My new guitar finally came in! It's really pretty and plays pretty great (now that I've lowered the action a bit). When I picked it up, I asked them what strings Taylor had put on it (so I could, you know, replace them with the same kind eventually, assuming I like them). But the shop guys not only didn't know, they didn't know there was two kinds that Taylor uses. I suspect that they're what Taylor calls "HD Light", which is really just Medium top three strings, and Light bottom three. The result is that the high strings feel really tight, and hurt more. And some sound difference too, I guess...
Anyway, Tom wasn't supposed to be down there, so I was really looking forward to playing the whole night on the ice cream corner, with my new guitar. But Tom's plans changed at the last minute and he was going to be there after all.
Well, I had to go down anyway, and play someplace, anyplace, 'cuz, new guitar! I noticed that the alley was empty as I drove past it, but I was aiming at playing by the green swirly artwork bench-thing. But there was already a guy there, so I decided to head for the alley. As I went through the Fingerhut corner, Rasta Ross jumped up and said, "Oh! You can play here! I give you this corner!", which was great of him.
Fingerhut is actually closed, so I could play right in front of the papered-over display window without fear that the ladies would come and tell me to quit blocking it. Facing that way, people can use the low wall as a bench.
Problem was, the window's just a bit too narrow for the both of us, so I was too close to Warren's amp and hearing his guitar too much, and getting feedback from my guitar, and it being unfamiliar and not sounding right all made for an uncomfortable first try.
Still, somehow, we did all right -- I sold five CDs even before Tom quit and we started up on the ice cream side, at 11:20. It sounded better there, since I'm farther from Warren's amp, and there's no little wall directly across from me, to which I attribute the feedback problem.
Anyway, it was pretty dead at 11, but it was fun to be playing the new guitar, so we kept playing until the Changing-Bars people started coming through. They all thought we should keep playing until 1:20 when the batteries disagreed.
Warren always sends a text to Tom to see if he's going to be there, and Tom usually doesn't reply, so we have to assume he will be, 'cuz he usually is. This time Tom actually replied that he would be there, and that his State Program (whatever that is) imposed curfew was over, so instead of staying until 9pm, he'd be playing until 10:30.
Leaving us to start at 9:30 was already pretty bad, but stuck starting at 11:00 is ridiculous. But because he has a legion of kids to do supply runs and take turns going to the bathroom, he can and does spend the whole day on the corner, playing only occasionally, and keeping anyone else from setting up. And I can't think of a way to overcome that.
Warren went down to scope it out, and texted me all of this, also revealing that Rasta Ross was set up noodling with his tabla on the Fingerhut corner, Fiddle Guy was across the street, some guy with an acoustic guitar was in a closed gallery's alcove down the way, and further down, a Chinese lady was singing in Mandarin to a karaoke machine. This is really getting out of hand...
But I went down anyway to try to think of something. Warren thought that the alcove that the acoustic guy had just vacated looked promising, but I thought it was too far from the Corner to siphon off any traffic. I proposed the half-circular alcove between Fingerhut and Chico's, which is usually off-limits when those stores are open, but at 9:05, should be OK since they were both closed. (And Fingerhut is Really Closed, out of business, and there were painters in there, preparing for whoever's next.)
Warren objected that our amplifiers would be pointing directly at the Tommies from there, but I countered that that was a Good Thing, since Warren's supposed friendship with Tom hadn't caused him to do anything to accommodate us, so why should I accommodate him? I was hoping that, at least, some people who were done with the cuteness of the Tommies Show would hear some Real Music coming from across the way, and trade up.
And indeed, right after I started, I had gathered a pretty big crowd, even with no place to sit. Not knowing how this was going to go, I hadn't bothered to deploy all my stuff, so I was playing from memory. But after four songs there were so many people there that it seemed rude to not give them the chance to pick their favorite songs, so I got the song lists out, handed them around, and fetched the music stand and iPad out.
About 10:30, Tom's older daughter Tessa came over to tell us that they were going to play two more songs and then go, so I packed up quickly and rolled over there. We did OK, but obviously, starting at 11:00, the real crowds were long gone. It's not about the money, but as a barometer of how much interaction and appreciation we gathered, the "take" was the worst since the colds of the middle of January.
I'm apparently really going to have to come up with another plan for Saturdays.
I went down at 8:00 just to get in line to take over from the Tommies, and was completely surprised to find the corner empty. Wish I'd'a known sooner, but still, yay!
Warren had another event to go to so I played solo until he got there at 9:30, and had pretty great crowds. I had requests three deep at one point, and sold a couple of CDs. There were long lines out the door of the ice cream shop, and the owner gave me a big smile and wave like it was all my doing. Nice of him to think so.
My little super-fan Natalia came by with her family again. A little boy was there ahead of her and he wanted to hear and sing "Let It Go". Natalia was not to be outdone and she and her pregnant mom came up to (kinda almost) sing "Over the Rainbow".
Angel, the guy who makes the palm frond roses arrived a little after I started. Fortunately, he didn't take over the whole bench like he used to, so he didn't impede the tourists' ability to use the bench much.
Lots of Brazilian people this week. Maybe it's some kind of holiday week down there. Anyway, they're quite the partiers, and one lady wanted me to play a Brazilian song for her to sing. I told her I didn't know any Brazilian songs (though I used to know "Girl from Ipanema" a little), so she just told me to "play along" as she launched into one. Um, I'm pretty good, but not that good, to just guess the chords of a song I've never heard...
Had another wedding party, I guess, by the clothes. I wish they'd'a said something, but by the time I figured it out, they were on their way. I’m all out of tiaras anyway.
There was a pretty big slump at 10 or so, but then it picked back up big time as the late-night bar crowds started to emerge. I played lots of up tempo songs and got some enthusiasm in return.
When it started to die back down again at 2am, I was still caffeined out, so I had fun running through some songs I don't usually get to: "Peace Train", "Behind Blue Eyes", "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes", "4 and 20", and some others. It was nice to break out of the Top Twenty for a while.
Finally gave up at 2:30, when there was nobody left at all, except Angel, who'd missed the last bus home. I think he was hoping that one of us would offer him a ride, but although he thinks we're friends, I think he's a nuisance (both with the crowd annoying, and the smoking while I'm trying to sing), so, no, I didn't offer.
It rained all day, but was predicted to stop around 7pm. That apparently and happily scared the Tommies off, and surprisingly, didn't really keep everyone away -- the traffic was only a bit lighter than usual. We had plenty of people to play for, although it was tough to get anyone to stay very long because of one homeless guy and his luggage occupying most of the bench. Sigh.
We had a few families come by, including a little Asian girl who volunteered to stand next to me to sing "Let It Go", but didn't actually make a sound. Bravely held her position, though...
The new harmony box, being bigger and smarter than the old one, draws more juice and has been responsible for the accessories going dead before the amp does for the last few gigs. So I got a new, almost twice as powerful, battery for the accessories. Apparently the amp batteries saw the writing on the wall, so they stepped up too, and we played until almost 2am before they cut out.
The late-night crowd is more affable, more demonstrative, and more generous, probably by virtue of being frequently more tipsy. I was hoping that playing dance tunes would capture some of the Woo Girls zooming through, which has worked in the past, but this time I never could get a critical mass to get a party started. I even learned the Chuck Berry song that Uma Thurman and John Travolta twist to for the dance contest scene in "Pulp Fiction" ("C'est La Vie"), but never got a chance to see if the Girls would recognize it as such. Maybe next week.
Around 1am a wedding party came through and the newlyweds stood in the middle of the corner looking like they wanted to dance. I immediately fired up "Wonderful Tonight", and they, and the rest of the party, just melted. The bride even had long blonde hair, as specified in the song. I had a feeling that I'd just created their "Our Song". (And who'd'a thought that Eric Clapton would write the most romantic song of our generation?)
Seeing how pleased the newlyweds were, the maid of honor ran over to the tip jar with a twenty, where it joined several others. Counting the jar out later, it was pretty obvious that the bigger bills were higher up, i.e., later at night. I'm starting to think that going on after the Tommies, starting at 9-ish, might not be such a bad thing. And 9-2 would be a much easier shift than 7-2 on my fingers, voice, knees, etc.
Since I forgot last time and got rescheduled almost two weeks later, it seemed like I'd just been there. Everyone says that the old folks won't care (or remember), but I still feel like they have to be getting tired of the same old stuff every time.
But they never show it, of course. They clap politely at any and every song I play. It's tough though because I can't tell which songs they like more than others. Of course, I try to play older songs that they'll know, but even if it's way after "your time", how can you not know, say, "Yesterday"?
So I've kind of given up trying to stick to songs that they'll definitely know, and am just doing songs that are Big Hits, even if they're not from the 50's or older.
Which has allowed me to loosen up, along with just getting accustomed to the place and people. I'm also trying to mix in more up (or at least medium) tempo songs. Not sure it worked, though -- I still had a half-dozen people fast asleep in their chairs before the third song. (Can't say I blame 'em -- I like me a little afternoon nap these days too, and I'm quite a bit younger than most of these folks.)
Anyway, I felt like this was my best, and most fun, gig there so far. I started off with crowd-pleaser "Country Roads", knocked 'em dead with "Georgia On My Mind", got to play "Cool Water" (which sounds amazing with the harmony box, but I never get to play it anywhere else), and finished with a big, flashy, "Bridge Over Trouble Water". Big fun.
Quite a night! We started on the Fingerhut corner at 8, moved to the ice cream corner when the Tommies left at 10, and played until 2am.
As I was setting up, I realized that I had cleverly decided to pack the iPad music book somewhere other than the guitar case, and then promptly cleverly forgot all about it and left it behind. Fortunately, I have a backup three-ring binder copy that lives in the van, but I played the whole first two hours from memory. Which, since I suck at memorizing songs, meant maybe 10 songs, and some heavy repetition.
It also meant that the obscure songs that are in the 300+ electronic version were unavailable in the 150-ish paper one. Like the Johnny Cash songs that a guy came up and requested (with lavish tip) to sing. We faked "Folsom Prison Blues" anyway ('cuz, let's face it, Johnny Cash wasn't the world's most sophisticated songwriter), and the guy was pretty good. Just hitting those Cash low notes was impressive. He was back a while later to sing "Sweet Caroline" (also not in the book), and "Piano Man". His big personality and bigger gestures gathered the crowd that had been eluding me at that hour.
Same as the birthday girl who asked to play my guitar and sing "Dock of the Bay" earlier on. Maybe I should consider changing the act to all-karaoke -- it seems to attract bigger crowds than just me all the time...
Anyway, I was feeling annoyed that we're apparently eternally consigned to the "late shift" after Tom decides to go home, but although we did OK from 8-10 on the Fingerhut side, we did pretty well from 10-2 on the ice cream side. Of course, we'd do way better yet if we could play the whole time on the ice cream side...
Fourth of July fell on a Saturday, so we thought there would be lots of people down at Laguna to see the firework show. And there were. But they were all preoccupied with their beach trip and, after the fireworks, getting home, so it was actually one of the worst nights in a long time. I keep falling for the idea that holidays will be good nights, but so far, every time I play a holiday: New Year's, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, etc., it's been terrible. Maybe I'll finally divest myself of that delusion...
The Tommies were there as usual when we arrived at 8:00, but they packed up in time to watch the fireworks at 9:00. We played on the Fingerhut side until then, and moved over when they left. And when the fireworks were over, there was a tsunami of people swarming off of the beach and streaming past us, but almost nobody stopped. Big hurry to get out there and sit in the traffic trying to get back up the canyon, I guess.
I just kept trying to find something that would slow somebody down, and kept playing to no reaction at all. Finally it paid off -- when the Fourth people were all gone at 10:30 or 11, we were finally playing for the usual Saturday night bar traffic, which works pretty well for me.
I snagged a few couples with the Everly Brothers' "Dream", which I'm going to have to remember to do more often, 'cuz it went over big. The girls captured by that one asked for "Mister Postman" from the list, which also did well, since they danced and even the people walking through had to do it dancing. So for the last couple of hours (we quit at 1am when the battery died) we did OK.
Unfortunately, our old friend Angel has reappeared for the summer. He makes origami roses from palm fronds and "gives" them to girls and kids. Of course, most people "tip" him for them, and he said that he'd made $350 that day, in 12 hours of hanging around the corner. That's pretty close to our hourly rate, but he can keep it up longer, requires a lot less equipment, and doesn't get blocked if someone else already has The Corner. Maybe I need to switch occupations...
This was my monthly session with the old folks at the Senior Day Care. Of course, I try to play the oldest songs I know, but there aren't that many of them, and I keep thinking that they'll get tired of me. But the people who work there always semi-jokingly say that nobody there can remember what happened last month.
I was supposed to play two weeks earlier, but I completely forgot since I don't have to look at my calendar very often these days. The lady, Nancy, graciously re-booked me, but I never wanted to become one of those "flakey musicians".
To make sure that she didn't have to fret about my not showing up again, I arrived way early. I couldn't set up that soon though, because the room was being used for Bingo. So I had to just awkwardly hang out in the office. Turned out Nancy had nothing to do either, because her computer was "broken". I took a look at it, did a hard shutdown, and it powered back up just fine. She was thrilled and had/got to call and cancel the tech that was coming. That made up, a little, for my no-show, I think.
And to make it up to the old folks, I learned a new song from my Dad's recently discovered Guitar Music binder. It's "Today" (while the blossoms still cling to the vine...), and it went over pretty well. I need to clarify where and what kind of harmony to use, though -- I just kind of faked it.
Right after I finished playing at the private party in Irvine, Warren gave me a call and was down on The Corner, watching the Tommies pack up. So I pulled through and got a burger, and drove straight down there. The party was only two hours of playing, so with the teardown, driving, and setup time, I got an hour break and was ready for lots more.
The weather was weird and cloudy and distinctly non-summer-like, so I didn't expect many people, but there were lots of tourists out anyway, so we had people there listening the whole time. There was a girl having her 21st birthday so I played the song for her, and lots of families with kids so I gave out a passle of fingerlights. Seemed like a preponderance of nice Asian families on vacation -- must have been some kind of break week in China or Japan or somewhere. I just played lots of "Country Roads" ("The Song Known 'Round The World") and "Let It Be". I reckon maybe a lot of those fingerlights were going back to China where they came from.
We got started about 8, and Warren had to get up early so he left at 11, but I played an extra half hour, mostly for a nice tourist couple who must have just arrived and weren't sleepy 'cuz they were still on "South Florida" time and wouldn't let me quit.
The wife of a friend of my brother's was planning a surprise birthday party for her husband and they are frequent guests at my brother's house when I do the concerts on his front driveway, so she knew her husband would love my music at his party. It was at a small park in Irvine, and she had it catered and invited about 75 people.
Most of the time, everyone was eating at the big round tables, so I was basically background music again, but most everyone who walked past me to get to the food would give me a smile or thumbs-up, so I could tell that they were liking it, even without any clapping.
One lady liked my repertoire so much that she was about to take pictures of the list (to reference, she later told me, at her frequent campfire sing-alongs). I stopped her and gave her one of the paper copies that I carry in the Magic Bag -- saved her the trouble.
Anyway, it was mostly uneventful, but the lady who hired me must have been happy with it, since we'd agreed on my usual $200 fee, but when she handed me a check, it was for $300.
A nice lady on Facebook wanted to promote her store by having buskers out front. Cheaper than renting one of those blow-up tube guys, I guess.
It's a store full of locally made groovy stuff: bags, jewelry, soap, jelly, coffee blends, re-purposed thrift store clothes, etc. It's in downtown Long Beach, but I was told that there was $5 all day parking nearby, which I couldn't find. So I ended up in a "2 Hours Free!" parking structure and figured I'd go back and drive out and back in at the two hour mark, as also advised by the nice but devious lady.
Anyway, nice wide sidewalk out front, but it's on the east side of the street so it's in broad sunlight, starting at 2pm in the middle of June. I thought, well, at least I have a hat...
So I played. And boiled. A few people walked by, and even fewer put a buck in the jar, though I suspect it was more out of pity for my sweat than respect for the music. Nobody stopped to hear a whole song, but one guy with his little girl promised to come back for one. And didn't.
So, at 4:00 I decided to cut my losses and get into some air conditioning before I passed out and broke my guitar. I went into the store to tell the guy Thanks but No Thanks, and got roped into posing for the professional photographer that was taking pictures of people going "Shhhh" for their upcoming "Secret Art Show" promotional material. And they couldn't wait to get some shots of the guy in the funny hat...
That delay put me just over the two FREE! hours, so I probably didn't even break even, but, you know, new and different experiences...
I did message the nice lady, telling her that it wasn't *that* bad, and that I'd love to come back sometime in the evening when the storefront would be in shade, at least. Or even play, like, inside. No reply. Probably embarrassed about nearly killing me...
I don't know why I keep signing up for this thing (this is my fourth one). I suppose it's flattering to be asked to play (even for free) in a big "Festival", but it's actually a pretty bad gig. Play for four hours to make about a third as much in tips as I would on any Saturday night, for people who run right on by to get to or from the beach. And anybody who came down specifically for the music has 35 more bands to get to, so they don't stick around (or tip, 'cuz who can afford to tip 35 bands) either. Even if you're the best band there, they don't know that until they've walked the whole city.
But the upside this year was that I played at the night-before party and made yet more rich old lady friends, 'cuz, you know, I'm right in their wheelhouse. One of the organizers insisted that I show up, this time, at the After-Fete party (it's all about the parties for these people) at the "C'est La Vie" restaurant that's just a few doors down and across the street from the corner I play at.
They have live music in there sometimes, so I asked the organizer lady to introduce and recommend me to the owner, and she did, telling him that if he had me in there, she and all her Committee friends would be there. So, hopefully, she'll follow through with that idea and I'll get at least one night in there, which will hopefully parlay into more.
She had thought that I was going to bring her a CD to the restaurant, but I don't know how she got that idea, and I didn't. So I went back to my car and fetched a stack of 'em and handed 'em out like candy to all the Committee ladies, the owner, his sister the manager, and a Kids' CD for his 10-year-old daughter. Hopefully, all of those were a good investment...
You'd kind of expect that each Saturday leading up and to summer would be better than the last. But the last three Saturdays have each been worse than the one before it. Maybe it was the gloomy weather that kept people at home this time, but it was pretty empty.
Warren had gotten there at 7:20 to wait out the Tommies, but he discovered that they hadn't come at all, so he called me and I got down there as fast as I could. We had a three-generation family on the bench even before we started, but they must have liked the music 'cuz they stayed for about an hour. And bought CDs, too.
Later on a guy came up to buy a CD, but he only had a twenty. I told him to go ahead and make change out of the jar, but it was early and there wasn't much big money so he had to count out a bunch of ones. And 5 minutes later he came up to buy a second one, for some reason. At least this time he had exact change...
And I did have a "Let It Go" singalong, except the three kids didn't actually sing at all. Unclear on the concept, apparently.
Anyway, oddly slow night, and the people who were there were strangely apathetic. Maybe it was me...
The Tommies texted Warren to let him know that they were quitting earlier than usual, so we jumped in our cars and got started playing around 8:15. But it was kind of chilly, so there weren't many people willing to stop -- which may explain Tom's early retreat. We did gather some crowds, but not as constantly as last week.
But the fun started even before I got down there. I was stopped on my way to The Corner by a lady shouting, "I love your hat! Marry me!!!" I had to walk through her little group, so I stopped to talk, though I was in a hurry to join up with Warren and get started. It's all pretty fuzzy now, but there was talk about a birthday, and what a great hat, and I showed off the bunny inside, and tried to convince them to follow me down to The Corner and hear me sing, so I could do "Happy Birthday" for them, etc.
But first they needed a picture, and the older lady (you know, my age) had her phone out, and I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow I ended up locked in a kiss with the "Marry me" girl, waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the mom (?) to signal that she'd gotten the pic. It was like those dolls with the magnets in their lips, puckered up and barely touching. But Mom apparently didn't really know how to work her phone, so after what seemed like ages (but was probably 10 seconds), I broke the kiss to ask "Did you get it?", but she hadn't, so we had to go again, but this time the younger dude had his phone out, so eventually somebody got the pic.
But that wasn't enough! Now the mom was complaining, "Hey, it's *my* birthday, where's *my* kiss?!?" So I gave her a peck, too, but didn't wait for the cameras this time. After a bit more trying to convince them to come hear me play (they never did), I went on my way, thinking, "How did *that* happen?!?"
Anyway, it was pretty slow at first, but started to pick up after 9:00 or so -- maybe starting later isn't such a bad thing. My little superfan (whose name is Natalia) came down with her family again. Her mom is noticeably pregnant, which probably accounts for Natalia's having a baby doll stuffed up under her sweater. Nevertheless, she asked for "Mister Postman", which was a big hit with her and her mom, but also the other people standing around.
A guy came up to tell us that he'd just moved to Laguna. We asked "from where", and he said, "Newport Beach". Not too terribly exotic, then. But he was really thrilled with my stuff, and when I played "Blackbird", he jumped off the bench to do some "We're not worthy!" bows. Crazy.
And later on, a couple came by and mentioned that it was their anniversary. I quickly gave the lady a tiara, which looked good on her. I told her that now she'd get the respect at work that she deserved, and she liked that idea.
But we also got our first taste of trouble in the form of drunken bums -- in particular a woman (we're pretty sure), who kept hanging around and harassing our "customers", singing along, making rude comments, and generally scaring people away. And little Mexican Walt, whose shtick is to "make friends" with tourists before asking for money, was also there.
Warren made some heroic efforts to get them to move to the furthest bench (or go away), but they were pretty persistent. At one point, I just "took a break", since nobody could stop anyway, in hopes that the woman would go away. And she did go sit on the far bench, but as soon as I started playing again, she wandered back over.
So, about 1:15, since there were almost no people left, and the ones that came by couldn't stop anyway, I gave up. Naturally, as soon as we started tearing down, she left -- so maybe I need to use that as a strategy.
Anyway, not as good a night as last week, but pretty good, and inexplicably more lucrative -- there were four twenties in the jar, and 8 or 10 fives, along with the usual stack of ones. My voice isn't completely back to normal, but I can sing the high notes pretty well, and the remaining "gravel" actually seems to make the low notes stronger.
The Tommies are pretty much a fixture, but Warren went down early to forestall any incursion by the two little ukulele girls. That meant that we got to start at 9:00, which isn't ideal by any means, but we haven't figured out a way to do any better.
Fortunately, the weather was nice, so there were lots of people out, even after 9:00. My laryngitis was almost completely gone, and by the end of the night I was warmed up enough to do even the songs with high notes.
Before I even got a chance to play my customary "Hotel California" opening number, a lady came up and flaunted a twenty dollar bill at me if I could/would play "House at Pooh Corner", which I totally can, and did, along with "Landslide", which she and her friend danced to. She was crazy thrilled, and it made for a great start. Because of her enthusiasm and antics, we gathered a crowd right from the beginning. And kept it all night long, too.
A few songs later, my 4-year-old superfan Natalia showed up with her family. They've come by 3 or 4 times now, and clearly live nearby and come down every Saturday looking for me. She has my CD, so she knows all my kid songs. Her favorite is clearly "You'll Be In My Heart" from "Tarzan", which she and her (very pregnant) mom like to dance to. She also asked for "Do You Want To Build a Snowman" which she claimed was "for my little brother", and "Puff, the Magic Dragon" which, although most adults claim to dislike it, a lot of them sing along.
A nice couple was there for a while, with the lady singing along on every song. She asked me for a few, and, detecting an accent, I asked where they were from: Wales. And another of my CDs is on its way to Europe. After a while they got up and said that they needed to go see some more sights, but they were back surprisingly soon, and stayed a long time -- nice to think that my music outweighed the sights of Laguna Beach. While they were gone, a couple of ladies from London had stopped in for some songs, and we had a bit of "Who gets the next request" competition. Fortunately, a street fight didn't break out...
Later on, a couple of guys came by, and the one with the blonde dreads was trying to sing some harmony, but kept being confused that the part he was trying to add was already there (by the harmony box). He told us the story of how his guitar got stolen at a photoshoot, and Jackson Browne bought him a "custom Gibson" to replace it. Nice.
He asked for "Old Man" 'cuz he wanted to rap to it (???), but there was no openings in it to do so (obviously). So I fired up a few of its chords in a loop, and he started "rapping", but it wasn't the usual urban rap, it was that reggae style stream of consciousness gibberish kind. I couldn't hear or understand most of it, nor parse even less, but it was something about the Cherokee man telling the story of feeding the good wolf. So that was, let's say, unusual...
Anyway, a really great night for my first one back in a while. Lots of people, all night long -- and we played from 9:00 until the batteries gave out at 1:15am. It felt like summer again.
My laryngitis finally subsided enough to let me (try to) sing at my monthly Senior Home gig. I still wasn't convinced that I'd be able to sing well, but I'd already postponed it a week, so I went to give it a try.
And, yes, I was a bit wobbly on the high notes, especially at first, but if anyone could sympathize with wobbly high notes, it was these people. It was a bit embarrassing, but I've played there 3 or 4 times before, and they all like me. And my voice got better as it got warmed up, so by the end, I was fine. To my great relief, since I was starting to wonder if my voice was going to actually come back at all.
Anyway, it went how it usually goes -- me singing my oldest songs, up to about the early 70's, and old folks watching mostly impassively. Except the ones who sing along when they know the songs, and the ones that fall asleep.
Turns out my best sing-along song is "South of the Border" -- the old ladies really like to join in on the "Ay, yi, yi, yi" parts.
One of the ladies who works there popped in from the side door to tell me "You have a beautiful voice!". Naturally, I said, "Thank you!". A few songs later she came back in from the other side door to say the same thing again. And then when I was leaving through their office, she was there and told me a third time. This time I said, "Well, thank you, but you should hear me when I'm not sick!".
When I played at the bar/restaurant in downtown Huntington Beach, a guy came up and asked me to play "Puff" for his daughter, and later came up again to hire me to play his party. The party was to commemorate his graduating from USC dentist school, and was at his house. Turned out there's a tiny private island at the tip of Balboa Island with 8 houses on it -- his is number 6.
I played on the back patio toward the water, and had a dozen or so of his friends at a time out listening to me. Along with several boats full of curious neighbors that came by to listen in.
Problem was, I was catching a cold, and was pretty scratchy at first. But I've played sick before, and usually get away with it. But this time is was a true throat infection, not just stuffy sinuses that I can treat with medicine. I got better as I get warmed up, but then it turned around and by the end of the three hours, I was barely able to sing at all. I started doing my songs a whole step lower by leaving off the capo, but I still couldn't hit the high notes.
So, although I always play way past "quitting time", this time I had to stop, just because I was embarrassing myself. Or so I thought -- people were all, "Oh, are you quitting?!?" Considering I can barely muster enough voice to answer the question, yes, sorry, I'm quitting.
But apparently they liked me anyway. The guy's wife came up to hand me a wad of bills as my payment, and they'd overpaid me by $50 (which I *presume* was deliberate - guy lives in a $2M house). I didn't even bring my tip jar, but the guy found one and put it out for me, and I collected another $32 from the party people.
Unfortunately, on the way home, I could barely swallow, and the day after, couldn't speak at all. I have some gigs coming up in the next week -- so I hope my throat heals fast.
Anyway, it was fun, and *finally* an example of what I've been hoping would happen for the last 13 years -- somebody hears me playing at a place, and hires me to play at another place. That's how it ought to work, right?
I saw an announcement on Facebook of a guy looking for bands. I sent him a message and he was actually looking for a band to play a Mother's Day event in Huntington Beach. I told him that mothers love my stuff, so he booked me.
Turns out it was a "Mother's Day Boutique", the weekend *before* Mother's Day, and I was the opening shift from 12:30-1:30. So I ended up playing the whole time to the six or eight ladies that were there selling scarves, jewelry, and vintage clothes -- and nobody else. Epic fail. I guess I'm lucky it was only one hour...
And to make it worse, the "act" after me was the owner's teenage son, singing his Sinatra imitation to iPod backing tracks. If that's not humiliating, I don't know what is.
But when the booking guy told me that the Mother's Day Boutique gig was only an hour long, I said that I preferred to play longer if/when I drag my stuff out. So he offered to let me play at a restaurant/bar in downtown Huntington Beach called "25 Degrees" afterwards and I leapt at the chance.
It's a trendy little place with fancy burgers, fancy appetizers, and fancy drinks. I was scheduled to play their "Happy Hour", from 3 to 6. It holds about 75 people, and was only about one-quarter full when I got there, but by 4:30 or so, it was so jammed up that people were coming in the door and leaving again 'cuz there was nowhere to sit.
Because it's small and people are there to hang with their friends, it was really, really noisy. I was worried that I was just going to be treated as background music, but people started clapping -- just a few at first (which usually fizzles out), but gaining in strength after every song.
This encouraged me, so I passed out a few song lists to the people that were closest, and started taking requests. I had taken a cue from the music on the house system as I was setting up (and remembered what had probably been the problem at my Tommy Bahama's audition), so I was playing my up-tempo stuff, and a couple of people started dancing! This is pretty unusual at 3:30 in the afternoon.
It was tough, with so much noise, especially since I was playing through the house sound system, and was apparently the only one who couldn't hear it, back in my little corner. But I kept stepping out to hear what it was like for everyone else, and it was pretty reasonable. I just had to play on faith, which, after all this time, I can pretty much do.
A guy came in with his wife and little kids, and after a while he came over to request "Puff" for his daughter. A while later he came back over and asked if he could hire me to play at his party in two weeks. Absolutely!
So, despite not being able to hear myself over the din, I had a great time. And I guess when you're paying $8 for a burger and $4 for fries, you can afford to tip well, so I almost doubled what they paid me in tips.
The real problem was the parking -- the meters wanted $3 for the two hour max, so I had to keep running out and dumping more quarters in. People were having so much fun making requests that they wouldn't let me go and I ended up staying 45 minutes over -- only finally forcefully quitting to hurriedly pack my stuff up to barely get back to the meter in time.
Afterwards, I realized that this was exactly what I've been looking for -- a friendly casual place to play (indoors) where people like my stuff -- and I'd only accidentally stumbled into it. Bring on more gigs here, and more places like it!
Tom told Warren that they wouldn't be down on The Corner this time, so I was ready for an early start. But at the last minute Tom's plans changed so he would be there after all, and planned to stay until 8:30, and he thought the Ukulele Girls would be down there, too. So I figured I'd better get there at 8:00 to be Next In Line. Which worked, but mostly because the Uke Girls made the tactical error of setting up across the street so I was on the bench and closer to swoop in when the Tommies quit.
But the now five-piece Uke band was set up aimed right across at us, and especially the enthusiastic, too-loud, and rhythm-challenged new bongo player was pretty disruptive. Fortunately, they only know 4 or 5 songs, and after a few repeats of each, they got bored and went home.
This was the first outing for the new Magic Bag, since the old one got stolen last weekend. All new bag (which slowed down setup and teardown 'cuz I can't find/replace anything in the new pockets), harmony box (which also replaces the guitar interface), and wireless rigs for guitar and mic. And a new mic, of course, but it wants to hang on to only one ear, which doesn't work, and the boom is short so the mic is extra sensitive and picks up the guitar and feeds back from the monitor speaker. In other words, a disaster. Fortunately, I'd suspected it wasn't going to work and had brought along the old, old, mic, which is huge and obtrusive and squeezes my head, but works well.
But after all that, the new sound is pretty great. The new harmony box has a faster processor and new algorithms that sound noticeably (to me, anyway) better. A lot of tweaking needed still (probably too much vocal reverb on all the presets, and although the guitar sounds good (its main issue of "piezo quack" nicely dealt with), it needs a bit more bass), but it was sounding really good for a first try. And mostly better than the old rig already.
Too bad, then, that it was an inexplicably slow night for a summer Saturday. We had some small gatherings, but it was pretty slow until midnight when the Party People started to appear and we got some dancing going. We ended up playing until 1am, 'cuz that last hour was the best of the night.
My monthly gig for the old folks again. Pretty much the same as always. No thigh-drummer, though, so that was nice.
I do feel like I'm playing the same songs over and over for them, but I only know so many songs that are old enough for them to remember. I've been pushing the envelope though, figuring that, even if they were "too old for rock and roll" at the time, surely they've heard "Yesterday" and "Fire and Rain" and such by now.
I knew the Tommies would probably be down on the Ice Cream Corner, so I waited until 7:30 to get there -- and sure enough, there they were. I set up on the Fingerhut side, and did miserably, despite the pretty large crowds. Those crowds kept the Tommies at it until almost 9:30, so those first few hours were mostly a waste.
The Tommies were actually driven away by some young guys that set up in an entryway alcove a few shops down PCH -- two acoustic guitars and a full drum set. You couldn't hear the guitars or vocals, but the drums carried all too well, and made it impossible for the Tommies to continue. Of course, that was pretty late for them anyway.
So when they left, Warren and I moved over in front of the ice cream store, but we couldn't start right away because as we were moving our stuff, two 11-year-old girls had suddenly appeared with a ukulele and were singing songs while the dad was buying ice cream inside. It was very cute, and after maybe 15 minutes, they had $24 in their dad's baseball cap on the ground. They were thrilled to have paid for their ice cream so easily, but quit playing to eat it and listen to a few of my songs, and then wander off.
The rock band noticed that we had moved, so they moved to take over the Fingerhut side. That made the drummer way louder and very distracting for us, and that combined with the reappearance of Drunk Dancing Larry almost made me give up and go home at 10 or so. But we had people listening, despite the interference, so I gritted my teeth and kept at it, and was eventually glad I did.
The week before, we had a birthday party stagger through, and had me sing Happy Birthday. I considered giving the birthday girl a fingerlight, but figured that, although those are very popular with the little kids, probably not so much for adults. That led me to wonder what might work for adults, and I came up with, found, and bought a "Fancy Princess" tiara set, just to have on-hand.
I didn't really expect to need it right away, but when a bachelorette party came through, I said, "Oh, I got you a present!", and handed the bride-to-be the tiara set. 'Cuz, c'mon, a bride-to-be *needs* a tiara. They were all completely thrilled, and the bride was overwhelmed, and gave me a big hug. For some reason they were all big Billy Joel fans, so while I sang "Piano Man" they installed the tiara and necklace on the bride.
The dance party had begun, and as more and more people assembled to watch, they asked for "Sweet Caroline", which went over well, and then "Jenny Jenny", which I learned almost as a joke, but works great if the crowd is receptive to it, which they were. That dance party alone, and one of the girls' comment that we had "made the party", made the previous three miserable hours worth it.
Even after the bachelorettes left, the dance party kept going for a while, and when the rock band across the street finally gave up, we started having some good interactions with the late-night crowd (and ended up playing until after 1am).
A group of high school girls came by and they got all excited to tell me that their friend was a "really great singer". So I got out the spare mic and had her sing "Part of Your World" from "The Little Mermaid". I'd say that her friends were a bit generous in their assessment, but she was game, and that's half the battle.
We had a group of three young men from Germany, two of which bought CDs, and three people from Mexico who didn't seem sleepy at all, despite it coming on midnight. The guy was probably kidding when he mentioned "La Bamba", but I fired up my "Twist and Shout/La Bamba" medley and they hooted and hollered.
And when a slightly drunk lady came by and asked for "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling", I dug up my partly-working version of it and played it anyway. My "blue eyed soul" voice is passable, and the harmony box does a good job with the Righteous Brothers sound, but imitating a full orchestra with just my guitar is pretty much impossible...
The thing you fantasize will happen, finally actually did: Standing on the corner playing in Laguna, a lady comes up and asks if I play parties. I said yes and gave her a card, and she actually called. And actually hired me.
It was the party/dinner after a women's golf tournament at the fancy schmancy Mission Viejo Country Club. She had decided on a "Mission: Impossible" theme, complete with movie poster and Tom Cruise cardboard standup. Many of the ladies in attendance were dressed as "spies". The coordinator had asked me to learn the Mission: Impossible theme song, but it can't be played on solo guitar, so I downloaded the MP3 instead, and they were very pleased when I played it as background music while they were announcing the winners of the tournament.
Mostly I was just background music for the 100 or so rich ladies at this dinner party, except occasionally one of the ladies would suddenly applaud for a particular song. And sometimes one of them would walk up and whisper that, although it didn't seem like they were listening, they really loved my songs.
And toward the end when the place had emptied out to about 20 ladies, they noticed that I had song lists and I started playing requests and it got to be actual fun.
I don't really like being background music, but I did get paid, so I left a flyer and business card with the Event Manager there at the Country Club, and hopefully she'll call me when someone needs music at another event.
I went down on the off chance that the Tommies wouldn't be there, but they were. I figured I'd play on the Fingerhut side until they left, but the cops were out in force busting the crazy Hawaiian guy (Tom says he gets like this when he goes off his meds), so I thought better of it and just sat on the bench, talking with Tomi's little brother and big sister. I gave them a couple of the white fingerlights which none of the little kids want, but they're useful as pocket flashlights for these kids who are perpetually "camping".
They left at 8:30 so I fired up, but it was very slow. Last day of Spring Break. I did have an elderly couple sit and listen for a long while and buy a CD. The lady said that she'd "enjoy playing it by the fireplace and listening to my soothing voice". That was sweet.
I also had a family from Kentucky. I gave the kids some (colored) fingerlights, and the mom asked for "Puff, the Magic Dragon" 'cuz she "knew all the words". A lot of people think they know "all the words" but it turns out they only really know the chorus, but this lady really did.
Her daughter had ordered three scoops (!) of Cookies and Cream ice cream, but she could only get through two of them. They offered the final one to me, and I asked the little girl, "How did you know my favorite flavor?" She smiled and said that it was hers, too.
And another of my superfans came by. This time I got to talk to him a while (since there was nobody else around). He lives in the San Fernando Valley, and drives down for the atmosphere, the beach, and my music. I hope it's mainly the first two, 'cuz I'd hate to think he drives down just hoping that I'll be playing.
I played his favorite song ("Fields of Gold") for him and one other, and then a couple showed up, looked through the list, and asked for "Fields of Gold". I'm glad it's his favorite, 'cuz he got/had to hear it twice.
I went down to Laguna to talk to the guys at the Guitar Shoppe about ordering a guitar, so I got the ice cream corner really early at 5:30. Warren joined me about 6:30, and we played until 10:30 when the batteries died.
Lots of people out. We had one group whose requests were in a very strange accent so I asked where they were from -- Iceland. And we had a group of guys from Italy that bought a CD to take home. A couple of times we had people dancing, and that's always fun. A couple of teenaged girls were standing off to the side asking for "The Boxer" and "Homeward Bound" and other classic songs. Their parents are clearly raising them right.
And my favorite superfan Vietnamese couple came by. It's been a while since I've seen them, and it was great to get to play for their warm enthusiasm. Unfortunately, they got there pretty late, and my battery died after only a half dozen songs.
I wouldn't normally go down on a Monday night, but I thought maybe, since it was Spring Break. But no, not many people, maybe because of the cold snap.
Right at first there were some teenage boys, and one of them asked me if I was setting up or tearing down. When I said that I was setting up, he called to the other 3 or 4 guys, "Hey guys, let's stay. This guy's good!" That was flattering, especially coming from a teenager.
But probably part of the reason I couldn't gather an audience was that the street lady who usually quietly camps out at the farthest bench was up in arms about something. She was yelling at invisible people, explaining her grievances, but she'd only really shout while I was in the middle of a song. When I wasn't playing, she'd quiet down, so I couldn't really tell what she was on about.
I think maybe it was that she wasn't being able to get a taxi. Several of them came by and she'd go talk to the driver without getting in, and then they'd leave without her. I don't know why they wouldn't take her -- maybe she had no money. Or maybe she wanted to be taken to, I don't know, Kentucky. Or Venus. Unfortunately, getting belligerent with people who weren't there wasn't really solving the issue. It took a while, but she did eventually find a taxi that would have her, but while she was ranting, anyone who might have stopped, didn't.
Later on, a tiny little street lady I'd never seen before came by. She didn't quite have both oars in the water, and was rambling on about something, even though I couldn't hear her since, you know, I was singing. But she dropped a Chapstick in my tip jar and wandered off before the song was over. A while later, she came back, and this time she produced a shopping bag from a pocket of her pack, and put that in my jar. Again I was singing so I couldn't hear (or decipher) what she was on about, but my guess at the time was that there was a Pavilions coupon in the bag, and she was giving it to me as a tip.
But when I got home and opened it, it turned out to be a bag of "treasures": a bottle cap, a quartz rock, a backless earring, some kind of seed pod, a blank nametag, and a little wad of clear plastic. It's so sweet that she liked my music enough to part with her precious things.
What's that thing about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? I was hoping that Easter would draw some crowds down to Laguna, but I was wrong. Again. Make a note: Holidays never work. Any holiday. All the holidays.
I played on the Fingerhut side from 6:30-8:30 when the Tommies gave up. But traffic was light on either side, so it didn't make much difference. I did have a few groups gathered; a big group of young kids from Chile, and a little family from Sweden. The Swedish girl came up and requested a song from the list -- Surprise! "Let It Go".
And at the end, a guy and his wife listened for a while, then he got up and bought a CD. They listened for a while more, then as they got up to leave, he came over and kind of showed me the CD and said "This will be played in Peru." Cool.
Somebody recommended I play at Bogart's Coffee Shop in Seal Beach, so I emailed them and got an immediate response and invitation to play! Apparently, they have music all the time, so anybody's welcome to come down.
It turns out to be a tiny shop, across the street from the beach and the Seal Beach pier, and just a few shops down from their Main Street. (Which I drove down while looking for parking, and saw a three piece band out on the sidewalk, with banjo, acoustic, and electric (with an amp!) guitars, in plain view of some cops across the street. Good sign -- maybe I'll give that a try someday.)
Anyway, the place was full most of the night, but that's not saying too much since there are probably 10 chairs in there. But friendly, and lots of requests, including the two baristas who wanted "I See the Light" (from "Tangled") and "Mrs. Robinson", respectively.
And there were apparently two ladies sitting on a bench just outside, listening to the music and enjoying the view. They came in to buy a CD each and recommend that I try another coffee shop in Long Beach called "Portfolio", but they had to go back outside 'cuz it was warm in there and they were too bundled up to sit inside.
And the lady who wanted to come hear me at CALB for her husband's birthday but never showed, finally did make it, and they stayed the whole time. Very sweet.
One of the coffee girls set up an iPhone and sent the night out as a Live Stream. At the end she said that 10 people had watched (at least a little), including the shop owner. Internet Famous.
I guess I'd play there again, but it's an awful long drive for such a small, mostly fixed, crowd. I don't mind playing for a dozen people, but on the street corner, I get a constantly revolving set of a dozen, not just one. And the parking was *terrible*!
When I was done, I drove down Main Street to check it out. Bars, restaurants, a psychic, souvenir shops, ice cream, pizza. A lot like Laguna or Santa Barbara, really, but no art galleries. A lady was out singing and playing an autoharp, so I parked (easy at 10, impossible at 7) and listened a bit. I put a buck in her can and asked for Joni Mitchell, so she launched into "Clouds", with mostly wrong chords. But she was sincere, and just being out there is half the battle, so good for her.
I've sworn off Art Walk several times now, but I was hoping that it would be different, here in Spring Break. I was wrong.
I'd hoped that Sanchez would be on the Fingerhut side, but he had taken the ice cream side. I decided to go on over to Fingerhut, but as I walked past him, Sanchez growled, "Two guys playing on the same block doesn't work." I said, "Oh, well" and kept on going. To which he threatened, "OK, I'll see you on Saturday! And I'll bring the *big* amp!" And here I thought that when I grew up, there wouldn't be any more bullies on the playground.
I walked across the street to where Warren was and told him what Sanchez had said. We agreed that it wasn't worth the risk, so we went up the street to find that the Tunnel was empty and set up there. It's amazing that Sanchez can threaten and intimidate and prevent us from playing. But he just simply can.
It was already late, and the traffic was poor, so it was pretty awful. Definitely the last Art Walk for me.
But in our brief time playing, the high and low point was a black lady with her teenage sons walking by, but she stopped and said, "I want to hear these guys play something." I gave her the list, and she skimmed through it and said, "What's that song about the house of the rising sun?" Hmmm, lemme think. That would be "House of the Rising Sun", but I told her that I don't know it. (Sure, I can play it, but I can't (won't?) scream-sing like Eric Burdon.) So she checked the list again and said that there were no good songs on it. Wow -- first time anyone's ever said that.
So she walked away, and I started up "Bridge Over Troubled Water". She stopped, came back, pulled out her phone, and took a video of the entire song. Apparently there is at least *one* good song on the list...
