Luckily, another maintenance guy that knows me showed up and decided to believe me, so with that all straightened out and my stuff set up, I started at 6:30. Not too bad, and I had a not-my-fault excuse...
I had a decent night, but for some reason, although there were people watching me and listening, it had settled into a "no applause" night. This happens sometimes, and I don't know how to break that spell.
My biggest fan family showed up again, the ones with the little girl who insists on dancing (or playing with her fingerlights) while standing on the drain grate, and whose accent I can't understand. She came up and asked for a song that sounded like "Buh, buh-bu-buh BUH-buh", which I managed to decipher into "Puff, the Magic Dragon" entirely by the rhythm of the phrase and not by any actually detectible phonemes therein.
After a while she came up to tell me that they were going to dinner, but they'd be back. That was nice to know, I guess. And they did come back, but this time, as they said goodbye, I asked her mom what her name is (Gaby), and where they were from: "Barthelona". That explains the outrageous accents, but doesn't explain why they're out to see me every month.
At one point, some teenage girls came up and wanted to give me a pizza that had been mistakenly double-served to them, and they didn't know what to do with. I've never gotten a whole pizza as a tip before...
I had people listening the whole night, and it was especially nice after 11:00 when the fountain finally went completely off. So I ended up playing until midnight when a guy carrying a "backpack guitar" wanted to hear (see) me play a few songs, which I don't mind a bit -- almost everything I know I learned by watching other guys' hands, and I'm happy to "give back". I ended with his request of "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", where I got so into the strumming that I caught the back edge of my plastic nail on a string and almost split it in two. Yeowch. Glad that wasn't my *real* nail.
This blog post. Let me read you it.
Turns out it really started at 5:00 (and Spectrum starts at 6), but I did it anyway. I had expected to go on solo, so Warren could play with Jim, but Jim had something else going on, so I invited Warren to go on with me.
As far as we could tell, there was no publicity at all, but a few people wandered in on their way back to their cars from the beach when they heard the music. The local radio station guys showed up, but just to sell some T-shirts, not to broadcast or even record the event. And a Orange County Register photographer was there, though not a reporter, so there were only a few pictures and a brief blurb on their website the next day.
Pastor Don said that we could do "4 or 5 songs", but since we were first, we got up to do a "sound check" with the provided equipment, got the levels as close as we could (which was *terrible*, but, oh well), and cheated in few songs for the folks wandering in early and the artists in some booths along the side, and then started playing my Best Stuff after the official start at 5:00.
After three songs, I asked Pastor Don how many more I had time for, and he said "one". So I fired up "Over the Rainbow" to go out on my most well-received song. After the big ovation (well, big for a dozen people), Don ran over and asked "Do you want to do one more?", and I said, "Nope!" and started unplugging stuff. I was out of time anyway to make it to Spectrum, and he'd fooled me into doing my Final Number already, so, too late! Besides, the sound was so screwed up (from where I was, though apparently not so bad Out There), that I couldn't really tell what I was doing, and Warren's amp had turned into a Feedback Machine that had completely drowned out my intro to "Rainbow" (though they'd apparently gotten it back under control), so I was ready to Be Done.
Warren stayed for the rest of the evening, and said that most of the acts got to play 4 songs, and that for most of them, that was 4 too many, but there were a few that were good. Pastor Don's guys said that it was a "great success", though we don't know what that means, and that they'd probably do it again next year. I guess you can count me in, but try to avoid a night where I'm already booked.
This blog post. Let me read you it.
We got there at 4:00, but it was already occupied by Michael, who apparently doesn't care overmuch about honoring the "paid to *not* play" money the ice cream store owner gave him. (Michael does all self-written songs about how abused he's been by The Man and various girls, and he plays guitar well enough, but it's hard to tell what the songs are about 'cuz his cat-fight-yowl of a singing voice is mostly unintelligible, and certainly doesn't win him many fans.)
But he assured Warren that he was going to quit at 5:00, so we just hovered nearby to discourage any other bands from trying to move in, and to see if he was any more sensitive to glaring than he was to payoff money. (He wasn't.)
But he finally cleared out, and we did pretty well, though the 5:00 hour is pretty slow. Worth it to slog through to the more-fun evening hours, though. And our friend Daniel came by with his big-lens camera and took a few decent shots as the sun was going down.
Late in the evening a guy came by, sat on the bench, and way too enthusiastically proclaimed how great we were, after -- and during -- the songs. He was, for some reason, dying to hear "Lyin' Eyes", which I seldom play, but did. He got up and went to the ATM next to the ice cream store, and when he came back, tried to get the guy next to him on the bench to break a twenty. The guy couldn't/wouldn't, so, let's just call him Drunk Guy, decided to go ahead and put a twenty in the jar.
He was loudly singing along on every song I did, even after I started trying to play "chick songs" and then obscure stuff he wouldn't know. Finally Warren couldn't take it anymore, and went over to ask him to sing more quietly. He took, as only drunk people can, huge offense at this, said that he was singing as loudly as his twenty entitled him to, but got up and indignantly stormed off. Works for me. (And his twenty contributed to the $107 we pulled in.)
Weirdly enough, later on a (much more polite) guy came by and asked me if I knew any Eagles. I read him off the list of 6 or so Eagles songs I know, and he decided on "Lyin' Eyes". Hadn't played it in six months, and then twice in one night.
A few weeks ago a guy asked for "Tiny Dancer", and when I said I didn't know it, he said, "You should learn it". So, OK, I did, and it works out moderately well, arranged for guitar and transposed down for my vocal range. I fired it up for the first time, and I think it may be a keeper. I've also been working up "Daniel" which is working OK too, and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling", which, not so much.
Two nights before had inexplicably become "Karaoke Night". This time, it was "Adults asking for Kids' Songs Night", and we did "Puff, the Magic Dragon", Kermit the Frog's "Rainbow Connection", and "House at Pooh Corner" -- all of which got a huge response. Musta been something in the water...
This blog post. Let me read you it.
I took over for Jim again, at about 6:30, and since it was Saturday, we had great people until almost midnight. That meant that I played over 5 hours, but Warren played for almost 8, with only a few breaks for PB&J.
Right off the bat we had a girl come up who wanted to sing along. Let's just say that she was extremely enthusiastic, though I think that "drunk" would be a more accurate term. Anyway, I usually let people sing if they want to (and are doing it for fun, and not to be disruptive), but since they don't have a mic and I do, nobody can really hear them over me. She had a friend -- or instantly made one the way that only drunk people can -- who wanted to do the wiggle dance, so we really had some fun crazy on display, right away.
Later on, we had a nice couple who stopped to listen for a while, and turned out to be from Liverpool. I thought she might like "Ruby Tuesday", but discovered that Liverpudlians are offended by offers of Stones songs...
But apparently it was Karaoke Night (though nobody told *me*), 'cuz she eventually came over, not to request a song to hear, but to request one to *sing*. She chose "The First Cut is the Deepest", which I very seldom play, and played way too fast, but she had a huge voice and belted it out without need of a microphone. Impressive.
Toward the end, a guy came up and asked me if I knew any songs in the key of G. Strange question, but, yes, I guess a few of them are... Turns out, in keeping with the inexplicable Karaoke theme, he wanted to play harmonica along with us, but he only had one that played in G. I don't exactly have an index of my songs listed by key, and the ones I could think of weren't exactly harmonica blues tunes, so it didn't really work out, but he fumbled around a bit on "Georgia on my Mind".
There was also a group of ladies that were in the midst of a Bachelorette Party, and some random guy from the crowd grabbed her (recognizable by the tiara), and danced her around for a song, causing her friends to whoop and squeal. That was fun.
So it was a long night, but we made $145, and had lots of fun with lots of nice people.
Jim & Warren had procured The Corner, so I went down to "spell" Jim at 8:30 or so. When I got there, they had 5 or 6 people spellbound and glued to the bench for their Beatles set. But when that was over and Jim packed up to go home, the people evaporated, leaving me to start up with a completely empty bench.
But, within a half-hour or so, we'd managed to refill it, and had nice responsive people to play for most of the night. And at around ten o'clock, a girl named Gabrielle came by that Warren knows from some memorable appearances at the Full Moon Drum Circles. She wanted to sing, and/or dance, but mostly dance, and stood out in front of us doing her vaguely hula-like wiggle-dance, regardless of the tempo of the song I was playing.
She's quite a character -- she does "plus-sized" modeling, writes self-published travel books, "must" swim in the ocean at least once a day, and talks to (and gets answers from) the trees (and expects that we, as musicians, must do the same), and generally seems to make an industry out of just being herself.
She attracted a lot of attention, and a few tips went in the jar while she was swaying. A few songs in, a guy showed up with a movie camera and an idea for a "Spirit of Laguna Beach" documentary, so he shot her, us, and the attentive people around us, with some enthusiasm. He makes these movies and tries to sell them to TV stations or whomever, and asked us for our (verbal on cam) releases in case this one goes anywhere. He took my card and I hope he'll let me know if anything happens.
Around 10:45 Gaby decided that she needed to get down to the Hare Krishna temple and join in on the chanting, and the movie guy was thrilled to go along, so they left, and we packed up, but not before I gave Gaby a fiver (out of the $29) for her help with the act...
With the tourist season palpably winding down, I wanted to have at least one last go at it before they were all gone. More evidence that the other bands have given up already, 'cuz there was no one else out. That made it easy to get The Corner, and nice to not have any sonic competition from across the street.
We did get a moderate stream of friendly people, and brought in $68 for our trouble. Only sold one CD, but that's because I only had one -- I sold 5 the last time, and forgot to restock.
Anyway, it's actually not so bad when there are a bit fewer people out. They seem to feel less pressure to move on by. When there are huge crowds, they steam on by us, and when there's nobody, there's nobody. But the middle ground lets people pause to see if they want to settle in for a bit. That's when I can reel 'em in with some great old song...
I asked one couple that looked like tourists where they were from and they had come form Norway. Then I asked another, and they were from far-flung Pasadena. You never can tell...
A guy came by and was taking a video of us with his iPhone, which happens fairly often these days. But this guy runs a website called "Alert the Globe" that apparently just puts up random videos of bands playing, anywhere around the world. Sure enough, he posted the video the next day, right there on the World Wide Web. He had come at a particularly opportune moment, 'cuz there was a family there and the two sisters had gotten up to dance while I played "Kiss the Girl" (far too fast). I snagged a few frames from the video to create the panoramic shot above.
When I got there at 3:30, Tom and Tommie were hanging out on the Ice Cream Shop corner, not actually playing, but "taking a break", and preventing anyone else from setting up there. So I went over to the Fingerhut Gallery corner and set up there, where I could watch to see if the Tommies packed up. Which they never did, though they took several long breaks. It bugs me when they hog the corner but aren't actually playing. Uncool.
Anyway, I was just there to experiment with the drum machine, which actually works quite well, though it's a bit of a production to get a song queued up. Before every song, I now have to: get the right capo setting and get tuned up on the guitar, find (or check for) the right harmony box preset and make sure it's in the right starting condition, get the drum app up on the iPhone, find the right tempo, find the right pattern, make sure it's Stopped ('cuz choosing a pattern also starts it playing), get the wire to the amp plugged in, hit Start, and quickly start playing, on the cue, at the right tempo.
And after all that, it's a bit tricky just to play along with it because I'm not really used to being held to a rigid tempo. It's even worse when the motorcycles come by and drown out the drums and I unexpectedly have to keep the pace by myself and hope I'm at the right spot when the drums become audible again.
But I'll probably only end up using it on the fast songs, which can use the drums to improve their dance-ability, and won't suffer too much from the rigidity of the robot drummer. Though I found a really nice pattern for "You've Got a Friend"...
Anyway, right after I got started, some college-age kids came over and were totally thrilled with my stuff, and were telling me "You're great!" in some strange accent. I asked, and they were from Kazakhstan. Quite a distance to come just to hear me! I also had a guy take my picture, and then explain, "Memories to Brazil." Indeed.
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I've been carrying around a small tambourine for a year or two, but haven't really managed to figure out how/when to deploy it. But this time, I had some little girls kind of hanging around, but not dancing -- just sitting on the front of the stage, and for some reason it occurred to me that they might like to play the tambourine. And they *really* did...
But of course, they weren't exactly experts with rhythm yet, so to try to help them catch on, I was stomping my big heavy boot on the stage, so they could feel the beat through their bottoms. And of course, once I'd started the tambourine-ready fast songs, I couldn't stop. I'm clearly way out of shape, 'cuz after 3 or 4 songs, I was exhausted! And it's hard to sing when you're panting (and vice versa)! Anyway, it turned into a big party, and I was having a blast and ended up playing just about every fast song I know. I'm gonna have to bring that thing out more often!
Later on, there was a family that had seen me before and already owned my Kid's CD. They're clearly Not From Around Here, and the little girl came up and asked, in her incomprehensible accent, for something about a princess. Since I couldn't figure it out, her dad jumped up and, in *his* incomprehensible accent, clarified that she wanted "The Indian Princess Song" -- the one I'd written for the Princess campouts, to the tune of "Puff, the Magic Dragon". I was baffled by that because she was clearly not old enough to be one of my Princess fans (they're all teenagers by now), but it's still on the CD, and she knows it from there, so I played the first verse and chorus and then switched to the "Puff" lyrics. It's embarrassing enough to sing the words "I'm an Indian Princess!" at a campout -- at the mall it's mortifying...
My third and final Sawdust gig for this year, and at their third and final stage. This one's called "The Tavern", where there's some fast food, desserts, and yes, alcohol. It's a nice little stage back in a kind of grotto, with some tables up front, and a bunch more farther back.
It was a lot quieter than the other two - I guess because summer's winding down, and it was a Wednesday night. But I had people to play for the whole time, and it's a nice, quiet, and friendly place to play. Still not fond of that half-hour on, half-hour off schedule, but I guess when you're getting paid, you do what you're told.
When I got there at 5:25, there was a girl playing classical violin on The Corner, but Warren had already talked to her and her parking meter was set to expire at 6:00, so we just hung out so that nobody else could snag it. And while I was waiting, a guy with a big professional camera took some (great!) pictures of me (and actually emailed them). So far so good!
There was a homeless guy there listening to Violin Girl, and he stuck around to listen to us, too. He seemed to like her stuff, but was totally enthralled with ours. Indeed, he was trying to get passers-by to stop and listen, and seemed amazed that anyone would just walk on by. I can't help but agree with his assessment, but because of his scruffy appearance, his only success at stopping people was with other scruffy homeless guys.
So, almost immediately, we had a bench full of scary homeless guys, and a flow of tourists speeding by even faster than usual. Only a few were brave enough to stop at the tip jar. Several of them ended up sitting on the benches across the street, where the sound carries well enough, but not the scary.
Two high school girls stopped and I brought them a list of songs and played "Over the Rainbow" while they looked it over. When the song was done, they walked over and gave back the list, saying "We'd like to stay, but that guy keeps trying to talk to us".
Now, I get that "homeless" also means "TV-less" and these guys have nowhere else to go, and nothing else to do. And it's very sweet that they love my music so much. But it's all a little much (one guy was so overcome with emotion (and the pass-around gin) that he came up and prostrated himself in front of me). But they stayed all night, and even the tourists that aren't scared of them can't find a seat, so they don't stop.
I tried to bore them away by taking 10 minutes to tune, and playing the same couple of songs again and again. But it didn't work. These are guys who are bored for a living.
But I guess that's part of the anarchy of street-playing -- you get what you get, and can't do much about it. In contrast to last Tuesday's record-breaking $167, we made $28 by the time I gave up at 8:30. Bottom line: as everyone knows, you learn to play guitar to attract pretty girls, not a bench full of ugly old men...
We did so well on Tuesday night that I was tempted to go down again right away. Wednesdays are the usual Jim & Warren nights, but Jim is a recent (re)newlywed and likes to go home kind of early, so I showed up to take his place around 8:30.
And it was a great night. Nice weather, lots of tourists out. Four blonde college-aged kids stopped for a while, and I thought they were locals until I asked one of the girls for a request and she replied with her heavy accent that they were from Russia and didn't know any of these songs... (But I played some Beatles, and they really did.)
Later on we had a family from Arizona, and the little girls were unable to believe that I didn't know their favorite song, "Thrift Shop". Do I *look* hip-hop? Maybe it looked to them like my hat and vest must have come from Goodwill...
We had some unpleasantness when one of the local homeless guys, who is usually a nice guy, had gotten quite drunk and was shouting obscenities at us from across the street. Seems he felt like our being there was precluding his ability to make enough money to buy beer. I couldn't help but conclude that he'd had plenty already, so I tried to just ignore him and keep playing. The people on the bench looked uncomfortable, but stayed around, so I guess the music was loud enough to drown him out. Warren finally went over and talked him down a little, and he eventually gave up and went away.
Towards the end, we had some people from Iowa who were out visiting their very gay Laguna Beach friend. He danced around, and actually stood out in front, lip synching me -- never had that before. So I gave him my hat, which he loved, and he danced around some more and tried to get people to put money in the hat -- and managed to get a buck, too.
So we had a pretty fun time, ignoring the unpleasantness with Gus, played until 11:30 (on a work night!), and ended up with $75 in the jar. When it's good, it's great.
It started fun, right off the bat. I was playing the first song, which is always "Hotel California", and I walked out in front of the amp while I was playing to check the levels (since I'm entirely wireless now). There was nobody around yet, so I just went ahead and sat down on the bench to finish the last verse. Out of nowhere this crazy neo-hippie college girl appears and sits down right next to me. Well, hi! If you're gonna sit so close, you're gonna have to take over the fretboard duties.
Her friends wandered up, too, but she was busy telling me what song to do next, and dancing around, and generally being a "free spirit". I should have broken out "Ruby Tuesday"...
Much later, a guy came over and held up a twenty dollar bill, and asked me if I knew any George Strait. I told him, no, but I know some Willie Nelson. He made a face that meant no thanks, and asked about Garth Brooks. The only Garth song I know is "To Make You Feel My Love", which is really a Bob Dylan song, sung by Garth in a movie, but apparently not actually a hit for him, 'cuz the guy'd never heard it.
But he put the twenty in the jar anyway, to hear a song he'd never heard of, by an artist he didn't want. And then he missed it anyway 'cuz his phone rang...
But the best part was a family who had seen me before and already owned my kids' CD. I know 'cuz the dad came up and told me so, and asked for "Waltzing with Bears". They stayed for quite a while and the younger sister danced along to a lot of songs. After a while they wandered off, and then reappeared later for more songs and more dancing. When it got pretty late, they left again, but the younger one turned as she left, and "threw me a hug" by pulling her little arms and fists in to her chest, and then pushing them out to me. Melted my heart...
On my way out, one of the security guards told me that I'd done a great job and that he had especially liked "Cat's in the Cradle" from a couple days ago. But I don't actually do that song, so he was either thinking of a different guy or a different song. Thanks anyway...
Kooky self-appointed greeter Mikey has gotten himself a little gig co-hosting the morning show on the local Laguna Beach radio station, along with DJ and station owner, Tyler. Mikey's been bringing in guests -- usually the street musicians that he hangs out with. Jim & Warren did a show a few weeks ago, and Mikey invited me to do one.
Tyler asked me to be there at 7:45, but since I usually get to work at least that early, it wasn't much of a problem -- except that it's pretty hard to sing that early in the morning. But I sang in my car all the way there so I was reasonably warmed up.
I got there plenty early to relax in a little, and Tyler's a pretty amiable guy. I was still a little nervous, like I always get in a new situation, and I could hear an unusual quavering in my voice at times. But it was mostly no problem -- picking songs that I can do in my sleep ("You've Got a Friend" and "Over the Rainbow") helped.
Unfortunately, he didn't ask me the questions I'd expected/hoped for in the interview part, so I didn't get to tell the stories I had wanted to, but I guess that was bound to happen.
I kinda thought he'd ask more distinctly about where I was playing and when -- I never got a chance to plug the Sawdust Festival gig the next Wed, for instance. He did mention the Spectrum gig on Saturday, though. Not that anybody's actually listening, nor would any of them rush down to see me at the next gig...
But it was fun, and a different experience, for sure. And he records stuff like that and posts it as a podcast, so I was able to play it for my mom. That's all that counts anyway.
My wife decided to come along and walk the dogs along the beach while we played. But we got the corner in front of the ice cream shop, and it was a very pleasant evening, so we did stay for quite a while.
When my wife came back, I got her to take some pictures. Otherwise, a pretty standard evening, but we brought in $51 and sold two CDs. Gotta love those summer nights...
When we got there at 5:00, the Tommies (Tom and his 11-year-old daughter, Tommie) were already on the corner, but not actually playing. "Taking a break", but really just bogarting the space. I guess he realized that they were being uncool to do that, and offered to let us have it until 8:00. I jumped at that offer because it's becoming increasingly clear that playing anywhere else is really a waste of time.
It was kinda slow at first, but got pretty good when the after-dinner crowd started to show up. The weirdest part was getting not one, but two requests for James Taylor's "Country Roads". I almost never get asked for that one at all (usually they want John Denver's "Country Road"), but getting two in one night was astounding.
When 8:00 rolled around, I had one of the yummy Greek "wraps" from the store next to the ice cream shop, and then we rolled our stuff up to the now-closed Hurley store's alcove, but there's no light in there, and nowhere for anyone to sit and listen, so it was a disaster. I think we made four more dollars there (after $56 on The Corner). I guess we know better now...
And I did, almost always, have a full house, though I suppose most of them showed up for the food. But, I did notice that almost no one left before my set was over, even after they'd finished eating. So I guess they came for the food, but stayed for the music. On the other hand, the ones standing around out behind the tables weren't eating, so...
It was really quite pleasant. Quiet, good sound, friendly people out for some entertainment. And chairs. Very important, those chairs.
I put song lists out on the tables, and got lots of requests. Indeed, the only problem was that half-hour on, half-hour off schedule, which seems like about 5 songs, and it was disappointing when someone would ask for a kind of lame one. I always wanted to maximize these short little sets with by best stuff.
But I guess people were liking what they heard, lame ones or not, 'cuz I made $93 in tips. Lots of "big money" in the jar, too -- 9 fives and 2 tens, despite nobody buying a CD. I guess people who can afford to pay $12 for a pita have more disposable income than I'm used to.
It seems strange, but weeknights when there are fewer people out seem to work better than crowded weekend nights. The people that do come by seem to be in less of a hurry on weeknights.
Anyway, we had a pretty good turnout, and people listening basically the whole time. I got a few pictures with my new guitar-mounted stealth-cam, but Warren got much better shots of the dancing guy and his granddaughter than I did.
Lots of great friendly people -- one couple early on had come all the way from Sweden (though probably not specifically to hear me sing...) And we brought in $71 in tips, on a Wednesday, so we must have been doing something right.
This was my first time at this one. There had been thunderstorms in the early afternoon, but I went anyway, 'cuz it was clearing up and I never want to be "that flakey musician" that no-shows. Not to mention that I wouldn't'a gotten paid...
It's a nice outdoor mall, but more like Riverside (shops that share a parking lot) than Irvine Spectrum (where all the shops share an interior promenade). Hard to describe. But the bands are meant to set up over in the food court, so at least people have a place to sit, and a reason to, other than me. I just don't get why the property managers always put the live music right by the Giant White Noise Generator (a.k.a. fountain). Every time.
Anyway, I guess the rest of the mall isn't really a Walking Around kinda place, 'cuz two separate couples listened for a while, went off to browse around, and were back listening to me about 20 minutes later. I suppose being the Least Boring Thing is still something.
So, presumably because of the weather, there weren't many people out, but those that did come by were quite generous, and I had a few kids to pass bubbles out to. I'm always nervous about giving out bubbles when there's a fountain nearby -- I'm afraid some kid'll get the bright idea to pour the stuff in. And I'm doubly afraid to tell them, "Don't pour this stuff into the fountain!", for fear of putting the idea into their heads. Fortunately, it hasn't happened so far...
I only had a few kids, and never enough to get a party started. Some enthusiastic listeners, but mostly pretty quiet.
I did get the chance to try out my remote-controlled iPhone camera, but it turns out to be a bit restrictive that I can't aim it towards the action, since it's affixed to the music stand. On the other hand, I can spin it around and take a selfie...
Towards the end, I had a group show up, and one lady came over and started asking for songs from the list. She just stood there and had me play 5 or 6 songs before her family dragged her off. She listened to each one, and at the end would say, "Brava! Now play..." and demand the next one. It felt like some kind of test or something...
Both corners were occupied when we got there, so we set up in the Hurley Alcove/Cave. I'd brought some battery-powered lanterns to help with the gloom, but after two songs (and before it was completely dark), the Fingerhut Gallery corner opened up, so we moved over there.
Which may have been a mistake. We had almost no response all night, except for a nice lady who stopped short when she realized I was playing her Favorite Song, "Homeward Bound". And since they were stopped, her husband asked for "Sounds of Silence" and then they had to hear "Alison", just because that was their daughter's name.
Their attention and the small flurry of interest that it caused from other passers-by turned out to be just about it for the night. Next time, maybe we ought to stay in the Hurley Cave, and see how that goes.
Though we did have a batch of high-school girls who came by with a plate of cookies that they really wanted us to take some of, even though I pointed out that I can't really sing while I'm eating. In retrospect, I think they may have had an idea to "do something nice for the poor homeless guys downtown". Do I look that scruffy?
They gave me three gigs, one on each of the three stages. This first one was the biggest and best stage, called "The Deck". It's right in the middle, slightly up the hill so it overlooks the whole place. There are benches for an audience, and it's kind of nice to play towards the waterfall. But it's also a thoroughfare to the upper booths, so there are frequently people just wandering right through.
Which doesn't bother me, of course -- I'm used to it from Spectrum and the street corners.
The weird part is the schedule. They're pretty adamant about the Festival being about (selling) The Art, not The Music. So they make the bands play a half-hour on and a half-hour off, alternating between the upper Deck stage, and the two ground level stages ("Tavern", and "Grill"). This has exactly the desired effect of preventing people from staying seated (and not browsing Art) for more than a half hour at a time.
It's a bit annoying, knowing that if you manage to accumulate an audience, it'll be compulsorily broken up at the top of the hour. But I guess that gives you a chance to accumulate another one...
The weird monsoon weather presumably kept a lot of the crowd away, but those that came seemed to like my stuff. In the breaks, people wandering through kept mistaking me for a real musician and asking me when the music started, and promising to come back for it. And they mostly actually did.
I didn't have many people at any given time, but at least a few all the time, and most of them quite engaged. What was really flattering was the vendors all around the stage kept coming over to stand at the edges and listen, and many of them would applaud from their remote locations. Apparently they were glad to have someone on that stage that they actually liked. One artist guy came back again and again to insist on "Over the Rainbow" as my closing song for each shift (which was gonna happen anyway), and to bring in a request from "Dave at the glass blowing booth" for "Hallelujah".
So it was fun. Weird to be there for four and a half hours but only get to play for two and a half. But it's a paying gig, and I made a little more in tips, and it's a very pleasant place to play.
For some reason, "Blackbird" was Top of the Pops, and was requested three times. One lady listened for a while, came over to put something in the tip jar, and said "You guys are too good for this". That was a pretty nice thing to say, but unfortunately, she didn't have any practical advice about where we should/could be playing...
We also had some "help" from a guy named Spider, who plays around there sometimes, but this time he was pretty drunk and being obstructionist. I don't know if he was grumpy because we had the best spot, or because we sounded better, and were doing better, than he could. Just one of the things you deal with in the anarchy of street music...
Along with the street brawl that some teenagers started up in the outdoor alcove of the restaurant next door, and thundered right through the "stage" and across the street. Right in the middle of, you guessed it, "Blackbird". I carried on for a half a verse, but gave up. When the excitement died down, the lady who had requested it said, "I guess you'll have to start over". Pretty much.
But other than all that, it was a pretty good night.
One thing that's always bothered me when I play, is that, naturally, the best stuff happens while I'm playing, not between songs. Of course, that's when my hands are occupied, so I can never get any good pictures. But my day job recently supplied me with a new iPhone, which has a pretty good camera built in, so I figured out a way to trigger the camera with a remote control, and stuck the remote to the back of my guitar's headstock, where I can reach the button with my left thumb -- the only movable piece of me that's not otherwise occupied while I'm playing. (And with my wireless guitar and mic, I can even walk out in front of the camera and get pictures of myself, as above.)
So I was able to get some pictures of a sweet old couple dancing to "The Way You Look Tonight". It was doubly cute, because the same couple had been by last summer, and danced then, too. Click here to check 'em out in my blog post from last August 28:
http://y7alanzo.blogspot.com/2012/08/k-at-laguna-beach-28aug2012.html
That time, Warren just stopped playing to grab his camera -- this time he didn't have to.
I played other songs just to keep the adults from walking away, but I'm not a monster -- I ended up playing "Twinkle Star" 4 times before her mom finally had pity on me and took her home.
Later on, I had 4 or 5 kids that were kind of dancing along, so I thought I could get them more interested if I gave them some fingerlights. As soon as I started handing them out, though, a million kids came out of the woodwork. I literally gave away 20 or 25 lights -- it was completely out of control. They're supposed to be for kids who are really there to listen or dance along, not just every kid at the mall!
A little while after that, a bunch of parents kind of joined the crowd of kids -- they usually stand out at the edges. But I had this huge crowd of kids, and then the parents, too. And one of the moms asked for "Old MacDonald", which I don't know, but figured I could fake the chords, and probably remember the words, so I fired it up, and the crowd doubled again! Probably the most "successful" song I've ever played, and I didn't even know the chords! I don't really want to turn into Raffi, but I'll definitely keep that one in the line-up (and learn it properly).
Anyway, I had lots of nice people all night, and ended up playing until 11:30 again. I didn't quite manage to break the $200 line like last week, but at $187, I came pretty close. And seven people liked what they heard enough to take home a CD. That's always flattering.
There was a guy on the ice cream corner already, but he was ready to quit, so we moved in. The problem with afternoons, though, is that there's a 3 hour limit on the parking meters, and you can't even really just go put more money in, 'cuz there's also a "move your car after three hours" law. So we played from 3:00 until 6:00, and had to quit to get our cars on home. (After 7pm, the meters turn off and the rule doesn't apply.)
Anyway, a good turnout, and good tips ($67). We had a young family stop by and listen for a long time. I gave the kids some bubbles of course, and they ran around and/or danced. After a while, they coerced me to play/fake some kids' songs that I don't know like "You Are My Sunshine" and "Old MacDonald".
As they were leaving, the little boy came over to say thank you and goodbye, and I sat down on my curb/stage to listen to him impart some serious advice: " When a little boy and girl come by here, play them a really great song."
I'll have to keep that in mind...
It seems strange that we're having way better luck on these Tuesdays than on the weekend nights. I guess for vacationers, it's all the same, but on weekends, it's nearly impossible to get on the ice cream corner, or sometimes even to get one of the fallback locations. There's a bit less traffic on weeknights, but the people seem a bit less frantic, and more willing to hang out and listen to the guy in the funny hat for a while.
We went down at 7:30, and found *nobody* on any of the spots. So we had the ice cream corner, and the audio space, all to ourselves, all night. There was a group that was asking for country/cowboy songs, which I have a few of. When I asked where they were from, expecting something like "Texas", it turned out they were from Rancho Cucamonga, just a couple of hours away. But maybe they're cowboys out there..?
Later on, we had a group of 4 Asian couples. I couldn't hear them talking to one another, so I finally asked where they were from. I was relieved to hear it was Korea and not Japan, 'cuz if they were Japanese, I'd'a felt obliged to try to sing "Sukiyaki", but I've only got it 3/4 learned, and I'm not sure it would have gone well.
Anyway, we had people listening pretty solid all evening, and I started up a Kids' Dance Party when a family of 5 or 6 blonde kids came by. The 10-year-old had clearly had some lessons, 'cuz she was executing some impressive moves.
We pulled in $77, and sold 3 CDs -- one to a guy who complained that he had to make his own change for a twenty out of the jar. I told him he didn't *have* to make change...
After we'd packed up, as I was sitting on the bench counting the money so I could split it with Warren, some high school girls came up, and one of them told me that she was getting married tomorrow (which I doubted, but I played along anyway), and did I have any marriage advice. I thought about it for a while, and told to just be sure to marry your best friend. She wrote that down in her little note/autograph book next to her description of me ("Top hat musician"), and had me sign it. I wonder what that was *really* about...
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