Keith at a Pool Party in Tustin -- 21Sept2008

For my third gig this weekend, I played a pool (birthday) party in a backyard in Tustin. This was the gig that we auctioned off as our "donation" to Geneva's high school last year. The minimum bid was $75, and this lady bid that on the first day, and no one bid against her. One bid -- the minimum. Sigh. At least that's better than no bids at all, I guess.

Anyway, it was a little strange, but OK. There were maybe 8-10 adults there, family, gramma, some friends, and half a dozen kids of varying ages, one of which was the birthday boy, turning 4, I'd guess. One of the adults was also celebrating her birthday, too.

The mom that "won" me knew about the auction in the first place because her daughter also goes to OCHSA, in the Opera conservatory. She was there too, of course, and I could see her quietly singing along with some of the songs, so I invited her up to sing one for real. I strapped my head mic onto her, had to clip the cable to her bathing suit bottoms, but she totally went for it, and knocked "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" out of the park. It was a little odd, because she has this opera-trained su-per ac-cu-rate e-nun-ci-a-tion, and I'm used to hearing it in a more casual pop style. Later on, I asked her to come up again, and we did "When You Wish Upon a Star". On "Will come to you", she practically trilled the L's. Pretty cool. Her dad was apparently traveling or something, 'cuz while she was singing, her gramma came forward, holding a phone out like a microphone, with dad on the other end.

It's kind of odd singing to a dozen or so people who were trying to have their own party, with visiting and swimming and kids running around playing. But I've gotten used to being ignored, I guess, and just carried on. After a spell, we all got comfortable with the situation, and they got brave enough to talk to me, and start asking for songs, and it got more fun as it went along. The lady seemed very pleased to have me -- certainly not your normal backyard birthday party.

I guess Daleen intends to auction me off again this year. We'll see if anybody wants me this time.

Keith at Borders Mission Viejo -- 20Sept2008

Back again at my "local" store, with a promise from part-time fiddler Melina to step up and play again. I had my little camera set up taking movies, but I don't think she was aware of it -- and since she's kinda nervous anyway, I didn't mention it for fear of spooking her even worse.

Like last time, I played solo for a while, and then she showed up and played along for a few songs. She had learned the "real" classical intro line from "Whiter Shade of Pale" and that worked out really cool. She had learned, or already knew, "Ashokan Farewell", but she does the rhythm differently (wrong), so it was pretty baffling for me, trying to follow her. We'll have to have a look at that, and agree on something. We did a couple more songs that I can't remember, and she also played along with "Don't Think Twice" this time, which worked pretty well. I've posted the video, and will try embedding it here.

Overall, pretty fun, but not as magically connected as last time. I had a bit of a fright when the Regulars arrived and, lacking anywhere else to sit, settled into the only empty table there -- the one right in front of me. I was sure it would get ugly and I'd have to fake an emergency phone call from home or a heart attack or something, but they were somewhat well-behaved -- only one woman was talking with her outside voice. It didn't completely derail me, but it's still too distracting to get any magic going. Oh well, still a pretty good night, altogether.

Keith at Borders South Coast Plaza -- 19Sep2008

Started off slow, as usual, but got pretty good at the end. I played to dead silence for most of the evening, with a few smiles to keep me going, but there was that "Library" vibe to contend with. But near the end, some families came in, and some other friendly folks, and I started getting some back-and-forth going.

For some reason, there were two big, old, trashed, "school tables" out in the room, taking up space 'cuz nobody wanted to sit at them. The probably had had some kind of event earlier. Anyway, I went ahead and put the CDs, cards, songlists, and tip jar on one of them, which made the setup far more prominent than usual. I was a little afraid to do that, 'cuz this is the one store that's ever enforced the "no CDs, no tip jar" rule, but I didn't see that particular picky manager this time, so I chanced it.

But that apparently made a big difference, because when I finally got some friendly people, lots of them saw the CDs, sign, and jar, and I sold 5 CDs (usually, none), and made $34 in tips and CD payments. Not a record or anything, but not bad.

I set up my little camera to take some movies, but I haven't had a chance to look through the results yet. With the dead silence, and the great acoustics there, I might have gotten some good stuff -- I'm just too busy to find out...

K&W at Spectrum Center -- 13Sept2008

Our second try at this place, which is outdoors, noisy, scattered, but fun. Bill and Mary Jane Wiley were there already when we got there, and sat through a good part of it. Partway through, Jim from Trailmates came by with his wife and daughter, and though they wandered off pretty quickly, Jim stayed and listened for a long while.

It's a strange place to play, with some people coming by just to eat dinner, and some people coming by on purpose, drawn by the music. Lots of youngsters, some too cool to acknowledge us at all, some bent on being smart-alecs, and some who seem to recognize that we're pretty good, really.

It was kinda surreal -- playing and singing while watching the big full moon rise up over the Edwards 21 marquee...

K&W at Borders Costa Mesa -- 12Sept2008

Pretty dead most of the night, as expected at this one. Some niceness near the beginning when the one nice employee lady (who had liked us enough to buy a CD a year or so ago) came to the café to have her dinner break. Since she has the CD, she asked for some of our K&W Classics, which was fun.

Near the end, though, a pair of Asian women (a mother and her 20-something daughter) came in, and while they were in line for coffee, the mother was totally getting into the song, which happened to be "People Get Ready", the only overtly religious song I do, requested by a guy who was genuinely listening and getting interested. When the song was over, she said, loudly, "Play that one again!" Huh?!? That's a new one! I said, "But everybody's already heard it!", and she said, to the room in general, "Oh, they won't mind. Will you?" Of course, nobody wanted to answer, or even acknowledge the crazy lady, so they all got really busy with their books and/or coffee all of a sudden, so I said, "How about I do the last two verses over again?", and started them before she could object.

She and her daughter sat down in the table that's right in front of us that's generally empty because it's right in front of us. They were wearing the same bright green T-shirt dress, though the mom had a pink sweater over it. Turns out the daughter is slightly retarded, and the mom is doting over everything she see, touches, or says -- she's also holding her hands across the table and singing along with the song, right into her face. Really odd, but super (over?) friendly, and loving the music.

She asked for some songs, and some more, threatening to hijack the evening, but I tried to let the other guy get in some requests, too. Then she asked for "You've Got a Friend", so I started it up, but she was singing along, as loud as me, at her daughter, but doing the Carole King version, not the James Taylor one, so she was singing sometimes way different stuff than I was, and it was *really* throwing me off. I was ignoring her as hard as I could, but she was too loud, and too wrong.

She was reminding me of a lady that used to work at Toshiba who was similarly Asian, and loopy. We used to call her "Crazy Jean", and a lot of people avoided her, but she was great fun to talk to. I used to go up and talk to her sometimes, just to get a dose of surrealism, 'cuz she had this amazing talent for unexpected tangents and connections -- and her own way of looking at the world. I miss her.

So it was getting close to time to quit, and who should come walking in? Speak of the devil: it's Crazy Jean! She's unmarried, but she had a 12-year old girl (her neighbor's daughter) with her -- they were on their way home from the beach. We happened to be in the middle of "Love Potion Number Nine" when they came in, so she started "bop-walking" to the rockin' beat, and came right up to the front of us. The *other* crazy lady, also right in front of us, jumped up and grabbed Jean's little friend's hands, and started dancing, too. Jean was a bit taken aback, but it looked safe enough, if weird, so she let it go. We just kept playing...

So the other crazy lady starts talking to Jean's friend, gets her name (Alyssa), has her sit on her lap (!), and Jean kinda goes along with it all. Turns out she's a teacher, "owns a school" in San Louis Obispo, and, as she told us while we were packing up, wants us to come up and play sometime. I said that it's kinda far, and she said, "Oh, you just sit down... on a train! You don't even need any baggage..." (a reference to a line in "People Get Ready"). What. Ever.

Weird night...

K&W at Borders Yorba Linda -- 30Aug2008

We've alerted the guy who books the Borders gigs that we don't want to play at Yorba Linda anymore -- it's a great place to play, but it's just too far to go for a free gig at today's gas prices, and the generally six to ten bucks in the tip jar.

But it went really well. The acoustics there are nice, and the people are friendly. I think we literally made $4 (to split) in tips, but it's still nice to play to nice people.

I'll miss that place. But not the drive.

Keith at Borders Mission Viejo -- 23Aug2008

Wow, what a night! I drove over there wondering, as I often do, why I was still doing this. Clearly it's not about the money, but there's usually not much appreciation either...

Anyway, I went over to the Info desk to get somebody to fetch the store's equipment, and as the guy went off to get it, the college girl behind the counter suddenly asks, "Are you Keith?". I said yes, and she asks, "Are you ever looking for a violin player?" Huh?!? That's pretty out of the blue, and strangely worded, but I recover and say, "Sure! But we don't get paid or anything." She's aware of that, but wants to sit in anyway, and says that she's "classically trained, but I can improv". I'm thinking that anybody with the guts to ask, probably knows what they're doing, or thinks they do -- and if not, what have I got to lose? Anything to shake it up.

So I start setting up, but thinking about it, I realize that since I only play there once a month, and it's 50/50 whether Warren will be there too (which would complicate the issue, with two "lead" players), that tonight's a pretty good chance for her to do it, if she's gonna. I found her at the cash registers and told her as much, but she said that she's working until 10:30 (a half hour past closing time). I presumed she'd get a dinner break sometime, and suggested that she go home and fetch the violin then. She said she'd think about it.

Well, she must have decided to go for it, 'cuz an hour or so in, she showed up with her case. I asked her what songs she thought she could handle, and she started with Paul Simon's "America", to my surprise -- not really an "easy one". But she kept up, and played around in the right key, and it sounded good to me. Then she chose Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight", which has a signature Stratocaster riff, and I thought she meant to play it on the violin, and she said, no. Huh? Then why this song? But I played it anyway, and she did better, 'cuz it's a more obvious chord progression, and slower.

Then she asked for "Whiter Shade of Pale". Cool! It's got a signature Hammond organ line that's based on a tune by Bach -- she can play that line, and it'll sound great! But, again, nope. And again, why'd you pick it, then? But she played some stuff that was similar, and it sounded OK anyway -- though the official line would have been more impressive.

She said she'd have to get back to work after one more, so I suggested "Let It Be", 'cuz it's pretty straightforward, and she's bound to know it. And it did work out well.

Between the songs, I tried to impress upon the audience how cool this was, but I guess it was just "some people playing" to them, and nobody seemed as excited as I was to have her there. Oh well. I had to ask her name so I could introduce her -- it's Melina. I talked to her at the end of the night, and she had fun, and I told her that she's welcome any time. I don't know if she'll be wanting to come to any gigs that aren't in the store she works in, but we'll see what happens.

Of course, Daleen thinks that if I want a violin player, I should recruit Geneva. And I love that, but she just doesn't have the time, nor inclination. I guess I should have been working on her, and with her, over the summer...

Anyway, after Melina left, I kept playing, and after a while, some new people filtered in that, for some reason, were really enjoying the music. I had 3 or 4 people around the room that were really into it, and asking for songs, and clapping -- for real, not that "polite" stuff. Their interest seemed to be contagious, and for the last half hour or more I was more connected to an audience than I've ever been. By far. It was amazing. And of course, it's a loop where I play better and better, and people start listening more, and around we go. Exhilarating.

And, for a while at least, I knew why I keep doing this...

K&W at Brea Downtown -- 22Aug2008

Pretty fun. We started off strong due to the crowd of teens who watched us finish setting up, waiting to hear some tunes, and were then very appreciative once we started up. It's always nice to have somebody to start playing for, right off the bat.

We had lots of people stop for a while, all through the evening, and pretty good feedback, generally. But I felt sort of "out of it" for some reason -- like I wasn't really running the show, but that it was running me. Hard to describe, but it just didn't feel right, a lot of the time.

Daleen, Acacia, and all three dogs came along, which made for a pretty tightly packed van, but they walked around the area a lot, and then spent some time near us, attracting more people than the music was, it seemed.

There were a lot more very loud cars and motorcycles going by, and sometimes stopping for far too long right in front of us, due to the crosswalk there. Loud mufflers, and cars with very loud music coming through open windows. Probably more of a Summer thing.

Anyway, it was fun, and different. Don't know why I couldn't get "into it", but I guess there are good nights, and bad nights. Still, I was playing and singing well enough -- that wasn't it. We made pretty good tips, though -- $63 (we'd thought it was $70, but Acacia (who, for some reason, just *loves* to count the money) neglected to subtract the $7 "seed money" that I'd put in). We were thinking that we ought to make a bunch more in the Summer than we had last November, but it's not materializing. Maybe it's the economy...

Huntington Gardens & Griffith Observatory -- 20Aug2008

For another of our day-trip "vacation" days, we combined a trip to the Huntington Gardens and Museum, with a stop at the Griffith Park Observatory. With the gas prices these days, we didn't want to drive up there twice...

Huntington Gardens is Daleen's "favorite place" -- they have more plants than you can shake a stick at. Not exactly *my* idea of a good time, but we walked through a few hundred miles of paths through plants, and Daleen and the kids loved it. Must be a Girl Thing.

They have a big Desert Plants section, and some nice Japanese Gardens. Recently, the Chinese, not to be outdone (especially by the Japanese), put in a section of their own, which is even more elaborate.

After the plants, we went into the museums to look at the paintings, which are more interesting to me -- to a point. They really mostly have portraits, and they all start to look alike after a while with the rosy cheeks and lipstick and mile-high wigs and frilly satin and lace -- and that's just the men...

So after the obligatory half-hour in the gift shop, and the obligatory droppage of 75 bucks, we were off to lunch on the way to the Griffith Park Observatory. It was famously recently expensively renovated, and looks exactly the same. They wanted to leave the iconic building alone, so they jacked it up and added an underground "second story", with more exhibit space and another little theater.

I was kind of disappointed that it's still all at elementary school level -- I was hoping that they'd get beyond the "how much you weigh on Jupiter" stage, but I guess schoolkids are their target audience. The planetarium show (with the new comfy seats), on the other hand, despite being "for beginners", was excellent. They really put it together to illustrate the concepts perfectly. "How to explain stuff" is kind of my "thing", and this was simply amazing. Brilliant, even. And well presented too, with a live Actor Guy doing the narration.

So that was pretty fun, too. We had arranged to meet the Spencers there, so the kids had friends to hang with, and from there we went into Hollywood to have dinner, which was a special time, too. A great, if long, day.

K&W at Costa Mesa -- 15Aug2008

A pretty typical outing for Costa Mesa -- some people listening, and some people completely indifferent. I felt good though, singing and playing well, and feeling loose.

But we were cut pretty short, because the store's hours changed and, of course, nobody told us. So we arrived at 7:30 thinking that we were playing 8-10 (or 10:30) for an 11:00 closing time, but the coffee girls told us that they now close at 10, so we only really had from 8-9:30, and even at that we were pushing this cranky crew by cutting close to their "get out of here" time.

It wasn't so bad -- it would have been nice to have been told beforehand, but it wasn't the end of the world. But I could have done without that particularly unpleasant coffee girl's "nyah nyah" attitude. She seemed evilly delighted that we had gotten screwed out of our play time, and that was uncalled for. I get it that we offend her hard-core punkette sensibilities, but she doesn't have to be a jerk about it.

LA Science Center -- 11Aug2008

We couldn't take a long vacation this year 'cuz we have the new puppy who Daleen won't leave with anyone else during the formative stages, so we were supposed to take some day trips. Those didn't hardly materialize, but I took the day off and went to the LA Science Center with the kids (Daleen wasn't interested, saying she'd seen it.)

Turns out, she was right. I don't know how long it's been, but it was all *very* familiar to me. The kids must have been pretty young, though, 'cuz they didn't remember any of it.

We walked around all the usual exhibits, but I'd gotten a time-specific ticket for Geneva to see the plastic-ized skinless people. Acacia and I opted out -- we didn't feel the need to see the insides of people. For one thing, it's kind of expensive -- for another, I'm not sure it works both ways -- they probably wouldn't pay *me* 18 bucks to see the insides of *my* stomach. Acacia and I went over to the space museum and looked at the satellites and space capsules instead.

After that, we saw a really cool 3D IMAX movie about prehistoric "sea monsters". It was pretty amazingly realistic, and big fun. We had a little more time after that, so we sped through the Natural History museum. They've refurbed the stuffed animal dioramas by cleaning them up, and repainting the backdrops, and they're *really* good. They're incredibly realistic, and the transition from the real dirt, rocks, and plants to the painting is almost completely invisible. It's pretty amazing.

Anyway, a pretty fun Dad-n-Daughter day.

Drama Reunion Party -- 09Aug2008

(Who's that way-too-skinny kid in the back?!?)

OK, I was never actually in Drama at high school, but they'd do a musical every Spring, and they needed singers, especially *boy* singers, so they'd raid the music department to get some. My senior year, I was in the Concert Choir and the "song and dance" 12-kid group, The Mariners, so I got shanghaied into "Mame". I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but I let them talk me into it.

It turned out to be great fun. I never actually saw the play itself, so I have very little idea what it's even about, but we had fun learning the songs and dances for the "production numbers", and I met a lot more girls, and that's what counted, back then.

So, every 5 years or so they throw a Reunion of all the kids that were in Mr. Meyer's (now called "Bob") Drama productions. He taught there from '65 to '74, and all the kids loved him (I didn't actually get to know him at all, but whatever). It works out really well since Drama productions tend to be mixed-grade so you got to know people older and younger than you were -- and of course, by now, the few years' differences are invisible anyway. And the Drama Reunions also kinda serve as Mariner Reunions, since most of us were in the musical, at least.

At every Reunion, they have a long slideshow, using the old round slide tray projector, and everybody sits around and makes cracks at their friends' previous selves. This time, since the slides are starting to dissolve, a guy volunteered to scan all the slides, pictures, programs, yearbooks, and anything else he could dig up, including some previously unseen black and white stuff taken for the school paper and yearbook, and made an incredible "Ken Burns" style slideshow, complete with music. I had access to a projector, sound system, and screen, so I volunteered to be the tech boy. Again.

Anyway, the slideshow was really well done, and everybody loved it. Funny part was, we had to wait until around 9 to start the show so it would be dark enough, so it was over a little after 10, and (most) everybody got up; said "That was terrific"; and went home. Buncha old fogies. So much for that "wild drama party" reputation...

I had a great time seeing a bunch of old friends -- though several that I wished were there didn't make it. Laura, Dawn, Craig, Todd/Dirck, Clark, Saskia, and Michelle were there, but no Johnny, Dave, Ken, Sherry, Mindy, Leslie, David, Janelle, or Denise -- even though I had personally talked, I thought, those last two into coming. I guess I'm just as easy for pretty girls to lie to now as I was back then...

Keith at South Coast Plaza -- 08Aug2008

A very quiet night, no doubt due to it being opening night of the Olympics. But I had taken the day off so we could spend the whole day shopping -- first at the "Japanese Mall" (pretty fun, and a great call-back to the trips the girls and I have taken) just south of South Coast Plaza, and then at the SCP itself. We met up with our Princess friends of 11 years now for dinner at Ruby's, and then I went to Borders to set up. Daleen and the Spencers came by later, though the kids were out having fun being in the mall unsupervised.

But it's always nice there with the good acoustics, and with the room nearly empty and deathly quiet, I had fun playing in the crystal clarity. And it was nice to have the Spencers see me in such a good acoustic setting for once. Todd's mostly heard me out in some campground someplace...

K&W at Irvine Spectrum -- 01Aug2008

We were suddenly OKed to play at the Irvine Spectrum Food Court, and since Friday was the only free weekend night we both had free in August, we jumped on it. No pay, of course -- but at least they don't *charge* you, like the $50 you have to pay to play down in the middle of the mall.

It's a bit challenging, but it was fun anyway. There are a lot of people, but many of them are just there to eat their pizza, not to hear some music. Of course, that gives us the opportunity to turn them into fans, assuming we're interesting enough. We had old people, parents, teens, kids, and babies. It was unusually eclectic -- we'd bounce back and forth between "Sweet Baby James", "Hey There, Delilah", and "Rubber Duckie". Had some kids that were fascinated and got themselves lists so they could make requests, and other kids that showed their coolness by showing their contempt.

The biggest problem is the acoustics -- it's outside, so we have to be really loud to start with. But back behind the audience is the kids' fountain, with "spitting" giant turtles and the "jumping water", all programmed in loops so the noise comes and goes -- but mostly comes. I had it turned up *really* loud (*I* thought), and a dad in the first row of tables comes up between songs and asks if we could maybe turn it up a little. "Up"?!? I thought he was about to complain about it being too loud from where he was sitting. So I floored it, which brought even the vocal up to the point of clipping distortion from the speakers. But, oh well.

I had (foolishly) thought that I might get away with playing the electric guitar all night (4 hours! 6-10), 'cuz I use it to practice as I walk around the block twice a day at work, and I'm getting pretty used to the string spacing, and the sound. But the overall acoustics and bad settings made it pretty awful, so I gave it up after 8 or 10 songs. Too bad, though -- it sounds better to be on an electric for the "rock and roll" songs (such as we have), and it's a lot easier on the fingers, too.

At about 9:20, I suddenly wondered if the effects processor was being overloaded by the sheer volume, and looked to see if the caution light was blinking or not. It wasn't, though it should have been, which made me notice that the reverb was turned almost all the way down. That was because I had last used the amp at the wedding, and there was a lot of natural echo in the room, so I turned the amp's reverb way down. After I noticed that and turned it up where it belongs, the whole sound was *way* better -- too bad I figured that out just when it was almost time to quit.

Anyway, it was fun, and different, (and we made $64 to split) so we'll do it again -- a few times anyway.

Keith plays Esther's Wedding -- 26July2008

Way back in February, a young lady and her boyfriend sat listening until the end of my solo gig at the Tustin Borders, and as I was packing the equipment, came up and asked if I play weddings. I hadn't really thought of that, but, sure, email me the particulars. I didn't really expect her to, but she did, and I was on.

I told her to go though my song list and choose which ones she wanted, and she picked all the cheesy love songs from the 70's, and even asked for some more that weren't on the list. I was starting to get the impression that this was gonna be some kind of "retro" wedding, but she never presented it as such, and it wasn't really any different than any other wedding I've been to. On the other hand, all weddings are shamelessly "retro", with the tux and long white dress, etc. Worse than a "hippie theme" birthday party, if you think about it.

Anyway, I made a list of all the love songs I know, and decided to add some more to fatten up the thus-shortened list. I asked her about the new ones, just in case she had an aversion to, say, John Denver (and who could blame her), but she liked them all -- except I specifically pointed out that Paul Stookey's "Wedding Song" was pretty religious (i.e. Christian). She hadn't asked for anything remotely religious, and had pointed out that her brother was "officiating", so I was afraid that she was aiming at an entirely religion-free wedding (like mine!).

She replied that it probably wasn't appropriate, since she's Jewish, and her fiancé is Buddhist. Whoops, scratch one "Wedding Song". A shame, though, since I'm one of the very few that can play it right, despite the thousands who try...

I showed up good and early to the ritzy country club in Yorba Linda, 'cuz I was supposed to play at the outdoor ceremony, and then for the "cocktail hour" between the wedding and the reception proper. That meant that I'd have to tear my stuff down and move it, and I wanted to do that as efficiently as possible.

Turned out that the club provided a P.A. for the outdoor part already, and it had free channels. So I just plugged my mic and guitar into that, and set my amp up in the lobby. After the service, all I had to do was grab the mic, guitar, cables, music stand and book, and go to the country club lobby, and I was ready to play some more.

Esther wanted to walk down the aisle to the Beatles' "Something", which is an odd choice, but, it's her wedding, and I kind of like my strange arrangement of it. She wanted "In My Life" and Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" as the parents, etc. were coming in, and "Somewhere" from "West Side Story" as the walking-out song. The trick (for me) was trying to wrap-up those songs as the events they were to cover ended. But the timing worked out pretty well -- I managed to make the songs end pretty close to perfectly synced.

Everybody seemed to like the music, and several people came up to say so. One guy asked me if I had a CD of "music like that". I told him I had a CD, with *some* stuff "like that", but other songs. He wanted one, and handed me a 20 for it. People are feeling pretty friendly at weddings...

After I was done and packed up, I went and found the country club's wedding coordinator, and gave her a business card. She liked my stuff, too, so maybe she'll recommend me to somebody that comes in and wants some live music but doesn't know where to find any.

So, it went pretty well -- I played reasonably well, sang OK, and got through all the transitions. Esther and her now-husband were walking over to the pictures-spot, across from me, and she gave me a big thumbs-up.

All-in-all, it worked out good, despite my nervousness at playing something a lot more "significant" than a coffeeshop with a dozen people in it. And any gig where you check after it's over and your zipper wasn't down counts as a success in my book.

K&W at South Coast Plaza -- 25July2008

Probably the most dismal night we've had at this one. Usually we get at least a few people listening in, and some kind of reaction, but this time it was dead all night.

Actually, at first, there was an extended Asian family occupying all the comfy chairs up front. A little girl, her mom and dad, and gramma and grandpa. They seemed to like the stuff, even if they probably hadn't heard any of it before. Gramma liked to silently clap along, though she was making up her own tempo. But they had to leave after not too long, and it was all dead silence from there on.

But it gave me the chance to try out some of the new love songs I'd learned to do for the wedding the next day. I wouldn't normally spend so much time on slow 70's love songs (though I do spend a *lot* of time on slow 70's love songs), but since nobody seemed to be on board anyway, I figured I might as well make some use the time.

K&W at Costa Mesa -- 11July2008

Another quiet night in Costa Mesa. First ever outing of James Taylor's "Steamroller Blues", and "Take It Easy" which both seemed to go OK. I'm playing "Take it Easy" with the capo on the second fret, but only covering the 5 highest strings, which seems insane, but works really well if you want to play in D, sound like E, and have a nice strong bass note. Which happens to be the case with "Take it Easy". I can also go into "Can't Find My Way Home" from there, and might just do so in future.

We attracted the attention of a woman sitting over in the comfy chairs, who asked for a song or two, and came up to talk to us during tear-down. She didn't *seem* crazy, but claimed to know Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, and Seal, and to have been one of the zombie dancers in the "Thriller" video (the one with a mop for hair, apparently). She liked our stuff, and had some notion that the Olympics (yes, those Olympics) needed a theme song "like last time". She thought she might talk to Quincy and see if there was something we could do about that.

I'm not holding my breath.

Keith at Mission Viejo -- 05July2008

Another quiet, mostly uneventful night. The room was pretty quiet, so the sound seemed good again. But I plumb forgot to bring the video camera.

Just before I started playing, a 13-ish girl sat at a table and was looking at me expectantly. Turns out she's an ex-Princess/Trailmate, and recognized me. I spotted her dad in the magazine racks, and remembered him. After scanning the song list, she came up and asked me if I used to play for the Princesses, and asked me to play "Waltzing With Bears". That was pretty fun. They bought a "Bears" CD on their way out.

I'd been working up "Cruella De Vil" during the previous week, and there were a few kids there later on, so I decided to try it out, since I can never tell if a song is gonna "work" until I've done it in public. I asked the kids if they knew the "101 Dalmatians" movie, and their mom said they had, despite their being too shy to answer the question. So I played it anyway. It seemed to work OK, but it was clear that the middle-aged ladies in the audience got more from it than the kids did. Considering that the movie came out in 1961, it's really a kid song for people in their 50's.

Keith and friends at Java Joe's -- 29Jun2008

Randy, one of the "regulars" at Java Joe's, had an idea to start a new (Sunday afternoon) Open Mic with a new rule: No "solos". He wants to get people to group up, either with their real band, or better yet, to create an ad-hoc band on the fly. This should give more guys, more time, to play. It's also less "serious", 'cuz you're not plugging some future performance, you're just having fun.

I was stoked 'cuz I thought it would be fun to have a bigger band to play with. Maybe get some drums, bass, background vocals. Warren couldn't make it, but I went anyway, and, inexplicably, Daleen and the girls came along. (They won't make *that* mistake again.)

We got there pretty close to the start, though not many others did. Randy had brought a *huge* sound system, set up with lots of mics on stands, monitors everywhere, huge speakers, and a "sound man" station out in the audience where it belongs. Gary had set up a full drum set, and was camped out, ready to play with/for anybody who came up.

A guy named Mark went first, but he was new and hadn't recruited anybody to join him, so it was just him and Gary. After him, a guy with an electric got up and just jammed some random stuff for a while, while Gary gamely tried to lay a beat down behind.

Another regular, Neal, was acting as M.C., and kind of spotted me out to go third, since there was nobody else (except himself! And Randy!). So, while the electric was playing, I asked Randy to play bass with me (by now having the impression that Gary on drums was a "given"). I thought we'd go with "Carolina In My Mind", 'cuz it's widely known and I think I do a pretty good job with it. And I thought "Desperado" couldn't miss. Randy looked through my list and wanted to do something "laid back", and chose "Wonderful Tonight", which has (of course -- it's an Eric Clapton song) a distinctive electric guitar lead line throughout, so he recruited his friend Troy to come fake that.

So we got up. I had been hoping that Patrick, a known high-harmony singer, would be there, but he wasn't (yet!). Another guy, Scott, typically adds harmony, but he was out on a business trip. But that's OK, I've got a full band, no need to get greedy.

We started with "Carolina", but it turns out that the bass line is very intricate and tricky, and poorly notated on my sheet, so Randy, despite being scary-good normally, was pretty lost the whole time. Troy (wisely) hung back, and drumming is drumming, so no problem there. But the result was pretty catastrophic 'cuz Randy's bass line was all messed up, and my guitar's lower three strings were completely inaudible. Naturally, the top 3 were way too loud, to compensate. I couldn't hear the bass notes to play well, and Randy couldn't hear 'em to try to follow along. Ack.

Anyway, we got through it, and moved on to "Desperado" (click for video), a much more normally structured, and well known, tune. Of course, I've transposed it to a lower key than the recording, so if the guys already knew it, they'd be off. But we got through it pretty well -- Randy could follow my sheet better, and Troy just played some riffs in between the lines. The monitor mix was still terrible, though, so I complained and got some adjustments made.

Third up: "Wonderful Tonight". Troy knew the song, but not how to play it, but he's very good, and figured it out quickly enough. My problem was that I fake that lead line on my guitar while fingerpicking the chords, too -- so if Troy's gonna play The Line, and I don't need to, what do I play instead? I'd never worked out what the vanilla chords would be like if I wasn't playing The Line. So this time, Randy was fine with the easy bass line, Troy had his part figured out, and *I* was the one that was screwed up. On my own song.

But it went OK, and apparently Randy was having fun, and it was "his party", so he called for us to do another one, and we quickly settled on "Something". Again, I do it in a lowered key, so Troy was a bit thrown, but Randy faked the bass line well, and it came out OK.

The advantage of having the family there was that I could prevail on them to take some video, and Acacia volunteered. I posted the last three songs (links above) -- I left out "Carolina" 'cuz it was a mess, and Acacia took the video from her seat way in the back, so you can't see anything anyway. The sound from the monitors was pretty awful, but I just played and sang on faith (I'm getting way too used to having to do that!). Turns out that the sound in the room wasn't much better -- the bass (both my guitar and Randy's bass) is pretty non-existent, and the voice is terribly muffled-sounding. The drums sound OK, though!

Anyway, it was fun, and I learned a lot. First: how it works. Second: wait until much later in the afternoon, so the sound gets better dialed-in, and more "band mate" options show up. Third: pick easier songs. Beforehand. And bring decipherable (by non-me people) chord sheets.

And, of course, my family learned: Don't go with Dad to a boring Open Mic.

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.