Keith at South Coast Plaza -- Fri, 15Jul2011

This is usually a monthly Keith & Warren gig, but Warren wanted to go join the crazies in the drum circle on the beach for the full moon, and who could blame him?

It was the usual quiet night at Borders, but it's been so long since I've played indoors that I had a great time just playing for myself.  And there were a few people listening, albeit quietly.  I had a little applause right at first, but once that library-silence sets in, it's tough to break through.

Indeed, I had anticipated the lack of response when I got there and decided to not even pass out the song lists -- just seemed like a waste of paper.  I had a stack available, though, for the few people who seemed interested enough to need one.  Like the lady who was looking for "some country", giving me a chance to play my newly-learned "Need You Now".

And a pair of young teenage girls who plopped down in the comfy chairs and asked for a couple of Beatle songs.  But after a while they seemed stymied by the all-unfamiliar songs on the list, so I confessed that I also knew "Baby", to which they squealed "We love Justin Bieber!"  I wasn't sure I really wanted to do it there in the quiet of the bookstore because it's meant to be loud, but I did it anyway, if a bit subdued.  They seemed quite pleased, and even dropped some of their hard-earned allowance in the jar on their way out.

Surprisingly, I made $40 -- quite a bit for a bookstore gig.  3/4 of that was a twenty and a ten, which had to be the 3 CD sales.  But I just had fun playing in the nice acoustics.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Sat, 09Jul2011

Can't hardly do better than a Saturday in the summer!  Started off slow, as always, but got really good after it got dark, so I ended up playing 7 hours for my 4 hour gig -- started at 6, played until 1am.

I'd'a quit sooner, but after 10 or so, it gets quieter somehow, so i can hear (and perform) better, and people get more appreciative, and that's the part I'm there for.  I guess I essentially suffer through the first half to filter down to an audience that wants to be there, so I can play the second half.

Anyway, I had several new songs to play, including the love duet from "Tangled", which works really well with my guitar style and voice, and goes over really well with the kids and teens.  It's essentially this half-generation's version of "A Whole New World" from "Aladdin", which I've been playing quite successfully for a while, so I'm sure this one will also become a staple of the act.

I also learned Justin Bieber's "Baby", because the mallrat tweens ask for it almost every week.  I'd'a thought that they'd neither expect nor want me to play the current teeny bop heart-throb's songs, but apparently they do, so I caved.  There's a lot of distain for poor little Justin out there, and I don't know about any of his other songs, but "Baby" is actually a pretty well crafted pop tune.

I ended up playing it 3 or 4 times -- though naturally, no kids came up and asked for it this time.  But just to give it a try-out, I mentioned it to some older teen girls, expecting them to totally reject the notion, but they jumped and squealed instead, every time.  (Their respective boyfriends, however, gave the expected disgusted reaction (which I ignored, of course).).  Daleen was there with the dogs again, and can attest to the huge reaction I got for it, so I may be embarrassed by it, but I guess it stays in.

Somebody out there musta liked me, with or without the Biebster, 'cuz I made $171.  And a couple of people musta *really* liked me, 'cuz there were 4 twenty-dollar bills, despite there only being one CD sold.  Usually I assume any twenties in the jar are generous people buying CDs, but if they didn't even take a CD for it, those are some *really* generous people.

Just before 1:00am, I decided that enough was enough and called it quits, despite still having at least a dozen enthralled listeners.  But I had just gotten several urgent calls from Daleen about taking Geneva in to Emergency because of a (come to find out) bad appendix (not that I could, or needed to, do anything about it), plus I was starving, so I reluctantly shut down.

As I was packing up, a guy walked by and said, "You have a nice voice."  I replied, like I always do, "Thanks, I got it from my dad."

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Sat, 02Jul2011

OK, that turned out to be a pretty bad idea.  I guess it at least breaks up the monotonous streak of "great" gigs at Spectrum...

With the booking lady limiting the number of "prime" gigs I can get per month, I decided to give the Saturday afternoon shift a try, as opposed to having nothing at all.  I probably should have noticed that I was signing up to play in the blazing sun in early July, but it was my only option, working around other stuff and against what was available.

Anyway, as you can imagine, it was hot.  Really hot.  And I'm right out in the middle of the plaza, where there's no shade.  Luckily, and amazingly, they had bought out a white canvas sun umbrella, so I thought it might be OK.  Nope.  The canvas creates shade, but it was only barely taller than me, and the canvas itself was getting hot and radiating heat onto my head.  At least the rest of me (and my guitar) was in the shade.

But the whole time, my voice was scratchy, and I couldn't seem to get enough breath to sing a whole line.  I've never encountered this before -- is it hard to breathe hot air?

Of course, I kept trying anyway.  I actually managed to capture a few people who were loyal or tough enough to brave the heat for a while.  My best audience was a pair of 5-year-old girls who were playing in the fountain behind me and impervious to the heat as only little kids are.  One was a big Ariel fan, and the other was partial to the new Rapunzel.  I played my "Toy Story" song, and the one from "Aladdin", and they decided that I must know every song, ever.  Flattering, but not *quite* true.

The Ariel fan wanted the song from "The Little Mermaid", which I kind of learned once, but it's far too "girl-singer" so I don't to it.  I did play the beginning of it, but couldn't remember much.  So then the other one wanted a song from "Tangled", none of which I know, yet.  They seemed to be genuinely mystified that I couldn't (wouldn't?) play the songs they wanted, but we compromised with the Winnie the Pooh song, and some Chuck Berry so they could run around, "dancing".

But it was a terrific (if inadvertent) suggestion, so I dug up and am learning the love-song duet from "Tangled".  It's really pretty, and actually played on a guitar until it gets swallowed up by the orchestra after the second or third bar.  Since the movie is out on DVD now, all little kids will have it well memorized by now, so it's sure to be a hit next Saturday (evening!)

Since I wasn't getting any response anyway, I got the chance to try out some other new songs I've been working on.  I've been learning Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now", which has been really tricky, 'cuz I'm letting the harmony box take the high (girl) melody, while I have to sing the lower harmony, hitting just the right notes to make it hit its notes right.  It's been a brain teaser, but I guess I've got it down finally, 'cuz I managed to get it all right.

And just an hour before I left for the gig, Geneva came in and suggested that I learn "Mad World" -- a hit from the 80's for "Tears for Fears", recently revived as a slow ballad.  I fired up the YouTube videos, found it to be pretty trivial to play, and quickly worked up a song sheet for it.  I tried it out when nobody was listening anyway, and it's do-able, but a slow moody downer -- more of which I need on my list like a hole in the head.  It might be usable in a quieter, mellower setting, but it was pretty out of place in the harsh light of day.

After a while, I was pretty wiped out, and found myself watching the clock wind down to 4:00.  It was getting a little cooler, and people were starting to show up, so it was probably about to get at least a little better, but I'd had enough.  I played my last song and signed off, and as I was starting to tear down, a guy from the next band showed up with some equipment, and said, "Take your time -- we don't start until six."  Wait, 'six'?!?  Oh, right, I'm actually supposed to play until *five*!  Whoops -- but too late now...

Since it was pretty empty, I only made $44, which would have only been $24, except for the guy who came up after my last song, "Let It Be", and asked if that song was on any of the CDs.  It is, and he asked how much they were, to which I gave my usual "However much you want to put in the jar" line, and he left a twenty!  He really must have liked my rendition!

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Sun, 26Jun2011

So an hour after the end of the Foothill gig, I was supposed to be playing at Spectrum, but I didn't quite make it -- started about 20 minutes late, but who's counting?  I thought that playing 7 hours in a single day was gonna kill me, but it wasn't really bad at all, except that in the last hour or so, my finger muscles were so fatigued that they just weren't quite doing what I told them to do, so my playing got really sloppy.

I swore to myself that I'd quit at straight-up 8:00, no matter what, just to minimize the expected knee, back, finger, and voice damage, but at 7:50, my brother and his wife strolled in.  And, naturally, there were other people really listening by then too, so I kept going, even after my brother left, all the way to 9:35.  But frankly, I wasn't really doing anybody any favors butchering songs will my only-half-functional fingers.  And to make it worse, I (stupidly) started choosing obscure (and unrehearsed) songs to play for my brother, which I did even worse on.  I particularly botched "Copperline", by far my worst-ever performance of that one.  The very-cool guitar part has a particular clever srummy pattern and feel, and my almost-dead hands just wouldn't get into it.  Oh well -- I guess I can do about 7 hours, but not 8.  Good to know.

But overall, it went quite well. Daleen and Acacia came by and had dinner in the food court behind me. Lots of people were listening, and asking for songs, and buying CDs. A very cute little girl and her barely-mobile baby sister came and danced and danced. Sometimes it just kills me that I'm too busy to bust out a video camera and capture some of this stuff...

But the weirdest thing was the girl, looking, made-up, and dressed like a Playboy Bunny, who teetered up (with the requisite toy dog on a leash) and gushed "I'm a singer, too!". I was unable to make any comment on this revelation, since I was in the middle of a song at the time, and she was immediately distracted by a little girl who rushed over to ask if she could pet the dog. The dog wasn't hers, but belonged to her friend, but, yes, you can pet it. Then the friend came over, and the "singer" noticed my business cards, grabbed one and told her friend, "I'll email him", and off they went.  All within one song, so I didn't get to say a word...

She did email me -- a gloriously grammar-, punctuation-, spelling-, and capitalization-free message, telling me that she's looking for a guitarist, 'cuz, as noted previously, she's a singer!  I replied, as politely as I could, that I already have a singer in my "band", (me), and I'm pretty well booked up with the band in its current configuration. But, if she had some gigs lined up and wanted to hire me to be *her* band, I might have time for that.

Who knows? She might be a terrific singer, and with her looks, she might be able to get big-time gigs somewhere, though it's hard to imagine that she's looking to sing a bunch of James Taylor tunes.  So, I have a feeling that this'll go exactly where you'd expect -- nowhere. Which is pretty much all right with me.

I made $115, which, along with the $36 in tips and $100 in actual "pay" from Foothill makes just over $250 for the day, which feels pretty good to the unemployed boy. Not that it's a living...

Keith at Foothill Towne Center -- Sun, 26Jun2011

I was sitting at lunch with the guys on Thursday, and we were talking about where I'd been playing lately, and my cell phone rang, which it very seldom does.  It was the lady who books the Foothill Towne ("You can tell we're classy 'cuz we spell it with an 'e'") Center Food Court.  The girl singer that I met there and got the booking info from had had to cancel, and inexplicably suggested that they call me.  I already had a gig at Spectrum that evening, but for the $100 paycheck?  Absolutely, I'm available.

The Foothill gig is from noon to 3, and the Spectrum one is 4-8, so I could theoretically do both, but could my (in ascending order) knees, back, fingers, and voice handle it?  Only one way to find out...

It went pretty much the same as last time -- mostly empty when I get there, then the church people come in and ignore me, then later on the regular people come in and are quite nice.  One nice girl marched right up and said, "Play 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'", which isn't on The List (which she hadn't looked at), but I do have a sheet for it in The Book.  It's not on The List 'cuz it's just a bit too high for me, so I don't think i do it justice, but I was singing inexplicably high and clear, so I just said, "OK", and fired it up.  Except for a few mistakes from lack of recent practice on it, it went *really* well -- I was hitting the high notes like some kind of pop music singer.  It was delightful.  Or maybe it was just the incredible natural reverb in that place, making me *think* I sounded great -- like singing in the shower.

A guy came in and brought his lunch right to the table in front of me and asked for a bunch of Cat Stevens songs, and a dapper gent and his wife listened well past finishing theirs.  At some point, after "Wild World", he came up to look at The List, but also came up and said, "Cat Stevens ain't gait *nothing* on you!".  And when they finally did get up to leave, he came up, stood at attention in front of me, and gave me a long formal salute.  Odd, but nice.

On top of the $100 they'll pay me, I made $36 in tips, which is not bad for a Food Court.  The booking lady told me that they're already booked through the end of August, but she's got me down (and owes me a favor?) as wanting another gig sometime in September.  And hopefully, she'll think of me for any other cancellations she gets.

But for this one, fortunately, by 3:00 it was almost empty, except for a few new "fans". Sorry guys, I gotta pack up and get to another gig...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Fri, 24Jun2011

Yet another great night at Spectrum. Lots of little kids (and their families) right at first, since today was the opening day of "Cars 2".  And Daleen and a couple of her dog-therapy friends came by with various dogs in tow, and Acacia with one of her friends.  That's always nice.

I've been working up "The Only Exception" by Paramour, and it's starting to sound pretty good.  I can't sing it in the same key as the female original, so I had to work up a guitar part that retains the original "carried-through" descant note to make sure it had "That Sound".  The "How to play it" videos and tabs on the Internet don't get it, but I do.

Later on, there was a cute 2-year-old girl named Jamie (one of my favorite names for a girl) who just immediately became my best friend, asking me for "Twinkle Twinkle", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", and "another one" again and again, all in her completely unintelligible babble language.  I had to get her mom to translate, 'cuz I just don't speak 2-year-old anymore.  But she was very sweet, and too cute.

I've been specifically setting up with the cables laid away from the front edge of the stage, just so I can go sit down on the edge and talk to the little ones if the opportunity came up, which it hadn't until now.  I let her strum across the guitar a few times, which visibly thrilled her (and, in turn, me).

And I'm really beginning to like doing "House at Pooh Corner" these days.  My voice has been cooperatively high lately, and the high notes that used to be unattractively strained come out nice and clear now.  That, plus the addition of the harmony box, is making this one sound really good to me.

I made $76, and 14 CDs were missing.  That's some kind of record, and either flattering or disturbing, depending if you want to believe that they were all paid for, or if this is the first case of someone snagging CDs while my attention was diverted.  I can keep a half-eye on the table while I'm singing, but I can't claim to have round-the-clock surveillance.  On the other hand, if this is the first time I've been taken advantage of, I'm probably OK.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Sat, 18Jun2011

Another terrific night -- no wonder all the bands are vying for dates at Spectrum, here in the Spring/Summer, especially Saturdays.

These days, people see me setting up and sit down to wait for me to start up! It's a good thing that I'm getting much faster at setting up the stuff, what with all the practice. So I had people listening the whole time, start to finish (at, again, 11pm), sometimes *lots* of people. They were generous people, too -- I made $138.

The same pack of kids that parked in front of me the night before were there again, parked in the same spot. I guess they like me, even though they mostly ignore me.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Fri, 17Jun2011

A really great night -- terrific weather, and lots of people out enjoying it, and me.  I had lots of people listening the whole time, and I ended up running an hour over, and only quit then because I knew I needed to save some strength for the next night.  (This was a "pick-up" gig that I got because someone else cancelled -- I don't normally book two Spectrum gigs in a row (nor do they let me, anyway).)

They've installed a new stage; a nice, solid, professional one.  It's a little less rickety, but the surface is hard plastic, instead of carpet, so my harmony box slides around easier.  That's sometimes a good thing, and sometimes a problem, but I'll get used to it.

The highlight was when five women came out of the movies and stopped by on their apparent "Ladies' Night Out".  Clearly my Target Market. They loved my stuff, danced, requested, laughed at my jokes, and generally were out for a good time. I need more like that.

And there was a pack of 8 or 10 high-school kids that listened for a while, requested a few songs, and then just sat down in a bunch right out in front of me.  They weren't really even paying attention to me after a while, so I wonder why they'd want to sit in such a noisy area, but who can tell with kids?

I did pretty good for a Friday -- $82 in tips. But more importantly, it was a great night, all the way through.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Sun, 12Jun2011

Pretty slow at first, but got good towards the end. I wish I could figure out how to have the final hour of a gig last for the whole four...

I had come by the night before, just to see who was playing, and the guy there did a several Original tunes (to zero response), and then did "The Only Exception", which visibly drew in a batch of teenage girls. I've been meaning to learn it, so I worked it out Sunday morning, but I've only heard it a few times, so I'm a little shaky on the tune and how it fits to the chords. I did OK the first time through, but by the time I did it again later, I had completely forgotten how the bridge part goes, and just stumbled through it. Ouch. Good thing nobody was listening... I've been working on it some more, and I think I have it down for next time, though. Hopefully.

There was a guy there with a box of something that he'd bought (dishes maybe?), looking kind of frantic, apparently waiting for someone who wasn't coming. He finally came up and asked if he could use my cell phone, 'cuz his was dead. Really?!? Out of all the people here, you decide the guy up on the stage is the one to ask for a favor? But, whatever -- I let him use my phone. Twice. All part of the service, I guess.

And I had a family show up with a tiny little girl, couldn't have been more than two, who apparently knows the entire Disney music catalog already. Usually at her age, they only know "Twinkle, Twinkle", but she lit up with recognition for all the Disney songs I had. I was impressed.

Not a lot of response for most of the time, but there was a while around 6:30 where a bunch of people were hanging out and actually competing for Request turns. And despite the apparent apathy, I made $98, including one attached to a pipe-cleaner "dog?".

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Fri, 10Jun2011

Whoops.  I seem to have run a little long again.  The "shift" is supposed to be from 6-10pm, and I usually run over, but this time it got all quiet and mellow, and there were lots of friendly people listening, so I kept on playing.  But after a while, I was getting pretty hungry, and I figured it must be getting pretty close to 11, so I checked the clock, and it was *midnight*!  Six hours straight with no break -- no wonder my fingertips were starting to hurt and my voice was getting scratchy...

But actually, I'd had a short break at 6:30.  A lady came up and told me that they had scheduled a Flash Mob there, and could I stop playing for the length of their song.  I said, of course, and offered to help with the sound system.  They'd expected to be able to hear their dance number ("Dynamite") through a bookshelf iPod boombox.  Noobs.  "It's pretty loud", the guy said, but, no way --  they'd have been completely screwed if I hadn't been there.  We stuck my mic in front of his boombox, and were able to fill the place.

After that, I had the usual rush of little dancing kids for a while, and Daleen and Acacia came by with the dogs (and "guest dog" Macy) just at the right time, so my little dancing crowd of kids got to meet them, too.  And two of my Indian Princess dad friends showed up.  That's always fun.

It was a little like last time -- appreciative people, tip-wise, but not much clapping.  On the other hand, several people came up and told me outright that I was "terrific", "really good", etc., and I sold 3 CDs.  I guess it really is just the layout/distance that makes applause difficult at this place.

I guess it's officially Summer, 'cuz there were lots of people out, even on a Friday.  I made $177 -- pretty close to a record, and certainly the best Friday ever.  Can't wait to see how it is on a Saturday!  Next week!

But wait!  I'm also playing there this Sunday afternoon! I wonder if my feet, back, fingers, and voice can handle it.  Maybe I'll try to keep it down to just 4 hours...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Sun, 22May2011

The last Sunday I played here was pretty dead, so I wasn't expecting much.  And it was kinda weird - people were hanging around and listening, but there was hardly any clapping all night.  It was like there was a sign up or something.  I can see them mistaking a Borders for a library, but not the big open plaza at Spectrum...

There were lots of people out, so I had someone to play to most of the night, albeit totally silent someones.  I managed to get a few brave souls to come up and request some songs, and in the middle I had the now-standard Kid Party, with 6 or 8 kids dancing away.  Had one little boy ask if I knew "Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee", and when I said I didn't, he proceeded to "teach it to me" - and all of the several verses, too, if he hadn't been mercifully pre-empted by his mom.

Despite there being a lot of people around, the sound was strangely clear -- I could hear myself almost as well as at an indoor gig.  Maybe I was just turned up louder than usual, though I wasn't having any feedback problems, either.  Anyway, it was great fun to play and sing with the clarity, so I felt like I was doing really well.

Although the audience was so oddly quiet, I came home with $83 in the jar, quite a bit more than the last Sunday I played here.  And I didn't get that "I should start later" feeling that I had last time, either.  In fact, it occurred to me that, although the stores close at 8 on Sunday (and the "shift" is theoretically over), the best audiences I've gotten on Saturday nights come after the movies let out, so I thought I might try to hang in there until 9 or so.  But my last "customers" left at 8:40, it didn't really look like another wave was forthcoming, and I was starving, so I packed it in.

Keith at Foothill Towne Center -- Sun, 15May2011

My first regular (as in (hopefully) recurring) paying gig! This place is where we usually go to the movies, so I'd seen people playing at the food court there many times, and felt sorry for them 'cuz it looked pretty awful -- lots of being ignored and kids playing tag around the tables. My only guess as to why there were people there at all was that they were being paid. Turns out I was right, and managed to track down the lady that books the acts, and emailed her to see what it takes to get on the roster.

Amazingly, she did what no one has done before, and just listened to the videos and MP3s on my website -- usually you have to send in a CD and a bunch of "bio"-type stuff. But she went for the "virtual audition", and surprised me by emailing back that I sounded good and asked what I charge for 3 hours! I told her that I didn't really have a fixed rate, gave her the old "it depends on the venue" line, and asked what they usually pay. She said between $75 and $100, I said I'd be happy to do it for the hundie, and she offered me a date.

The place is an open patio, but with a solid roof. There are several restaurants -- pizza, tacos, Chinese, ice cream -- and lots of tables and chairs in the shared patio. But the only non-food thing nearby is the multiplex, so it's not really a hang-out like Spectrum. I didn't expect many people...

I set up on one edge, where I had found some power outlets in the bushes. Looking at the pictures, that may have been a bad choice, since I was radically back-lit, so probably hard to look at. Guess I'll have to figure something else out next time.

Worse, it turns out that the place is one big reverb chamber. With the reverb that my rig adds already, it was way way too much -- that first song was crazy-sounding. So I turned off the artificial reverb and let the place handle it -- it was probably still too much, but sounded pretty cool.

The whole first hour was entirely people who had clearly just come from the nearby Mega Church -- you don't see ladies in dresses on a Sunday otherwise. Just a guess, but I think what He Would Do is give the struggling musician a break and clap a little at the end of the songs. Just sayin'...

There was also a big birthday party over at the side for a 4 or 5 year old Japanese kid, apparently all expat families. That was pretty noisy, but my Spectrum experience has taught me how to ignore that kind of thing.

For the last hour or so, my brother and his wife were there, and a super friendly couple who sat down right in front and kept me supplied with requests. The lady was wearing a name tag that said "Judy-something, Practitioner". I'm not sure what that is, since I've only ever heard it followed by "of the Black Arts", and she didn't look like a witch to me.

The highlight for me was when the guy asked me to play "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes". That song pushes my skills and concentration to their limits -- what with the three different guitar styles, two languages, and elaborate harmony box button dance needed. By the time I was done, I was so adrenalined-up that I could hardly play the next-requested quiet song. But Judy liked me so much that she's hunted me down on Facebook and is hooking me up with another musician friend of hers who plays at Downtown Disney, and she thinks might be able to get me the info on how to get booked there. I'm not holding my breath, but wouldn't *that* be cool?!?

The first half of the show, with nobody clapping or paying any attention, led me to believe that I'd end up with an empty tip jar, but I just kept on smilin' and playin' 'cuz I was "gettin' *paid*, son!" But after the church people left and the normal lunch crowd showed up, people were more demonstrative and I ended up with $37 (including two origami "bow tie bucks"). That plus the $100 is not too shabby at all.

K&W at Borders Mission Viejo -- Sat, 14May2011

Best Borders gig in a long time! The place was uncharacteristically full when we got there, stayed that way most of the night, and we managed to rope some people in right away, and had friendly faces to play to all the way through.

But the highlight for me was when a cute little toddler wandered out right in front of us. She seemed to be trying to give Warren a magazine that she'd found somewhere. We all watched her for a little while, and I broke into my new finger-picked and harmony-boxed "Twinkle, Twinkle". She was so tiny, I didn't really expect her to know it. But her little face lit up like a searchlight as it dawned on her that she recognized it. And it got about the biggest round of applause of the night -- more for her than me, no doubt.

We've been making nearly-nothing in tips at these Borders gigs, and since the tables were all full anyway, I couldn't snag one (and didn't really feel like bothering) to put out the usual display of signs, cards, CDs, and tip jar. But I did set the jar over on the windowsill -- not terribly convenient for people to get to, but at least visible and available.

So I was pretty surprised to get anything at all, and more so to find $16 in there -- not a record or anything, but pretty darn good for this place.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Fri, 06May2011

A really surprisingly slow night. It seemed like there were hardly any actual adults out, and maybe that's exactly what it was - I guess the working folks are too tired to go out on a Friday. There were plenty of teens though, and I did all right with various clumps of them, but none of them stick around for very long, so I end up doing the same songs over and over.

At one point I had 5 or 6 little kids, but they were all *very* little (toddlers and preschoolers), so I tried out my fingerpicked and harmonized rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle". That went over pretty well, but I'd forgotten about little kids' tendency to respond to something that they like with "Again!". It's a little embarrassing/weird to play it in the first place - I really don't want to play it all night long.

Hardly anyone was putting anything in the tip jar, but then a guy came over and asked for "I Only Have Eyes For You". While I was looking for the song sheet, he asked, "OK if I get change for a twenty out of here?". I said, "Sure", but then partway into the song it occurred to me that there probably wasn't enough money in the jar to make much "change". Nothing I could do about it but watch as he spent the whole song pulling ones out, and straightening, stacking, and counting them. I guess he found enough though, 'cuz there was $24, a twenty and four ones, in there when I got home. A very low "take" for Spectrum, but still way more than we ever pull in at a Borders gig. It'll buy a couple of iPad apps...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Sun, 01May2011

Must have been the month-changeover issue, but I'm not sure how I managed to book two Spectrum gigs in a row. After almost 5 hours of playing the night before, my fingertips were pretty shot by the end of this 4 hour shift. My voice held out surprisingly well, though.

It started out *really* slow. I may have to re-think the start time on Sunday afternoons. (On the other hand, who am I kidding? If they'll let me play, I'll play.) My brother and his wife were there right at the start, so they got to witness the first couple of hours of dead air -- me desperately trotting out all my Best Stuff, and getting stone silence in return. It was a bloodbath...

But, naturally, right after they left, some little kids came up to watch, so I started in with the dance tunes. This quickly snowballed into the biggest Kid Party I've ever had -- at least a dozen kids, really getting into it. The gravitational attraction of Kids Having Fun is pretty irresistible to other kids, and their parents. And they stayed and stayed, too -- I was running out of danceable songs by then end, and that's never happened before. (I can't take pictures while I'm playing, but here they are waiting for the next song.)

Unfortunately, after a dozen songs or so, it degenerated into the bossy kids hijacking the show by whiningly insisting on songs they'd never heard of (and wouldn't really like) from the list, just by the titles. This bothered me at first, but then I figured that there are no bad songs on the list, and their essentially random selection process wasn't really much different than me choosing. I suppose, alternately, I could have just agreed to play whichever song they asked for, and then actually played any song I wanted -- how would they know?

Anyway, after the kids all drifted away it was evening and (a) it was a lot cooler, and (b) I started getting the dating crowd, who tend to sit and listen. Like (almost) always, the last hour was really nice, but I was getting really sloppy from fatigue, hunger, and fingertip pain, so I actually quit at Quitting Time for once. Almost exactly half the tips as the night before, but $56 is nothing to sneeze at, and watching those kids dance was the most fun I've had in a long time.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Sat, 30Apr2011

Started off a little slow -- lots of people around, but they were strangely unresponsive. But after a while I started getting some people tuned in, and in the last hour or two, had made some real "fans". Fewer little kids dancing than usual, but just as many bands of teenagers asking for the few semi-current songs I do. I must have done "Hey Soul Sister" and "I'm Yours" 5 times each.

Had a big family come up with a little boy, asking for "Twinkle, Twinkle". Of course I said that I didn't know it, but they seemed sincere, so I said I'd try to fake it. The chords are easy enough, and it actually took off when it occurred to me to kick on the harmony box. I might have to take a look at working up a decent arrangement of that, since I do get a lot of tiny kids who ask for "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and such. Might be nice to have one that they'll recognize.

But then another mom came up holding a 4 or 5-year old boy, asking for "any Bob Marley". According to the mom, "One Love" is the kid's favorite, but I only (half) know "I Shot the Sheriff", so I faked the first verse, to a completely blank response from the kid. Whatever.

(I do get a surprising number of requests for Bob Marley, but do you *really* want to hear the white suburban, baloney with mayo, version?!? Or should I just save us both the embarrassment...)

While I was setting up, a lady came over to tell me that she had also been booked for that stage, and somehow knew that it was in fact, triple booked -- yet another group thought they were supposed to be there. They we going to go play at the "for pay" stage, which made sense since they had, indeed, paid. That was confusing because you don't have to pay for the Food Court, and, how did they know that there wasn't already someone else on the other stage, too?

Anyway, I guess it's a good thing that I get there early, 'cuz the double-booking resolution seems to be "first come, first served", 'cuz they lady never implied that I should be the one to back down -- she just wanted to let me know. Not having any way to check, I had to assume that I knew what I was doing (though there's no guarantee of *that*), so I didn't volunteer to leave, either. But I did spend the whole night worrying that I had screwed up somehow, and had "stolen" the stage, and would be henceforth banned (or at least "non grata"). But I've since checked my email, and I do have a confirmation message, so at least the snafu wasn't my fault.

And I'm glad I stayed. While counting the tip money ($113!), I came across a tightly-bundled origami "packet" of three dollar bills wrapped around a (long!) note. (If you're reading this on my blog, you should be able to click the full-text thumbnail and see it big enough to read.) I won't quote the whole thing here, but it starts out: "You are an amazing talented man. Your destiny is big and mighty." And it gets wacky (-er) from there. It ends with "Your wildest dreams are about to come true, get ready for all you wanted and more. You are loved."

Apparently, she (I'm assuming "she") liked my stuff a bit... I can't quite tell if she's a fan or a fortune teller, but since she couldn't have been able to see my palms while I was playing guitar, let's assume the former.

K&W at Borders South Coast Plaza -- Fri, 15Apr2011

We had the usual uninterested group of studying college kids for most of the night. After many frustrating gigs' worth of trying to reach them, this time I just decided that I'd forego that and just play what I wanted to play since it gets the same (non)reaction either way.

And that made it a pretty fun time. We ran through some obscure stuff (e.g. "Waiting"), and some neglected old tunes (e.g. "Down On Yourself"), and some "experimental" stuff (notably Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing", which I've been poking at to see if there might be some way to pull it off in "my style", with so-far limited success). That one really gives Warren something to sink his teeth into.

We did have a guy come right up front with his little daughter (22 months old), who he claimed "loves music". After a song or two, he asked if we knew "I'm Yours", "her favorite song". You could have fooled me, since her china-doll-cute but accusingly baffled expression didn't change a bit, before or after the song. Still, they gave us a reason to be there for a while.

I've had reason to believe that people can't find the little table with the tip jar on it when I put it over to the side, so this time I put it right in the middle of the room. Unfortunately, that appears to have had no effect whatsoever, since we made exactly two dollars. Made the split-math pretty easy, though.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Sun, 10Apr2011

Nicer weather than last Sunday afternoon, but fewer people. Maybe it was *too* nice, and they were all at the beach.

Started off really well, with a bunch of Persian kids, led by brash and bold 8-year-old ("I'm the oldest one here!") Samantha and her twin-brother cousins, jumping right in. She had lots of requests right off, which is nice, for a while, but she ended up trying to hijack the whole show. After a while, she was requesting songs she'd never heard of, just to be the one in charge. Pretty young to be such a control freak already -- I'd give this one a wide berth, 8-year-old boys.

I did assemble a pretty good group of young dancers, and a few moms camped out right in front on blankets -- glad to have their kids distracted so they could get into some serious mom-talk. Samantha, not being a dancer herself, kept trying to steer me into some non-dance tunes (chosen at random), but her feminine wiles were wasted on me.

After it cooled down and the Sunday Afternoon Family Outing crowd left, it was pretty empty, except for the occasional group passing through and getting caught up in one of my songs and hanging out for a while. Ended up with $50 and some change in the jar, but that was only because a guy came through with two small daughters and dropped a twenty in, before I had even really gotten started. They didn't even stay long enough to hear a song, much less request one, or pick up a CD. Thanks, dude, but what was that about?

As I was packing up, a young woman came up and told me that I had "sounded really good", and then asked if I took checks, or only cash. Um, what? Then it occurred to me that she wanted to buy a CD, not leave a tip, so I told her to just take one. She did, and a card, and then asked me how much I charge for a gig. Taken by surprise (again), and wondering if she meant "this one" or if she intended to hire me, I decided the latter and managed to say "about two hundred", and she said she'd "shoot me an email". That probably won't happen of course, but it's flattering anyway.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Sun, 03Apr2011

Turns out that there's a Sunday evening shift available at Spectrum that I didn't even know about until recently, and since I couldn't get in on Friday or Saturday, and the Springtime weather has been bringing lots of people out, I thought I'd give it a try.

And it was pretty good. Lots of people out, but it seemed like they were more "busy" and less "cruising" than the usual Saturday night crowd. It was a little tougher to drag people in, but I did OK. Less groups of teens, too. I thought I'd get more young families on a Sunday afternoon (I played 4-8, when the shops close), but didn't really. But it was the first weekend of Spring Break, so maybe that had an effect.

Inspired by Acacia's "Just Dance" game, I decided to learn "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", due to its almost universal "get up and bounce around" appeal. I figure that a lot of parents of young kids would have been teens in the 80's, and this song will go over with them. And I had a chance to try it out when a young girl wanted to dance (aka "get swung around in a circle") with her mom and aunt, and kept saying "Play another one!" after every dance song I'd play for her. Unfortunately, I completely choked, and played it worse than I've ever played any song in public, ever. I guess it's actually trickier than one day's worth of poking at it qualified me for.

Daleen came by with the dogs and stayed almost the whole night. Her parents showed up, too, and my brother with wife. I just wish I'd'a had a chance to run through a couple of the new songs the day before, but couldn't with all the birthday party setup and teardown. I botched the first half of "Amie" pretty much, but mostly pulled off "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes".

It was interesting playing in the beating down sun, after freezing for so many gigs in a row. But then the sun went down and it got pretty cold up there, as usual. Who says we don't have "weather"?

Anyway, it was fun, and a definite "better than nothing" on weekends when I can't do a Friday or Saturday night. Apparently no one signs up for Sundays (or knows about 'em), so I can probably get in almost anytime. And I made $79, on top of the fun of it, so, yeah, I'll definitely do it again.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 26Mar2011

More fun at Spectrum! It had gotten kind of dreary, so there weren't as many people out as last week, but still, lots. Played for lots of dancing kids in the first half, and lots of dating couples in the last.

I'm starting to think that the way it works is: at 1 year old, the parents park the stroller in front of me and hope the kid is absorbing some of it. At 2, the kid just stands and stares. At 3, they kind of wobble back and forth. At 4, they run around in circles with their arms out like an airplane (or fairy?). At 5 and up, they actually start to put on some "moves" that we would call dancing. But, to each his own, right? I think that even the 2 year olds are "dancing", they just haven't moved it from their minds and into their feet yet.

I made a new sign that hangs from the speaker and encourages people to come up and make requests. I really don't need (though I don't *mind*) a tip for a song, but people either figure that's the unwritten agreement, or really do appreciate the songs. Either way, I made a record $136 in tips, selling 4 CDs. I can't wait for it to really warm up, so more people will be out, and they can hang out later.

I guess the sign really did work in getting more people to request songs. But despite the direct reference to the list, a lot of them were just making stuff up without looking. I had some middle-aged Persian women rearrange the chairs to form a little "front row" (of 4). One of them asked for "It's Now or Never", which, um, no... But I played "I Can't Help Falling In Move With You" instead, which they audibly swooned over. Had a guy ask for some "America", for which "The Last Unicorn" wasn't good enough (of course). I guess I should learn one of their songs, and now that I have the harmony box, I might be able to do justice to one. And another guy seriously wanted some Hendrix -- and not one of the soft ones (I could have pulled off "The Wind Cries Mary" or the coincidentally-in-process "Little Wing", but he wasn't interested in either of those). He settled for, oddly enough, "Peaceful Easy Feeling".

Played several Happy Birthdays -- I should really work up an actual decent arrangement one of these days. One was for a pair of twin high school girls. It was tricky to fit their names into the line: "Happy *birth* day dear Savanna-and-Mackenzie...". They were there with a dozen friends, all dressed to the nines in their micro dresses and 4-inch heels. Not sure why...

When I got there, the table with tablecloth was already out, so I never saw the maintenance guys. I expected them to come get the cloth sometime after 10, but they never appeared. At all. Which was nice, because I got a really nice crowd around 9:30. The cool part is, without a hard stop, I can play forever. The problem is, without a hard stop, I don't know how to quit. So I ended up playing until 11:40 -- I just can't resist a tuned-in audience. Five and a half hours does seem a bit long, but with the afternoon nap, caffeine, and adrenaline, I don't feel it (until I get home and crash).

But since they don't bring out the lights anymore, nor a heater, I have to bring my own. I'm starting to look like Jed Clampett on the move out to Californee, with my guitar on my back, pulling a train of the amp (on a cart), side speaker, two tripod stands bungeed on, tip jar/bowl, dish heater, clamp-on "spotlight", and suitcase with all the cables, etc.

I will have to look for a new tip container, though. The bowl is nice, but the wind-tunnel effect at Spectrum keeps threatening to blow the money away, and with the inexplicable new volumes, the bowl I have isn't cutting it...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 19Mar2011

Wow, what a night! Started out great, went to darn good, and ended terrific.

Before I got started, there was a birthday party going on behind me in the food court -- little Gracie was turning 8. Her friends started yelling for me to sing Happy Birthday to her, which she was adamantly opposed to, but I did it anyway. That served as a pretty good start-up for me, and brought them all over to see the song list and start ordering up their favorites. I did several songs for them, interspersed with grown-up songs as they repeatedly got distracted and came back.

I inexplicably had a huge inventory of CDs in my case, and where I usually put out only a few (because I usually only sell a few, or none), this time I just put 'em all out. On one of Gracie's fly-bys, I told her to take one of the "Waltzing With Bears" CDs, as my birthday present to her. She was gratifyingly thrilled with that, and even more so when I remembered that I had a Sharpie with me, and offered to autograph the CD.

As usual, the group of kids dancing and bouncing around in front of me attracted even more clumps of kids/parents, and Gracie, having figured out that the CDs were available, was hawking them to the other kids, in her party and not. I guess I should have been giving her a commission, 'cuz she sold me out of all 5 "Bears" CDs -- her pitch hyping the included autograph was apparently quite persuasive.

Gracie's party was there for the whole first hour, keeping things interesting. After they left, it was a little calmer, but I always had people to play for. This was my first Spectrum (outside) gig since the time change, and it was strange to be playing in the daytime, but the "Spring is here-ness" brought lots of people out.

The middle section was pretty standard-issue, just playing the Greatest Hits, and some requests when I could coax one out of someone. Daleen showed up with the dogs, and I'd occasionally invite some kids over to pet them.

Later on, I had another batch of dancing kids, including a tiny girl (maybe 2 years old?) whose parents seemed convinced that she would dance, but she just stared at me. I played all my best rock'n'roll (such as they are) songs, but there was just too much distraction, I guess. Finally they gave up, but as they left the mom came up and said "I have something special for you", digging in her wallet and coming up with her business card. "It's a 'Get out of jail free' card, if you're ever in Fresno". Um, hows that again? But her card shows that she's an officer with the Fresno police department. I'm not in Fresno much, and I get arrested there even less often, but it was a nice gesture.

For the last hour, which turned into two, I had that really great "Don't want the date to be over" crowd. Somehow, it gets quieter and I can hear (and perform) much better. My throat kludge was cleared out, so I was singing pretty well, and the date people want the pretty love songs, which I'm pretty good at.

A couple in the comfy chairs way back by the theaters were clapping loudly after every song, and the man eventually came up and asked if I knew any James Taylor. Dude, you just said the magic words. I did several James songs, branched off to some Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel, and after a while they moved over to the not-quite-so-far-away comfy chairs to my right.

A young man came up and was pretty excited by the list and the CDs. He put a fiver in the bowl and asked for two songs, including "Moon River" which he'd seen on the "Try to Remember, a tribute to my dad" CD, though it's not really on The List. But it's still in The Book, so I gave it a shot, and managed to get through it fairly well. He said that these were songs that his mom used to sing to him to put him to sleep. Before he left, he dumped some more money in the bowl and took one of each CD.

By this time, I was way over the 10:00 stopping time, but the only thing that the maintenance guys needed to take away was the table cloth, so I cleared off the table, gave it to them, and kept playing. It was getting pretty cold, but the James Taylor fan couple held out all the way until 11:00. By then, they were pretty much the only ones left, so they came up and thanked me, the lady told me I was "a serendipity" (that's a good thing, right?) and I started packing up.

When we first started playing in coffeeshops, a friend from Toshiba came out and told us that the jelly jar that I was using for tips was too small. She was convinced that a big bowl would attract more money. That may or may not be true, but I have plenty of stuff to drag out there, and a big bowl seemed like unnecessary extra trouble. But recently I found a medium-sized crystal-looking plastic bowl at the Dollar Store, and have been trying that out. I don't know if it was the bowl or not, but I made $117. That included selling a record number of CDs -- I think 13 were missing, including all the "Bears" ones, and 3 of the 4 "Dad" ones, and 5 regular ones. Maybe having lots of CDs out makes it look like there "needs to be", 'cuz they're popular?

Or maybe I was just connecting with folks better than usual. Hard to say.

K&W at Borders South Coast Plaza -- 18Mar2011

K&W at Borders South Coast Plaza -- 18Mar2011 Pretty standard quiet night at Borders. One older guy asked for a few songs, and stared at me intently while I played 'em. He wasn't all that enthusiastic, though -- I suspect he was a guitar player and just wanted to see how I played 'em. Or maybe just shy.

And there was another guy who was pretty enthusiastic, but started his requests with "Music of the Night" from "Phantom of the Opera". Not exactly my style, though I suppose it *could* work on guitar. Still, weirdest request of the month, if not the year.

Anyway, we played on through with not much recognition, but it still beats watching TV. When we got to the last song, Warren suggested "Waiting", which is just an amazing song. Too bad it's so obscure.

Ended up with $7 in tips, 5 of which came from Mr. Music of the Night, who apparently liked my non-Phantom tunes well enough, as well.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 26Feb2011

Lots of fun. The weatherman had been predicting another rainout, but the storm apparently got here a day early, and it was dry most of the day. On the other hand, it was getting desperately cold, but I decided that it wasn't any worse than back in December, and I'd toughed that out...

When I got there, the maintenance guys had apparently given up on me and were about to cover the stage with a plastic tarp, but when they saw me, they consented to let me give it a go. I told them to forego the usual light tree and table cloth, which, it turned out, allowed me to go way past the usual shutoff time, 'cuz they had no stuff to come take away. I had my own heater and "spotlight", and the table they bring is just stored flattened up under the stage, so I could "put it away" myself.

But it was frightfully cold. I had my "going to the snow" clothes and my heater so I did OK, except for my fingers, which have been worse. It did keep the "crowds" down a lot, of course, but there was almost always somebody listening in, and the usual intermittent group of teens wanting to hear my 3 or 4 "less than 5 years old" songs. Had one group of very young teens, all decked out in lenses-poked-out 3D "geek glasses", who insisted that I play some Justin Bieber songs. I promised that I'd learn some for next time (but my fingers were crossed).

Just after 8:00, it started to hail. Yes, hail. I had been worrying about rain, but surely didn't expect hail. Of course, hail isn't exactly "wet", so it was actually OK, but after a few minutes, it dissolved into light rain, so I had to unplug the electronics and take cover (with my guitar) under the awning in front of the Starbucks. It was polite enough to rain lightly, and straight down, so I figured the amp and speaker would be OK, and I hastily slid the shouldn't-get-wet stuff up underneath the table.

It rained for 25 minutes or so, and I used the time under the awning to work out a passable version of the Beatles' "Rain", which, when it finally tapered off and convincingly stopped, I played at length to the wry smiles of the people hustling by. It took a while for people to decide that it was safe to stay and hang out, and I'd almost decided to call it a night after my empty-plaza Rain Medley ("Rain", "Rhythm of the Rain" and "Shower the People" (which I hadn't actually "thought" of, but fatefully accidentally flipped to in the book)). But I'm glad I stayed, 'cuz when the crowds started to reform, they were the most appreciative of the night. And since I had no forced shutdown time, I kept on playing 'til after 11. The last hour is always the best, so why not stretch it to two?

Had one young lady, while reading through the Song List, give an audible squeal of delight at some song-discovery. I had to wait until the end of the song in progress to find out it was "To Make You Feel My Love", which I haven't played in probably two years. It's not even on the list anymore, but it was on the ancient version that I happened to have a few plastic-protected copies of and dug out after the current ones got soaked. Fortunately, the chord sheet is still in The Book, so I played it reasonably well, despite barely remembering how the tune even goes. Great song -- maybe I'll put it back on the List...

First time out for the newly-resurrected "Wonderful World", which sounds great now, thanks to the Harmony Box. There's also been a sudden and inexplicable resurgence in the popularity of "Blackbird". I had started out the evening with a cruddy throat, but by the third time through, I was cleared out, singing quite well, and hitting even the way-too-high notes in it.

I had brought a new "big salad bowl" tip jar that I got at the dollar store. When it started to rain, I figured that the money would be fine, but I'd failed to realize that the bowl would collect lots of water, and the $41 "take" was a soggy lump when I went to collect it. When I got home, I laid it out on the floor to dry, and next morning the cat was making sure it was well protected (and killed). Thanks, Zadi.

Keith at Borders South Coast Plaza -- 18Feb2011

Usually this is a K&W gig, but Warren had a better offer, so I went in solo. As usual, mostly apathetic people there, but occasionally I managed to pique someone's interest. Got a big smile from a little 8-year-old girl and her dad when I fired up "A Whole New World" from Aladdin.

A storm was coming in (the one that would rain out my scheduled gig at Spectrum the next night), so I played and sang, and watched the outdoor shade umbrellas getting tossed. I managed to alert the store guys to go get them before they got too damaged, I hope.

The wind came up pretty hard, and one of the windows behind me was loudly rattling in the frame or something, and sounding like someone was knocking to come in. Spooky, and distracting.

But not as much as the guy who was there the whole evening, sitting in the very corner chair almost next to me, who clearly had the nasty cold that I'm still recovering from. He hacked and coughed and horked all night long, while staring at his iPad screen, and occasionally commenting on a song I'd played. I wasn't really worried about catching it myself, since I've already got it, but there were other people there, and, Dude, I'm tryin' to play here! Some people...

K&W at Borders Mission Viejo -- 12Feb2011

Pretty typical quiet evening at Borders. As usual, most of the people were there to read/study, not to listen to some local musicians, so it was tough to get anything going.

I pulled out all the usual crowd-pleasers, but couldn't make a dent, so I decided to have some fun for myself by trying some more unusual (and, admittedly, ill-advised) numbers (i.e., "The Air That I Breathe" and Heart's "Alone"). That, obviously, didn't work either.

Finally though, near the end of the evening, some people came in who were tuned in a bit, and requested some songs. One of their requests was "I Want To Hold Your Hand", and I'm sure they were expecting "the usual way", but I've been doing it in the "Across the Universe" / "Glee" way, which is much slower and makes it astonishingly deep. Sometimes I feel a little embarrassed and self-conscious doing it that way, and sometimes (like this time) it rips my guts out. Took me a while to recover enough to play the next song...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 11Feb2011

What a great night! Most pure *fun* I've had in ages. At the risk of besmirching my 56-year zero-drugs policy / record / reputation, I think I was a bit high on cold medicine and Mountain Dew, and feeling completely uninhibited -- or as uninhibited as an old suburban white boy gets.

Now, I've been playing almost every weekend for nine years now, and I'm completely over the whole stage fright thing (except to just get that first song started). It doesn't even phase me to make mistakes anymore -- for one thing, "Hey, nobody's perfect", and for another, "It's too late now!" But I still have enough pride to want to do the best job I can with each song, so there's always the self-induced pressure to get it right.

But this time, even that seemed to be out the window. Not that I was playing sloppy and screwing up a lot -- but apparently, after all this time, I can play those songs more on automatic pilot than I think I can. And being able to just let it go and "let 'er fly", is, well, exhilarating.

I felt like I was connecting with the songs more than ever, and really giving them more oomph in the singing. And, of course, it becomes a feedback loop -- the more I gave the songs, the more people were tuning in, which makes me give it even more. And actually (hopefully?) it may have been entirely that audience feedback, and not the pseudoephedrine/caffeine cocktail.

It was a nice night, and I had the feeling that there were people really listening, basically all the time. It's odd -- the audience is kinda far away. This time, I got two opposite feelings about it: 1) They're so far away that it doesn't really matter what I do, and 2) They're so far away, I can't tell, but they might be really into it. Either way, I was swingin' for the fence.

And lots of people responded. I had groups come stand up close, so I *knew* they were listening. A big clump of 8th graders came and requested songs, and then were requesting the next song even before the previous one was half over. Uh, guys, I can only sing one song at a time. Lots of families with little kids dancing, so I flipped to my new "dance tunes" section in the book and went for it.

And toward the end, when I'm playing for the "don't want the date to end" crowd, I got into a set of sentimental stuff and was really laying it on thick, and they were eating it up. I was really cranking, and it was really working.

Or maybe that's the cough medicine talking. But, like a drunk who thinks he's funny -- please don't tell me different.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 28Jan2011

Weird, crazy, fun, but somewhat disappointing (and cold) night.

When I first got there, there were some people messing with equipment on the stage. Oh no, not double booked again! But, they were tearing down, not setting up, so no problem except for the heart attack...

So I set up my stuff, and then noticed that the "house music" was even louder than usual, so I called the Maintenance guys to get them to turn it down. Their response: "It's a new system, we can't turn it down." Really?

Unbelievable. Seems like every time this gig starts to get reasonable, they come up with a new way to screw it up. Move the stage to someplace stupid, shut off the power unexpectedly in the middle of the show, and now, loud 80's rock playing almost as loud as I am. And this on top of them telling me that "due to the new layout and increased interest", they're going to start charging $50 to play on this stage, like they do for the other one. I don't think they'll get many takers if they can't figure out how to turn the music down...

It was doubly annoying because I had set up a bunch of video cameras to record with, but the recordings would be useless with the "second sound track" running through them, so there was no point in starting them up (except to catch the images here).

But there was nothing I could do about it, so I just powered through. While I was playing, of course, I was way louder than the house music (at least where I was standing), but as soon as I'd end a song, there it was again. Not sure how it sounded to people who were standing halfway between the house speakers and mine, though -- but I didn't see anyone edging away from the wall with the speakers on it, so it apparently wasn't as bad "out there" as it was on the stage.

Anyway, for some reason, it turned into "Guest Star Night". Early on, a girl came up and asked if her friend could sing. This seemed more joke than serious offer, and this idea seldom works out since all my songs are transposed into my vocal key, so I said, "Sure, but I only have one mic". Oddly, that seemed OK with them, so she came up on stage and wanted to sing "Time After Time". This was an even worse plan than almost any other song I do, because my arrangement of it is quite a bit different than the recording that she's used to, but we plowed through it, and since nobody but me could hear her when her version diverged from mine, it was no problem, and she seemed pleased to get to try. Go figure.

Later on, a kid carrying a guitar broke loose from his pack of friends, came up and asked if he could play a song. Nobody happened to be listening just then, and I was freezing, and getting not inconsiderably annoyed with the house music, so I said, "Sure". His guitar didn't have a pickup in it, so I gave him mine, and strapped the mic to his head, and stepped off the stage.

He started up a song I've never heard before (I decided later that he probably wrote it himself), stopped and fetched a lyric sheet out of his pocket, and finally managed to get through it. Couldn't hear a word of it, and his singing wasn't the greatest, but it took guts. As I was getting the guitar back, his friend asked if he could play one, too, and I couldn't see any reason not to let him, so he fired up a kind of speed-metal superfast strummy thing, did about half of it and quit. Thanks guys, that'll be plenty.

And then, almost at quitting time, a young Persian lady marched straight up to me from way across the quad. I said, "You look like somebody on a mission!", and she said that her husband had dared her to sing a song. Probably they had seen the proceedings earlier on, and decided that this was OK. She came up and I strapped the mic on her, and asked what song she wanted to do: "Let it Be". I strummed a little of it, and she decided that it was a bad key for her, so I mentally transposed it back to the original key, and fired it up. She wasn't bad, though a bit matter-of-fact, but I was mostly pleased to be able to play it through in the "wrong" key -- looking at one set of chords, but playing another, without completely crashing her.

Ended up with $44 in the jar, which is low for this place, but not bad, and understandable considering how cold it was. I did *not* split it with my co-stars...

K&W at Borders South Coast Plaza -- 21Jan2011

I think this was the emptiest I've ever seen this place -- maybe it's Winter Break at UCI, so we didn't have the usual contingency of Calculus, Bio, and Engineering studiers. Not that those kids, with their permanently-embedded iPods are much of an audience anyway...

So it was a pretty quiet night. I had an unusual amount of trouble getting the sound right -- the settings for "outdoors" and "recording at home" apparently aren't conducive for the acoustics of this place.

But I eventually got it worked out, and later in the night some people showed up who seemed to like us. One particular guy asked for lots of "classic rock" songs, including "Southern Cross", but I convinced him to take "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" instead, 'cuz I think I manage it better. He actually stopped his car to get out and shout something encouraging to us as we were talking later in the parking lot. That was nice.

I did set up a bunch of video cameras, but I was never particularly inspired, so nothing much to glean from the footage.

Some girls way in the back had circled six songs, mostly Beatles, on the Song List and brought it up. I played most of those, and then later, they brought up another List, with six more songs, mostly Beatles again, "written in". I don't know if they were just suggestions of songs I ought to go learn, or if they somehow expected me to just play them. Amusingly, they had written them on the List in the approximate places they'd have to be inserted. Thanks for the alphabetization help, girls!

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 15Jan2011

Big fun! It was pretty warm outside, so lots of people came out. And the thumpa-thumpa-cart was nowhere to be seen (nor heard!).

Maybe it's the season, or maybe it's this "big space in front" layout, but I'm beginning to notice that the nature of the gig has changed. At the old food court, I was playing to people who were seated, and usually eating -- and whether they wanted to hear me or not. Now, there are people (sometimes *lots* of people!) out on the sofas and around the planterbox bench, but I'm also roping in people who are "strolling". I guess they're there to just cruise around, and stopping for a while to hear some tunes is OK -- they weren't going anywhere in particular anyway.

These fall into two main groups: teenagers, and young families. The clumps of teens stop to see if I know any songs that they're interested in, and end up requesting the few "new" songs I know, and maybe some Beatles, too. The young families stop to let the kids have a gander at the man making music. The stroller-bound ones just stare, but the mobile ones dance, either spontaneously, or led by the moms. Either way, neither group would have been inclined to sit down, especially at "picnic tables", so the big open space suits them fine, and is working out far better than I'd expected.

The teens are surprisingly civil. They ask for the songs they recognize from my list, and frequently sing along, if their group is big and rowdy enough. And I seldom get any smart remarks. I definitely need to learn some more songs from within the decade, but I'm actually surprised that they want to hear me play "their songs". Seems like, when I was seventeen, if some Old Guy was up playing "my songs", I'd'a been disdainful, but these kids ask me for 'em, listen, and even tip me (sometimes with "all the change in my pocket", which is actually pretty endearing).

As are the little kids dancing. Some of them just shuffle back and forth, some stand and stare, some run around with their hands out, airplane-style, and some older ones actually aim at some "moves". I have to quickly dig out the more danceable tunes in the book (which I also need to learn more of). And as other parents wander by and see the Little Kids Dance Party going on, they stop, too. This happened twice on Saturday -- the first one breaking up only because the power timers went off again, at 7:30 exactly. I definitely need to have a word with the Management about that. It sure saps the momentum out of the show to get cut off mid-song...

This time I immediately rewired everything to run directly from the battery-powered amp, but even those two minutes broke the spell. Not the end of the world, I eventually got a second batch of dancing kids, but not very professional, at minimum. And, wow, does it sound different without the Harmony Box in-line, even when I'm not using the harmonies. The Box adds "vocal effects" (compression, reverb, etc.), and apparently does a great job, 'cuz it sounded suddenly pretty sad without all that. Fortunately, they got the power back on pretty quickly this time, and I re-re-wired everything to get "my sound" back.

They had also failed to bring out the table, tablecloth, and lights. I thought they were just late (and I had already found the table, tucked up underneath the stage), but I called them when it was time to start and they still weren't there. They guy said that I wasn't on *his* schedule, but he'd bring out the lights. A long while later, they brought out the tablecloth, but the lights never showed up. But the upside of that is that they didn't have to come to take them away either, so I was able to play way past the 10:00 "deadline".

So, big fun, interesting evolution of the gig itself, and 59 bucks in the jar. I may be getting the hang of this...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 08Jan2011

It was my first time back at the rebuilt Food Court area since the terrible experience 6 weeks ago. It's definitely much improved! They moved the stage out into the plaza some, and brought the outdoor sofas a third-again closer. And they moved the thumpa-thumpa (animated T-shirts) cart way back to the corner.

So the audience is only "far away", not "stupid-far". Most of the night, I had people camped out in the sofas and along the planterbox bench, just listening. To me. Wow. They're a bit far away to want to shout out requests, but some were brave enough to. And quite a few young families were out, and would let their little kids dance with (or stare at) me from the "dance floor" in between.

Early on, a birthday party of 20 or so 15-year-old girls came by, in costumes. Chicken, clown, cheerleader, superman, cone-head, etc. There was also a couple of young guys hanging out with me, one of whom had his Christmas-present ukulele with him, so I had just fired up "I'm Yours". The girls heard that and had to come over and sing/shout along, and then ask for a few songs before moving on into the food court for dinner. That was fun.

My brother came by, and heard a few songs before the thumpa-cart guy started up his break dancing show, which he apparently does once a night. This meant that his music got twice as loud, and that it was apparently time for me to take a break. I'm not sure if I "own" the sonic space there, but since he had drawn a much bigger crowd than I had, I guess he's somewhat entitled -- though I'll have to send a message to the management asking what the deal is there.

After he was finished, I started to play my new "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" for my brother, got through the first line, and the power went out. I had just bought a new parabolic heater that day, specifically to try to keep warm out there, but it had apparently been too much for the circuit. I called Maintenance, and they poked around for half an hour before discovering that it wasn't a circuit breaker at all -- they had put that outlet on a timer, since it used to be powering some tree lights or something. My brother gave up and went home before they got it fixed, and I took the chance to go talk to the thumpa-cart girl to ask, when/if they got my power back on, could they maybe keep the thumpa-music down a bit. She was really nice about it, and it worked, for a while, most of the time.

But the new location is much more prominently "just outside the theaters", and after 9:00 or so, lots of people on dates come wandering out, so I started doing the softer more romantic stuff, and drew in a lot of people. And when the thumpa-music was down (or later, off), I could really hear myself pretty well, so I was able to really get into it, and felt like I was giving some pretty good performances. I guess the difference is that I'm finally far enough away from the turtle fountain that I don't even notice it. Yay!

I guess some other people noticed that I was "on", too, 'cuz I made $82 in tips and a few CD sales. Part of that was a twenty dollar bill, which was, presumably, for a CD (or 2? I keep forgetting to count how many I'm putting out.)

Naturally, since I was doing so well, I didn't have any cameras set up. Or is it that I was doing well because I didn't have any cameras intimidating me? Either way, a really really good night. I felt good, was singing strong and playing well, I didn't get too cold, and just had a blast. After last time, I was beginning to think that they'd "ruined" the place, and that I wasn't going to want to play there anymore. Now, I can't wait to go back.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum, Myrtle Court-- 23Dec2010

I got to play the Main Stage at Spectrum again, coincidentally exactly a year from the famous hat-stealing gig of 2009. This year I swore to play facing *away* from the fountain, which is also away from any potential audience sitting at the tables along its sides, but at least it doesn't leave my "six" unprotected.

At first it seemed like a huge mistake -- it felt weird to deliberately turn my back on the people at the tables, but after I got started, I was able to almost continuously attract at least a small (and sometimes satisfyingly large) group in the standing-space in (my new) "front", and some lingerers sitting on the bench/planter boxes at either side. I guess that's the way it works -- once you're playing, you attract the attention of the tide of people coming down the corridor. Most go on by, but the ones that like what they hear can stop for a while.

I got lots of families with small kids, many of whom stop to let their kids see what Live Music looks like. I must have played "Rudolph", "Frosty", "Jingle Bells" and "Up On the Housetop" a dozen times each. Of course, having little kids gives me the excuse to play those, but the teenagers who come by while they're playing always join in, either on the main part, or with the "...like a light bulb!" descant on "Rudolph". I guess once you learn it, it's irresistible.

I made $49 in tips -- I'm sure it would have been more, but the arrangement forces people to split into two "streams" around me, so half the people didn't happen to walk by the tip jar. Next year, *two* tip jars.

Fortunately, I'd convinced the Booking Girl that, although her Original Material bands can probably sell enough CDs to cover the $50 Setup Fee, poor widdle me, playing well-liked but "cover" material, entertains the crowd, but doesn't sell enough CDs to afford to pay for the privilege. So she waived the fee, or I'd'a been a buck in the hole for the night.

So it all worked out -- I had a great time, played for a lot of people, made some Christmas money, and I still have my hat.

K&W at Borders South Coast Plaza -- 17Dec2010

A pretty good night -- unusually many people were tuned in. Was it the Christmas season, the Christmas music, or just the luck of the draw? No way to tell, I guess.

We did pretty well, tips-wise, but most of it was a twenty dollar bill that was ostentatiously left by a bearded guy we've seen before, who sat up front in the comfy chairs (*too* comfy?), asked for a few requests, and then fell loudly asleep. Not sure whether the $20 was an apology, or a thank you -- apparently he needed the sleep.