Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Saturday, 15Mar2014

A huge, wonderful night. First big terrific-weather Saturday of the year, and there were *lots* of people out for it. And lots of them were very receptive. Maybe it was the hat. (I always wear it in Laguna, but not at Spectrum – but I just felt like it this time. And now I guess I'll have to wear it every time!)

Big night for Disney songs (as they're all liable to be from here out…) Some high school kids came by and looked the list and each of them chose a different song. I told them to narrow it down a bit, and they came back with "Part of Your World" from "The Little Mermaid". I started it up, and one of the girls moved out front and started lip-synching the words and dramatically pantomiming being the mermaid. She was quite good, and a lot of people stopped to watch her.

When she was done, I heard the girls beating up on the lone boy to put something in my guitar case, since apparently none of them had any cash. He didn't either, but succumbed to the peer pressure and left a Starbucks gift card (worth $10) to get the girls off his back. That extra ten bucks pushed it over the line for a new record high in tips, too.

But of course, the big hit was "Let it Go" (in the new, corrected, "movie version" replacing the barely-known "pop version" I had learned at first), which I must have played at least a dozen times. Including the time near the end when I played it and just as I was finishing up, a middle-aged couple appeared at the side table. I could tell they wanted to ask me something, and it was "Will you play 'Let It Go'?" I told them that I'd just finished it, 30 seconds ago, and was literally still panting from the big high note at the end. Somehow, they'd walked up through the 50 yards that I can be heard from, and didn't hear the song that they were walking though...

I had one set of little kids that were there for a long time. I had run through all the Disney songs on the list and they were still there. So I fired up "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?", which is also from "Frozen", but not as huge a hit as "Let It Go", but I figured these girls would know it. And they did. The song is sung by Anna, but at a particular point, there's a spoken line by her sister Elsa. When I got to that spot, I paused, and when nobody responded, I prompted, "Your line!", and one of the little girls figured it out and shouted "Go away, Anna!" *That* was great.

So a while later I had another inspiration, and it had been a while so I announced that I was going to play "Let It Go" (again), and invited anyone who knew the words to come up onto the front edge of the stage and sing along. Didn't have to ask twice... Immediately I had four enthusiastic girls on the stage, and a dozen parents out front with their cameras running. Lucky for me, my wife and daughter were also there at that time (with the dogs), so I got some pictures, too.

Indeed, the "Let It Go" mania continued even after I was finished and had the gear half packed up when some teens came by and saw the lists and begged me to play it. It was 11:30 by then, and the fountain was completely off, so I got the guitar back out and played it, acoustic-only, right there at the edge of the stage for them. That was fun.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 08Mar2014

Last Saturday was really great, but this one, not so much. I guess it's a lot more "luck of the draw" (who happens by and when) than one would wish.

But, oddly, we made a new record for this season in tips. Lots of people tipping, but hardly anyone stopping to actually listen. Weird.

When I decided to learn the hit song from the movie "Frozen", I figured I'd learn the "pop version" since it tends to be more playable, and sometimes the words are re-done to be less movie-specific. (The pop version of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" has all new lyrics except for the title line.)

Helping her find "Let It Go"

So I listened to the pop version of "Let It Go", and specifically did *not* listen to the movie version so I wouldn't confuse myself. And I've been playing the pop version for a couple of weeks to great response, but confusingly little singing along.

In retrospect, now I know why. When "Let It Go" came on the Academy Awards show, I realized how different the movie version is from the pop version I've been playing. Wow – no wonder nobody sings along, they don't know these words!

So I threw out my previous version and learned the movie one, despite the danger of messing up my mind. The movie version is also, as expected, harder to pull off as one guy with a guitar, but it's worth it. I worked on it all morning, and managed to play it mostly right. I think it'll get an even better response now.

Had a rough start to the evening, though. When I got all the way down there, I found that I'd forgotten the battery that makes the vocals possible. (That one battery pack runs the harmony box, and the wireless receivers for the mic and guitar. I can live without the harmony box, and can just use a cable for the guitar, but the wireless mic is the only one I have.) So I played acoustic-only (Ouch) while Geneva drove it down to me. This is why you have children: so they can take care of you in your old age.

Keith & Warren in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 22Feb2014

A really great night! This is what I do it for!

The weather was really nice so lots of people were out. We got a bunch of young families all at once and started up a big party. I got out the fingerlights and passed out 6 or 7. And of course, once we had some kids and parents dancing, clapping, and shaking tambourines, that dragged other people in, until we had a really big crowd and requests rolling in 4 deep.

As the party started to taper off, a Persian guy and his daughter came by. The daughter seemed to want to play a tambourine, so I gave her one, and the dad grabbed another one to show her how. Without a word they just climbed right on into the act, and when Warren stepped out to take pictures, they just moved on into his "spot", and the daughter, and then the dad, picked up his guitar and pretended to play along (fortunately, it was unplugged).

It was also a great night for older people coming by to sit and listen for a while. Got lots of nice people, and lots of requests – some of them unusual, like "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" and "Pancho and Lefty".

Some high school girls, all dressed and made up, were walking by and suddenly stopped to listen. I guess they liked what they were hearing, 'cuz they suddenly broke out dancing, but it was a goofy hillbilly hoedown dance, which looked pretty funny in their disco clothes, hair, and makeup.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Friday, 21Feb2014

I've been hoping/expecting that the Fridays would get better as it got warmer, but not so far. I had some little girls dancing right at the beginning, which is becoming kind of traditional lately, but it was a pretty slow night, generally.

For some reason, they'd brought out "the big stage", which seemed nice at first, to have so much room to move around in. But turned out to be a bit of a problem, because there's so much room between me and the front of the stage, the kids aren't as intimidated about sneaking up on to it (and apparently the parents don't see as much of a problem with it, either). Of course, they make their move while I'm in the middle of a song, so I can't say anything, and can't even make "back off" hand motions. And, of course, as soon as the bravest/craziest kid gets up there, they all figure it's OK, and climb up, too.

And I don't really mind, as long as they stay back a bit. But having given them an inch, it's not long before they're crowding up and about to knock over the music stand, and I've had kids decide to step on those big shiny buttons on the harmony box and totally mess up the song. Oh well. At least they're not scared of me...

One teenage girl came running up just as I'd finished "Let It Go" from "Frozen", my new huge hit crowd gathering song. She asked, "Did I miss 'Let it Go'?!? They called me and I came as fast as I could!" I didn't know who "they" were, but I said, "Yes, I just finished it. But there are others -- and I'll probably end up playing it again in 5 minutes or so." So she sat down and listened and laughed and clapped as I went through half-a-dozen other Disney songs. At one point she asked me, "Is the 'Toy Story' song that you do 'You've Got a Friend in Me'?" I thought about that and wondered, "What other "Toy Story" songs are there?" And then I remembered one, and said, "Yes, that's the one. I certainly don't do the 'Jessie is Very Sad' song!", and she laughed and laughed.

Later on, a guy listened to a few songs, and then came up and said, "I don't have any money to tip you, but I wanted to say that you sound great, and I'm from London, and you don't hear any voices like yours singing The Beatles". I'm not entirely sure what that meant, but I took it as a compliment.

And another guy, all heavy metaled out, was standing and staring at me pointedly for a long time, kind of slack-jawed. I was initially afraid that he was gonna "start something", but after a while it seemed clear that he was impressed. Finally he came up and threw some money in my guitar case, started to walk away but turned to throw me "the horns" and mouth "You rock!" I'm not sure I can really claim to do much "rocking", but thanks.

Towards the end a little girl came up and asked me, "Can you play 'Let It Go' again?" She'd apparently already heard it once that night, but OK, I did, and since she was obviously a big "Frozen" fan, I followed it with "Do You Want To Build a Snowman?", which I'd never played in public before. It starts off really cute, but gets really sad, but she (and her mom) seemed to like it.

And more strange tips: some kind of high-end chocolate thing, a somewhat ragged Laffy Taffy bar, and a big black button. Yay?

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 15Feb2014

When we got there, Anne the Trumpet Girl was there already. She plays jazz along with backing tracks, and it all sounds like Johnny Carson's Tonight Show band. She's pretty good, I think. Or I guess. Heck, I can't tell.

What's quaint is that she thinks that someone would want to hear that kind of music down on a street corner in a beach town. But she's blonde and cute, and her trumpet case catches some tips one way or the other.

Anyway, she told us she was almost done, so we waited her out. The weather started out nice, but got pretty cold later on. There were lots of people out, but for some reason, I couldn't get very many of them to stop and listen much. We had some people here and there, but never got a real crowd together except once when a little boy stopped to dance and a bunch of people had to stop to watch. That turned into a pretty big party.

A while later some ladies stopped to listen to "Landslide" and when that was over I asked them to pick a song but they wouldn't. ("Oh you're doing just fine!" I get that a lot.) So I asked them if they'd seen that Sparkly Vampire movie, and I played the song from it ("A Thousand Years") which I'd just learned, and it went over really well with them, and other people passing by.

I had had a terrible cold all week, and actually almost didn't go down, but I thought I could manage it if I took enough cough medicine. And I almost did -- I only crashed and burned three songs with coughing fits. But other than that, I was singing pretty well. And despite it seeming like we weren't getting through to anybody, we made some surprisingly good tip money. I guess I was doing better than I thought I was...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Saturday, 08Feb2014

While I was setting up, a family walked by and the little girl, maybe 7, shouted out, "Are you a clown?" I don't have the perm anymore, I wasn't wearing my top hat, and I hadn't dyed my new shoes red yet, either. Whatever gave her that idea?

It's apparently Winter Formal season, and like last Saturday in Laguna, there were lots of teenagers out in their version of formal wear. It's fun to see, but not good for a gig night because they all have somewhere they're getting to, so they can't/don't stop. One dressed-up girl laid some flowers in my guitar case with a big smile, though I think she was really just tired of carrying them around...

A couple of girls stood there taking video of me for quite a few songs. They asked if it was OK to put them up on YouTube, and I said, "Sure, but email me where". Didn't happen, of course, and no amount of searching turns up anything. Oh well. Flattering that they *intended* to post 'em.

But apparently it was "Sing Along Night", and even though they couldn't stop, a lot of the packs of girls loudly sang along as they breezed by while I was playing a Disney song.

Which I now have even more of. Over the last week, I worked up "Beauty and the Beast", "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" and "Under the Sea", though I somehow never quite got to that last one (never got a big-enough party started, I guess). I was afraid that the two love songs were going to come off as too cheesy, but they seemed to work OK.

The other new one that's working OK is "A Thousand Years", which is the love theme from the second and third "Twilight" movies. Which, just to be clear, I haven't seen -- but I've heard the song here and there, and my kids assured me that if I learned it, I'd have the ladies eating out of my hand. Which turned out to be pretty true -- whenever I played it, I could see lots of both teenaged girls and older ladies walking by with their lips moving as they sang silently along.

And I was playing "Imagine" when four teenaged boys stopped, three of them just standing around waiting while the tall Asian kid sang along, swaying, with his eyes closed. That was heartwarming...

Neither one of my little fans, Gabby and Hannah, showed up. I was rather looking forward to seeing them. I feel a little bit stood up.

A wise (or hip) man once said, "Friends don't let friends clap on 1 and 3", but when I'm playing guitar, my thumb is playing the bass line on 1 & 3, and it's almost impossible for me to stomp my foot on 2 & 4 like I should, contrary to my thumb. I feel like a doofus hitting 1 & 3, but I'm working on thinking of my foot as alternating with my thumb (while, of course, I'm also playing the chords with my fingers, and reading the words, and singing, and remembering the 75% of the "song" that's not written on the page (patterns, bass runs/fills, anomalies, breathing, etc.)). I did have a bit of success on "Hey, Soul Sister" though, so that's encouraging, but this one-man-band stuff is harder than it looks.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 01Feb2014

Another awfully cold night, as you'd expect in February. But people around here just don't prepare for as cold as it gets, so most of them couldn't hang out for a while even if they wanted to.

But we did have quite a few people stop and listen for just a song or two, standing, and in many cases, shivering. Greeter Mikey showed up on his bike, looking more nautical all the time. And Blain, who is apparently independently wealthy and spends his days spinning Frisbees on the beach "for peace", really loves our stuff and stopped on his way home. He never gets tired of my version of "Leaving on a Jet Plane", for some reason.

Some ladies read through the list and decided on "South of the Border", which we used to play all the time, but haven't for years. I was afraid that I'd forgotten how to play its clever "Spanish" bass line, but it came back to me, and sounded pretty great.

And then a lady came up to put in a buck and look at the list, and immediately chose "Alison". I mock-accusingly asked her, "Did you just choose that one 'cuz it's the first one on the list?" She said, "No. I chose it because it's my name." Oops. It's another one I don't do very often, and now the pressure was on even more -- not just a request, but a Special Request. But I rallied and pulled it off just fine.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 25Jan2014

Well, our January heat spell is over so it was freezing out (or, you know, "California freezing", i.e., 50's). We had lots of people come by and listen for a bit, but most of them were ill-prepared for how cold it got, so they couldn't stay for long.

Laguna has fewer teenagers wandering around than Spectrum, so although I played my new secret weapon, "Let It Go" several times, it didn't work as well here. But I did play more Disney than usual and collected a few small crowds when the young families, and young-at-heart older "kids", came by. One young lady told us right out that she was a huge Disney fan, so I held her, and she her friends, captive for quite a while, playing through my Disney catalog.

I sold two CDs, and was able to light up a few faces (in more ways than one) with some fingerlights. A darn good night, despite the cold. Can't wait for Spring, though.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Friday, 24Jan2014

Before I even started, a cute little 4-year-old (with her friend and little brother) marched up and announced that they were going to be my "spinners". I wasn't actually aware I *needed* any spinners, but I accepted her offer. True to her word, as soon as I started playing, she and her friend stretched their arms out and started spinning, round and round. This was adorable, and immediately attracted a crowd, and other parents who let their kids join the party, which swelled to a couple of dozen people within a few songs.

I played through all my best kids songs and kid dance tunes, and the crowd eventually broke up. But only a few songs later, I played another Disney song and started a new party. I must have had 4 or 5 kid parties in all.

The song that really brings them over these days is the newly-learned "Let It Go", the "big number" from the movie "Frozen". The movie is doing record business, and the teenagers are flocking to it, over and over again. So I knew the song would be popular, but I'm afraid I've created a monster.

It's clearly the best crowd-gathering song I've ever played. All I needed to do is start it up and all the teens within earshot (and at Spectrum, there are always a lot of teens around) would come running. And when that one was done, off we'd go through the other Disney songs I know from "Tangled", "Aladdin", and "Little Mermaid", etc. And when parents of littler kids hear Disney tunes, they all stop, and once there are cute kids dancing around, the old people can't help but stop and watch...

By the end of the night, I think I played more Disney songs than non-Disney songs. It completely changed the character of the gig, and it was 10:00 before I knew what hit me. Probably the most continuous appreciation I've ever gotten. I guess I need to learn even more Disney songs!

Also, I had several Returning Fans. A family that had seen me at Spectrum and then again at the Farmer's Market came by. I recognized a cute little toddler fan, and my goofy little Persian friend (whose name I finally asked for is Hannah, pronounced "Hawn-nuh") was there again, too. She kept asking for "Jingle Bells" and "Rudolph". I suppose, being Persian, she didn't have a recognizable Christmas Morning at her house, so she's not clear that that's all over now...

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 18Jan2014

It was an unseasonably hot January day, so a lot of people had come down to the beach. We had lots of nice people right off the bat at 5:00 when we started. I started with "Hotel California", as always, followed by "I'm Yours". In the middle of it, some Indian ladies appeared and afterwards asked for "Hotel California". Well, OK.

When it was over they came over and thanked us profusely -- the older lady was bound back to Bombay the next day, and this appeared to have capped off her trip. Her daughter-in-law, amazingly, told us that she remembered seeing us play at the Borders in South Coast Plaza, which, at best, was three years ago. And then she bought two CDs, one for herself and one for her mom. And the son/grandson was pretty thrilled with the fingerlight.

A nice bunch of teens came by and I got them to get up and dance to a few, and then a baby showed up so then everybody was dancing and shaking the tambourines to encourage the baby to dance -- it turned into a real party for a while there.

A nice lady listened for a while and then came up and asked if I knew Paul Simon's "American Tune". A very obscure request, but I do know it, and it's even in the book so I can play it. It's based on a Bach tune, so it's very cool, but also very complicated, and I don't play it very often, but I did OK. She came up afterwards and said that it was "better than the original", which was a pretty sweet white lie...

She may have been put in mind of it because of another guy requesting "America", a different Paul Simon song, which *is* on the list. He seemed to enjoy it, and also mentioned that he remembered seeing us play at Borders. Amazing -- nobody ever says that, and then two in one night.

Later on, another lady just assumed I'd know "Bridge Over Troubled Water", which, OK, yes, I do. And despite my cold all week, I was able to sing it and its way-too-high notes without launching into a coughing fit, so that was good.

According to my new theory, the best traffic-stopping songs are Disney tunes, so that, plus the huge popularity of "Frozen", led me to spend the afternoon learning "Let It Go". But we didn't really have any consistent teen traffic, so I didn't find a spot to fire it up. Finally it got really empty, so I decided to give it a try anyway, just to see how it went. Unfortunately, having only heard it a few times to figure out the chords, I'd completely forgotten the melody for everything except the chorus, so I was just making it up on the fly. Weirdly though, two teenage girls appeared out of nowhere and said "Play some more 'Frozen' songs!". I couldn't do that, but I did play a string of other Disney tunes, that kept them and their late-arrival friends dancing for quite a while.

Greeter Mikey came by and wanted to re-try his Laguna-centric improvised version of "Like a Rolling Stone", with just about the same level of success. He's the guy they make the "bouncing ball" for -- without it, he has no sense of musical timing. But he makes up for it in enthusiasm...

Unfortunately, the hot day had give way to a *freezing* night -- so much so that I broke out for the first time the chemical packet hand warmers that I'd bought back in August. Despite the warning on the label to not put them directly against your skin, compared to our frozen fingers, it was hard to tell that they were actually doing anything at all. Warren even enlisted the two Disney fans to help shake his up, but they never seemingly really got much warmer than the ambient temperature of the air. Can't tell if they can't compete with how cold we were, or if they just don't really work.

Around 10:00, some more teens came by -- out for a birthday. The Birthday Girl liked James Taylor songs, despite being no more than 20, so I sang her some. And when they left, we packed up and went in search of some heat.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Saturday, 11Jan2014

When I got there the parking garage was almost full, but tough parking should mean lots of people, right? I don't know where they were hiding, though, 'cuz it didn't seem crowded at all.

But I had a kid party start up right away with a huge crowd of bystanders. After that faded away, a group of teenage girls in pajamas came by and danced for a long time. They must have been cheerleaders or something 'cuz they had some actual rehearsed routines going on, and gathered a small crowd of people watching them.

My little Spanish fan Gabby came by again, and this time she had her own toy guitar, in pink. I hadn't realized that she's interested in making music, not just listening to it, but she stood out in front of me with her guitar and mimicked my movements -- pretty accurate, too. After a while I asked to see the guitar, and it's just a toy so I thought it might be tunable, but it was so completely random that I couldn't figure out where to start and I didn't want to break one of her strings.

I've been learning Lindsey Buckingham's "Never Going Back Again", 'cuz it's a fingerpicking tour-de-force, and I just decided to see if I could conquer it. I thought I'd try it out late in the evening when nobody was around, but my hands were freezing and stiff, and I played it pretty badly. Of course I have to stare directly at my hands to manage it at all, but when I looked up at the end, two couples had materialized and stopped to watch. I guess it's gonna be worth the trouble, then.

Towards the end another group of teenage girls came by and were dancing to Disney songs. I'm starting to think that my best bet to gather a group is to just play Disney songs all the time. I usually don't play one until I'm asked to, but then as I'm playing it, more people gather 'round, so I'm gonna have to start playing them "on spec".

Anyway, these girls were dancing to song after song, and then they sort of tried to leave, so I cleverly started up "Part of Your World" from "The Little Mermaid", and they couldn't help but come running back. After a while they were holding hands in a circle and running around, and when some littler girls showed up (including my little kooky other Biggest Fan), they just opened up the ring and joined them right in. It was amazing and heartwarming to see them be so easily inclusive. Reminded me of my Indian Princess days...

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 04Jan2014

When we got there, there was already a kid playing his own songs, acoustic and inaudible, but pretty nice stuff. Warren went over and played a little harmonica with him, but fortunately he was about done and ready to relinquish the corner to us.

But it was a not-surprisingly mostly-empty evening. So, as usual, I took the opportunity to play some songs we don't do very often, including a whole set of songs in Drop-D tuning that I seldom do because it's a bit of a hassle to down-tune and then re-tune while people are watching.

Old friend "Don't-call-me-Nonie" and her husband came by and listened for a few songs. An hour later, her sister and her husband came by. They both live down there so it isn't all that surprising to see either one of them, but it was amusing to see them both in one evening.

The actual surprise was my brother and his wife stopping by. They come to see me at Spectrum a lot, but this was the first time they've come by the corner. But they couldn't stay long, as they had reservations for dinner somewhere.

And local artist John Chaney came by and talked to us for a while. He's 60-something now, but grew up in Laguna, so he's a great fount of historical knowledge -- if his sometimes-fanciful stories can be believed.

But he does some pretty cool paintings, and gave me a 5x7 greeting card photo version of one of them. I suppose it was meant as a tip.

I did sell two CDs and also quite a few people took business cards. They never actually call, but it's flattering that they think they might someday.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Friday, 20Dec2013

I used to think that gigs at Christmas time would be really great, and they are fun just 'cuz I get to play all that great Christmas music. But people at Spectrum are actually shopping (!), and in a hurry, and it's cold, so I really don't get to much response (except quickly passing smiles), and I guess folks are already destroying their budgets, so the tips are actually worse.

Not that I'll stop doing them, of course. The kids are cute, and now that I have the Jingle Bell tambourines, I get a lot of audience participation -- as long as I don't mind playing "Jingle Bells", "Rudolph" and "Frosty" ad infinitum. (Fortunately, I don't.)

But I did have some people stop to listen. And at the end, a strange guy who thinks I'm so great that he gets really frustrated that nobody's stopping and/or tipping me. So he jumps around and tries to gesture people in, and basically acts so strange that he scares people away more than brings them in. I appreciate his enthusiasm, but that kind of help I don't need...

Keith at Jolly Trolley -- 13&14Dec2013

I got volunteered to play for the reception (i.e., waiting room party) for the busses that take people around to look at the Mission Viejo Christmas Lights winners. I did it last year and the year before, so they just kind of expect me now. Made the papers, though...

And it's pretty fun. They have fire rings set up and let the kids roast marshmallows, but mostly it's older people so I get to sing the old sentimental ones, unlike the Santa line gigs where it's almost all "Jingle Bells", "Frosty", and "Rudolph".

But it's a little tough to get anything going. The receptions are from 5 to 6 when the first bus leaves, and then 7 to 8 when the second one does. I start playing when the first people wander in, but it's weird to play directly to just one couple, so I start off quiet. Then more people wander in, and just walk past me, and after a while there are lots of people, but there was no "start up", so it's hard to stop being Background Music and become Entertainment.

So the first three were kind of boring, so when a little girl walked by me on her way to get more cookies during the fourth one, I snagged her in to play some jingle bells, and so her little brother had to come over too, which brought their parents, of course. And then other kids saw something happening, and it turned into Big Fun all around.

You'd think that after 12 years of doing this, I'd learn that the passive approach just doesn't cut it. I'm just still too shy, I guess.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Saturday, 07Dec2013

The parking lot was jammed when I got there, so I was expecting lots of people, but they must have been in the stores. But the people I did see were lots of families, so I played "Jingle Bells" a *lot*.

But apparently it was Weird Tip Night. There was a girl walking around selling roses, like you see in fancy restaurants sometimes. After a while, she came by and laid one on the stage. First rose tip I've ever gotten.

And later on, a guy came over and asked me to play Happy Birthday for his friend -- but not yet, she's on her way. So I eventually got the cue, and played it, no problem. Candles out, cake being cut, my job is done. But then after a while, he came over and laid a piece of cake on my table. I can't really eat while I'm playing of course, but at the end I tried it and it was an amazing chocolate thing from the Cheesecake Factory. Non-trivial to bring home, but worth it. First cake tip, too.

I was playing "Little Drummer Boy", and this guy was just staring at me. At the end he was very enthusiastic, and came over to the table and pulled out a Sharpie (he carries around his own Sharpie?!?), and announced that he was going to autograph a few of my CDs. Um, really? I thought *I* was supposed to autograph 'em. But off he went, and scribbled on one of each of the three of them, along with Bible verse notations.

I didn't catch his name, and his signature is illegible, but from what I could catch of what he was telling me and some Googling, he's some hyper-Christian football player who's played all over but considers himself a "49-er", despite not actually being on the team anymore. I guess he thought he was giving me some valuable items in those autographs, but I'm not sure how to cash them in. I can't really eBay some "CD cases with some probably-semi-famous guy's autograph on 'em". He said he was granting me this boon because I was "playing the Lord's music". Really? "Drummer Boy"?!? Well OK, I suppose Jesus is in there as a supporting character...

Keith at Santa's Workshop -- 4, 8, 11, 18, 21, 22 Dec2013

I don't usually combine gigs into one blog post, but I had so many of these, so close together, that I just didn't have time to write 'em up individually. Not to mention that they all blur together in my head.

I emailed the lady in charge just before the first one to remind her to remind whoever was going to be setting up the line ropes to put 'em in the right place. And as expected, they didn't. But the guy was willing to push the 50 earlybirds out or line and re-route the ropes for me while I set up the equipment, so it worked out OK.

I almost always had little kids come up and start talking to me even before I was set up. They were ready to go way before I was. My biggest fan on that first night was Lilybelle, who made lots of cutely but entirely unintelligible song requests due to her spectacularly random assortment of in, out, and half-back teeth.

I started these gigs with an assortment of toy tambourines, jingle bells, and egg shakers. But the shakers tend to disappear, so I quit that pretty soon, and after a few gigs I realized that the tambourines were way louder or more piercing than the jingle bells, so I discontinued bringing them out, too.

Obviously, I get a lot of kids at this gig, so there's no way I can give away fingerlights to any of them. So I thought of another idea. I bought a bunch of jingle bells and some thin ribbon, and tied them up so the kids can hold the ribbon to "play" them, or put it on their wrist to keep from losing it. Or at least not lose it so soon...

Unfortunately, I couldn't think of a way to have them handy except to put them in my pocket, and after fetching out a half-dozen, the rest were a complete tangle. And since the cheapest bells I could find were "assorted colors", I had to hassle of kids wanting to trade the one they'd gotten for a different color, and it just got way out of hand. So that only happened one night.

This year, I made a combined songbook for the iPad that has all my Christmas songs, and also the best of the Kids' song list. Makes it easier to mix it up when I start to run out of kid-friendly Christmas songs. There are really only about 5 that most kids are familiar with. Doesn't seem to bother them, though -- I frequently get loud requests for "Jingle Bells", even when I literally just finished playing it.

Last year a guy come by with his kids and a nice camera and took some great shots of me, and actually emailed me a link to go fetch them. This year, there he was again. See you next year, buddy!

Another repeat visitor was a little girl who told me "I saw you here last year. Last year I was only 5 -- guess how old I am this year!" She reminded me of Geneva at that age, totally confident and bold. She had learned a dance to "Feliz Navidad" at school, and was perfectly willing to do it for me while I played.

Several of the kids know the set of hand motions that go along with "Up On the Housetop", so that's fun. And one little girl did the hula while I played "Mele Kalikimaka".

The only downside to the setup is that, unlike Spectrum, when the kids come up, their parents may be quite a ways away. This allows for some occasional pretty bad behavior that I can't really stop, since my hands and mouth tend to be busy. It's usually the little boys. They tend to decide that the jingle bell tambourines are too quiet, so they bang them on the benches or they get two and bang them together, which ends up breaking them.

One little boy decided to toss a jingle tambourine into the air. Each toss was higher and wilder than the one before it, until he was liable to lose it in a bush, or mow another little kid down in pursuing it. And one little boy decided he needed to get the glow-ball that sits at the bottom of my tip jar, so he was determinedly digging away through the money.

But overall the kids are sweet, and it's so great to get a chance to interact with little kids again. Now that mine are all grown up, I miss it.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Tuesday, 26Nov2013

I had pretty much decided to quit playing Tuesdays until it gets warmer, but it was a nice day, and a pleasant evening, and we got a lot of people to stop and listen for a while. It was a bit early, but I snuck in a few Christmas songs when a family with young kids came by.

I watched as a car pulled into the very closest parking spot. A lady got out, opened the back door, and lifted a very old Samoyed from the back seat. She carried him over to the bench, and sat down with him on her lap, and just sat and listened, and petted him. I grew up with Samoyeds, so I went over between songs and petted him a little. She said he was 14 years old, mostly blind and lame, and she just liked to get him out once in a while -- 'bout to broke my heart. After while, she carried him back to the car and left.

We had a young couple from Brazil come by and buy a CD, and then a nice lady stopped and just kind of adopted us for a while. She asked for several songs, and then asked if I knew any "spiritual" Christmas songs. Not too many, as it turns out, but I do have "Oh, Holy Night" in the book for just such an occasion, I guess. And it's pretty much fun to sing (belt) -- and especially so when I'm warmed up after playing for a few hours.