Geneva's Debut - RSM 23Jul05

Well, I finally got Geneva to come out and play and sing with me at the Borders gig. We worked up 4 "singing songs", and 4 or 5 fiddle tunes. She did really, really well. Better yet, she says she wasn't (and she didn't seem) nervous at all, and afterwards she said that "she hadn't realized how much *fun* it was gonna be!" My greatest fear was that she'd blow it big time, and/or be so stressed-wracked that she'd never want to do it again, but I guess we dodged both of those bullets.

It helped (a lot) that my mom and dad came down (with some friends) -- it's always nice to have some friendly faces in the crowd (and who's friendlier than a gramma?). Not that there was a "crowd" -- RSM was having one of their Summer Concerts that night, so the attendance at Borders was kinda light. I don't think there was any actual competition for audience, but I think that the local families that tend to go out on a Saturday night ended up at the concert, not the bookstore.

She sang "Soak Up the Sun", "Jenny Dreamed of Trains", "Lollipop Tree", and Tracy Ullman's 1979 pop hit "They Don't Know", which was probably the best of the lot. I sing harmony with her, a third up but an octave down, and it sounds pretty good, I think. It reinforces her sound -- and her courage, I'm pretty sure...

The fiddle tunes went OK, too, though we both need to work on the transitions and trying to remember how many A parts, and how many Bs. I'm not sure which one of us messed that up, but it was recover-able.

My dad took video of most of the night and my mom called yesterday to say that it turned out really well, so I'll be anxious to see (and hear) that. I'll try to snag some stills out of it, too -- I forgot to bring a camera.

I guess Geneva's other favorite part is that in order to incentive-ize her to get some songs together at all, I had promised her that she could have all the tips. We sold 6 CDs, and with some too-generous donations from my mom and her friend, Geneva made $47 towards her "iPod Fund"! That's a bit anomalous, of course, but it is a record "take", ever, for a coffeeshop gig. I reckon she'll want to do it again -- next chance at RSM (I don't think I want to take her to any of the not-so-friendly places for a while at least) is August 12. I hope to work up some more tunes by then, too ("Red Rubber Ball" to start). Now that she knows how much fun it is, maybe she'll be more willing to rehearse with me, and practice on her own.

Singing in the Car, Again

Since I've been sick, and I've got a gig coming up this Saturday, I've been trying to sing in the car a lot to get my voice back into shape -- or at least to see if I'm gonna be *able* to sing on Saturday.

I was singing along to the "Waltzing with Bears" CD, and then I got out the regular "Keith & Warren" CD, since those are, obviously, songs that I need to do, and that are in the right range for me.  I sang with that one for a day, but "that guy on the CD" is too loud, and I can't really hear if I'm singing OK or not.

Then it occurred to me that I have the original, separate tracks that make up those songs: my voice, my guitar, and Warren's guitar, all in separate files.  So I burned a CD last night of just the "my guitar" tracks, and now I have "K&W Karaoke!" in the car.  (I could have (should have) included Warren's guitar, especially for the solo verses, but that would have involved doing a mix-down, and I just didn't have time.)

Anyway, I thought it was clever, and it's definitely fun!

Email versus Blog

Hi everybody.  This email message came from the Y7alanzo blog-message forwarding system.  This has turned out to be trickier than it should have been, possibly because they don't really expect you to email your blog messages to a list of people.

Anyway, the formatting of the blog and the formatting of the email version of the messages don't really jibe.  I figured out a work-around, so and I think the words part will be reasonably clean, but the email version doesn't get the pictures.  Most posts don't have pictures, so that's OK, but if you see a blank square in an email, you'll know that there's supposed to be a picture.  You can click on the "y7alanzo" link at the bottom of the message, and you'll go to the actual blog page with that message, and you'll be able to see the picture there.

See you soon.

Comic-Con 2005

We made our annual pilgrimage to the San Diego Comic-Con yesterday. Geneva and I have been going as a father-daughter thing for the past four or five years, but this year Daleen and Acacia decided to tag along and see what it's all about.

Unfortunately, it seemed like a pretty sedate Con this year -- not sure why, exactly. None of us actually read any comic books of course, but there's always plenty of just "pop culture" stuff that we do like to see, and of course the Geek Show is always amusing. There were plenty of costumes, as usual, but it seemed like there was less movie excitement than in years past. Maybe 'cuz "Lord of the Rings" is all done.

We did like all the "Corpse Bride" stuff, and we saw a presentation about "Narnia" which was overlong, but kinda cool. Our "Creator of Kim Possible" friend, Chris Bailey, who draws us up a souvenir every year, couldn't make it this time but we found his booth and told his friend to say hi for Geneva, so that'll have to do.

Acacia's not as voracious and omnivorous a consumer of all things pop as Geneva is, so she found it mostly boring and too long a walk, so I guess Geneva and I will be solo again next year.

K&W - Yorba Linda 01Jul05

We played at Yorba Linda last night. It's the first Borders we've played that's undergone its Seattle's Best conversion. Although there's some confusion about whether or not we still get our paltry One Free Drink, it's pretty nice, and it especially worked out for us because they divided off a living-room-sized section of the (formerly too) large space by carpeting it, and setting Big Comfy Chairs around it. The effect was to make a Special Place for the band (us), with an obvious, designated Listening Area around it.

There happened to be some friendly, interested people, even before we started, and they actually sat in the Listening Area, and, surprise!, listened. And even as people got up and left, other people would come in and take their place -- even knowing what they were getting into! Almost as important -- the people who weren't in the Area (just by knowing that there was such a thing), were aware that there was a Concert going on. This makes a huge difference in how it goes for us, which is, mainly, based on how much Appreciation we get/feel. If the crowd gets the idea that we're just background Muzak, they talk, fail to applaud, and generally ignore us. If they get the impression it's a Concert, they still talk to each other, but quieter, with a little sensitivity. I mean, I don't like to seem selfish, but if I want to play for nobody, I can do it at home.

Anyway, I sang way better than could have been expected, considering the walking pneumonia, but I managed to get through the songs before needing to cough. (And, I brought the regular hand-held mic on a stand, instead of the head-mic, so I would be able to turn away from it before coughing.)

Since it went so well, I'm considering adding it to my list of places I'll do as a solo (which, so far, is just RSM). RSM appears to be popular, and tends to be booked pretty solid, but Yorba LInda usually has a lot of openings in the schedule. If it's gonna be warm and friendly, I may be able to fill some holes in my schedule by volunteering for spots out there.

Also noteworthy, though, is that the latest schedule shows Mission Viejo booked on Fridays and Saturdays -- it used to only do Fridays for some reason. I bumped the manager about that -- I wonder if bringing it to her attention made her go fix it. Anyway, MV always had that "too big" feel like Yorba Linda, but if they did a similar thing to it, it might become a Nice Place To Play, too. Could be a great prospect, especially with the doubling of the available dates, and not being such a drive as Yorba Linda.

Lame Movies

We watched "Temple of Doom" the other night, 'cuz we're working our way through the DVD set, and it wasn't as bad as I remembered it, probably because I wasn't stuck in a movie theater, forced to watch the lame "Ooh, isn't this gross" scenes.

It occurred to me that the degree to which Spielberg/Lucas movies are reviled matches the degree to which they decided to pander to 8-year-olds. The 8-year-old gross-out scenes in "Temple of Doom", and the 8-year-old fantasy-fulfillment "flying a spaceship and accidentally winning the battle" scene in "Episode 1", (not to mention Jar-Jar), might be fun for, say, an 8-year-old, but us adults are just insulted.

(I read somewhere that Lucas said that the first three movies are aimed at audiences that match the age of Anakin in each one. I don't know if that's true, or he made it up to cover himself after the negative reaction to "Episode 1", and it made a handy excuse. He is, after all, the King of the Ret-Con.)

These guys need to remember that their main audience is adults who want a bit of child-like fun, not actual children.

Borders Blurb

Gee, this was nice of them to say. Even though the guy who writes this stuff can't be bothered to come out and actually hear any of the acts...

Singing in the Car

I used to try not to sing in the car, so as not to look like a dolt. You know, you look over and there's some guy with his mouth going, but there's nobody in the car with him. Either he's singing with the radio, or talking to himself. I don't know which is more embarrassing...

These days, though, I pretty much *have to* warm my voice up in the car on the way to the gigs, and, honestly, I sing better on the weekend if I've been singing some each day running up to it, so I've been forced to overcome my reticence. But I feel a little less stupid because I'm singing with the radio *professionally* -- I'm not one of those *amateur* radio singers...

Acacia's New Earrings

Acacia got her ears pierced at the mall. She's a brave one -- no problem, apparently (I wasn't there). They're getting smart, and they get two girls, with two "guns", and punch 'em at the count of three. That way you don't know how bad the first one is, and get too freaked to allow the second one.

Anyway, the starter earrings are little pink flowers made of crystals. She's pretty happy.

KC - RSM 17Jun05

Fair to middlin', this time. I was all prepared to do lots of kids' songs, presumably for some in-attendance kids, since I had some copies of the new "Bears" CD available, but hardly any kids came in -- just two little girls that were there for a few songs, and had to leave. Actually, my kids were there, and two Indian Princess dads with their kids, and a mom friend with hers, but they all disappeared into the Kids' Books section all night.

I stupidly neglected to count the number of CDs that I came in with, so I don't know how many vanished but it was 3 to 5 I guess. Pretty decent tips/donations. I tried a new sound setup -- put the monitor on top of the StageMate (which was on a table to my left), pointed at my head. Might have been a big mistake, actually -- I could clearly hear any and all mistakes, bobbles, vocal warbles, etc., which made me more tense than usual, when I know I made mistakes, but can pretend that no one heard 'em. This setup makes it very clear to me that the mistakes are very clear to them. Does it serve to keep me on my toes, or paralyze me with fear? The latter, I'm afraid, so the performance was hindered, I think.

But, at least, I had no troubles at all with the "cutting out guitar" problem. It seems to definitely be that short cable (that I'm now, of course, leaving out of the setup).

San Diego Campout

Big weekend down at Campland in San Diego with the Indian Princesses. It's our annual Family Campout, so all the wives and siblings were there as well, and we have the annual sand sculpture "contest", for which, for the 7th year running, I'm responsible for design work, and, usually, 90% of the construction work also. This year, though, I had lots of help from the other dads and even the girls. I got them started building me some bumps that I could carve into the pieces I needed, and they went to work! And even closer to the end, when it's usually all me trying to carve the details, I had several dads that could do good work with just some instructions. It came out pretty good, though I think the face came out more gargoyle than sea-serpent. I knew I needed more time to prepare -- if I'd'a done a mock-up in Play-Doh beforehand, I'm sure I could have done a better face. I need that 3D vision in my head. Next year.
I also brought 40 copies of my newly-recorded Kids' CD, and "gave" them away. I suggested that people could throw a couple of bucks at me for supplies, but then the Nation Chief layered on a bit more guilt than I was comfortable with, and increased my "take" considerably no doubt. I didn't know if 40 would be too many or too few (there were about 80 families there), but it turned out to be just right -- I "sold" 'em all, and didn't have anyone asking for one after they were all gone. I'll have to burn some more before the next Borders gig -- I think they'll be popular when kids come in. (Acacia loves to help -- pushing buttons, feeding the drive, peeling the stickers, sticking them on with the little machine, putting them in the cases -- she thinks it's an Arts and Crafts project.) They needed some "stall time" during the Saturday night Campfire, so I got to play several songs. Unfortunately, the way the light was set up, I could (mostly) read the words, but the shadows of the binder's rings were covering big chunks of the chords. I've never played that badly, but I just kept the vocal coming as I played random chords hoping to eventually hit the path again. I was awful, but nobody complained -- they either didn't notice, or were too polite. Let's hope it was the former.

I played a lot better in the big tent on Sunday morning, with my ever-popular "I'm an Indian Princess" song. Maybe it helped blur the memory of the fiasco the night before. I looked up and it looked to me like everyone was singing along...

Waltzing With Bears CD

I've been meaning to put together a CD of kids' songs for a while. I don't really want to be Raffi, but when families come into the coffee shops, the kids make a pretty appreciative audience, and, of course, I know a bunch of kids' songs from my Indian Princess "career". Also, it turns out to be lucrative, since the parents turn out to be more likely to tip when we play kids' songs than when we play regular songs.

At the Indian Princess planning meeting last Thursday, we were confirming that I'll be playing "Waltzing With Bears", as usual, at the campfire on Saturday night, and one of the guys said "You should record that song! My daughter loves it." That set me thinking that I really ought to get the CD done, and Now Was The Time, so I could have it available at the campout this weekend. Also, since we just got a new, screaming fast PC, it looked like the planets were aligned.

(Warren is generally un-enthusiastic about kids' songs, so I don't think he'll mind being "left out" on this one. Besides, getting back in to Jim's home studio (to do more-than-two-tracks recording) doesn't seem likely anytime soon.)

The new (tower) PC, as opposed to all my notebooks, has a Line-In jack -- not usually a thrill, but I've been without one for a long time. Line-In jacks are stereo (my notebooks' Mic jacks are mono), so I figured that I could record the voice on one channel and the guitar on the other. It took some crazy cable patching, but I got it wired up (with alligator clips for part of the path), and was able to record both sources, simultaneously, into Audacity with perfect separation. Of course, then the problem is that 100% of the guitar on the right and 100% of the voice on the left sounds funny. I had to separate the stereo tracks into two (identically long) mono tracks, and bring them into Cool Edit Pro's Multitrack view, slide each of them a little off center in the stereo pan (one to each side), and do a Mix Down. That basically bleeds the two tracks onto each other's side, so they sound "together" (but not Dead Center (aka mono)) in the stereo space.

And, it turns out that Audacity will play back the tracks it already has while recording a new one, so I went back and overdubbed vocal harmony on a few songs. That was pretty fun, singing along with myself. I blend really well with me...

Anyway, I recorded 12 songs, all day Sunday, and two more Monday night. I did some post production on Tuesday night to remove some of the glaring boo-boos, and Acacia and I burned 30 copies last night to take to the campout tomorrow. I don't know if that's optimistic, but I think that a lot of the kids will want to take one home with them. (I don't know if the Dads will be blessing or cursing my name after the 3 hour drive home from San Diego on Sunday.) I can bring any leftover CDs to Borders and get rid of 'em eventually.

Also, since I have 'em now, I posted links to MP3 versions of the songs on the KeithandWarren.com page. And, since kids always want to sing along, I worked up a lyrics sheet and put that up, too. That way I don't have to print up a bunch of copies myself and put 'em in the CD cases.

New PC!

Since I've been working for PC manufacturing companies for the last 20-odd years, it's been a while since I've had to buy a PC. But the machines in the house are getting pretty sad, so I broke down and bought a new desktop (or, more correctly, "mini-tower") from Dell (who else, anymore?). I got the chance to set it up on Saturday, and I gotta say it went easier than I expected. That Windows XP (my first encounter with it (!)) works pretty good -- found all the stuff, set up pretty easy. But there's always a "but"...

I use Windows 2000 at work, which has the whole "multiple user partitions" thing going, but there's only me on the thing, so it's not an issue. At home, the XP is cool to be able to give each user a different wallpaper, and, more useful, their own program icons and browser shortcuts. (Here comes the "but"...) I don't know how to let multiple users access the same programs. Some applications' install programs ask, "Just you, or everybody?", but most don't seem to.

I installed Google's "Picassa", to use to catalog the huge library of family pictures we have. I installed it in Daleen's "partition", and it searched out all ten zillion pictures and created its database. But when I go to my partition, I have the program icon on my desktop, but there's no pictures. (Admittedly, this allows for different people to have different picture libraries, but it should allow the opposite as well.) So, to see the pictures, I either have to re-index the whole thing (takes a long time, and creates a huge database file), or log in as Daleen.

Of course, I tried to "fool" it, by going to my file manager and moving the database files from Daleen's directory to the "All Users" directory, but it wasn't fooled (still no pictures from my account).

Maybe I'll figure it out eventually, but the whole point is that this is supposed to be dummy-proof. I shouldn't have to (a) try to trick it, or (b) try to figure it out.

Oh, well. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. More complaints later, no doubt.

KC - RSM 03Jun05

Strange evening, but OK. When I got there, there was a table set up in front of the café section, with a little sign advertising a book signing by a local guy author. In convenient, but probably OK, so I start setting up. The café guy lets me get mostly done, then tells me that I need to talk to Tom, the Event Manager. I was afraid that he was gonna send me home, but although Tom's a little exasperated that Bob booked me without regard for his (apparently) locally booked book signing schedule, he's OK for me to go on, since I don't need his PA system, and he knows he can trust me to play quietly until the book guy is gone.

In fact, Tom was incredulous when I mentioned that the only discernable rule that Bob has is not to book a single act twice in the same store in the same (calendar) month. (I'm already kind of cheating that rule since I tend to get booked once a month as "Keith & Warren" and once as just Keith.) But Tom said "People love you guys! We've never gotten a complaint, and gotten lots of compliments", and wants me/us in there as often as we'll come. He gave me his email address and phone number, and said that anytime we want to play, just let him know!

I'm not sure how that gibes with the schedule that's forced on him by Bob, though. Obviously, Bob can't book, say, "Marina V", while Tom books K&W on the same night. By the looks of the recent schedule, there aren't many Fri-or-Saturday nights that aren't Bob-booked. But, the upcoming June 24 and 25 seem to be empty, and I'm free, except for the Folkie Jam, so maybe I'll take him up on the offer.

Anyway, I finished setting up, and played, really quietly, for the first hour and a half. So quietly in fact, that I was sure no one could hear me, which is remarkably freeing. But there was a core group of three or four solo ladies there that were reading, then clapping, so I guess they could hear better than I thought. It also provided an unprecedented opportunity to play all the really soft and slow ones, without the guilt of being too boring...

Of the several people who told me that they would, or might, come out, none did. Except Acacia's teacher, "Mrs. Smiggs", who hadn't said she was coming, but showed up with her daughter around 9:10 and seemed to be both amazed and entertained.

And although I was prepared to switch to a mic for the guitar if it started cutting out again, it worked perfectly all night. I was hoping it would cut out and give me a chance to try to isolate the problem, but it's wise to that plan...

Stay back, kids!

K&W - SCP and RSM - 13/14May05

We played South Coast Plaza on Friday evening. A lot fewer studying-college-kids than usual, which, unfortunately, meant it was nearly empty. We did get a pair of college kids, but they weren't studying, just shopping, and they listened and made some requests for a while. And we had a nice Persian lady that seemed to like the stuff, even though she didn't know many of the songs. She said she lives nearby, and would like to bring some family to see us next time we're there. That's flattering.

I tested out my new arrangement of "Something" -- having finally caved to the pressure of the many times we get people inadvertently requesting James Taylor's "Something in the Way She Moves" when they really mean George's tune. Turns out that parts of it work pretty cool in My Style, whatever that is, though other parts, not so much. Maybe they'll tweak with time. Warren seemed to like it, anyway.

But, as expected, it went quite well, again, solo at RSM on Saturday. It was pretty empty at first, but somewhere in the middle I got a few kids, and was doing songs for them. Apparently, some other kids heard familiar tunes, and came in, and I ended up snagging quite a few families that way. And, of course, the adults like to send the kids up with some money for the jar. Because it was so kid-heavy, I think I made the most tips ever, and without selling a single CD -- though I did give one away to a nice couple that was celebrating their 35th anniversary (with me?!? What's up with that?).

The guy was amusingly forgetful -- he asked for "You Were On My Mind", which I did, and three or four songs later, he asked whether he had requested "You Were On My Mind" or "Always On My Mind", which, in retrospect, is probably what he *meant* to ask for (anniversary-song-wise), but wasn't. And when they were leaving and I offered the CD "as an anniversary present", he said, "How did you know it was my anniversary?!?". He had told me when they first came in, not more than 45 minutes earlier.

"Mind" games

K&W - Yorba Linda 07May05

Not bad, for Yorba Linda. It's just such a big, bright, impersonal space -- more like a school cafeteria than a coffeeshop. It affords the people plenty of space to sit far away from us, and remain disengaged. It just doesn't feel like "we're here together".

Still, we got some response from several groups of people, especially a family that came in with a freakishly friendly young lady (17). She walked in with a big smile, looking directly at me (us?). The only (normal) explanation would be if I knew her, but, nope, she's just shockingly open. Refreshing, and wonderful. And she was a big Beatles fan, and asked for their songs all night. Made our night, really. Funny how it only takes one person to make the difference.

My voice wasn't quite as good as the night before at RSM, but my playing was (a bit) more focused. The disconcerting total silence at least makes for "good sound". Sometimes the bustle of the people's conversations and the drink-making machines are hard to play against...

I thought "Long, Long Time" went particularly well. And "First Cut..." was the best it's ever been. Some kind of slightly slower tempo, I think.

K&W - RSM 06May05

The gig went really well last night. It started off slow -- seemed "too early" since the sun was blazing through the windows, making it seem like early afternoon. It just doesn't seem appropriate to be doing mellow coffeeshop music so early in the day. So I played the faster, pop-ier stuff, and got into it eventually. It was more or less full most of the evening after a while.

The highlight was later on when I put my almost-full bottle of lemonade (graciously provided by Borders management) on the table next to the amp, and launched into "I've Just Seen a Face". Apparently, the vibrations were buzzing the bottle toward the edge, and just after the word "Falling!", the bottle fell, with a crash, right next to my foot. I, of course, froze, looked down at it, decided there was nothing I could really do that was urgent, and continued the song (albeit with an abbreviated last half). The irony of the timing was lost on no one. That's entertainment.

We cleaned it up (mostly), and got back going, but even though it didn't really seem to bother me that much, my concentration was shot for the next dozen or so songs. Weird.

Our new little fan ("almost 9"), Paige, was there again (with her dad) -- two weeks in a row. It's always nice to have someone to play to. There was also a lively high-school-age girl who listened for a while, asked for a song or two, and whipped out her cell phone to call and excitedly beckon her twin sister. Obviously more kids who grew up listening to their parents' playing of this "old music".

But the night was mostly notable (to me) by how well I was singing. With a microphone, you're hearing yourself from "the outside" so it's easy to be impartial to how you sound -- it sounds like someone else, or a recording -- so I know when I'm singing good, and when I'm singing bad. Last night, after about 9:00, I was hitting stuff I usually strain for, and more flexible than usual, both. A lady asked for "Pancho and Lefty" and it was, by far, the best I've ever sung it. I wish I'd'a had a recorder running.

Conversely, I was playing pretty poorly -- made a lot of "got lost" mistakes, seemingly always during the instrumental verse, screwing Warren. Concentration problem. Especially after the lemonade explosion. We're at Yorba Linda tonight -- we'll see if I can stay focussed...

KC - RSM 15Apr05

RSM was pretty good, as, I suppose, it usually is these days. Margie's boyfriend and his thirty-something daughter (Allison?) were already there when I got there, and Margie showed up a little while later. Patty from up the hill came in with her three kids, as did Princess dad Kevin with his three. But before any kids showed up, I handed a song list to Margie's party, and after reading it through, Allison wanted to hear "Rubber Duckie". Another familiar looking lady was there, who I eventually figured out was the wife of the Ovation Expert guy that we met there before. After "Rubber Duckie", she asked for "Last Unicorn", and somebody else wanted "Rainbow Connection". All these kids' songs were asked for by adults, but we were "pretending" that I was actually playing them for the one 10-year-old boy that was there with his parents, not really listening. So I gave him a sheet, and he asked for (adult song) "First Cut is the Deepest", to great amusement all around.

Later on, I was just finishing a song when a middle-aged lady came around the corner of the magazine rack and loudly proclaimed, "You mean that wasn't a *record*?!?" which sent the café into a stunned silence. I was taken aback, of course, but managed to say something about "No, it's just me...", followed by some lame jokes about there actually being a CD player in the amp, and I'm lip-synching. What I *wished* I'd'a said is, "Thanks, Mom, but you're laying it on a little too heavy!" but I'm not that quick-witted.

K&W - Mission Viejo - 26Mar05

It went pretty well, for Mission Viejo. Warren cut out at 9:30 for some previous engagement, so I was solo for a while, but getting over that first 10 minutes is the hard part, so it was no problem.

I hung out and played for another hour or so after he left -- they close at 11:00. A little girl (7 years old) and her mom showed up at about 9:50, and I was about out of Adult Songs anyway, so I played a few for her. She was way over by the window, but she came up to me and said "Thank you" -- I'm sure it was mom-induced, but cute anyway.

When my fingers couldn't take any more, I announced the Last Song, and played it. Then I said thanks &c., and said that we play "here" and "other local Borders", and that there were "cards with a website address on 'em up here on the table, so you can check the schedule and catch us again". *Four people* got up and fetched cards! Four out of about ten that were still there. Pretty flattering.