bus. My stash of Cat's Cradle strings came in handy to entertain quite a few of 'em on the bus.)
The House of Blues has a "Schoolhouse Band" that puts on a great, hour-long "educational show", basically on the topic of why they're called "House of Blues" when most of the shows they put on are Rock and Roll. It was really well done, interactive so the kids were involved, and in a great format. The two singers traded off doing narration about the evolution of the blues from West African rhythms up to Hip Hop, with the band playing examples along the way. Sometimes it was a phrase or two, sometimes most of a song. They always kept the kids connected by getting them to sing, shout, or dance along, and the narration never got too long before another song came up.
They covered African chants, slave tunes, spirituals, southern rural blues, Robert Johnson, W.C. Handy, Chicago blues, Jazz, Gospel, Rock, R&B, Muddy Waters, Aretha, Eric, Jimi, Sly, James Brown, Funk, Rap, Hip Hop, up to, I guess, Jet -- and a lot more that I've forgotten already. They were all really good, but the guitar player was amazing. He had to cover every style of guitar, all the way back in time, on a Strat and a wooden National for bottleneck. His "Purple Haze" was spot on. I was impressed. The kids had a great time, but it was probably more interesting to me than it was to them -- kids never care about their Heritage...
We had a birthday party for my sister and I at my mom's house yesterday. My dad dragged out the old 8mm projector and we watched movies from Christmas 1955, when I was 14 months old. I'm wearing one of those one-piece footie-jammies, and I look *exactly* like "Henry" in the old comics.
We also watched a later Christmas, and what was alarming to our post-millennium eyes was the *guns*. My brother and I got guns, guns, and more guns for both Christmases. You don't see too many 14-month-olds kids with a pair of six-shooters strapped around the waist of their jammies anymore. Western-style revolvers in holsters, "Rifleman" style rifles, dart rifles with a target... All guns, all the time!
And here I am, not a serial killer at all. How'd that happen?
Another good night at Mission Viejo. Warren got there before I did and talked to Cidne, the sweetheart of a manager there, and she told him that she's got my "Waltzing With Bears" CD playing non-stop in her car. And, of course, that we'd have to play it for her, which, of course, we did.
We started early (7:30), 'cuz Warren wanted to leave partway through to go see a favorite band of his that doesn't play very often. I went ahead and kept playing until 10:45. Longest gig ever, I think. We/I played 51 songs (that I remember) in that time, sold 4 CDs, and brought in $38. Not sure why the tips lately are so much better than they've ever been. Mysterious.
I did try something new -- "introducing" each song before we played it. This, hopefully, gave Warren a little "heads-up" which he normally gets precious little of, and filled the time while we were tuning or I was flipping through the book looking for the song. Maybe it helped, but I felt kind of stupid introducing songs like "Something" and "Fire and Rain" -- as if anyone wouldn't recognize 'em...
Well, it finally happened. When Warren and I started playing in coffee shops, 3 and a half years ago, I thought that probably, eventually, someone would come up and ask us to play a party. We did get a gig last November, but that lady had seen the article in the newspaper, and hired us without ever having actually heard us.
Anyway, last night, a lady came up as I was packing up, and asked if I did "private affairs". Her mother passed away recently, and she thought I would fit in to the memorial service she and her sister are planning in November. I told her that I'd certainly love to do it (despite it being "in the L.A. area"), and gave her a card so she can contact me. I gave her a CD, so she could play it for her sister (and to keep me in her mind). It'll probably never happen, but it's nice to be asked.
Otherwise, a nice, if sedate, gig. Started off fun when Isaac from Trailmates came in with wife and 4 little girls. His oldest daughter was visibly thrilled to get to ask for songs off the list, and I ended up doing almost all the kids' songs I know. That was fun, as was, later on, when I had a little boy that came and sat right down front, so I handed him the shaker on "South of the Border". He did all right on that one, but, of course, wanted to shake it on all the songs from then on out. I convinced him that it didn't really work on slow songs, though, and ran out of fast ones soon enough.
Geneva was there briefly, and did only three songs. She did well, and it's always good practice for her, even if it's brief. Altogether, I did 47 songs for the night, sold only 3 CDs, but, inexplicably, had another good tip night -- $42. It didn't really feel like a motivated crowd, but I guess you never know.
I'd been working up "Desperado" over the week, and didn't really know if it was gonna "work", since it's such a cliché these days. But I pulled it out at the very end, 'cuz I had a pretty good feeling about the 6 or 8 remaining listeners, and it worked quite well. It's weird -- some songs sound great at home, but just seem to lie there when I do 'em at the store, and others work fine. I can never tell which, until I try 'em. "Desperado" might be a keeper.
I played the La Habra Borders' "First Pour" party from 12:30 to 2:30, and then Warren and I played at Mission Viejo at 8:00. I was afraid that my voice and/or fingers wouldn't hold up for two gigs in one day (4.5 hours total), but I did fine. The 5 hour gap helped a lot, of course. I'm sure I couldn't do 4 hours in a row...
I'm feeling repetitious saying "It went pretty well" every time, but I/we really haven't had a "bad gig" for several months now. Actually, La Habra started out looking like it was gonna break that trend -- when I started, there were only 7 disinterested people there. And the setup is pretty lame, with the drinks pick-up station right next to the "band corner". But after 4 or 5 songs, my mom, dad, aunt and uncle came in and saved the day.
It's pretty clear that a small group (or even one person!) that's really listening can change the whole dynamic. For one thing, I play better when I have someone to play to. For another, the group that's clapping are modeling that behavior for the others. And when passers-by hear the applause, they're more likely to wander over to check it out, and possibly stay, and snowball the whole process.
Anyway, they really helped get the audience "working", and by the time I had to pack up the place was full and really with me. I made $30 in tips -- best so far for a solo, I think.
And there was an older lady sitting up front with her daughter, and she seemed to be *really* enjoying it. She recognized all the songs, and was really appreciative. When I started the distinctive guitar intro to "Scarborough Fair", she clapped! Like at a concert where people clap whenever they recognize a song from the intro chords or words. I've never had that before...
I hope the girl that followed me at 3:00 appreciated the warmed-up audience I left her. Us Borders performers don't often get the benefit of an opening act.
The Mission Viejo gig went well, too. My voice was a little weak at first, but actually warmed up as we went along. I was afraid that we'd have to quit early (i.e., when we're *supposed* to stop, not when they start closing the store), but my voice was OK, and my fingers seemed to go past hurting into numb, so that was OK, too.
The usual gang of regulars were there, of course, but they're starting to know and like us, so that works out OK these days. We've heard from them before that most of the bands that play there are loud and/or annoying, so they like it when Warren and I come in. And we made $35 in tips -- not as good as The $79 MV Anomaly last time, but better than the previous record otherwise.
The one unexpected issue with playing two gigs in one day was trying to remember which songs I'd already done. During the second gig, I'd look at a song sheet and think "Did I already play that one, or was that this afternoon?"
Acacia and her little friend Arielle set up a Lemonade Stand with the proceeds going to the victims of hurricane Katrina. They set up on the busy corner down the street, and brought in $15, which they split and took to their schools to put in the collection boxes there.
The sign says "Help the Katrina Victims! Buy Lemonade!"
I just noticed that I got a new blurb on the Borders webpage for my upcoming performance at the La Habra store:
Keith Comer
September 17, 2005 12:30 PM
Keith is an accomplished guitarist and singer whose performance is both stylish and musically fulfilling.
Wow. "Stylish" and "Musically Fulfilling". Where do they get this stuff? The guy's never even heard me play, but he obviously has a degree in marketing, and that's almost the same thing...
Geneva managed to fit a little practice time into her schedule this time, so I brought her along to the gig again, and she did really well. That practice stuff appears to work...
This time, rather than intersperse her songs among mine, we just played all her stuff in a block, mostly so she could go home early with Daleen, but it actually worked out pretty well that way. Last time, it seemed like the transitions between fiddle tunes and my acoustic pop were pretty awkward. This time, we had worked up "The Star of the County Down" as a duet (she plays some verses, and I sing some, and we're together on the last chorus), so we played that as the last song of her block, and it slid into me singing solo much nicer. Inadvertently clever.
She played well, and sang pretty well, though she's still too self-conscious to inject much of her own personality into the songs. I can't really expect her to at this early point -- you just really have to perform in public lots and lots of times to start to relax and "let it fly". I hope she'll stick with it long enough to get that feeling.
We sold 6 CDs, 5 "Bears" and 1 "regular", which seems odd since there really weren't that many families with kids there. The jar had 42 bucks in it, which is darn good. We reached a compromise on the distribution thereof -- I kept $2 per CD sold to cover the costs, and gave her the rest. That's still pretty good money for a 13-year-old. Especially for 15 minutes' work...
We/I had a very nice audience -- a lot of people seemed to wander in specifically to hear me play, and they were very quiet. I really feel like I play and sing better when I can hear myself, so quiet helps a lot. Usually it doesn't really fall silent until the last hour, or half-hour, but this audience was really listening so they were quiet just about the whole time. And genuinely appreciative at the end of each song. I had about 10 people stay all the way to the very end. I couldn't seem to muster up any of that interplay that Warren and I had at Mission Viejo last weekend -- these people just seemed to want me to go on ahead, and wouldn't even speak up to request songs. It felt oddly "respectful". Never got that before.
But, with the quiet, and my voice clear after the first 3 or 5 songs, my playing was oddly focused (and accurate), and I think I sounded pretty good. It'll be interesting to see what I can pull together on Saturday, solo for the first time at La Habra.
Hey! I got another paying gig! The Borders guys sent out a request for "mellow solo" acts to play the Seattle's Best remodel re-opening party at the La Habra store on the 17th, for 75 bucks, and I was the first to respond, and I got it.
Of course, since they were specifically asking for solo acts, I'll have to do it without Warren, which I've only, so far, done at nice friendly RSM. But, for 75 bucks, I'll tough it out. I've always said that the whole point of this exercise was to push myself -- like a roller coaster, if it wasn't scary, it wouldn't be fun.
The other tough part is that me and Warren are already booked for Mission Viejo that same night, so I'll be playing two gigs in one day. I've done two gigs on consecutive days, and it gets a little tough voice- and finger-wise, but I'm willing to risk it. The La Habra gig is 12:30-2:30, and the Mission Viejo one starts at 8:00, so there may be enough of a gap that I'll be OK.
We played the Carlsbad and Mission Viejo re-opening parties, and both were pretty awful, as gigs go. Less attention, more commotion, more coffee-making noise. I can see why they have to pay to get bands to show up for the afternoon ones. I'm not expecting this to be much fun, but even a bad afternoon playing is better than a good one sitting at home, and it's nice to get paid once in a while.
What happened?!? Mission Viejo is usually a "pretty OK" place to play -- the setup isn't very conducive to good audience interaction, and there's a lot of bored (and loud) "regulars" that just hang out there and talk, ignoring the band.
Last night *seemed* to go just a little better than usual, but apparently went *way* better. We usually sell a CD or two, and make between zero and 12 or 15 bucks in tips. I had brought 7 CDs, 3 of the kid's songs, and 4 "regular" -- the same 7 CDs I had brought to (and sold none of at) my solo gig last week, and the South Coast Plaza gig the night-before-last. Inexplicably, they sold out last night. We had people complaining as we were packing up that we hadn't brought any more!
And the tip jar was *jammed* full of money. Seventy-nine bucks! More than double the previous record (which was artificially inflated by the presence of over-tipping friends and family).
My singing and playing was essentially the same as the night before -- a little kludged up, but OK. The only explanation is that we had a better connection with some of the people. Since we start at 8:00 there (it's 7:00 at the RSM and SCP), there were already a lot of people there. I had brought a lot of the song list sheets, so I personally passed them out amongst the tables. That may have started something. (At the other places, I either leave a stack of them on the "tip table", or put them out on (empty) tables.) I was also a little more "talky" than usual, which is a feedback loop -- the more people seem interested and listening, the more I'll talk, which engages the people, etc.
Anyway, not the most fun night I've had, but certainly the most profitable. I guess I'll have to try repeating some of those "techniques", and see if we can duplicate the success. We're not really in it for the money, but it is fun to get some -- kinda validates the effort.
South Coast Plaza isn't usually terribly friendly place to play, but it went pretty good, despite a rocky start due to my continuing throat problems. But after 8 or 10 songs the kludge cleared up some, and I was singing pretty well.
We were happy to see our crazy but sweet old Toshiba friend, Jean, who never fails to be surprised at how "healthy" I look, despite my heart attack of, what, two and a half years ago now. Nice of her to be concerned, though.
My brother and his wife came by, too, right in the middle of "Long, Long, Time". I think that was the best I've ever performed that song -- it was inexplicably getting to me as I was singing it. That happens once in a while, and it's quite a thing. It pays back a lot of the bad nights...
Another solo gig at Rancho Santa Margarita -- this time without Geneva because school started and with all the excitement, she hasn't had any time to rehearse her songs. It went quite well. My cold (or whatever it is) has backed off a little, so I can sing OK, most of the time. A friend from work came by (!) and wanted me to do "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" (her favorite), but it's really high and my voice was cracking and failing all over the place. Embarrassing, but she claims to have loved it. I managed most of the other songs without too much throat kludge.
It was an unusually static crowd -- small groups came in and stayed for a long time, listening, not reading and ignoring. That was pretty great, 'cuz it gave me a chance to connect with them better (and made me think that I was doing pretty well, to keep folks there for so long). I was also a little more talky than usual, for some reason, and that went over pretty well.
The downside was that when a crowd is less stationary, there's more Leaving going on, which is when the tip money comes out, if it's going to. Still, I made $14, in tips only (no one took any CDs) which is pretty good, considering how many people I had. It doesn't sound like much, but I was expecting a lot less, and was flattered. One couple was there til the very end, and when I was shutting down and they were getting up to leave, I said that I play there quite a bit, etc. She said, "Oh, yeah, we've seen you before. We'll be back." Quite flattering, that.
And I had new strings... mmmmm... new strings... In Heaven you get new strings every day...
Today is the first day of school. Acacia and best-friend Cezanne are in fifth grade, and in the same class for the first time since first grade. All this *and* a new Tamagotchi -- life is sweet.
Mostly a driving day, we left at 9:15 and made it to Johnny's house in Ventura pretty quick, and had nice lunch and chat with John and Shelly. At Dave's insistence, we stopped at the Madonna Inn on the way, but the famous Men's Room was busted. Still, pretty fun.
The drive itself was OK -- we passed things that reminded me of stories to tell: the Renaissance Faire, Wizzin's, Johnny's AM radio, etc.
We made it to Salinas about 7:30, drove around town looking for somewhere to eat. We found the old downtown, but ate at a Chinese restaurant in the newer part.
The freeway noise here at the Motel 6 is pretty loud, but we'll probably be OK. The room itself is not-so-bad, though they lied about the in-room hair dryer.
Day 2 - Sunday, 07Aug05
We spent almost the whole day at the Monterey Aquarium, and it was a good thing that we had big Denny's breakfasts, 'cuz we didn't break for lunch at all. There's a cylindrical glass tank full of sardines going round and round, and they occasionally open their mouths wide open for some reason. I stood Geneva in front of it and said "Open your mouth!", but I didn't think she'd do it. She apparently didn't think she would either, and we laughed for 5 minutes.
From there we drove a traffic jam to Santa Cruz, and had pizza in the old downtown. Then we walked up and down the main street, looking in the stores, and bought some souvenirs in a bead shop; a Celtic thing for Geneva and a unicorn for Acacia.
After that, we went to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, which is a classic sea-side amusement park, right on the beach, with all the old-school rides and a big wooden roller coaster called the Big Dipper. We walked up and down the whole park, and finally bought tickets for the roller coaster. Then we were naughty and shared a Funnel Cake. Drove home and were in bed just before midnight.
Day 3 - Monday, 08Aug05
McDonald's for breakfast, then the "National Steinbeck Center", which was pretty cool, considering. They have exhibits on all the major books -- Doc's lab, the Red Pony's stall, the Boiler Tank "house", etc. Lots of the various movies playing excerpts. They also have a little art gallery there that was showing a traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian called "The Graceful Envelope", with a bunch of hand decorated and calligraphed envelopes that had been sent through the mail to the U.S. Postal Museum. Very cool.
Then we went to the Roaring Camp train ride, up the mountain in a steam train. A nice ride through the Coastal Redwoods, tallest (but not "biggest") trees in the world. I had thought that we'd walk through Muir woods tomorrow to see them, but I guess we don't have to now, and can spend the time in Ghirardelli or something instead.
After the train ride, on to the Winchester Mystery House (crazy roofs, pictured), which was also pretty OK. I didn't know that all the furniture had been sold off after her death, so the house is nearly empty. Which is a good thing 'cuz the rooms are all really small, and it lets a tour group fit in 'em.
Found the Alpine Inn that we'll be at for the next three nights, and it's really cute -- a kind of mini-suite, with a main room and another little bedroom.
Day 4 - Tuesday, 09Aug05
After Denny's, we drove up the coast so we could stop at the Cliff House, the ruins of the Sutro Baths, and see the Camera Obscura, which was unfortunately closed. We didn't explore the ruins 'cuz it was freezing cold, and, as usual, Geneva didn't have much warm to wear. Besides, we had to get to the Exploratorium.
I remember going to the Exploratorium in the 70's, and it was really cool. Later, though, I seem to remember going and it was nearly empty, and lame. Now it's picked back up again, big time, and we spent the whole day in there and didn't see it all.
We went for the deluxe ticket that included a trip through the Tactile Dome, which maybe 20 foot diameter geodesic dome with walk, crawl, and slide passages snaking through it. The passages are lined in various "tactile" materials, and you feel your way through it, in total darkness. They want it to be a "change your perceptions" kind of experience, but it just seemed like a simple carnival Fun House to me. Fun though, and Geneva really liked it.
From there we went to Ghirardelli and the Cannery, mostly to spend time in the "Lark of the Morning" musical instrument store. We also got Geneva a "San Francisco" souvenir baby-doll T-shirt.
And on the way back to the hotel, we drove down Lombard, twice.
Day 5 - Wednesday, 10Aug05
We took the BART over to Berkeley, walked around for a while, and gave some of my trail mix to a very tame squirrel.
Unfortunately, they wouldn't let us into the libraries without an ID card. Still, Geneva proclaimed it suitable for her to go to since she'll be able to get to San Francisco easily enough. After we'd seen enough of the school, we walked down Telegraph, where all the street vendors and strange shops are.
Took the BART back to Powell, but the line for the cable car never got short enough to get on it. We walked through China Town instead, then went to Metreon, played with the interactive floor and wall, watched some guys playing HyperBowl at the sci-fi arcade, wandered through the shops, had dinner, and checked out Robby the Robot.
Day 6 - Thursday, 11Aug05
We were scheduled to just drive home today, but first we had to take pictures of all the "Geneva" stuff (Motel, Pizza, HVAC supplies, Pub, etc.) along Geneva Street by our hotel. I also decided that we needed to pull through the city one more time to let Geneva run into "Lark of the Morning" and buy the little wooden noisemaker frog that I wouldn't let her buy on Tuesday ('cuz she just. doesn't. need. another gee-gaw).
When we got there, they weren't open yet, but it's near the Golden Gate, so we drove over to the other side and took some pictures, and came back and got the frog. It's kind of clever, since it's a frog, and if you rub its back with the stick just right, it makes a pretty convincing frog noise.
Then we drove on home down the 5, telling stories, talking about movies, school, and other stuff.
All in all, a great trip. It sure makes it simpler to have only two people -- getting agreement on where to go, where to eat, when to do what, etc., is so much easier. We should do more of these...
Our first time at South Coast Plaza since the Seattle's Best changeover. The atmosphere is only a little better, but the carpeted section does tend to create an area that's clear of studying kids so we can set up. It went pretty well, for there, with a reasonable amount of appreciation. A dad showed up, stalling while waiting for his family to finish shopping, and when they came to get him, I snagged them all for a while with some kids' songs. That's the son down front -- the dad, mom, and little sister are out of the frame.
On our way out, Warren was waylaid by an older couple that insisted on telling us how much better we are than the usual bands that play there. The woman was a piano teacher, and was less than complementary of the skills of the other players, and of their volume levels. That was nice to hear.
Acacia and her best friend Cezanne were playing "Fairies", with makeup, fancy clothes, and perfume. That blue on her cheeks, she says, "...isn't makeup, it's Sparkle Powder"!
Geneva and I will be driving up the 101 to Monterey to spend 2 days seeing the Aquarium, Santa Cruz's "Boardwalk" amusement park, and maybe the Steinbeck Museum, then a train ride in Felton, and the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose.
Then in San Francisco (2 days), we'll do the Exploratorium, go over the Golden Gate to the Muir Woods, and then take a day to walk around U.C. Berkeley, and maybe some Chinatown, Pier 39, Metreon, Zeum, etc. I'm trying to keep the activities per day count down so we won't be too rushed, but there's lots to do up there.
Daleen and Acacia will drive south, staying in Encinitas and hanging at the pool, the beach, and the tide pools, and cruising out to see the gold mine and Wolf Preserve in Julian.
The girls have found it particularly difficult to get along this summer, so this might work out pretty well. Stay tuned.
Geneva went off to Girl Scout Horse Camp on Sunday morning, for 5 days. No one she knows is going, but she makes friends fast -- she'd found a bus-seat-buddy before the engines started.
What can be better than Horse Camp for a 13-year-old girl? I'm gonna have a hard time competing with our little vacation next week...
Warren and I played the Borders-Café-to-Seattle's-Best conversion completion "party" at the Carlsbad Borders on Saturday. Normally, we don't play so far away from home, but this was (inexplicably) a paid gig ($75 to split), unlike the usual nighttime ones where we play for free. Or should I say, we play for fun.
It went OK, but was different than usual. Since it was in the afternoon (2:30-5), it seemed more volatile -- people coming and going a lot -- so we'd have a good audience for a while, then it would go dead, off and on. Strange. Also, since it was a big "coffee party", the grinder and blender were going almost non-stop, which always makes it tough.
The worst part was the drive -- it took us two and a half hours to get there. We left *lots* of time to spare, but we made it just after 2:30, and still had to set up. Pretty much settles the question of whether to play there again at night...
We'll be playing a similar paid "party" at the Mission Viejo store on the 13th. The set up is different, though -- we'll be farther from the grinder, at least.
Well, I finally got Geneva to come out and play and sing with me at the Borders gig. We worked up 4 "singing songs", and 4 or 5 fiddle tunes. She did really, really well. Better yet, she says she wasn't (and she didn't seem) nervous at all, and afterwards she said that "she hadn't realized how much *fun* it was gonna be!" My greatest fear was that she'd blow it big time, and/or be so stressed-wracked that she'd never want to do it again, but I guess we dodged both of those bullets.
It helped (a lot) that my mom and dad came down (with some friends) -- it's always nice to have some friendly faces in the crowd (and who's friendlier than a gramma?). Not that there was a "crowd" -- RSM was having one of their Summer Concerts that night, so the attendance at Borders was kinda light. I don't think there was any actual competition for audience, but I think that the local families that tend to go out on a Saturday night ended up at the concert, not the bookstore.
She sang "Soak Up the Sun", "Jenny Dreamed of Trains", "Lollipop Tree", and Tracy Ullman's 1979 pop hit "They Don't Know", which was probably the best of the lot. I sing harmony with her, a third up but an octave down, and it sounds pretty good, I think. It reinforces her sound -- and her courage, I'm pretty sure...
The fiddle tunes went OK, too, though we both need to work on the transitions and trying to remember how many A parts, and how many Bs. I'm not sure which one of us messed that up, but it was recover-able.
My dad took video of most of the night and my mom called yesterday to say that it turned out really well, so I'll be anxious to see (and hear) that. I'll try to snag some stills out of it, too -- I forgot to bring a camera.
I guess Geneva's other favorite part is that in order to incentive-ize her to get some songs together at all, I had promised her that she could have all the tips. We sold 6 CDs, and with some too-generous donations from my mom and her friend, Geneva made $47 towards her "iPod Fund"! That's a bit anomalous, of course, but it is a record "take", ever, for a coffeeshop gig. I reckon she'll want to do it again -- next chance at RSM (I don't think I want to take her to any of the not-so-friendly places for a while at least) is August 12. I hope to work up some more tunes by then, too ("Red Rubber Ball" to start). Now that she knows how much fun it is, maybe she'll be more willing to rehearse with me, and practice on her own.
Since I've been sick, and I've got a gig coming up this Saturday, I've been trying to sing in the car a lot to get my voice back into shape -- or at least to see if I'm gonna be *able* to sing on Saturday.
I was singing along to the "Waltzing with Bears" CD, and then I got out the regular "Keith & Warren" CD, since those are, obviously, songs that I need to do, and that are in the right range for me. I sang with that one for a day, but "that guy on the CD" is too loud, and I can't really hear if I'm singing OK or not.
Then it occurred to me that I have the original, separate tracks that make up those songs: my voice, my guitar, and Warren's guitar, all in separate files. So I burned a CD last night of just the "my guitar" tracks, and now I have "K&W Karaoke!" in the car. (I could have (should have) included Warren's guitar, especially for the solo verses, but that would have involved doing a mix-down, and I just didn't have time.)
Anyway, I thought it was clever, and it's definitely fun!
Hi everybody. This email message came from the Y7alanzo blog-message forwarding system. This has turned out to be trickier than it should have been, possibly because they don't really expect you to email your blog messages to a list of people.
Anyway, the formatting of the blog and the formatting of the email version of the messages don't really jibe. I figured out a work-around, so and I think the words part will be reasonably clean, but the email version doesn't get the pictures. Most posts don't have pictures, so that's OK, but if you see a blank square in an email, you'll know that there's supposed to be a picture. You can click on the "y7alanzo" link at the bottom of the message, and you'll go to the actual blog page with that message, and you'll be able to see the picture there.
See you soon.
We made our annual pilgrimage to the San Diego Comic-Con yesterday. Geneva and I have been going as a father-daughter thing for the past four or five years, but this year Daleen and Acacia decided to tag along and see what it's all about.
Unfortunately, it seemed like a pretty sedate Con this year -- not sure
why, exactly. None of us actually read any comic books of course, but
there's always plenty of just "pop culture" stuff that we do like to
see, and of course the Geek Show is always amusing. There were plenty
of costumes, as usual, 
but it seemed like there was less movie
excitement than in years past. Maybe 'cuz "Lord of the Rings" is all
done.
We did like all the "Corpse Bride" stuff, and we saw a presentation about "Narnia" which was overlong, but kinda cool. Our "Creator of Kim Possible" friend, Chris Bailey, who draws us up a souvenir every year, couldn't make it this time but we found his booth and told his friend to say hi for Geneva, so that'll have to do.
Acacia's not as voracious and omnivorous a consumer of all things pop as Geneva is, so she found it mostly boring and too long a walk, so I guess Geneva and I will be solo again next year.
We played at Yorba Linda last night. It's the first Borders we've played that's undergone its Seattle's Best conversion. Although there's some confusion about whether or not we still get our paltry One Free Drink, it's pretty nice, and it especially worked out for us because they divided off a living-room-sized section of the (formerly too) large space by carpeting it, and setting Big Comfy Chairs around it. The effect was to make a Special Place for the band (us), with an obvious, designated Listening Area around it.
There happened to be some friendly, interested people, even before we started, and they actually sat in the Listening Area, and, surprise!, listened. And even as people got up and left, other people would come in and take their place -- even knowing what they were getting into! Almost as important -- the people who weren't in the Area (just by knowing that there was such a thing), were aware that there was a Concert going on. This makes a huge difference in how it goes for us, which is, mainly, based on how much Appreciation we get/feel. If the crowd gets the idea that we're just background Muzak, they talk, fail to applaud, and generally ignore us. If they get the impression it's a Concert, they still talk to each other, but quieter, with a little sensitivity. I mean, I don't like to seem selfish, but if I want to play for nobody, I can do it at home.
Anyway, I sang way better than could have been expected, considering the walking pneumonia, but I managed to get through the songs before needing to cough. (And, I brought the regular hand-held mic on a stand, instead of the head-mic, so I would be able to turn away from it before coughing.)
Since it went so well, I'm considering adding it to my list of places I'll do as a solo (which, so far, is just RSM). RSM appears to be popular, and tends to be booked pretty solid, but Yorba LInda usually has a lot of openings in the schedule. If it's gonna be warm and friendly, I may be able to fill some holes in my schedule by volunteering for spots out there.
Also noteworthy, though, is that the latest schedule shows Mission Viejo booked on Fridays and Saturdays -- it used to only do Fridays for some reason. I bumped the manager about that -- I wonder if bringing it to her attention made her go fix it. Anyway, MV always had that "too big" feel like Yorba Linda, but if they did a similar thing to it, it might become a Nice Place To Play, too. Could be a great prospect, especially with the doubling of the available dates, and not being such a drive as Yorba Linda.
We watched "Temple of Doom" the other night, 'cuz we're working our way through the DVD set, and it wasn't as bad as I remembered it, probably because I wasn't stuck in a movie theater, forced to watch the lame "Ooh, isn't this gross" scenes.
It occurred to me that the degree to which Spielberg/Lucas movies are reviled matches the degree to which they decided to pander to 8-year-olds. The 8-year-old gross-out scenes in "Temple of Doom", and the 8-year-old fantasy-fulfillment "flying a spaceship and accidentally winning the battle" scene in "Episode 1", (not to mention Jar-Jar), might be fun for, say, an 8-year-old, but us adults are just insulted.
(I read somewhere that Lucas said that the first three movies are aimed at audiences that match the age of Anakin in each one. I don't know if that's true, or he made it up to cover himself after the negative reaction to "Episode 1", and it made a handy excuse. He is, after all, the King of the Ret-Con.)
These guys need to remember that their main audience is adults who want a bit of child-like fun, not actual children.
I used to try not to sing in the car, so as not to look like a dolt. You know, you look over and there's some guy with his mouth going, but there's nobody in the car with him. Either he's singing with the radio, or talking to himself. I don't know which is more embarrassing...
These days, though, I pretty much *have to* warm my voice up in the car on the way to the gigs, and, honestly, I sing better on the weekend if I've been singing some each day running up to it, so I've been forced to overcome my reticence. But I feel a little less stupid because I'm singing with the radio *professionally* -- I'm not one of those *amateur* radio singers...
Acacia got her ears pierced at the mall. She's a brave one -- no problem, apparently (I wasn't there). They're getting smart, and they get two girls, with two "guns", and punch 'em at the count of three. That way you don't know how bad the first one is, and get too freaked to allow the second one.
Anyway, the starter earrings are little pink flowers made of crystals. She's pretty happy.
Fair to middlin', this time. I was all prepared to do lots of kids' songs, presumably for some in-attendance kids, since I had some copies of the new "Bears" CD available, but hardly any kids came in -- just two little girls that were there for a few songs, and had to leave. Actually, my kids were there, and two Indian Princess dads with their kids, and a mom friend with hers, but they all disappeared into the Kids' Books section all night.
I stupidly neglected to count the number of CDs that I came in with, so I don't know how many vanished but it was 3 to 5 I guess. Pretty decent tips/donations. I tried a new sound setup -- put the monitor on top of the StageMate (which was on a table to my left), pointed at my head. Might have been a big mistake, actually -- I could clearly hear any and all mistakes, bobbles, vocal warbles, etc., which made me more tense than usual, when I know I made mistakes, but can pretend that no one heard 'em. This setup makes it very clear to me that the mistakes are very clear to them. Does it serve to keep me on my toes, or paralyze me with fear? The latter, I'm afraid, so the performance was hindered, I think.
But, at least, I had no troubles at all with the "cutting out guitar" problem. It seems to definitely be that short cable (that I'm now, of course, leaving out of the setup).
Big weekend down at Campland in San Diego with the Indian Princesses. It's our annual Family Campout, so all the wives and siblings were there as well, and we have the annual sand sculpture "contest", for which, for the 7th year running, I'm responsible for design work, and, usually, 90% of the construction work also.
This year, though, I had lots of help from the other dads and even the girls. I got them started building me some bumps that I could carve into the pieces I needed, and they went to work! And even closer to the end, when it's usually all me trying to carve the details, I had several dads that could do good work with just some instructions. It came out pretty good, though I think the face came out more gargoyle than sea-serpent. I knew I needed more time to prepare -- if I'd'a done a mock-up in Play-Doh beforehand, I'm sure I could have done a better face. I need that 3D vision in my head. Next year.
I also brought 40 copies of my newly-recorded Kids' CD, and "gave" them away. I suggested that people could throw a couple of bucks at me for supplies, but then the Nation Chief layered on a bit more guilt than I was comfortable with, and increased my "take" considerably no doubt. I didn't know if 40 would be too many or too few (there were about 80 families there), but it turned out to be just right -- I "sold" 'em all, and didn't have anyone asking for one after they were all gone. I'll have to burn some more before the next Borders gig -- I think they'll be popular when kids come in. (Acacia loves to help -- pushing buttons, feeding the drive, peeling the stickers, sticking them on with the little machine, putting them in the cases -- she thinks it's an Arts and Crafts project.)
They needed some "stall time" during the Saturday night Campfire, so I got to play several songs. Unfortunately, the way the light was set up, I could (mostly) read the words, but the shadows of the binder's rings were covering big chunks of the chords. I've never played that badly, but I just kept the vocal coming as I played random chords hoping to eventually hit the path again. I was awful, but nobody complained -- they either didn't notice, or were too polite. Let's hope it was the former.
I played a lot better in the big tent on Sunday morning, with my ever-popular "I'm an Indian Princess" song. Maybe it helped blur the memory of the fiasco the night before. I looked up and it looked to me like everyone was singing along...
I've been meaning to put together a CD of kids' songs for a while. I don't really want to be Raffi, but when families come into the coffee shops, the kids make a pretty appreciative audience, and, of course, I know a bunch of kids' songs from my Indian Princess "career". Also, it turns out to be lucrative, since the parents turn out to be more likely to tip when we play kids' songs than when we play regular songs.
At the Indian Princess planning meeting last Thursday, we were confirming that I'll be playing "Waltzing With Bears", as usual, at the campfire on Saturday night, and one of the guys said "You should record that song! My daughter loves it." That set me thinking that I really ought to get the CD done, and Now Was The Time, so I could have it available at the campout this weekend. Also, since we just got a new, screaming fast PC, it looked like the planets were aligned.
(Warren is generally un-enthusiastic about kids' songs, so I don't think he'll mind being "left out" on this one. Besides, getting back in to Jim's home studio (to do more-than-two-tracks recording) doesn't seem likely anytime soon.)
The new (tower) PC, as opposed to all my notebooks, has a Line-In jack -- not usually a thrill, but I've been without one for a long time. Line-In jacks are stereo (my notebooks' Mic jacks are mono), so I figured that I could record the voice on one channel and the guitar on the other. It took some crazy cable patching, but I got it wired up (with alligator clips for part of the path), and was able to record both sources, simultaneously, into Audacity with perfect separation. Of course, then the problem is that 100% of the guitar on the right and 100% of the voice on the left sounds funny. I had to separate the stereo tracks into two (identically long) mono tracks, and bring them into Cool Edit Pro's Multitrack view, slide each of them a little off center in the stereo pan (one to each side), and do a Mix Down. That basically bleeds the two tracks onto each other's side, so they sound "together" (but not Dead Center (aka mono)) in the stereo space.
And, it turns out that Audacity will play back the tracks it already has while recording a new one, so I went back and overdubbed vocal harmony on a few songs. That was pretty fun, singing along with myself. I blend really well with me...
Anyway, I recorded 12 songs, all day Sunday, and two more Monday night. I did some post production on Tuesday night to remove some of the glaring boo-boos, and Acacia and I burned 30 copies last night to take to the campout tomorrow. I don't know if that's optimistic, but I think that a lot of the kids will want to take one home with them. (I don't know if the Dads will be blessing or cursing my name after the 3 hour drive home from San Diego on Sunday.) I can bring any leftover CDs to Borders and get rid of 'em eventually.
Also, since I have 'em now, I posted links to MP3 versions of the songs on the KeithandWarren.com page. And, since kids always want to sing along, I worked up a lyrics sheet and put that up, too. That way I don't have to print up a bunch of copies myself and put 'em in the CD cases.
Since I've been working for PC manufacturing companies for the last 20-odd years, it's been a while since I've had to buy a PC. But the machines in the house are getting pretty sad, so I broke down and bought a new desktop (or, more correctly, "mini-tower") from Dell (who else, anymore?). I got the chance to set it up on Saturday, and I gotta say it went easier than I expected. That Windows XP (my first encounter with it (!)) works pretty good -- found all the stuff, set up pretty easy. But there's always a "but"...
I use Windows 2000 at work, which has the whole "multiple user partitions" thing going, but there's only me on the thing, so it's not an issue. At home, the XP is cool to be able to give each user a different wallpaper, and, more useful, their own program icons and browser shortcuts. (Here comes the "but"...) I don't know how to let multiple users access the same programs. Some applications' install programs ask, "Just you, or everybody?", but most don't seem to.
I installed Google's "Picassa", to use to catalog the huge library of family pictures we have. I installed it in Daleen's "partition", and it searched out all ten zillion pictures and created its database. But when I go to my partition, I have the program icon on my desktop, but there's no pictures. (Admittedly, this allows for different people to have different picture libraries, but it should allow the opposite as well.) So, to see the pictures, I either have to re-index the whole thing (takes a long time, and creates a huge database file), or log in as Daleen.
Of course, I tried to "fool" it, by going to my file manager and moving the database files from Daleen's directory to the "All Users" directory, but it wasn't fooled (still no pictures from my account).
Maybe I'll figure it out eventually, but the whole point is that this is supposed to be dummy-proof. I shouldn't have to (a) try to trick it, or (b) try to figure it out.
Oh, well. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. More complaints later, no doubt.
Strange evening, but OK. When I got there, there was a table set up in front of the café section, with a little sign advertising a book signing by a local guy author. In convenient, but probably OK, so I start setting up. The café guy lets me get mostly done, then tells me that I need to talk to Tom, the Event Manager. I was afraid that he was gonna send me home, but although Tom's a little exasperated that Bob booked me without regard for his (apparently) locally booked book signing schedule, he's OK for me to go on, since I don't need his PA system, and he knows he can trust me to play quietly until the book guy is gone.
In fact, Tom was incredulous when I mentioned that the only discernable rule that Bob has is not to book a single act twice in the same store in the same (calendar) month. (I'm already kind of cheating that rule since I tend to get booked once a month as "Keith & Warren" and once as just Keith.) But Tom said "People love you guys! We've never gotten a complaint, and gotten lots of compliments", and wants me/us in there as often as we'll come. He gave me his email address and phone number, and said that anytime we want to play, just let him know!
I'm not sure how that gibes with the schedule that's forced on him by Bob, though. Obviously, Bob can't book, say, "Marina V", while Tom books K&W on the same night. By the looks of the recent schedule, there aren't many Fri-or-Saturday nights that aren't Bob-booked. But, the upcoming June 24 and 25 seem to be empty, and I'm free, except for the Folkie Jam, so maybe I'll take him up on the offer.
Anyway, I finished setting up, and played, really quietly, for the first hour and a half. So quietly in fact, that I was sure no one could hear me, which is remarkably freeing. But there was a core group of three or four solo ladies there that were reading, then clapping, so I guess they could hear better than I thought. It also provided an unprecedented opportunity to play all the really soft and slow ones, without the guilt of being too boring...
Of the several people who told me that they would, or might, come out, none did. Except Acacia's teacher, "Mrs. Smiggs", who hadn't said she was coming, but showed up with her daughter around 9:10 and seemed to be both amazed and entertained.
And although I was prepared to switch to a mic for the guitar if it started cutting out again, it worked perfectly all night. I was hoping it would cut out and give me a chance to try to isolate the problem, but it's wise to that plan...
We played South Coast Plaza on Friday evening. A lot fewer studying-college-kids than usual, which, unfortunately, meant it was nearly empty. We did get a pair of college kids, but they weren't studying, just shopping, and they listened and made some requests for a while. And we had a nice Persian lady that seemed to like the stuff, even though she didn't know many of the songs. She said she lives nearby, and would like to bring some family to see us next time we're there. That's flattering.
I tested out my new arrangement of "Something" -- having finally caved to the pressure of the many times we get people inadvertently requesting James Taylor's "Something in the Way She Moves" when they really mean George's tune. Turns out that parts of it work pretty cool in My Style, whatever that is, though other parts, not so much. Maybe they'll tweak with time. Warren seemed to like it, anyway.
But, as expected, it went quite well, again, solo at RSM on Saturday. It was pretty empty at first, but somewhere in the middle I got a few kids, and was doing songs for them. Apparently, some other kids heard familiar tunes, and came in, and I ended up snagging quite a few families that way. And, of course, the adults like to send the kids up with some money for the jar. Because it was so kid-heavy, I think I made the most tips ever, and without selling a single CD -- though I did give one away to a nice couple that was celebrating their 35th anniversary (with me?!? What's up with that?).
The guy was amusingly forgetful -- he asked for "You Were On My Mind", which I did, and three or four songs later, he asked whether he had requested "You Were On My Mind" or "Always On My Mind", which, in retrospect, is probably what he *meant* to ask for (anniversary-song-wise), but wasn't. And when they were leaving and I offered the CD "as an anniversary present", he said, "How did you know it was my anniversary?!?". He had told me when they first came in, not more than 45 minutes earlier.
Not bad, for Yorba Linda. It's just such a big, bright, impersonal space -- more like a school cafeteria than a coffeeshop. It affords the people plenty of space to sit far away from us, and remain disengaged. It just doesn't feel like "we're here together".
Still, we got some response from several groups of people, especially a family that came in with a freakishly friendly young lady (17). She walked in with a big smile, looking directly at me (us?). The only (normal) explanation would be if I knew her, but, nope, she's just shockingly open. Refreshing, and wonderful. And she was a big Beatles fan, and asked for their songs all night. Made our night, really. Funny how it only takes one person to make the difference.
My voice wasn't quite as good as the night before at RSM, but my playing was (a bit) more focused. The disconcerting total silence at least makes for "good sound". Sometimes the bustle of the people's conversations and the drink-making machines are hard to play against...
I thought "Long, Long Time" went particularly well. And "First Cut..." was the best it's ever been. Some kind of slightly slower tempo, I think.
The highlight was later on when I put my almost-full bottle of lemonade (graciously provided by Borders management) on the table next to the amp, and launched into "I've Just Seen a Face". Apparently, the vibrations were buzzing the bottle toward the edge, and just after the word "Falling!", the bottle fell, with a crash, right next to my foot. I, of course, froze, looked down at it, decided there was nothing I could really do that was urgent, and continued the song (albeit with an abbreviated last half). The irony of the timing was lost on no one. That's entertainment.
We cleaned it up (mostly), and got back going, but even though it didn't really seem to bother me that much, my concentration was shot for the next dozen or so songs. Weird.
Our new little fan ("almost 9"), Paige, was there again (with her dad) -- two weeks in a row. It's always nice to have someone to play to. There was also a lively high-school-age girl who listened for a while, asked for a song or two, and whipped out her cell phone to call and excitedly beckon her twin sister. Obviously more kids who grew up listening to their parents' playing of this "old music".
But the night was mostly notable (to me) by how well I was singing. With a microphone, you're hearing yourself from "the outside" so it's easy to be impartial to how you sound -- it sounds like someone else, or a recording -- so I know when I'm singing good, and when I'm singing bad. Last night, after about 9:00, I was hitting stuff I usually strain for, and more flexible than usual, both. A lady asked for "Pancho and Lefty" and it was, by far, the best I've ever sung it. I wish I'd'a had a recorder running.
Conversely, I was playing pretty poorly -- made a lot of "got lost" mistakes, seemingly always during the instrumental verse, screwing Warren. Concentration problem. Especially after the lemonade explosion. We're at Yorba Linda tonight -- we'll see if I can stay focussed...
Later on, I was just finishing a song when a middle-aged lady came around the corner of the magazine rack and loudly proclaimed, "You mean that wasn't a *record*?!?" which sent the café into a stunned silence. I was taken aback, of course, but managed to say something about "No, it's just me...", followed by some lame jokes about there actually being a CD player in the amp, and I'm lip-synching. What I *wished* I'd'a said is, "Thanks, Mom, but you're laying it on a little too heavy!" but I'm not that quick-witted.
It went pretty well, for Mission Viejo. Warren cut out at 9:30 for some previous engagement, so I was solo for a while, but getting over that first 10 minutes is the hard part, so it was no problem.
I hung out and played for another hour or so after he left -- they close at 11:00. A little girl (7 years old) and her mom showed up at about 9:50, and I was about out of Adult Songs anyway, so I played a few for her. She was way over by the window, but she came up to me and said "Thank you" -- I'm sure it was mom-induced, but cute anyway.
When my fingers couldn't take any more, I announced the Last Song, and played it. Then I said thanks &c., and said that we play "here" and "other local Borders", and that there were "cards with a website address on 'em up here on the table, so you can check the schedule and catch us again". *Four people* got up and fetched cards! Four out of about ten that were still there. Pretty flattering.
Warren and I have been puzzling over the actual vocal ranges of people. Mostly, I suppose, due to my problem of pitching songs at Princess campouts so that both Dads and their Daughters can sing along. As always, the web tells all, of course. I found the standard choir vocal ranges, according to Rice University.
They did the staff notation, I drew it on a keyboard 'cuz I'm a visual kinda guy.
According to this then, C to C is the only shared range -- although, as theorized, that's with the guys (low-C to Middle-C) an octave below the girls (Middle-C to high-C). I guess there's only three notes (well, 5, if you count black keys) that are shared by everybody in absolute pitch, but that would make a pretty boring song.
I get the feeling that the shared part of the guys' two ranges is approximately the "inexperienced" guys' range, and similarly for the girls. Basically you cut off the low part of the basses, and the high part of the tenors, and you have a guy who's essentially neither. But, by experience, getting above Middle-C is tough for non-singers, so I'd say the low-C to Middle-C is pretty safe for, say, Indian Princess dads.
It's strange to me, though, that they expect basses and sopranos to span two octaves, but they go so much easier on the tenors and altos.
Anyway, the lowest note I (try to) sing at the coffee shop is in "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground": a low-low-E, same as the lowest string on the guitar. I used to could sing it, back when I was a stock E-to-E bass, but only early in the morning, and before I got too warmed up. Since I've been singing so much, again, ('course, not as much as two hours a day, back in school), my range has been moving up (or, at least, the bottom end has), so I can't really hit it anymore. Fortunately, the guitar's bass note is kind of fortifying me when I aim at it, so I think it gets implied, if not enumerated.
Sometimes it strikes me that I have some great songs that are a lot of work (and/or are so hard that playing them is risky), and then when I drag 'em out, they don't even go over all that well. And then there are songs that you could teach a monkey to play ("Teach Your Children", "Peaceful Easy Feeling") that people keep asking for. Obviously, this is really just a truism, a song is good or bad *not* depending on how hard it is, but it makes me wonder if it's worth it when I undertake a new song that's hard (e.g., "Martha My Dear", which just laid there), when I could just find some more campfire-hack-favorites. I'm just saying...
Geneva and I checked into the Living Tradition Folk Jam in Anaheim on Saturday night. I hadn't really thought she'd be interested, so I wasn't planning on going, but at 5:00, we were just sitting around, and I glanced at the clock and remembered that the Jam was that night, and asked Geneva if she wanted to go. She was all for it! So we packed up quickly and jumped in the car.
Anyway, it was pretty big fun -- especially, and amazingly, for Geneva. She snuggled up to the whistle-lady to her right (and her music stand), and sight-read as best she could. She did OK on the slower ones, but she didn't seem at all frustrated by the fast ones that she couldn't catch up on. Patty had a feedback form to fill out at the end, and Geneva just wrote "More slow songs!" in the comments section. Other than that, she had a great time.
I just strummed along on guitar. At first I thought I could keep up by watching another dude's hands, but a lot of the songs change chords too fast. The guitar guy on my left figured that out and moved his music stand over closer, and I did all right from then on. I figured that guitar players were a dime a dozen so they wouldn't really need me, but when Patty asked my guitar-neighbor what song he wanted to do, he chose "Golden Slippers" 'cuz he's learning to flat-pick the melody. All the other guitar players took the opportunity ("Easy song!") to get out their respective melody instruments (mandolin, etc.) so I found myself the only one playing rhythm!
Patty (who ran the jam) was kind of going around the circle, asking folks what they wanted to play, and after a while decided to notice Geneva, asked her her name, and if she had a song she wanted to do. When Geneva asked for "Ashokan Farewell", they were all totally thrilled (and impressed) (and, probably, relieved that it wasn't, say, "Hot Cross Buns").
Unfortunately, our glory was short-lived, as Patty's gaze turned to me next, and by way of explanation, I told her that I play with Warren (who's been going to these for a while) at coffee shops. She asked what kind of music, and I said mostly 70's pop -- "not this kind of stuff". "Like what?" "Well, 'Fire and Rain', and such." "Play it!" "Now?" "Sure!" "Well, it's a 'singing' song." "So, sing it!" "Well, OK." "What key is it in?" "Um, F?" "Go ahead!"
So, without my songbook open (you'd think that, by now...) I sang the first verse, forgot the words to the first chorus, sang the third verse, second chorus, and quit. Flipped open the book and found the second verse, which they implored me to go ahead and do, as some of the better fiddlers were starting to get the hang of something.
Anyway, it just kind of landed with a thud. Even if I hadn't completely blown it, I don't think it was very well advised. Generally regrettable. If she'd'a asked "Do you know any folk songs?", I could have pulled out "Tennessee Waltz", or something. But she asked "what we did" and drove me down the wrong street. Made a bit of a fool of myself, I'm afraid, though they're quite forgiving, or at least well-practiced at ignoring embarrassing events. Hopefully, at the next one, we can pull something a little better planned out, and redeem myself.
But, I only really only drove out there for Geneva's sake, and she loved it, and really pulled it off far better than I did. And, of course, they loved having her. I think she's definitely in for another go next month, and if she wants to go, I'm inclined to take her. Unfortunately, it's another RSM gig, so we'll have to bug out early again. (This one broke up at 6:50-ish.) And the month after is a Mission Viejo gig. At least that one has an 8:00 start time.
Three years ago, when we went to build the annual pinecars, Acacia asked for a school bus. It turned out to look kinda cool, even though it's so simple. A bit of Monster Truck feel to it, because of the big black tires on the "outside" of the bus body.
I had half tried to talk her out of it, since it was too simple to be a Design Award winner, but that was the year that Acacia was in 1st grade, and she was pretty intimidated by the (real) school bus. It was loud, and there were Big Boys in it, and only the presence of her big sister got her into it every morning. I think maybe it was a subconscious plan to "conquer" the thing -- her own personal Moby Dick. Bringing it down to scale, and "owning" it probably helped her deal with it in Real Life.
I've also been poking at, less successfully, "As Time Goes By", which I can do the verse of, but the bridge needs work. The jazz-chord site's version works (for me) for a while, and then falls apart. Strange how these Internet songsheets (and, almost as much, paid-for commercial songsseets) just never seem to work as is. I *always* have to tweak them -- usually for the singable key, but almost always also to get 'em to sound right.
Maybe it's just me.
So, first I had to find a (pair of) key(s) that were playable (and, hopefully, singable as well), and then I had to work up a passable instrumental verse, which, remarkably, is coming along pretty well. Noting Juber needs to be worried about, but pretty OK. I can't usually play it well on the first time through, but I'm working on it. I ended up transposing it up (!) a whole step, and capoing two. I'm singing down an octave from there, of course, so it's really down a 5th or so. A fun challenge.
Anyway, it was darn fun. I don't know how we missed doing "Let it Be", and I was hoping to get to "Hey, Mister", re-worked up just for the nostalgia value, especially for my Aunt Sharon. But I reckon she went away pretty happy with what we did manage to get done.
My old roommate Kendall is (still) a mechanical monster on the guitar. His fingering is so precise, and he insists on getting every note exactly right. It's funny (and amazing) to me that he still dissects every James Taylor album, decrypting every new trick that James picks up. But having Kendall as a roommate definitely brought me up from being a three-chord-strummer to being able to play with some class. And every James song I do came directly from Kendall, or from the James-sensing-capability I developed from Kendall's tutoring. I'd sure like to sit with him for 6 or 8 hours sometime and learn some more tricks...
A lot of the Xmas songs are trivial, especially the kids' ones: Frosty, Rudolph, Housetop. But the old-time jazz standard types are a lot more interesting than most current (and by that, I mean "20 year old") pop tunes. Working those out is what got me to the level that I can do things like "You Don't Know Me", "Someone to Watch..." etc. (whether or not that's a good thing).
I'd be tempted to do only the jazz classics at Moxie Java: "Have Yourself...", "I'll be Home...", and maybe (if I can pull it off), that Eagles "Please Come Home for Christmas" blues tune. Seems like I learned two Elvis tunes: " Santa Claus is Back in Town" and "I'll Have a Blue Christmas" last year, as a joke, but they both worked pretty good. I'd expected to be embarrassed to do them, but they sound good, so I wasn't.
I guess I'd want to have the lamer songs handy, just for the kids, if any, by request -- that always bumps up the tipping.
I've had a spurt of new song learning this week (already) -- "Homeward Bound", "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (in D, I think), "Mister Postman" (haven't settled on a key yet -- maybe C (i.e., C, Am, F, G, all the way through)), and "All I Have To Do Is Dream" (in C (hey, it's C, Am, F, G, too!)).
The latter three are all trivial, but I thought they might be fun, in the vein of "Standing There". But "Homeward" is deceptively tough. Maybe I'm trying to play two guitars (and the bass) at the same time, but the chorus is hard (and fast). The verses are easy, at least half of the way through. But that intro/outro riff has to be right on the first try, which will take some practice, and luck. The original is too high, of course -- it's in G, capoed three, but if I just leave the capo off, I think I'll be OK.
Last night I went by Borders RSM to drop off some posters, which I augmented by taping a copy of the "Round the Rancho" newspaper article to the bottom, with the "You could find a treat at Borders tonight" modified by "X-ing" out the "to" in "tonight" and writing "Saturday" above it, in red Sharpie. I don't know if anyone will read the whole article, but it might help to have the endorsement of an authority, an Actual Newspaper.
Cidne wasn't there, but I handed them over to Tom (the "event manager"), who very gladly put them both up immediately -- one taped to the window by the front door, and the other installed in a pre-made poster-frame that's up on a pillar in the middle of the store, pre-empting a "Something Percent Off Sale" poster (!). He said something like, "It's nice to finally get some *good* music in here", which was pretty nice of him. He also wanted me to bring posters in for the next one (Nov 26) when we come in on Saturday, and he'll put them up, too.
He showed me the November Borders Official Newsletter, which has, as he put it, "a pretty nice write up". I had to admit that it's "pretty nice" because we wrote it ourselves, but it prominently occupies the whole middle column of the three column page -- they used our "release" in its entirety. I suppose it helped that, because of the holiday, there are few events, so they needed to fill some space...
She did commandeer a table at the "back" of the coffeeshop (by the magazines) (which she could afford to do, since there was almost nobody using them), and had a little display of CDs, a tip jar, some small posters, and a little sign: "Marina V CDs, only $10". I guess this allowed people to just serve themselves. It looked a little better than a table dedicated to holding just a tip jar (as our analog would be). I'd be very surprised if she'd sold any, though. Or made any tips, for that matter.
I think it points up the strong symbiosis between venue/audience-type and band/music-type. K&W and RSM "match". Marina V and RSM don't. Perhaps she's a big hit at, say, the Hollywood store. We may be completely humiliated in Hollywood tomorrow night. But, hey, it'll be a story to tell, whichever way it goes.
This is pretty cool...
http://www.name-this-tune.com/
a.k.a. "Musipedia" (.org)
It's a music encyclopedia, built on-the-fly by its users, on the Wikipedia model. Uses a clever tune searching method called "Parsons code", where a tune is described only by its changes, up, down, or repeated. Seems to work -- I found "Over the Rainbow" with it. The tune was detail-described by another notation method called "Lilypond", which had the tune, but sans rhythm, so in the spirit of public interest, I figured Lilypond out and went ahead and put some rhythm cues in.
Good fun, and potentially useful someday -- check it out.
P.S. Here's the Parsons Code for "Rainbow", just to get you jump started:
*UDDUUUDUD
Inexplicably, the South Coast Plaza Borders has their music on Sunday afternoon. We were greeted by a room full of intensely studying Asian college kids, some of whom had earplugs in even before we got there. Since virtually all of them were (a) too young, and (b) from another culture, the response was, shall we say, underwhelming. On top of that, the Muzak wouldn't stay off -- we had to keep asking them to kill it, and it would reappear 10 minutes later. It was a pretty big waste of time, but I always say, "A bad day playin' is still better'n a good day watchin' TV". (And certainly better'n waxin' the car!)
A year or two ago, I'd'a been deeply annoyed, probably, but these days I'm pretty confident that we're Good, and the lack of response just felt like their *inability* to respond, not our lack of talent. So, it wasn't really painful, just surreal. What's hard to imagine is who decided that Sunday afternoons was The Time to do that -- both being Insanely Wrong, and bucking the rest-of-stores trend of doing music on Friday and Saturday evenings. I imagine that, even at that store, the vibe is completely different on weekend evenings than on Sunday afternoons.
Clearly, although it was amusing once, I'd rather not repeat the experience, but that store isn't even on the September listing, so there's no danger there. And none of the other gigs are afternoons, either, so hopefully we won't encounter that kind of environment again. And, clearly, we've learned another lesson -- stand staring at the Manager until the Muzak demonstrably goes off. They need to know that if the Muzak don't go off, the Band don't play.
In retrospect, and without the pressure of actually standing there, I think I might have been a bit more aggressive, too. That's easy to say now... At the time, it seemed prudent to be a even swap for the Muzak. Along the lines of a string quartet at a garden party -- just music wafting by. I figured the kids couldn't have more issue with us than they'd already have had with the speakers. At least three of them were wearing earplugs even before we got there. Still, even if I had been *able* to dislodge the kids from their books, I'm not sure that that would be doing any of them a favor. Even kids that would have rather been listening to music were probably aware that what they *ought* to be doing is knuckling down. So I felt better just fading back, and letting them be OK with ignoring me.
Anyway, however a gig goes, it makes for at least one good story. This one yielded two -- the "Day of the Dead" gig itself, and the skimpily-clad college cutie who sat right in front of me and leeeeaaaaned over, multiple times, to get into her book bag -- all while I was trying to play "You've Got a Friend" -- probably the most concentration-challenging song I play. That there was a Test sent by the Devil hisself!
