Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 27Apr2012

Finally! Wonderful weather, and the people were out accordingly. I had way more little kids dancing than ever before, to the point where I was running out of dance songs to play for them, and after the initial set was gone, a whole new set of kids showed up and I had to repeat a bunch of them.

Fortunately, I love playing for kids. I had one little thee-year-old blonde girl come over and stare right at me with a completely blank face, as only tiny kids can do. I stared right back and started up "Twinkle Twinkle", and watched her dissolve into an ear-to-ear grin, with a delighted glance back at her mom. You can just see their little brains click: "Hey! I recognize this!"

With the summer coming and the time change, I had to use the newly-printed paper copies of the iPad music book for the first couple of hours. It definitely feels primitive to have to flip though the pages looking for the right song alphabetically, but the pages/fonts seemed *huge* after I was able to switch to the iPad, so there's that trade-off...

Late in the evening, the Cutest Thing Ever happened. I was between songs and a young family stopped over at the side. The curly-headed two-year-old in the gigantic fuzzy purple coat wandered forward with a big smile and her little hand up in the air, in the universal "Hold my hand" gesture of all toddlers. I went over to the edge of the stage to meet her, and took her little hand for a couple of seconds, which seemed to be enough 'cuz she smiled even bigger and toddled back to her family. Made my night. Heck, made my *month*.

She and her big sister stayed for a long time, and were joined by a few more toddlers. Since it was finally dark enough, I crouched down and beckoned her and the rest of them over to give them some finger lights, including "Kimmy", who introduced herself with a classic quarter-turn, head-down, one-toe-up gesture that they must have studied to animate Tweety-bird, and who asked for "'Laddin and Jasmine!" over and over the rest of the night after I had played it the first time. Anyway, the lights delighted the lot of them and I got to watch them run and dance and play with them for a long time. Worth every nickel.

The night went by really fast -- by the time it was starting to feel "late", it was already 9:30. Since I'm playing two nights in a row, I didn't want to overdo this one and be too tired for the next one, so I knocked off at 10:15, the "earliest late" in a long time. It sure is nice to finally have some warm weather, which brings out the people.

Keith at "Arts Alive!" -- 21Apr2012

On Friday afternoon, I got an email from Dru, the lady who books the Mission Viejo gigs (Santa and Farmer's Market), inviting me to play on Saturday for the "Arts Alive!" event that they do. It's a little event for kids that exposes them to all kinds of arts, apparently since the schools don't, anymore. There was various booths for the kids to do painting, play with band instruments, get an airbrush tattoo, and a little violin concert in the afternoon. She offered to let me play until the violin guys started, so I did.

That made my shift from 11 to 1, and there were very few people there, but I'm getting much more OK with that 'cuz, you know, it's kinda fun just to play real loud with all the equipment. And a few appreciative people (mostly from the other booths) came by and smiled or said nice things, so not a complete loss. Also, Dru came by to buy a full set of CDs from me, which was unnecessary but nice of her.

Of course, it's worth my while in the long run to get in good with her, so she'll book me for more (paid) Farmer's Market gigs, and better shifts for Santa -- and whatever else she's in charge of that I don't know about.

Keith (not) at Irvine Spectrum - 20Apr2012

Well, I was *supposed* to play, and the weather was finally terrific so I was really looking forward to it. But when I got there, another band was already set up on the stage. And it was the "Peruvian" band, with 3 guys and a ton of equipment, so they had gotten there really early and were completely deployed.

The Maintenance guys somehow thought that the kid at the other stage wasn't really supposed to be there, and offered to send him home and let me play there. But Security brought down the booking lady's boss who confirmed that the kid was OK -- it was really a double-booking on the original stage. So I went home with a promise that he'd convince Laurie to suspend the "Only 2 per month!" rule so I could get a "make up".

And she did email to apologize and offer me some alternate dates, of which I took the only Saturday (this coming up, next one), even though I'm also booked for this coming Friday. I'm not sure I've got the stamina work a full week and then do two gigs in a row anymore, but we'll see!

The best part of the mix-up is that I've now met The Boss, and can copy him on my email exchanges with the Laurie, and maybe she'll be a little more civil -- though she did completely ignore (as usual) my email suggestion that double-booking mistakes were impossible in the old days when the schedule was publicly posted, and maybe she could think about re-implementing that. Oh well.

Keith at MV Farmer's Market - 06Apr2012

I scored a new (paid!) gig as a result of my playing for the families waiting in line to see Santa Claus at the Mission Viejo "Winter Wonderland" every year.  They've started having a Farmer's Market on Fridays in the same area between City Hall and the Library, and are having Live Music every first Friday, so I got the lady that books me for Santa to set me up to play for the "farmers".

Unfortunately, the first Friday tends to immediately follow the first Thursday (which is Laguna Artwalk), so I ended up playing two gigs with nothing but a night's sleep between them.  Not actually a big problem -- in fact it makes it a bit easier since I can leave most of the equipment in the car overnight -- but my voice wasn't really up for it at 9am, especially after singing for 3 hours the night before.

But I warmed up after a while and had a pretty good time.  Not a lot of people came by the stay and listen (more so because they hadn't booked the usual Lunch Trucks "because it's Good Friday" (Is truck food even more of a sin then than usual?!?)), but lots of folks walked by and dropped money in the jar.  I hadn't really expected to make anything in tips for this kind of thing, but ended up with $60, on top of the city's check -- not bad at all!

This was the first test of using the iPad in broad daylight, which I was afraid wasn't gonna work -- and I was right.  Not only is the image washed out in the bright light, the shiny glass makes it easier to see my own face than the songsheet.  I don't think any kind of "shade hood" would have helped enough, either.  Of course, I can and did fall back on the paper version, but the songs evolve a bit over time as I scribble performance notes and tweaks on the pages, so the iPad versions are somewhat different than the paper copies.  I'll have to print up a new set of sheets before my next sunlit gig.

As I and the farmer/vendors were packing up at 1:00, several of them came by to tell me that they liked my stuff.  And that public consensus wasn't lost on my city hall friend who will probably be inclined to book me again sometime.  Besides, I couldn't hardly be worse than the octogenarian ukulele orchestra that she booked last month!

Keith at Laguna Artwalk / Twig -- 05Apr2012

Susie let me play at her shop for the Laguna Art Walk again.  The weather was finally nice, and the auto traffic was definitely "up", though the in-store foot traffic was about the same.  It's still a lot of fun for me, though -- watching people go by the shop, even the ones that only look in and smile.  Of course, even better are the ones that slow down, stop, and decide to come inside to browse and listen.

The peak was around eight o'clock when 6 or 8 people came in.  The older guy was clearly impressed, and after reading through the list, told me confidentially that if I could play "Here Comes the Sun", his daughter's British boyfriend would be impressed.  I can play it pretty well, but only if I've been practicing the heck out of it all week, which I hadn't, so I declined.

But I offered "In My Life" as an alternative, and had the lot of them singing along, and the dad slow dancing with his wife, too.  When it was over, the mom told me it was her favorite song (hence, I suppose, the dancing), and the boyfriend came over, shoved up his sleeve, and showed me the tattoo on his wrist: "There are Places I Remember" in script.

Toward the end of the night, I watched a couple walking along across the street as the visibly pricked up their ears, spotted me, and made a beeline across the street (jay walking!) to come into the shop.  It's still unclear if they wanted to hear me better, or if they were just in need of more shopping, but they sure were determined!

24 bucks in the jar this time, a new record, but I think that most of that was Susie being needlessly generous again -- just letting me play there is "gift" enough!

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 31March2012

The weather had been nice all week, and I was hoping for a big turnout at Spectrum, but Saturday it turned all cloudy and threatening. It wasn't really all that cold, but it did send me packing in a light rain/drizzle about 9:20. (But at least it wasn't a repeat of the scheduled but totally-rained-out St. Pat's Day gig two weeks ago. Because of that, it's been 6 weeks (!) since I've played Spectrum.)

Got a really late start, too -- after I'd gotten 3/4 set up, I noticed that the power was dead, and to make matters worse, my phone's battery was also dead so I couldn't call Maintenance. I put the obvious valuables back in the suitcase, and carried my guitar and iPad out to find somebody. By the time they got it working it was already 6:40, which, with the early "called for rain" end time, made it my shortest Spectrum gig ever.

But fun. Seems like I had a few people standing around the sides of the stage most of the night, and one little dancer that dragged her parents back for more 3 or 4 times over the evening (and kept bringing me "another money"). I was another big Persian Social night, and I had a bunch of their little kids hanging around, so I brought out my give-away shakers (plastic easter eggs with hard red beans taped inside) and gave away 4. As I had suspected, they were a bit too young to get any rhythm going, but whatever.

After a while, I decided to also give them some of my "finger lights" (little LED flashlights in various colors). There were 4 kids when I started giving them out, but suddenly another half-dozen appeared from nowhere. But that's OK -- the kids were having a great time running around playing with them, and while they cost me a quarter apiece, the parents invariably put many times that into the jar, so it's win-win for me and the kids.

First outing for Daleen-recommended, newly-learned, Green Day song "Good Riddance" (a.k.a. "I Hope You Had the Time of Your Life"). I was skeptical, because it's a bit too high for me to sing in the original key, and has a distinctive guitar sound via a particular altered chord. Transposing such a thing is usually impossible, but I figured out a clever way to make it work. And the song seemed to go over pretty well, so I guess the effort wasn't in vain.

Weirdest part -- a guy I recognized from before came up and again asked for some ELO or Bee Gees, and again left a fiver even though I was unable to oblige (he settled, both times, for Neil Diamond's "Play Me"). I had actually taken a look at some Bee Gees tunes in the interim, and although none of them called to me much, I guess I'll have to learn one before the next gig there in three weeks.

Anyway, I came home with $87, even with such a short playing time. That and the joy on the kids' faces as they ran and played with the Finger Lights made it a great night, and worth the electrocution risk as I finished up "If I Fell" in the rain...

Keith at Roy's House -- 03Mar2012

I didn't have any gigs this weekend, nor next, so I thought I'd get a music fix by inviting myself over to my brother's house to have a long-intended Music Night, just sitting around the living room.  The original idea was to have a chance to play some of the more obscure songs that I don't play at Real Gigs, but that I know, and know that he knows.

He liked the idea and accepted my self-invite, but it also seemed like it wouldn't hurt to have some friends listening in, so I suggested that he and Keri invite some other folks over, and they found two other couples that were available for "dinner and a show" on short notice.

So it turned into a "Comer Brothers" night -- my brother showing off his cooking, and me showing off my playing.  The "concert" setting kind of killed the "Not just the greatest hits" idea, but not entirely, 'cuz it was prime for constant dialog with everybody picking their favorites, and I threw in a few that they wouldn't'a picked, but that I wanted them to hear.

I did have a bit of trouble, snapping the same tuning button as last time, and this time it wasn't nearly in tune when it happened. Fortunately, being at someone's house, a pair of vice-grips was available, as seen in the video capture above. I've since abandoned the new tuners entirely and put the good old, buttery smooth, ones back on. Shouldn't be any more problems.

So other than that, it was really fun, even with a "crowd" of only 6 people.  Heck, that's 6 more than I get a lot of the time.  Let's do it again! Monthly!

And we can do an "obscure oldies" night sometime, also!

Keith at Laguna Artwalk / Twig -- 01Mar2012

Another nice, low-key, time at Susie's "Twig" gift shop for the monthly Laguna Artwalk.  Not many customers, but sufficient. And Susie, her sister, and both husbands were there the whole time, so I always had at least them to play for. They're a great audience, too, always appreciative and picking songs for me to do.

I'm sure the slight cold snap kept traffic on the sidewalk and then into the store down, but it can only get warmer from here.  Looking forward to next time.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 18Feb2012

Got to play on the big round stage this week, which gets a lot more traffic (being out in the flow) than the little stage tucked back over by the food court.  There's still no seating near the stage, and I actually think it's less conducive to people just standing (or dancing) out in   front of me, but I sure get a lot of people streaming by.  Unfortunately, not a lot of stopping to listen awhile (probably due to the sudden cold snap), except the anonymous (and silent) people sitting back around the tree's planter box.  (Though I have a feeling that there were more people listening than I'm aware of, due to the 360-degree configuration.  There were some occasional bursts of applause coming from weird angles, and I'd turn to find a group out behind me somewhere.)

I guess I'm getting used to the silence, though -- it didn't bother me much this time.  And I suppose I should just assume they're really listening, and talk to them accordingly despite their silence and distance.  I *am* the one with the amplifier, after all.  (Though nowhere near the amplifier that Movie Girl has, with her Way-Too-Frequent and Very-Loud "Theater X Is Sold Out" and "No Outside Food" announcements.)

I had a pretty good idea after the last cold night gig.  Normal people combat the chill with a hot beverage, but I can't stand coffee (even though I *tried* to drink some of the un-asked-for Starbucks that a thoughtful guy brought me last time) or tea, and hot chocolate kludges up your throat.  I thought, "Maybe I can stand tea with enough lemon in it."  And then I thought, "Why not just drink the lemon-sugar-water, and leave out the *tea*?"  So I 'waved up some lemonade, put it in a thermos travel mug, and sipped it all night long.  Yummy, warming, good for the singing, and a lot less burpy than carbonated Dew.  Win-win.

And I had another left-field kind of idea -- it would be fun to give a little present to the little kids that came to dance for a while; specifically, "Finger Lights", little colored LED flashlights that you can strap to your finger.  They're cheap (4/$1 at the swap meet), and will be fun for the kids to dance with, and then keep.  So I brought a pocketful on stage, and, naturally and disappointingly, never got a Kids' Dance Party started.  I did give a few away to some tween girls who were hanging out (and doing gymnastic routines), and a little girl (3?) who kept coming up to the stage to tell me who-knows-what in not-only baby talk, but *Farsi* baby talk.  Anyway, it'll probably be a better trick back at the old stage location.  We'll see next time.

I also bought a little tambourine to see if I can get a little more participation going in the Dance Parties.  And it worked a couple of times, though with bigger kids than I'd anticipated...

It occurred to me that, since the iPad is sitting there on the music stand (being the Music Book) anyway, I could just fire up the recording program in the background, and let it record the evening's audio, albeit poorly, with its built-in mic -- just in case anything great happens.  It kinda worked, though it picks up the crowd chatter almost as well as me, and the guitar is over-loud because it's acoustically aiming right at the iPad all night.  Here's a song that came out pretty OK, though: Over the Rainbow

Probably because of the huge traffic, I seem to have sold about 20 CDs, which probably also accounts for the near-record $152 in the jar.  Also, I had a guy ask me if I play "corporate" gigs (to which I replied "I'll play anywhere!"), and as I was packing up another guy asked me if I'd play the 20 minutes before the Navy Seal movie (he'd rented the whole theater for him and his Seal pals), next Saturday.  Um, sure, I guess.  I don't know if either of these guys will actually call, but it's nice to be asked.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 06Feb2012

Finally a great night at Spectrum!  After the last few not-much-fun gigs here, I was frankly starting to think it might just not be worth the trouble anymore.  But the weather was warm and the friendly people were out, and I had a great time.  Looks like the warmer it gets, the funner it'll be...

I was determined to try to talk in-between songs, whether I felt like it or not, but there almost always seemed to be people involved so I didn't have any trouble just talking to them.  That probably helped bring in more people, too.  At one point, I had 30 or 40 people standing around me, dragged in by the dancing kids, and the phalanx of parents watching them.

In addition to all the attention, it was apparently Unusual Request night -- one guy half-jokingly asked for Jimi Hendrix, but I had just run through my acoustic version of "The Wind Cries Mary" earlier in the week, so I up and played it for him (and he was clearly impressed).  The rest of the requestors had a lot less luck -- a guy asked for some Alison Krause, and failing there, for some Don Williams.  I've never heard of Don Williams, so the guy promised to send me some links, which he actually did.  Don is an old-school country crooner, with lots of references to "the blood of the lamb" and such.  Sorry, dude, not exactly my style.

Later on a guy came up with a fiver and asked for some Bee Gees or Andy Gibb.  Oddly specific, and a complete strikeout.  I offered some Beatles as a substitute, but he didn't seem interested at all.  How can you like the Bee Gees and *not* like the Beatles?  Vice versa: OK, but...?

He kind of gave up and went back to his girlfriend, and I played some stuff that seemed to be at least in the same ballpark, and then he came back up, with another dollar, and asked for some ELO, with, of course, similar non-results.  Really?  ELO?!?  I guess I should be flattered that folks think I'm that good/versatile, but I'm mainly baffled.  I always wonder if I should go home and learn at least one song by these unusual-requested artists, but then I think: One request in 10 years of doing this?  A statistically losing bet, no doubt.

Anyway, I had the best gig there for a while (which, frankly, my lately-badly-bruised ego really needed), and took home $96 to boot.  The iPad Songbook is really working out well, speed and versatility-wise, and I may have solved the clipping-distorted vocals problem I've been having, too.  I even picked up two new "Likes" on my "Keith Comer, Good Music" Facebook page.  A good night, all around.

Keith at Laguna Artwalk / Twig -- 02Feb2012

Had a great time playing at Susie's "Twig" giftshop again. Susie wasn't there at first, but her sister was minding the store. I started playing and a girl named Madison and her mom came in. Madison's Mom (as she's apparently always called) was kinda crazy, knew the words to lots of songs, and wasn't afraid to use 'em. She sang along to nearly everything, couldn't resist buying and wearing a little red retro hat, and when Susie arrived, gathered everyone for a group sing-along, too.

Maybe not quite as many people overall as last time, but still plenty of people to play for all along, and most of them appreciative and willing to find a favorite on the list -- usually at Madison's Mom's insistence. She even went out onto the sidewalk a couple of times to drag people in off the street to listen. I need her to come out *every* time!

I hadn't bothered to put out any CDs or a tip jar -- it's not really necessary (and seems a bit tacky inside Susie's store) -- but when she noticed it late in the evening, she dug out a canister of some kind and put $12 in it. Someone else contributed a fiver, too. I guess I'll put a jar out right at the start next time -- Susie seems not only to not mind, but to insist on it...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 28Jan2012

Warmer, with gusty winds, but more people out.  Not a lot of interaction again, but I think it's finally sinking in that, especially as far away as the people are in this setup, it's really my fault.  I need to be talking a lot more, even though it's tough when you seem to be talking to yourself.  But as long as I'm just up there playing song after song, I'm seen as background music, not a person.  Definitely gotta work on that.

I had lots of little kids though (including the little dynamo pictured in this multiple-exposure), and from 10 'til 11, finally there were some nice people getting into it.  I had one guy come up to read through the list, but since I was in the middle of a song, he stood around awkwardly for a while and finally decided to write his request on one of my cards.  He kind of showed it to me and then tossed it on the ground near me, and went back to his seat.  When I finished the song, I picked up the card, and had to laugh -- it was "Hotel California", of course.  It just seemed like a lot of effort on his part for something that was essentially foregone.  I think about half the requests I get are for that one, and another quarter are for "Hey Jude".

I used my even-more-evolved iPad-based songbook again, and it's definitely working out well.  I specifically did some lots-of-words (so small font) songs, and had no trouble reading the words, wearing my blended bifocal "gig glasses".  The ability to get to new songs quickly is really great, and the multiple "views" of the list -- by name, artist, capo setting, etc. -- is really useful.  And the wind couldn't flip the pages on me, either.  Still worried about view-ability in the summer sun, though.

It's kind of freaking me out to have these nights with almost no applause, but then finding $75 in the jar.  It definitely indicates some kind of social issue with the distance (physical and social) that keeps people from "appreciating" me with simple clapping, but they do come up with their hard-earned cash.  They obviously like what they're hearing, but are somehow unable to show it by clapping after the songs.  Weird.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 14Jan2012

A pretty fun gig -- nobody wanted to stay out in the cold for very long, but I had lots of nice, if short, interactions.

Started off inauspiciously, when my D-string tuner peg button snapped right in two as I tried to turn it past an internal obstruction in the sealed gearbox, before I'd even started playing.  Fortunately, it was pretty close to in-tune when it broke, 'cuz I had to play the whole night with it exactly there.  These are my second set of tuners and they've always had this grinding issue from day one.  I thought it would lessen over time, but it hasn't.  Fortunately, I have 6 spare buttons on the old set somewhere...

It was also the first outing for my "songbook in the iPad" experiment.  I combined all the Word doc song sheets for the songs in current rotation into a big PDF, with a hyperlinked Table of Contents.  The advantages over paper are many: much smaller and lighter to carry, much faster to "flip" to the desired song, no booklight needed, almost infinitely expandable with no added bulk, 

The main disadvantage is that the screen is smaller than a piece of paper, so the words and chords are harder to read.  This was my main worry, but I put on my "gig glasses" (blended bifocals for distance and "3 feet away"), and it worked out fine.  Probably not as easy to read as the paper version, but serviceable.

Also, it's tougher (but not impossible) to scribble on the sheet with hints, notes, diagrams, arrows, etc.  I incorporated most of these from the existing pages when I created the PDF version, but I do tend to need to add stuff on the fly during gigs.  But I have a PDF viewer that allows annotation, so it'll be clumsy but do-able.  And of course, creating and maintaining the PDF itself will be a lot of work -- adding songs will be theoretically easy, but hard when the links get broken, as they inevitably do.  Just getting this "proof of concept" main list working right was a lot more trouble than it should have been...

I was also worried about battery life, but I played from 6:30 until 11, and only went down 25%, so that'll be fine (at that low level of backlighting, anyway).  It occurred to me, the next morning, that this solution is OK for indoors and nighttime, but may be completely unworkable for daytime (and "starts in the day") gigs.  I don't know if some kind of sun shade might make it readable, or if I'll have to maintain a fallback paper copy (with a reduced list?).

Anyway, it was pretty successful, so I'll definitely pursue and improve on the idea.  One great advantage not listed above is that I actually have multiple linked Contents lists: Everything Alphabetical, By Capo (I tend to try to play songs with the same capo setting in a row so I don't have to stop and retune so much), Kids' Songs, Dance Tunes, and By Artist.  At the very top is a List of Lists, so I can quickly get to the one I need.  In real life, this worked out even better than I'd hoped, so I'll think about even more ways of categorizing the songs, since the "What to play next?" question is of the toughest parts of this thing.  Maybe "Age Group", or a separate "Late Night" list?

It was pretty cold, so not a lot of people out, but I had plenty of people come by for brief periods.  Some young girls specifically asked for Justin Bieber, which had happened a dozen times last summer, just before I actually broke down and learned his big hit, and hadn't happened since.  Some older teenage boy came by and started asking for a series of kids' songs, which struck me as stranger and stranger until I figured out that he had someone else (girlfriend? little sister?) on the other end of his phone.  Concert by proxy?

But tips were up from previous weeks ($71), and friendly people are starting to come out, so I'm looking forward to springtime.

Keith at Laguna Artwalk / Twig -- 05Jan2012

My old friend from high school, Susie, has recently opened a cute gift shop in Laguna Beach, which hosts a city-wide "art walk" every first Thursday. The shops stay open late and people walk from store to store, sampling wine and cheese, and, frequently, live music. I offered (or self-invited) myself to play at Susie's store ("Twig"), not really knowing what to expect, but it was pretty fun.

There are a lot of musicians (of varying quality) playing on the sidewalks in Laguna, and I've tried it a few times with Warren. But there's a (understandable) city ordinance against using amplifiers on the street, so I (A) can't use my harmony box, and (B) can't be heard. People who do play on the street necessarily play as loud as they can, using either multiple guitars, and/or strumming vigorously. I'm not much of a strummer, and feel less than musical when I do so, so it's a problem for me.

But inside a shop, I can use my amp and harmony box, with the trade-off that there's a lot less traffic. It was pretty empty at first, but around 7:00 people started showing up. At one point there were maybe 8 or 10 people in the little shop. It didn't seem like much to me, but Susie was thrilled with this much traffic, which she generously attributed to the music and not the probably-more-responsible Art Walk event.

And people were very friendly. Everybody says hello, and half of them were friends of Susie's from their kids' schools or church or something. And they were appreciative of the music, led by Susie's consistent applause or "Whoo!" at the end of every song, even if she and I were the only ones in the store. Some people even seemed to be staying around to hear more.

The highlight was a young lady, Erica, that Susie's kids had gone to high school with and Susie knew to be a musical-theater singer. We fired up "Part of Your World" from "The Little Mermaid", which I know how to play in the original "girl key", and she did a terrific job with it.

Presumably, this will have been the lightest traffic of any Art Walk, and it'll get better as it gets warmer. I'll definitely be back next month, if only to have somewhere to play that's indoors. It's definitely fun for me, and it's probably a "win" for Susie.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 23Dec2011

The parking structure was almost completely full, even as early as I got there, but there were hardly any people to play for.  I guess they were all actually *shopping* -- imagine that!  I guess two days before Christmas is the wrong time to be out there...

On the other hand, Spectrum has actually been pretty tough for the last several gigs.  I'd say that I might need to re-think playing there, but it's the only steady gig I've got (and I'm only allowed two gigs a month, at that), so I'll just have to keep going and hope it gets better as it gets warmer.

Not that it was a "bad gig" at all, there were just very few people to play for.  Few of the young families that I usually get, and hardly any roving teens.  But my brother and his wife came, and my daughter and her friend, and my wife, too.  I had one little toddler girl, and since nobody else was listening, I just played for her for a while.  She (and her mom) had fun with the usual "Rudolph" and "Frosty", and she seemed to know that throwing her arms up was required on "Hey!" in "Jingle Bells".  The really cute part was when I started playing "Twinkle Twinkle", she looked up at her mom with delight, while her little hands involuntarily started opening and closing -- the universal sign for "twinkling".

Towards the end, a couple came and were clearly listening, and clapping (albeit all alone) at the end of every song.  I played for them for a long time, but decided to call it at night at 11:00.  They came up and introduced themselves as the couple who post on my Facebook "Keith Comer, Good Music" page -- my (only) actual "fans".  It was really nice to have someone to play for to wrap up the Christmas season for the year.

Somehow I made $80 for the night, so I really shouldn't complain.  There were two twenties, and a ten-and-five folded together, so *somebody* snuck up and delivered some Christmas Spirit, even though nobody seems to have taken any CDs for their generosity.

Keith at Santa's Workshop -- 21Dec2011

The lady who we may charitably refer to as "in charge" of the booking for Santa's Workshop was never actually clear on who was booked when, even when prodded directly, so I just gave up and went down there to see. There was, indeed, a Girl Scout troop, with three expected participants, (Really?!? Three unamplified Girl Scouts?!?) so the lady in charge (who knew me from the Holly Trolley incident) had them sing for the Cookie Decorating booth people, while I played for the line.

And I'm very glad I did I took the chance. Since it was the last night, there was a huge line, and we started early and ended an hour and a half late. I had *lots* of kids come down to listen, dance, sing along, and shout "Like a lightbulb!" during "Rudolph". And several parents, too.

Unfortunately, without the sanctity of the "not allowed on stage", the kids tend to come around until they're standing right next to me, "helping" me find the next song in the book, pointing at the words as we go along, stepping unexpectedly on the harmony box pedals, hugging my legs, etc. One kid decided to see how much sand he could kick up onto the pedal board, and another wanted to see what would happen if he dangled a dry leaf into the coils of the heater. I had to ask them, "Really? You want to be 'bad' with Santa Claus sitting *right over there*?!?", to much chuckling from the parents in line.

But mostly the kids were great. Lots of participation -- little girls doing preset hand motions to some of the songs, or just making up a dance on the spot. Lots of dancing, with the accompanying parents with smartphone video recorders. One little girl whose go-to dance move was shaking her hips back and forth, while her stiff car-coat looked like a ringing bell, clanging against her clapper-knees.

The stealth tip jar worked well again ($41), but after a while the presence of all the money made it confusing for the kids trying to get to the candy at the bottom of the box. And it turned out that the cranky guy who objects to my having an actual tip jar was being Santa (he's presumably not so cranky with the kids...), so I coulda been more overt.

But anyway, it was the most fun I've had playing for a long time. I love playing for kids!

Keith at Santa's Workshop -- 17Dec2011

Now, that was fun. Not double-booked this time, and that helps...

The setup space was a little different, so I wasn't on the lawn, and had a fence behind me so I didn't have kids running around, tripping on the wires. And I was near a set of park furniture, so some kids and moms would come over and sit "up front". Lots of kids dancing and singing along.

One little toddler boy, bundled up so much that he was a immovable unit, staggered over, unsupervised. Cute, but potentially dangerous with the wires everywhere on the ground. Between songs, I inexplicably stuck out my hand, and he slapped it -- "low five". He seemed to be happy where he was, so I started the next song, but halfway through, he put up his fist for a "bump", which I managed to fit in in-between chords. His mom kept zooming over to snatch him up, but he'd be back in a few minutes. Some kind of junior Houdini, apparently.

I had a small table up, mostly to hold my Dew, but also with my little sign on it, and my "stealth tip jar" -- a small Tupperware with some business cards and wrapped candies, and a dollar bill. The kids discovered the candy, and the parents noticed the dollar, and it started to accumulate tips. I'd done it as a "candy dish" for plausible deniability if the cranky guy from previous years came along. Got away with it too, and made $34. Mostly I had to do *something* to prevent the parents from coming up and trying to hand me money while I'm trying to play, as they do, and it's awkward all around.

Got two requests for "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer". These were most likely instigated by parents, sending the kids over with the request. I don't play that one -- not to be a snob, but that level of redneck humor is lost on me. Problem is: what to say when asked. I can't really say, "Sorry, that song is just too lame" to their face. I told the first kid "I don't do that song -- I *like* my grandma.", but he just looked confused by that explanation, which admittedly has faulty logic if you take the song's first-person narrative as a true story. The second time, I just said I didn't know it...

Anyway, I love playing these Santa gigs -- it's a shame that I only got three and got gypped out of one of them. The last one is this Wednesday evening, and the booking lady's incommunicative messages may or may not imply that even though I'm not officially booked, I can come down and possibly play the last hour and a half after a theoretical short "first act". It may turn out to be somewhat awkward, depending on who the first act happens to be, but it's definitely worth a try.

Keith at Santa's Workshop -- 17Dec2011

Now, that was fun. Not double-booked this time, and that helps...

The setup space was a little different, so I wasn't on the lawn, and had a fence behind me so I didn't have kids running around, tripping on the wires. And I was near a set of park furniture, so some kids and moms would come over and sit "up front". Lots of kids dancing and singing along.

One little toddler boy, bundled up so much that he was a immovable unit, staggered over, unsupervised. Cute, but potentially dangerous with the wires everywhere on the ground. Between songs, I inexplicably stuck out my hand, and he slapped it -- "low five". He seemed to be happy where he was, so I started the next song, but halfway through, he put up his fist for a "bump", which I managed to fit in in-between chords. His mom kept zooming over to snatch him up, but he'd be back in a few minutes. Some kind of junior Houdini, apparently.

I had a small table up, mostly to hold my Dew, but also with my little sign on it, and my "stealth tip jar" -- a small Tupperware with some business cards and wrapped candies, and a dollar bill. The kids discovered the candy, and the parents noticed the dollar, and it started to accumulate tips. I'd done it as a "candy dish" for plausible deniability if the cranky guy from previous years came along. Got away with it too, and made $34. Mostly I had to do *something* to prevent the parents from coming up and trying to hand me money while I'm trying to play, as they do, and it's awkward all around.

Got two requests for "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer". These were most likely instigated by parents, sending the kids over with the request. I don't play that one -- not to be a snob, but that level of redneck humor is lost on me. Problem is: what to say when asked. I can't really say, "Sorry, that song is just too lame" to their face. I told the first kid "I don't do that song -- I *like* my grandma.", but he just looked confused by that explanation, which admittedly has faulty logic if you take the song's first-person narrative as a true story. The second time, I just said I didn't know it...

Anyway, I love playing these Santa gigs -- it's a shame that I only got three and got gypped out of one of them. The last one is this Wednesday evening, and the booking lady's incommunicative messages may or may not imply that even though I'm not officially booked, I can come down and possibly play the last hour and a half after a theoretical short "first act". It may turn out to be somewhat awkward, depending on who the first act happens to be, but it's definitely worth a try.

Keith at Santa's Workshop, kinda -- 10Dec2011

Well, I went down to play for the kids in line to see Santa again, and as I was setting up, a college-age kid showed up and started setting up a keyboard stand. I asked him if he was playing there, and he said that he was, and he was the leader of a choir and had 19 people coming. He knew the name of the booking lady, and was sure that she'd given him the date, as well as the next Saturday (which she'd also given to me).

So, we decided that I'd give up this Saturday, and he'd give up the next one, and I started packing my half-deployed stuff back up. It seemed a lot easier for me to go home than for him to stop 19 people from coming.

As I was packing up, though, another lady from the Recreation Committee, Cathy, came over and said she was glad that I was there, so I told her that I wasn't really there -- there was some kind of mix-up and I was going home to let this choir play instead. She said, "Why don't you come play for the reception, then?" She was running a side event where people came to ride on the "Holly Trolley" to cruise around the city and see the winners of the house decorating contest.

I wouldn't normally have agreed to play a half-hour gig -- it's just not worth the hour of setup and takedown time -- but since I was already there, what the heck. I had to go into the men's room to get out of the longjohns, but then it was quite pleasant to play indoors where it was quiet and warm for a change. And the people who were coming in to have some coffee and cookies before their bus left were, by definition, in a holiday mood and a great, (captive), and quiet audience. Most of them were older (you know, my age), so I got to play the prettier, and more interesting, sentimental Christmas songs instead of only the kids' ones.

And after they left, there were plenty of cookies to snag as I was tearing down...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum - 09Dec2011

Another kinda slow night -- I don't remember it being this slow last winter.  I did have a pretty constant stream of packs of kids, and some isolated young families to play to, but a general "sit a while" audience never materialized.  Maybe people just aren't really prepared for the cold yet, so I get some people to pause on their way past, but they're not ready to sit in one place for any length of time.

Or maybe it was the plague of Jesus people who were hassling folks and chasing them away.  It wasn't just some isolated prosthelytizers either -- there were several groups covering the place.  This *is* the U. S. of A., and they're free to believe what they want, but their freedom to swing a fist ends where my face begins, and I'd just as soon they'd swing somewhere else and quit scaring my audience off.

But I had fun playing to the people who braved the phalanx to come listen to a few tunes.  "Jingle Bells" hauls distant little kids over pretty well -- along with lots of teenage girls, who are also inexplicably into "Holly Jolly Christmas", apparently.  A young couple came up and the lady asked me the million dollar question: "Do you know any James Taylor?"

I got to sing my new "Merry Christmas, Darling" a couple of times, though nobody was there to hear it.  But the setup was sounding unusually good and I was having fun just singing, people or no.

Somehow I made $62, though half of that was a ten and a twenty.  I'm not sure how that happened -- usually I can tell when someone likes me enough to put in a decent tip, or when they're buying a CD, but nobody really seemed to be hovering over the table this time.  A nice surprise, though.

Keith at Santa's Workshop -- 03Dec2011

It was a pretty small turnout for Santa, but it's early, and maybe some parents are smart enough to avoid starting up the kids' Christmas Anticipation Engine with three weeks left to go.

So an actual line never really materialized -- just a constant clump of a dozen or so people waiting at the gate. I played anyway, of course, and actually got to play some of the non-kids Christmas songs, since it was mostly adults waiting in line.

The kids were running loose, playing with the toy train setup, or watching the projected kids' Christmas shows (Frosty, Rudolph, Charlie Brown, etc.) behind me. The setup is a little strange now, 'cuz there are people milling around behind me as I'm situated to play to the line. I may try to come up with another setup, but there aren't a lot of options.

Anyway, it was fun, and not too terribly cold -- yet. In previous years I've set out some CDs and the little standup signs and a candy basket (as a stealth tip jar), but the card table has mysteriously disappeared, so I didn't do that this time.

But, one grampa came over and slipped a fiver underneath my cup of water so it wouldn't blow away -- that was nice. His 2-year-old granddaughter was fascinated by the guitar, so I had let her strum it a few times, despite how sticky she was getting with the Christmas cookies and candy canes. I'm about to need new strings anyway...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum - 19Nov2011

Awfully slow for a Saturday night, caused, no doubt, by the disruption from the very loud generator running next to the Hurley promotional truck parked over by the movie theaters.  I guess I'll have to give the booking lady the benefit of the doubt and presume that she didn't know that the Hurley people would be running a generator to power their big TV screens and such, making so much noise that the scheduled performer would be mostly drowned out, but it was pretty bad.  And the worst part was that the truck was in the main flow of traffic -- usually, people can hear me from across the plaza as they go by, and wander over if they like what they hear. But with that generator going...

Anyway, I was singing and playing well, for those that did come over, but mostly I felt pretty alone.  Until suddenly a group of little kids came running across the plaza (trailed by their various parents) to jump around right in front of me, and it was *on*.  I played all my kids' dance tunes, and a bunch of the regular kids' songs, and didn't have to feel weird about boring the adult audience with the kids stuff, 'cuz there wasn't one.

The Hurley people finally shut the generator down at 8:30 or so, and it was suddenly luxuriously quiet.  It was great to suddenly sound so good -- I wish there had been some people there to hear it...

I made a possibly-record-low $27, but that's understandable with as few people as I had. The only question is: What am I paying dues *for*?

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 05Nov2011

It rained most of the day, but it looked like it was clearing up for the evening, and I don't get many chances to play there anymore, so I decided to take the chance. I was afraid that they wouldn't have even bothered to put out a stage for me, but was surprised to find that they'd built the big round stage over the fountain. This is a double win: the stage is great, and of course the fountain and its wall of white noise was necessarily turned off.

But the threat of rain and the unseasonable cold kept most people away, especially the young families with little kids. I do get lots of people in the dead of winter when it's even colder, but I guess people weren't expecting how cold it was, so although a lot of people came by, not very many stopped to sit and listen for a while.

I did have one little kid, three or four years old, whose mother kept telling me that he "loves the guitar". I tried to get him to come up and strum on mine but he was too shy. So I just played some songs for him but naturally, it chose that moment to start to rain. Finally having an audience, I didn't want to stop playing so since it was pretty light rain, I just kept going, even though it was making the ink run on my song sheets. Luckily, it didn't get any worse, and quit after 3 songs.

Anyway, I only made $28 since nobody really stopped for long, but I had a great time 'cuz I could hear myself really well with the fountain off and the mic working correctly, and I had a pretty constant stream of people slowing down on their way past for a few songs. I quit around 11:15, 'cuz I was just getting too cold to play, but while I was packing up, I gave a card to the friendly maintenance guy and asked him to call me anytime there was a no-show at any of the stages, and I could be there in 20 minutes. Maybe that'll bear some fruit in extra gigs this winter.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 29Oct2011

My cold was a lot better, and I was looking forward to doing a Saturday night again, but it didn't go very well. For one thing, the stage was next to the loud main fountain again, so I couldn't hear myself.

And worse, the battery in the transmitter of my new wireless microphone was going dead. The fountain noise made me think that the sound wasn't really bad, it was just covered up, so it took me a long time to realize that the more and more muffled sound -- like when your ears won't pop it -- was only the mic, and not the guitar. I finally swapped the battery and it cleared right up. Hopefully, from now on I'll recognize that "need a new battery" sound.

But I played a lot of the night with terrible sound, and a terrible performance while I was distracted by it. Luckily, my brother, his wife, and a friend were there pretty early (while the sound wasn't so bad), and the last hour was OK after I found the problem. But I certainly wasn't connecting with the audience while the sound was so awful.

I had a pretty great Kids Party going early on, but the highlight of the night was when a mom encouraged her little daughter (7-ish) to get up and dance. She marched right up, spun around to face the audience, and started her dance, which was: feet planted, then right fist straight up with left hip shot out, and then left fist up and right hip out, back and forth like a pendulum. It was the Cutest. Thing. Ever. Her little bottom slamming back and forth and her little fists pumping up and down -- she had her Move, and she was stickin' to it. For the millionth time I wished I could operate a camera while I was playing guitar, but, sorry...

I didn't get to play "overtime" like usual, 'cuz the guys had to tear down the stage itself before they went home, so I got shut down at 10:15. I didn't sell any CDs at all, and only made $65, but I suppose with the bad sound and "short" time, I was lucky to get that much.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 21Oct2011

I was at the peak of a really nasty cold, but since it'd been 5 weeks since I'd had a Spectrum gig, there was no way I was gonna miss it. So, despite my usual shunning of pharmacology, legal and non-, I chugged some cough medicine and went "on with the show".

The medicine, plus a steady stream of Mountain Dew, worked pretty well for a while, but the throat tickle nearly derailed a run-through of "The Boxer" (the downside of a head-mic is you can't turn away to cough), so I took some more cough syrup, and then more sips as the tickle came back, again and again. I managed to keep the cough at bay, but the medicine (I drank nearly all of the 4 ounce bottle by the end of the night), plus the alcohol therein, the sugar and caffeine in the Dew, and the adrenaline and serotonin, all snuck up on me after a while.

I'd had "loopy" gigs on cough medicine before, but this time I was refusing-to-ride-on-double-decker-busses Out There. And since it hit me while I was playing, I had to just keep going. Part of my brain was able to sort of "watch from the outside" as the automatic, muscle memory part kept playing the songs and singing the words, and a third part was asking, "Did I just play that right? Am I the one making this music? Do I still have pants on? Is my tie on fire?"

But people kept coming in and hanging around, so I guess I was playing OK. It was "standing room only" for most of the night, and people stayed so I played until almost 1am (by which time the effects had pretty much worn off so I could drive home). Fortunately, I had brought a stool to sit on (expecting fatigue, not loopiness), so for a while when the world felt like the slant-floored Knott's "Haunted Shack", I could sit down before I fell down. If this is what drunk/high feels like, I'm glad I've been avoiding it all these years.

They'd set up an exhibit of custom playhouses in the space where the stage usually goes, so they moved the stage over where the big fountain was right behind me. That was good because it put me closer to the furniture/people than any other arrangement has, but terrible because the fountain makes a huge amount of white noise so I could barely tell what I was doing. But I had a couple of big Kid Dance Parties, sold out of the new "Favorites" CD plus some of the others, and made $116, so I guess the audience could hear, and must have liked what they heard. I had surprise visits from two old Toshiba friends (Linda Ta and Bill Damron), and I'm pretty sure I had a great time, overall, but I'm a little hazy on that...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 17Sept2011

A really good night -- great weather and lots of people out. Of course with the distance between me and the audience in the comfy chairs, there was the usual difficulty getting any audible response from anybody, but I'm getting used to accepting "attention" over "applause", and a lot of people stayed for long periods, and by the end of the evening almost all of the furniture had been adjusted to be pointing my direction, and that's a good sign.

It was the first trial of my new wireless microphone, which worked out pretty well. At first I was getting some "untuned radio" noise, but I moved the receiver around a bit and it seemed to go away. After a little while, I didn't even notice the difference, which I guess is the whole point -- there's no cable to fight with and "notice". Usually I'm fiddling with the mic cord on one side, and the guitar cord on the other -- with the mic cord gone, there's a lot less hassle. Win.

I could even get the matching wireless thingie for my guitar, but the guitar cord is a lot less trouble (since it's not hanging off of my head!), so it's probably not worth it. It's not like I do a lot of Mick Jaggering around the stage...

Earlier in the week, I got the notion to learn "She Loves You", for some reason. I usually feel like playing rock songs by myself on an acoustic guitar is kinda lame, but since I only play them for the little kids, I'm getting more comfortable doing it. And if the kids are happy, the moms don't mind. And the harmony box goes a long way to making the song sound "realer" (especially Beatles songs), even without bass and drums.

The first hour went by and it looked like the hoped-for crowd of kids wasn't going to materialize. But finally I got a pair of little girls dancing, which prompted some others to come out, and after a while we had a whole thing going, with a chorus of kids shouting "Another one!" after each song. I have 5 or 6 songs for this purpose now, but I may need a few more, since this is turning out to be a regular (and fun!) thing.

It was also the first outing for the new CD that I recorded, but I don't really hype selling the CDs, so I only sold one, to a sweet little Asian lady. I made exactly $100 (and 48 cents), and that was all in ones and fives, which means a lot of people "contributed". Unfortunately, with our cruise coming up, and a gig canceled because they're putting on an undisclosed "special event", it'll be 5 weeks before I'm back there again. So naturally, I played as long as I could, running over the 10:00 stopping time by an hour and a half.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 02Sept2011

A really great night! Perfect weather finally -- not too hot, and didn't get too cold, either. My brother and his wife were there even before I got there -- I'm afraid they got to see more of me setting up than singing, but they had to get to a movie. Daleen and a friend came by with some dogs, and our neighbors from up the hill were there for a long time, too. They'd never seen me before, and were apparently impressed a bit.

There were lots of young families out, and I had a small one of my famous Kids' Dance Parties early on, and then another huge one around 8:30, with the most kids I've ever had -- probably a dozen families joined in, with all the moms, dads, grammas, and kids dancing, singing along, and taking pictures. Big fun.

I'd been recording at home to make a new "studio" CD to sell, since it's been 5 years since the current "pop tunes" one. I was surprised at how well the singing went, and how accurate my guitar playing was -- apparently playing all day, all week, makes a difference. I didn't really think I was "losing it" when I only play once a week, but I guess I am.

I (mostly) finished the CD that afternoon, recording the last two songs and putting it all together, but, although each song is OK, they're all at different volumes so it's uneven as a sequential CD. I can fix that, but didn't have time, so I only burned 4 copies. I gave one to my brother, and two more got bought during the night. After I quit, a group of people came up, bought the last CD, and told me that they were from New York and that I'd "do great in Central Park". Great idea, if a bit impractical, commute-wise.

It did get cold enough that I needed to put on my jacket towards the end, and in doing so, I dropped the mic. It's been dropped a million times before, but it's very light and it's never gotten hurt by it. But when I got back up and running, the vocal sounded *really* treble-y to me -- almost like a deliberate "singing through the telephone" effect. I asked the crowd if it was sounding funny to them, but, as always, no response, so I don't know if something is broken, or if the amp freaked out, or if I was just imagining it. I played another hour or so, feeling like it was sounding terrible, but people didn't get up and leave, and in fact, I was accumulating more and more people. But I'll have to check into what's up before my next gig in two weeks.

I sold the four new CDs, and one each of the other two, and made $77 for the night. Played for a lot of groups of kids, and lots of older couples that didn't respond much (it's that distance thing), but stayed a long time. And it was great to have the amplifier and the harmony box again, after the struggle-to-be-heard of playing acoustic-only in Laguna. I usually grumble about the hassle of setting up and tearing down the equipment, but it's clearly better than the alternative...

K&W in Laguna - 30Aug2011

For our second attempt at street busking in Laguna Beach, we decided to forego the corner where we got busted last week, and just start up the street. I was purely acoustic, but Warren braved the use of his little amp, with, this time, the more valid excuse of just amping up to match the volume (such as it is) of his acoustic partner.

We played at the big green bench/art thing on the corner, directly towards the sidewalk passers by, and elicited a few smiles, slow-downs, and stops-to-listen. One lady with a toddler in a stroller stopped to have him hear us, as they do, but was talking to the baby in a strange language, which turned out to be Hebrew. My challenge, therefore, was figuring out what American song she might know. I usually go to The Beatles for that, but for some reason, settled on John Denver's "Country Roads" instead, which she seemed to be mouthing the words along to, so I apparently guessed right.

Then a guy came by, listened for a while, and asked if we knew any Russian songs. I'm not sure I've ever even heard any Russian songs, much less learned any. Cosmopolitan, I'm apparently not. He was up from San Diego for the art festival, but originally from the Ukraine. For some reason, he was *sure* we'd know the song, in Spanish, from the Antonio Banderas movie "Desperado" (no, not the Eagles song of the same name), but we struck out there, too. Where *have* we been?

He left to find his friends, and brought them back with him, and started asking about the "Desperado" song again (apparently, with some research, "Cancion del Mariachi", which Antonio performs himself in the movie), disbelieving that we'd never heard it (though I guess I'd actually heard it once, having seen the movie), and making guitar-playing gestures while singing snippets from it. So I handed him my guitar and said, "Show us", and he did, while Warren played along. Then he launched into a Russian song, which his wife sang along with. The perks of street music -- no rules, no audience, no equipment, everybody's "in it".

Warren went to check on The Alley, and while he was gone a couple came up and the lady took one of my business cards, saying, "You have a beautiful voice". I said, "Thank you", but was thinking, "How can you *tell*, out here?"

They left, but came back later on to ask about where else I play and stuff like that, and then she asked "Do you play any Christmas music?" My favorite question of the month!

We did manage to get down to The Alley later on, but most of the action was down on the corner where a 6 or 7 piece string band was blasting it out. They were very loud, and very good. But it was getting late and we decided to pack it in after not too long. As we were packing up, the lady from the shop next to The Alley came out and told us that our music had made her evening enjoyable. That was nice, 'cuz I imagine she hears *lots* of different musicians there. We made $20 to split, and had fun. I reckon we'll do it again, pretty soon.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- 23Aug2011

Busted! We were aware that amplification isn't allowed on the streets of Laguna Beach, so I'd given up even trying it, 'cuz my fingerpicked guitar style wouldn't stand a chance on a busy street corner. Jim & Warren have been managing, somewhat, but Jim strums his big Gibson, and six strings at a time make a lot more sound than only one.

Warren plays a hollow-body electric, though, and has been getting away with using a small amp, on the premise that it's just bringing him up to match the volume of Jim's acoustic. And lately, since they seldom see cops on foot to catch them, Warren's been using a mic on a stand as well, which is clearly over the line, but, so far, so good.

So I decided the give it a try, and rigged up my little battery-powered amp for my guitar and head-mic. I even found a way to add reverb to the voice by running the mic into, then back out of, my iPod. Sweet.

The idea was to just barely enhance the volume so we *seemed* to be acoustic-only, but be loud enough to be, you know, heard. But apparently somebody in the ice cream shop that we were set up in front of decided that either (a) we were interfering with their hip-hop radio jams, or (b) The Rules are The Rules, or (c) they just didn't like us being there. So they called the cops.

We managed to get through one whole song ("Hotel California"), and The Man showed up and asked to see our "Amplifier Permit". Obviously, we didn't have one, but he let us off with embarrassment served and a warning, but also a promise to cite us if he caught us using the amps again. ("Amplifier Permits" are issued by City Hall, but, he said, "They're stingy with them.")

We briefly half-tried to play acoustic, but my guitar was drowned out, and Warren's was totally inaudible. Warren suggested a place he calls "Acoustic Alley" up the street, so we packed up and walked up a ways, but it was occupied. So we went up to the next corner, where there are some little "conversation pit" benches set up, and the traffic noise is much less. We played there for a while, where we could at least hear each other, and basically played for ourselves for a while, garnering an occasional smile from passers-by, so I guess we weren't *completely* inaudible.

After a spell, Warren decided to go check if the Alley was available, and while he was gone, I launched into "Over the Rainbow". As I started the verse, one of a pair of old ladies blurted out "Oh! I love this song!" and they stopped to listen. Then, halfway through it, up comes my high-school friend (and fellow member of the Spanish Armada, but that's another story), Susie Elliott!

Susie stayed and clapped loud and long after every song (best shill ever!), and we started to accumulate a (single-digit) "crowd". (I assumed that she had seen my announcement on Facebook and decided to come down since she lives in Laguna, but nope, just coincidence.) It was quiet enough to almost hear me, and Warren's "acoustic/electric" was surprisingly loud (if you can call it that). I was playing as loud as I could, at first with my "strummy songs", but then, embarrassed by the lack of finesse that those feel like to me, graduated to some fingerpicked ones. I was picking as loud as I could, and wondered what would happen first: ripping the strings off my guitar, or ripping the fingernails off of my fingers.

A couple strolled up and started talking to Susie like they were old friends, which didn't strike me as unlikely in Laguna, and grandly appreciating the music. The wife sat right down on the bench next to me, and they asked for their favorites, clapped loudly, and chatted Susie up a bit. After a while, they had to go, but needed a business card first, so he could call us up to play one of his backyard business parties, and also insisted on my digging out the Tip Jar, so he could put a twenty in it. And it turned out that they *weren't* old friends of Susie's, they were just super friendly.

After a while of that, Warren and Susie went to check if the Alley was open, and it finally was so we moved down there. What a difference! The narrow passageway and hard walls provide a lot of "focus" for the sound, and you can actually hear and be heard. We played there the rest of the night, and with Susie and the after-dinner strolling crowd to play for, I had a great time. A lady came up with a handful of change, but couldn't find our tip jar to put it in, so I had to dig it out yet again. We ended up with $32 to split, and decided to pack it in about 9:30.

So, after a quite inauspicious beginning for my first time out, it ended up pretty great. I'm up for another go.

P.S. Susie told us that she's up and bought a gift shop, right down the street on PCH, and will be happy to host some live music (inside, where amps are allowed!), once she opens in September sometime.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 20Aug2011

OK, I give up.  I get it -- nobody's out to hear some guy playing music at the mall in the afternoon.  Fortunately, I don't have any more afternoon gigs booked, and now that I'm fully convinced that they're *not*, in fact, "better than nothing", I won't book any more.

I was expecting the new big round stage over the fountain again, but apparently they're reserving the right to decide to just use the old little square one.  Makes sense -- that big one is a lot of trouble, and they'll probably only use it when it's appropriate, either a bigger band, or a "bigger" name band.  That's fine with me.

It was hot, but not miserably so like last time.  And there were a few people out, but it was hopeless to get anything going with them.  I had a brief fun time with one of the many young girl soccer teams that came by, but they took off to go get some overly-sugared juice after only a few songs.

And I had a guy perceptively ask me about the harmony box, and another guy came up and told me that he had been in a folk-song band back in the sixties, but that he'd never learned to fingerpick like me.  It's always fun to talk to other musicians, however briefly.

I did make $20, which is an all-time low, I think, but still not so bad.  Last time I had inexplicably sold almost all of the CDs that I had in stock, so I spent the morning making up a bunch of them, only to sell absolutely none.  Maybe it was 'cuz the fountain stage is out in the flow of traffic?  Probably just the random nature of the thing...

New Home Recording Rig

I was all set up to do some home "studio" recording using the MacBook Pro, but I had to give it back when I got laid off.  So I've been trying to figure out a new rig, since I'm determined to get a new CD made pretty soon (the newest one I have now is from 2006).

The advantage I have this round is the Harmony box, which, along with adding harmonies when needed, also has nice reverb and vocal compression, which as karaoke enthusiasts everywhere know, make you sound better than you really are.  On my previous recordings, I had to add reverb via software after the fact.  With the box, I'm less likely to overuse it, as I'm prone to do.

To do decent recordings, though, you need to be able to hear yourself (guitar and vocals) through headphones as you're recording, so you can hear your usually-unnoticed mistakes, and any outside noises that are getting into the recording (dogs barking, loud trucks, etc.).  I could use a Windows box, but they don't do real-time monitoring, and hearing yourself a half-second delayed is *really* confusing.  Fortunately, the iPad can do it with no detectable delay, so I've settled on recording on the iPad, and then transferring the file to my Windows laptop for trimming, editing, etc.

Unfortunately, the iPad (and Windows boxes, for that matter) only have mono microphone input.  On the MacBook, the mic was stereo, so I could record the guitar and vocal on separate tracks.  That's nice if you want to edit one part but not the other, or to balance the mix after the fact.  I could record the two parts separately -- play the guitar part only, counting measures in my head, and then overdubbing a vocal over that on a separate channel, but disconnecting the guitar and vocal just doesn't come out very musical.

So, I'll make do with performing both parts at the same time, on one track.  All I have to do is get the mix right before I start (by trial and error), and simply not make any mistakes.  Easy!  That'll result in recordings with guitar and vocals (with reverb and optional harmony already built-in, courtesy the box), exactly like what you get at a live show.

I might decide I'm clever enough to add some more stuff (bass, a lead guitar solo, keyboards, or even cello, like I did on my Christmas CD), or I might decide to keep it "honest" (i.e., "live equivalent").  I guess I'll try a few things and see how it goes -- I'll probably end up with a little of each.

I've found appropriate software for the iPad, and cables to run the output of the harmony box (which is guitar and vocals combined) to it, and then back from it to the headphones, so I'm all set up back in the bedroom, er, "home studio".  And it's kinda cool that the iPad can just sit right there on the music stand. Now all I gotta do is figure out how to keep the dogs from barking, the guy next door from mowing his lawn every other day, and the room from reaching the 90's in the afternoons...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Sat, 06Aug2011

I asked too late for gigs at Spectrum for August, and all that was left was the "early shift", so I took two Saturdays, 1-5pm, as "better than nothing". And with the demise of Borders, without *something* at Spectrum, I would have had literally nothing.

So, of course, it was hot, being a Southern California August afternoon. They did bring me the shade umbrella, so it could have been worse, but still. The fun part was that they've abandoned the old Food Court stage, and bought a custom circular stage that sets up over (!) the big round fountain in front of the movie theaters. It's really big (for just me), quite prominent, and up high enough that they have a little two-step staircase. It's in the same plaza as the old stage, and faces the same clump of patio furniture and big-tree planterbox bench seating, but from a different angle.

It's really nice -- maybe too nice. I'm afraid that they'll decide to start charging for it pretty soon -- especially considering the 4 hour (according to the maintenance guy) setup time. It's really a far nicer place to play than the old "main stage" that they've been charging $50 for all along, and when they get people asking for this new one over the old one, they'll undoubtedly decide to start collecting.

But on a hot Saturday afternoon, the plaza is pretty deserted, except for people that are on their way somewhere. Nobody's there to just hang out that early, nor in that weather, so I played to a lot of stone silence. There were quite a few people to play to, sitting over there under the tree, but they seemed to be more interested in the shade than the music. Occasionally, though, someone would be going past that couldn't resist listening in for a while -- that's pretty gratifying, to stop somebody in their tracks.

And, for some reason, there were a surprising 11 CDs sold. Not sure why -- the tips weren't all that great. I made $55 in combined tips plus whatever people bought the CDs for. Just another thing that's more random than I'd expect, I guess.

I had a "hard stop" at 5:00 (just when it was cooling off and people were starting to hang out more, of course) to allow time for me to tear down and the next band to set up. I was grateful for it this time, though -- I seem to be able to play for 7 hours in the evening/night, but after just two hours in the heat, I was wiped out, and my fingertips were inexplicably already trashed.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Sun, 31Jul2011

Wow!  Great night for a Sunday!  After the poor showing last Friday, I was starting to think that "Summer" was over, but I guess it's a just a lot more random than I think it ought to be.

I started at 5:00 this time, instead of my usual 4:00, which worked out quite well, since it really starts to be "evening" at 6:00.  That's when the shadows from the buildings make it possible to survive in more than just the few seats under the shade umbrellas.

The stage was back against the big round planter box by the turtle fountain again, but literally every time I've come since they started putting it there, it's been further around the circle.  This time it was so far around that I decided to just set up "diagonally", since the corner was pointing exactly at the main group of furniture that folks camp out in to hear me.  It was a little odd, but actually worked out quite well.

Early on, a pair of Asian girls came by and tried to talk to me, though only one of them was brave enough to try her English on me.  They stared at the list for a while, but couldn't find (or read?) any songs they knew, so I fired up "Let It Be", which *everybody* knows, and saw some definite sparks of recognition.

I had lots of really nice people all night long (and made $84).  I'm supposed to shut down at 8:00 on Sundays, and the guy came and took the lights about then, but I kept playing.  About 10:15 or so, a nice 50-ish woman came and listened for a long time, and kept commening to anyone else around that I'm "amazing".  She asked me if I'd ever played any of the Folk Music festivals, which, um, I don't really play any "folk music", so, um, no.  But, I guess I don't know much about them -- maybe James Taylor qualifies these days?

She went to fetch her two friends -- "They just gotta hear this" -- and after a few songs one of them asked me when I'm supposed to stop playing.  I told her the truth, 8:00, which had them all baffled for a while since it was almost 10:30 by then.  I told them that I wasn't getting paid, and was there for the joy of it, so why would I "knock off early"?

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Fri, 29Jul2011

A surprisingly quiet night.  Usually Fridays are almost as busy as Saturdays, but nobody showed up this time.  Maybe there was a Big Game on TV?

Anyway, there were still enough nice people there to make it worth doing.  And my brother and his wife came by, as did my wife with the dogs, my daughter, and her friend.

At one point, two teenage girls were up at the table, looking at the list.  My brother started stage-whispering "Play 'Baby'!" at me, which I was confused by -- he probably couldn't tell from behind them, but they were 3 or 4 years too old for that.  The Bieber fans go from 8 or 10 to about 13, but above that they get too cool.  I've had groups of teens actually get up and walk away when I started up that song -- it's a big hit with the right audience, but a double-edged sword.

But it was quiet most of the night, though I seem to have finally stubbled on a setup where I can hear myself without feedback, so that makes it pleasant to just sing.  There was only $48 in the tip jar, which isn't bad, but low for a Summertime Friday.  But later in the evening, a group of people walked by while I was mid-song, and the lady looked at me and mouthed so I could read her lips, "Beautiful".  Made my night.