K&W at Costa Mesa -- 10Feb2007

You'd think, after four years of doing this, that we'd'a seen most every "kind" of night that we were likely to. But, this one was unique, again. There were lots of people there when we got there, so I handed out lots of the song lists. Just as we started, a local Folk Scene lady-friend of Warren's came by, since she lives only a few blocks away. She started us off right away with a song request or two, and it appears to have opened the floodgates for the rest of the night. I hardly got a chance to choose any songs myself at all -- requests were coming at us the whole night. Usually most people are shy about asking for songs, but it "became OK", and everybody was yelling out songs.

Which was oddly fun, but got kinda cut short. The managers there have apparently gotten the impression that we're supposed to quit at 10:00. We don't know why. We understand that they want us to be out of there before closing at 11, but why the very wide margin for error? Unfortunately, the managers run the place, so there's no appealing for reason.

Anyway, we usually play until 10:40, leaving 20 minutes to pack up, but we got cut short at 10:15. I usually save any New Songs that I'm thinking of trying out until the last half-hour, when there's fewer people there, but because of the surprise cut-off, I didn't get to any of them. Oh, well.

But, because of the overall store-scheduling issues (which appear to be ongoing), I'm supposed to play there on Friday again, as a solo. That might be a bit awkward, but I think the manager (or, more likely, the assistant manager) likes my stuff -- she's friendly enough when she's kicking us out -- so maybe it'll be OK. And, at least, now I know.

Father/Daughter Girl Scout Bowling

The annual Father/Daughter Girl Scout event was bowling this year, and we had fun. Geneva's inherited Daleen's loose ligaments problem, so she can't really swing a heavy ball on the end of her shoulder, but she played anyway. Acacia doesn't exhibit that problem, yet anyway, and she got three strikes. 'Course, those were mainly bounced off the gutter-bumpers, but still...

They traditionally take father/daughter portraits at these things. Two years ago, it was with a Polaroid camera, but last year they bought some little photo printers, and took the pictures digitally. Unfortunately, the printers are really slow, so a lot of the pictures weren't printed yet when the event was over.

This time, we had a couple of cameras, and several memory chips to swap between the cameras and the printers, and we kept the printers churning. I also had snagged the "Father/Daughter Pose" that the professional photographers use when they come take pictures at the Indian Princess events. I also rigged up some makeshift lights with tissue paper diffusers to soften that "snapshot flash" look, and forced the picture-takers to step way closer and get the faces, not the shoes as in the past. The pictures turned out pretty well, for a change.

K&W at Yorba Linda -- 20Jan2007

A really fun gig! The place was unusually full when we got there, and a lot of the people there were "in our demographic" (i.e., old and white). I managed to make myself start off with a spoken introduction again, which kicked things off much better than my usual "start off with a timidly played-and-sung song, and see if you get any reaction" method. We got some immediate interaction in the form of song requests, and if you get some applause on the first song, you're in like Flynn.

Played good, sang good. Felt looser than usual, and was just throwing stuff out there, and it was working, which feels great. I remembered to play some of the new-ish songs (my wacky "Satisfaction" in particular), and surprised Warren by bringing out the brand-new "I Want You To Want Me". I'm not sure exactly how to play it yet, (the chords are easy enough, but I need to work up a way to make it work on acoustic (if that's possible)) but I was feeling daring so I went for it despite not really "having it down". Besides, it was getting late and there was hardly anyone left.

The only bummer is that I put my cell phone on the unused speaker behind me so I could occasionally check the time, and managed to walk out of there without it. Unbelievable, since it's a shiny silver object sitting on a big black box -- how could I not notice it while I was packing up? Anyway, I called right when they opened on Sunday, and it was just sitting there still, so they held it for me until I could go by and get it. Kinda ate up the five bucks tip money in gas, but, oh well.

Great night, overall. Had a good time. Unfortunately and inexplicably, we don't appear on the emailed-out schedule for February. We don't know if that means that Bob just forgot about us, lost Warren's request email, or that we've been fired. The last is pretty hard to imagine, 'cuz "Jim & Warren" is also not-on-the-list, and it's extremely unlikely that both bands did something unforgivable at the same time. We're still waiting on the Final February Schedule -- Warren requested, so we may have snagged, some of the Open spots. Hope so. As of now, we have no upcoming gigs...

K&W at Mission Viejo -- 13Jan07

What a night! First off, it was our first time at Mission Viejo since August, so that was kind of fun. I knew that Geneva's friend's gramma (a really sweet retired nurse), who drives her to the bus stop in the morning was planning to come see us. We've become good friends in 10-minute increments since school started, and I'd given her some CDs that she purports to like. She did show up, with 2 friends, but since that café is always jammed full of people treating it like a library, there was no place for them to sit.

But the real surprise was when a troop of 9 Trailmates dads and associated daughters marched in and lined up at the back (since there were no chairs). They were grinning and mugging at me, and I was pretty hard pressed to maintain the song I was in the middle of, but managed to keep it together. Of course, I was required (and happy) to play "Waltzing With Bears", with many of them singing quietly along. When that was done, it was "Picture time!"

The regular customers were perplexed and (hopefully) amused by all this, of course, so I explained the Indian Princess connection. Most of them seemed to think that that was pretty sweet, and it was over soon enough.

There was a 30-something married couple there when we got there, who were apparently just hanging out to hear the music. I don't know if they were specifically there for us, or just for whoever showed up, but when I passed out the song lists, the guy came up immediately and asked for James Taylor's "Something in the Way She Moves", pointing out that it was "their song". Fine with me, though I didn't expect I'd be able to play it as the first number, and held off until number 3. They stayed almost the whole night, and it was great to have some Real Live James Taylor fans.

Pretty much the worst singing I've done in at least a year, but not so bad that I needed to hang it up. It got a little better in the second half, so I could come closer to the notes I was aiming at. Fortunately, the worst seems to be over now, so I should be OK at Yorba Linda next Saturday. I hope saying that doesn't jinx it...

We had the usual problem of the Regular Club that hangs out at that Borders. They're a group of 40 and 50-year-olds, mostly single, who hang out in the café every night, apparently. Since they "own the place", they're reticent to give up the sonic space to the band. It's odd, because they profess to like our music, and to prefer it to most (all?) of the other bands that play there, but they just talk, joke, and laugh at full volume over the top of us -- and if I turn up the amp, they just shout louder. And they insist on taking all the "good seats", closest to us.

Of course they have a right to be there, but it's terribly distracting, and makes it hard for me to get through the songs, much less perform them well. Oh, well. Maybe it's a good thing that we don't get assigned there very often. The good part is that it's close to home, and more likely to be visited by my friends -- the bad part is that it's hard to play with all that racket.

K&W at SCP -- 05Jan07

A mostly uneventful night. We did pretty well, despite the layover of the holidays.

Christi, a nice young lady whom we had met before at that store, timidly wanting to know what the procedure was to get a gig with Borders, showed up again to ask more questions. This time the questions related to doing the actual gig, 'cuz she's got herself on the list, and starts next weekend. She was the one that told us about Eva Cassidy, from whom I stole my arrangement of "Time After Time", so I invited Christi to sing it, and she did. Amazing voice -- though a bit intense for a night's worth. Seems like the audience will be emotionally exhausted after a few songs of that, but maybe that's just me.

A nice senior couple came and sat up front in the comfy chairs for the last hour or so. She went down the list and said "They're all good", at first, but finally requested "Somewhere" from West Side Story. Nobody ever asks for that one -- I was about to take it off the list, but I do love singing it.

K&W at Yorba Linda -- 15Dec2006

It was our last shot at doing Christmas tunes for the year, and it went pretty well. Yorba Linda is kinda far, but I like it. It's a nice big café, and there's usually a fair number of people there, and they're not all studying students.

We played to moderate attention for a while, but then a family came in with two little girls (7 and 9-ish), so I was able to pull out "Rudolph" and "Frosty", and some of the other kid songs. They actually got up and danced around for "Waltzing With Bears". And they sang along with "Rudolph" (the classic little-kid "response" lyrics: "Like a light bulb!"), and tried to keep up with Frosty, which everybody *thinks* they know, but nobody actually does.

Overall, pretty low-key, but pleasant. At the end, I pulled out three new songs I'm working on / playing with. "Under the Boardwalk", which is a contender for permanent status on the list, my strangely peaceful version of "Satisfaction", and my seriously weird "Jimi meets Merle" version of "Purple Haze". Pretty sure I blew Warren's mind with that one...

I played a Christmas Party!

So, Friday night we went to a Christmas party at the home of one of the Trailmates (big-girl Princesses) guys. I had brought along some of my Christmas CDs, and gave some away to people that didn't have one already, including Ralph's sweetie-pie wife, Carla.

She had to work on Saturday morning, and was apparently listening to the CD in her car, called Ralph to get my number, and called me to ask if I could/would play at the office party she was planning for Sunday at her house. I said, sure! 'cuz I love playing the Christmas tunes, and had nothing better going on. She asked what I charge per hour, but I told her I was free -- I don't know how to, much less what to, charge friends. And I expected to have fun.

Ralph sent me his address and directions in an email. I looked it up on Google Maps, and drew myself a copy. But I neglected to write down the actual address number, which I didn't notice until I was almost there. I pulled up anyway, expecting to have to pull a Marlon Brando and stand out in the street yelling "Carla!", but a little neighbor girl was outside and knew where Ralph's daughter lives...

It was pretty odd, gig-wise. I don't play parties, and didn't know if Carla expected me to be background music (which, if she had, and I'd'a had the presence of mind to ask, I'd'a said no to the whole idea), or for people to actually listen. Turned out to be some of each, I guess. A lot of people were chatting, loudly, but occasionally some folks would drift in and request a song or three off the list. Toward the end, as people left and it got quieter overall, more people came to listen.

I'd brought some CDs, in case, and a few people took some and stuffed some money in the jar, and Carla foisted a batch off on people who were leaving. As I left, she gave me an envelope with a hundred bucks in it, and an extra twenty for the CDs she'd snagged. That plus the tip jar came to $141 -- not bad for a "free gig".

At the very least, I learned something about playing parties (besides "Don't"). Mostly, I learned that it's *way* different than playing Borders, if only because at Borders, people are stone silent, and at the party they were way too loud. But they're also much more "at home", and vocal to each other and to me -- asking for songs and deciding to sing along, or even get up front and sing with me. Clearly, at a party (at least a "happening" party) I need more "party songs" -- whatever than means (I tried, and if I could have remembered the words and chords to "It's My Party", I could have had a bunch of women up singing it -- a missed/botched opportunity). At least, some (more) songs that other people can sing, or sing along to. And some in a "girl key", and not only mine.

Anyway, mixed feelings. Generally, people who came in to listen were appreciative. But I found myself trying to play, sing, and concentrate against a wall of party noise, which is hard. I guess I'll do it again, if asked, but it'll take a dozen or more before I figure out how to really pull it off, if ever. After playing Borders so many times, I can see how naïve we were when we started -- I'm sure I'm just as clueless about how to successfully play at a party; in the "don't even know what I don't know" phase.

K&W at South Coast Plaza -- 01Dec2006

I love pulling my Christmas music out every year. Unfortunately, we don't get many gigs in December to play the stuff. So I sent out an "only chance!" message to the K&W mailing list, and it actually worked! 9 out of 10 gigs, nobody we know comes in, which is fine. Of course it's nice when somebody does show up, but also rare. This time we had 17, count 'em, 17 friends: my brother and his wife, my dad's college friend and his wife (who've known me since babyhood), and old high school friend and her husband, three Toshiba friends, one from Linksys, and, almost at the end, two Princess friends with five teenybopper daughters-and-friends in tow.

Which made it pretty fun. Just getting to play those songs is fun in itself, too -- most of them are more elaborate, and therefore more interesting, than the standard pop songs we play. I attribute a lot of my growth on the guitar to my years-long striving to get those songs sounding good. Pop songs just don't "get" the diminished and augmented chords like them old tunes do.

Also, since there's no Definitive Version of most of them (Elvis' "Blue" and Bing's "White" Christmases notwithstanding), I get to do a personal arrangement of them. Meaning, of course, that I can play them "in my style", which means "down at my level of (in)ability".

But it went great. We had all those friends out there, paying attention, and lots of other folks were right there with us, too. One guy was in the comfy chairs when I got there, and we talked while I was setting up. He had to go, though, before I got started, even though he thought he (and his daughter) would like my stuff. About an hour into the gig, he showed up again, with the daughter, and did, in fact, seem to like it.

The whole night shot by. Having the additional 10 or 15 songs to play meant that we did that many fewer of the Usual Songs, which was a nice change. Makes me want to have another 20 songs on the list so the ones we play at any one gig can vary from week to week. That's a bit easier said than done -- (a) I can't think of another 20 songs that (a1) are great, and (a2) I can play, and (b) the best 40 or so always percolate to the top of my "want to play 'em ('cuz they work the best)" mental list, and the rest might as well not be there.

Anyway, we actually do have another Christmas gig, a week from Friday, but it's in generally-unreachable Yorba Linda. We won't have any friends there, but, hopefully we'll get lots of shoppers that need a little break.

K&W at Brea - 18Nov2006

I've never played Brea before, though Jim & Warren have, and Warren warned me that "there's no place to set up". That turned out to be very true, but we moved some roll-able displays out of the way and figured something out.

I played pretty well, considering the 3 weeks lay-off and lack of home practicing. My brain seemed somehow more lucid than usual, as if I'd had some kind of bandwidth upgrade -- stuff seemed to be easier than I remember, so I could handle it all without a lot of specific effort. Odd feeling, that.

Also, being away from the songs for a while has an odd effect: I remembered, well enough, how to play them, but wasn't remembering the exact things I usually do with the vocals, so I was free to (slightly) re-interpret them. Hard to explain, but, I think, good for my performance.

Unfortunately, we were mostly ignored, with light clapping between songs -- except for one young kid at the back that perked right up when we started, and was watching and listening pretty much all the way through to the end. I got the impression (proved right later), that he played guitar himself. He moved up closer in the last hour or so, and talked to us afterwards. Nice kid, and it's always a big help if at least one person is really listening.

Our best reaction all night was for "Homeward Bound". Didn't expect that. And, despite it being a bit early, I played my 6 most presentable Christmas songs. I'm really doing well with "River" these days, now that I can hit that long, high, note without so much strain, and I played "Please Come Home For Christmas" probably better than I ever have.

I had broken my ring-finger nail really short while unpacking the camping gear last Sunday, and it hasn't grown back enough to play guitar with yet. I've been in fear of this happening eventually, and it's come close before, but this was the first time it was completely un-playable. So, I went and bought some "press-on nails", which worked surprisingly well. I looked kinda (let's use the word) odd, I'm sure, with one shiny pearl-pink nail, which looked not-so-bad at home, but really picked up a shine in the well-lit store environment. But it played just fine, didn't feel "in the wrong place" to be unusable, and didn't break loose in the middle of a song. I tried to remember to keep my hand closed up in between songs, but I'm not sure how successfully I hid it. Still, it's good to know that there's a pretty simple solution if this happens again, and I'll know to at least knock the shine off with some sandpaper, next time.

Princess Campout at Oso Lake

A great little campout. This is a new place for us. It used to be a private fishing lake, but it's recently been bequeathed to the Boy Scouts and they're opening it up for camping groups. It's really nice, because it's literally 10 minutes from home, so kids with soccer can get to their games and back, and, in our case, I was able to take Acacia to her Saturday art lesson, go on back, and play the rest of the day.

They have fishing (which we don't do), canoeing (which we missed), archery, and slingshots, which were pretty fun. We've been to other camps that had archery, but it's usually just for the kids -- this time I got to shoot, and it turns out that I'm not half bad, but that bow pulls to the right...

Usually, on Friday nights of the campouts, somebody brings a notebook, a projector, and a sheet to hang, and the kids watch a movie. I always think that we ought to be able to think of something better than that -- they can watch a movie any time. So, I volunteered to do a concert. Some kids (possibly prompted by the dads) made some flattering posters that they enthusiastically waved, and they had some beach balls to bounce around, just like a Real Concert. And between songs, they kept chanting "Four more years!"

On Saturday, the kids added little personal messages and little illustrations of my songs (a dragon, the lollipop tree, some waltzing bears), and gave me the posters to keep. Sweet.

I can't really keep Acacia in the Princess program for yet another year, but I'm gonna miss getting to play for a group of kids around the campfire. I'm wondering if the YMCA can give me some kind of unpaid volunteer staff position that lets me show up and play whenever my schedule allows and the camp isn't too far away, without having to pay the annual Membership fee. I guess I'll check into that as we get closer to the end of the program year this Spring.

Halloween 2006

Because of the Japan trip, Halloween snuck up on me this year. Daleen, typically, had much more foresight and built a princess dress for Geneva, and a (very re-usable) Hogwarts wizard robe for Acacia.

I took Acacia over to a friend's much-more-active tract for Trick-or-Treating, so that was fun. Geneva, being In High School Now, went out with some friends, with no parents for the first time. There were no phone calls from the police station, so I guess it went all right.

We have a pretty lame and mostly-non-participated-in annual costume contest at work, to which I usually just wear my astronaut jumpsuit. This year, I was half resigned to just skipping it like everyone else, but I don't want to be That Guy, so, the night before, I built a "Silent Bob" wig out of yarn, and painted my beard black with Daleen's mascara. It actually came out really well, but you either know Silent Bob, or you don't -- and more than half of the people at work, don't.

Oh, well.

Trailmates at Ortega Oaks

We had a campout at Ortega Oaks this weekend, which was ostensibly for Trailmates, but since there are so few of us, we invited the older Princesses along, "as a recruiting tool", wink wink. So Acacia got to come along.

It was a pretty good weekend, it's a really pretty place under huge oaks. It was *really* cold on Friday night, but nice and pleasant on Saturday. We basically just hung out around the campground -- I made a swing with some rope and a piece of firewood, and we flew the little R/C planes around, despite the risk of them getting caught in the trees. Which they did several times, but we just threw things at them to get them down -- they're pretty hard to break.

On Saturday night, we had the usual array of skits from the girls, but, since we had a screen and projector all set up for the movie on Friday night, I got my computer out and showed the "Waltzing With Bears" cartoon. It was fun to see it wall-sized.

After we were out of skits, I got up and played "The Indian Princess Song", with the cue cards. Most of the Trailmates are from other Princess Nations, so they've never heard it (or sung it), and it was fun to introduce it to them. Then I played some more songs, but people started to wander off, and some of the guys were anxious to start another movie, so I quit.

I get that it's fun to watch a movie with your friends, but it always seems to me to be a waste to watch movies when you could be doing camp stuff. You can always watch a movie, but how often do you get to toast marshmallows?

K&W at Costa Mesa - 28Oct2006

It went pretty well, considering that we hadn't played together in 5 weeks, and I'd been in Japan and hadn't hardly touched a guitar for the last half of that. I did try to rehearse a little, but I didn't have much time for it, so I expected to be really rusty and screw up a lot. But I didn't, too much. I kind of watched in amazement as my hands played most of the songs by themselves. I guess someone was singing, too -- probably me, somehow.

I had a few outrageous blowouts, but surprisingly few. Overall, not a bad time -- especially since I had completely foregone the recording rig, simplifying the setup, and removing the pressure. So, I just cut loose and played. Or my hands did, anyway. Kind of fun.

We had some nice people listening in, and a bit of applause. Only one guy, a previous fan, took us up on the first-time-ever Live CD, much to my dismay after all the work I'd done on it for the last few months...

Vacation in Japan with Acacia

Acacia and I spent 9 days in Japan! It was a terrific trip, but too long, complex, and picture-laden to report on here, so I created a specific webpage for it:

http://members.cox.net/acacia.comer

Check it out!

Princesses at Camp Surf!

By fortunate coincidence, the Trailmates (Geneva's "Princess" group) and Acacia's Princess Nation shared a trip to "Camp Surf", in Imperial Beach, south of San Diego. It's right on the beach, with cabins full of bunk-beds, and a big mess hall with darn good food. Which is a good thing, 'cuz they have surfboards and body-boards available, with lessons, and that surfing is hard, hungry, work.

Geneva tried to surf for a while, but decided that body boarding was more her speed, but that's in a separate part of the beach. So I spent most of the time with Acacia. She did pretty well, and had one fabulous ride, standing up all the way almost until the dry land. It was tough on me, though, 'cuz she'd ride in (standing or not), and I'd *walk* in, and help her walk the board back out, over the waves, to deep enough water to ride another one. So I was walking twice as much as her, and walking though waist-high water is some real exercise.

They also have archery and a climbing tower, and a cool little craft where you get to decorate a little wooden surfboard (really a woodworker's "biscuit"). I took a stab at putting a Hula Girl on mine, and it's not half bad, for an inch-tall painting. Check that, and lots more pictures here.

The campfire on Saturday night was an all-skits affair, but I stuck myself in the schedule 'cuz I knew that if the night went by without "Waltzing With Bears", there'd be trouble. I didn't want to hog up too much of the time, but was persuaded to do "Lollipop Tree" too, by audience chant/demand. Afterwards, the guy who runs the camp gave me an inadvertent compliment by assuming that I was a "professional musician that they'd brought in".

All-in-all, a great weekend -- best "campout" in a long time. *And*, a great way to spend my birthday.

K&W at SCP - 23Sept06

Really good. We had good response most of the night, and I played and sang exceptionally well. Coincidence? I think not. Also helping: I was kind of feeling like I had "pretty good" takes of every song we need for the CD, so I relaxed a little and captured "even better" takes of both "Don't Get So Down On Yourself" and "Long, Long Time", and maybe some others, too.

I think, with this set, that we have every song we need for the CD -- I just have to get 'em all found, clipped, processed, and burn it. It's been *far* harder to get done than I expected, but I guess that's the rule with most everything, and I won't bore you with why.

I now have 4 weekends off: next weekend is me and the girls at Surf Camp, the weekend after is "free" (with lots of stuff to do), and the next two will find Acacia and I in Japan.

But I've been bringing a computer in the car every day, 'cuz I have about 50 minutes a day waiting in the parking lot of the bus station for Geneva to come home from school. That gives me a good chance to edit, process, etc. the recordings, and it just may come together, bit by bit.

K&W at Costa Mesa - 15Sept06

A pretty fun night. That place is so full of noise that I didn't expect to be able to get any decent recordings, so I just kind of blew off worrying about it (though the recorder was running). Naturally, I play a lot looser when I don't have the pressure, and end up playing and singing better, and having more fun.

Costa Mesa is usually pretty full of people, and the physical arrangement isn't bad -- lots of people are close enough to hear, though not necessarily within sight. So we had plenty of people, but they were mostly being aloof and buried in their books, papers, and computers. We had some clapping for some songs, and total silence for others.

Then, around 9, a little family came in with two cute little girls, for whom I am a known sucker, so I played some kid songs for them. At the end of each song, I looked around the room to see if any of the adults in the area were at all interested, but no one gave me any indication that they cared one way or the other, so I ended up playing to the girls (and their parents) for quite a while. They must have appreciated it, 'cuz after a few songs, the little girl got up and put some money in the jar, and after a while more, she got up, took a CD, and put some *more* money in the jar.

Anyway, despite the generally ho-hum response, the performance was pretty good -- my voice has been really good to me lately -- and we may have accidentally gotten a CD-worthy version of "You Were On My Mind", which has been eluding us so far.

K&W at Yorba Linda - 08Sept2006

I hadn't been out Yorba Linda since February (though Warren had). It's a pretty nice setup, and we usually get a decent response, if not-so-much by way of tips. It's remarkable how much the architecture influences the success of the performance. You can do bad in a good joint, and do good in a bad joint, but the other two combinations are far more likely.

I felt like it was a lot more of a "classic" K&W performance than last week at SCP. I was more relaxed -- both generally, and in regards to the Live CD Song Capturement Project -- and less focused on getting specific songs. Probably that was due to the audience's non-rapt, but extant, attention, so I was playing songs I thought they'd like, and a lot of requests.

Unfortunately, Warren wasn't feeling well, so he just kind of pretended to be playing, very quietly. I guess he was afraid to try to play out loud while his head wasn't in it. I carried on, of course, and my voice was in excellent form again. It sure is fun to be able to hit those high notes without feeling like I'm straining, and sounding like it.

Surprise of the night: a young girl who arrived late and didn't see the song lists asked for "American Pie". Geneva also likes the new rendition that Madonna put out, so I had written it out and put it in the "Learning Section" of The Book, and I've been tinkering with it, but never did it in public. Since this girl asked specifically, I played it, and pretty much got through it (though it was (and Madonna's is) a truncated version). Fun.

We may have even picked up a song or two for the CD, but it would be better to get them when Warren's actually audible. Next time is loud, bang-ey, Costa Mesa though, where the odds of getting a quiet take are pretty slim. Good chance to just let the recording go and have fun, though.

K&W at SCP - 01Sept2006

Kind of a strange night. Warren was held up at work, so after stalling as long as I could, I played the first 5 songs without him. It's hard enough to just Start Out with him there -- without is even worse.

But we did OK, after settling in. My brother came by, and I enlisted him to take some video with my vidcam -- which in retrospect was a stupid idea. We'd like to have some video clips of us playing, of course, but since I'm still trying to capture some songs for the Live CD, I was obliged to stare down at the book to try to get through the songs mistake-free, which, I'm sure, makes for some pretty unattractive video footage (I haven't looked yet). We'll have to try again sometime when the CD is over with.

We did manage to get some good (audio) takes, though -- especially at the very end of the night. At least two, and maybe four, of those takes will end up on the CD. But there are still a few "essential" songs that have so-far eluded us, so, next stop: Yorba Linda on Friday.

Geneva Got Her Braces Off!

They'll be sticking other miscellaneous little things in there to keep 'em where they belong, but she's pretty glad rid of the railroad tracks. She says it feels really strange, but she's happy to get used to it. And to get to eat all those forbidden foods -- not that she was really avoiding 'em...