K&W at Borders SCP - 21Aug2009

Another good time at South Coast. My voice was good, the sound was good, the Harmony box worked (pretty) good, and a good "crowd", of, mainly, two. I always pass out song lists before we start, to (a) give fair warning of what we're about to perpetrate, and (b) help people call out songs that we actually do know, as opposed to random stuff we don't.

This time, two older ladies actually took it to heart just the way I've always intended it -- they started right away commenting and cooing over this and that song on the list, and almost immediately moved to a closer table to listen better! They stayed tuned in, asking for songs and generally appreciating the music, and even moving even closer when a pair of comfy chairs opened up, and hanging out way past their expected "goin' home" time.

Of course, I wanted to try out the Harmony box, here where I can actually hear what it's doing, and was quite happy with it. I didn't mess with the "room" effects at all (though I should have), 'cuz the initial settings sounded pretty good just as they were. I proceeded sparingly with the harmonies, but nobody cried "foul" when I started using them, though one music-loving gent immediately sussed out what was going on, and how.

At one point, the ladies were whispering to each other and eyeing me suspiciously, and I thought that surely they were starting to wonder about where the "other singer" was coming from. (That, or my zipper was down...) I asked them directly if they had a question, but they were wondering if my guitar played without being plugged in (Huh?). I said that, sure, it works fine, and they seemed satisfied once they'd decided that it was "a six-string, then" (Double Huh?). They never mentioned the vocals, which possibly/hopefully confirms my theory that most people will just hear the harmony as "sweetener", not as some mysterious "other person".

As the night went on, I got bolder about employing the harmonies, and played songs where it was more and more integral/blatant. And despite his initial reservations, Warren didn't seem thrown or distressed by it. (An incidental big upside for him is that he gets to move to the more powerful amp channel, so he gets more headroom to get louder, or "cleaner".)

Towards the end, a nice lady who's seen us there several times before came by, and after a few songs, she asked "What's that reverb? It almost sounds like a harmony." Exactly!

I set up the movie cam and got some decent takes of the box in action. The "poster child" is the Everly Brothers' "Dream", and Crosby, Stills and Nash's "Teach Your Children" shows off the 3-part harmony really well. Check out any or all of:

Dream
Teach Your Children
The Boxer
Sweet Baby James
Southern Cross
Cinnamon Girl

"Sweet Baby James" is an example of judicious use of the harmonies, where they only come in occasionally (requiring me to kick the button accurately -- so far, not so easy). On the other hand, "Cinnamon Girl" is kind of botched up (I mixed up which part goes where, and undoubtedly confused Warren in the process), but it's still a good example of the harmony working well. It's also an example of the danger -- I'm liable to make all manner of other mistakes while I'm trying to work the box. Although in this case, it's no excuse, since it's an "On at the beginning, off at the end" song. I guess I can screw up a song without any help, after all...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 15Aug2009

Mostly healed/cured up from my throat infection all week. I was a little scratchy, and tried to take it easy, avoiding the really high screechers. It helped that Warren wasn't there (he opted to join Jim on a streetcorner in Laguna instead), 'cuz I could play my capo-2 songs just without capo to put them down a bit, easing the burden on my voice. But about half-way through, I was warmed up enough to do the original keys again.

And it was my first time out with the new TC Helicon Harmony-G box, (which I'm thinking of naming "Harmione" -- get it?), which is basically a harmony-singing robot. It takes the mic and guitar as input, and, based on the guitar chord it's "hearing", it adds a cloned second (or third) voice track, pitch-shifted to an appropriate harmony note. It's simply amazing, and works really, really well for many songs, (though not so good for others, due mainly to misleading-ness in the guitar part).

I'll admit to having some trepidations about getting it in the first place -- first because it was unclear whether it could actually work at all, and second because it can certainly be seen as "cheating" in some way. But, the ends justify the means, and desire begats rationalization, so: (1) Very few people in the audience give you any points for "purity" -- they're just there for the music. I'm always hyper aware of *how* the music is being made, and am quick to detect "bogus" (i.e., taped or MIDI) tracks. But even then, I don't walk out -- I watch/appreciate the live human for the pieces he's contributing. Most of the bands on our cruise were using MIDI backup tracks, but nobody on the dance floor seemed to care. (2) When used sparingly (i.e., quietly) (which, admittedly, I can't promise I'll always do), most people won't recognize harmony as "another guy" -- they'll just hear it as "that guy's voice sounds really good". You get the same reaction with reverb (and compression, etc.). Which (3) (and I know this may be stretching it, but like I said, this is all just necessary rationalization), this is really only a (big maybe) step above. Reverb is supposed to be the sound bouncing off of walls, but, when there's no walls, the same effect is faked, at first with analog methods, and now, digitally. Which led to "digital delay", which sounds like a full-on echo, and is really a "cloned" track, played back a bit later in time. These harmonies are that, taken another step, and pitch altered, too.

OK, enough conscience-assuaging, how did it sound? I thought it was great. In fact, at times it sounded so cool that I could hear myself performing better in reaction to it -- like the way I perform better at SCP because of the great acoustics there. This whole pushing buttons with my feet thing is new, so I'm clumsy at it, but I got the hang of it from time to time, and only really blew up a song once.

The weirdest part was that, apparently because of my newfound sensitivity to harmony, there were times that I was hearing (hallucinating?) harmonies over my voice, even when the box was off. I had to keep checking the lights, but nope, it was off. That got me thinking that, if I could hear 'em in my head, that must mean that they'd sound good for real, so sometimes I'd take a risk and fire up the box on a line here and there of a song that I hadn't previously "marked" for harmony. And got a away with it, too. Pretty magical. Or mind altering. Or both.

Anyway, the whole first half was pretty dead, which was OK 'cuz it let me experiment with the box a bit. It also adds "effects" to the (even solo) voice -- essentially different kinds of reverb (big room, small room, echo, etc.). It changed "the sound" quite a bit at first, but I got it dialed in to sound "right" (or I adapted to it) after a while. By the half-way mark I was wondering where everybody'd gone, and thinking that I'd only had like three tips in the jar. But then it busted wide open -- it got dark, which seems to improve my mood, my sound, the "atmosphere", something. And people started to show up -- and stay a while. Had a big group in the back clapping loudly for 50's tunes. I couldn't see 'em way back there without my glasses, but they walked past me to drop in some tip money and say thanks, and turned out to be several middle-aged Asian couples. You just never know.

So I ended up with $67 in tips, and a great time. The box is a huge success as far as I'm concerned, and I've only scratched the surface -- adding harmony to my currently-deliberately-harmony-free set list means it's only used on some songs. Once I get good at it, I can add songs that I couldn't do before, because of their reliance on vocal harmony to "sound right". And it has advanced features that let it do songs that won't "work" with the predefined presets, so there's all that to investigate.

I guess I'm excited to have something else to play with/learn about. Until now, learning a song was all about learning the guitar part. Now, there'll be that, but there will also be a "how do the vocals work" component to figure out. More puzzles = more fun. And I daresay that I'll/we'll sound more like a "real band". The near-record tips seem to say that nobody was particularly put off by the "fakeness". I will have to try not to go overboard with it, though...

K&W at Irvine Spectrum -- 08Aug2009

I started the evening with a scratchy throat, and ended it with almost complete laryngitis. But it was a pretty fun night -- lots of people out, many of them friendly.

Had some teens that sat in for a long time -- the girls requested Disney tunes, and one of the guys was a big Cat Stevens fan, which had me dredging up all that I could find, including the recently revived but still unstable "Trouble". Warren's really fond if this one, though, so I guess I'll see if I can smooth out the rough spots in it with some practice.

It was also the first outing for Journey's 80's power ballad "Don't Stop Believing", which I'd'a never even considered but for its appearance in the new surprise-hit TV show pilot "Glee", and its evident popularity among the kids on our cruise a week ago. Works kinda OK as an acoustic number, and even better in Real Life, when I'm more liable to get to really pounding on my guitar than I am in the bedroom.

The second time through it, though, my throat was completely blown out (I should'a known better), and I had some pretty embarrassing cracks (to wild (ironic) applause from the teens) on the high note. Still, it's fast, loud, and fun -- something the act needs at times.

Oddly, despite the good response, it was pretty light, tip-wise. I still have no idea what makes a good or bad night in that regard. I haven't detected any kind of pattern at all. Guess I'll keep looking.

Harmony Box -- Do atheists get prayers answered?

On our cruise last week, I spent a bit of time watching a guy named Bruce play and sing in various places around the ship. He's from Memphis, and played the same kind of stuff that I do, though a lot more of it since he has to fill lots of time on those cruises. It's always interesting to see other "takes" on the songs I do, and to hear other songs that I might want to add.

Oddly, he played 12-string guitar, only. That's kind of rare. He also had more electronics than I do. One box was a "looper", where he could stomp a button to have it start recording the guitar chord "track" as he played and sang, say, the second verse of a song, and then he could play lead guitar over that track's playback as a third verse. He also had an effect pedal to give him some distortion or whatever to make the lead stand out. But the third box was the most fascinating.

I noticed that he had occasional vocal harmony backup, but there weren't any other people up there. It's possible to sing to a tape, but *really* hard to get the timing right and match the speed. I ran into him taking a break in one of the lounges late at night, and asked him how he got those harmonies. It's that third box -- an electronic harmonizer that duplicates your voice, modified (up or down) to a harmony note, based on the guitar chords that you're playing. This is, of course, genius, amazing, and I had no idea that such a thing existed, but there it was, turning only-child Bruce into the Everly Brothers.

It's also the answer to my main issue with my performances -- no vocal harmony. But even if I found someone that could/would sing with me, I'd have to make time to rehearse with him, and I couldn't learn new songs with abandon the way I currently do. This robot harmonizer will learn as fast as I do, know all the songs I already know (making the same mistakes I make), not be bored on songs that don't have/need any harmony, not complicate the gig scheduling, and no rehearsals required.

When I got to play "with" Bruce, he apparently had wired me through it, and reached over and kicked it on during the chorus of "Let It Be". Wow. Seems to work. Needs a lot more investigation of course, but, wow.

As soon as we got home, I looked it up, found one on eBay, and bought it. It's on its way, but it looks like it won't quite get here in time for Saturday's gig. But next week, look out.

Cruisin' to Mexico -- 7/26-8/2 2009

I'm not gonna try to document the whole week's vacation, but here are some impressions...

First off, for a country whose day and nightime temperature is always about two hundred, and whose humidity needs to be written in scientific notation, they have an alarming lack of Mountain Dew. 'Nuff said.

The ship is, frankly, astounding. I will give them that. I'm amazed at the audacity it took to decide to build something that big and that complex, and get away with it so well. But it comes off mainly as a Vegas hotel/casino with very low ceilings (much to the delight of the adolescent "Look! I can touch the ceiling!" boys).

And it's got gaudy on its gaudy. They apparently had decorators come in, and then had other decorators come in to decorate the decorations.

Anyway, the cruise takes you down to Puerto Vallarta for a day, then Mazatlan, then Cabo San Lucas. You can get off the boat and shop at the unique little shops to be found at each one:

Puerto Vallarta

Mazatlan

Cabo San Lucas

But, it turns out that I already have as many dirty joke and/or alcohol dependency T-shirts, brightly painted ceramic iguanas, serapes, pre-aged cowboy hats, hand carved running horses and fish, and, for that matter, blue diamonds and Rolex watches, as I need.

That's OK, we all had a really great time, on the boat and off. Nobody got sick, and there was always plenty to do, or not do.

The kids joined the 15-17 teen "club" (although Acacia's only 14), and hung out with the other teens most of the time -- dancing (or whatever) 'til 3, sleeping 'til noon. We're not normally the "set 'em loose" kinda parents, but they couldn't get lost or abducted, couldn't run out of money, and couldn't starve, so it seemed OK to just let 'em do their thing. We saw them every night at the mandatory 6:00 dinnertime, and ran into 'em occasionally around the boat, so we kept in touch, somewhat. And of course, they joined us for the shore trips.

Without 'em, we swam a little, relaxed a lot, saw some movies, watched the karaoke (I sang twice), and there was always musicians for me to go watch, scattered around the boat. To keep the band sizes (and pay) down, there's a lot of singing to MIDI tracks going on, but there was one guy (Bruce) that played (12-string) guitar, and sang over it, very similar to what I do, so he was the most interesting it watch.

I ran into him in one of the lounges, late one night on a break, and we got to talking about playing and audiences, repertoire, and such. After a while, he said, "Gee, it's too bad you don't have your guitar -- I'd like to jam with you." I told him I *did* have my guitar, and he said, "Go get it!"

I tried to play songs that he could join in on, but the songs that I think are "impressive" are always somehow "tricky", so he was pretty lost most of the time. But he was enjoying it anyway, as were the dozen or so people scattered around the lounge, who were clapping and whooping it up. One (apparently well-lubricated) guy shouted out, "Hey! You're good!", and later, "You're fired, Bruce!" to big laughter. I hate to say it was the highlight of my trip, but it kinda was.

Anyway, we all had a great time -- clearly the best vacation we've had in a while. It's cool that you don't have to "travel" to go places, and that you just drive to Long Beach, and you're on vacation already. When we went to Disney World, there's the pain of at least a day of traveling, twice, with the actual vacation in the middle. This eliminates that hassle. Admittedly, Mexico isn't my favorite place to visit, but it's the voyage, not the destination, right?

I've posted some pictures -- I know, what's more boring than other peoples' vacation pictures, but it's a gallery of thumbnails, and you only have to click the ones that look interesting, and I won't be there to have hurt feelings if you just scan through 'em. Check it out, here.

K&W at Borders South Coast Plaza -- 17July2009

Well, that was pretty dreadful, so here are some pictures of our new kitten:

I suppose I've performed worse -- I imagine those first few, or dozen, or hundred, performances were pretty awful -- but I'm pretty sure that the ratio of Artistic Capability to Art Delivered has never been worse. I played pretty badly, and not only was my voice not cooperating (until about halfway through), but I wasn't focused enough to ask it for much anyway. I won't go on about it -- let's just say I had an "off night" and move on.

Roy and Keri came by, and brought friends, which left me with the quandary of whether to do new songs that aren't very solid yet, but that my brother hasn't heard, or to do old favorites that are good and solid, to impress the friend. I guess I ended up doing a little of both -- the friend asked for "Pancho and Lefty", and Roy asked for "Hallelujah". I also played my new "Billie Jean", and some others.

But, like I told Warren, the upside to playing badly all night is that I don't have to comb through the 3 hours of video looking for "good takes" -- 'cuz I already know there aren't any.

Next week we're going on a "Mexican Riviera" cruise (me and the family, not me and Warren), so I'll be off of performing for two weekends. Let's hope I get my mojo back during the break.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum - 11July2009

Wow. I had thought that after the big night we had at the Myrtle Court the night before, that this solo gig at the Food Court would be (a) a disaster 'cuz of my trashed voice, fingers, and knees, and (b) a disappointment 'cuz of the huge crowds that the other location gets and the usually dismal (and disaffected) turnout that this one does. But I was way wrong. Mostly.

It started out really good -- lots of people's dinnertime, I guess. I started on time at 6:00 (for a change) and had a good response for a while, but then it emptied out and I was left playing to mostly empty tables, and no response at all. At 7:30 I decided to give my knees a rest and, wait for it, Took a Break (gasp!). I wasn't really even sure *how* to take a break, but since there was nobody there who was even gonna notice, I just turned down the amp and walked away. Wasn't that tricky, after all.

After some of the crowd had "turned over", I got back up there and got to have a fresh start. Newly-arriving members of the audience tend to emulate the behavior of the already-there people, so once dead silence sets in, it's hard to break. But with the fresh start, you get to try to "get it going" again. I'm gonna have to use this trick again.

The really surprising part was that my voice, although completely trashed the night before, was in outstanding form for the second half of the show. Really high and clear, and responsive. I really had no right to be able to sing at all, after the four and a half hour show on Friday, but it was the best I've sung in weeks -- maybe months. Was Friday night's beating a "warm up"?!? Mysterious.

I had lots of appreciative people, all the way through. Families, single guys, teens, some little kids. Had a cute little gonna-be First Grader, Camilie (?), befriend me, and request a bunch of songs she'd never heard of, just because she'd recently learned to read and was having fun doing so. And a little Kindergarten Cyndie Lauper dress-alike who just wanted to dance and dance with her grandpa.

Weird moment early on: a pair of apparent military guys came right up and stood 3 feet away as I tried to finish "Homeward Bound". I'm trying to sing and wondering what the heck this is about. At the end, the Big One said something appreciative (whew!) in his Texas drawl, and then asked, "Can I play one?". That's a new one, so I said, "I don't know -- are you any good?" He said "I ain't *bad*", so I asked the Little One, "Is he any good?", but of course the friend wanted to see this happen, so he said, "Sure!". There weren't many people there then anyway, so I gave him my guitar (he declined the head mic), and I sat down with the friend to see what would happen.

He started with some song I'd never heard, strumming some chords and eventually singing, but without the mic that was completely inaudible. He quit that after a half a verse, and tried again with Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues", but he didn't really know the chords, and messed up the words, too. So after a verse of that, he just wanted off, and apologized for being too nervous. I told him that everybody has to start somewhere -- it gets easier. And off they went.

Anyway, lots of people dropping lots of little bits of money in the jar and guitar case. I made $66 -- half again more than the "Main Stage" the night before. 66 bucks looks like a lot of money, when it's almost all ones and quarters. But it's apparently all about the "connection" -- and I'm beginning to think, counter-intuitively, that people tip a "full" jar more than an empty one, so I started the jar with several bills in it, instead of the usual two, and 4 bills in the guitar case. Seems to have made a difference. Or maybe I'm just good...

Naaahh...

K&W at Irvine Spectrum (MC) - 10July2009

The girl who books the gigs at Irvine Spectrum offered to let us play the "Main Stage" (called, inexplicably, the "Myrtle Court"), one time only, without the usual $50 "setup fee". I've been wondering why other bands would play over there when it chops 50 bucks off of their "take", so we jumped at the chance.

Wow -- it's a lot different. It's basically just a wide spot in the (outdoor) mall, with a long rectangular fountain/pond running down it. They put up a stage at one end of the pond, and there are tables and chairs running along the sides. It's not the Food Court, so the tables fill up with people who are just sitting, or have found some coffee or juice to drink. The traffic, and there's a lot of it, flows around the stage and pond, and the band has the quandary of playing facing west toward the pond and the sitting-people, or facing east toward the flow of transient walking-people.

We decided to play toward the pond -- wrongly, I think now. It seemed like the only actual definable "audience" would be the sitting-people, and it would be rude to play with our backs to them. And they were largely appreciative, but they were also fairly distant, and the "connection" was hard to hold on to. Playing the other direction, we'd be the stone upon which the current breaks, but even if we'd only "captured" a couple of percent of that flow, that'd be a pretty big audience in itself. The video is pretty funny -- since the camera is pointing at the two of us, it catches us playing away, oblivious to the constant traffic flow and social interactions happening behind us. We did capture some of them -- there are a few sit-able planter-boxes back there that had people listening most of the time, but I think we'd'a connected better, and made more in tips, if we'd'a played the other direction. Next time -- if there is one.

The other problem with playing westward was that the sun was shining, hard, right in our faces when we got there. Twice as bad with the reflection off the pond. It was pretty ridiculous at first -- I couldn't see a thing, even with my sunglasses, and it was baking the wood of my guitar and warping it out of tune in nothing flat.

But the sun went down behind a big archway after not-too-long, and it was pleasant the rest of the night. The "hallway" is narrow enough to have a nice reverb effect on the sound, when it was quiet enough to hear it. And we had *lots* of people, who were really "there". It was pretty terrific. I tried to stick to the upbeat songs, but you know I have to throw in a crooner once in a while. And because of recent events, I worked up an acoustic bluesy version of "Billie Jean", which I wasn't so sure about but seemed to go over pretty well.

One odd coincidence: I'd been flipping through the "in-process" songs in my Book the afternoon before, and came upon "California Dreamin'". My chordsheet isn't quite right, and I needed to work up the correct chords for the flute solo section, so I tore it out of the book to work on it. I didn't get to it that afternoon, but, sure enough, somebody asked for it at the gig -- maybe the third time, ever. But I knew exactly where the sheet was -- on the floor in the bedroom, so I knew I couldn't play it. For fun though, I strummed out the first verse from memory before stopping cold and saying, "Nope. I don't know that song" to some scattered laughter.

We started about 6:20 -- stalling in hopes of losing some of that sun -- and had plenty of audience to keep playing past 10, so we just kept on going. Of course, by then my knees were shot, my fingers were hamburgered, and I'd lost the bottom fourth of my vocal range, but whatever, right? But at 10:45 the "house music" came on from the speakers along the walls, and we couldn't compete, so that was our last song.

Tips came in at $42 -- not even enough to have covered the setup fee. This was no doubt mostly on account of playing "backwards". The tip jar was behind us where we couldn't even watch it. I think people are intimidated somewhat by having "the artist" see them putting money in the jar, but they also seem to need the "credit" for having done so. If you're not watching, they don't "need" to tip. Also, the people who were really listening -- at the tables -- were far away from the jar, so they'd mostly just get up and walk away.

But that's OK -- we're not in it for the money. It was a terrific night. We probably played "at" a few thousand people, and "for" several dozen, at least.

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 27Jun2009

It's finally nice and warm, and a lot of people were out. Unfortunately, it's also warm enough that the kids' fountain also has lots of people, making lots of noise. Hadn't thought of that.

Daleen's birthday was on Tuesday, so her parents met her at the food court to have dinner with her, and marginally, see me. Geneva came by a little later, since she was gonna meet up with some friends and see a movie later. Apparently, she's the only one in my family that understands the job description of "shill"...

But that's OK -- like I said, lots of people out. And, later on, a friend from work, who's always thought that my walking around the block twice a day with my electric guitar and headphone amp is the most hilarious thing she's ever seen, finally showed up to see what all that practice is for. Fortunately, she came late enough that I was past the "can't quite find the groove" phase of the night, and I was hitting a lot of home runs.

She'd brought her husband and two little kids along, and the 3-year-old boy went straight from the stroller to soaking wet in the fountain, while his 2-year-old sister watched carefully (and dry) from the sidelines. Vickie got to hear a lot of my best tunes while her husband walked all the way to the other end of the mall to buy some towels at Target. And I guess she thought I was pretty OK, 'cuz she said later that she thought that they ought to come and do that more often -- the music is good, and the kids had a blast. She'll bring towels and dry clothes next time, I imagine.

Near the end of the evening, a guy, his wife, and 14-year-old daughter were having a late dinner at the table right in front of me, and the adults were clearly in my Target Audience, and liking my stuff. Finally the wife finishes eating, and between songs comes up to me and says, "Do you know 'Carolina'?" I said that I did. She said, "You want me to harmonize it with you?" I have a basic policy/belief that anybody with the guts to ask something like that, can probably handle it, so I said, "Absolutely!" I dug out a second microphone (kept in the gig bag for just such an occasion), and we fired it up.

Her name was Joy, and unfortunately, although she professed to having "harmonized" to JT songs for 30 years, I think she can really only "hear it" if someone else (on the record) is reinforcing her part in her ear. She seemed about to sing, many times, but held back most of the song (and "Sweet Baby James" which we tried after), seeming to be waiting to hear where her part was. She was about to give up, but her husband yelled, "Let her sing 'Over the Rainbow'!", which I was happy to do. And, since she was on melody, she powered through that one, with only a little confusion since I've added back the "missing second bridge", cut from the movie version, which she'd never heard.

Anyway, it was fun for both of us to try, and it made her evening. I think she may even come back for another go, some night.

And I must have been doing something right overall, 'cuz I made $63 in tips, which I think is a new record for a solo gig. Some of that was CD money, 'cuz two ladies came up and bought one of each, each. Said they were preschool teachers, so they wanted the "grownup" record for themselves, and the "Waltzing With Bears" one for their classes. Flattering.

K&W at Borders South Coast Plaza -- 19Jun2009

Very nice. Not a lot of people, but somebody really listening at least most of the time.

My new boss at work came by. She's Vietnamese, and sang in a "family band" back home, apparently many years ago. But she has a webpage with some recordings of her singing some Vietnamese songs, and some "Foreign" ones, including "Yellow Bird", which I play sometimes. Her husband spotted it on The List, and requested it, so I asked her if she wanted to sing it, and without too much fuss, she came up, and after a bit of confusion about what key I should play it in, did a pretty good job singing it -- though she has a much more "formal" vocal style than I do, and we had some kind of disagreement about how fast it should go.

Later on, Warren's son and his girlfriend came by for quite a while, and requested some good songs, and gave us a reason to play them well. Luc is a local music entrepreneur (runs a rehearsal studio business), and has more of an idea of what it takes to make those sounds come out of those boxes than the average person does, so it's nice to see him impressed.

And for the last hour or so, we had a somewhat shy couple listening in, so I asked the lady if she had any requests off the list. She replied in a heavy but wonderful accent, and her husband tried to "translate", showing off his equally outrageous one. Warren finally asked them where they were from -- he was from Israel, she from Mexico. But they live in Chicago, and were out here for vacation. Wow.

They stayed all the way to the end, and apparently thought that we were some kind of Real Band, 'cuz the guy came up and talked to us a bit while we were packing up and told us that if we were ever "touring through the Chicago area", that we should let him know. Unfortunately, I don't think that our Nationwide Tour of Borders Coffeeshops is coming up anytime soon...

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 13Jun2009

Finally, it's staying warm enough through the evening. All those Easterners who think it's always warm in California are dreaming...

Had a low-key, but pretty good night. Long periods of total silence between songs, but still people watching. Kinda like those inflatable crowds they use in movies these days.

But I played and played, and the sound was pretty good, for some reason. Seemed clearer than usual. Maybe I was just louder -- I was getting some feedback that I don't usually get. Anyway, it was pretty fun to just keep playing, and see what happens, see who turns up. Unfortunately, nobody very enthusiastic ever did, until about 9:40, when a couple of groups finally got the idea that I was a real live person. There was a group of 4 teen-age girl Beatle fans (more and more common lately), and some couples out listening, too.

All of a sudden, it was twice as fun as it had been the first three-and-a-half hours, so I just kept going, hoping the maintenance guys wouldn't be too upset. I played all the way 'til 10:30 when they showed up. They were cool about it, 'cuz I quit immediately at the end of that song, and moved my stuff quickly so they could take the table and lights away.

I guess I was doing better than the response indicated, though, 'cuz I made $53, and only one of the bills was a 5, so a lot of people threw in a couple of bucks. That's kinda cool.

One interesting thing: I was kind of trying to remember how "Hallelujah" goes, tinkering with the two intro chords, and a college girl looked up and gushed "Oh, I love that song!" I was surprised that (a) she knew it, and (b) she recognized it from just the two chords, played not even right yet. I'd been wondering how well-known it is, and I may have just gotten my answer.

Keith at Cancer Relay -- 06Jun2009

Well, the good news is that they had a big stage with lights, and huge sound system and everything set up like a full-scale rock concert. The bad news is that it *was* a full-scale rock concert -- except for me, of course. The schedule was: rock band, rock band, rock band, punk band, rock band, rock band, punk band, me, rock band. It was like a brain teaser for 4 year olds: Which of these is different?

It's suddenly very clear why they switched me from 4:00 to the 9:00 hour, when the "Luminaria Ceremony" is traditionally scheduled. If you want somebody to play soft background music during your mushy sentimental speeches, who from the list above would you choose?

After my experience with the Chalk Festival and how lame it was compared to how I thought it was gonna be, and since I was getting really nervous about this one, I thought I'd go over there in the morning to confirm the layout and presumably alleviate my anxiety by seeing that it was also gonna be lame. When we got there and there was a 7 piece rock band, audible from a half a mile away on the dozen Volkswagon-sized JBL speaker cabinets, my little plan backfired, big time. I mentioned my apprehension to several people, friends and the organizer-lady, Ashley, but they all said, "You'll be fine!". That is, of course, easy for them to say...

So I spent the afternoon freaking out over just the magnitude of the sound system, but still thinking that the other acts (after the first Classic Rock, "get 'em warmed up" band) were gonna be, like the chalk festival, local dance academies and high school choirs. Fortunately I was still ignorant of my "odd man (very) out" status in the lineup, or I may have not shown up again that evening.

But I did, and listened to very loud rock bands while trying to talk to my friends over the din. It was at the local college's football stadium, with a running track around it that the Relay-ers were walking. The stage was at one end, and even at the farthest end, it was Really Loud, so much that I had to stop trying to talk to my friend for fear of blowing out my voice before having to sing. And, of course, near the stage it was almost unbearable. All the adults I talked to complained about having to spend all day (this is a 24-hour "endurance" relay kind of thing) with that too-loud noise.

Which actually helped eliminate some anxiety, 'cuz, despite being Completely Different (*because* of it), maybe I was gonna be the respite that the adults had been waiting for all day. I was feeling a little weird mixed in with these rock-n-roll kids, but, hey, nobody likes every kind of music -- never apologize for being not-that-stuff, right?

Problem was, as the day went on, they were falling farther and farther behind in the schedule -- of course. Especially since they'd allotted 10 minutes between bands to tear down one band's stuff, and set up the next, with sound check on a dozen channels. Not bloody likely.

The original plan was for me to play background music for 20 minutes worth of Ceremony speeches at 9:00. At the end of the speeches, they had a bagpiper to lead the audience around the track to look at the luminaria, while playing "Amazing Grace". I know. Hard to imagine. But worse, at that point, I get to play a 35 minute set to the now-empty chairs. Gee, thanks. I'm like, you're kidding, right?

So, I complained and they managed to shuffle the schedule some and get me 45 minutes *before* the ceremony, then play background during it, and then I'm done when the bagpipes start. A bit short of a set, but I can live with it -- it's a good cause and all.

But that all went out the window when I got there, because the only thing that was set in time was the Ceremony is supposed to start at 9:00. So, I agreed to go back to the speeches-then-me ordering. Not ideal, but if the audience actually does the full lap, they'll be back at the stage for my set.

So I get set up after the punk band is done, and the stage manager has the rock band that's on after me setting up behind me as well -- probably wise, to save some time. They finally clear off, so the speeches start, with me playing "Over the Rainbow" in the background. Then the second set of speeches, and I played "You've Got a Friend", over and over for 15 minutes, 'cuz I couldn't very well stop in the middle of the speech to turn the page. Didn't seem to bother anyone. Then the closing remarks, with me back playing "Over the Rainbow", and then the bagpiper takes the audience for a walk.

I'm ready to start singing when they get back, but, whoops, almost nobody actually comes back. They're all pretty tired by this point, and apparently just stopped at their respective tents to get away from all this noise -- this being the first quiet minute since 10am. (The bagpipes, known for being obnoxiously loud, sounded hilariously quiet after all the amplified rock.) So, when the bagpipes quit , I start singing to maybe a dozen or fifteen people, almost all of them my old Indian Princess friends. The kids all wanted to hear my kid songs, of course, so I started with "With a Little Help From My Friends", and then did 3 kid songs, starting with "Waltzing With Bears", of course. Then I thought I'd try to bring some adults back over, so I did "Sweet Baby James", which can also be thought of as a kid song, kinda. So, 5 songs in, I was thinking of what to do next, and the stage manager whispers "One more song!" at me. Say what?!?

So, because I was the only guy there who could play quiet nice stuff, and the guy who bent over backwards to get the Ceremony started on time, I get my already-short 45-minute set cut to less than half of that to reset the schedule. But I can't actually stand on stage and argue with Ashley over the microphone, so I play "You've Got a Friend in Me", and get out of the way so the rock kids can start their one-hour set.

Now, I will say that none of this was malicious on Ashley's part. She's probably 25, and just green and naïve. But when it came time to figure out how to fix the schedule, she shoulda remembered who her friends were, 'cuz it's gonna be pretty hard to get me back there next year.

K&W at Irvine Spectrum -- 30May2009

Pretty fun, for some reason. Maybe I was just in a good mood. We did have a reasonably constant stream of people paying at least some attention, but nobody ever really enthused. But, it was still a fun one.

It was gloomy all day and I was afraid it would be freezing in the evening. And even though last week the guys promised to bring a heater this week, it wasn't there when I got there. When the guys finally came by, they told us that they'd sent all the heaters out for maintenance! But the cloud cover apparently "kept the heat in", as they say, 'cuz it never did get very cold at all. Maybe that's why I was in a good mood -- I wasn't shivering.

I cleverly put my second camera battery in the charger to "top it off" before I left, and then cleverly forgot it. So I only got one battery's worth of video (about 1:40). And I haven't had a chance to look at it yet, so no list of posted videos this time. Kind of a shame about that second battery, though, 'cuz I really felt like I was "on" for the second half, after the camera was dead. Or was it *because* the camera was dead...? Oh, well.

K&W at Irvine Spectrum -- 23May2009

Well, it wasn't exactly cold out, but it was kinda chilly -- apparently enough to discourage a lot people from deciding that going to an outdoor mall was a good idea. But that's OK, we had fun playing to the stragglers and cold-immune teens.

Problem is, I'm standing up there for 4 hours, relatively still, and I get really cold even if it's not all that cold outside. The whole last hour or more, I was shivering and my fingers were too cold to really play. It's just not really summer yet. As we were packing up, I mentioned that I was freezing to the maintenance guy, and he was surprised ('cuz it's "not that cold!"), but he said he'd bring a heater out next week. I hope so.

My little camera periscope invention worked quite well, as you can see from the vidcap still above. The performances were pretty good, and at least the camera angle was "on" this time.

So, I did find quite a few songs to clip for posterity -- if you can call YouTube "posterity"...
Past the Point of Rescue
Hey Jude
Hey Ya
Country Road
Golden Slumbers
Let It Be
I've Just Seen a Face
Old Man

K&W at SCP -- 15May2009

Well, amazing acoustically, as always, and, pretty great socially for once, which led to: terrific musically. I had my video cam set up and whereas usually I have to try to remember which few songs went well enough to be worth clipping out and posting the next day, this time it was hard to find any that *weren't*.

Unfortunately, the camera's "aim" was pretty off, mostly because I felt self-conscious doing the 5 or 6 timered still shots that it takes to try, adjust, and try again to get the zoom and X and Y angles right. At Spectrum, there's nobody sitting and waiting for me/us to start, so I have the luxury of getting it right. Here, where it mattered, I screwed up. You can see the results above -- it's just straight at my face, which isn't exactly what I'm going for. I like to get some of the guitar in there, and if Warren's there, he ought to be in the frame somewhere, too. I remembered to go to "widescreen" mode, but still didn't get him in there.

All of which has made me mad enough to try to do something about it -- I've built a little cardboard-and-mirrors "periscope" that hangs on the back of the camera and lets me see what the backside screen looks like, albeit upside-down. I should have better results next time.

Anyway, it was a great time, 'cuz we had people listening the whole night, and were able to keep their interest by being not-too-shabby. One highlight: someone asked for an old K&W staple, "Love Hurts" off the list, which I've neglected for a long time, but it really sounds great and is fun to play, so I'm gonna have to try to move it into my mental "A" or at least "B" list. It's probably even useful as a bone to throw out when some kids sarcastically ask for Metallica or some such, since it's well-known on dinosaur-rock radio in a version by metal-band Anthrax.

Since the camera's aim was so off, I haven't clipped any of the (probably musically good) songs out of it yet. I may do a few, though, when I get the time, just 'cuz they're likely to be the best *sounding* clips I'll have.

K&W at Irvine Spectrum -- 09May2009

Well, that was pretty awful. After last week's success, I was thinking that each Spectrum gig would better than the one before it, as it got warmer and more people came out. Unfortunately, it was colder, and although there were people out, they were all grumpy or something, and we never did get anything going.

I suppose it's (always) at least partially my fault. I play OK, and I sing OK, but I'm not really much of an "Entertainer", and can't really "get an audience going" like some guys do. And since I only play well if somebody's really listening, I'm afraid that if nobody joins in somewhere along the way, I go into a death-spiral. I should try to fix that about me. I guess I'll look into that right after I fix my other personality flaws: bad listener, short patience for fools, too much of a perfectionist...

It wasn't all bad, though. With nobody listening we could play lots of the new songs with impunity (Warren's other "date" stood him up, so I wasn't solo after all). And I suppose there were a few people that listened in for a while.

Anyway, a new record "low" for tips there: $16. Which actually, again, wouldn't have been half-bad at a Borders gig, so I should shut up.

I did get a few decent songs off of the video, and posted them:
Under the Boardwalk
Yesterday
Country Road
Your Song

Keith at Irvine Spectrum -- 02May2009

A pretty great gig -- especially compared to the one earlier in the day. I started at 6:10, and the place was just about full by 6:30. Not to see me of course -- it was just Dinner Time, but still. A guy from work happened to come by while I was setting up, and was having dinner with his wife and kids when I started up. He was apparently impressed -- he told our new boss "Keith's a great singer!" first thing at our staff meeting Monday morning.

But it was a nice warm evening (finally!), and there were lots of people out. And not just roving packs of teenagers like previous weeks, either. I almost always had people tuned in. The Beatles Set thing worked again, for pulling in and retaining young people. And I had a lady ask for song after song, all good ones, including "Mister Bojangles", which she correctly surmised I'd be able to play, and every Cat Stevens song I know, even the ones that aren't on the list.

Unfortunately, I had a case of Movie Camera Intimidation Syndrome, so I fatally muffed up most of the tunes until the last half-hour or so. But I got a few that are presentable, and I've posted them:
Graceland
Hey Ya
Sealed With a Kiss
If I Fell
All My Lovin'
Your Song

The funniest thing that happened was a kid, about 15, that came up, dropped a quarter in the jar, and gingerly took a CD, looking up at me to see if I was gonna object. I didn't (mostly because I'd'a had to stop the song-in-progress to do so), so he wandered off with the CD, which, I noticed, was the Kids' Songs one. I just chuckled to myself that he'd gotten what he paid for. After about 10 minutes, he came back over. I expected that he'd come to swap the CD for the other one, but once he figured it out, he pulled out another quarter, and took the other CD too. Even funnier.

I didn't think I'd be up to playing for too long after having already played at lunchtime, but I took a nap, and was able to play almost the whole 4 hours. My voice got a little ragged, off and on, but mostly pretty good.

Anyway, I had a great time, (made $55), and expect that it'll just get better and better as it gets warmer, with longer days.

Keith at the Street Painting Festival -- 02May2009

I got a last minute invitation to play at the City of Mission Viejo's 11th annual "Street Painting Festival", where they divide up the parking lot at the Community Center and do chalk art, with an attendant "festival" of booths with art-related stuff for sale. They also put up a stage and have entertainment, and the lady who signed me up to play for Santa Claus last December thought I might want to come down.

It was kind of cool because they had a stage inside a tent/pavilion, 150 chairs, and a big sound system with a real Sound Guy. I guess that's a good thing, because it sounded really weird from where I was (I wonder what that says about the self-mixed sound I'm usually churning out). But everyone said it sounded good out in the audience.

Well, I say "everyone", but it was a pretty disappointing turnout, other than my friends and family who came out in almost-record numbers. My mom, dad, and sister came, and Daleen and Acacia (with puppy Annabelle). Daleen's dog-walking buddy and her husband came, and a pair of Daleen's students with their mom. And old-friend Sandy from my Toshiba days. Unfortunately, that made up at least half of the "crowd". I've played to fewer people of course, but I guess a coffeeshop with 10 people in it looks different than 150 chairs with 10 people in them.

Anyway, it was pretty fun. I had worked up an actual Set List, 'cuz I knew I had limited time (1:30), and wanted to show off my best stuff, and didn't want to waste time flipping through the book like I usually do. I also stacked the deck with my most solid songs, which generally means the ones I've been playing a while. Unfortunately, my mom wanted to hear some of the new stuff. Sorry, Mom.

I did inexplicably play one new one, "Country Road", just 'cuz I'm getting the hang of the tricky guitar part, and it's fun to try to land it. It made a pretty good Big Finish as the Unexpectedly Last Song, when they cut me off early to set up the stage for the Irish Dancing girls that followed me. It seemed terribly short to me, 'cuz it was more like an hour and ten, and I'm used to playing at least 3 hours, and time flies when you're having fun. It probably seemed interminable to the audience...

Anyway, the event coordinator thought I was great, so I guess she'll be inviting me to more of these kinds of things. In 5 weeks I'll be playing at the American Cancer Society's big Relay for Life at the local college. A friend of mine says we'll be playing for "a big crowd" there, so we'll see. This was probably a good rehearsal/preview of how that one will go.

Trailmate Campout at San Onofre

Now that the weather's nice again, we're having Trailmate campouts again. This one was at San Onofre beach, which is on Camp Pendleton, but we have a retired Marine in our group who was able to get us in.

Because of the exclusivity, despite all the camping we've done, this is the first time we've been to this campground. It's pretty nice, and you get to pitch the tents right there on the sand. This seemed really cool, but it happened to be a new moon, with the attending very high tides, and the first night, the waves came up and almost soaked some of the tents. But, fortunately, not quite.

We had a movie on Friday night, as per tradition, and though I generally frown on this idea, thinking that the girls ought to be doing something that they *can't* do at home, nobody else seems to have that issue, so I join in. I try to bring some "unexpected" movie -- there's no point in bringing "the newest thing", as the kids will have all seen it anyway. So this time I brought "Cocoon", which is "ancient" as far as the kids are concerned, and has a nice message about being kind to old people, like me.

On Saturday, some of the guys took their girls to go skeet shooting on the base, but that doesn't really appeal to me, so we stayed behind. Acacia played in the (freezing) surf with her friends, but Geneva's ankle is still messed up, so she mainly slept late and sat around knitting. It's OK to have a pure decompression weekend once in a while.

On Sunday, some of the guys took their girls horseback riding, but since Geneva can't put her foot in a stirrup, we just headed home at noon, and Acacia went riding with one of the other dads, who then brought her home.

Overall, a pretty good, laid-back, weekend, though it was windy and cold part of the time. I had forgotten my sun hat, so I had to modify a foam dinner plate to act as a brim stuck up under my stocking cap. Fortunately, there were no mirrors for me to see what a dork I looked like. You can check all the pictures, here.

K&W at Borders South Coast Plaza -- 17Apr2009

Remarkably, it's been 7 weeks since I'm played indoors, and 8 since I've played the brilliant acoustics of the South Coast Plaza Borders. Wow! I'd forgotten how good it can sound. At Spectrum, the general environment's loud, so I have to be way too loud, and that darn fountain makes white noise that varies between loud and really loud for the music to compete with.

So it was pretty delightful to be able to play and sing with a little subtlety for a change. And it was good timing, too, after the two previous somewhat discouraging gigs, it was good to have one go well -- I was starting to worry that I'd lost my mojo...

As usual, there weren't a whole lot of people there, but we had folks listening in pretty much the whole time. Right at first there was a young family that we've seen there before, and there were some college girls that made a few requests. Later on, there was a guy who was obviously a guitar player, who commented on playing in Drop-D tuning, so I took the opportunity to play a bunch of those songs. Not that he was really asking to hear every Drop-D song I know, but it was as good an excuse as any.

I brought my movie camera again, and with the great acoustics and attention, was playing and singing pretty well, so I got lots of presentable songs. Luckily (?), I'd forgotten the second battery, or I'd'a had even more of 'em. As it was, I waited until halfway through to fire the camera up, but, since I don't like to delay the show, I just pointed it the best I could guess, and hit "go" -- ending up with me pretty squarely in the picture, but Warren usually cut in half. Wish I'd'a remembered to put it in Letterbox mode -- if it'd been getting wider shot, Warren might have been in the picture better. Next time.

But anyway, I posted what I got -- some new stuff, and some classics that are hopefully improving over time. Links below:
Five O'Clock World
Sarah Maria
Four and Twenty
Wichita Lineman
Past the Point of Rescue
You Were Always On My Mind
Time After Time
Something

I'm not entirely sure why I'm filling YouTube up with videos of me singing stuff. I guess I'm pretending that it can be an audition resource, but we've yet to encounter any booking person that accepts on-line material in lieu of a physical CD. Maybe the world's working up to that. Until then, I guess it's straight-up vanity. Fortunately, with my new camera, rig, and software, it's pretty easy to grab a night's worth and edit out and post the good takes.