‘Uncategorized’ Category
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Why Not
0August 9, 2019 by admin
I was making notes about the 2 stella d’oro lilies in full bloom behind the benches at 72nd St. Were they the harbingers of a second blooming, or 2 stragglers who had been waiting in the weeds for this opportunity? Entering the park with me were a dozen or so red T-shirted teen-aged girls. I let them pass. At the back of the line was a red T-shirted overweight man, their guide.
“Where’s your group from?” I said.
“Mostly from Germany and Japan.” The axis tour, I thought, but did not say. “I had a group that danced with you last week, from Spain.”
“Bring them by again,” I said, remembering that particular hukilau, for which I received nada.
Colin told me to set up, he was about to sing his last song, “Africa,” by Toto, 1982. The crowd around me at the fountain sang along, so did passersby, who took pictures and mouthed words.
I started my set, as usual, with “Making Love Ukulele Style.” Somewhere during my medley of “Sunday,” “Fit as a Fiddle,” and “I Saw Stars,” a little kid gave me 36 cents.
“Have you got time for a hula today?”
A willowy 20-something blonde said, “Why not?”
“My favorite answer,” I said, reaching for a lei to put around her neck. “No reason at all.”
Her name was Hannah, from Norway. She danced a beautiful hula that would warm the fjords of your heart. Then she walked away.
A young girl of 9 or 10 wandered free around the fountain. I saw her checking me out several times. Finally, she approached with a dollar in her hand, but instead of putting it in my case, she clutched it to her chest and shyly peeked at me. Without a word from me, she inched closer, threw the dollar in my case and burst into a bright grin. Her name was Alia, and it didn’t take long for her to hula. By this time her family had gathered, taking pictures. When Alia faltered, her grin turning to panic, she would focus on her grandfather, who danced a silly hula in encouragement, and all was right again.
A 30-something woman and her mother gave me a dollar. When I asked if she’d like to hula, she said, “Why not?” She was born in Arizona, but had been living in Amsterdam for 20 years, and had earned her BS, “in Dutch,” her mother bragged.
My 90 minutes was almost up, and here I was, once again, below my break-even by 34 cents. The fountain area was thinning out. Something in me said, pack it up and go home. Yet how could I ignore the evidence that showed that 99% of the time I made my nut. So I kept on singing.
A 20-something floated into my vision. She was short with a pixie cut and the ubiquitous white ear buds.
“Have you got time for a hula today?”
“Why not?” Why not indeed. She was from California, now living in Cobble Hill. With her dollar, I’d had another successful day.
My time up, I sat down, stuffed $3.36 in my pocket and was carefully folding my leis so they wouldn’t get tangled when I sensed somebody standing over me. A woman and her daughter wanted to buy a solar-powered hula girl for dad’s dashboard. They chose turquoise and handed me a fiver.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Africa, Fit as a Fiddle, I Saw Stars, Making Love Ukulele Style
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FX Friday
0August 4, 2019 by admin
It was gorgeous on Friday, so I strapped on my uke and made my way to the park. The jazz quartet by the lake was reduced to a trio when I walked by, guitar, bass and drum; the fourth was sitting with his back against a tree, hat over eyes, hugging his saxophone.
At Bethesda Fountain, Colin the cowboy said he needed another 20 minutes, so I headed toward the maple, stopped, considered and turned around. “Changed my mind,” I told him, as I walked by. I found a seat in the shade of the arcade, where a classical guitarist played Bach. I did the ken-ken and sudoku in AM New York, a morning free daily, and in 20 minutes took over from Colin.
A collection of teen girls and their chaperone sat near me as I set up. “Have you got time for a hula today?” It was Taylor’s birthday; she and all but one of her friends danced to “The Hukilau Song.” Afterward the chaperone gave me a fiver, then Taylor gave me another. It had been a good decision to wait for center stage.
A girl from Ottawa and her friend from Brazil stopped to hula. Today was a good day for Canadians; after getting a dollar from the hula girls, a 20-something videographer captured the full chorus of “Ukulele Lady,” then gave me a bright blue Canadian fiver.
For the rest of the afternoon, change and singles from those who walked by and those who listened from the benches piled up. My last dollar came from the parents of a dancing baby, big head, fat thighs, bouncing up and down in place on chubby knees to “Get Out and Get Under the Moon.”
On Friday’s foreign exchange markets, one Canadian dollar traded for 76 cents; so that bright blue fiver was worth $3.80. My take on the day, therefore, adjusted for currency fluctuations, was $24.70.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Get Out and Get Under the Moon, The Hukilau Song
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Cat and Mouse
0August 2, 2019 by admin
Colin was finishing up; he looked exhausted. On this hot day, while I wore shorts, a rayon shirt, sandals and a paper panama, Colin was in a leather vest, long pants, boots and a cowboy hat. “I’ve had enough,” he said when he saw me. “It’s your turn.”
Across the plaza, the jazz violinist was amped up high. “I thought the cops cleared out the amplifiers,” I said.
Colin, who used an amp, smiled as he turned it off. “They cleared us out yesterday.” I made a gesture with open palms, as if to say, yet here you are today. “Cat and mouse,” said Colin. “Cat and mouse.”
After my first 30 minutes, there was nothing in my case. I took a long drink of water and looked around. Despite the heat, there were lots of people walking through. Given that I’ve never yet gone without making, at the least, round-trip senior subway fare, I stood up for my second 30 minutes and confidently began to play.
Almost immediately, a passing 20-something Chinese man put a dollar in my case. A short time later, a burly black man gave me $2, saying, “Good effort.”
A busload of Spanish teenagers in red tee shirts flooded the plaza. They pretty much avoided me, until 3 young women came close enough for me to ask, “Have you got time for a hula today?” As I passed out leis, 3 more young women joined in. They did a wonderful synchronized hula to “The Hukilau Song.” A small crowd formed to watch and take pictures. Afterwards I collected the leis and draped them over the lid of my open case again, where I could see the same 3 singles lying there. All 6 dancers had walked away.
I started the third 30 minutes of my set, content that I’d broken even. I earned 2 more dollars for singing a chorus of “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” for a 30-something woman who video-ed the performance. She seemed never to have heard the song before. “Thank you,” she said. “That’s a really pretty song.”
Category Uncategorized | Tags: The Hukilau Song, Tiptoe through the Tulips
