K&W at Brea Downtown -- 27Jun2008

Our second outing at this outdoor street corner, in the middle of a up-scale-ified oldtown street. It's now a bunch of trendy restaurants and shops, and two big multiplex movie theaters. Last time was way back in November, and we had a blast, even though we froze to death.

We'd expected a much better turnout, here in the summer, but not so much. But we had a steady stream of people, many with kids, and lots of cruising teenagers (mostly girls -- don't the boys know about this?).

Last time, we set up right in front of the strange fountain, but this time it was still on when we got there. But even if they had turned it off immediately, the water splashes on the ground, and we'd'a been setting up on wet concrete. So we just moved west 30 feet. That put us right in front of a bench, which was usually filled during the evening. Bonus!

It started out pretty slow (at 7:00) and didn't get much better until around 9:00, when we started to get some actual (small) crowds standing around (maybe the movies were all letting out). But we almost always had a few people standing nearby, and there were people in the seats across the street at "Fatburger" who seemed to be listening.

It's a little weird to play for an in-motion audience. I'm used to handing out the song lists and getting (at least some) requests during the night, but I couldn't do that here. Also, we had to try to stick to the up-tempo songs, but those run out long before the night's over. But, since the audience is constantly changing, we were able to do some songs multiple times, so I guess it works out.

Towards the end, an elderly couple (you know, my age) that we recognized from last time came by -- they must live nearby. The guy clearly plays guitar, and likes to show off his ancient rock history trivia knowledge. It's fun playing for people who "get it".

We made $60 in tips, besting last time by $10. Warren took some video, click here, here, and here. We're set to play there again on August 22. It's hard getting dates there, but totally fun. Gotta learn some more up-tempo pop tunes.

K&W at Mission Viejo -- 21Jun2008

That went really well -- best I can remember at Mission Viejo, probably only because the sound, which is usually terrible there, was inexplicably quite good. We were in the corner again, but we did that last time, and it didn't help all that much. I think it was just that there were fewer conversations shouting over us (or is it vice versa?).

We'd played almost 5 hours the night before at Java Joe's, so I expected to be trashed, finger- and voice-wise, but, not so bad. We started at 7:00, and had negotiated a 10:00 ending time (as opposed to the mandated 9:00) with our pal the manager, Sally, but although my fingers and voice were holding up, 'round about 9:30 I was getting light-headed from plain ol' tiredness, and the crowd had thinned down pretty bad anyway, so I called it quits. First time I can remember that I voluntarily stopped playing (unless you count the night before at Joe's when I quit at midnight, but that was just craziness). I'm gettin' too old for this.

Sally told us that Mike, the Borders District Manager had been laid off. This is worrisome only because whenever the guy who does the booking, Bob, makes a mistake (reasonably frequently), Mike is our "court of appeals". But, we got a (mistake-free, this time) schedule for July from Bob, two weeks after Mike was gone, so the system is still chugging along -- although it seems weird that Bob, a volunteer, is booking all us volunteer bands into the Borders stores with no apparent supervision from Borders. Sally heard something about a woman named Leta who may or may not be taking over for Mike. I guess we'll see what happens.

Anyway, with the good sound, and a pretty nice audience, it was a good night -- and we made pretty decent tips, too. Sally had wanted to come up and sing "Rainbow Connection", but apparently got too busy (or chicken). Maybe next time -- I'm there again solo in two weeks.

K&W at Java Joe's -- 20Jun2008

It was our first "weekend" gig at Java Joe's, after two previous (pretty empty) Thursdays. We were both afraid that we'd be expected to be a rock'n'roll Party Band, but the Party never materialized, for better or worse. We had a dozen or so people at the peak, and small groups moving in and out all night, but it was never even half full. The upside was that we could just play our standard "mellow coffeeshop" stuff, so we did. And did, and did. We somehow ended up playing, without a break, from 7:15 to midnight. I guess "closing time" is when owner Chuck leaves, and he didn't seem like he had any intention to, so I just "called it" at midnight. My fingers, knees, and back had had enough, and I was starving.

Anyway, it was fun, if anticlimactic after all the anticipation/dread (and practice!) of the preceding week. Fun enough for me, anyway, but Warren is getting pretty discouraged at our lack of audience there. We were expecting to crash and burn in front of a huge party crowd. Instead, we did just fine, in front of a small turnout. The former would have been disastrous, but the latter is just boring. Actually, I guess when or if we try again is a moot point, since Warren doesn't want to bother with any more empty Thursdays, and there are no free weekend dates until December.

Still, I may go in solo for another Thursday or two as a solo, and see if I can get something going. We had about 8 people the first time, and essentially none the second. Chuck keeps apologizing, saying "I don't know what happened!", but I think it's just 'cuz we just don't have a following of any kind. I'm guessing that Chuck really can't tell the difference between people who come to see, a popular local band, and people who come just to see whoever's there. He thinks his crowds on the weekends are the latter, but I think we've proven that it's more of the former, alas.

But I'm not sure I can afford to keep doing both the Tuesday Open Mics and playing on Thursdays, at $13 in gas for the round trip. On the other hand, the Tuesdays are pretty big fun, despite only getting to do three (or two!) songs. I'm getting to know, and be known by, the other musicians, and am probably on the verge of having some of them join in on some harmony and/or percussion, and that'd be fun.

Or, this coming Sunday afternoon, there's gonna be a new kind of Open Mic there where the organizer wants people to try to group-up, so more people get to play, longer. I'll try to go to that, and see if anybody wants to play/sing along to some of my James Taylor stuff.

Keith at Java Joe's Open Mic -- 17Jun2008

We're playing at Joe's on Friday (our first "weekend night"), so we were obliged to come to the Open Mic to (theoretically) spark interest. Unfortunately, it was Warren's son's birthday, so I had to go solo. I play solo a lot, so it shoulda been no problem -- emphasis on "shoulda".

The owner, Chuck, booked us for Friday (and two previous Thursdays "sight unseen", and since then we've been getting the distinct impression that weekends (and Tuesday Open Mics, for that matter) are more "party" than "concert". We're not really a "party band", but we're already booked, so we'll give it what we got, and try to play what passes for "harder" songs that I'm willing to play.

Accordingly, the idea was to try to show that off on this Tuesday thing, but without Warren, that's even more unlikely. Still, I decided to go with "Mother Goose", "Carolina In My Mind" (I know, not very "hard"), and "Five O'Clock World". "Goose" to be my "rock cred" tune here, despite it being notoriously hard to get right. So, I practiced the heck out of it on my two 20-minute walks (with the electric guitar), and at home on the acoustic, got it down pretty well, and thought I might actually have a chance.

Emphasis on "thought". I have plenty of excuses -- the sound system, as noted here before, sucks, though last time it was tolerable. This time was the worst ever. I had forgotten that we'd learned that a big part of what's wrong is that my (and Warren's) guitar come out through the monitor speaker, but, for some reason, my head-mic does not. Other times, it was bad, but I could hear myself, somehow, enough that it wasn't obvious that the vocal was completely missing from the monitor. This time, *very* obvious. My guitar was coming through almost hard enough to knock me over, but I couldn't hear the voice at all. Scott the sound guy assured me that it was working, and I asked the audience if they could hear me, and they said they could, so I just had to go for it.

So I'm trying to play "Mother Goose", and instinctively holding back on the volume of my strumming, which screws up my ability to strum at all (which is tenuous under *good* conditions). The Intro/Interlude that's so hard (for me) to play goes bad, but not too bad. The rest of the song goes OK I guess, but I couldn't hear it, so what do I know?

Oh, to make matters worse, although Chuck usually puts us on the sign-up list fairly early, this time I was very late. Late enough, in fact, that you don't get three songs anymore, you get two. Of course, they told me that on my way to the stage, so I had to decide quickly which song to delete. It was tempting to scratch "Goose", since I was afraid to play it, but that was the very reason I decided to keep it and scratch "Five O'Clock" instead.

So I launch into "Carolina", chosen because it's got a cool "hard" guitar part, which I've played so much I can do it in my sleep, so I figured I could redeem the fiasco that "Goose" was likely to be. Emphasis on "figured", but I figured wrong. I got through most of it OK, but totally lost my place on the sheet (got cocky, no doubt), and stumbled through a big, and I mean big, chunk of the song. Kept singing, but was just fumbling with the guitar. You'd think (and I thought) that if you just play an "in this song somewhere" chord of some kind, you'd eventually come to a part that it fits to. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, right? No such luck, though. Somehow, eventually, I found where I was again, but what a disaster.

The cool part was that Scott, the soundman and frequent background singer with other guys in "the club", and Sandy, who usually plays mean fiddle with various guys, were standing off to the side, singing harmony. They didn't get on a mic, though, probably 'cuz they don't know me that well yet -- and I couldn't figure out a way to tell 'em it was OK while I was in the middle of the song. Come to think of it, that may have been the distraction that threw me... I complained vaguely after the song that they should have gotten on a mic, so maybe next time they won't be so shy.

Anyway, afterwards, several of the other musicians told me it "sounded good". Either they were being generous, or the mistakes weren't as obvious as I thought, or maybe they were just referring to the non-mistakey parts, but that was nice to hear. I think it really did impress some of those guys that I was playing "Mother Goose" -- that's not standard Old-Guy-Folk-Rock repertoire. And some of those guys are scary-good, so it's nice to get their attention.

As for the "we're not a party band" concern, as I was leaving, I said to Chuck, "See you on Friday, but, you know, we're not a party band". He was totally, "Oh, you guys will be great", and started telling the guy he was talking to when I walked up that we'd played 'til 11 the last time, and they had a great time playing "Stump the band", which, by his recollection, was "impossible". I remember them asking for lots of songs that I didn't know, but apparently, being able to pull "Red Rubber Ball" off deleted all the "don't knows" from his memory. He's really looking forward to Friday. Me too, I guess.

K&W at the Santa Ana Zoo -- 14Jun2008

Quite nice. This was our third time at the zoo (the second time "out front") and we at least broke the Santa Ana Winds curse. Nice breeze, and set up in the shade. The equipment was "out" this time when I got there, but the too-helpful guy had set it all up in the wrong place. Had to drag the stage platforms to the right place and basically re-rig the whole sound system. Not too bad.

We had plenty, if not lots, of kids'n'parents. Warren likes a few (only) of our kid's songs -- the ones that are written like "real" songs -- and kept hoping that we'd be able to play half for kids, and half for adults. Unfortunately, it's clear that no adults come to the zoo without their kids, so any adults that are nearby are only there for the kids. They don't want us to play to them, they want us to play to their kids. So, I tried to play adult songs, but really couldn't get away with it much. Warren admits that it's inevitable, so if/when I play there again, it'll be just me.

But, I'm not really sure that I want to, either. There were plenty of kids, but they were all really young kids, stroller age up to maybe 3 or 4. My theory is that the older kids know that they're at a zoo, and won't let Mom sit around at the picnic tables -- but the younger ones just do whatever's happening. They don't know enough to know that they ought to be complaining about that.

Anyway, it's pretty hard to play for kids that small -- they don't know any real songs yet. I faced this problem in Princesses, when I wanted to write a Princess song to a tune they'd already know. I went with "Puff, the Magic Dragon", because it's widely known, but also because it's incredibly repetitive, so if you don't know it at the start, you'll know it by the middle.

So, I played my kid's songs, but I don't think that such little kids actually "get it". But, I suppose their parents appreciate it anyway. It's just not as fun for me to play to kids' blank stares. I like playing for Princess age kids that understand and like my stuff for the content.

Playing there again may be a moot point, though. I can't play there if I have a gig at Borders on the same weekend -- the zoo playing time is right between where Friday and Saturday night Borders gigs are, and I just can't play two gigs so close together. I have one no-Borders weekend in July, but I think I might want to keep it free to do family stuff. We'll see.

Anyway, it was pretty fun. We had at least some kids there, all the way through. Played all the kid songs I have, several of 'em twice. I took video again, which looks like it turned out OK, but I haven't had time to clip it up into separate songs yet. The parents almost always stuff a buck in the kid's hand and send them over to drop it in the guitar case, so we did all right. And most of the parents are pretty attentive, and even the blank stares of the toddlers are pretty cute. Maybe I'll go back after all...

Keith solo at Yorba Linda -- 07Jun2008

Yet another quiet night at Yorba Linda. I'm beginning to wonder why I like playing there so much. I guess I like the nice open space, and the quiet environment. I also like it when the little girl behind the coffee counter squeals with delight when she spots me coming in -- apparently, I'm her favorite band.

I also like it when the lady at the front sales counter makes a point to catch me on my way out to tell me that lots of people mentioned how much they liked the music when they came up to buy their books. She's done that twice now. I don't know how many people "lots" is, but just her taking the trouble to come tell me makes my night.

I tried to take some more video, but the camera does its auto-focus thing as you start it up, and since I wasn't in the frame it focused on the back wall, so the whole video is blurry. Well, *I'm* blurry, the wall behind me is crystal sharp.

K&W at South Coast Plaza -- 06Jun2008

Mostly quiet and uneventful, which was OK because I had brought my newly-hacked digital camera (it can now do hour-long (instead of minute-long) videos), to take advantage of the always-good sound, and usually-good performances, there. I set it off to the side, so it fits both of us in a frame without the big gap between us, and it looks pretty good.

I clipped 11 good-take songs out of the footage I got, and put 'em up (here) on YouTube. It's kind of funny to look at the thumbnails and watch the backlight from the windows diminish over time (since the videos are posted in (reverse) time-order), so that we become more and more viewable as the lighting gets less harsh.

K&W at Mission Viejo - 31May2008

We set up in the corner again, where the sound is better, if not strictly "good". Pretty friendly crowd, in general.

I recently discovered a firmware hack for my camera that lets it take video for longer than the ridiculous Canon-imposed 1 minute. With that installed I can fit 84 minutes, at kinda-low frame size and frame rate, on the 2-gig card. I set the camera up over at the side so it's edge-on and can see both of us, without being so far away. The sound is a little flattened (probably by high- and low-pass filters on the audio in the camera (or a cheap mic)), and the video is necessarily low-quality, but it's still fun to have. I posted three songs that turned out pretty well, here.

I guess I'll try to get more video in coming weeks. With familiarity, I should be able to forget that it's there, and turn in some decent performances -- as opposed to my usual completely screwing up the evening just because there's a camera pointed at me.

Keith solo at Costa Mesa - 24May2008

I've been dreading Costa Mesa gigs lately, because it's usually just a bunch of older men there, but this time was pretty OK. I had a nice little family come by and listen for a few tunes, and then there was a cute young Asian girl, apparently there to study some pretty elementary English, who seemed very appreciative. Maybe she was just smiling and nodding in total incomprehension...

Anyway, the sound seemed better than usual for this place, and I was playing pretty well, and my SuperFan didn't show up, so it was a pretty good night.

K&W at Java Joe's -- 22May2008

Well, that was disappointing. Last time we played a Thursday, there were 8-10 people and we had a blast (or I did, anyway) and made $54. I was hoping that this time would build on that, since we played the Open Mic (3 songs) there two nights before to a packed room, and passed out a bunch of mini-flyers, which seemed to be well-received.

But, the place was essentially empty. Jean, a hard-core Regular was there as she always is, playing Scrabble with owner-Chuck, and a disinterested family were there to chat and watch the basketball game, but that was it. Jean's really nice, and she was half listening and asked for a few tunes, but it wasn't really enough reason to drive all the way out there.

The sound was pretty good -- we had our own equipment and it was my favorite sonic environment: total silence, but I prefer it when the silence is broken now and again by some applause...

Still, since we were there anyway, I kind of enjoyed playing, 'cuz it's just fun to play -- especially with the amp and reverb and all. And Chuck snuck a $20 into the tip jar while I wasn't looking, 'cuz he's like that. But Warren is discouraged by how hard it is to do a weeknight gig in the first place, and it's certainly not worth it to either of us if nobody shows. It may have been the threatening rain, or that it was Thursday before Memorial Day weekend, but who knows?

So, we're lined up for one more gig there, on a Friday, which, according to Chuck, will be "jammed". We're pretty obligated, according to Chuck's plan, to play the Tuesday Open Mic before that date, too. Warren's also frustrated by the Open Mics, because the sound is so terrible that he can't tell what he's doing. And those nights are essentially big parties, and only pretty-hard rock penetrates the group, and I don' play dat. This elevates Warren's frustration even more, 'cuz he wants us to play rock all the time, and while that doesn't really work at "real" coffeeshops, it's probably required for this place (which is really, at night, a (wine) bar), on Tuesdays at least, and, no doubt, on Fridays too.

Which means that we're in trouble for that Friday gig. I will, of course, give it a try, and play all my "hardest" songs, but we run out of those pretty quick. They aren't my strength, and not really my interest, and my guitar just doesn't "work" for strumming, and, for that matter, they aren't really appropriate in a bookstore coffeeshop, so I just don't bother to learn that kind of song. Even if I did learn some, I've got no place to practice "pulling them off" in a real-life setting. There's a big difference between my bedroom and a crowded bar...

Naturally, I prefer not to view all this as a shortcoming of mine, but as a mismatch in my capabilities and a gig we probably shouldn't have signed up for. (By horrible coincidence, this is sounding all too much like my work situation of late, where I'm being asked to do things I don't know how to do, and have no interest in doing or learning how to do.) I am pretty worried by it, though, which is odd because I played a pretty big party a few weeks ago in Long Beach, and it seemed to go well, despite my lack of rock-and-roll.

Anyway, we'll give it a shot, and see if we can persuade the audience to want to hear what we've got to play. It may be a disaster, and we'll quit playing weekends there, but maybe there'll be an opportunity to play on weekends (probably solo) when the mood is more mellow.

K&W at Java Joe's, open mic -- 20May2008

Just as we were walking up to the shop from the parking lot, we heard our names announced as "up next!" Whoops! So we scrambled our gear up there and got plugged in, and did our three tunes: "With a Little Help From My Friends", "Homeward Bound", and, despite not knowing it very well, "Mexico".

I made the expected mistakes on the tricky intro, and screwed up some on the other songs, just from losing focus, but the sound was the best we've ever had on one of these Open Mics using Scott's equipment, so I actually felt pretty good about my performance. I was able to hear, and with no time to get nervous, I relaxed into it and "let 'er fly" from time to time during the songs.

We stuck around to watch some of the other guys play, of course. Most are pretty good; some, not so much. After a while, an older (than me!) guy got up and was playing some classic blues stuff on a Dobro, not too well, with unintelligible vocals (partially due to the bad mix). Three women with haircuts and miniskirts that would have looked better on their daughters got up and started dancing with each other up in front of the stage. They were probably in their late 30's, but the wine was telling them that they were 18.

Everybody was pretty amused and/or scandalized, especially the guy's wife who was standing in the back next to me. She didn't know whether to be mad or to laugh, though she figured that her husband would be "loving it". I was jealous, myself -- where were the drunk groupie dancing lesbians when *I* was up there? I guess we just got there too early. Maybe next time...

Keith plays an Art Show -- 18May2008

Well, that was completely different. A lady who saw me play at the Costa Mesa Borders hired me to play her "Art Show", which really turned out to be a big patio party for all her friends and family. The place was a "décor" shop in Long Beach, which sells mostly home trinkets: wind chimes, sun catchers, pewter gee-gaws -- built out of an old bungalow. Laura had 10 or 12 of her paintings up in the various rooms, and set me up on the "patio" which was really the one-car driveway that used to let the car get from the street to the backyard garage.

That put me in the middle of a long narrow space, between the block wall and the house, which made for a pretty loud, echo-ey space. Laura specifically told me that I should play loud -- she wanted people in the house to be able to hear me, and come out to find the party. So, I cranked up pretty loud (for me), and played -- at first to nearly nobody, but people arrived, and only a few left, so it got pretty crowded after a while. There was lots of food, and sangria and wine, and it got to be a full-on party.

Nobody was really paying attention to me, so I just played -- even though it was really loud in there. People were standing right in front of the speakers, shouting their conversations, but they didn't seem to resent me for it. I figured that if I were a boombox, I wouldn't "care" that I was being obnoxious, so I just kept playing, party-style: loud music, shouting people.

But since nobody was paying attention, I didn't do any talking between songs, and nobody was asking for requests, either. This meant that I played almost the whole time, with hardly any time between songs. I even strung the with-capo songs together (since it didn't matter which songs I played when), and that kept the pauses for tuning down.

Which all meant that I played almost solid for the 3 hours she had me booked for, and, since the party wasn't really over at 7, a half hour more than that. I played almost every song in the book, and some of them twice. My fingers were just about dead, and my brain was starting to rebel too, towards the end -- I kind of felt bleary, like I'd just woken up or something, and was staring at the music and doing stuff nearly at random, in spite of what was right in front of me.

Anyway, Laura noticed that I was over-time and told me to quit. I had some of the food that was left, and she told me how perfect it was, and how all the guests loved the music, and she handed me an envelope. We had agreed on $250 for the gig, but when I opened it, there were 3 hundred-dollar bills in it.

It was pretty strange to play against such a wall of sound, but apparently it was "as expected" for the people there. I certainly prefer quieter places where I can tell what I'm doing, and people who actually listen, but for $300, I can make an exception.

K&W at Mission Viejo -- 10May2008

We tried a new location within the store this time -- over in the "corner" of the café, near the magazine racks. This made the sound reflections different (better?) and got us at least a little further from the grinders. I thought it was a bit better anyway, though it made it more crowded for the two of us. When we play in the middle of the side wall, the sound there is almost unbearable.

Anyway, we played for an hour, and then Warren had to leave to join another guy at The Spectrum. This was both "a better offer" for him (he's played with me dozens of times already), and a scouting mission to see if we might fit in and/or be able to play there. No report on that part of it yet, though.

I kept playing solo, and was getting some pretty good connections going towards the end there. After I'd packed most of my gear and was going around collecting the song sheets up, I fell into talking with an older couple who really seemed to like my stuff, and were somewhat educated about music, having some friends that play at various places. That was kind of nice. They really thought I should go down and try to get a job at some of the restaurant/bars down in Newport. Interesting thought...

Keith solo at Yorba Linda -- 03May2008

Pretty standard, quiet night. Polite applause most of the time, and a few people tuned in some of the time. Got some requests from the Asian study girls who seemed to be having fun.

Great sound, though. I love it when it's quiet and I can really hear myself.

K&W at Java Joes, full gig -- 01May2008

Encouraging. When we got there, there were already two groups of four people who had apparently turned out specifically to see either "us", or "whatever band Chuck's got tonight" -- probably the latter. There were a few other scattered people, but they were clearly there for the coffee, not the band.

It started off kinda slow, they were chatting amongst themselves, of course, but after a while they seemed to realize that "these guys are pretty good", and started asking for some tunes off the list. Having gotten good results from that, they got up and put some money in the tip bucket. As time went on, and their wine bottles got emptier, they asked for more and more songs, got more and more friendly, and then started going "off list", asking for random songs that they thought I might be able to do. Some of those were ridiculous, but some of them were tangent to songs that I did have (like an alternative Bob Dylan song).

But even the ridiculous requests indicated that we were getting to be pals, and somewhere along the line another lady showed up who was partying with one of the groups. They had apparently fallen into a discussion about their first records, and the new (blonde) lady, who was feeling pretty happy, said that her first record was "Red Rubber Ball", which everyone else found very very funny. Chuck, the owner, shouted out, "Hey Keith, do you know 'Red Rubber Ball'?" As it turns out, I *do* know it -- I learned it years ago as a classic pop song, and it's still in the book under "Kids Songs", although it's not on the list. So I played it, which brought on uproarious laughter, and another round of throwing money in the tip bucket.

I found out later that the blonde lady is Chuck's wife. That's why she knows everybody, and feels comfortable getting pretty deep into the wine, and laughing louder than anyone else. Coming through with "Red Rubber Ball" for one of the guests was a pretty good move, but coming through with it for the owner's wife was an even better one.

Anyway, we played *way* past the scheduled closing time, but everybody was having fun, including us, and the owner, so on we went. When we finally quit at 10:30 or so, there was $54 in the bucket. From about 9 people. Not bad. I can't wait to play a fuller room there.

K&W at Java Joe's Open Mic -- 29April2008

Quite a bit better this time, I think, than the last few. The monitor sound was way better, eventually. The sound guy, Scott, was trying to figure out how to make my mic louder, and to patch it through to the monitor speaker during the first half of the first song. This was screwing me up something awful, but once he settled on something, I could at least hear what was going on.

We played "Copperline" first. I wasn't sure how it would go over, because, although I play it pretty well, it's not well known. But this is a crowd of mostly "music people" and I could see that a lot of them knew it, and hopefully appreciated the novelty of an amateur attempting it.

Then we did "Crying". I like to show off my vocal chops in one of our three-only songs, but it clearly loses something in this "party atmosphere". I did see some people listening intently, though, so I think we got to some of them.

Last, we did "You Were On My Mind", at a bit faster clip than usual. This went over very well, I thought -- suits the room on a Tuesday night. I looked up to see Patrick and Jean, some new friends, dancing away, and apparently singing along, all the way at the back of the room. That was encouraging both because it meant that the song was working, but also let me know that the sound was getting out there. That part's hard to tell with this setup.

Anyway, I think we impressed some folks. I had made up some "posters" that Chuck will put up around the store, and some little quarter-sheets that people can take home to remind them that we're there for a full gig on Thursday night. I guess we'll see if any of them were impressed enough to actually come by.

(The picture is actually snagged from a video that new-friend Mark took last week. But I imagine we looked about the same last night...)

Keith at South Coast Plaza -- 28April2008

Another quietly appreciative audience. Got plenty of requests, though -- the first one from a friendly girl at the back named Michelle, who asked for, of course, "Michelle". A guy down front marked up a song list, choosing several James Taylor songs, which suits me fine.

Also, the lady that's hiring me to play her art show was there, and her boyfriend brought up a list with a dozen songs on it. She was there to listen to my set and she'd brought a highlighter to indicate songs that she likes. By the end of the night, she'd pretty much colored the whole sheet yellow. She discovered that she basically likes all my songs, so I guess I'll have to ask her if there were any that she *didn't* like, so I can avoid them.

She was there the whole night, and used the time to stuff invitations into envelopes. It's not invitation-only, but she was sending out "notices" to everybody she knows. Turns out, she's not "running" the show, like I thought, she's the artist. The shop is a mosaic store, but she does "contemporary florals". There was a sample on the invitation, and it looks like "toile painting" to me, but, whatever. She says that there'll be mosaic art, and several of her canvasses, both. Should be interesting, because the "shop" is a converted old house in Long Beach, and she didn't even really know where she was gonna put me, yet. We'll see.

I looked around the store when I got there, and didn't see the "no tip jar" manager, so I put the jar out, just sitting by itself on a stool. I didn't put the CDs out because I forgot to make some more and there are only a few left. So, since the little sign refers to buying CDs, and uses the CD stand as its stand, there was no sign at all for the jar. Still, I made $21, which is pretty good. There were quite a few people appreciative enough to walk up and stuff some money in, even though there was very little clapping.

There are a few "regulars" there that I'm starting to recognize. One nice old lady painstakingly walked up and asked me "Where's your partner?" in her Jersey accent, as if I'd had him bumped off or something. I assured her that he was doing just fine, but was home with his wife this time.

K&W at Java Joe's Open Mic -- 22April2008

We didn't have an upcoming gig to plug, but these open mics are so much fun we decided to just go out and play anyway. It's too bad the sound is so bad that it's nearly impossible to play.

We played "South of the Border" first, then "I Only Have Eyes For You", and then "Bus Stop". New buddy Mark Hermann had a video camera set up and has posted videos of all three songs (among others), here.

I didn't realize it at the time, but my voice is kinda wobbly at first -- I guess I was more nervous than I thought.

Anyway, it's always fun, even if it's scary (*especially* if it's scary?), and we made more contact with "the crowd" up there.

Keith plays for the Indian Princesses -- 19April2008

The Indian Princess Nation that I was in for 10 years as my girls went through the program asked me to come back and play a "concert" for them as their Saturday Night Campfire program. I've been "gone" for a year, so there were a few new dads and daughters, but most of them know me, have my CD and know all my songs, and are my biggest fans.

As soon as I got ready to play, they were already shouting "Waltzing With Bears!", so, although I had planned to save it for the end, I went ahead with that. The kids all jumped up on the benches, put their hands in the air and swayed back and forth, and held up their lit-up cell phones. Several of the dads said that it was like a Springsteen concert.

I ran through all my "hits": "...Bears", "Lollipop Tree", "Marvelous Toy", "Love Potion #9", "Last Unicorn", "You Got a Friend In Me", etc. Also, of course, my sing-along "I'm an Indian Princess" song with the cue-cards, and my Princess-themed "Three Mile Hike" to the tune of "Gilligan's Island".

I also did "Teddy Bear's Picnic" which is new (to them, 'cuz it isn't on the CD), and "Octopus's Garden" (which really just doesn't go over, somehow). I'd also learned a new song, "You Can't Be a Pirate", which is pretty funny and went over really well. I had set up my video camera on a tripod and just hit "record" to capture the whole thing, so I clipped out that song and posted the video so the kids (and you) can go see it. Click here.

The only downside was that the stage is a nice concrete platform with a fire-ring built into it at one end. That's cool, but they put the fire-ring on the upwind side (the campground is only a mile from the beach, the wind always blows one way). I was smothered in smoke half the time, which was affecting my voice. I had some real trouble on the high notes of "House at Pooh Corner", but I don't think the kids noticed. You can see the clouds of smoke blowing by me on the video and in the picture above.

I had been "assigned" to make a pitch for the older-girls (Trailmates) program that we're in now, so in the middle of the show I had all the near-graduation Princesses come down to the stage and get in a huddle for a "secret message". I told them about the program in a stage-whisper, sent them back to their seats, and then "realized" that my head-mic was on the whole time! Not so secret after all. (Of course, the intention was that the dads get the info, too.)

After the traditional final song of my new-lyrics version of "Goodnight Irene", I had some CDs ready for the girls that didn't have one already, and I had brought a Sharpie to autograph them. I had a crowd of girls around me, waiting their turn for an autographed CD. That was pretty fun, too. After a while, a guy in the crowd said "Can you get a CD if you're not in the group?" He'd come down from Ventura just to camp there, had heard the music, and come up to listen with his kids -- and now he wanted to buy a CD. Flattering.

Anyway, it was a terrific time for me, since they're the best audience I'm ever bound to have. Not to mention that kids are twice as demonstrative than adults, and they all know my stuff already, so they're ultra enthusiastic. After the show, I walked around all the campfires just to talk with old friends, and the dads were appreciative, too. With any luck, they'll ask me out again sometime.

Another paying gig!

Back in March, I played a solo gig at Costa Mesa that I thought had gone pretty poorly. I played well, but nobody seemed to care. But then at the end as I was collecting the song sheets, a lady asked me if I "played events". I've been telling myself to quit waffling on this point when asked, and just say "yes" -- so I just said "yes". She said that she had an art show coming up and might want to hire me. It seemed to me like she was needing to consult with someone else, or maybe was just gonna recommend me to someone else, so I just gave her a card, a song sheet, and a CD, and told her to email me if it came together. I didn't really expect anything to come of it.

But 6 weeks later, I get an email, and it's On, if I'm available May 18th, and what's my fee for 3 hours of playing? Surprise! Somehow, $250 seemed like a good number to ask for, so I did, and she went for it!

It's at an art "store" in Long Beach, in an old bungalow house in a little district that's becoming an art/craft/design center. The store actually does mosaic -- designs, installations, and lessons. So I guess it'll be a mosaic show, but whatever. She thinks there'll be 300 people coming through. Should be fun, and real money!

I feel a little weird about doing it without "inviting" Warren, but, like the wedding gig, she happened to "audition" me when I was solo, so that sound and band-size is obviously what she's expecting to hire. When the wedding-lady took me off-guard at Tustin, I stammered through offering a two-man band as even better, but she said that she liked what she'd been hearing just fine. She may also have been wary of what the cost might be if there are two guys instead of one.

Anyway, I had really thought that we'd get lots of offers to play "events" from people who hear us at a coffeeshop somewhere, but it hasn't happened much. But suddenly, two paying gigs in two months. I'm pretty sure I'm getting better, but I'm not *that* much better than I was a year ago, so it's probably just coincidence.

K&W at the Santa Ana Zoo -- 12April2008

Well, *that* didn't go as well as we'd planned. Started off poorly when I got there at 10:30 to find that the portable stage and amplifier that were supposed to be there at 10:00 were nowhere to be seen. So I sat around for 45 minutes, waiting for the stuff so I could start my own set up, and our 11:00 publicized start time was more like 11:45. Old friends Bill and Mary Jane were there on-time at 11, so they sat around waiting. My parents were clever enough to show up late, so they were there just before we started.

I gave my video camera to my dad, and he got a couple of songs, but he wasn't feeling well so they had to go home early. Not that they missed anything -- I was totally "off my game". I don't think I've played that badly in years. Partly, I was tired since we'd played a gig just the night before. I also just felt burned out, somehow. Of course, the new situation was distracting, it was hot and windy, and I always screw up when there are movie cameras around. I could go on making excuses, but, bottom line, I sucked.

My brother showed up a little after my parents left, and took over with my video camera, and Warren got a few songs with his little camera too, but again, garbage in, garbage out. Even the songs with no big mistakes in them are lackadaisical and dull.

Oh well. We'll try again, but without a gig the night before, and see if I can pull out of the dive. Warren, apparently, was playing as well as ever, although even though he could hear himself OK, the cameras couldn't. He must have been getting into it though, 'cuz he broke a string, first time ever, and had to do half the gig with 5.

K&W at Costa Mesa -- 11April2008

Another "room full of middle-aged dudes" night at Costa Mesa. And Mr. Superfan was back! Fortunately, there weren't any groups of loud people for him to yell at, so it went quite a bit better than last time. And, now that I know to be aware of it, I was careful not to let him hijack the set list this time, either.

I don't think he noticed or minded, though -- he thinks all my stuff is pretty amazing. It's great to be appreciated, but weird to be so powerfully so. Compared to my normal amount of response, it's frankly a little scary.

K&W at Java Joe's, open mic -- 08April2008

That was really fun. We're getting to know the other guys that hang out at these Tuesday night things, and they, us, so it's just plain fun. We did our three songs ("Carolina In My Mind", "Long, Long Time", and "Five O'Clock World"), and watched several of the other guys get up and play. Including an old-timer who plays a left-handed guitar, left-handed, but strung right-handed! Essentially he's playing it upside down, so although he's playing the same chords we're used to seeing, his hand comes at the strings from the wrong side. It's freaky-lookin' to a guitar player -- especially one like me who's constantly on the lookout to learn new stuff from scoping other players' hands.

We had a nice long chat with one of the guys, Mark, one of the few who still plays at Borders. (Most of the other guys have gotten fed up with the ill-treatment.) He told me how he'd been playing at the Mission Viejo store, and somebody walked up and asked him to play "Waltzing With Bears"! He's shorter and stockier than I am, but he's an "old guy with a little beard", so it was an honest mistake.

Anyway, the plan was to play on the Tuesdays that are in front of some other gig that we have in Yorba Linda, either at Java Joe's itself or Borders, but it's so much fun that I'm tempted to go out much more frequently than that. Unfortunately, that'll be a pretty expensive habit to cultivate, with gas prices being what they are.

K&W at Mission Viejo -- 04Apr2008

They wanted us in for the apparently annual "Educator Appreciation Event", with book discounts, food, prizes -- and us -- for teachers of any stripe. But the "reception" was from 4 to 8, so we started an hour earlier than usual -- tricky on a work night.

But it was fun. Operations Manager and sweetie Sally was there. She's a big James Taylor fan, so she loves it when I show up. I'd been working hard on "Copperline" just to get it ready enough to play it for her. I've been trying to get as much on her good side as possible to try to get Geneva a summer job there, but it was all in vain -- you have to be 18. Oh well.

Had quite a few friends drop by, too. Two guys from Princesses with their families; Acacia's friend from up the hill and her mom, by coincidence; and one of Daleen's student's dad ran by, also by coincidence. Also one of Geneva's friends from school, with her little klatch of friends. That's what you get in the "neighborhood store", I guess.

We played a full (and manager-authorized) three hours, with pretty-good to very-good response. Sally came by once in a while and waited for another James Taylor song. Sold 6 CDs and made $14 each, which is pretty good, these days.

The new "stage" arrangement, back by the windows rather than in the middle of the floor is an improvement, but it's still the worst sound of any store we play. For some reason, all the conversation carries everywhere; we're way too close to the blender and grinder, and I guess my own sound is coming back at me far too well, 'cuz I get un-fixable feedback on both the guitar and mic. I finally fixed most of the feedback by just unplugging my little monitor speaker, relying on the room's echo to fill in.

Maybe we need to experiment with different locations -- maybe just ti our right 15 feet so we're in the corner of the café, near the magazines. We'd be farther from the grinder, and maybe the oblique angle off the glass will help with reflections.

Keith solo at South Coast Plaza -- 28March2008

Another quiet but pleasant night. I do love the acoustics at the South Coast Plaza store.

Unfortunately, Big Earholes Guy manager was there, so I couldn't put the tip jar and CDs out. But that's OK, simplifies pack-up anyway.

I had a group of 4 teenage Latinas show up and ask for mainly Beatles songs. Lots of 'em -- including "Yesterday" which I have in the book, but don't normally do. That was pretty fun for a while.

And towards the end, an young Asian lady and her mom showed up, listening intently, and the mom was requesting songs with her daughter as intermediary. They stayed through the end, and then the daughter came up and introduced herself as "Fatima", and told me that she's "the band" there for next Friday -- her first outing with Borders. She had lots of questions about how it works and what to bring and what to do, and I answered as much as I could -- I know how hard it is to get started.

Her Borders blurb says, "Fatima sings in English, Vietnamese, and French, and is easy and fun to listen to. She's a musical breath of fresh air." She told me that she sings and has a guitar and keyboard player backing her up. I hope she does well, she was a sweetie.

K&W at Java Joe's, full gig -- 26March2008

A pretty good start, I think, for our first shot at this new (for us) venue. Unlike the Open Mic the night before, we got to use our own equipment, which, along with there being far fewer people there making noise, made the sound way better. I could hear what I was doing, and that's always a good thing.

There were probably 15 people overall, which is as good as many of our Borders nights. But the difference in atmosphere made it better just because people in a coffee shop recognize musicians as part of the scene, not an interruption, so they were more inclined to listen and join in.

With fewer people, and it being less "new", I was far more relaxed and was able to do a pretty good job of it. Gary of "Acoustic Conversation" was there the whole time -- he either really liked us, or had nothing better to do. He took some pretty good pictures for us with Warren's camera, asked for a few songs, made nice comments about some of them, was impressed with some of the selections on the list, and sang harmony from out at his table on a few of them.

Which, in retrospect, was probably an overture -- and one that I was too dense to recognize. At the open mic the night before, all the guys were automatically "honorary members" of each other's bands. And I'm sure my list of "hits of the 60's and 70's" lines up at high percentage with Gary's, so I’m sure he can sing the harmony just fine. Maybe the first gig was actually a little early anyway, but next time I'll definitely be open to the suggestion -- and prepare for it by having the other mic ready. And getting Gary up there will also be a good indication that we're being inducted into the club. It's actually flattering that he seems to think that we're "club material" already.

Another thing I noticed, and I can't believe I was so dense not to notice on Tuesday, was that they serve wine (I didn't see any beer, which is probably a good thing). There's a sign near the door that says that minors aren't allowed inside after 7pm. This, of course, makes all the difference in the nighttime attendance. We've played coffeeshops around here, and it's hard to get people out, 'cuz, duh, coffee is for mornings. With the Starbucks phenomenon that's changed a lot, but it's still not what people "my age" think of to do at night.

Anyway, Chuck the owner seemed pleased with us, enough that he went ahead and booked us for the next set of gigs. He apparently thinks we can join the ranks of the "headliners" that fill the place on Friday and Saturday nights... eventually. And once we have "a following", which he thinks we're certain to do, and apparently in only two more outings. So, we're booked for two upcoming Thursday nights, and then the first open Friday coming up, July 20th.

Along with those, and according to Chuck's wisdom, we will also (try to) play each of the preceding Tuesday night Open Mics, based on the "preview and hype" philosophy that appears to be working there. You play your three songs and repeatedly announce when you're playing next for people who like what they're hearing. I think maybe we ought to go play another one before real gigs start, too (April 15th?) -- just for the practice, exposure, and to keep the connection alive. Not to mention the fun and camaraderie.

When we were all done, Gary came up and threw two bucks into the big "tip pail" that Chuck has up by the stage, and so did the nice lady he had been talking to most of the night. That was all the tips we got, but Chuck had the coffeegirl make up two "take-out" packages full of pastries and muffins (that would be "day-old" anyway), and he put ten bucks under the rubber band of each of them for us. That was really nice of him. He also insisted that we take sodas with us "for the road" on our way out. It's strange to be treated like they actually *want* us there...

K&W at Java Joe's, open mic -- 25March2008

Amazing. The place was pretty much jammed the whole night. We got there during act number 4 or 5, and we were 8th or so. Turns out that, unlike the Gypsy Den Open Mic nights we've been to, the Java Joe's Open Mic is mainly the headliners of subsequent shows, previewing and hyping the upcoming gigs. At the Gypsy Den, it's all amateurs, trying to get a little stage time. There were a few beginners at Joe's, but mostly it was established bands, and recombined versions of them.

They're all old friends up there, and are happy to sit in with each other in any combination for percussion, backup vocals, or whatever. It's really just a big Music Party on Tuesdays. We were The New Guys, but they're all very friendly, and we met a bunch of guys that basically have the same "hobby" that we have. Neal, the guy we met the other night at Brea Downtown was there and recognized us like we were old high school buddies. We met Gary of "Acoustic Conversations", the band Daleen and I had seen at Brea DT last summer which prompted us (K&W) to get our gig there (with, hopefully, more to come). Also Mark, possibly the last holdout of the bunch that still stoops to play at Borders -- the rest of them have abandoned it in frustration and disgust, a perfectly understandable reaction to the way we're treated. And a nice guy named Patrick, and the "sound man" Scott, who "hosts" the evening, and brings all the equipment.

It's a big happy "club" really -- one I wouldn't mind belonging to (if not for the long drive...) (OK, even with the drive.)

We got to play three songs, which we had agreed upon on the drive home last Friday: "Desperado", "Fire and Rain", and "Let it Be". These are pretty clearly our "greatest hits" with audiences at Borders, and we've played them a few jillion times so we should theoretically have been able to pull them off even under pressure.

Pretty close.

Problem was, on top of nerves, the sound was pretty awful, from where I was standing anyway. Apparently, although I couldn't hear myself hardly at all, we were perfectly clear for the audience -- which is a chilling thought, since I had to just abandon hoping to know what I was up to and play (and sing) by faith. That's really hard, and scary, and especially, dangerous, 'cuz you don't know if or when you're making mistakes. You can almost play guitar by feel, but it's pretty tough to sing that way -- you have to be able to hear what's coming out, and adjust on the fly.

Anyway, although I couldn't tell, we appear to have done all right. Since it's a big party/reunion for the attendees, there's a lot of chatting and laughter going on in the room, even when the established guys are on. But we had some people tune in, and got a really warm response, generally. The owner (Chuck) seemed happy with us, and the other "club members" we talked to afterwards all said nice things. We seem to have "passed the audition".

Keith (solo) at Costa Mesa -- 22March2008

Interesting night. When I got there, there was (almost) nothing but men, sitting and reading or working on computers. I thought, "This is gonna be a tough one", but almost right away, a few guys were pretty impressed, and started paying attention and requesting songs. It's always gratifying to manage to break people out of what they came there to do (read and drink coffee) and get them into the music.

After a while, another guy came in, alone. He *really* liked me. He was, right away, clapping loudly and telling me "That was *excellent*!" and stuff like that, after every song. Wow -- pretty cool. Except...

There was a table next to him with 4 guys having a (pretty loud) Smarter-Than-Thou, Bible argument/discussion. I was just ignoring the frequent outbursts and loud talking, but Mr. Fan wasn't having it. He started off with some loud shushing, and when that didn't work, started in with, "Hey! There's a guy trying to *play* up here!" The Bible Guys, to their credit, ignored him for quite a while, but finally gave up and left.

Then he started in with the same treatment on the two ladies at the next table over who were studying for their Real Estate license exams. I don't know why they had to do it quite so loudly, but Mr. Fan launched into them, too. I kept trying to tell him "Oh, it's OK, I've had worse" and "I'm used to it" kinds of stuff, but he wanted "these people" to "show some respect!". Problem was, he wasn't doing me any favors -- it was mortifying to me for him to be making such a fuss.

The other problem with having a superfan is that he was monopolizing the setlist. He'd be yelling out his next request before the previous song's last chord had died out -- leaving no opportunity for anyone else to make a request, or for me to play one of the newer songs that aren't on the list yet. I had to stall him off a few times and specifically ask other people if they had something they wanted to hear.

Like the little group of "punks" that came in. The pink-haired girl with the dual-pierced lower lip and huge chest tattoo wanted to hear that punk classic, "Rainbow Connection", and then "Puff, the Magic Dragon". That was the Sex Pistols, right? Or was it Black Flag?

K&W at Yorba Linda -- 21March2008

Eventful night. We left early so we could drop by "Brea Downtown" to see if we could find out anything about why we're not getting any response from the lady that books the entertainment there. I figured that if nobody was there setting up, it didn't really tell us anything, but if there *was* somebody there, we'd at least know that it was still happening, and maybe find out more.

As it turned out, a nice guy named Neal was setting up, so Step One confirmed. We talked to him, and he says the incommunicado Linda is still in charge, but she's usually easier to raise on the phone, not email -- so I guess Warren will start trying that. With any luck, we'll get another shot at that place.

Then, on to the Yorba Linda Borders. It's pretty nice when the coffee girl lets out a little "Yay!" when she spots us coming in. We clearly, at minimum, suck less than whoever else she might be expecting.

As we were setting up, a little girl in "Heelies" zipped over to me and asked if I was "from the YMCA". She hadn't, but her dad had recognized me from the Princess campouts. Not sure why somebody in the Mission Viejo YMCA program was hanging out at the Yorba Linda Borders, but he never came over. Nice to be recognized, though.

Otherwise, a pleasant, normal night. Until later, when seven 12-year-old girls came in. They were having a fun time, pretended to dance for a while, and then went over to the counter to buy some hot chocolate, etc. I've been learning "Hey There Delilah", which is a pretty popular new song, so I started playing it, thinking they might recognize it, which proved to be very much correct. They all perked up and came flying over to sit in the comfy chairs up front, many of them singing along. Then they noticed the song lists ("We get to request songs?!?"), and started asking for kid songs: "...Friend In Me", "Rubber Duckie", "Puff", "Over the Rainbow", etc.

They were pretty fun to play for, generally polite, except they didn't seem to have the attention span to actually listen all the way through the songs that they'd asked for. They probably didn't really need those lattes and cappuccinos they were ordering.

After that, we went to check out a place called "Java Joe's", which we'd heard about off and on for a while, and keeps popping up on other local bands' schedules. It's just 3 or 4 miles down the road from the Yorba Linda Borders, so we decided to drop by and see what was up. If it turned out to be as lame as the local coffee shops we've tried to play at, we could just drive away.

We got there at 10:55, and the place was *jumpin'*! A three-piece band (drum set, acoustic guitar, and conga, with three-part vocals) was jammed onto the little stage, and 15 or 20 people were down front, dancing! Another 15 were sitting and talking, either inside or out on the sidewalk where it was quieter. Amazing.

We watched for a while and decided we were definitely "in". So we found the owner (Chuck), and Warren just blurted out, "We want to play here!", to which the Chuck said, "I *want* you to play here!" We all retired to the relative quiet of his office, and he signed us up for the very next Tuesday's "Open Mic Night", where we can play 3 songs, and hype any other appearances, including the also-booked Wednesday night full-sized gig. My head's still spinning...

The bad part is, only 3 days to "prepare" -- the good part, only 3 days to worry. We've gotten all-too-comfortable playing at the various Borders stores, there's no fear left -- it's not like anybody's actually listening. But this place is an actual Music Place. People come there to (a) drink and talk, and (b) listen to live music. On purpose. That makes it quite a bit different.

K&W at South Coast Plaza -- 14March2008

Not a lot of people there, but we almost always had somebody listening, so it was OK. While we were setting up, a pair of ladies sat down up front, and were watching intently, clearly waiting for us to start. They listened closely for several songs, asking for favorites, and clapping appreciatively. After a while, they had to leave, and the older one (the mom?) got a fiver out of her purse as they were packing up, and asked, "Where's your tip jar?" This being the (only) store that's told us that we can't have a tip jar, that was a tough question. I felt like I couldn't blurt out "We're not allowed to have one" over the microphone, but we kind of fumbled around awkwardly for a while and settled on letting her drop the fiver on the extra speaker over next to me.

Then, to top it off, she asked, "Do you have CDs?" We are, of course, not allowed to sell CDs anymore either (well, we are, but only "through the store", which is far more trouble than it's worth). I said, well, yes, I have some in the suitcase here, and got one out and handed it to her. She asked how much it was and I told her that she'd already paid for it (with the fiver). But she didn't want to let it go at that, and fetched out 2 more dollars to drop on the speaker. Awkward. Having a tip jar seems a little needy and tacky to me, but not having one turns out to be worse. People want to be able to show their appreciation, and you have to give them a way.

We had a gap for a while where nobody (appeared to be) listening, so I played some new stuff I've been working up: "Hey There Delilah", Tom Waits' "I Hope that I Don't Fall In Love With You", and Roy Orbison's (via Chris Isaak) "Only the Lonely". I don't usually learn (i.e., obsess over) three new songs in one week, but they ganged up on me, what can I say?

After a while, a couple that we've seen there before dropped into the comfy chairs up front and wanted to hear some James Taylor. Apparently, the guy is learning guitar, and wanted to watch me play some of those. I pointed out that James is a much better (trickier?) guitar player than he's generally given credit for, and the secret to playing his stuff is to have 35 years of playing under your belt. Not to be too discouraging, but just strumming the chords doesn't work with 95% of the James songs.

And then after they left, my brother and his wife came in. While they were there, another guy requested some Gordon Lightfoot. This is the same store that I got two Lightfoot requests last time. Fortunately, right after that I went home and learned his Biggest Hit, "If You Could Read My Mind", so I played it, and did pretty well, considering I just learned it.

But then Roy wanted "10 Degrees and Gettin' Colder", another Lightfoot song he knows I play, so I did that, which spun me off into some other songs in that "Drop D" tuning: "Can't Find My Way Home", "Four and Twenty" and "Five O'Clock World".

We played well past the "2 hours" maximum, but we know that place is friendly, and we ran into the nice manager on the way out and talked to him about it and he didn't have any problem. He loves us. I'm sure we could, and probably will, appeal the No Tip Jar rule with him and he'd let us do it again. Or maybe we'll just put it out next time and plead ignorance/forgetfulness if called on it.

K&W at the Santa Ana Zoo -- 02March2008

Well, apparently it *is* all happening at the zoo. Or most of it anyway...

We played the relatively-new "Family Farm" section of the Santa Ana Zoo, for its 56th Birthday Weekend. There's a nice stage back there, between the chicken coop and the goats, and they even put out some chairs to make a little "audience" for us. Assuming people came and sat in 'em, of course.

It's kind of hidden back in the corner, and we were dreading either no traffic at all, or people we wouldn't know how to play for. But it turned out to be almost entirely young families with infant to about 7-year-old kids. Kids that young usually don't actually know any particular songs (I've had that experience before, with the Indian Princesses), but they can sometimes be fascinated by guys-with-guitars anyway, so it can still work.

We had one little boy whose dad kept dragging him away, but would show up again a few minutes later. We had small families with parents glad for the chance to sit a while. And we had a few teen volunteers who thought that we weren't half-bad, and asked for a song or two.

What we *didn't* have was 5th grade tough boys asking for ACDC or "Smoke On the Water" to pump up their macho cred. We were half-prepared for that ('cuz we see that a lot when we play at elementary schools), but fortunately we didn't have to deliver.

We played about half kids songs, and half up-tempo rock or country-rock. We started right when the zoo opened so we didn't have much traffic right at first, but it got better as time went on. We play the grown-up songs when there was nobody sitting down so folks were just wandering by, but then when some kids would sit down, I'd play something for them, to see how long I could keep 'em.

One set of parents set their little 2-year-old boy down and kind of danced around next to him, clearly encouraging him to dance, too. But he just stood there, frozen solid, entranced, but immobile. I quickly switched to the "How can you *not* dance" classic, "Twist and Shout", but he just stood and stared, a statue of a boy. It was funny 'cuz his parents were so convinced...

The management seems to have liked us, too, and wants to put us "up front" next time -- an area right at the entrance and exit that was occupied by the model railroaders for the birthday bash. That will be a better place to play, no doubt, 'cuz everybody comes through there, twice, and the concession stand with its picnic tables form a captive audience.

There's a little electric train that carries 15 or twenty passengers around the place, and it could come by directly behind the stage we were on, every 3 or 4 songs. It was fun, 'cuz suddenly an audience would appear behind me, but briefly, and I was always in the middle of a song. So I'd spin around and sing and smile at the train people, but it was tricky 'cuz I was suddenly without my chords and words book. But I apparently know those songs better than I think I do, 'cuz I never messed up while the train was there -- though I screwed up plenty of times while I was staring right at the book.

So, despite the wind, we had a pretty good time, so I guess we'll be back there for "more fun" a time or three. But Warren's not too fond of playing kids songs, so it may end up to be me, solo, pretty quick. We didn't put a tip jar or guitar case out this time (the money would'a blown away anyway), but Warren asked technician Steve about it afterwards and he said it's totally OK. And, out front, where there's lots of what Steve calls "stroller moms", it may turn out to be lucrative.

Keith solo at Yorba Linda -- 29Feb2008

Nice night. Kinda quiet, but it got better, as they usually do. A friend from work, Tony, came by with his two little kids. The boy (5?) was too shy to react much, but the little girl (3?) really liked "Rubber Ducky". Walked up and asked me to play it again 5 minutes later in her tiny little voice. They didn't stay very long, but it was nice to have somebody from work actually hear me, finally. Not that he's the first, but pretty close.

Also, an old Indian Princess friend and his daughter dropped in right at the beginning -- I have to imagine just by coincidence. He bellowed out "Play 'Dancing With Bears'!", so I did (except it's "*Waltzing*"). The may have listened to one more song, and left. Other plans, I suppose.

My wedding couple were there, too, again. She asked for some of the songs that she wants me to play at the wedding (in July), but I think we're pretty squared away, except for how long "Something" runs versus how far she has to walk during it. I'd hate to have her hit the altar in the middle of the second verse. I'll have to figure out how to gracefully quit at various points in the song, before I get there.

I played right up to 10:00, but it turns out that they close that store at midnight, so I played a little more, until I was getting paranoid because of our recent troubles on that account, and quit at 10:20-ish. There was a guy who seemed to be the manager-in-charge for the night, and he thanked me graciously as I was packing up, so I don't think I made anybody mad. (He had, in fact, dropped some money in the jar earlier on -- it's strange when the staff does that...)

As I was walking out the front, which is pretty far from the café where I was playing, the front desk girl called out "Thanks for playing for us!" That was pretty sweet.

Keith at Costa Mesa -- 23Feb2008

A very quiet night. People seemed to like the music, but it was one of those "don't break the silence" vibes that keeps people from clapping -- except one guy over in the comfy chairs and a young lady at one of the tables with her boyfriend. She clapped after every song, but she never once looked at me -- odd.

I kept trying to tell myself that if I wasn't there playing, I'd probably be at home either watching TV, or playing in the bedroom, and nobody'd be clapping there, either. So to just enjoy being out, and consider it a rehearsal. It's actually just plain more fun to play through the amp, and especially to sing through it, with the reverb and all. I tell myself that, but it still bugs me when I get to the end of a song and people just sit there, silent. Even if it wasn't me up there, I'd still consider it pretty rude. Poor boy up there giving it what he's got -- toss him a bone!

Anyway, the total silence makes it easy to hear myself, which makes me sing and play better 'cuz I can tell what I'm doing. And my voice was finally back to normal after my cold, and I was completely in control again -- even (only?) I was amazed at what I could hit/do. That's a great feeling.

And since I was (apparently) just playing "for me" anyway, I took the chance to play some of the less common/popular songs, "Down On Yourself", "Jersey Girl", "Under the Boardwalk", etc. Some of that stuff is just great fun to lean back and belt out.

A lady sat down at one of the tables at 9:40 or so. I quit promptly at 10, and when I went out to collect the song lists, she asked me if I played "events". This time, I had the presence of mind not to hedge or dodge, and just say "Yes!" She works at (?) an art gallery in Long Beach (!) and she thought they might want to have me come play for something or other, an opening or show or something -- she didn't give any specifics. She isn't actually in charge of it, but she was gonna suggest me to the lady who is, so I gave her a CD to take, and told her to email me if it worked out. As of this writing, that was 4 days ago now, so I'm not holding my breath.

But, apparently I wasn't playing "for myself" after all -- I need to remember that: despite the No-Response, people really are (or may be, anyway), listening. Kind of reversed the whole evening for me -- even if she never calls.

K&W at Mission Viejo -- 16Feb2008

Not as good as last time at MV, but pretty good. I think the basic difference was that last time I "had their attention" somehow, and this time, some, but not so much. Pretty good fun, nonetheless.

The sound was a pretty big problem, almost all the way through. My guitar was either mysteriously disappearing, or getting swallowed up by the ambient noise; the usual grinders and blenders, but, I think, mostly the general din of conversations bouncing right around the place. "Live room", I guess. Makes a big difference between "getting their attention" and not, 'cuz it'll affect the amount of conversation you have to play over. It's a good place to play because it's close to my house, and close enough that there's a chance some friends may come out (only one did, this time), but it's definitely the worst sound environment we've played at.

I kept playing with the controls for my guitar, but it's hard to figure out what to do when, during the previous song, it was both too loud and too quiet. I kept tweaking the tone, but I think in the end I was (unknowingly) trying to find some kind of tone that would cut through the noise. I got somewhere close, and just proceeded on faith, but later on when it got emptier and quieter, the guitar sound magically wasn't a problem anymore.

As a joke, I made some stickers for my guitar to make it look like a "Guitar Hero" controller. A few people "got it", but most people didn't, and seemed to think it was some kind of remedial guitar. So I've taken them off. I thought it was a pretty good joke, myself, but on the other hand, they'd occasionally throw me off and I'd grab the wrong fret, oddly enough. I guess I'm too used to a completely blank fingerboard.

One guy who definitely didn't "get it" was a friendly but kinda loopy guy who came to sit right down front, and proceeded to sing, loudly, along with every song he knew. I ended up trying to find songs that would entertain everybody else, but that he wouldn't know, but he's in some kind of songwriter/singer club, and he knows lots of songs. Finally Warren leaned over and shushed him, multiple times, until he figured it out. It's cool that he was having fun, but (a) the people around him, I think, wanted to hear me, not him, and (b) it was confusing to me to have him singing the songs differently than I do, and fumbling for the words and screwing me up.

One high point, though, was little Garrett (maybe 3?) and his dad that came in and sat right down front. The kid apparently plays "Guitar Hero", so he recognized my guitar, and he wanted to dance and "air guitar" while we were playing. I enlisted him to make train noises with the shaker while we played "Jenny Dreamed of Trains", and he did pretty well. I started conspicuously tapping my foot to try to get/keep him on beat, but he saw that and tried to imitate it, which along with the shaker, overloaded his coordination and almost made him fall over. It was really cute, and the rest of audience was enjoying watching him, too.

Keith (solo) at South Coast Plaza -- 15Feb2008

Mostly uneventful, quiet, pleasant night. Bill and MaryJane came and stayed a long time, and that's always really nice for me. I dug into the "Dad's CD" section of my book, 'cuz I knew they'd remember those songs.

A young couple came in and, for no apparent reason, hung out in the aisle of books to my right for most of the night, sitting on the floor. He was skimming books, she was sketching. The guy asked if I knew any Gordon Lightfoot, meaning, apparently, "If You Could Read My Mind", 'cuz he hadn't heard of the 4 or 5 songs that I know or knew -- not that I could'a played 'em anyway, except "10 Degrees and Gettin' Colder", but he didn't know it, so I didn't bother. He enjoyed my "Simon and Garfunkle" songs, though, so, close enough.

But 20 minutes later, a 40-ish guy came in and sat down in the comfy chairs with a book, and after a while he looked up and asked if I knew any Gordon Lightfoot! Too weird. I said, "That guy just asked me that!", but they didn't know each other. He didn't know "10 Degrees" either. Guess I'll have to go learn "Read My Mind"...

No drama at all over the tip jar or CD rack. I was hoping the "real manager", an older guy who's *very* friendly to us, would come by so I could say "Shame about that tip jar rule" and see if he said (a) "Yup, it's a shame", or (b) "Oh, just ignore that rule!", or (c) "What tip jar rule?". But he didn't come by, and when I tried to go see him at the end of the night, he was way too busy with customers.

The Lightfoot fan's girlfriend over in the aisle asked me as I was tearing down if I "had a tip jar or something". I told her I did, but that I wasn't allowed to put it out anymore. I told her that it was OK, though, I'm not in it for the money. Frankly, it made setup and teardown a lot simpler, not having to put all that stuff out there. But it is nice to be compensated at least a little, and, as Warren always says, it's a nice form of feedback about whether or not you're doing anything right. We made $18 each at Mission Viejo the next night. That pays for a couple of the next week's lunches...

One odd thing -- towards the end, a nicely-dressed 20-something black guy came in, sat down and was pointedly listening. To the point of "studying" me. I'm not sure why -- he didn't seem to be a guitar player picking up tips (I can usually recognize those), and he didn't have any particular questions or requests. Oddly, he wasn't in a hurry to take a look at the list, even after I pointed it out to him. And after a while, he asked if he could take my picture (with his phone). Huh? I said, "Sure, send me a copy", but I wonder what he wanted a picture for. Sometimes people seem "too interested" and hang out to the end, and then ask us about how to get a gig like this -- but he left, kinda suddenly, a few songs before the end. If he hadn't been so slow to grab a list, I'd be wondering if he was with the RIAA or something, gathering evidence.

No picture in my email yet, either...

K&W (-W) at Yorba Linda - 08Feb2008

(This was supposed to be "Keith & Warren" but turned into "just Keith" when Warren called in sick. Hope he's well enough to play Mission Viejo next Saturday...)

A quietly appreciative crowd this time, I guess. I couldn't seem to raise much of a reaction from the readers and studiers that were there when I got there, until the last half hour or so when some more demonstrative ladies came in and were requesting James Taylor songs. Which, of course, I was happy to oblige.

They were friendly enough, most people were willing to state a song preference, but just not very loudly. One of those "feels like it ought to be quiet in here" nights. It's that "library ambiance". But, at the end, there were 27 bucks in the tip jar, and the front check-out counter lady came over specially while I was tearing down to tell me that "a whole lot of customers told me how much they liked your music", so they were liking it, just not showing it so much.

I put the tip jar and CD display out, bold as you please, and nobody said a word. Apparently, the enforcement of the tip jar ban is a matter of local management discretion. And the management loves us there.

Last Friday at Tustin, a 20-something lady and her boyfriend sat and listened for the last hour or so, asking for some songs and generally being right there with me. That was great, but at the end, she came right up and asked me if I played weddings. I said that I haven't, but certainly could, and she could send me the particulars by looking me up on the website address on the card.

Now, when Warren and I started playing at Tully's 6 (!) years ago, I thought that this might happen with some frequency. It's a brilliant way to find a band for your party -- anonymously visit coffeeshops and if the band sucks or is inappropriate, you just leave -- nobody the wiser, and nobody's feelings hurt. But, so far, it's only happened, what, twice? Maybe we "suck"...

Anyway, since it so rarely happens, I didn't put much stock in it, but she really did email me, and we've gone back and forth on the details and price, and, lately, the songs she wants, so it appears like it's really gonna happen. July 26. She wants to walk down the aisle to my odd, fingerpicked version of the Beatles' "Something". I'm not sure how good a marching tune it is, but that's kinda cool.

In fact, all but one of the songs she's picked off my list are, ahem, "retro". Now, it's true that, if you pick songs from my list, you'll end up with 99% "old songs", but she's requested for me to learn some others that aren't on the list, and they're seriously retro, too; "Time in a Bottle" and "Longer"!?! All these songs were written before she was born! I can't tell if she hired me 'cuz the wedding's retro, or if the wedding's retro 'cuz she hired me.

K&W at South Coast Plaza -- 02Feb2008

Despite an entirely tepid audience, we had a pretty good time. Since I couldn't seem to raise a reaction at all from anybody, I decided that I might as well make it fun for me (and hopefully, Warren) so I played through a lot of the "still working on these" songs, and the songs that are the most fun for me to sing and/or play.

I watched a guy pick up and buy one of my "Dad's Songs" CDs, so I figured I ought to sing a few of them, despite Warren never having played some of them. So we did "Lemon Tree" (which I've been doing quite often lately, and am thinking of moving onto The List, 'cuz it really "works"), but also "I Have Been a Rover", "Try to Remember" and lastly "Four Strong Winds". They all went really well, even though I hadn't played most of them for a long, long time.

I was "in good voice" again, and was playing pretty well, too. I may just be getting better, so even "the hard ones" aren't that hard anymore. Must be the two half-hour walks that I take everyday at work, with my electric guitar and headphone amp. I'm getting a *lot* of practice. Anyway, since hardly anyone was really listening, I also "pulled out all the stops", vocally, and had fun just wailing on the songs.

As we were packing up, though, the presumed store manager (or night/assistant manager) came over and informed us that the policy was changing (again), and not only would we have to sell CDs "through the store" (handing over 40% in the process), but we wouldn't be allowed to even have a tip jar anymore. This is getting pretty ridiculous -- they almost seem to be actively trying to get all the musicians to walk away. What's next? All gigs must be preformed standing on one foot? We have to pay them? "Gee, that's a real pretty little guitar you got there, pal. It'd be a shame if something was to happen to it..."

Anyway, I didn't hear anything about this policy-change the night before in Tustin, so this may be applicable only to this one store's over-zealous manager (shame, since it's our favorite store to play in). But even if it's real, permanent, and county-wide, I'll still keep playing there. It's degrading to be treated so badly by the management, but just to have a place to play for people makes it worth it. I'm not there for the 6 or 12 or 20 dollars -- I'm there to play, and I'd do it even with no tips and no CD sales. I may have to think twice about the further away of the stores, though. It costs me 10 bucks just to drive out to Yorba Linda or Brea and back, and it's nice to at least have a chance to break even if the tips come in. We'll have to see how it goes at Yorba Linda next week...

Keith (solo) at Tustin -- 02Feb2008

Big fun! When I got there, there was a *very* familiar-looking little girl and her dad. I thought that maybe they were Indian Princess acquaintances, but it turns out that they had seen us play at the late-lamented Santa Margarita store, almost 3 years ago, as reported in this blog post.

Little Paige (she's 12 now) is just as charming, bold, and sassy as she was back then. She was there with her dad and her two "BFFs", a pair of look-alike sisters. The three of them had matching headbands and purses. Too cute. Her dad was actually there to see the band that was playing on the outdoor stage, just outside of Borders, but was waiting in the café until they started up. He went out there when we could hear them playing, but Paige and her friends stayed inside with me. They wanted to hear some Bear songs ("Teddy Bears' Picnic" and "Waltzing With..."), and some Beatles. It was great to have a clear way to get started, and they're a great audience, bustling around me, asking questions, and taking pictures and videos of me with their cell phones.

Later on, my brother and his wife came by, and happened to "steal" the girls' chairs, since they were up by me taking video. When Paige complained to Roy, he told them that he was my brother, which they didn't believe until I nodded (mid-song) to confirm. Then they were all instant pals and had some conversation as I tried to go on singing.

Paige's dad eventually came and took them away, and I think one of the sisters bought a "Bears" CD (Paige already has one). Later on after Roy and Keri had left, I looked over at the not-very-conveniently placed tip jar, and it looked like there was only one dollar in it. But at some point, somebody got up to put some money in it, and the rest of the room must have finally noticed it, 'cuz suddenly lots of people were up there buying CDs and filling the jar. Usually we don't sell any CDs at all, sometimes 1 or 2. This time, I sold 6! I set out 4 of each, and all 4 "Live" CDs sold, and 1 each of the "Bears" and "Tribute to My Dad" CDs. This was the first time I'd brought any of those, having only recently decided that I did some pretty good work on that one, and some people might prefer that era of songs. Apparently so. I made $33.56 in tips -- I think the little girl just gave me all the money she had, including $1.56 in change.

Towards the end, I looked out and noticed that there were several groups of people standing and listening. The café is pretty small, so they run out of places for people to sit pretty quickly, so standing out in the store is the only option. Other than just walking away, of course. It's pretty flattering when people will stop their shopping and stand there listening for a while.

Overall, great night. Originally, it was supposed to be a K&W gig, but Jim had to drop out of the J&W gig at South Coast Plaza the next night, so I took that one over for him, leaving Warren the option of one or the other, and he chose to leave me solo at this one. You just never know when it's gonna be great or lame, 'cuz it's almost entirely dependent on the audience. We're pretty much the same every time, it's the audience reaction that makes all the difference.

Keith (solo) at Costa Mesa -- 25Jan2006

Pretty mediocre. Not many people there, and those that were, weren't very interested in what I was up to. So I just struggled through most of the night, except finally a young guy and his girlfriend came over, and he was *totally* into it. He said he was a guitar player himself, and played some James Taylor songs, and wanted to hear (and watch) me play some. So that was fun, until he couldn't stand it anymore and said he "had to get home and play some guitar!"

Later a nice older lady and her daughter wandered over, and she clearly really liked me, too. She not only clapped at the end of the songs (which, when you're the only one doing it, is hard enough), but made nice comments, too. Then she spotted the CDs and sign. She studied them for a while and apparently made her decision, and said she'd have to go out to the car to get some cash. And off she went.

20 minutes later, I had decided that she was just spoofin' me, but she finally reappeared and put some money in the jar and took a CD, sure enough.

The Cranky Girl was there, running the café almost single-handed since she'd lost some staff lately (gee, I wonder why someone wouldn't want to work for *her*). I think she was OK with me this time though, 'cuz I asked her where she wanted me to set up. She pointed out a wouldn't'a-been-my-choice spot, but I set up there anyway -- just to let her feel in control. I forgot to take a break, but I did quit right at 10:00, so hopefully I didn't invoke her wrath...

I'm "For Sale"!

To cover the costs of the extra art classes, the High School of the arts where my daughter Geneva goes requires (a) some tuition of course, and also (b) an annual donation of "an item worth $50 or more" that they auction off at the big ritzy "Gala" fundraiser/show each Spring. Last year, Daleen made some kind of gift basket, but this year, she decided that we should auction off a "Live musical performance by Keith Comer". We put down that I'm "worth" $200 (!), and sent in a set of CDs, and some pictures of me singing.

Click here to see the auction.

The Items are posted alphabetically, and mine is titled "An Evening of Entertainment" so I'm on the first page (of 11). Third row, second column.

The auction went live last night, and, as of right now, there's already one bid! 75 bucks! Most of the stuff hasn't even been bid on yet. It's nice to know that I'll at least not go un-bid-upon. Feels a little weird to be "up for sale", though. I'm also hoping that, considering "An Evening of Entertainment", that the lady that bid on me read down a ways and understands that I'll be singing and playing guitar, not, um, other things...