One of the things I try to do once during the first hour of any performance is to somewhat educate the audience as to what I'm actually doing and those sounds are emitted from the system.

I usually say something along these lines "I know it's hard to believe, but yes, it's really me playing and really me singing. And, when you hear harmony, it's still me, and I'm singing with me and me." At this point I usually fire up the keyboard and turn off everything other than the right hand voice, which for demonstration purposes, is the grand piano. I then go into a rendition of As Time Goes By. After the first verse, I kick on some style-accompaniment parts, then kick on the vocal harmony. They love it, but ironically, some of them still don't seem to comprehend what we're up there doing. In the middle of a song, while you're singing and comping with your right had and changing chords with the left hand, there's always someone that comes up, tries to strike up a conversation, then tries to lean on the Bose speaker tower as if it were a leaning post. And, I'm not talkin' about nursing home residents - this happens with the young and dumb set in restaurant and nite-club settings.

As for British humor, what ever happened to Tony Hughes? I haven't seen his name on the forum for quite some time. Same holds true for Scott Yee, and I really miss Ian The Voice Of Reason.

Cheers,

Gary