Keith at "Make Music Downey" -- Saturday, 08June2013

I really only signed up for this because it was near my mom's house, and I figured it would be a chance for her to come see me. Also, it was being put on by a lady I know. It was "inspired by" the "Fete de la Musique" like the one in Laguna, which was fun last year (and I'm signed up for again this year).

But it was actually set up like the one in New York, and was more like a Jazz Festival -- 61 bands, rotating quickly on six simultaneously-running stages. Your time slot includes your setup and teardown time, and most bands get a half hour (!), while the headliners get a whole hour. I got 45 minutes, in a little art gallery with two rows of folding chairs.

I was starting to expect a travesty, and when I got there early to scope it out, it didn't assuage my fears much. There was a 5-piece Hawaiian band playing to about 8 people. As I came around the back of the shop, I got roped into helping bring in a retired 86-year-old dentist's electric piano. He was up next, just before me. He and his two granny-singers play at retirement homes, and brought in about a dozen fans.

They all left when he was done, so when I started there were 4 people there: three ladies, and the piano guy who was going on after me. (My mom wasn't feeling up to going out after all, so she wasn't there.) The place was in an ancient row of shops, concrete walls and floor, plywood ceiling, and incredibly echoey. I turned my system reverb all the way off, and it was still like singing in a shower, in a canyon.

But I was there to play, so I played. I started with "You've Got a Friend" and "had" the three ladies already. I followed up with "Homeward Bound", "Jet Plane", "Over the Rainbow", and "Hallelujah". Every time I'd look up, there were more people. They'd come by the doorway, hang there for a minute, and then decide to come on in and sit down. Every song was greeted with huge applause (though I suppose it sounded better than it really was, augmented by the echoey room). One of the original three ladies would applaud at the *beginning* of songs that she recognized.

By the time I was done, the seats were full, and there were half-a-dozen people standing just inside the door. Must have been 40 people in there. I don't know who paid them all to show up, but I'm glad they did...

Lots of older folks like me, but several Latino teenagers who were just as enthusiastic (and who came right up to take pictures of me with their giant cameras). There was no place to put out a tip jar, and it wouldn't have felt right anyway, but two guys came up and dropped money at the edge of the stage anyway. When Frank (who was running the show) came up to thank me after my time was up, the applause was so loud that he said instead, "Should we let him do one more?", and the crowd went wild with "Yes!", and "Let him stay!", so I got to close it down with "Let It Be". And in that final round of applause, two ladies stood up to clap.

I threw a stack of business cards on a chair as I left the stage, and at least 20 of them disappeared. I should have brought out some CDs, too, but I was taken completely off-guard by the whole thing. As I was packing up in "the back", a little old lady who had asked me, out of the blue, if I "like my car" (my wife's Honda Fit) as I was parking out front (and turned out to be the Director of the Downey Symphony) came up and said that she had no idea that I was "so terrific" when she talked to me about the car earlier. She asked where I was from, and I told her, but that I was there because my mom lives in Downey. She told me to tell her that she'd "done a wonderful job" with me.

Another lady then came up and introduced herself, told me how much she had enjoyed it, and said that she had seen "a white aura all around me as [I] played, coming and going". Well, thanks, but you might want to talk to someone about those hallucinations you're having...

I suppose a lot of it was that people were surprised to find someone playing pretty well, and tunes they knew. Most of the other acts were amateurs and local garage bands. Compared to Hawaiian music or blue-hairs singing "Chattanooga Choo-Choo", I may have been a breath of fresh air...

Anyway, rather than the fiasco that I was expecting, it was the best gig I've had in ages. The downside is that now I have to wonder how to find other places to play that are, you know, indoors, and where people are actually stationary. And if you don't count the gas money, I came out five bucks ahead, and afterwards had a nice lunch and visit with my mom. Win-win.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Friday, 07June2013

I started right out with a cute little girl who ran around "dancing" for every song, regardless of style or tempo, and basically froze whenever a song would end. Maybe she thought it was "Musical Chairs", um, without the chairs...

She stayed a long time, and her mom just sat and watched, holding her little brother. After a while I decided to give her one of my bubbles handouts. She played with them a bit, and then, of course, her little brother wanted some. He was only 2, and confirmed what I've learned about the really little ones -- they don't know where their mouths are, so they blow, but not at the actual bubble wand. They're also not entirely aware of how gravity works yet, and usually manage to just pour the bubble stuff on the ground while their attention is elsewhere. I see a lot of scoops of ice cream land on the ground for the same reason...

When I have little ones like this, I always play "Twinkle Twinkle", which sounds really great fingerpicked and with the harmony box on, and follow it with "Itsy-Bitsy Spider". It's a crack up to see the tiny ones' hands involuntarily come together as they start (trying) the spider hand movements. For a lot of them, their hands come together before they even know they're doing it -- Pavlov style. It's funny and cute, but also a bit disturbing -- what else are we ingraining in their little brains?

At one point, a teenage girl walked up and handed me a note. I hadn't even seen her listening, but she was impressed enough to dig up some paper to write on (a Target receipt for some ice tea), and march up to hand it to me in person. Very sweet.

For the last few hours, I had one lady in a wheelchair that she apparently didn't really need ('cuz she'd get up out of it once in a while), who's daughters were off shopping, so she just listened to me all night, quite obviously enjoying every song. She made "music friends" with another couple who showed up to listen, also clearly at the right age to like my sound and stuff. That was fun.

I ended up playing until 11:30 again, even though "quitting time" is 10. Sold like 9 CDs, and brought home $169. Summer nights are good to me.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Thursday, 06June2013

I keep swearing off Art Walk nights, because all the musicians show up so it's so hard to get a decent spot, and even if we do get a good corner, there's liable to be someone loud on the other one. But worse, most of the people use the Gallery Map as a guide to where the next glass of free wine is located, and therefore have no time for street music. But, I don't seem to be able to resist, so I agreed to meet Warren down there, but only if we managed to get a good spot, and there wasn't any obnoxious nearby noisy competition.

I got there a few minutes before five, and obnoxious noisy Sanchez was already on the gallery corner, but I grabbed the ice cream corner anyway. The gallery ladies can and do call the cops if they think you're too loud, so Sanchez is kept (somewhat) in check when he's there. Or so I figured. He started off quite moderate, but got louder and louder as the night progressed. Near the end, I asked some people on the bench if he was as distracting to them as he was to me, and they said that once I started playing, they couldn't hear him at all -- so that was a relief.

Early on, an Indian family strolled by, with several youngsters, 2 or 3 moms, some dads, and Grandpa in full Sheikh getup: all white clothes, turban, tied-up beard. They stopped to listen for a while, and then Grandpa gestured to one of the sons, who brought over a black metal teakettle, and lifted the lid so Grandpa could take out a handful of rock candy pellets, which he proceeded to hand to Warren and I. I didn't know what it was, but Warren tossed some into his mouth, even before one of the sons explained that it was candy. With that assurance, I tried a bit too, and it was tasty, but made it a bit tough to sing. I'm not sure what the significance of all that was, but it must have been something portentous or there wouldn't have been one whole son dedicated to hauling around that teakettle...

We also had an enthusiastic girl from Columbia come by and ask to be in a picture with us. She commented that she needed a guitar, so Warren offered to let her hold his. She couldn't play it, she just thought she needed one to fit in.

Anyway, we did OK at $42, but that's two bucks less than the night before, with many many times as many people zooming by. We're just not as attractive as free wine, I guess...

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Wednesday, 05June2013

I decided to go down to Laguna the day before Art Walk, just in case Art Walk itself turned into a total bust (or a "just turn around and go home"), as Art Walk can tend to be. I wanted to have at least one night this week that was fun. And it was quite pleasant -- not a lot of traffic, but no competition for real estate nor air space, either. And people weren't in such a hurry, so we had some nice folks stop for a while (and made $44).

With the weather getting nicer, it's becoming feasible to go down on almost any night and find friendly people to play for. As summer approaches, and vacationing tourist become more and more prevalent, this is probably a bad sign for my "playing addiction"...

Keith in Laguna Beach -- Sunday, 02June2013

I meant to go play for the late afternoon and be home for dinner, so I went down there at 3:20 and was setting up on The Corner when I realized that I didn't have the little battery that runs everything. So I drove home, debating all the way about whether I'd just give up, or drive all the way back. But I had nothing better to do, so I fetched the battery, a slice of reheated pizza, and went back. There was, amazingly, still no one out on either Corner, so I set up and played, but by then it was 5:00, and quite cold and gloomy, and quite dead.

But I had another reason to go down there. I had had an inspiration -- I remembered buying some big vinyl three-fingered "Mickey" gloves, like, 20 years ago, so I dug them out of the closet and took them down to kooky heir-apparent Greeter, Mikey. He wandered by a while after I started, and I don't think he was even planning to "greet", but, when he saw the gloves, he freaked out and had to give 'em a try.

The combination of the gloves themselves -- and Mikey's amped-up enthusiasm with having them -- sent his dancing/waving act sky-high, and drew like 5 times more attention than he usually gets. People were standing and just watching him for 5 and 10 minutes at a time -- laughing, taking pictures and video, and ignoring the stiff with the guitar...

Fortunately, it takes a lot more energy to greet than to play, so he tired out and left, after thanking me a few dozen times, and my "business" picked up. I played to a lot of nobody, but I'd somehow brought in $50 anyway by the time the batteries gave out at 8:30.

Near the end, a girl wandered up and sang along with me for "Let It Be". Afterwards she revealed that she's a "busker" herself, and had made $120(!) that afternoon, playing by the shopping area along the docks in Dana Point. I'm gonna have to check that out if/when the corners in Laguna get too busy in the summer...

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 01June2013

Jim couldn't make it again, so I got to play another Saturday with Warren. We managed to snag Greeter's Corner in front of the ice cream shop, and nobody obnoxiously loud was playing on the opposite corner, so we were in great shape. Except the ice cream shop has installed a new sound system and they can't turn the outside speakers off anymore, and there was a new kid manager who has decided that loud dance music sells ice cream.

Warren tried to reason with him, but it was mostly no use, so we had to just power through the distraction. It's OK from where I am, when I'm in a song, my monitor speaker is louder than the shop's music, but I worry about what it sounds like for people who are situated in between my amp and theirs.

Anyway, we had a pretty good night. We were surprised to see a pair of *very* tall girls, totally dressed and made up and on 6-inch heels, who had apparently come down to have their mom (also very tall) take pictures of them. I offered to let them borrow my top hat, which they did, but insisted that I join them in the picture, too. It's a good thing that I had my cowboy boots on, or I'd'a been the shortest one in the picture.

There's a nice little old foreign guy named Sid, who drives a taxi and started parking (illegally) nearby so he could listen to us while watching the taxi to see if anyone approached it, whereupon he'd jump up and run over to let them in. He did this all through last fall and winter, and is clearly a big fan (and friend) of ours. We hadn't seen him for a while, but he showed up and saw the 4 CDs that I'd put out. He came over and asked if I had any more, which I didn't, so he got out a twenty and bought them all. Apparently, he's been playing the CD in his taxi, and people love it and want to buy it from him, so he needed some inventory! Who'd'a thunk?

Anyway, Saturdays are always pretty good. I could have done without the new distraction of the loud ice cream store music, but at least it wasn't Sanchez. And we brought in $45, plus the twenty for the CDs. Not bad.

Keith at Mission Viejo Farmer's Market -- Saturday, 01June2013

When they switched the Farmer's Market from Fridays to Saturdays, it made it easier on me to appear, but apparently harder on half of the vendors that they had lined up. They added an "Artisan's Alley" for craft people, but half of the "farmers" are gone, so it's pretty pathetic now. And the people who used to come out to shop seem to have given up, too, so it's pretty empty.

But, they pay the musicians, so I'll just pretend it's rehearsal time and take their money. I suppose that the vendors and customers can hear me around the place, but as far as I could tell, I played the whole first hour to literally nobody. Then a few parents came by with little kids, and wandered off after a few songs.

I did have a few people come by and check out the table with the CDs on it, and I guess two people "bought" some. I say "bought" (with quotes) because, although three CDs were missing, there was only ten bucks in the jar. I think one guy bought a CD for $5, and there were five ones which were actual tips. But I think the lady that took two CDs must have thought that they were party favors. Oh well -- I was still way in the black for the day, but if they weren't paying me up-front, it's just so dead, I don't think I'd go back there.

Keith in Laguna Beach -- Monday, 27May2013

Since I don't bar-be-que, I had nothing else going on for Memorial Day, so I went down to Laguna. I was worried that all the other musicians would be out, and that I'd probably not even be able to find a parking space, but I was wrong on both counts. As I got there at 3:00, Tom & Tommie were packing up to leave, so I got the Ice Cream corner, and there were inexplicably no other musicians out playing at all, even though there were lots of people to play for.

I got a way better response than the day before from the tourists and beach people, and pulled in a very respectable $60 for a three hour shift -- at least I'm finally beating minimum wage! There was almost always somebody sitting on the bench, though admittedly, most of them were there to eat their ice cream. Still, with the ice cream as a catalyst, most of them seemed to end up at least a little bit involved with the music before they wandered off.

All in all, a fine way to spend Memorial Day, and I'm glad I went.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Sunday, 26May2013

Me and Warren, reflected in the gallery window

It was the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, so we figured there would be lots of people out, and since everyone would have Monday off, a "virtual Saturday". We went down at 5:00, and found Tom and Tommie (a father-daughter duo) on the Ice Cream corner, so we set up across the street on the Fingerhut Gallery side.

Lots of beach people came by, but not many stopped to listen. I'm not sure why, but it seemed like a lot of girl-girl couples came by, and they did tend to stop. Sometimes Laguna seems like a town from the past with its small-town feel and friendliness, and sometimes it seems like the town of the future, with its easy and open attitudes toward people's proclivities. I love it.

But Silly Patty came by, so even when nobody else would stop, she was there to sing to. Unfortunately, the whole thing was cut short (at two hours and only 26 bucks) when the batteries in the amplifier went dead. They seem OK now, so I guess they just weren't fully charged.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Saturday, 25May2013

Nice summer weather, and the Saturday of a long weekend -- pretty much perfect conditions. After I had only played a few songs, as guy came over and bought one of each CD. I don't think that's ever happened before...

I got several kids' parties started. For the first one (always "Mister Postman"), I did my usual "Mashed Potato" lesson, and then the kids stood in a perfectly straight line and dutifully tried to do the dance like I'd showed them. I felt bad that they seemed to take it as a requirement, not a fun suggestion, so for the next Dance Song I made sure to tell them to do whatever they wanted. In Soviet Russia, dance does you!

Other than that, it was pretty normal. I did have a lady decide that I sounded like I could do Gordon Lightfoot songs well, so I confirmed her suspicions by singing "If I Could Read Your Mind".

And then, very late, a lady came by and sat down, and then in the middle of the next song, she got up and stood in front of me and made huge scooping/pulling arm gestures at me.

Since I wasn't in the throes of a baby delivery, I decided that she was trying to tell me to put more oomph into it, which I accordingly tried to do. She seemed somewhat satisfied by this, and looked at the list and chose "Love Hurts". She was thinking of the Anthrax version, but I do it in the original Everly Brothers style, and told her so. She wanted to hear it anyway, "as long as it's done with *passion*", so I fired it up -- with passion, or something like it.

Now, I'll fully cop to my normal performance style being more on the mechanical side than the passionate one. I'm quite concerned with getting the notes right, and delivering an accurate portrayal of the song. My sense of perfectionism requires that much, as a minimum. But it's definitely more fun when I can tell that someone is listening, and that's when I start to "work it", and put something more into it. This lady made that even more concrete -- specifically and vocally asking for "more", and it was great to try to deliver it.

Anyway, it was a great night. I pulled in $178, almost a record, and sold 11 CDs in all, totally selling out of the 8 "Favorites" CDs I'd brought. I had people listening continuously all the way until 11:30, when we'd "shut the place down". It's amazing how, as soon as I stop playing, I suddenly notice how much my feet, knees, lower back, and fingers hurt...

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 18May2013

Jim couldn't make it again, so I went down to meet Warren in Laguna on Saturday night. Nice weather, lots of people. There was a guitar girl I've never seen before on Greeter's Corner, so we set up across the street in front of Fingerhut, which is a pretty good second choice. And since she was acoustic-only, she was bound to be a lot less distracting than Sanchez, while blocking him from taking that spot -- win-win!

I still prefer the Ice Cream corner for the better foot traffic, not having to worry so much about the Gallery Girls coming out to complain, and I think the tall-plants backdrop helps diminish the car traffic noise -- but the "monitor" effect of the sound reflecting off of the glass wall across from us is pretty nice on the Fingerhut corner.

It was nice to be without Sanchez for a change, but after a little while, the guitar girl disappeared and my nemesis, the Bluegrass Boys, took over the Corner. They're not nearly as loud and obnoxious as Sanchez, but they're just so much fun that they can be equally act-destroying. The last time they appeared, I might as well have just gone home as soon as they'd started, since all my potential audience hung out with them instead of me. But this time, although a lot of people stopped to hear them (as they should!), I was actually proud/glad to be doing quite well at the same time. It helped that they did me the accidental favor by getting frequently hormonally distracted and spent as much time chatting up the girls as playing...

Earlier in the week, I had gotten inexplicably inspired to learn "Feel Like Making Love" by Bad Company (?!?), and had worked out a passable arrangement for it. And it went over pretty well, too -- lots of singing along by passers-by, and I even saw one fist-pump -- so I guess it's worth pursuing.

When we play in front of Fingerhut, I put the tip jar on the ground in front of us, and it has a color-changing glowball at the bottom, to make it more visible. Most people notice it down there, but a group of 20 or so young men in silly British "bobbie" helmet/hats went by, and one of them kicked the tip jar over. He didn't even notice (they may have been drinking a bit...), but another guy behind him did and picked the jar up and fetched the money back in. While he did that, Warren asked him who they were, and he said that they were a British soccer team called "The Charlatans". After they wandered off, it occurred to me how ironic it was that a couple of hundred regular people managed to go by, but it took a soccer player to unwittingly kick the jar over...

Anyway, we had a great response, and only got asked to turn it down by the Fingerhut ladies once (which was because they were hosting a guest lecturer). Lots of people stopped to hear a few songs, and I noticed that several of them came back around again later. And we made $97 for the evening, which felt pretty good considering the Bluegrass competition across the street.

Keith at Long Beach Towne Center -- Friday, 17May2013

When I first got signed up with the booking agent that covers Long Beach, Chino, and Riverside, I volunteered for every gig she'd give me. That included a Saturday that she was in a jam for back in February, this one, and two more. What I didn't really realize at the time was that I was volunteering to play for just one hour, as the "opening act" for another band, starting at 6:00, on a workday. All four of those particulars are, let's just say, far from ideal.

But the "only an hour" thing wasn't *so* bad, 'cuz they send out a sound guy with a big nice amp, which means I don't have so much setup and teardown time. And since I'm partway there already if I leave right from work, I got there in time, though 6:00 on a Friday is still a pretty dead shift, audience-wise.

It was a bit annoying that the band that I "opened" for was three 15-year-olds -- two girls who could barely play their guitars and listlessly sang while a boy bonked on a "cajon" drum/box. Everybody's got to start somewhere, but it rather diminishes the prestige of this gig when acts that ought to be at a high school talent show can get in...

But it was fun, once I got started. It's a really nice stage, and my aunt, uncle, and their granddaughter were there right from the beginning, so I had someone to play for the whole time. A nice man bought a CD from me as I was setting them out, before I'd even started. I said, "But what if I'm terrible?", and he said that if I was playing there, I must be good. I guess he hasn't seen those three kids play...

Right at the end of my hour, 5 or 6 teenage girls came by and were *really* excited to be able to choose a song, and they tussled and argued about each one. I ended up listening to whichever girl was shouting out a song I'd'a wanted to do anyway, but they were thrilled and danced around and screamed out their next choices as soon as each song was over. Fortunately, the sound guy let me run over my hour by 20 or 25 minutes so they got to choose several before I had to shut down.

I ended up with $46 in the jar, which is pretty good, and actually a really high dollars per hour rate, considering the short playing time. It's just ridiculous that this place tries to put on two bands per night, especially since they enforce a 9:30 curfew. That means the first band officially gets an hour, there's an hour of dead time for the changeover, and the second band gets an hour and a half. If they'd let one band play the whole time, 6-9:30, there'd be more music, it'd be worth the bands' effort to get out there, and this would be a great gig, not a lame one. Problem is, as long as fools like me and Amateur Hour keep falling for it, management'll have no reason to wise up.

Keith at Riverside Plaza -- Saturday, 11May2013

This was my first time at this new venue, but I figured it was another outdoor mall, so it ought to be similar to Irvine Spectrum where I've played many many (>125) times. I figured wrong.

At Spectrum, you're standing in the middle of a rush of foot-traffic, and you feel like the prow of a ship, splitting the flow and hoping that some percentage of the people rushing by will notice the music and slow down or stop for a few tunes. In Riverside, it's less of a "walking around" Fashion mall, and more of a bunch of utilitarian shops that share a parking lot. Sometime recently, they painted all the stores the same color so they can call it a "shopping center". But the types of stores and the layout do not encourage window-shopping -- you're there for a purpose, and you get in and out when you're done.

Except! There are some restaurants clumped together across from the movie theaters, and people seem to come out to eat there, and hang around at the outdoor tables listening to the band, which the management is smart enough to book 4 nights a week, every week. And when people come out of the theaters, since there's not much else to look at, they'll hang around the fountain that's out front, if the band strikes their fancy.

It was weird. People seemed to be there, if not specifically to hear the music, to at least give the music a try before going home. And once I got some people to request a song off the list, other people figured they could join in on that, and I got more and more requests.

The strange part, though, was that this was an actual city street that runs through the shops, and to set up for music, they rope off the wide brick crosswalk between the restaurants and the theaters, and call it the stage. So I'm standing right in the middle of the street, and people are hanging out on the left side of the street, or sitting at the tables on the right side of the street, and the space in the middle in front of me is apparently molten lava, 'cuz *nobody* will come and stand out there.

Until I finally broke that spell by handing out fingerlights to 6 or 8 little kids who then danced and ran around and played "ring around the rosie" out in front. The "turnover" rate was so low that the kids had lots of time to make friends and play together. I guess a lot of people liked my music, 'cuz most of them seemed to just settle in for the night. And their kids were in a safe and easily supervised space, so it felt like I was playing at a block party.

I suppose I did OK with my usual act, but it was clear to me afterward that this place requires a somewhat different approach than the high turnover Spectrum or Laguna street corner gigs -- and one that I'm completely unversed at. Having a long-term sticking-around actual audience makes it (theoretically) possible to develop some rapport and tune the set to the crowd. Not that I know how to do that...

The downside was that, because of the far-lower level of traffic, I only made $70 in tips, about half of what I make at Spectrum these days. But on the other hand, the Riverside gig pays money up front ($125), and Spectrum deducts $50 as a set up fee, so overall, Riverside is a much better deal, money-wise. But that's beside the point -- I'm not in it for the money, I'm in it for the experiences, and this was certainly a different one!

Now, this place is 50 miles from home, so it took me an hour and a half to get there and an hour to get home, plus gas, so it's not something I'd want to do every weekend, but it was interesting and fun to play under a completely different "feel". And the lady that books Riverside just booked me to play the mall in Chino, so now I'll get to see what that one is like!

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Friday, 03May2013

Nice and warm out -- first gig this year where I didn't have to wear my jacket at all.

Had two little kids, quickly joined by a third, dancing for the very first song (which is always "Hotel California"). That's never happened before -- not to mention that it's not exactly a danceable song. Fortunately, for the really little ones, "music" equals "dancing time", and there's no requirement of any discernible correspondence between their "moves" and the music's beat.

We hired a consultant to help us with some software on a new product at work. He lives in Essex, England, and his name is Simon, 'cuz it's not Nigel (seems like the only two names they have over there, doesn't it?). He flew over for the week to get acquainted with the project as the players, and had the night off, so he walked over to hear me play. He sat at the tables, which are behind me, and worked on his laptop for a couple of hours. I looked around and checked on him every once in a while, and he'd grin and wave, so I guess he enjoyed it...

Anyway, a kind of low key night. I guess you can tell how well it went by the tips ($98), the CDs sold (4) and how late I ended up staying (10:45). Fair to middlin'.

Keith at Charity Event -- Saturday, 27Apr2013

My cousin and his wife happened to come by while I was playing on the street corner Thursday night, and that apparently inspired her to ask me to play for her fancy-basket silent auction for her "preemie" charity.

It was a big side-less tent, set up at a fancy country club in Capistrano, with an open bar to help encourage high bidding on the baskets. I played over to one side, and was pretty much ignored as "background music" the whole time. Which was, of course, the whole idea -- the people were there to look at and bid on the baskets, not interact with me. So I just did my part, and hopefully they all did theirs, and brought their checkbooks.

Fortunately for me, after a while my co-worker Bonnie showed up with her boyfriend. He's a big Beatles fan, so at least I had somebody to play for, part of the time. And while they were standing in line at the bar, I started into "Hallelujah", and Bonnie turned around and gave me a big "thumbs up". I talk to her at work about my gigs, so it's good that she now knows what that's all about.

Keith in Laguna Beach -- Thursday, 25Apr2013

Usually, Jim & Warren play downtown on Thursdays, but Jim was out of town, and Warren wanted to go do the Full Moon Drum Circle, so I thought I'd see what Thursdays were like. Terrible, it turns out.

Fortunately, I went down late (6:30), so I didn't blow the entire evening. But almost nobody was out, and those that were didn't stop (except my cousin and his wife, without whom the night would have been a complete bust). It didn't help that one of the scruffier of the homeless guys was hanging out the whole time, and while he's nice enough, he tends to put people off.

So let's just consider it rehearsal time. It was reasonably quiet, although Sanchez was across the street. Of course, when the gallery closed, he cranked it up, quite rudely, until I just gave up and went home at 8:30 or so. It's getting clear to me that I draw the most interest when I'm playing the soft, pretty stuff ("Over the Rainbow", "Homeward Bound", "You've Got a Friend", etc.), but it just doesn't sound as sweet when it's covered over with Sanchez's buzzsaw clamor. I could have cranked up also, and played my loudest songs, but what would be the point?

Anyway, the *real* reason I was anxious to go down there was to deliver a gift. Mikey, the happy/crazy Greeter-to-be, likes to wear those "miniblind" glasses -- he clearly means it to be part of his "look" (along with the sequined jacket, conductor's hat, and white gloves). But he told me Sunday that some college kid had tried to steal them from him (fortunately unsuccessfully), and he'd already lost his previous pair somehow. For homeless Mikey, they're "hard to come by", but they're pretty easy to find on-line, so I bought him a set of six, in various colors. He was thrilled. Now he has lots of backup pairs, and he can mix and match colors to create his various outfits.

Keith in Laguna Beach -- Sunday, 21Apr2013

I went down kinda late and fully expected to just drive right back home after finding all the good spots taken. But I was surprised to find nobody out at all, so I got Greeter's Corner, no problem.

After just a couple of songs, a trio of ladies came by just at the last two lines of "Landslide". One of them stopped right in front of me and listened, and then complained that the song was over. I said that I'd be happy to play it again if she wanted to hear it, and did so. She stood and listened, and started to cry halfway through. I never know what to do in those situations, but she had asked for it, and could easily walk away if she wanted to, so I just kept going. When it was over, she thanked me as she dried her eyes, and off they went. OK...

For the next song, I fired up "You've Got a Friend", and an elderly lady and her son (I'm guessing) came by, and she dragged him to a stop as they fumbled for some money for the jar. By the time she came over with the dollar, *she* as crying, but smiled at me through the tears, gave me two thumbs up, and walked away before the song was even over. Apparently there's a story there, but I guess I'll never hear it.

But two ladies crying, for two separate songs, in one night? That's definitely some kind of record...

I guess we're in the leading edge of Tourist Season, 'cuz there were several groups of people who were clearly Not From Around Here, taking pictures of stuff. If they've neglected to notice it, and I get to the end of a song, I try to point out the "gate sign" hanging above their heads. It says, "This gate hangs well, and hinders none, refresh and rest, then travel on", and has been there since at least the early 1920's, 'cuz I have an old postcard picture of what's now called Greeter's Corner, and the sign is visible in it. I printed that picture and have it on the back of my song lists, so I can show it to people, who then, duly impressed, take pictures of it (and a story) back home.

That happened a couple of times, and one of the (Japanese) guys asked, "Is this an old town?" I told him "yes", but I suppose that Laguna, settled in the 1880's is pretty new compared to, say, Tokyo, which grew up from a fishing village called Edo, founded in the early 1400's.

Anyway, I made $64, and sold all four CDs that I had with me (I don't take very many down there 'cuz I usually sell none at all). One guy came up and put a five dollar tip in the jar, and then asked me, "How much for the CDs?" I told him "Five bucks", and he said, "Oh!", and happily took one. I really don't know why that doesn't happen more often, 'cuz a lot of people tip a fiver, but they seldom take the CD they're entitled to.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Friday 19Apr2013

Another good night at Spectrum. Lots of kids out this time, and I got two separate full-blown kids' dance parties started up. Who'd'a thought that I, a confirmed non-dancer, would end up teaching so much dance -- since I always teach the kids how to do the Mashed Potato before I start up "Mister Postman". Some of them manage it, and most of them don't, but the parents think it's cute and funny for them to try.

I had some little girls that I wanted to give some fingerlights to, but the flaw in this scheme is that, if I give some lights to some kids who have been listening and/or dancing and, you know, being part of it, there are usually a bunch of kids just hanging around at the edges, *not* participating, but once they see the lights being given away, they all come running. So I end up hoping that the deserving kids will stay around until the undeserving kids wander off.

And that finally happened, so I gave lights to two little girls, but there were a set of four more that had been dancing and stuff, but were being distracted by the moms. The new lights I got recently come in a little plastic wrapper with four in a set, so I walked out and just gave the packet to the "leader" (there's always one), and told her to pass them out to her friends. I started into the next song, and then I looked up and realized that they didn't know what these things even were, so I stopped and went back over to do some fingerlight tech support. Once they saw that they were flashlights, they were delighted, but they sure must have been baffled before that...

Anyway, I sold 8 CDs, made $135, got lots of nice comments, and had lots of fun.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Wednesday, 17Apr2013

Tuesday night was too cold, so we went down on Wednesday when it was supposed to be warmer. And it was, but it was also windy! Not constantly (or I'd'a just gone home), but gusty. I had to keep turning my head sideways to block the wind from the mic so it wouldn't make that wuff-wuff noise. And early on, it blew my tall cylindrical tip jar over, sending dollar bills flying. Fortunately, some guys were there listening at that time, and they helped me round 'em up.

So I looked around for something heavy to put in the jar, but all I could come up with were my keys. That worked for a while, until a gust came from the opposite direction and blew the jar, head first, right into the trashcan! Fortunately, it was pretty clean in there, and the jar landed against a paper bag that kept most of the money contained. Had to dig for my car keys, though.

I got there just as Tom was packing up to leave Greeter's Corner -- perfect timing. Not nearly as many people out as the last few weeks, so it's clearly not anybody's Spring Break anymore.

But we still made 48 bucks, partly due to a guy who came up with his girlfriend quite early, and while she read through the request list, he pulled out a stack of bills which turned out to be all twenties. He asked if he could make change out of the jar, and I said, "Sure, but I don't know how much is in there." There's always at least ten that I leave in there as "starter", but it seemed like there was only about three more, so far. He dug around and found ten ones, somehow, and seemed satisfied (for a ten dollar tip, and he hadn't even heard us play yet!) -- and then proceeded to put several of those back in the jar as his girlfriend asked for songs. We need more guys like him!

I've been trying to learn "God Only Knows", 'cuz it's a great song, and also 'cuz I figure I ought to have at least one Beach Boys song, here with summer coming up and playing in Laguna Beach so much. The "normal" part of the song is working out pretty well, despite the somewhat odd chords, but I can't do (a) the orchestral "stings" that transition to the (b) Ba-ba-pa keychange verse, nor (c) the final rondo chorus with several overlapping singers at once.

But I can never tell how a song's going to work in Real Life until I actually try it. So I played what I've got so far, and it seems OK, even with all that stuff kind of faked over. I'll keep on it, and see what I can do.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum - Saturday 06Apr2013

Nice weather, lots of people out. Mostly on their way to something else, though, until later in the evening. One good thing was that my Maintenance buddy turned the fountain water down much lower than usual, so the water noise was lower than usual too.

Pretty straightforward night overall. I did have one nice shave-headed foreign-accented guy who really liked my stuff. Reminded me of the Dean on "Community", but taller. He hung around a long time, left and came back for more. Asked for a few songs in his outrageous accent, and bought a CD, too.

I did have a little two-year-old come over to stand right in front of the stage and just *stare* at me. I was in the middle of a song that I know by heart, so I was able to sing straight back at her, and walked to the edge of the stage, and knelt down to get closer to her -- much to the delight and picture-snapping of the parents and crowd. With my creaky old knees I had a tough time getting back *up* again, while keeping the guitar and vocals going, but it was worth it.

Anyway, a great if mostly uneventful night. Almost broke the tips record with $180 in the jar. Spring has been a long time coming, but it's finally here.

Keith at Mission Viejo Farmer's Market -- Saturday, 06Apr2013

They moved the Farmer's Market from Friday (where I had to miss some work), to Saturday. But I guess a lot of the vendors that they had on the roster were already booked somewhere else on Saturdays, because it's quite a bit smaller, and therefore quieter. Fewer vendors, and fewer shoppers, too.

But it was a nice day out, and a few mommies brought their kids over to listen a while, so it was fun, even if it was mostly just a nice little (paid) practice session.

And I guess it was a good thing that it was a nice quite environment, 'cuz I set everything up and started playing, turned up to what seemed like a nice moderate level. But then when I was tearing down, I went to unplug the second speaker to find that I had strung the wire over to it, but never actually plugged it in. Oh well, at least nobody came over to complain that I was too loud.

Fortunately, it was only a two-hour gig, since my fingers were pretty sore already from the ill-advised four hours the night before in Laguna, and I had another gig coming up later that evening at Spectrum...

Keith in Laguna Beach -- Friday, 05Apr2013

I was hoping that Greeter's Corner would be open when I got there, and it was! Mysteriously, Sanchez was set up on the gallery corner across the street -- probably Tom had been blocking him, and had only recently left. But even more mysteriously, Sanchez was playing *really* quietly. I didn't really have a theory about that -- "He's learned some manners" didn't seem likely...

Anyway, I set up and started playing, enjoying the relative quiet. But after an hour or so, a lady came out of the gallery, and just interrupted me in the middle of a song, asking me if I would "turn it down. It's even louder than the music in our store!" Well, that was pretty unlikely, since I was already quieter than I usually play, so as not to annoy Sanchez when he was being courteous for once. But I politely told her, "Sure", and did so.

But aha! This explained Sanchez's low volume -- clearly his grating sound, right outside their doors, had finally broken the camel's back, and they had come out and told him to turn down, and were now also hyper-sensitive to even my mellow songs and volume. It also explained Sanchez's even deeper than usual scowl...

And then, to make it worse, two minutes later a cop car pulled up, and the cop came over and asked me to turn it down because they'd "had complaints from local businesses". Gee, I wonder who that could be? I told him that the lady had already asked me to, and that I already had. He then asked me if there was another guy somewhere. I told him that had been a guy across the street that had just stepped away (I think he went to buy more batteries again), but he had been playing quieter than he ever had. As annoying as Sanchez is, I still didn't want to throw him under the paddy wagon...

After the cop left, it occurred to me that he'd never said anything about "*no* amp", only "turn it down". So I actually feel pretty good about the whole thing -- the cops (or this cop, anyway) don't seem to be liable to try to enforce the non-existent "no amps" law, but they are available to the shop owners if the music gets annoying enough. Maybe Sanchez will take the hint and quit coming. Or at least play a bit quieter, so as not to incur the gallery ladies' wrath again (though he did turn it back up as soon as they closed the shop, so maybe not).

The rest of the night went pretty well. I had some good little crowds, and made decent tips ($59). I really shouldn't have been out there anyway, since I had two gigs pending the next day, but with Spring Break and all the people out, it's just too tempting.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Thursday Art Walk, 04Apr2013

It was the confluence of Art Walk and Spring Break, a momentous event predicted by the Mayan calendar. Warren figured Jim would want to quit a little after 8:00, but wanted to keep playing himself, so he invited me to come take Jim's place again. Sounded like a great idea to me.

When I got there, they had procured the corner in front of Fingerhut Gallery, 'cuz Sanchez had beaten them to the Greeter's Corner. That was second best, but we'd had good luck there the night before. Unfortunately, Art Walk is unlike any other night because everybody is intent on the wine and cheese at the galleries, and not wanting to hang out much outside where there isn't free stuff.

It's frustrating, because it's the night with the most people out and about, and they're generally well-lubricated as the night goes on, but I've never been able to really snag a crowd -- all I see is people in a big hurry to Get Somewhere.

We had some small successes, and some high school boys that had hung out with us a while the night before came by for more, but I'm starting to think it's the *worst* night to be out there, not the best.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Wednesday, 03Apr2013

As I drove past The Corner on my way to find a parking spot, there was nobody there. Yay! Unfortunately, just as I got back there with my stuff, I saw Tom, getting his guitar out of the case. There was no point in asking him how soon he'd be done, but he volunteered that he'd have to be there until he'd gotten enough in tips for the bus fare home. (I'm sure he did way better than that -- even after the recent fare hike, it's only two bucks.)

Warren showed up a few minutes later, and we debated on where to set up -- Acoustic Alley is the general Second Choice, and it sounds great there, but the tips were dismal last time. I suggested that we set up across the street on the other corner, where it seems a bit rude to whoever's on the main Corner, but people have been doing it to us all the time lately. Warren was reticent at first, because of his bad experiences with the ladies who work in that gallery, but we decided to give it a try.

And it worked out quite well! There wasn't quite as much traffic as in front of the Ice Cream shop, and there's no bench (though there's a low brick wall/shelf thing that folks can sit on). But, next door is BJ's Pizza -- and this probably only works when there are a lot of people out -- but when it's crowded, people waiting for a table have to wait outside, right down the sidewalk from where we were playing. And we were apparently an appreciated diversion for those people, 'cuz most groups would eventually send one of their party down to put something in the jar, for a pretty amazing $89 total.

We never did get hassled by the gallery ladies, either, so this is definitely our new Second Choice location.

Keith in Laguna Beach -- Sunday, 31Mar2013

Pretty great. It was Easter Sunday, so I figured there'd either be a lot of people, or none. Fortunately, it was the former. Tom was on The Corner when I got there, but he assured me that he was almost done, so I only had to stall a bit and then take over. And for his final song (the presumably self-written "Dog in a Sweater", whose title reflects all of the lyrics therein), he had me shoot a video for YouTube on his camera. OK, then.

It was nice to play, for a change, when literally nobody else was playing, anywhere on the street -- not even some kid on the other corner hammering away distractingly, as has been all-too-common lately. And in the late evening when the traffic got quiet, it was almost like playing indoors -- imagine that!

Our friend Silly Patty came by briefly, responding, a day late, to my message on Saturday telling her that I would be down there the day before. She needs to check her email a little more often, but I guess she got lucky that I was there both days.

One vacationing family came by for ice cream at 8:30 or so, and, since they basically had me all to themselves by then, really got into the spirit of making requests, asking for "Dear Prudence", "Don't Think Twice", "You've Got a Friend In Me", "Part of Your World", and finally "If You Could Read My Mind" before they wandered off.

Anyway, not as populated as Saturday, of course, but I pulled in $105. I sold two CDs to obviously-foreign tourists (I'm world famous!), and had an almost-unintelligibly foreign guy ask for "any Beatles". He stood and listened for a long time, then asked for a business card and left saying, "I'll call you". Dunno what he'd be calling me for, though -- and of course, he won't call, so I'll never find out, either.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 30Mar2013

I don't usually get to play in Laguna on Saturday nights, but Jim had something to do in the evening, so he and Warren started early (which nabbed them The Corner), and I just strolled in and replaced Jim at 4:30 -- a terrific plan, so much so that it felt like cheating somehow.

And it was a pretty great night -- the start Spring Break for a lot of people, so lots of tourists and general Saturday Night people out. We got quite a few crowds together and had some fun.

Unfortunately, around 9:00, Ivan appeared and set up right across the street from us, with his very loud amplified reggae and party tunes. He's quite good, and very charismatic with his cute foreign accent and energetic personality, and the too-loud music just *sounds* like a party, so pretty soon he had a bunch of the late-night people around him, having a great time. I tired to compete for a while, but at that time of night, people were more interested in a party than a concert...

Just before I gave up entirely, I was playing "Teach Your Children" and a lady came by with a huge smile, singing along. She stopped and when the song was over, commanded me to "Play me some blues in G! And keep up!" Well, OK then -- and I started playing while she sang in a *huge* voice, no mic needed. It was a little hard to tell where the changes belong -- "the blues" does come in at least two varieties: 8 and 12-bar, but she didn't seem to notice or mind when I was off-base. It was pretty amazing.

After she wandered off, we played another song or two, and then decided to go home and leave it to Ivan. Still it was a very good night, and people must have liked what we were putting out there, based on the $123 (a new street-corner record!) in the jar.

K&W in Laguna Beach - Friday, 29Mar2013

I was really looking forward to playing again, with the success of Tuesday night, but when we got there, the guy who had been playing loud instrumental-only guitar down the street on Tuesday (Al Sanchez) had camped out on The Corner. Warren asked him when he thought he'd be finished, but he apparently had no intentions of leaving, ever. So we went down to Acoustic Alley.

The sound is really great there, but there's much less traffic, and the sidewalk out in front of us is much less conducive to hanging around and listening. For one thing, there's no bench, and if you hang around, you're kind of impeding the flow on the narrow sidewalk. Not to mention that there's nobody that's pretty much forced to hang around once they've bought some ice cream and need to sit and eat it.

So, it was slim pickin's. We had a few people brave enough, or impressed enough, to stop, but not many. Some of them decided that the best place to listen from was *behind* us, up the corridor. Oddly, there were lots of families with kids, though, so we ended up playing a lot of kids' songs.

I kept looking out to see if Sanchez was done, and finally around 8:00, I couldn't see him anymore, and when I got closer he was cleaning the money out of his guitar case, so I went back and told Warren that he was done. It was late enough, and he'd been playing so much, that Warren decided to just go on home. I quickly packed up my stuff and rolled down there, only to find that Sanchez had left his (empty) guitar case and amp behind, and Frank told me that he had just gone to buy some batteries. I'm not sure you can "save your place" like that, but I'm not a complete jerk, so I gave up and went on home, too.

So, we really only played for 2.5 hours, while we usually play at least 4 when we're on The Corner, but we only pulled in $19. Compared to Tuesday night's $79, that really shows how much it's location, location, location. I guess Sanchez gets that, too.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- 26Mar2013

We got there a little after 5, and Tom was jammin' away, but he said that he was just about done, so we waited a few songs, and it was our turn on The Corner.

It was nice and sunny still, with a pretty good turnout of beach goers, but the first 2 hours or more were pretty lean, with people just rushing by. We did have a batch of cheerleaders come by and request a song (at my insistence), but then disappeared before I even got a chance to play it.

But it's becoming clear that The Good Time is after dinner, starting at 7:30 or 8:00. Unfortunately, if we just show up at 7:30, somebody else will have snagged The Corner. Anyway, we gathered a pretty big crowd, which persisted for quite a long time. Once you manage to get a critical mass, some people leave but others see the crowd and come over to take their place. And I noticed quite a few people that came by, listened for a while, left, and came back later, having apparently decided that we were the best thing going around there.

One guy listened for a spell while eating his ice cream and finally decided to take a look at the list. When he spotted "Hallelujah", he asked for it and put ten bucks in the jar *before* I sang it, saying "I'm dropping a ten 'cuz I *know* that's gonna be good -- the more verses the better!".

And a Zealander in a fancy suit (there's something you don't see every day!) stopped to ask for "If I Fell". I had been expecting a slow night so I hadn't bothered to put the CDs out, but he read the sign, and asked for and bought one -- first time *that's* happened. And then he came back later to marvel at why we weren't singing "in a tavern somewhere". I said I didn't know where to find one, but he had taken a card on his first pass through, and said something about how he was gonna find us one and call me. Here's hoping he comes through...

At the request of a friend and my brother, I've been learning Stephen Bishop's 1977 hit, "On and On", after transposing it into a still-awfully-high but more reasonable key. I've really only barely got it working, but thought I'd try it out in real life anyway, to see if it goes over and is therefore worth pursuing. And as half-learned and ragged as it was, it went over great! I think somebody pulled out a wallet and fed the jar all three times I played it. Definitely a keeper.

Anyway, we pulled in $79, which is just plain amazing for a Tuesday -- especially since Spring Break hasn't started yet for most places, that'll be next week and the week after, I think. I started the evening thinking it was gonna be a bust, but it turned out pretty good after all...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 23Mar2013

An unprecedented two Saturdays in a row! Not as cold as last week, or maybe it was just because I was clever enough to wear an extra shirt this time. When I first got there, there were lots of families hanging out around the fountain, but as soon as I started playing, they all disappeared. Was it something I said?

Anyway, it was the usual thing of hardly anybody interested at first, but more and more people stopping to listen as the night went on. At one point I had two little girls out dancing, so I said that I would play a real dance song ("Mister Postman"), and did they know how to do the Mashed Potato? The parents laughed at the question, but I showed them how -- just pick up your heel and "mash" with your toes. The bigger girl (5-ish) just stared at me, but her little sister was game, but was doing it exactly backwards, toes lifted, and twisting on her heel. Close enough (and very cute)!

The last hour was great, with lots of couples sitting and listening, so I stayed until 11:00. I didn't notice it happening, but I was selling a lot of CDs -- 14 of 'em. I sold completely out of the 8 "Favorites" CDs (where usually I only sell one or two). Now I'm gonna have to burn another big batch, but I guess that contributed to the near-record $172 in the jar, so no problem!

Keith in Laguna Beach -- 22Mar2013

Friday was a blast last week, so I went again -- it's clearly a better deal than Tuesday, at least until summer.

And it went pretty well, though no Woo Girls this time. I got The Corner at least, and no sign of Tom. April appeared in The Alley after a while, and I could hear her between my songs, beltin' her 40's and 50's torch songs out.

Lots of folks up from Mexico, wanting to take pictures of or with the funny guy in the hat. And one guy who insisted, through his teenaged son translator, that I play "Hallelujah" twice in a row, since he had missed the first verse with his video the first time around. But he bought a CD, and added two more bucks "for the music", so I obliged. I came home with $57 total for the night.

Late in the evening, a guy set up down the street a little way, with an amplified Ovation, slamming away in an open tuning and way too loud with too much treble, sounding as much like a washboard as a guitar. It was an interesting racket from where I stood, but after I shut down and packed up, I walked over to hear what he was doing for real, and it was a *bit* more musical up close, though still some pretty strange stuff -- just slammy-rhythmic guitar with no vocals. He also had this intense glare, like "I double dare ya", on all the time. I don't think that that's the best way to clean up on tips, buddy, but, you know, to each his own...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 16Mar2013

I picked up an "extra" Spectrum gig due to lucky timing of an email exchange with the booking lady. And it was not only a Saturday; the weather was (or started out, anyway) nice.

So lots of people out, and a pretty good response all night. The teens are back out in force, too -- some groups joining in, and some being far too cool to listen to the dinosaur play. Had some dancing kids (to whom I gave finger lights), and a group of Mexican ladies who wanted to take a picture with me -- even though I didn't have the top hat that I wear in Laguna. And lots of people taking pictures or videos with their phones or sometimes big professional cameras. It seems like, the better I get, the more people want to take my picture. Weird.

I had one group of all tween boys, horsing around and looking at the list and trying to decide which kids' song would be the funniest to ask for. Before they came to a decision, I said, "You know, I didn't come out here to be made fun of", and they instantly switched to respectful, "Oh no, we didn't mean..." mode. I was surprised that that worked so well.

But the best part was later in the evening when I had lots of people stop to listen and cuddle in the unexpected cold breeze. I was freezing, but that (extended) second half is always the best. I had a couple cuddling and slow dancing over to one side, so I started playing all love songs 'til they wandered off.

And there was a big guy who settled into one of the comfy chairs and listened for a long time. At one point, some girls came by and asked for "Landslide", and after it was over he came up and told me something that I could hear little of, and understood less, but apparently the song had some kind of great personal meaning to him -- I caught something about weight loss? Um, OK -- glad you liked it. (And I suppose your explanation of the nonsensical lyrics to that song is as good as Stevie Nicks' insistence that it's somehow about her dad...)

After another half-dozen songs he came up again, and walked past the tip jar to personally hand me a twenty and thank me for the music on his way out. My pleasure.

Anyway, with all the people coming by to hang out, listen, and "extend their dates", that last hour stretched into two and a half when I finally shut it down at 11:30. Five and a half hours is probably sufficient, especially since I'd already played 4 hours the night before in Laguna. I had the recorder running, but most of it is unlistenable 'cuz of the noise, until the fountain shut off entirely at 11:00. I do kind of like my simple, sparse arrangement of this song:

Ruby Tuesday

K&W in Laguna Beach -- 15Mar2013

I thought I'd see how a Friday night looks down on the corner -- should be better than a Tuesday anyway, right?

I was worried that we wouldn't get The Corner, but when I got there, there were no other musicians, but there were three Greenpeace kids, trying to talk to people about the whales, tigers, etc. I told one of them that I was sorry to blow them out, but that I was gonna set up and play some music, and he said, "Great! Even better for us!" OK, if you think so...

So I set up and played, but kept it turned way down so they could be heard. Some people stopped to talk to them, but for the hour or so that they were there while we were playing, we made zero tips, and no one stopped to listen. Now, that's not completely unusual for the first hour, but still. People are sympathetic to Greenpeace, but most of them don't want to stop and talk about it...

Anyway, it was fun after that. Silly Patty showed up, and pretended the painter's palette she had bought was a tambourine, while I played "Mister Tambourine Man". She's always fun to have around. But the most fun was when the "Woo Girls" (so called because almost anything causes them to throw their hands in the air and scream "Woo!") showed up.

I'm guessing that they were en route from one bar to another, but the crossing light held them up, and I snagged them by offering to let them choose a song. One of them asked if I knew "Trouble", but she didn't mean the Cat Stevens song that I know, she meant the Taylor Swift one that I don't. But I said that I did know Swift's "Mean", and they were thrilled to dance and sing along for that one. And, of course, when there are party girls dancing, other people stop to join in or at least watch the fun. We had a pretty good crowd, all of a sudden.

I played a few more songs for them, interrupted by one of them being hijacked by a spun-out homeless guy recognizing her as his nurse from the hospital, and she had to call a cab and then pre-pay the driver to have him taken back there, and then convince him that the cab driver was a nice guy and wouldn't hurt him to get him into the cab. Crazy stuff -- and then she was right back to "Woo!".

K&W in Laguna Beach -- 12Mar2013

Warren thought it would be nice to go down on a "no-Tom-Tuesday", and I agreed, since I needed to get the bad taste of Sunday's all-acoustic disaster out of my mouth. But when I got there, Tom was already on The Corner, and reportedly had been for a long time. Apparently he means to make a full-time job of it. Foiled again!

But the Alley was empty, and I managed to bring all the required amplification stuff this time, so I set up there. Warren showed up after a while, and we noticed that Tom had finally left, so I moved down to The Corner. Not a lot of people out at first, but it was a nice night, and it was fun to just be playing, audibly. And with the wireless mic and guitar, I can wander out in front of the speaker to tune the volume and tone and feel good about what I sound like.

Mostly uneventful, until 7:30 or so when a guy came by and was listening with just a little *too much* interest. He actually seemed to be "studying" us -- he didn't/wouldn't request anything, but he took a picture of the song list, and I'm pretty sure he was doing some recordings, too. Not sure what that was about...

Then some ladies sat down to eat their ice cream, and I correctly guessed that the right song to do was "Jet Plane", which caused one of them to loudly sing along. She requested Don McLean, so I got to play my recently-learned "Vincent", which had 'em swooning. And I guess all that attention was contagious, because before I knew it, there was 8 or 10 middle-aged couples sitting and standing around, like some kind of concert or something. (Warren's picture above only captured part of the line-up.)

I ran through all my best, sweetest, most nostalgic stuff. It was a pretty magical half-hour or so. Some of the people were brave enough to pick some songs, and lots of people came over to stuff the jar. I think it may have been a kind of "post dinner" thing -- people wandering home or to their cars, with no pressing schedule.

Anyway, as that started to break up, a couple came up to me and the lady, looking at my sign, asked, "Did you apply to play at the Sawdust Festival?" I said, "Yes, I did, but I haven't heard anything back yet." She said, "I'm on the Entertainment Committee. We're going to decide next week. You'll be getting a call."

Wow. Finally! I've been trying to get into the Sawdust Festival for years, but every time I remember to apply, it's been too late -- already all booked (at least that's what they tell me -- maybe they just think I suck and it's the easiest excuse). This year, I sent an email in January, but there's nothing like having someone actually come by and hear you -- especially since she happened to be there just as the magic was happening!

So, a good night that turned great (especially for a Tuesday!), restored my faith in my viability down there, didn't get busted, possibly lined up a coveted gig, and we pulled in $60 to boot (I don't know who put that twenty in there, but thanks!). I reckon all that makes it the Best. Night. Ever. down there.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- 10Mar2013

I thought I'd go down and see if there was any "nice weather" traffic out on a sunny Sunday, and there was. I was a little paranoid about getting busted again, presuming that, if it was the same Beach Patrol guy and he recognized me, I'd get a ticket instead of a warning this time. So I contemplated just going acoustic, if the reverb-y Alley was free, but brought the amp anyway in case Tom wasn't out on The Corner and I got tempted into risking it.

But when I got there (after a half-hour in a traffic jam caused by the Edison people stringing new power lines down Laguna Canyon Road), I discovered that I'd forgotten to bring the little rechargeable battery pack that powers the harmony box, and the wireless mic and guitar receivers. So I was stuck with an all-acoustic afternoon whether I wanted it or not.

Fortunately, the Alley *was* miraculously free, so I set up there and Warren appeared minutes later. It sounded OK, and I could hear myself pretty well, but nobody, and I mean nobody, even slowed down to listen. It was frustrating, but I was about to make it worse.

Tom was down on The Corner, so we couldn't have played there even if I had had the right equipment, but around 4:30 he came by us, leaving. I decided, since this wasn't working anyway, to go try playing acoustic down there (as I had last weekend after the "bust"), but Warren was due at home so he left.

Which was good for him, 'cuz it was *terrible*. It seemed much more noisy than it had last weekend, and I felt completely inaudible. I played my loudest songs, but was completely ignored. I kept trying, slamming away, but mercifully I was stopped when my parking meter time was up, and I went home depressed.

I guess the only good thing was that, in the whole three hours, I never saw that (or any) Beach Patrol, so I'm feeling a little safer to go down next weekend with the amp and all -- and hopefully, the battery to make it work...

K&W in Laguna Beach -- 03Mar2013

The nice weather was fading back into cold gloom, but we went down anyway. Nice sunset right behind us, though...

Not a lot of action, but we did rope in some nice people, including one cuddly couple -- she was a big James Taylor fan, and he liked Jim Croce. Given the choice (and the titles in my song book), I did a bunch of James Taylor...

And the later it got, the quieter the traffic, so I fired up the recorder app in my iPad and got some low-fi recordings. Try these out:

In My Life
Only Exception
Over the Rainbow
Something in the Way She Moves
Sound of Silence
Waiting
You Can Close Your Eyes

Keith in Laguna Beach -- 02Mar2013

Laguna Beach has an annual "Patriot's Day" parade, (though their long-standing title has been co-opted by the Federal 9/11 day). I thought that if I could get there just as the parade was over, there would be lots of people roaming the streets. And I was right. Unfortunately, the city had apparently called in some extra "law enforcement" for the event.

After about a half hour of playing, an elderly "Beach Patrol" guy came along and, very friendly-like, told me that I could keep playing, but I'd have to shut "that" (amplifier) off. I said, "Oh, OK, but it's pretty hard to compete with the traffic noise and motorcycles and stuff". He said, "They'll be able to hear you!", which is only barely true.

But I dutifully turned the amp off and took off my headset, and off he wandered. I flipped through the book and played only the strummed songs, shouting the words, but it doesn't feel much like music to me. Obviously, I'm harmony-less, but I'm also finesse-less, when I can't fingerpick and sing with some subtlety. I didn't have the guts to turn it back on after he'd gone, 'cuz I figured he'd be back, and about an hour later he did come around again to give me a big grin, and obviously, check up on me.

But, belying my impression of what I sounded like -- and whether or not I "sounded" like anything at all from 8 feet away -- I had people apparently listening pretty much the whole time. I was watching for a "nobody's here" window to pack up and leave in disgust, but I didn't get one for two hours. Or maybe they were just eating their ice cream and smiling at me out of politeness (or the funny hat). Hard to tell.

To top it off, a guy came up and asked me if I had a card, and said I 'had a good sound", and something about being a producer and a studio or something. I'm like, "What -- this?!?". I'm feeling like a Neanderthal out there, banging on rocks and shouting, and he *likes* it?!? Can he even hear it?!? But of course, he'll never call, so I guess it doesn't matter what he heard or thought he heard.

Anyway, I made $21 in tips, presumably entirely out of pity. And of course now I'm all paranoid again to go down there with the amp, though I'm pretty sure the guy was just a "temp" cop, since he obviously hasn't heard of the "look the other way if they're not causing any trouble" policy that the rest of the real cops seem to have in place.

Seems to me like the city ought to have a Maximum Volume law, and not this arbitrary "no electronics" one. There are plenty of modern instruments that depend on electricity to work (keyboards, synths, surf guitar, my harmony box, Warren's lead guitar and effects thereon, April's iPod boombox backing tracks, etc.), and musicians that are responsible enough to play them at reasonable levels (as many of us are doing now). But to have to live under the threat of getting busted for providing the city's citizens and tourists with some entertainment seems uncool.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 01Mar2013

Nice weather, and lots of people out. Kinda slow at first, but then a surprising number of people stopped to actually listen for a while, hanging out around the planterboxes or the new comfy chairs. My brother and his wife came by, and probably helped by showing the others that it was OK to move the chairs and to actually pay attention to the music guy.

And it seemed like, the later it got, the more people were joining in, so I ended up playing for five and a half hours, ending at 11:30. The good part about being there so late is that the fountain goes completely off at 11, so it finally gets really quiet. I remembered to turn on the recording app in my iPad towards the end, and once the fountain noise disappears, the recordings are pretty passable. (If these links don't work in the email, go to the actual blog page by clicking the "y7alanzo" the link at the bottom.)

All My Loving
Hello
Wonderful Tonight

I was in the middle of a song, and a woman I used to work with at Toshiba walked up and stood there, holding out her business card. I couldn't take it from her, of course, but she stood there, and stood there, and stood there, looking at me expectantly. Finally she mouthed "Do you remember me?", and I nodded, trying to keep the song together at the same time. So she tossed the card on the table, turned around and left.

After the song was over I said, "I wonder how she thought I was going to take that card from her?", and everyone laughed, but now I realize that she thought I could read her name off of it, which, from 10 feet away, on a business card?!? Not likely. I don't know what her hurry was so she couldn't, say, wait a minute or two for the song to end and actually talk to me, but whatever.

Anyway, good night, good tips, and I'm finally over that cold enough that I didn't even notice it, or have to fight with it.