K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 17May2014

When we got there at 4:00 the day before it was too hot for anyone to sit on the bench and listen, so this time we showed up at 6:00. The weather was certainly better, but there was already someone on the corner -- two "travelers" playing original, profanity-laced, protest songs. Some of it was actually moderately clever, but none of the passers-by slowed down enough to catch any of it. Their appearance, profanity, and anger weren't really bringing the people in...

Warren had talked to them and they'd said that they'd only be another hour or so, so we just waited them out. Starting at 7:00 made for a much shorter gig, with a lot less "nobody there yet" time. We had lots of people the whole time -- lots of kids and lots of "Let It Go" parties.

We had a big Indian family reunion, and a crazy guy from "the USSR". Once, as I was finishing up singing "Twinkle, Twinkle", a heavily-accented lady by said, "But can you sing it in French?" as she breezed by.

A really great night, overall. Lots of tips, despite the shorter playing time, lots of friendly people making requests, three CDs sold, and lots of happy kids singing "Let It Go", and shaking my little tambourine sticks, if not "along with", at least "at the same time as", the fast songs. It's gonna be a great summer.

Keith at MV Artisan's Fair -- Saturday, 17May2014

Before they shut down the Mission Viejo Farmer's Market, they tried to enliven it with the addition of an "Artisan's Row". It didn't work, obviously, but they've started a new Artisan's Fair -- all art, no vegetables -- and asked me to play. I told her I'd be happy to, but only for two hours (not the entire four) since I'd need to have some stamina left to play at Laguna that same Saturday evening.

They set me up under an Easy-Up way over in a corner, to provide access to the nearest building's electrical power, but it was still too far, so I just played by battery. The worst of both worlds! Using up battery life that I'd need for the evening, and far away from any possible listeners.

But, despite there being almost no patrons, the artists were friendly and/or grateful, and clapped after every song. So it wasn't too bad.

I was hoping some kids would come, so I could play "Let It Go". Finally I spotted a dad with his two kids were way over there, so I started it up, watching the little girl recognize it, and excitedly tell her dad. Lots of kids have watched the DVD of the movie a million times, and know, not just the song, but the exact movements of Elsa as she sings it. This little girl was obviously singing along, because I could see her doing the whole routine -- magical snowball creation here, grand gesture there, etc.

A few people braved the long walk to come over and talk to me, and two even bought CDs. One lady asked for "Blackbird" and "Amie". Another lady came over with her grandson in a shopping cart, and pulled him out so they could dance together on "You've Got a Friend in Me" from "Toy Story".

And almost at the end, a lady and her crazy-dressed teen-aged daughter came over. The daughter asked for "Let It Go", and the mom asked for "Amie". I guess that song is more popular than I think it is.

The trickiest part is that I basically had the same audience for the whole two hours. Usually I have a (high) turnover rate, and could get away with five songs over and over. But I felt like I had to play all different songs the whole time, so after my usual 15 or 20 songs, I still had an hour left to fill. That's not actually a problem, since there are 280 songs in the book these days, but it was unusual.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Friday, 16May2014

We arrived at 4:30 to be sure to get The Corner, but that turned out to be completely unnecessary -- especially considering that it was way too hot for anyone to sit on the bench anyway, so it was probably an hour and a half before the sun went behind the buildings and it was cool enough for anyone to stop and listen. Noted for next time...

Pretty early on some people were on the bench so I tried to give them a song list, but they said, "We don't know these songs". I asked them where they were from, and they said "Europe". We thought that seemed a bit vague, and Warren asked "Where in Europe?", to which they replied, "Budapest". Did they really think that we had never heard of Budapest?

By around 7:00 we had were a bunch of families there for a round of "Let It Go", bubbles, etc. That party had mostly faded out when a police car came around the corner and stopped. He rolled down his window and yelled "Sir..." at me, so I stopped the song and went over there so he could lie to me that "Technically, you can't have amplification", and ask me to shut it down or at least turn it "way down". I told him I'd do that.

I finished the song, and the last of the listeners left, and I decided that we might as well quit. But as we were packing up, it occurred to me that we have never been cop-hassled when Sanchez wasn't on the other corner. I had to wonder if the cop was called to talk to "the guy playing guitar on the corner" and I'm a lot easier to see, with my top hat, while Sanchez is mostly hidden from the street by a big bush.

So, since we were quitting so early, the Fingerhut Gallery was still open, so I decided that this was our big chance to go talk to the ladies in there and see what was what.

They told us that, no, they like our music and they'd never called the cops on us, it was "that guy", meaning Sanchez, still hammering away outside. I agreed with them that his stuff is pretty annoying, and they laughed when I suggested that "it might not be so bad if he'd learn another song". (All his stuff is modal, droning, and in the same key. I suspect there are at least three or four "songs" there, but they all sound alike.)

I asked them, then, when they call the cops, could they try to be a bit more specific about who they mean, so the cops will hassle the right guy. They agreed with that idea going forward, but said that they hadn't called the cops this time. Which left us with a mystery, 'cuz the Ice Cream store guy loves us, and Chico's and the new massage place above it were closed. (I hate to think it, but could it have been Sanchez himself?) Unfortunately, the cops will never tell us who called, which seems to me to violate some kind of "know your accuser" statute, but who wants to argue with a cop? But at least we know that the Fingerhut ladies didn't, and won't, call -- so next time I'll try to have the courage to ask the cop if he's sure the call was about us, or "that guy".

Anyway, the New Song Of The Week was "I'm Into Something Good" by Herman's Hermits, though it was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. I thought it might be a nice jolly tune to play, possibly along the lines of "Mrs. Robinson", which is a big crowd pleaser these days. I played through it, but there was hardly anyone around, so it's hard to tell if it's going to work out or not yet.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 10May2014

Perfect weather, and we're starting to get a noticeable influx of tourists. Of the ones I asked, we had a group from New York, one from London, and three ladies from Spain. One of those came up and was all excited by the music, and when she read through my list, she was thrilled to find "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum. I was equally surprised that a lady from Spain knew American country songs...

We had some homeless guys monopolizing the bench right at first, but they got bored after a while. But worse, "Spider" is back in town. He plays music himself, but when he comes by, he just wants to disrupt what I'm doing. He loudly requests "funny" songs, and at the end of a song, he'll either loudly proclaim "Excellent rendition, gentlemen!" as if we're auditioning for him, or he'll boo. This makes the regular people very uncomfortable...

Anyway, we had lots of families come by, and I played "Twinkle Twinkle" for the tiny ones, and, of course, "Let It Go" for the bigger ones. Only found one group that was brave enough to come up and sing along, though.

I've spent some of my newly-unemployed hours working up new songs. "Margaritaville" seems to work quite well. I played it late in the evening when nobody was around, and several people came out of nowhere to listen and smile. It's *such* a cliché, but I guess in this context, it works. "Blue Bayou" sounds good, but may be too dull. "Cowgirl in the Sand" sounds pretty good too, but is really only for use when a Neil Young fan shows up.

I'm usually a stickler for accurate (as much as possible) arrangements of songs, but I worked up a version of "Pretty Woman", transposed down to where I can sing it. The new key makes it impossible to play the signature riffs, though, so I'm just, not. I expected it to sound weird without them, but it doesn't bother me as much as I expected it to. Warren, on the other hand, seemed unconvinced that this wasn't blasphemy (and lame). I guess I'll have to try it out a few times when he's not there and see what the audience thinks.

A very nice older lady came over to tell me that she'd been listening while she was shopping at Chico's. It's a bit worrisome that I'm loud enough to be heard inside a store across the street, but it was nice of her to say so, and she was impressed enough to sit a while and listen to some more songs, and then bought a CD.

Late in the evening, a lady came by and asked me to play "Bridge Over Troubled Water", which is in my book, but not on the list, so she must have caught me playing it before sometime. I don't do it much because the high notes sound really strained unless I'm *really* warmed up, but I was, and my range has been moving upwards a bit, so I did it -- and probably the best I ever have.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Friday, 09May2014

More nice weather, which brought out lots of people and lots of kids -- especially for a Friday.

I was a little disoriented after not playing so long on my vacation, but my hands remembered how to play the songs, and I got into the swing of it pretty quickly. I had people to play for the whole time, which is always nice.

And of course, lots of "Let It Go" sing-along parties. I don't know when the backlash will start to be visible, but it's not yet. I play it a lot, but it's so well-received that I doesn't bother me a bit. I do draw the line at playing it twice in a row, however, no matter how hard they plead.

As I was setting up, a dad and his little three-year-old boy walked by my guitar case, with its "starter money" and the little blinking-light "lantern" that I put in it so people will (a) notice it, and (b) not trip on it.

The little boy pointed at the blinking lights and said, "Daddy, look!" and the dad said, "Don't touch it! I think it's an alarm."

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Friday, 25Apr2014

I wasn't expecting much, since the last few Fridays have been pretty slow, but it was nice weather, and a lot of people, and especially kids, were out.

I must have sung "Let It Go" six or seven times; three or four of them as on-stage sing-alongs. That song always brings in a crowd, but if I have some kids already there, I ask if anybody's seen the movie "Frozen" -- as if there's any way any of the kids wouldn't have by now. The question always gets the expected enthusiastic response, so then I ask if anybody knows all the words to The Song.

Anybody that raises their hand is automatically a volunteer to come up on stage, particularly after I tell them where to stand and to face "that way, toward the cameras", which makes sure that the parents will insist that their kids come up (as they get their cameras out). Fortunately, the movie appeals to an age of kids that mostly aren't too self-conscious to get up and sing yet.

I also get teenage girls that love that song, and though they won't get up and sing, they're fun to have because they tend to also know a bunch of the other Disney songs, so I can play a whole set of them. Some of the littler ones don't know, say, "The Little Mermaid", which isn't terribly surprising since it came out 24 years ago. Still, by the magic of DVD, some of them do, and my "picture menu" Kids' Songs list was a stroke of genius.

Anyway, a really great night, and I made an almost-record amount in tips, so I must have been doing something right.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 19Apr2104

Great day/evening! Nice weather, lots of nice people on the bench the whole time -- which was almost six hours. But I didn't even notice -- time was flying; I must have been having fun.

I usually don't sell any CDs, so it didn't bother me that I only had three with me to put out. But someone bought one, and some other people saw that and decided that that looked like a good idea, and then someone else, and I was sold out in 2 minutes. I'll have to start packing more inventory, I guess.

Finally had some families come by so I was able to give out some bubbles (when it's daytime) and finger lights (after dark). It's not really meant to be a scam; I just like making the kids happy. But the dads inevitably put more, or bigger, money in the jar -- or send the kids up with some.

The Request List isn't meant to be a money-maker either -- I'd just rather play the songs that whoever's there wants to hear. So I pass out the lists (and the more I do, the more connected to the audience, and the more fun), and people choose songs from them, and also tend to add money to the jar. Which I don't mind, of course, but I hope they don't think that I'm handing them a list just to scam money out of them.

Two new songs this week. People keep asking, "Do you know any Neil Young?" Most other artists, they ask for specific songs, but for some reason, they ask for Neil Young by name. I always play "Old Man", which is certainly a top 3 answer to that question, but I felt like I should have more options, so I worked up "Cowgirl in the Sand". I lowered it, but it's still Pretty Darn High to sing, but it sounds good, and it's fun to pretend that I know how to flatpick...

The other song was "Blue Bayou", which in either Roy Orbison's or Linda Ronstadt's case has a really low verse, and a really high chorus. I'm still working out where to put the capo to center it on my range to try to hit both extremes. Fun to sing, though.

Around 10:30 some teenage boys came by who were clearly musically knowledgeable. One of them was clearly a drummer; playing "air drums" along with my songs, so I gave him some of my tambourine sticks (which some moms misinterpret as "rattles" for their babies, as seen above), and he improvised a drum out of an empty paper ice cream cup, and played along on a few songs. That was pretty cool.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 12Apr2014

Tonight was as much great as last night was terrible. And a good thing, too -- restored my faith in wanting to come down at all. And the cops drove by 5 or 6 times, but apparently it was just to keep my adrenaline level up, 'cuz they never stopped.

The weather started nice and then turned cold, but we still had a full bench almost the whole time. And in the few gaps I had a chance to play some songs I've been working or reworking up: "Southern Cross", "Billie Jean", "My Girl", and "Handyman".

But the big crowd-gathering song these days is "Mrs. Robinson". It sounds really great with the harmony box filling in for Garfunkel, and of course everybody knows it and sings along on the chorus. I just wish I could pull off that intro riff, but it's for people who know how to flatpick, not me. People don't seem to notice my poor imitation of it, though...

Had a few families come by and got a nice "Let It Go" sing-along started. And some middle-aged ladies with their long-time Laguna resident mother came by. She told us that we were the best sidewalk band she'd ever heard.

We had enough people come by to keep playing until 10:30. Toward the end, when nobody was around, I thought I'd run through my weird acoustic version of "Billie Jean" again, and suddenly three college kids showed up and were loving it. When it was done, one of the guys told me that he "felt like that was the way that song *should* have been done".

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Friday, 11Apr2014

Busted! Almost...

I was hoping that there would be some action in Laguna on Friday nights, but I guess it's still too early. But we started out with some nice girls on the bench, but only three songs in, a cop car pulled up right when I was playing "Over the Rainbow" for them. He didn't actually signal me to stop, and I'm pretty sure that I wasn't breaking any laws, so I just kept playing, albeit as quietly as I could.

He went over and talked to Warren, and said that someone, who he wouldn't name, had complained about the noise. Our understanding is that there is no loudness limit, unless a business complains. The Ice Cream guy loves us, so he would never "drop a dime" on us, but Sanchez was playing across the street in front of the Fingerhut gallery, and the ladies in there hate him, so they definitely would.

But he was playing quieter than I've ever heard him, and so was I, since I didn't have to compete with his noise. Warren told him that it was more likely "the guy across the street" that had prompted the complaint, but the cop said that they'd mentioned the top hat.

So we were baffled, but the cop said that he thought the music sounded good, and if we turned it down a little, we could keep playing until/unless there was another complaint. And he went across the street to tell Sanchez the (presumably) same thing.

Our only theory is that a (new?) Fingerhut lady heard Sanchez' noise, but looking out the window, just saw me with a guitar and assumed I was the one making it. Or maybe she called in about "all those darn musicians". I guess we'll never know.

But later on, Warren saw a Fingerhut lady come out, make "turn it down" gestures at Sanchez, and then talk to him for a while. She didn't come over to do the same to us...

But, the whole thing put the scare into me, so I played super quiet and subdued from then on, and cowering every time a white car came around the corner from behind me. The cop never did come back, but it was pretty awful -- waiting, hoping he wouldn't.

We did have some people come by, unaware of the drama, and plop down on the bench with a batch of cameras, to take some time-lapse photos of the traffic going by Main Beach. For whatever reason. But the lady took some nice pictures of me with her fancy camera, and emailed them, so that was nice.

After we gave up (early -- no people, no fun -- at 8:30) and were hanging around talking, some high school boys came up and asked us if we were done. Turns out they were big fans of ancient blues rock: Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Dylan, etc. That was unexpected...

Keith at Private Party -- Sunday, 06Apr2014

One of the ladies who saw me play at the "Make Music Downey" festival almost 10 months ago was apparently impressed enough to hold onto my card all this time. She called me up out of the blue and asked me if I was "the guy who plays the James Taylor songs". I thought, well, I'm not *the* guy who plays the James Taylor songs -- he's older, balder, and speaks with a Carolina accent -- but I'm *a* guy, and probably the one she's looking for.

She wanted me to play at her house for a family party -- her sister was coming out from Texas, and there were birthdays and graduations to celebrate. I set up in the living room, and it was a little strange to just set up and play in somebody's house. Or maybe it's not, but *I'm* sure not used to playing in somebody's house. Or indoors, for that matter...

But I gauge the success of a show and how engaged the audience was -- by how many songs get requested, and how many I have to pick myself. And after I played my customary "Hotel California" intro song, I didn't have to pick a single song for the whole time (four hours).

One lady in particular became a running joke among her family members by choosing songs one after another, before anyone else could get a word in. People would come and go from the room, and conversations would start up in this or that corner of the room, but they were generally reasonably polite about it. It was, after all, their party, not my concert. And I was being paid...

And as I was packing up, the brother-in-law came up and told me how much he had enjoyed my playing and the great songs on my list -- and he slipped me 40 bucks. Now, that's a tip.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 05Apr2014

Nice weather, and it must be a vacation week abroad because there were lots of foreign visitors out, along with the usual locals. We had lots of nice people right from the beginning, but pretty soon some local characters showed up and monopolized the bench and the somewhat drunk guy wanted to chat up the visitors, which generally just scared them away.

I finally despaired of getting any kind of audience together with them there, so I "took a break" to try to bore them away. Which actually worked after a while, and had the added benefit of letting me sit down for a while.

Earlier in the wee, I rediscovered James Taylor's version of "Handyman" in my songbook, which I had worked up but abandoned because it was just too high for me. But my range has moved up quite a bit, and it's somewhat feasible now, if I'm well warmed up. So I brought it out in public for the first time, and it seemed to work pretty well.

A nice lady listened for a few songs and then came up and announced that she was from "Chile, South America!". She asked me if I knew any Jim Croce, and I said no, because people always mean "Time In a Bottle" when they ask that, and I don't do that one. But she finally came up with the song name that she meant, and it was "I'll Have To Say I Love You In a Song", which is the only Croce song that I *do* know. So I fired it up and she danced around in front of me singing along. That was sweet.

We got cut off prematurely ("only" three hours) when the accessory battery went dead. I'm pretty sure I just recharged it wrong, but we went home with pretty short tips -- apparently the bulk of the tipping happens later in the evening. But I did sell three CDs, so somebody liked what we were playing...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Friday, 04Apr2014

Friday again, which means a slow start and a kinda quiet night. But I did have a huge party around 8:00, with lots of dancing kids and another big "Let It Go" on-stage sing-along.

Unfortunately, some kids think being on the stage is just too much fun, and I don't mind when they stay on the front edge, but that's never enough for some of them. I had one little girl in pink who got closer and closer until she was about to knock over the music stand, and then when she saw me clicking the buttons on the harmony box, she just had to join in on that. Which, of course, in the middle of a song causes havoc.

She was being almost handle-able, but then a little boy came up too, and he was even more dangerously curious. So after having to try to body block him away from the foot buttons for half a song, I had to request the parents to keep the kids off the stage. Which only half of them were willing to monitor...

I seem to have a bit of a stalker. The mystery lady was back again this week, sitting in the same comfy chair over by the Old Navy, staring at me for an hour or more from behind her aviator sunglasses. Not sure what the deal is there...

A family came by later on, so I handed them song lists, but I don't think they spoke any English. They talked among themselves in some language I couldn't even guess at, and finally the little girl just held the kids' list out and pointed at the "Frozen" sisters. "Let It Go", gotcha.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Thursday, 03Apr2014

I've always had bad luck with Artwalk nights -- everyone seems too hell-bent on getting to the next art gallery with a free cup of wine to slow down for some street music. But it was (around?) Spring Break, so I thought I'd give it another try.

And it was mostly a pretty big fail. I'd even decided to pander to the Party Girl crowd by playing all strummy rock and roll instead of my usual soft stuff. So I spent all day relearning a bunch of dance tunes.

This turned out to be a good plan, but not because I was right about the rock and roll working better It was because our old nemesis Sanchez set up across the street and was playing *really* loud. So I had to be equivalently loud just to be heard over his incessant droning D-tuned din.

Still it was kind of fun to play different types of songs for once -- all those rock 'n roll tunes, "867-5309", "Wake Up, Little Susie", "That Thing You Do", "Don't Stop Believing", "Amie", etc. And it worked for some folks...

A guy came by with a hand drum and asked if he could "sit in". I said, "Sure -- can't make it any worse!" He was actually quite good, and sensitive to the tempo and style of the songs I played while he was there. A while later, Warren's fiddle-player friend Doug Miller came by and tried to play along, too, but the rock stuff in non-fiddle-friendly keys I was playing didn't work very well for him.

Later on some people were sitting on the bench (including this cute steampunk girl) and I was feeling embarrassed by the lack of finesse of the songs I was playing (I always feel stupid playing rock and roll on an acoustic guitar with no bass nor drums), so I explained that I usually play softer songs, but that, because of the noise across the street, I had to play these loud ones to be heard. They said that they could hear me fine, which was hard to believe, but I took them at their word and tried some of my usual quieter stuff (but with the amp up pretty loud, of course). Apparently they could hear me better than I could, and *not* hear Sanchez as well as I could, 'cuz they seemed to really enjoy them.

Anyway, by 9:20 it was all but dead, and since I knew this was the first of four gigs in four days, I figured I'd better give my fingers, back, and knees a break and go on home.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Monday, 31Mar2014

I had thought that this week was going to be Spring Break for some people, but apparently not -- it was really dead. And a cold wind was blowing.

But some people came out prepared for the weather and were willing to sit a spell and listen. Three nice teenage girls stopped to eat their ice cream and stayed for quite a while, requesting half a dozen songs.

And a group from France pulled up short when they realized that these guys weren't half bad. I was playing "The Weight", which I really only started 'cuz nobody was there, but apparently I do it better than I think I do. When that one was over, I invited them to pick the next song, and they chose "I'm Yours" which surprised me -- I'd'a never guessed that that song had been a hit in France, too.

Keith in Laguna Beach -- Sunday, 30Mar2014

After the great time we'd had the night before, I couldn't resist coming down to try my luck again. Not as many people out, but still pretty good.

I hadn't been playing very long when up comes a lady and Captain Jack Sparrow. She asked me if Jack could come up and jam with me on harmonica. I was like, "Wait, what?" I guess it was the last thing I was expecting, so it took me a while to parse that request, but then I said, "Sure!" and she waved him over. He dug around in his waist pouch and came up with an A harp, so I fired up some 12-bar blues in A, and he started wailing -- and he was really good, too! Some really strange things have happened down on that corner, but jamming with Captain Jack has to be the most surreal thing I've ever done.

A high school kid walked right up to me, spun around and held up his phone to take a selfie video with me in the background, singing "Sounds of Silence". I could see myself in his screen. I don't know where that video's going to end up, but it was fun.

A family came by with a little four-year-old girl and her little brother. I played "Twinkle Twinkle" and "Itsy Bitsy" and "Rubber Duckie" and some more for them. After a few songs she exclaimed, "He's playing *music*!" Why, yes I am. Thanks for noticing!

A teenage girl with her little brother in tow sat on the bench for a long time. I asked if they were waiting for a ride or something, but no, she was listening to me sing. She said she loved all these songs, and said that I must love these "old songs", too. I told her, no, I'm just that old!

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 29Mar2014

I was feeling really up for it, so I went down at :30 to make sure to get The Corner on a Saturday night in Spring Break. Lots of people out and lots of activity down by the beach, and more kids than usual. I ended up playing "Let It Go" five times.

We had a pretty constant stream of friendly people, including a batch from Liverpool who danced and unsurprisingly asked for some Beatle songs, enthusiastically joining in on the na-nas at the end of "Hey Jude".

It finally tapered off to nothing at 10:30 (a six hour shift!), and we were sitting on the bench talking about our mutual misfortune earlier in the week in the lay-off department. I was holding my guitar, since I don't bring the case from the car 'cuz there's nowhere to store it, when four guys came up who apparently spoke no English at all came up. One guy asked me if I "Haben zie Blues?", so I fired up my blues tune (barely audible without the amp) and Warren dug out a harmonica, and we played for a while. The guy was apparently at least a little impressed, 'cuz he handed me two bucks and they all called out (presumably) nice things in German as they left.

I think that the unpredictability is what makes this hobby so compelling...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- Friday, 28Mar2014

I had high hopes 'cuz of the nice Spring weather, but it was pretty slow. Had a great on-stage "Let It Go" sing-along right at the beginning, with a batch of kids and their camera-toting parents. This is definitely a winning strategy.

But, as I'd feared might happen sometimes, some kids take the opportunity to choose songs as a license to take over the show. I had some boys decide to do that this time, and their parents were nowhere to be found (some parents take me for a babysitter). So after playing some of their requests, I had to just ignore them and play songs that I wanted to, and try to bore them away. I can tell the difference between a legitimate request and a kid who just wants to make the adult "dance", and I'm not getting paid enough to stand here being abused, thank you.

An old friend from Trailmates came by and sat to listen and watch the kids for a long time. His daughter appeared after a while and they had me play "Waltzing With Bears", with them singing along like the old days. And later on a teenage girl came by and asked me if I used to play for the Indian Princesses. It's a very niche fame I've got...

I was just about to call it a night, and played "Wonderful Tonight" as my last number, and a middle-aged couple came running up to slow dance to it. That was sweet.

K&W in Laguna Beach -- Saturday, 22Mar2014

Kinda gloomy weather, so although lots of people smiled on their way past, we didn't get anything really going until about 9:00. (We did get started late, 'cuz I forgot the accessory battery again. But at least now I've figured out what change in my routine is causing it, and it won't happen again. Probably.)

Anyway, we got a few people to stop, and I gave them song lists, and they requested stuff, and other people stopped to see what was up, and that stopped even more people until we had quite a party going on for a while there. I just kind of "went around the room" and everyone was taking their turn making requests. I think I need more copies of the list.

One guy and his wife stayed a long time, and asked for quite a few songs. Finally he came up and asked me if I ever played for other people and their original songs. Um, no. I guess he wanted me to learn his songs and play them so he could record them. I told him I wouldn't have time to do anything like that. Nor inclination, but I kept that to myself..

At one point some young girls sat and listened for a long time, and finally got up to leave, but as they got across the street I fired up "Over the Rainbow". I guess they like that song 'cuz they made a sudden U-turn and came right back and sat down for it. *Then* they left.

I was playing what I thought would be my last song when some college kids came by and started dancing to it. And then they wanted more dance songs, so I fired up "Mister Postman", and they danced up a storm.

But the best part was during the big party, one guy was totally thrilled to find "Please Come to Boston" on the list and excitedly asked me to play it. I did, and there's a part where it says, "I still need to lean to somebody I can sing to", and he yelled out "You can sing to *me*!"

Keith in Laguna Beach -- Sunday, 16Mar2014

I had such a great night at Spectrum on Saturday night, I couldn't resist trying my luck again on Sunday in Laguna. And I wanted to see if the afternoon "beach crowd" would be a better bet than the evening crowd we usually play for, so went down at 2:30.

And yup, there were lots of people out, but most of them were all on their way to something and didn't slow down much. But those that did were very friendly. I had half a dozen people come up to tell me I have a "lovely voice" and similar comments. One guy and then a whole extended family came up to tell me that they'd seen me the night before at Spectrum. I remembered the grandparents sitting and smiling for a long time the night before, and since they knew want to expect, they just settled in on the bench and made several requests. The teenage grand-daughter decided to buy a CD, and asked me to autograph it. Sweet.

At one point, there was a big family standing over by the ice cream store, and a twenty-something daughter came over and just said "Excuse me!" right in the middle of a song, so I stopped, and she asked me to play "Always On My Mind" for her parents over there. I'm happy to do that, but usually people wait until a break between songs to put in a request. I guess she was just really done with that previous song...

Later in the evening, a dad with several little girls came by, so, since I had had such great luck inviting the kids up onto the stage the night before, I asked if anyone knew the words to "Let It Go", and the dad sent one little girl over. She stood in front of me didn't sing a word or move a muscle through the whole song, much to her dad's amusement. Stage fright I guess.

A nice group of tourists came by and asked me to play "Carolina In My Mind", but since it was the day after Saint Patrick's Day, one of the ladies asked me to play an Irish song first. The only one I know is "Danny Boy", which I sing a cappella in my car on the way to gigs as a warm up, because it starts very low and goes very high. So I fired it up, but I've never played it on guitar, so I had to just completely fake the guitar chords for it, and not terribly successfully. But I kept the guitar pretty quiet and powered out the vocal, so maybe they didn't notice much...

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.