this gay mad whirl

[kip_w]

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I've been working on finishing a book I've been setting up since forever. I do changes, then the author decides to make more changes. The editor wanted to send it to the publisher like yesterday, but I got the changes to her and haven't heard back yet, so I'm just holding the line or something.

Been going to the Y with Sarah. She stopped going to swim lessons, so we got our money back for the rest of the session to cut our losses slightly. She has been going with me instead. She still wanted to pass the deep end test so she could go down the slide on weekends. Tried once and almost made it, then she didn't seem to want to try again. Tonight Cathy took her, and she took it and passed. She also plays in the adventure center, where there are always several kids willing to run around and climb stuff.

Cathy keeps getting better. She came back from ALA on schedule, or maybe a half hour late. She was going to have lunch with my sister, but fresh snow made it foolish for my sister to drive 60+ miles, so they talked on the phone instead. Cathy brought me back the first volume of Orphan Annie reprints, which I have been reading at every opportunity.

A restaurant Sarah and I went to had a piano, so I told them I was always looking for a place to play. More conversations ensued, I played a little bit for them, and told them what kind of stuff I do, and offered to play an hour for free so they could hear a real cross section of my material. Instead, after I tried to get them on the phone a few times, they said I could play Thursday night (next week) for money. Then a bit after that, they called again to say their Friday guy couldn't make it and asked if I felt like filling in, so I said sure and went out and bought a nice pair of slacks to wear and got a shoe shine kit so my shoes would look good. I played (and played well, I think) for two and a half hours, and at the end of the time they told me the customers hadn't really enjoyed it and asked if I knew any 80s and 90s stuff. I said I didn't, so Thursday's off.

They have a guy who does some show tunes and stuff on Friday already, so they don't want more of that. They have a guy who plays some classical on Saturday, so they don't want more of that -- apparently, there is just enough classical music to fill a two and a half hour slot.

Sarah tried again and succeeded, so I guess I have to try again somewhere else. I don't know where I'll find an audience for my cornball 60s stuff and obsolete earlier material. Retirement homes, I guess. Waffle House doesn't have a piano.
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Comments

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Good for Sarah and Cathy, and too bad about the setting up and piano-playing!

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Sarah and I frolicked in the deep end of the pool today. I am proud of her progress.

[davesslave.livejournal.com]

'80s and '90s music? There is a lot of bad pop music from those times.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

And this was after I told them exactly what I played, including the phrase "up to about 1970." And played some of it for them. Twice. None of which was 80s or 90s soft schlock.

My mistake is in playing music that's not made to be ignored.

[sarah-ovenall.livejournal.com]

what a bummer! There's a jazz duo (bass and guitar) who play Sunday brunch at a restaurant I like. I always make a request from the "great American songbook", and they seem really relieved to get requests that are in their genre. They told me most people request 80s and 90s music they don't know.

You could do the Richard Cheese thing and develop loungey arrangements for modern pop & rock tunes. The Richard Cheese version of "Baby Got Back" is killer.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

The modern stuff is loungey. None of it was written to be performed by anybody else. There are no decent arrangements that I can find (except for Elton John, whose piano writing is exquisite, if difficult). If you don't have synth strings and a drum machine, you can't hope to match the sound of the recording in any way. The music is just a bunch of repeated and slightly syncopated chords. Half the time, they don't even put the vocal line into the piano part.

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

Hurrah for Sarah! And BOO to the restaurant for not enjoying your music.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

The manager who had the unenviable task of being in the middle (between me and the patrons) kept saying that he was getting comments about it sounding like saloon music -- wild west stuff or something. It was only later that I realized these were probably because I played "Last Date" near the end of my set. I played "Loch Lomond" and he came up and said no more old stuff, so I didn't play any of my classical material. It might have been a mistake to listen to him at all, I just don't know.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

Eh, that restaurant didn't like it, but you're good, so you keep on trying. 80's and 90's stuff makes me nuts when I'm dining someplace with a piano. I like Max's which does lots of classic 40's and 50's popular tunes plus show tunes.

I'm so glad Cathy's feeling good again.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking this is a sign that I should just keep trying to find old-folks homes to play at. Though it's true that I once played "The Sound of Music," and afterwards a little old lady stood up and told me they don't like that new stuff. My core repertoire when I go out goes back to the teens and up to about 1972 or so, with some anomalies at both ends. He told me specifically (afterwards) not to do show tunes. I pointed out that their regular Friday guy does them, and he said something to the effect that that was okay for him, and I shouldn't be trying to imitate him. Crap, I've been playing those things longer than his bleeding Friday guy.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Phoo. The kind of piano I enjoy at the kind of restaurant that has them is rather the same as Athenais's tastes: show tunes and mid-20C popular songs. Preferably fairly straight without too much elaboration. A little classical that proceeds at an even keel is good, too: a lot of Chopin and Grieg qualifies.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

I mostly play from the music. People who play from memory usually have a small bag of tricks that they apply indiscriminately to every piece of music they play, and make them all sound alike. I sometimes put back some of the sound of the recorded version to skeletal arrangements. My classical goes from Scarlatti to Morton Gould.

I got out a book with some 80s stuff in it today and began playing my way through it. I don't want to offend actual crap, so I will withhold my opinion of what I've encountered so far.

[meggins.livejournal.com]

Good to hear Cathy and Sarah are faring well. Less good about your "adventure" with the restaurant. Everybody's a critic (but not necessarily a good one).