K&W at Borders South Coast Plaza -- 17July2009

Well, that was pretty dreadful, so here are some pictures of our new kitten:

I suppose I've performed worse -- I imagine those first few, or dozen, or hundred, performances were pretty awful -- but I'm pretty sure that the ratio of Artistic Capability to Art Delivered has never been worse. I played pretty badly, and not only was my voice not cooperating (until about halfway through), but I wasn't focused enough to ask it for much anyway. I won't go on about it -- let's just say I had an "off night" and move on.

Roy and Keri came by, and brought friends, which left me with the quandary of whether to do new songs that aren't very solid yet, but that my brother hasn't heard, or to do old favorites that are good and solid, to impress the friend. I guess I ended up doing a little of both -- the friend asked for "Pancho and Lefty", and Roy asked for "Hallelujah". I also played my new "Billie Jean", and some others.

But, like I told Warren, the upside to playing badly all night is that I don't have to comb through the 3 hours of video looking for "good takes" -- 'cuz I already know there aren't any.

Next week we're going on a "Mexican Riviera" cruise (me and the family, not me and Warren), so I'll be off of performing for two weekends. Let's hope I get my mojo back during the break.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum - 11July2009

Wow. I had thought that after the big night we had at the Myrtle Court the night before, that this solo gig at the Food Court would be (a) a disaster 'cuz of my trashed voice, fingers, and knees, and (b) a disappointment 'cuz of the huge crowds that the other location gets and the usually dismal (and disaffected) turnout that this one does. But I was way wrong. Mostly.

It started out really good -- lots of people's dinnertime, I guess. I started on time at 6:00 (for a change) and had a good response for a while, but then it emptied out and I was left playing to mostly empty tables, and no response at all. At 7:30 I decided to give my knees a rest and, wait for it, Took a Break (gasp!). I wasn't really even sure *how* to take a break, but since there was nobody there who was even gonna notice, I just turned down the amp and walked away. Wasn't that tricky, after all.

After some of the crowd had "turned over", I got back up there and got to have a fresh start. Newly-arriving members of the audience tend to emulate the behavior of the already-there people, so once dead silence sets in, it's hard to break. But with the fresh start, you get to try to "get it going" again. I'm gonna have to use this trick again.

The really surprising part was that my voice, although completely trashed the night before, was in outstanding form for the second half of the show. Really high and clear, and responsive. I really had no right to be able to sing at all, after the four and a half hour show on Friday, but it was the best I've sung in weeks -- maybe months. Was Friday night's beating a "warm up"?!? Mysterious.

I had lots of appreciative people, all the way through. Families, single guys, teens, some little kids. Had a cute little gonna-be First Grader, Camilie (?), befriend me, and request a bunch of songs she'd never heard of, just because she'd recently learned to read and was having fun doing so. And a little Kindergarten Cyndie Lauper dress-alike who just wanted to dance and dance with her grandpa.

Weird moment early on: a pair of apparent military guys came right up and stood 3 feet away as I tried to finish "Homeward Bound". I'm trying to sing and wondering what the heck this is about. At the end, the Big One said something appreciative (whew!) in his Texas drawl, and then asked, "Can I play one?". That's a new one, so I said, "I don't know -- are you any good?" He said "I ain't *bad*", so I asked the Little One, "Is he any good?", but of course the friend wanted to see this happen, so he said, "Sure!". There weren't many people there then anyway, so I gave him my guitar (he declined the head mic), and I sat down with the friend to see what would happen.

He started with some song I'd never heard, strumming some chords and eventually singing, but without the mic that was completely inaudible. He quit that after a half a verse, and tried again with Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", but he didn't really know the chords, and messed up the words, too. So after a verse of that, he just wanted off, and apologized for being too nervous. I told him that everybody has to start somewhere -- it gets easier. And off they went.

Anyway, lots of people dropping lots of little bits of money in the jar and guitar case. I made $66 -- half again more than the "Main Stage" the night before. 66 bucks looks like a lot of money, when it's almost all ones and quarters. But it's apparently all about the "connection" -- and I'm beginning to think, counter-intuitively, that people tip a "full" jar more than an empty one, so I started the jar with several bills in it, instead of the usual two, and 4 bills in the guitar case. Seems to have made a difference. Or maybe I'm just good...

Naaahh...

K&W at Irvine Spectrum (MC) - 10July2009

The girl who books the gigs at Irvine Spectrum offered to let us play the "Main Stage" (called, inexplicably, the "Myrtle Court"), one time only, without the usual $50 "setup fee". I've been wondering why other bands would play over there when it chops 50 bucks off of their "take", so we jumped at the chance.

Wow -- it's a lot different. It's basically just a wide spot in the (outdoor) mall, with a long rectangular fountain/pond running down it. They put up a stage at one end of the pond, and there are tables and chairs running along the sides. It's not the Food Court, so the tables fill up with people who are just sitting, or have found some coffee or juice to drink. The traffic, and there's a lot of it, flows around the stage and pond, and the band has the quandary of playing facing west toward the pond and the sitting-people, or facing east toward the flow of transient walking-people.

We decided to play toward the pond -- wrongly, I think now. It seemed like the only actual definable "audience" would be the sitting-people, and it would be rude to play with our backs to them. And they were largely appreciative, but they were also fairly distant, and the "connection" was hard to hold on to. Playing the other direction, we'd be the stone upon which the current breaks, but even if we'd only "captured" a couple of percent of that flow, that'd be a pretty big audience in itself. The video is pretty funny -- since the camera is pointing at the two of us, it catches us playing away, oblivious to the constant traffic flow and social interactions happening behind us. We did capture some of them -- there are a few sit-able planter-boxes back there that had people listening most of the time, but I think we'd'a connected better, and made more in tips, if we'd'a played the other direction. Next time -- if there is one.

The other problem with playing westward was that the sun was shining, hard, right in our faces when we got there. Twice as bad with the reflection off the pond. It was pretty ridiculous at first -- I couldn't see a thing, even with my sunglasses, and it was baking the wood of my guitar and warping it out of tune in nothing flat.

But the sun went down behind a big archway after not-too-long, and it was pleasant the rest of the night. The "hallway" is narrow enough to have a nice reverb effect on the sound, when it was quiet enough to hear it. And we had *lots* of people, who were really "there". It was pretty terrific. I tried to stick to the upbeat songs, but you know I have to throw in a crooner once in a while. And because of recent events, I worked up an acoustic bluesy version of "Billie Jean", which I wasn't so sure about but seemed to go over pretty well.

One odd coincidence: I'd been flipping through the "in-process" songs in my Book the afternoon before, and came upon "California Dreamin'". My chordsheet isn't quite right, and I needed to work up the correct chords for the flute solo section, so I tore it out of the book to work on it. I didn't get to it that afternoon, but, sure enough, somebody asked for it at the gig -- maybe the third time, ever. But I knew exactly where the sheet was -- on the floor in the bedroom, so I knew I couldn't play it. For fun though, I strummed out the first verse from memory before stopping cold and saying, "Nope. I don't know that song" to some scattered laughter.

We started about 6:20 -- stalling in hopes of losing some of that sun -- and had plenty of audience to keep playing past 10, so we just kept on going. Of course, by then my knees were shot, my fingers were hamburgered, and I'd lost the bottom fourth of my vocal range, but whatever, right? But at 10:45 the "house music" came on from the speakers along the walls, and we couldn't compete, so that was our last song.

Tips came in at $42 -- not even enough to have covered the setup fee. This was no doubt mostly on account of playing "backwards". The tip jar was behind us where we couldn't even watch it. I think people are intimidated somewhat by having "the artist" see them putting money in the jar, but they also seem to need the "credit" for having done so. If you're not watching, they don't "need" to tip. Also, the people who were really listening -- at the tables -- were far away from the jar, so they'd mostly just get up and walk away.

But that's OK -- we're not in it for the money. It was a terrific night. We probably played "at" a few thousand people, and "for" several dozen, at least.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 27Jun2009

It's finally nice and warm, and a lot of people were out. Unfortunately, it's also warm enough that the kids' fountain also has lots of people, making lots of noise. Hadn't thought of that.

Daleen's birthday was on Tuesday, so her parents met her at the food court to have dinner with her, and marginally, see me. Geneva came by a little later, since she was gonna meet up with some friends and see a movie later. Apparently, she's the only one in my family that understands the job description of "shill"...

But that's OK -- like I said, lots of people out. And, later on, a friend from work, who's always thought that my walking around the block twice a day with my electric guitar and headphone amp is the most hilarious thing she's ever seen, finally showed up to see what all that practice is for. Fortunately, she came late enough that I was past the "can't quite find the groove" phase of the night, and I was hitting a lot of home runs.

She'd brought her husband and two little kids along, and the 3-year-old boy went straight from the stroller to soaking wet in the fountain, while his 2-year-old sister watched carefully (and dry) from the sidelines. Vickie got to hear a lot of my best tunes while her husband walked all the way to the other end of the mall to buy some towels at Target. And I guess she thought I was pretty OK, 'cuz she said later that she thought that they ought to come and do that more often -- the music is good, and the kids had a blast. She'll bring towels and dry clothes next time, I imagine.

Near the end of the evening, a guy, his wife, and 14-year-old daughter were having a late dinner at the table right in front of me, and the adults were clearly in my Target Audience, and liking my stuff. Finally the wife finishes eating, and between songs comes up to me and says, "Do you know 'Carolina'?" I said that I did. She said, "You want me to harmonize it with you?" I have a basic policy/belief that anybody with the guts to ask something like that, can probably handle it, so I said, "Absolutely!" I dug out a second microphone (kept in the gig bag for just such an occasion), and we fired it up.

Her name was Joy, and unfortunately, although she professed to having "harmonized" to JT songs for 30 years, I think she can really only "hear it" if someone else (on the record) is reinforcing her part in her ear. She seemed about to sing, many times, but held back most of the song (and "Sweet Baby James" which we tried after), seeming to be waiting to hear where her part was. She was about to give up, but her husband yelled, "Let her sing 'Over the Rainbow'!", which I was happy to do. And, since she was on melody, she powered through that one, with only a little confusion since I've added back the "missing second bridge", cut from the movie version, which she'd never heard.

Anyway, it was fun for both of us to try, and it made her evening. I think she may even come back for another go, some night.

And I must have been doing something right overall, 'cuz I made $63 in tips, which I think is a new record for a solo gig. Some of that was CD money, 'cuz two ladies came up and bought one of each, each. Said they were preschool teachers, so they wanted the "grownup" record for themselves, and the "Waltzing With Bears" one for their classes. Flattering.

K&W at Borders South Coast Plaza -- 19Jun2009

Very nice. Not a lot of people, but somebody really listening at least most of the time.

My new boss at work came by. She's Vietnamese, and sang in a "family band" back home, apparently many years ago. But she has a webpage with some recordings of her singing some Vietnamese songs, and some "Foreign" ones, including "Yellow Bird", which I play sometimes. Her husband spotted it on The List, and requested it, so I asked her if she wanted to sing it, and without too much fuss, she came up, and after a bit of confusion about what key I should play it in, did a pretty good job singing it -- though she has a much more "formal" vocal style than I do, and we had some kind of disagreement about how fast it should go.

Later on, Warren's son and his girlfriend came by for quite a while, and requested some good songs, and gave us a reason to play them well. Luc is a local music entrepreneur (runs a rehearsal studio business), and has more of an idea of what it takes to make those sounds come out of those boxes than the average person does, so it's nice to see him impressed.

And for the last hour or so, we had a somewhat shy couple listening in, so I asked the lady if she had any requests off the list. She replied in a heavy but wonderful accent, and her husband tried to "translate", showing off his equally outrageous one. Warren finally asked them where they were from -- he was from Israel, she from Mexico. But they live in Chicago, and were out here for vacation. Wow.

They stayed all the way to the end, and apparently thought that we were some kind of Real Band, 'cuz the guy came up and talked to us a bit while we were packing up and told us that if we were ever "touring through the Chicago area", that we should let him know. Unfortunately, I don't think that our Nationwide Tour of Borders Coffeeshops is coming up anytime soon...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 13Jun2009

Finally, it's staying warm enough through the evening. All those Easterners who think it's always warm in California are dreaming...

Had a low-key, but pretty good night. Long periods of total silence between songs, but still people watching. Kinda like those inflatable crowds they use in movies these days.

But I played and played, and the sound was pretty good, for some reason. Seemed clearer than usual. Maybe I was just louder -- I was getting some feedback that I don't usually get. Anyway, it was pretty fun to just keep playing, and see what happens, see who turns up. Unfortunately, nobody very enthusiastic ever did, until about 9:40, when a couple of groups finally got the idea that I was a real live person. There was a group of 4 teen-age girl Beatle fans (more and more common lately), and some couples out listening, too.

All of a sudden, it was twice as fun as it had been the first three-and-a-half hours, so I just kept going, hoping the maintenance guys wouldn't be too upset. I played all the way 'til 10:30 when they showed up. They were cool about it, 'cuz I quit immediately at the end of that song, and moved my stuff quickly so they could take the table and lights away.

I guess I was doing better than the response indicated, though, 'cuz I made $53, and only one of the bills was a 5, so a lot of people threw in a couple of bucks. That's kinda cool.

One interesting thing: I was kind of trying to remember how "Hallelujah" goes, tinkering with the two intro chords, and a college girl looked up and gushed "Oh, I love that song!" I was surprised that (a) she knew it, and (b) she recognized it from just the two chords, played not even right yet. I'd been wondering how well-known it is, and I may have just gotten my answer.

Keith at Cancer Relay -- 06Jun2009

Well, the good news is that they had a big stage with lights, and huge sound system and everything set up like a full-scale rock concert. The bad news is that it *was* a full-scale rock concert -- except for me, of course. The schedule was: rock band, rock band, rock band, punk band, rock band, rock band, punk band, me, rock band. It was like a brain teaser for 4 year olds: Which of these is different?

It's suddenly very clear why they switched me from 4:00 to the 9:00 hour, when the "Luminaria Ceremony" is traditionally scheduled. If you want somebody to play soft background music during your mushy sentimental speeches, who from the list above would you choose?

After my experience with the Chalk Festival and how lame it was compared to how I thought it was gonna be, and since I was getting really nervous about this one, I thought I'd go over there in the morning to confirm the layout and presumably alleviate my anxiety by seeing that it was also gonna be lame. When we got there and there was a 7 piece rock band, audible from a half a mile away on the dozen Volkswagon-sized JBL speaker cabinets, my little plan backfired, big time. I mentioned my apprehension to several people, friends and the organizer-lady, Ashley, but they all said, "You'll be fine!". That is, of course, easy for them to say...

So I spent the afternoon freaking out over just the magnitude of the sound system, but still thinking that the other acts (after the first Classic Rock, "get 'em warmed up" band) were gonna be, like the chalk festival, local dance academies and high school choirs. Fortunately I was still ignorant of my "odd man (very) out" status in the lineup, or I may have not shown up again that evening.

But I did, and listened to very loud rock bands while trying to talk to my friends over the din. It was at the local college's football stadium, with a running track around it that the Relay-ers were walking. The stage was at one end, and even at the farthest end, it was Really Loud, so much that I had to stop trying to talk to my friend for fear of blowing out my voice before having to sing. And, of course, near the stage it was almost unbearable. All the adults I talked to complained about having to spend all day (this is a 24-hour "endurance" relay kind of thing) with that too-loud noise.

Which actually helped eliminate some anxiety, 'cuz, despite being Completely Different (*because* of it), maybe I was gonna be the respite that the adults had been waiting for all day. I was feeling a little weird mixed in with these rock-n-roll kids, but, hey, nobody likes every kind of music -- never apologize for being not-that-stuff, right?

Problem was, as the day went on, they were falling farther and farther behind in the schedule -- of course. Especially since they'd allotted 10 minutes between bands to tear down one band's stuff, and set up the next, with sound check on a dozen channels. Not bloody likely.

The original plan was for me to play background music for 20 minutes worth of Ceremony speeches at 9:00. At the end of the speeches, they had a bagpiper to lead the audience around the track to look at the luminaria, while playing "Amazing Grace". I know. Hard to imagine. But worse, at that point, I get to play a 35 minute set to the now-empty chairs. Gee, thanks. I'm like, you're kidding, right?

So, I complained and they managed to shuffle the schedule some and get me 45 minutes *before* the ceremony, then play background during it, and then I'm done when the bagpipes start. A bit short of a set, but I can live with it -- it's a good cause and all.

But that all went out the window when I got there, because the only thing that was set in time was the Ceremony is supposed to start at 9:00. So, I agreed to go back to the speeches-then-me ordering. Not ideal, but if the audience actually does the full lap, they'll be back at the stage for my set.

So I get set up after the punk band is done, and the stage manager has the rock band that's on after me setting up behind me as well -- probably wise, to save some time. They finally clear off, so the speeches start, with me playing "Over the Rainbow" in the background. Then the second set of speeches, and I played "You've Got a Friend", over and over for 15 minutes, 'cuz I couldn't very well stop in the middle of the speech to turn the page. Didn't seem to bother anyone. Then the closing remarks, with me back playing "Over the Rainbow", and then the bagpiper takes the audience for a walk.

I'm ready to start singing when they get back, but, whoops, almost nobody actually comes back. They're all pretty tired by this point, and apparently just stopped at their respective tents to get away from all this noise -- this being the first quiet minute since 10am. (The bagpipes, known for being obnoxiously loud, sounded hilariously quiet after all the amplified rock.) So, when the bagpipes quit , I start singing to maybe a dozen or fifteen people, almost all of them my old Indian Princess friends. The kids all wanted to hear my kid songs, of course, so I started with "With a Little Help From My Friends", and then did 3 kid songs, starting with "Waltzing With Bears", of course. Then I thought I'd try to bring some adults back over, so I did "Sweet Baby James", which can also be thought of as a kid song, kinda. So, 5 songs in, I was thinking of what to do next, and the stage manager whispers "One more song!" at me. Say what?!?

So, because I was the only guy there who could play quiet nice stuff, and the guy who bent over backwards to get the Ceremony started on time, I get my already-short 45-minute set cut to less than half of that to reset the schedule. But I can't actually stand on stage and argue with Ashley over the microphone, so I play "You've Got a Friend in Me", and get out of the way so the rock kids can start their one-hour set.

Now, I will say that none of this was malicious on Ashley's part. She's probably 25, and just green and naïve. But when it came time to figure out how to fix the schedule, she shoulda remembered who her friends were, 'cuz it's gonna be pretty hard to get me back there next year.

K&W at Irvine Spectrum -- 30May2009

Pretty fun, for some reason. Maybe I was just in a good mood. We did have a reasonably constant stream of people paying at least some attention, but nobody ever really enthused. But, it was still a fun one.

It was gloomy all day and I was afraid it would be freezing in the evening. And even though last week the guys promised to bring a heater this week, it wasn't there when I got there. When the guys finally came by, they told us that they'd sent all the heaters out for maintenance! But the cloud cover apparently "kept the heat in", as they say, 'cuz it never did get very cold at all. Maybe that's why I was in a good mood -- I wasn't shivering.

I cleverly put my second camera battery in the charger to "top it off" before I left, and then cleverly forgot it. So I only got one battery's worth of video (about 1:40). And I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, so no list of posted videos this time. Kind of a shame about that second battery, though, 'cuz I really felt like I was "on" for the second half, after the camera was dead. Or was it *because* the camera was dead...? Oh, well.

K&W at Irvine Spectrum -- 23May2009

Well, it wasn't exactly cold out, but it was kinda chilly -- apparently enough to discourage a lot people from deciding that going to an outdoor mall was a good idea. But that's OK, we had fun playing to the stragglers and cold-immune teens.

Problem is, I'm standing up there for 4 hours, relatively still, and I get really cold even if it's not all that cold outside. The whole last hour or more, I was shivering and my fingers were too cold to really play. It's just not really summer yet. As we were packing up, I mentioned that I was freezing to the maintenance guy, and he was surprised ('cuz it's "not that cold!"), but he said he'd bring a heater out next week. I hope so.

My little camera periscope invention worked quite well, as you can see from the vidcap still above. The performances were pretty good, and at least the camera angle was "on" this time.

So, I did find quite a few songs to clip for posterity -- if you can call YouTube "posterity"...
Past the Point of Rescue
Hey Jude
Hey Ya
Country Road
Golden Slumbers
Let It Be
I've Just Seen a Face
Old Man

K&W at SCP -- 15May2009

Well, amazing acoustically, as always, and, pretty great socially for once, which led to: terrific musically. I had my video cam set up and whereas usually I have to try to remember which few songs went well enough to be worth clipping out and posting the next day, this time it was hard to find any that *weren't*.

Unfortunately, the camera's "aim" was pretty off, mostly because I felt self-conscious doing the 5 or 6 timered still shots that it takes to try, adjust, and try again to get the zoom and X and Y angles right. At Spectrum, there's nobody sitting and waiting for me/us to start, so I have the luxury of getting it right. Here, where it mattered, I screwed up. You can see the results above -- it's just straight at my face, which isn't exactly what I'm going for. I like to get some of the guitar in there, and if Warren's there, he ought to be in the frame somewhere, too. I remembered to go to "widescreen" mode, but still didn't get him in there.

All of which has made me mad enough to try to do something about it -- I've built a little cardboard-and-mirrors "periscope" that hangs on the back of the camera and lets me see what the backside screen looks like, albeit upside-down. I should have better results next time.

Anyway, it was a great time, 'cuz we had people listening the whole night, and were able to keep their interest by being not-too-shabby. One highlight: someone asked for an old K&W staple, "Love Hurts" off the list, which I've neglected for a long time, but it really sounds great and is fun to play, so I'm gonna have to try to move it into my mental "A" or at least "B" list. It's probably even useful as a bone to throw out when some kids sarcastically ask for Metallica or some such, since it's well-known on dinosaur-rock radio in a version by metal-band Anthrax.

Since the camera's aim was so off, I haven't clipped any of the (probably musically good) songs out of it yet. I may do a few, though, when I get the time, just 'cuz they're likely to be the best *sounding* clips I'll have.

K&W at Irvine Spectrum -- 09May2009

Well, that was pretty awful. After last week's success, I was thinking that each Spectrum gig would better than the one before it, as it got warmer and more people came out. Unfortunately, it was colder, and although there were people out, they were all grumpy or something, and we never did get anything going.

I suppose it's (always) at least partially my fault. I play OK, and I sing OK, but I'm not really much of an "Entertainer", and can't really "get an audience going" like some guys do. And since I only play well if somebody's really listening, I'm afraid that if nobody joins in somewhere along the way, I go into a death-spiral. I should try to fix that about me. I guess I'll look into that right after I fix my other personality flaws: bad listener, short patience for fools, too much of a perfectionist...

It wasn't all bad, though. With nobody listening we could play lots of the new songs with impunity (Warren's other "date" stood him up, so I wasn't solo after all). And I suppose there were a few people that listened in for a while.

Anyway, a new record "low" for tips there: $16. Which actually, again, wouldn't have been half-bad at a Borders gig, so I should shut up.

I did get a few decent songs off of the video, and posted them:
Under the Boardwalk
Yesterday
Country Road
Your Song

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 02May2009

A pretty great gig -- especially compared to the one earlier in the day. I started at 6:10, and the place was just about full by 6:30. Not to see me of course -- it was just Dinner Time, but still. A guy from work happened to come by while I was setting up, and was having dinner with his wife and kids when I started up. He was apparently impressed -- he told our new boss "Keith's a great singer!" first thing at our staff meeting Monday morning.

But it was a nice warm evening (finally!), and there were lots of people out. And not just roving packs of teenagers like previous weeks, either. I almost always had people tuned in. The Beatles Set thing worked again, for pulling in and retaining young people. And I had a lady ask for song after song, all good ones, including "Mister Bojangles", which she correctly surmised I'd be able to play, and every Cat Stevens song I know, even the ones that aren't on the list.

Unfortunately, I had a case of Movie Camera Intimidation Syndrome, so I fatally muffed up most of the tunes until the last half-hour or so. But I got a few that are presentable, and I've posted them:
Graceland
Hey Ya
Sealed With a Kiss
If I Fell
All My Lovin'
Your Song

The funniest thing that happened was a kid, about 15, that came up, dropped a quarter in the jar, and gingerly took a CD, looking up at me to see if I was gonna object. I didn't (mostly because I'd'a had to stop the song-in-progress to do so), so he wandered off with the CD, which, I noticed, was the Kids' Songs one. I just chuckled to myself that he'd gotten what he paid for. After about 10 minutes, he came back over. I expected that he'd come to swap the CD for the other one, but once he figured it out, he pulled out another quarter, and took the other CD too. Even funnier.

I didn't think I'd be up to playing for too long after having already played at lunchtime, but I took a nap, and was able to play almost the whole 4 hours. My voice got a little ragged, off and on, but mostly pretty good.

Anyway, I had a great time, (made $55), and expect that it'll just get better and better as it gets warmer, with longer days.

Keith at the Street Painting Festival -- 02May2009

I got a last minute invitation to play at the City of Mission Viejo's 11th annual "Street Painting Festival", where they divide up the parking lot at the Community Center and do chalk art, with an attendant "festival" of booths with art-related stuff for sale. They also put up a stage and have entertainment, and the lady who signed me up to play for Santa Claus last December thought I might want to come down.

It was kind of cool because they had a stage inside a tent/pavilion, 150 chairs, and a big sound system with a real Sound Guy. I guess that's a good thing, because it sounded really weird from where I was (I wonder what that says about the self-mixed sound I'm usually churning out). But everyone said it sounded good out in the audience.

Well, I say "everyone", but it was a pretty disappointing turnout, other than my friends and family who came out in almost-record numbers. My mom, dad, and sister came, and Daleen and Acacia (with puppy Annabelle). Daleen's dog-walking buddy and her husband came, and a pair of Daleen's students with their mom. And old-friend Sandy from my Toshiba days. Unfortunately, that made up at least half of the "crowd". I've played to fewer people of course, but I guess a coffeeshop with 10 people in it looks different than 150 chairs with 10 people in them.

Anyway, it was pretty fun. I had worked up an actual Set List, 'cuz I knew I had limited time (1:30), and wanted to show off my best stuff, and didn't want to waste time flipping through the book like I usually do. I also stacked the deck with my most solid songs, which generally means the ones I've been playing a while. Unfortunately, my mom wanted to hear some of the new stuff. Sorry, Mom.

I did inexplicably play one new one, "Country Road", just 'cuz I'm getting the hang of the tricky guitar part, and it's fun to try to land it. It made a pretty good Big Finish as the Unexpectedly Last Song, when they cut me off early to set up the stage for the Irish Dancing girls that followed me. It seemed terribly short to me, 'cuz it was more like an hour and ten, and I'm used to playing at least 3 hours, and time flies when you're having fun. It probably seemed interminable to the audience...

Anyway, the event coordinator thought I was great, so I guess she'll be inviting me to more of these kinds of things. In 5 weeks I'll be playing at the American Cancer Society's big Relay for Life at the local college. A friend of mine says we'll be playing for "a big crowd" there, so we'll see. This was probably a good rehearsal/preview of how that one will go.

Trailmate Campout at San Onofre

Now that the weather's nice again, we're having Trailmate campouts again. This one was at San Onofre beach, which is on Camp Pendleton, but we have a retired Marine in our group who was able to get us in.

Because of the exclusivity, despite all the camping we've done, this is the first time we've been to this campground. It's pretty nice, and you get to pitch the tents right there on the sand. This seemed really cool, but it happened to be a new moon, with the attending very high tides, and the first night, the waves came up and almost soaked some of the tents. But, fortunately, not quite.

We had a movie on Friday night, as per tradition, and though I generally frown on this idea, thinking that the girls ought to be doing something that they *can't* do at home, nobody else seems to have that issue, so I join in. I try to bring some "unexpected" movie -- there's no point in bringing "the newest thing", as the kids will have all seen it anyway. So this time I brought "Cocoon", which is "ancient" as far as the kids are concerned, and has a nice message about being kind to old people, like me.

On Saturday, some of the guys took their girls to go skeet shooting on the base, but that doesn't really appeal to me, so we stayed behind. Acacia played in the (freezing) surf with her friends, but Geneva's ankle is still messed up, so she mainly slept late and sat around knitting. It's OK to have a pure decompression weekend once in a while.

On Sunday, some of the guys took their girls horseback riding, but since Geneva can't put her foot in a stirrup, we just headed home at noon, and Acacia went riding with one of the other dads, who then brought her home.

Overall, a pretty good, laid-back, weekend, though it was windy and cold part of the time. I had forgotten my sun hat, so I had to modify a foam dinner plate to act as a brim stuck up under my stocking cap. Fortunately, there were no mirrors for me to see what a dork I looked like. You can check all the pictures, here.

K&W at Borders South Coast Plaza -- 17Apr2009

Remarkably, it's been 7 weeks since I'm played indoors, and 8 since I've played the brilliant acoustics of the South Coast Plaza Borders. Wow! I'd forgotten how good it can sound. At Spectrum, the general environment's loud, so I have to be way too loud, and that darn fountain makes white noise that varies between loud and really loud for the music to compete with.

So it was pretty delightful to be able to play and sing with a little subtlety for a change. And it was good timing, too, after the two previous somewhat discouraging gigs, it was good to have one go well -- I was starting to worry that I'd lost my mojo...

As usual, there weren't a whole lot of people there, but we had folks listening in pretty much the whole time. Right at first there was a young family that we've seen there before, and there were some college girls that made a few requests. Later on, there was a guy who was obviously a guitar player, who commented on playing in Drop-D tuning, so I took the opportunity to play a bunch of those songs. Not that he was really asking to hear every Drop-D song I know, but it was as good an excuse as any.

I brought my movie camera again, and with the great acoustics and attention, was playing and singing pretty well, so I got lots of presentable songs. Luckily (?), I'd forgotten the second battery, or I'd'a had even more of 'em. As it was, I waited until halfway through to fire the camera up, but, since I don't like to delay the show, I just pointed it the best I could guess, and hit "go" -- ending up with me pretty squarely in the picture, but Warren usually cut in half. Wish I'd'a remembered to put it in Letterbox mode -- if it'd been getting wider shot, Warren might have been in the picture better. Next time.

But anyway, I posted what I got -- some new stuff, and some classics that are hopefully improving over time. Links below:
Five O'Clock World
Sarah Maria
Four and Twenty
Wichita Lineman
Past the Point of Rescue
You Were Always On My Mind
Time After Time
Something

I'm not entirely sure why I'm filling YouTube up with videos of me singing stuff. I guess I'm pretending that it can be an audition resource, but we've yet to encounter any booking person that accepts on-line material in lieu of a physical CD. Maybe the world's working up to that. Until then, I guess it's straight-up vanity. Fortunately, with my new camera, rig, and software, it's pretty easy to grab a night's worth and edit out and post the good takes.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 11April2009

Well, as much as I was hoping that Spring had sprung, apparently it hasn't yet. I was hoping for a mild evening and a bigger turnout, but got neither.

Fortunately, I remembered last weeks shivering, and brought a sweater *and* my jacket, and had asked them to bring out a heater too. There was no heater when I got there, but I soldiered on hoping that it would appear as it got darker and colder. It didn't, but I had put the phone number for Maintenance in my phone, and at 8:00, when I realized I was already cold and had two hours to go, I called them. Fortunately, the guys are real friendly and brought one out right away. That helped a lot with the cold.

But didn't do anything about the crowd, or lack thereof. I'm starting to get the impression that a gloomy day (understandably) just turns people off of coming out to outdoor malls. I assume that the stores' receipts would show the same trend as my tip jar does.

Right off the bat, though, a group of "rocker dudes" showed up to sit and smoke. I thought I'd have a hard time with them, but despite the tattoos and all the hard rock band logos sewn onto their no-sleeve jeans jackets, they seemed to honestly like my stuff. One dude literally asked for "Fire and Rain" -- non-ironically! And the "hardest" of them all (most patches, tattoos, and hair) asked for Willie Nelson's "Always On My Mind" and then Sting's "Fields of Gold"; two of the most romantic songs on my list. They stayed for over an hour, and before they left they came up and basically dumped all the change in their pockets into the jar -- over 3 dollars in small change. You just never know...

After that, I played to almost nobody the rest of the night, until Daleen and the girls showed up at 9:30 or so. I had been "saving" my new Beatle songs so Acacia could hear them, so I ran through lots of those, and then it was time to go.

I had my movie camera set up again, but I was playing pretty poorly, and the camera's "aim" was off most of the night. The girls fixed it up for me when they got there, and having someone to play for makes me play better, so the last bit was somewhat usable. Here are links to: Graceland (better than (and replacing) last week's)
Carolina In My Mind
The Water Is Wide
Hey, Jude
If I Fell

I brought in $22 in tips, which is, I think, a new low for Spectrum, but which would be a darn good night at a Borders, so I shouldn't complain. My bigger concern is the (now) two crappy performances in a row. Last week I had the cold to blame it on, but this week I'm going with the intimidation of the movie camera, and the lack of people to play to. It really makes an embarrassing amount of difference to my playing and singing if there's someone recognizably listening or not. Oddly though, the camera, representing *lots* of potential people actually listening, makes me play worse.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 04Apr2009

Well, I've been better...

I don't know why, but I was just kind of out of it. Could have been (but *shouldn't* have been) the two week layover (due to the wash-out last weekend), but I've survived longer gaps. Maybe it was just kind of weird to start during daylight, since the time change. That also kind of faked me out, 'cuz it was sunny and warm when I started, so I didn't ask for a heater. By 9:00, though, I was regretting that, since I was so cold my knees were shivering (and I had to fight to keep it out of my voice), and my fingers were too stiff to play well.

I had set up my little movie camera and recorded most of the night, but my voice didn't really warm up until half-way through, and by then my fingers were frozen. So I have bad singing in the first half, and bad playing in the second.

But actually, there were a few good (or, at least, interesting) takes. I clipped 'em out and posted them on You Tube. I did several of my new songs just to try to catch them, and although they're not artistic triumphs, they came out OK. Mostly, they all seem lethargic. I guess I was just tired -- or at least I sure look tired...

Anyway, here are the videos I put up. Hopefully, I'll get better ones next Saturday, and I'll delete these -- so if you're interested, you'd better look soon.
Graceland
I Should Have Known Better
Carolina In My Mind
Yesterday
Your Song
You've Got a Friend

But it was still some fun. I didn't get many real Listeners, but occasionally there was some interest. Right at first, there was a little girl, just 1 or 2 years old, staring right through me like she knew more about me than I did. She wanted to "dance" (i.e., rock back and forth), so I played a few songs for her, with her swaying, and staring with those wise old eyes. And toward the end there was a table-full of kids who were getting into it, and asking for songs.

I did make $46, so I guess I wasn't all bad. But next week, I'll do better.

New Songs

To keep the gigs interesting (to me at least, if not to the audiences), I'm constantly learning new songs. In the last few weeks, I've added Hal Ketchum's "Past the Point of Rescue" -- a great, if not well known, up-tempo tune to the book, though not The List, yet. I've also been working on James Taylor's "Country Road" (for what, 30 years?), and may have finally cracked the amazing right-hand technique he uses to get "that sound". It's (apparently) a variation on Travis picking that I'd never thought of: pick with two fingers at the same time, but still within the pattern. Seems stupifyingly obvious now, but it eluded me for a long, long time. I wonder what other songs it might come in handy for...

After several requests from my buddy Dave, and its coincident appearance on the new James Taylor CD, I've learned "Wichita Lineman". As stolen from James' version (but transposed down a bit), it's got one of the most amazing chord progressions of any song I've ever learned. It doesn't really sound like anything magical is going on back behind that melody, but there is. That Jimmy Webb could really write 'em. I mean to make Dave come up and sing it, next time he comes out, but until then I guess I'll have to do it myself.

About 6 weeks ago, we went to the Golden Horseshoe in Disneyland and saw their comedy-hick act, "Billy Hill and the Hillbillies". They're masterful musicians, of course, beneath the hick routine, and they did a terrific bluegrass version of "The Letter", by The Boxtops. I went home and built a version for myself, not so hick, but not quite rock, either. I kind of like it, and having another up-tempo tune doesn't hurt.

Lately, I've noticed a really good reaction whenever I do Beatles songs. The older folks love it, of course, but there's a whole new generation of kids that are into the Beatles, too. I get good reactions from older teens and 20-somethings (possibly due to the recent Beatles-music movie "Across the Universe"), and a surprisingly lot of recognition from 10 to 13-year-olds, too.

We have several Beatle songs already, and I worked up and have been closing with "Golden Slumbers" for the last couple of months, which seems to really "work" -- at least I love playing/singing it. So I've been trying to add even more Beatles, starting with my new slightly soft version of "Hey, Jude", which I was reticent to try because the original is so deeply ingrained. But, it seems to work OK with people, and it's fun to kind of imitate the style of Paul's piano playing on the guitar. And occasionally I can even see people singing along with the "Na, Na" part at the end. I also recently worked up an acoustic version of "I Should Have Known Better", which seems strangely OK even without the prominent harmonica breaks in the original. Haven't tried it out in public yet, but I intend to this weekend.

I've worked up "Dear Prudence", and when I say "worked", I mean it. It's a finger-buster. But it's Acacia's favorite Beatles song, so I thought I ought to know it. Problem is, it's actually pretty repetitive and boring, without all the extra magic that the Beatles pour on top in the recording -- instrumentation changes, lots of vocal harmony -- all stuff I can't really bring to it. So it may have to fall out, sadly. Luckily, Daleen and Acacia showed up at my last gig, and I pulled it out (with limited guitar success), so at least Acacia got to hear me do it once.

But I've decided to go ahead and add "Blackbird" to the list. I've been able to play it for years -- the incredible guitar part is a kind of Holy Grail of guitar players -- but singing along while playing it makes it even more of a challenge. But, it's nothing a few jillion hours of practicing can't fix, and I think I've got it down. People ask for it sometimes, and who am I to deny being able to play it? And when I have, it's been a pretty good crowd-pleaser, so I'll just have to keep it practiced-up. The only real issue is that it's un-transpose-able, because of the magic guitar part, and that "Into the light..." line is way too high for me. I'm just kind of shooting at it, though, and something comes out that's over with before it gets too embarrassing.

All this last week, I've been playing nothing but Paul Simon's "Graceland", after being inspired to try it out by Alison Kraus' sweet and slow(er) version as seen on TV (though I'm not able to keep it as slow as she managed to -- nor do I especially want/need to). I'm not sure how audiences will react to it, though -- it's a big favorite if you're into Paul Simon at all, but I'm not sure how much of the general public has heard it. We'll see.

Trailmates at Yucaipa Regional Park

We haven't been camping with the Princesses/Trailmates in quite a while, so this was pretty fun. Oddly, in my 11 years in the program, we've never been to this particular campground. It's very civilized. In fact, too civilized -- the only way to get the girls off of their cell phones is to take them somewhere that there's no signal, but this place is really a "city park", so we had plenty of signal there. Oh, well -- taking their phones away is tantamount to torture.

We drove out on Friday at 3:30, so it took 2 hours to get out through Riverside and all. Sunday morning, we got home in only 1 hour. There were only 18 families there and there weren't a lot of planned activities, which is fine with me. And since Geneva's hurt foot is in one of those big plastic boots, she wasn't going anywhere far, either.

But I had her bring her violin, and we ran through some of her fiddle tunes in the afternoon. That was big fun, but she's all paranoid about bothering people with mistakes and/or playing the same song more than once or twice. But I think that every single dad told me at some point how cool that was, and how great she plays.

On Saturday evening, we had our traditional campfire, with skits and such. Three little girls had written a song about "My Dad" (something like: "Dads are stinky, Dads are gross, but my dad is pretty cool -- My dad, my dad, my dad *rocks*!" (Talk about playing to the crowd!)), to a set of two chords that one of them could remember from her guitar lessons. When it came time to do it, I offered to let her play it on my electric guitar, which went over pretty big -- with her, and her dad.

It started to sprinkle Sunday morning during breakfast, which got steadily stronger as we tore down the camp in record time. We all got into our cars just as it really started coming down, and we drove on home. I usually like to hang out as long as possible on Sundays, just to get my money's/hassle's worth, but with the rain we were home by 10:30, and that's OK too.

We're camping again (at the beach!) in 5 weeks, and then we might go on the Colorado River canoeing trip three weeks after that, depending on how I'm feeling about all this by then. The "front door" zipper on the tent that I bought 10 years ago is pretty well shot, but I'm figuring if I can just limp through these last two campouts, I might be out of the camping business entirely. I'm not sure how active we'll be next year -- we'll see.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 14March2009

Not a whole lot more people than last weekend, but much more fun for me, somehow. I was singing inexplicably well (and high!), so maybe that made the difference.

Right at first there was a guy and his wife, waiting for me to start. He immediately started requesting songs, and they were all the really old ones -- "standards". "The Way You Look Tonight", "Stardust", "Georgia On My Mind", "I Only Have Eyes For You", etc. Turned out he was a player himself, and was basically scoping out the competition, or sniffing up repertoire ideas. He wasn't really being sneaky though -- he declared himself and gave me his card as he was leaving. I guess he plays for money, and we're not really competitors at all, since I won't get his gigs, and he wouldn't play mine.

Later on, a mom, a dad, and 5 or 6 twelve-year-old girls came by to eat their pizza. That was fun for a while, 'cuz these are My Peeps, but they had to get to their movie. Then I had a group of 5 or 6 Chinese college kids, who mostly ignored me until I did a Beatle song, which perked them right up. About the same time, a family with a cute 13-year-old red-headed girl arrived, and she was a big Beatle fan, too -- I could see her singing along. I sung up what I had, including my new "If I Fell", and the unlisted but in the book, "Yesterday", and "Hey, Jude".

About then Daleen and Acacia arrived (with Duffy and Anabelle), so I tried out "Dear Prudence", which I know is one of Acacia's favorites. I've been learning the finger-busting guitar part all week, and it's not really ready for prime time yet, but it was such an opportunity that I had to take it. Virtually all the other Beatle songs I do, I've had to transpose down a fourth or so, but this one is so tied into the guitar part that that's not really possible. I've just been singing it down an octave while I'm learning it, but it was a bit of a shock to see just how low that really is when sung "out loud". Probably it's just not do-able, 'cuz of that, unless I just throw away "the sound" of the original and do something very different, so I can get away with not playing in the original key. We'll see.

But it was remarkable how The Beatles (and *only* The Beatles) songs cut across time and space. I pick up people from around here, but also Japan, China, Persia, and everywhere else, and also 50-somethings, but down to 10-somethings, too. This is far from the first time that Beatle songs have sparked some audience connection, and I'm definitely gonna have to learn some more, and move some of the ones that I don't play much up into hard rotation.

To start with, "Yesterday", which I learned a long time ago, but kind of feel like it's Too Done, not to mention Too Cheesy. But it always goes over well when I do it, so it's gotta go on The List. And I've known how to play "Blackbird" on the guitar for ages, and though it's hard to sing and play simultaneously, I've licked that in recent years. When someone (who's not looking at The List) asks for it, it gets a big reaction, so it's gotta get moved up too. Problem is, I don't think there's anything Warren can do while I'm playing it, and I already feel bad every time I play "Scarborough Fair" and he has to put his guitar down and leave the stage. But even the Beatles knew there was nothing that could/should be added to the crazy-cool guitar part Paul came up with for "Blackbird", so I don't think Warren can/should overlay anything on it, either. Maybe it's just a solo-gig tune.

There was also a group of college dudes who were hanging out, and occasionally whooping at the end of a song, but generally not paying much attention. But when they got up to leave, they came over and were wanting to buy some CDs! I had recently decided to amend my "Whatever you want to put in the jar" answer to the "What do the CDs cost?" question, by adding "... most people put in a 5 or 10." (People who read the sign can comfortably get away with just a buck, but the penalty for not reading the sign and asking is guilt if you think a buck is enough.) Anyway, they bought 2 or maybe 3 CDs, and are probably the guys who stuck 4 fives, folded together, in there. Wow.

I had brought the electric along, and had it out, and was in fact staring right at the yellow-fur insides of its case all night, sitting out in front of me as people threw money into it. But I plumb forgot to actually fire it up. Oh well, it's a cool stage decoration, I guess.

And I brought my new camera out, too. I got one similar to Warren's because it (a) has better quality audio and video, and (b) takes a big-enough RAM card to record a whole evening without intervention. With the small cards I have now, I only got an hour's worth, but it's a start. The videos are way bigger and clearer, with great sound (even though it was right in front of the amp, and I'd expected it to be blown out. I'm pretty pleased. I set it up over to the side, so people wouldn't steal or trip on it, but unfortunately since I'm my own cameraman, it was exactly where the head of the guitar is in front of my face half the time. Doh! But I brought it out precisely to start making the mistakes you have to make before you figure something out, and now I know that one... I clipped out and posted 4 songs up on YouTube, if you're interested: http://www.youtube.com/y7alanzo

And I made 64 bucks in tips. Very good for another cold, sparsely-attended night. We went to Costco the next day, and I was dying to spend some of it on something, but I couldn't find anything that I wanted. I said so to Daleen, and she said, "You can just consider it a partial payment on that camera." And I guess she's right, but she's no fun...

Guitar Discovery

I've been fingerpicking (aka "Travis picking") for so long that I can't even remember how to strum. Typically, there's a pattern of eighth notes that you pick with your thumb and three fingers. Most of the time, it's one note at a time, with occasional exceptions where the thumb and one of the fingers play at once, in a "pinch" motion. This makes an intricate, pretty, refined, musical stream -- think of "Scarborough Fair", "The Boxer", or (my latest song/obsession) "Dear Prudence".

James Taylor also fingerpicks nearly everything he plays, including "Country Road". I've been trying to work that one up for a while, but I couldn't get it to sound right -- "big" enough -- unless I went to some kind of hybrid thumb-picking but fingers-strumming, right-hand method. It's big enough that way, but it's not the way he's doing it, and leaves the finesse behind.

Yesterday, I was poking at it again, and somehow started fingerpicking it, but I was (accidentally?) using two fingers at a time, inside the pattern. Eureka! My "training" has disallowed picking more than one finger at a time, so I've never done it. It'd be like signing your name with the pen held between the wrong two fingers -- you *could* do it, but you never *would*.

But, bam, it sounds a lot more like what James is doing, and solves that mystery. I feel like an idiot that I never thought of/discovered it before.

"We'll be saying a big hello to all intelligent life forms everywhere... and to everyone else out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys."

K&W at Irvine Spectrum -- 07Mar2009

Well, I dunno -- that was a weird one. It was just so extremely *variable*.

Before I was even set up yet (I got there too early, and was waiting for the previous guy to clear the stage), this sweet little apple-doll of an HR lady from work and her husband showed up. They were gonna listen to me for a while, and then go see "Watchmen". She seemed to really like my stuff, but wanted me to play something "peppier", and when I did, they got up -- and danced. To that one, and two or three subsequent songs. That doesn't happen very often (or at all, before?). There was basically nobody else around, and after they left, that's how it was for most of the rest of the night. Admittedly, it was darn cold.

We did get the customary roving bands of teenagers, many of whom are tempted, if usually not quite bold enough, to harass us for the crime of being old. Sometimes they come around -- after the obligatory "comic" requests for shred metal or punk bands, followed by the oh-so-ironic requests for "Puff, the Magic Dragon" and "Rubber Duckie" -- to actually asking for some classic tune that they like: "Let it Be" or something.

But my voice was sometimes fine, and sometimes just trashed, and then OK again. Never seen it like that before. My playing was good, whenever my fingers were warm enough to play. We started out with no heater, but the maintenance guys finally showed up with one. It worked for about 10 minutes, and went out. There was nothing much we could do about that, but a nice lady in the audience (at that point, she and her husband *were* the audience) went inside the Food Court and somehow found a way to get the guys to come back out with a new propane tank. Wow -- that was beyond the call of duty.

One odd thing -- a lady asked Warren how much the CDs were (as they do since he's close to the CD table), and he told her "Whatever you want to put in the jar", and she ended up putting a twenty in there, and taking 3 CDs -- 2 "Live" and 1 "Bears". First time I've seen anyone decide they needed multiple copies.

Anyway, overall, it was pretty good, and pretty bad, in turns. I think maybe I was just tired.

Keith at Borders Mission Viejo -- 28Feb2009

Quite nice. Warren couldn't make it, so I was solo, in complete contrast to the gig the night before with both Warren and Bobby. Smaller, quieter, indoors. Warm.

Lots of friendly people, off and on, through the evening. Starting out with Daleen's new next-block-over dog-walking friend and her husband (and later on, Daleen herself). They apparently don't get out much, and she was grinning like a schoolgirl the whole night, asking for songs, and taking pictures.

Towards the end, a little girl (about 10) showed up (with two boys and a dad), who plopped down in the table right next to me, and joined right in singing "If I Fell". She was apparently a big Beatles fan, so I ended up doing several Beatle songs for her/them: "All My Lovin'", "Octopus's Garden", etc., and my new "Hey Jude" (which I'm deciding does work better capoed up 2). She sang along quietly on most of them -- that was fun.

I was singing pretty well, and feeling a lot more in control than the night before, and had a pretty widespread, if low key, response most of the night. But I guess they liked me more than they were showing, 'cuz there was $25 in the tip jar, which is pretty good from so small a group.

K&W with Bobby at Spectrum -- 27Feb2009

OK, that was a blast. My old buddy Bob Knight came out from Minnesota for the week, so I quickly set up a Spectrum date so he could "sit in". It was an unfortunately cold Friday night, so almost nobody was there -- except for the friends who made our night (heck, month!) by showing up anyway. And there were lots of 'em -- our families, my parents' best friends from the old days (who've known me since I was "a musical proverbial knee-high"), people from high school, college, Toshiba old days, and Indian Princesses -- too many to list! We had 20 or so friends, and only 4 or 6 "other people". But that was cool, too -- it was practically a Private Concert!

Back in the 70's I was just a beginner on guitar, so I wound up on (borrowed) bass behind Bob, or Bob & Jim, who both played amazing guitar and sang. I was too shy to sing in those days, and singing while playing bass is nearly impossible for me anyway. I eventually bought my own bass, which I still have and Bobby played on Friday. But it's been 30+ years and I've learned a few things on guitar and gotten a bit braver, and in the meantime Bobby's been off in Minnesota becoming a bass-playing monster, so this time it was reversed -- I played and sang with Bobby adding a bass line and harmony vocals, all right off the top of his head; we didn't have time to rehearse anything.

And it was amazing! First off, just having a bass there adds incredible depth, if that's not stating the obvious. And I've been yearning for vocal harmony in the act for years. I've had to stay away from songs that need harmony or they lose their essential character, but I still have lots that can certainly benefit from some. And they did. In spades.

I did a bunch of my normal songs, but I also added several that I've tried before but couldn't make work. I thought that with Bob added to 'em, they might fly better. And they did. So that was fun. Bobby was apparently surprised by some of the weirder selections I pulled out -- songs that maybe don't seem do-able, but that I've worked up some crazy arrangement of anyway.

I also re-worked up an "in-joke" (too long a story to go into here) song, "Hey Mister, That's Me Up On the Jukebox", just for the irony of doing it again with the reversed roles. Except I guess I sang it both times. Let's just say that I do it without a capo these days.

Anyway, it all went by way too fast. I really should have gone through and planned which songs to get to, rather than just flipping through the book and finding one. I guess I wasn't sure what was gonna work and what wasn't until I was there to hear how it was going. We'll just have to do it again sometime to get to those other couple dozen songs.

I set up my little camera to take video, but didn't get very much of the show, not to mention the difficulty of taking pictures under so much backlighting. But there are 7 songs to choose from. They're a little rough (Bobby was playing bass and singing with no rehearsal, and the mix was completely different than what I'm used to (with the really loud (from where I was) bass), so I was over-singing, etc., etc.), but really fun -- http://www.youtube.com/y7alanzo

Bobby, come back to California! All is forgiven!

K&W at Borders SCP -- 20Feb2009

Not a lot of people, but several who were tuned in, and that's all we ask. We had one couple who we've seen there several times before, and who were waiting in the comfy chairs when we got there. They apparently deliberately seek us out. And there was another elderly couple who were really into our stuff, and stayed most of the night. Later on, a young family with a cute little toddler listened for a while, even with having to intercept the baby every few minutes when she'd break free and beeline toward my tuner or music stand. And a nice college girl snapped a few pictures with her nice camera, and sent them to me. (Click them for bigger versions.)

I got to trot out several new songs I've been working on. I've been working on Hal Ketchum's "Past the Point of Rescue" for several years, and it's not hard to play, but it's got some high notes that I'm stretching for. With as much as I've been singing, though, my voice is more limber and I can hit 'em, mostly anyway. I've also been playing "The Letter", and tried it last week on the electric, but, as predicted, it works much better on the acoustic. I also assembled the nerve to play "Hey Jude", which I've been playing for myself for a few weeks, but thought it was too silly, and/or firmly entrenched with Paul's iconic rendition to "cover". My version is a bit "lighter", and fun to play with my imitation-piano strumming pattern. It actually seemed to work pretty well, though. Unfortunately, it turned out to be lower in range than it seems when I sing it to myself, but I can capo up a few and it'll be OK.

This was our first time at South Coast Plaza since I've had the new pickup in my guitar. For some reason, the room has the best acoustics of anywhere we play (or have *ever* played), and my guitar sounded *terrific*. Impossible to describe, but just way "fuller" than before. Nice.

The funny part was that Dave was there. He hasn't come out to see me in about 3 years, but old-buddy Bobby is coming out and gonna sit in for a gig next weekend. Dave heard about that, and bam, he's coming. I'm trying not to be insulted by the fact that Dave won't come see me, but he'll drop everything to see Bobby -- but hey, no problem, at least he's coming.

Now Dave calls me several times a week, just to talk, and he usually asks if/where I'll be playing the coming weekend. Not that he's coming -- he's just being sociable. On Thursday he calls, and suddenly apologizes for the appearance of it, that he's committed to coming out to see Bobby, but hasn't come out to see me in so long. He doesn't want it to look like he's only coming out to see Bob -- which is, of course, *exactly* what it looks like, but whatever.

Then on Friday, he calls and we chat for a while, and he asks where I'm playing, like always, but says that he'll try to come out. I'm thinking he's trying to make up for the whole Bobby thing by coming out this weekend (no Bob), and also next (with Bob). Nice effort, at least.

So we're playing for a while, and sure enough, in walks Dave. I'm thinking, "Wow", "Cool"... and "Finally! He really is trying to make it up." So I play some songs I know he likes, and he listens for a while, and takes pictures with his iPhone, and posts one on Facebook, and seems to be having fun. He even brought along a little "field recorder" to capture the night, but its batteries were dead.

But after a while, he holds up his phone and asks, "Hey, you want me to call Bobby?" I'm like, "Why? He's still in Minnesota." He's confused/surprised by this, and I realize that he thought that this was the weekend (and gig) that Bobby was gonna be here. I thought he was trying to make up for the appearance of only wanting to see me if/when Bobby was here, but he was really just (inadvertently) tricked into coming out a week too early. Sorry, Dave.

But, for whatever reason, he was there, and to his credit, he hung out for a long time even after figuring out that Bobby wasn't gonna be there. And I think he had fun. I actually wish (and continuously ask) he'd learn a couple of songs' harmony parts, and come up and sing with me, but he always feels like he has to be playing an instrument, which he doesn't, but he's hung up about it. Someday...

Anyway, it was a great gig. Several, if not lots, of people listening, and Dave there to show off to.

And I guess the final punch line is that Dave can't make it to the gig next Friday, when Bobby really will be there...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 14Feb2009

When I got there, the stage was covered with a big plastic sheet, which was covered with water (though it hadn't really rained for a while). There was no table, and no "stage lights", but there was an umbrella heater -- unlit. I just dragged one of the patio tables over to use for the tip jar, sign, and CDs, but I couldn't seem to get the heater lit. It wasn't *too* cold (yet) at 6:30, so I decided to just go for it without the heater.

I had *lots* of people right at the beginning, including super-friendly Melissa (and friends), who asked for several songs right off the bat to get me started. Then a group of 14-year-old Beatle-fangirls materialized off behind me, and we had a bit of a bidding war, trying to get their respective requests played. Nice to be wanted!

But the dinner rush tapered off, and it was pretty darn cold, not to mention being Valentine's Day. I guess that worked both ways, though -- lots of people stay home, but I did have several couples wandering through. I played a lot of love songs.

Since Warren wasn't there, I brought the electric guitar again, but didn't get to it much. I played it for my new "If I Fell", for which it sounds great. But it sounded awful for "The Letter", which I learned recently after hearing "Billy Hill & the Hillbillies" play it Bluegrass-style at the Golden Horseshoe in Disneyland. I meant to try it again on the acoustic, which I think will work, but never got around to it. It also didn't really work for "Oh Very Young", which I've been working on getting "down" so I can play it more regularly by being able to play it more rightly. It's a tricky devil, and I've been reticent to play it much for fear of messing it up too badly, but now I think I can get through it pretty clean. But it'll have to be on the acoustic.

I play the electric all the time while I'm walking around the block at work, and it sounds OK (to me) on lots of songs, but out "live", through an amp (instead of just headphones), it sounds different, especially in that it rings (way) longer. I do want to figure out a mini-set of songs that work on it, so I can bring in some variety. I'll keep on it.

Anyway, it was pretty empty through the middle section, but I always had at least a few people to play for. I eventually got so cold that my stiff fingers were making me play badly, so I took another swing at the heater's startup controls, and got it working this time. That helped a lot.

Towards the end, I had a 60-something couple from the Middle East who were, inexplicably, huge James Taylor fans. They were really appreciative, and I deliberately held them up from wherever they were clearly trying to get to, by playing more JT songs that they couldn't walk out on.

And then at 9:40 or so I had another couple come in and sit down right up front. I played a few songs, including "Old Man" (by request of a mohawked kid (?)), which the lady apparently really liked. After a few more songs, she asked for "more Neil Young", but "Old Man" is the only one I know. She asked for "After the Gold Rush", which, again, I don't know, but she wanted me to just play it anyway. Um, don't know the chords, and don't know the words. "Play it anyway." So I finally gave up trying to explain that it doesn't work that way, and just played something else, which was apparently OK, 'cuz when I played my last song at 10:00, she wanted me to keep playing. I was reticent, 'cuz usually the maintenance guys come around right at 10 to take down the stuff, but they weren't there, so I played some more. And more. And more. She finally let me quit at 10:20 (with a $5 tip).

It seemed like a higher-than-usual percentage of listeners were tossing something into the jar this time, overall, so I made $63 -- pretty good for a sparsely-attended night. That includes $7 in change, which was surprising -- usually the change is under a buck. Lots of teenagers kind of emptied their pockets as they went by, which was actually quite nice of them. It's the thought that counts.

This could certainly turn into a terrific place to play, when it warms up. Problem is -- when it gets warmer, they're gonna start charging $50 to play there. Puts a pretty big ding in my take.

Duffy, Apparently Cured!

The results came back from the lab, and they're pretty sure they got all of the cancer when they cut out the big tumor from Duffy's neck a couple of weeks ago. The 4-inch long cut up his chest and throat (17 stitches) is healing up really well, and the fur is growing back to cover it up. He's happy and doing just great. He still doesn't want to go crazy-romping through the house with the younger girl dogs, but he's too dignified for that kind of nonsense anyway...

I'm "For Sale" again!

It's time for the annual auction to support the art programs at Geneva's high school, and since it worked out OK last year, we donated "An evening of music" (i.e., me, playing at your party) again. Last year, the minimum bid was $75, and one lady bid on me, and won. I guess the only thing more embarrassing than only getting one bid is not getting any bids.

Oddly though, this year they combined my donation with two others, a 12-pack of Cabernet, and a $100 gift card at an Italian restaurant. They're calling it "Insta-party... just add guests!" The Opening Bid is $150, which may or may not be the minimum ("reserve") winning bid -- experts disagree. If somebody can actually win the prize with a $150 bid, though... Seems like the $100 gift card is worth, say, about $100. And the wine's gotta be worth at least $50. That means that the guitar guy is worth exactly zip. Thrown in for free. Thanks for playing, here's your parting gift.

To illustrate the "item", they captured some pictures from the Keith & Warren webpage (including the partial image of Warren's guitar), and pasted on pictures of some lasagna and a wine bottle. Classy stuff.

It's been "open" for a little over 48 hours now, and they sent an email to everyone they know. So far, no bids. Seems to me like they priced the "package" out of range, and there won't be any bids. Suits me -- playing parties is always kind of weird (last year was a backyard pool party, kind of awkward really). If it doesn't sell at all, it's no loss for me -- I fulfilled my obligation to donate something -- but what are they gonna do with the other stuff?