I got down there at 5:00, expecting to be early enough to get the main Corner, but there was already a guy I've never seen before playing there. I wanted to hear him play a bit, to see what kind of stuff he was doing, and hear him play the harmonica he had on a rack, but as soon as I walked over he said, "Do you want this spot?" I had to admit that I kind of did, and he immediately put his guitar in the case and took off. Apparently he was ready to quit, sitting there on the bench in the blazing sun, with only 8 or 10 bucks in his case, and just needed an excuse. I was glad to have the Corner, but I did kind of want to hear him play at least one...
And after an hour or two of plugging away myself, I can see why he was ready to quit. There were a lot fewer people out, and hardly any tourists with time to spend. I had one nice lady stand there and listen and sing along for a while, but hardly anyone else.
Until a high-school kid came zooming by with a djembe drum. He pulled up and decided to play along with my stuff, so I tried to find some songs that could use some drum reinforcement.
He stayed and played along for a long time, burning through all my rhythmic songs, and then some. He had some chops and mostly adapted to different kinds of song beats, but he was just never quite on the same beat as I was -- and was quite a bit too loud. And since he didn't know most of my songs, had no awareness nor sensitivity to where there were pauses or slow-downs. It just wasn't working.
I thought that he'd get bored if I just kept playing my mellow stuff, which I was forced to do anyway since I'd run out of fast stuff, but he was persistent. After a while of that, and since I was hungry, I just quit playing, found a snack in my box, and walked away to talk to some of the "regulars". He *still* didn't get the hint, so I gave up and came back to play some more. Mercifully, finally, some of his friends happened by, so I handed him four or five bucks out of my jar, and off he went.
I/we didn't really get anyone listening for the hour or two that he was there, but I don't know if that was because of his playing or not. I didn't really get much response after he left, either...
Until a family got in line for ice cream around 9:00, with the dad holding a little 4-year-old who was clearly fascinated and staring at me as I finished a song. So I fired up "Twinkle Twinkle", and they got all excited and jumped out of line to come closer, and the dad asked for "Over the Rainbow", which I not only know, but is one of my best tunes. Other little girls appeared from nowhere, and within a few minutes I went from playing to nobody to a full-on party with a half-dozen kids, their parents, and other passers-by smiling at the kids having fun.
Unfortunately, it was a really long evening of No Fun, to get to that Really Fun half hour. I only made $35 for the 5 hour shift, and only sold one CD (so apparently my clever sign isn't working). Maybe it's the Olympics on TV, maybe the tourists have all gone home already, or maybe it was that drum-"enhanced" period in the middle of the evening. But it's fun enough when it does work that I'll give it a few more tries before I write it off.
It occurred to me that the CDs are kinda hard to see, sitting on the crate next to me, and that maybe the tourists would buy them if they considered them a "souvenir". So I made up a sign to try to attract attention, get the "souvenir" idea across, and help people buy them without having to ask me "How much?" all the time.
And it kinda worked, I guess. I/we usually sell no CDs at all, sometimes one or two on a good night. This time we sold three -- not a huge spike, but considering how few tourists were out (I don't want to be accused of "profiling", but face it, you can tell the tourists from the locals), I think a pretty high percentage of them were drawn in by the sign. One couple who sat and listened for a long time bought one for $20, and the lady told me that they'd listen to it "on the way home" to San Diego.
There were disappointingly few little girls whose moms wanted to hang out for a while. I was dying to give away some of my new "daytime handout" bubbles, but there was nobody to give them to! Finally a little girl appeared, and I gave her a bubble tube, with instructions that she should provide the "special effects" for the next song ("Over the Rainbow" -- I know, kind of mixed metaphors, but work with me here). She proceeded to blow great bursts of bubbles, all through the song and the next few, as if it was her life's work. I didn't really mean for her to take it so seriously...
We pulled in $90, which was a nice surprise considering the low traffic. We played for 5 solid hours, 5:15 to 10:15, when I called it off. The first few hours were mostly a waste, but if we don't get there early, we won't get Greeter's Corner, and the whole evening will be a waste. I guess I'm in for next Tuesday...
I asked for dates in August too late, and got stuck with just a Sunday. The stores all close at 8:00 on Sundays, so I figured I'd play from 4 to 8, instead of the usual 6-10. But that was a mistake -- I had almost nobody listening until about 7:00. And it was *hot*.
There's a little kiosk out near the stage these days, with a guy selling balloon animals. After a while, a lady came to join him, drawing caricatures. Once she'd set up, she needed to be drawing something to help attract attention, so apparently she chose me. And later on, she tossed it in my guitar case with the other tips. That was nice of her. On the other hand, the music, running way past "closing time", kept her in customers far longer than she expected, so I guess I repaid her efforts a little bit at least.
Oddly, despite Sunday afternoons being when you'd expect more kids to be out, I never did snag any for the usual dance party. And as much as I was dying to find some kids to give my new "daytime present" wedding bubble favors to, no kids ever slowed down enough for me to be able to hand any out.
But pretty much as soon as the sun went down behind the buildings and it cooled off a bit, people started to slow down and listen. Then it got pretty fun. As different groups of people found out that they could ask for songs off the list, I got three deep in requests at one point. And I finally got some little girls to give some bubbles to.
And it just kept being really fun, even though the mall was theoretically closed at 8. I guess nobody told the people that...
But after a while I was feeling really tired and my fingers hurt, but I kept and looking at my clock, and thinking, "Gee, it's only 8:30". But at 9:30 I realized, "But I've been playing since 4!", so at 9:45 I told the remaining listeners that it was past my bedtime and shut down. If I ever get stuck with a Sunday again, I'll start at 6.
I had sold out of the 8 "Favorites" CDs, several of the Kids' ones, and a few of the "Dad's CD" that I brought, and there was $97 in the jar. The "setup fee" (illustrating that it's really more of a "tribute") is cheaper on Sundays -- only $25 instead of $50, so at least I made more than the Center did. I can't help thinking that I'd probably have done better on the corner in Laguna, but it's nice to have the "big setup" with the good sound once in a while.
I decided to try playing on the street again for Art Walk, but this time I'd be on my own -- Warren usually plays with Jim on Thursday nights. And they endeavor to get Greeter's Corner, so even though it was empty when I got there, I looked around for another place to set up. (Unfortunately, even though I had deferred the Corner for Jim & Warren, another guy beat them to it anyway -- so I might as well have been the guy who snagged it. Oh well.)
April was already in the Acoustic Alley, so I went down to the other corner, but instead of setting up on one of the corners, I asked permission to use the raised "boardwalk" in front of a little boutique store there. It was theoretically ideal, on the main side of the street, raised up like a stage, well lit...
But it didn't work out very well. There were lots and lots of people out, but they (almost) all just zoomed on past me. Either they didn't want to stop there in the middle of the busy sidewalk, or because of Art Walk, they all felt like they had to get to all the galleries, so didn't have time to stop. There are a lot of people in a hurry on "normal" nights, too, but at least some of them are "wandering" and willing to hang out for a song or two. Or the time it takes to eat their ice cream.
So I just felt like some kind of "decoration" -- people would glance over and sometimes smile as they went past, but only a few groups slowed down to listen to a song, or choose one. About halfway through the evening, I moved over to the green spiral art/bench thing, hoping that people would feel like they were able to step out of traffic, but it didn't seem to help much, and when the sun went down, I was standing in the shadow of a tree in near complete darkness, unable to see or be seen, so I moved back to the boardwalk.
And then I was visited by a 3 or 4-year-old completely unsupervised Persian Demon-Boy. I tried to appease him by giving him a finger-light, but he only used it to further terrorize me -- beaming me in the face and trying, for some reason, to touch it to the guitar, while I was playing. His inattentive big family parked on the bench 20 yards down the street were no help -- his dad came down 3 or 4 times to speak sharply to him, and then walk away and let him carry on, undeterred. They didn't even notice when I gave up, unplugged, and walked halfway up the street with the little monster in tow.
By 9:30 there was almost nobody left, and the Bluegrass Prodigy Kid was hauling in whoever was still around, down at the Alley, so I packed it in. When I got home, there was an even $50 in the jar, so I didn't do as bad as it felt, but, as always, that's not the point. It's nice to have an "approval rating" score (and, they're "dollars" -- even better than "points"), but I'd really rather have people listening than their money. It's way more fun down there on a normal night, at Greeter's Corner, with happy people hanging around. Not sure I'll even bother with Art Walk next month -- or maybe I'll go back to Susie's store...
Terrific night! I don't know why a Tuesday had more traffic than Friday or Sunday did -- maybe it was Synchronized Swimming night on the Olympics…
I got there really early to stop by Chico's, but I didn't find the lady anyway. Whatever -- it got me up and playing by 4:45. That's probably too early to get any kind of traffic or response, but it does guarantee getting the Greeter's Corner spot.
After a while, a lady with a sweet smile stopped by. She was clearly enjoying the songs, so I asked her to pick one. She stared at the list for a while and mumbled something that I couldn't catch. After a few tries, I finally heard her: "I had cancer". I guess she was trying to explain her twitchiness, but I was really just looking for a song title. Anyway, she was a total sweetie, and stayed a long time, dumping money in the jar (for which I gave her two CDs), and "sit-dancing" along to the tunes in her twitchy but endearing way.
After a while the sun went down and she was freezing, and tried to leave to go to her apparently-close-by home to get some warmer clothes, but she liked the songs too much to leave. I felt bad watching her shiver, so I finally asked her to find her *least* favorite from the list, so I could play it and she could break loose. But she wouldn't pick so I just refused to play any more until she left -- after I promised I'd still be there until at least 9:30, and she had given both of us a big hug. She never did make it back, though. Maybe we'll see her again some other night.
We also had a pair of young ladies sitting on the bench speaking Romanian to each other. I thought they were waiting for someone/thing, but apparently they were really listening to us. So I started playing the most internationally classic songs I could find ("Let It Be", "Country Roads", etc.). After a while, one of them left, but doe-eyed Renee stayed a while, and it occurred to me that it was a perfect opportunity to try out the so-far only half-baked rendition of "California Girls" that I've been working up, after telling her, "This is for you". She was apparently charmed by that, and came up to apologize for having to go a few songs later, and later on "liked" my page on Facebook. If that's all it takes, I'm gonna have to do that more often.
And later that night, a bunch of local high school girls dropped in to dance, laugh, talk too loudly, and generally start a party right there in front of us. They were there for a long time, but finally left to pursue some local high school boys, as is their wont.
Anyway, we had enough traffic to keep us interested until we finally gave up at 10:15, when a guy who we hadn't realized was "waiting" and not "listening" came up and started his "set" -- singing well, loud, and high, and banging on a guitar plenty loud enough with no amplifier at all. Turns out he's visiting from Colorado and just wanted to give Laguna busking a try. He could have gone to any other corner, but maybe he wanted to hang out so he could ask me all about the harmony box.
I'm not sure how we got to play so long -- two nights before, my set was ended at only 4 hours, mid-song, when the battery that runs the harmony box died. But the extra-long 5.5 hour set, a few CDs sold, and the heavy traffic netted us $112 for the night, even without any disproportionate contributions from my family doctor. When I'm playing alone, I bring the tip jar home and count it up while I'm having a before bed snack, but when I'm with Warren, I have to count it up on-site to give him his share. Uncrumpling, stacking, and counting all those loose ones takes a while, but it occurred to me that I shouldn't complain about how long it takes to count the money -- the longer the better!
I probably shouldn't really be playing Every. Other. Night. But you know what addiction is like -- gotta do it anyway, even though you know it's not good for you. The blessing/curse of playing street corners in Laguna is that I can do it any time I want. And I *always* want…
Of course, it's also a Limited Time Offer -- once school starts up again and the tourists go home, it won't be nearly as fun, so I've got to get it while I can. At least that's what I'm telling myself.
But I kind of had to go down anyway, looking for the lady at Chico's to ask her if I can play in her shop on Thursday for Art Walk. It turns out that Chico's is a women's clothing store, and not as gallery as I had assumed. I guess that's OK, just because of its ideal location, but the lady I'd talked to wasn't there anyway, and the other ladies were busy with customers.
So I guess I'll see if she's there on Tuesday night, and if not, I'll just go in on Thursday Art Walk night, and if she's there, or not, just offer to play in the shop. And if they say no, I can just go find a corner anyway. But playing in a shop would be much more quiet, and I could use my good big amp instead of the not-so-good little amp. We'll see.
Lots of people out, more than Friday (and I made $66). A guy came up that said he lived near to James Taylor and asked me to play some of his songs. I said, sure, but don't tell James...
Later on, a little 2 or 3-year-old girl that was being towed past by her mother just dug her heels in and, once liberated from her mom's hand-hold, started dancing to the decidedly non-dance song I happened to be playing. Of course, I played "Roll Over Beethoven" for her as the next one, and some teenage girls came out of the ice cream shop to dance along with her. Just during that one song, the crowd ballooned up to more than a dozen people, smiling at the little dancer(s).
And at some point, a teenage girl came over, bought a CD, looked at me and said "You're amazing!", and walked away again. *That* was nice to hear.
I wasn't really thinking about going down to Laguna again already, but my wife and daughter decided to go see the new dance movie, and there didn't seem to be much point in sitting home alone…
There were less people out than on Tuesday -- maybe they were all at home watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. But there were still plenty enough people to make it fun, and I brought home $63 in tips.
But the best part was the nicely-dressed lady who came up and stared at my song list for a while, but declined to make a request off of it. Then she told me that she worked across the street at "Chico's", and that they had loved my music and had turned off the in-store radio so they could listen in better. And she had decided to come over to give me a dollar, and say so.
First off, I was horrified to hear that I was loud enough that they could listen in from a store across the street and down one. I guess the crate that the amp is in restricts how loud it seems to be to me, while letting sound fly out the front at unimaginable volume. I'll have to check into that…
But second (and of course I was too dim-witted to think of this while she was still there), it occurred to me that, if they liked me that much, maybe they'd let me perform in or in front of their main-drag store on Art Walk night, next Thursday. When I thought of this, I wanted to go over and ask her, but it was closing time (7:30) and I think she had come by on her way out, and also I couldn't wander off and let someone else snag my prime spot. So now my challenge is to find her again and find out what she thinks of that idea, before Thursday.
Another great night on the corner in Laguna. It's tourist season, so there's lots of people out, and lots of them are up for the "authentic Laguna Street Music experience. Or hungry for ice cream -- not sure which.
We had lots of listeners, and collected lots of tips, but the clincher was when my sweet lady doctor finally made good on her promise to come see me play sometime. She lives somewhere nearby in Laguna, so she came by after work, though that proved to be almost 9:00. The good part about that was that she had us pretty much to herself by that point. She brought two cute daughters, who she kept sending up with more and more money, and I'm pretty sure that she contributed about $50 of the evening's record $125 take, all by herself -- though, even without her participation, we were already breaking the record. Not bad for a Tuesday.
Warren’s other music partner, Jim, had to leave early from their usual Saturday evening gig in Laguna, so Warren invited me to come down and take Jim’s place around 5:00. Since that pretty much guaranteed our having the prime “Greeter’s Corner” stage for the evening, I jumped on it.
It being a summer Saturday, there was lots of competition, across the street in both directions. Of the two, the worst was the jazz sax with drums on the ocean side of PCH. If that guy ever landed on a recognizable tune, I sure never caught it. Fortunately, while I was playing, it wasn’t too loud to deal with.
Otherwise, it was a pretty normal evening. Lots of people out, mostly zooming past, but plenty of folks slowing down to take notice, too. And lots of people buying ice cream and settling in on the benches to eat it, constituting an audience whether they want to or not. Fortunately, most of them seem to become interested, and my "pick a song from the list" methodology helps to drag them in.
No trouble with the cops about the amplifier use, and $75 in the jar -- so a good night, any way you look at it.
A much slower night than the Saturdays have been, but still fun. The official "shift" is 6:00 to 10:00, but it really seems pointless to start at 6 on a work night -- there's nobody out that early. Of course, it works as a warm-up period for me, so maybe it's OK. I can get those initial jitters out of the way, get my voice and fingers warmed up, and be fully in the swing by the time the real traffic starts up.
It was opening night of the new Batman movie, so I assume that a lot of the people zooming by were on their way to the theaters. I saw a lot of Batman T-shirts. Maybe that accounts for some of the lack of traffic, too.
Not a lot of little kids out at first, but a Kid Dance Party started up later in the evening. After a few songs, I climbed down and sat on the edge of the stage for a Mom Picture Party with a bunch of the kids around me. Then I brought a little girl (maybe 4 years old) around to sit between my knees, lifted the guitar up over her to sit in front of both of us, and let her strum (with a little help) while I handled the chords and sang "Twinkle Twinkle". She was a little baffled by all this, but her mom was thrilled.
It being a Friday, and Spectrum being literally across the street from work, I invited everybody to come over and see me. As expected, no one did, except the one guy who I *didn't* invite, because he lives in Colorado, who had just flown in (with family in tow) for the week, was looking for a restaurant, and accidentally came upon me as I was setting up. He said they'd come back by afterwards when I'd be playing, but, as expected, they didn't. Oh well.
Anyway, it's kind of nice playing at this stage, 'cuz the people who settle in on the planter-box benches are clearly there to listen to me, unlike the food court where they could just be there 'cuz the chairs are comfy. It's gratifying when people are strolling past, get caught up in a song, find a place to sit, and stay for a while.
The day before, I'd stopped at the Goodwill Store and bought some really great "working" cowboy boots. I know it sounds silly, but wearing cowboy boots makes me "braver", and I felt quite a bit looser up there singing and dance/shuffling around in them. Not to mention that the soles are nice and flat and click the harmony box's buttons a lot more reliably than my hiking boots' too-textured soles do.
There was $93 in the jar, just about half what the Saturdays have been. I also didn't sell many CDs this time, except for the three that went to a set of little kids whose mom was too busy with her phone call to police the fact that they were taking one each. But that's OK -- they helped clean out the really crappy colored CD cases that I shouldn't have bought and have been embarrassed to be selling anyway.
Not as many people out this time. They might have been scared off by the hot muggy days before this one, but it was actually quite nice. So I played to a steady but small stream of people, and never even got a kid party started. But there was always someone to play for, and I had fun.
At one point, a family showed up with three kids who had seen me there before, and remembered my songs. The two-year-old came up and mumbled something that I managed to decode as "Twinkle Twinkle", and the older daughter wanted to hear "Woody!" (which meant "You've Got a Friend in Me" from "Toy Story"). It's great to have "fans".
It didn't seem like very many people were coming up to ask for songs but apparently there were, because I sold 15 CDs and there was $180 in the jar. Sometimes even the nights that felt just "fair" were actually "darn good".
I went down at 4:45 and played for a while in the Acoustic Alley hallway, and did OK, but it started to get really thin around 6:30, so I figured it was dinnertime, and that ought to apply to me, too. So I packed up, thinking I'd find some dinner and come back and play a little later.
But I don't know the area at all, and just started walking towards the ocean, when I ran into Steven who seems to be down there a lot, so I asked him where I could get a burger. Being vegetarian, he didn't exactly know, but knew of Johnny Rockets, and thought there was another burger place "further down". So I started walking north, and had decided to just do Johnny Rockets and get it over with, but it was jammed. Giving up on that, I started walking, looking for this other place.
And walking, and walking. Dragging the roller-crate, and with my guitar strapped on my back. I kept walking, thinking that it would be a shame to give up if it was just on the next intersection. And then I thought that I might be able to get back to downtown on the free shuttle, so I figured I could go further. And further.
I never did find it, and there weren't any return shuttles, either. And somewhere along the way, my clip-on guitar tuner got knocked off, so I had to walk *back* for a quarter of the route, thinking I might remember where I had hit something. Never found that, either.
I ended up having a gas station muffin and a bottle of Mountain Dew for dinner, sitting on a planterbox in front of a hotel, watching the cars go by on PCH. A career high, it wasn't.
And when I got back to the street, there were people already set up at the main and secondary corners and the hallway, and it was 8:30, so I just admitted defeat and went home. I guess they can't all be winners...
This was the same spot that I had played at with Warren the very first time I went down there. And at which we got busted for using amplifiers when the kid working in the ice cream store that we're right in front of called the cops to get rid of us so he could crank his indie-rock radio station. I've been paranoid about amp use ever since.
So I got set up and started playing, and a nice man was sitting on the bench, listening and clapping, right away. After a few songs, he said, "You could play louder!", but I explained that I wasn't technically allowed to have an amp at all. He said, "But the people like it", and I said, "That may be so, but the cops don't". He said that the cops don't really come by, and I said, "Even so...".
He got up and said, "Well, if you need any water or ice cream, let me know", and wandered back into the ice cream shop, since (it turns out), he's the owner. Talk about irony! The owner of the shop I'm most afraid of bothering, asking me to turn it up...
And I kind of did. As the foot and car traffic got louder, I had to gradually turn it up to compensate. (And then as it tapered off toward the end, I never did turn it back down, and seemed pretty brazenly loud by 10:00.) Around 10:30, my battery pack gave up, and my feet, back, and fingers weren't far behind, so the concert was suddenly over. As we were packing up, the two cars and an ATV full of cops screamed up, lights flashing, and were rousting some kid for something. I asked Warren, "Was he using an amp?"
Lots and lots of traffic, but most folks seem to be on their way somewhere, and loathe to stop, even when they exclaim, "I love this song!" or start singing along as they speed by. That's kind of frustrating. But some people stop and listen, and it's kind of fun trying to find the formula that'll stop more of them. I'm actually finding that it's the nostalgic "crooners": "Over the Rainbow", "Homeward Bound", "You've Got a Friend", etc. that work the best.
Early on, the young families are out, and when I spotted the little girl with the Little Mermaid sweatshirt, I fired up "Part of Your World", to much delight. And one dad asked for "Rainbow Connection", but his little girl was more interested in how the guitar works than the song itself. I crouched down, mid-song, so she could get a closer look, and she interjected a well-timed strummed-chord flourish while I was fingerpicking further back.
But mostly we were overshadowed by the bluegrass kid who had a standup bass player with him and set up on the opposite corner. They sounded *really* good, and were novel and exciting, and pretty much stole our thunder, and rightly so. If I hadn't'a been playing myself, I'd'a been over there listening, too.
We cleared $58 anyway, which is a new street-playing record, and pretty good considering the lower-than-expected turnout due to the gloomy weather, and the bluegrass distraction. And it was fun, and a good confidence-builder for me to play with the amp for 5 hours without getting busted once.
And, after we packed up, street-regular Peter fired up Steven's guitar for an impromptu Neil Young jam, with the motley crew of Laguna People that was still around so late. I don't do/know a lot of his songs, but I joined in with the ones I do, and faked the ones I don't. I learned that when looney-tunes people (like "Wiggles-Like-A-Glowworm" Sara) decide that they know the lyrics better than you, you'd best just let 'em have it their way.
But it was a School Night after all, so at 11:00 I was very glad that I'd paid the two bucks for the parking meter two blocks away at sea level, and went home.
They were predicting 100,000 people to turn out for the 4th of July fireworks, but the gloomy weather stunted that number. But I went down anyway, hoping it might burn off.
So I got there at 2:00, very early, for fear of the traffic and parking. Traffic wasn't bad, but I did end up parked at a new record height up the hill. At this rate, after a few more gigs I'll be hiking in from a parking spot somewhere in Long Beach...
So early, nobody else was playing on the street, so I set up in Acoustic Alley and played without the amp at first, but I got brave enough after a while and got much better responses with a little volume and harmony. Still, the afternoon crowd seems to always have somewhere to get to, and a lot of people rush on by. Except the group of 8 or 10 teens who happened to be going through the corridor when I hit the "Na na" ending of "Hey Jude" and loudly joined in.
So around 5:00 I thought I'd go find some dinner, and play some more later. But I got roped in by Steven, who was playing at Greeter's Corner. I finally had my clip-on tuner, so I was able to down-tune a half-step to match his guitar, and play along much better.
Unfortunately, he sings higher than I do, so I could play along, but my trying to add on some vocal harmony to his songs was pretty tough. And he's much younger than me, so we don't have much overlap of songs we know -- except Beatles. But even there, since he strums, he does stuff like "Hold Your Hand" and "Day Tripper", while I do "If I Fell, "Let It Be", and "In My Life".
But it was fun anyway, trying to keep up and add something useful, although he wasn't making much headway with the (far larger) throng passing by, either. It's hard to explain, but he seems to be "just playing", and people don't stop to listen the way that they do for me. I think I sound more like a "performance" and less like "just songs". Or something.
Anyway, I hung out with him for a while, but it wasn't really working so I left to test out some other location options. I set up at the weird green spiral art-bench, and didn't really expect much -- I was just trying the spot out. But although the crowd was much thinner, many more of them slowed down or stopped to listen (and tip). It was weird. And nice.
But tomorrow was a work day, so I gave up at 8:30, after a group of young girls with patriotic paint on their cheeks stopped to help me sing Taylor Swift's "Mean" while a mom took a dozen pictures. That's always fun. I meant to try to snag some of the massive exodus after the fireworks, but they weren't scheduled to even start until 9:30, so I gave up on that plan.
There was a surprising $27 in the jar when I got home, and five English pennies, for some reason. Back again tomorrow night for Art Walk!
A terrific, record breaking, night. Perfect weather and a summer Saturday brought out lots of people, and they all end up coming past the dead-center Main Stage at some point. And they were all apparently in the mood for some live music, 'cuz I had lots of people in front of the stage, on the planterbox benches, and when I'd remember to turn around, the tables were all full and sometimes there were people sitting on the fountain edge benches, all the way around.
I get lots of requests from the teens for Taylor Swift songs, so I learned her "Mean" song the day before. My wife and daughters came by, so I dragged my daughters up to sing it along with me, and they saved me from getting lost more than once. It's kinda tough to learn to play and sing a song that you've only heard a few times, but I'll get it. It's a cute song and it does seem to go over well.
Later on, one of my patented Kids' Dance Parties started up, and with the volume of traffic pouring by, it quickly snowballed into the biggest one ever. I had 15 or more kids at one point, and with the attendant parents, strollers, etc., we were clogging up the whole plaza to where people could hardly get through. Definitely a new record for "pulled in" audiences.
One of the moms was trying to get her kids situated to take a picture in front of me, so when that song ended, I got down on the edge of the stage to pose for one. Suddenly a half-dozen other moms were out, cameras in hand, rounding up their kids for a picture. That was odd, and fun.
Earlier that Saturday, I had checked my CD inventory and figured I'd better make some more up, just in case. So I had lots, I thought, when I put 22 CDs out. But at the end of the night, there were only 2 left. That's probably a record, too.
The fountain came on full-force at 10:30, a half hour later than last time. But I still had lots of people, so I just turned it up and kept playing anyway. About 15 minutes later, the horrible salsa-jazz muzak came back on, loudly, so I had to turn it up a little more. I was thinking, "Are they trying to get rid of me? What's next, guys with firehoses? Tear gas?"
The fountain shut off entirely at 11, but that just made the muzak more obnoxious, so although I tried to play some more, it was no use. When I finally gave up and quit, there was $183 in the jar, another new record. Also in the tip jar was a napkin-note saying, "You have a beautiful soulful sound. NICE", which is worth way more than the dollar bill it was wrapped in.
At Art Walk last week, a couple of people mentioned the "Fete de la Musique", which I'd never heard of, but turns out to be Laguna's annual street music festival. With only 9 days notice, and almost no web presence, I didn't think I could get in, but the organizer responded to my last-ditch email, must have liked what he saw on my webpage, and offered me a slot -- as long as I didn't need electricity.
I was already planning to build a battery-powered street-stealth amp rig, so I took the offer, and quickly finished the project, but using my real amp, not the little hide-able one. That involved buying a new battery for my battery-powered (but long dead) amp, and trying to figure out a way to power the AC adapter-powered harmony box and wireless mic receiver.
I got it all working by Friday, but that didn't give me any time to do battery-life tests on anything, so I wasn't sure if or when they'd die on me. I had to prepare to play the gig with fall-back setups for every possible failure -- all the way down to just playing acoustically, me and my guitar.
So I was completely prepared for something to go wrong, but it all worked perfectly, and with battery time to spare. And a pretty good time it was, too. I was stationed at the corner of PCH and Ocean, right across from Main Beach and the volleyball court, so I had a lot of foot traffic. And, unfortunately, a lot of car traffic, which wasn't half bad compared to the all-too-frequent Harley traffic... (I wonder what the Harley people are going to do when all vehicles are electric. Play recordings of loud obnoxious combustion engines as they go by? Amplify some 60-cycle hum?)
Anyway, it was fun to play out there and actually be audible. A lot of people breezed on by, but a lot of people stopped to listen. And a lot of people in cars stuck at the red light would roll down their windows to see what I was up to, and clap or give me the thumbs-up as they went past.
I had two little girls who dragged their parents to a stop and stayed to dance for 20 minutes or more. And the cute kids were a magnet for all the grammas going by, so I developed a little crowd for a while there.
And for a while I had a guy who was obviously not hitting on all cylinders, trying to sing along on these songs he clearly loved, but he'd long since lost his ability to keep stuff like that sorted out in his head. So I'd sing a line, which would remind him of the words, and he'd shout out the last word or two in the gap before the next line. It was sweet that he was so moved, but also *incredibly* distracting, and I had a real challenge keeping the song together. He "sang along" in his disjointed way for a half-dozen songs, and finally decided to go back to what he had come down for: holding up a sign in the "Legalize Marijuana" demonstration across the street at Main Beach. Dude, spun-out guys like you are *not* doing The Cause any favors!
The worst part, though, was when I was all done and had to drag the Equipment Choo-Choo back up the cliff to my car. Indeed, dreading the climb, I kept playing as long as I could, just waiting for it to cool down enough. I had to drag it backwards most of the way, stopping every 30 feet (that's 10 feet vertically) to rest. About 3/4 of the way there I decided that the equipment was cheaper than a heart attack, so I tucked it inside a vacant carport, walked the rest of the way to my car, and came back for it. Next time I have the full raft of stuff with me, I'm paying for parking at street level!
Wow -- what a crazy, great, crazy-great night! I started out at Twig, as usual for the First Thursday "Art Walk". Had a pretty good turnout early on, and lots of fun with Susie, her life-of-the-party sister "Don't-Call-Me-Noni", and Noni's friend, all shaking my kids'-giveaway egg-rattles and baby tambourine, and singing along out on the sidewalk to "Don't Stop Believing". It's so much fun when it turns into a party...
But by 8:30 it seemed to be Over, so I packed up and was driving back up PCH by 9:00, and was surprised by how many people were still thronging the sidewalks. I decided to turn up Forest (the main "music street") to see if/who was still playing. As I went by "Greeter's Corner" where Jim & Warren usually play, I saw Warren, but no Jim. And half a block up there was a rare sight -- an empty parking spot -- so I snagged it.
April was holding forth in the Alley, as expected, but like every other time I've seen her, she was busy talking to someone, so I've never actually heard her allegedly great singing. Across the street from Warren was the fledgling Steven & Noah duo. I went over to see how "Jim & Warren" were doing, but it turned out that Jim had gotten delayed enough that it wasn't worth coming out, so Warren was soldiering on as a solo.
Not that he really wanted to -- he immediately asked me to get my guitar which was pretty close-by in my car, and we launched into whatever songs I thought I could remember all the words to without my Book, and could play Loud. I beat my poor index finger to a pulp, using it as a pick and strumming songs that I usually play with, shall we say, a bit more finesse.
Indeed, it was harder than usual to remember the words to the songs because my brain clearly has the words linked to the hand actions, and since I was playing them "wrong", the associations were broken. Weird how the brain works...
But we got through a bunch of classics, to much delight of the assembled cast of characters: Drunk Guy Who Wants to Sing, Crazy Spin-Dancing Lady, Maurice the Foreign Lothario, Mikey the new Greeter (who switches the Crazy Loon character on and off at will), and several Silent and Serious observers who got pulled in by the music. Not sure why this particular, peculiar, crew assembles around Warren and not, say, Steven and Noah right across the street...
Anyway, it was big fun. Warren has a mic on a stand that I was able to sing through while stress-testing my guitar strings. This was nice for two reasons: (1) I could be heard a bit better, and (2) it made me more confident (or less paranoid) about using a mic/amp on the streets. I'm now only 1 for 2, getting busted for amp use, instead of 1 for 1. That helps me decide to build up my own (subtly) amplified rig for street use.
Warren decided that he'd had enough about 10:00, and since my alarm goes off at 5:30, that seemed like a pretty good idea. But I couldn't resist going across the street to once again try to jam with Steven and Noah, despite their down-tuned guitars. They were celebrating a huge-tip night, due to the big turnout and Steven's aggressive approach where he hard-to-ignore-edly just asks passers-by if he can play a song for them. He usually tunes this to who they are, e.g., "Hey lovebirds, can we play a love song for you tonight?" It's way too bold for me, but it was really working -- people who were snagged in by it usually left a tip as well. Important for these guys who are apparently living on this...
After a while of that, I decided that I really did need to get to bed, so I walked back to my car by The Alley, and heard a kid banging away on a solo mandolin and singing old-timey Bluegrass stuff. Wow! I started to put my guitar back in the car, but just couldn't resist putting it back on and walking over to try to lend some guitar support.
I played along to that song and one other, figuring out the chords as we went, since I can't "read" mandolin chords like I can a guitar's. Three fashionable ladies surprised me by stopping to listen to the kid and his "down in the holler" style, telling us how great "we" were (I told them that it was "all him", and I was just strumming along), and asking him his story when the song was over.
His name is Zack, he's 16 (!), lives in Mission Viejo, and his dad taught him how to play. He plays in a couple of Bluegrass bands at festivals, mostly in Northern California. I was ready to play with him some more, but it was 11:00 and his mom pulled up to take him home to get to bed for school tomorrow, providing me with some apparently-needed collateral parental guidance as well.
All-in-all, a crazy fun musical night. Definitely need to do that again, even if my fingers still hurt...
I had so much fun last Sunday that I decided to try playing the streets of Laguna Beach again. Of course, it wasn't Memorial Day weekend anymore, and the gloom that finally burned off inland was more persistent down by the beach, so it was a pretty low turnout. I played from 4:00 to 6, and only collected $7, though the smiles and thumbs-up were plentiful.
And I seem to be getting somewhat famous -- a guy came by who recognized me from my Farmer's Market gigs, and a lady stopped to somewhat inaccurately exclaim, "We saw you at Spectrum last week! You're really good!"
Early on I was visited by another local player, Steven, who probably wanted to set up in the Alley, but since I had beaten him to it, ended up at the Corner. He's probably also frustrated by the (lack of) acoustics over there, but since he strums, he's got a lot better chance of being heard than I do.
But when I quit at 6, I decided to go down and listen to him for a while -- "maybe put on a harmony", in the words of Joni Mitchell. I got there just in time to help another guy, Noah, improvise a shoestring strap for his beat-up old guitar -- he and Steven have apparently started experimenting as a duo.
Steven is quite good, plays well and knows a lot of songs, though not so many of the words thereto. He tends to sing a line of two and make up lyrics for the rest, sometimes consisting of "And this is the second verse of this song I don't know..." kinds of stuff. It's actually kind of charming.
Noah, on the other hand, is all over the map. He knows a lot of songs, and just bashes pieces of them out, willy-nilly. They got into a Beatles jag, but Noah favors the obscure ones (like "Girl" and "I'm Only Sleeping"). Steven tried to steer toward more well-known stuff ("Standing There", etc.), and Noah knows those, too, and sings the high harmony like a champ.
I sat on the bench opposite them, and since my guitar wasn't in a case, I could just strum along and hope to catch the passing tourists in a kind of reinforcing Surround Sound. But that was tricky since they have their guitars tuned down a half-step (presumably to make the songs easier to sing). It's nearly impossible to take songs written in, say, E, and play them in E-flat. But with some creative capoing, I had a blast trying to keep up.
Steven got Noah off of the (chunks of) Beatles tunes and started on a Credence set, playing songs he knew the chords to ("Proud Mary", "Up Around the Bend", and the particularly appropriate "Willy and the Poor Boys"), teaching them to Noah, but having to look up the words on his phone balanced on top of his guitar. He understandably thought I'd know those songs, and I do, but I don't actually play any of them 'cuz Fogerty sings way too high for me.
Anyway, crazy as it was, that public jam for an hour more than made up for the previous disappointing two. But as I was leaving, there seemed to be an uptick in traffic, as the 7pm dinner crowd was arriving. I guess I'll have to figure out by experience when the best times to play happen -- maybe earlier in the afternoon for the beach crowd, and then later on for dinner time?
With the shutdown of my main gig at the Food Court, I'm suddenly interested in "diversifying my portfolio" -- i.e., having more places to play. Jim & Warren seem to be enjoying their twice-weekly attacks on Laguna Beach, so I thought I'd give that another go.
On Saturday afternoon, we took the dogs down there just to check it out and it encouraged me to go back on Sunday with my guitar -- but mindful of the city law against amplification without a permit, just acoustic -- no amp or harmony box. To make it even easier to carry, I zip-tied my tip jar to a light music stand, and made a "poster" slipped into the pockets of the songbook binder. A stack of cards fit into the lid of the tip jar, and I could throw a few songlists down. Everything (plus a bottle of Dew) fit into a backpack, with my guitar (without the case) over my other shoulder.
But when I got there about 4:00, a locally famous lady named April was belting out her 40's tunes in "Acoustic Alley" (an enclosed foot corridor that focuses sound, making it essentially the only place where a quiet instrument (like a guitar or voice) can be heard), and a guy was making a go of strumming on J&W's corner.
I went down PCH to try out some of the other spots I noted the day before, but since I've never seen anyone else play any of those places, I was afraid to. I experimentally strummed a little bit in one of the courtyards, but there was nobody coming in anyway, so I gave up. It was becoming clear that even if I got permission to play somewhere, I was completely inaudible.
So after a while I wandered back to the main street, but April was still in the Alley, and Steven was still on the corner. You'd think that in the whole of Laguna Beach, there'd be more than two places to play street music, but it really does boil down to those two places.
Anyway, I went down the street a ways and played inaudibly on a sidewalk bench for a spell. I didn't get the stuff out of the bag though, so it was just an experiment in what songs I could do from memory. After a while of that, it was coming on 6:00, so I decided to just go on home, but on one last check, April was gone from the Alley. I quickly moved in and stayed the rest of the night.
It's an interesting challenge. Unlike normal amplified gigs, the zone where you can be heard is very small. And since everyone is walking by, you have a very limited time, maybe 5 seconds, to make an impression or you've lost them. It definitely behooves you to (a) sound good, (b) be singing, not flipping pages, tuning, or playing the instrumental verse, and (c) play songs that everybody can recognize from any tiny snippet at any given point in the song.
These rules were pretty easy to figure out since I was playing off to the side of the walkway, and people either would, or would not, turn their heads to look at me, depending on their immediate 1-second impression. The tendency is to just keep looking forward and just go by -- it took *something* to turn their heads.
After figuring that out, getting that instant and anywhere-in-the-song recognition factor narrowed my already-narrowed "Street Songs" list to about 4: "Hotel California", "Hey Jude", "Country Roads", and the clear winner, "Over the Rainbow". Of course I played other songs anyway, just for my own entertainment ("I'm Yours" works for the younger kids and a lot of people remember "The Boxer"), but the really deeply-well-known songs are the ones that make people reach for their wallets. And it's so satisfying to overhear someone tell their friend, "Oh! I love this song!", and even better if they stop to hear it to the end.
I played from about 6 until 9, when it was getting pretty thin, and I was getting pretty hungry. Surprisingly, there was 32 bucks in the jar, almost as much as a winter night at Spectrum, and enough to interest me in doing it again sometime. With school letting out soon, I think even weekday evenings might be fun, but only if I can get into the Alley. (Or if I get brave enough to build a small, camouflaged, and battery-powered rig...)
It never really got cold or wet enough to shut me down, but it did keep the shoppers away pretty well. I played anyway, 'cuz it's just fun to play, and the later it got, the more people showed up, so it ended up not too bad.
When I got there, the public sound system was on, playing some nice background music. When I was ready to start, the maintenance guy, Chris, was nowhere to be found, but I had prepared for this last time by following him to see where the system was hidden. So I went and shut it down myself.
But halfway through the morning, it came back on again. I tried to just ignore it, but it bugs me that somebody is bound to be halfway between where I am and where their nearest speaker is, and they'll be really annoyed by the "half of each" sound they're getting. So I had to quit playing and walk back to the far room where the system is and shut it down again. Next time (I'm already scheduled for June), I'll have to ask Chris to try to refrain from turning it back on until I'm gone.
But it was fun. Even though it was outdoors, it was nice and quiet so the sound was pretty good, which is always fun for me. And, although only a few people came over to sit and listen a spell, lots of people went to the trouble to walk over and put some money in the jar, so I guess they could hear me and were enjoying it as they were shopping, which is, I guess, the point.
The Irvine Spectrum Center management suddenly and inexplicably decided to stop hosting live music at the Food Court, though they're keeping the Myrtle Court stage. I've been playing almost exclusively at the Food Court, because they don't (didn't) charge a $50 "setup fee" for that one like they do for the Myrtle Court. This is presumably because the Food Court kinda sucks, and if they charged for it, no one would come.
The sudden change cancelled two already-booked gigs at the Food Court, but since I've been doing pretty well in tips lately (and rather than being suddenly retired), I signed up for the only remaining May opening at Myrtle Court, and with some trepidation, sent in the $50 fee. I'm not in this for the money, but it's kinda nice to bring home *something* for the trouble of going out there (not to mention the 40 years of practice to get to the point where I even *can* go out there). It's irksome to have to hand over a chunk of the tips, but I guess as long as I come out not-too-negative, it's the cost of a night out having fun.
Anyway, all day Saturday, I was freaking out about playing the "Main Stage", indeed now, the *only* stage, and having paid the fee, it seemed somehow proportionately Important to Do Good. And, having played the Food Court stage dozens of times now, I'm quite settled in, but I've only played at Myrtle Court a few times, so there was also the fear of the unfamiliar.
But in the few other times I've played that stage, I pretty much decided to face the traffic, despite the temptation to play for people who are static and possibly demonstrably interested. But, facing south, there are two big planter-box benches for people to sit on and an up-close little plaza for standing people and dancing kids, so you can accumulate a little "audience", (not to mention that all those walking people are necessarily walking by the tip jar ).
I ended up kind of splitting the difference and set up with one speaker facing each direction. The "Court" is enclosed (except being open to the sky), and you get some good acoustic "containment" anyway, so the sound is good and loud enough everywhere. I mainly played into the traffic flow, but I also did a lot of turning around to face the tables when I knew the song well enough to not need the book and there were no harmony-box button presses.
And I had a blast! It was so different to have people, however mobile, that are close enough to actually see and therefore interact with. And the people on the planter boxes are close enough that they'll actually get up to take a look at the song list, unlike at the Food Court where even if they're listening, it's too intimidating to walk all the way across the big plaza to my table. And there were *lots* of people. Most of them just walk on by of course, but lots of them stayed for a song or three. And I almost never had that Dead Silence thing that's so prevalent at the Food Court. Several of the big groups at the tables seemed to be there for hours, though it's not certain if that was to hear me, or that they just had nowhere else to go...
I got one kid party going, though I didn't give out any fingerlights, mostly 'cuz I just never thought of it, it being so brightly lit there. I did have 4 or 5 little Muslim tweens that played my tambourine along with some newer tunes, and whom I "let" talk me into playing Justin Bieber's "Baby". And it was Prom Night for a lot of Seniors, so there were lots of them parading around the place, which was fun.
Especially toward the end of the evening, I had several couples that just sat down on the planter boxes and hung out, asking for song after song. I *love* that. Also an elderly Indian guy who was there for a couple of hours, and had an unerring ability to ask for my very best tunes, as if he had had a peek at the "Favorites" list. Dude, your fiver is in the mail.
Anyway, now I'm asking myself why I haven't been playing this stage all along. Obviously, it's the 50 bucks. It's especially bothersome if, at the end of the evening, "they" made more for my labor than I did. So I was anxious to get home and count up the tip jar, just to find out "the score". It came to twelve cents short of a hundred bucks. Twelve. Cents.
But let's round *up* and call it even! Not to mention that I had a great time! It's *way* more fun than the Food Court, so I'm definitely gonna sign up for more. Unfortunately, with no notice about the Food Court cancellations, the May and June dates for Myrtle Court are mostly full, but I'm gonna get what I can! Here I thought I was involuntarily just about musically retired, but I'm actually revitalized! Can't wait for the next one!
A guy from Kaiser Permanente saw me at Spectrum and liked me enough that he called to hire me to play an outdoor meeting he was holding for some international guests. But the weather turned cold for the day of the meeting, so the gig was cancelled. A few weeks later, I was surprised to get a check in the mail, so I asked them to book me sometime to "work it off", and finally got a call to come play for the company's Health Fair 5K run. Weird, but since I'd already gotten paid...
It was in a park in Long Beach, but they set me up a little stage -- with balloons! Unfortunately, I wasn't really what the coordinator, Tiffany, was hoping for -- she wanted "Pump it up!" music, and that's not exactly what I'm good at. Of course, I tried to oblige anyway, and played my most upbeat tunes, and it wasn't *too* bad.
I was set up right across from the start/finish line, and I mainly played for the people waiting to get started. It wasn't really an "audience" kind of situation, but I did score one little fan, Ida, who listened for a while and then took advantage of the "Make a Poster" booth to show her regards.
Anyway, I'm glad I got paid, 'cuz it was more awkward than fun. But maybe it'll lead to some more appropriate gigs out there someday -- a lot of people heard me and threw some appreciative comments my way, and I gave a stack of cards to the coordinator to pass out to her friends, so maybe they'll seek me out for upcoming, lower-key, events.
An inexplicably subdued evening. The weather was nice all day, but turned surprisingly cold after sunset. Not much response from the people most of the night, for some reason.
But it was also Acacia's Prom Night, and the theme was 40's "USO Show". At Daleen's suggestion, the kids met for dinner at the Spectrum Ruby's (which is 50's themed, but close enough), and then they came over to see me briefly before they went on to the prom. I played "Mister Postman" (I know: 60's -- but again, close enough) so they could warm up their dancing legs. They caused quite a stir for a while there.
Even before I got started, there were three Japanese ladies sitting on the planterbox behind me. I gave them a song list and let them chatter their way through it as I got set up. When I was ready to start, I asked which song they had decided on, and the spokesman for the group proclaimed "Reetahl Mahmaid!", by which she meant "Part of Your World" from the movie "Little Mermaid". That was unexpected, but of course I played it for them (after a few "grownup" songs to get started with). They were sweet and enthusiastic, and later on they asked for "Let It Be" before hustling off, presumably to catch "The Avengers" like the rest of the world.
I had a few little kids, and gave away some fingerlights to some teens, but never really got anything going. Still, there were at least a few people out there listening, so I kept playing until 11:15 when I announced that the next one was going to be my last song.
And just then, a young couple of my actual Facebook fans showed up, asking for -- and slow-dancing to -- some love songs, so I ended up playing for another hour. They've seen me play several times before, and they were the only ones left, so I had fun playing some different kinds of stuff for them: "To Make You Feel My Love", and "Ballad of Love and Hate", "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes". I don't mind playing what people want to hear -- it's why I show up -- but it's nice to get to break out of that Top Twenty once in a while.
Two years ago, Acacia fell in love with the Ren Faire, as I knew she would, and this year she put together a van full of kids, and then some, for a full-on expedition. We left at 7:30am to pick up kids in Costa Mesa, Huntington, and Long Beach, on our way to make the Opening Ceremony in Irwindale.
Everyone was in costume -- even the boys -- but that's as you'd expect of OCHSA kids. Acacia's musical genius boyfriend, Reid, brought along his tenor recorder which we hung around his neck with some twine like it was a sword. He even had use of it when he jumped right in with some street music people in the afternoon, despite never having heard those tunes before.
The weather was perfect, and we practically had the place to ourselves for the first half of the day. The layout of the place had changed from the two years before -- a new "Golden Jubilee" stage was added for this 50th anniversary Faire, and some of the other stages moved, upgraded, and up-sized. They also addressed my biggest complaint (that the Faire was one long serpentine track that you had to wander into, and then all the way back out of) by cutting some paths through at the tops of the loops, so you can take the shortcuts when you're tired and ready to go home.
A new feature of the Faire this year is a group called "The Fantastikals", which are "fae, nymphs, fairies and spirits". They were several girls with elaborate makeup and costumes, scattered around the Faire, acting "mystical". They never talk, and don't directly interact with anyone. Acacia was enthralled, and desperately wants to "be one" next year. She might have a chance, too -- they were all tall, slender, and pretty, and their main requirement/skill is acting aloof and kinda strange. No problem!
Because of the lack of crowds, we were able to see most of the artisan booths before lunch. The kids could just walk up and see what they wanted to see, and they (and I, as The Dad for the day) could keep track of each other and not get separated and lost.
We went back to the van for lunch, and as I swung around to get back out, the backside of my ancient khaki pants split wide open. The cloth was just dissolving, and I'd already fixed several split-open spots the day before. Indeed, I'd *almost* been clever enough to bring a backup pair of pants, but forgot. I borrowed Acacia's apron, and just tied it around my waist backwards. She was actually somewhat relieved to be rid of some of the mountain of cloth she was carrying around in her three layers of skirting. It was a bit strange of a wardrobe feature, to have a "train" hanging out from under my shirt in the back, but less attention-getting at The Faire than anywhere else I can think of...
After lunch, we ran into an Elizabethan lady's man in the street. He proceeded to flatter and woo each of the girls (and Reid!) with hand-kissing and Shakespearean compliments, to much amusement of the rest of the kids. He was very good -- smooth but not too sleazy, comically forward, but not so much that it scared the girls away. Give that man a raise.
After that, we looked up some shows. First was a reunion of "Cock and Feathers", the most famous troupe/show from the early days of the Faire, back when we used to go in the 70's. The old guys still had it, but the venue was noisy so you couldn't hear the jokes, puns, and double-entendres that make the show unless you were in the first 3 or 4 rows, which we weren't. A few of the kids wandered off at that point, but the rest of us stayed, and afterward saw a great one-man show with Will Shakespeare himself recapping the story of "Hamlet" in everyday modern terms (who knew that Rosencrantz sounds exactly like Keanu Reeves?). Really well-done, funny, and incidentally educational -- I had never really grasped the whole complicated story there before.
After that, we saw "Moonie", who was just as funny the 4th time as the first, despite the show being identical, year after year. After that, the kids wanted to do some more shopping, and after a while I left them alone to go see the "Dread Crew of Oddwood" band. They're what a heavy metal band would have been in pirate days, singing about pillaging, looting, plank-walking, etc. Really great, rowdy, cacophonous, banging and bellowing stuff.
I went back and found the kids, and walking past, we were drawn in by "Paleo Circa", an anachronistically amplified but rockin' fiddle-tune dance band. The girls were swept up in the rhythms, and danced with glee, dragging the boys along. One of those terrific, "Only at the Faire" kinds of moments.
I finally managed to herd the group back into the van, stopped and bought them some dinner on the way home, deposited them all back at their respective houses, and got ourselves home a little after 9:00. Quite a day -- I'm in to do it again next year!
P.S. Lots more pictures -- click here.
