1. Last Licks

    0

    October 25, 2014 by admin

    A week before Halloween, the temperature crept just above 60 degrees. So off I went, under a heavy gray sky, hoping to get in what any day now could be my last for the season. Acorns crunched under foot; oak leaves rustled and swirled in the wind. The colors of the park were saturated in the diffuse light, yellows, browns, reds, greens. The dark purple leaves of the water plants in the fountain looked like cormorant wings drying in the cool autumn air. After tuning up, I spotted a bride and groom with their photographer, looking for a pretty background for their pictures. There were to be 4 sets of brides and grooms this day, 4 renditions of “The Hawaiian Wedding Song,” for a combined take of $0.

    A teenaged boy made the walk from the water’s edge to toss a coin in my case. “Thank you,” I said, without looking. As he walked back to his friends, I glanced down to see he’d given me a penny. Continuing to play, I contemplated the thought process that led to such deliberate disrespect, before I turned my attention to a woman on the stone bench who was pulling something out of her purse. Nine out of ten times it will be a cellphone; this time it was a fiver for me.

    Another woman strolled by and started dancing. “Have you got time for a hula today?” She seemed not to understand, so I stopped playing and pantomimed a hula. “Oh, no no no no,” she giggled, then later, returning with her daughter, she dropped a dollar.

    Next up were 2 young girls who clasped hands and danced in circles to “The Hukilau Song.” A Spanish woman who’d been sitting with her kids got the idea. With the leis around their necks, the kids just stood there until I draped a lei around mom’s neck too. Following mom’s lead, they danced to both verses. At the end, the elder child was given a dollar for me, the younger a dime. Off they went to enjoy the day, but came back 10 minutes later to give me another dollar and another dime.

    A light-haired boy of 12 or 13, in a bright green raincoat, made his way toward me with a dollar in his hand. We chatted about ukuleles for a while, then he told me he was from The Netherlands. “No kidding, I’ve been there many times. What city are you from?”

    He thought for a moment, then said, “The Hague.”

    “You mean den Haag,” pronouncing it as I was taught by our Dutch friend Eric, with a breathy guttural that sounded as if I were swallowing my own tongue. We shared a good laugh.

    A group of a dozen or so teenaged girls came bounding down the path. About half of them were up for a hula. They lined up on either side of me, attracting a large crowd to watch the show. A young man stepped forward with a dollar. A little girl of 3 or so wanted to join the dance, but when one of the teenagers put a lei around her neck, the toddler ran back to hide behind her mother’s leg.

    During the last third of my set, I heard a soft saxophone behind me. The offender had set up facing the arcade. Among buskers, setting up against another busker is the unpardonable sin. Yet, having heard this guy before, I could tell that he was holding back, for he could easily have blown me away. My set over, I pocketed $12.21, and left the sax to do his worst.

    Category Uncategorized | Tags: ,

  2. Leading Economic Indicators

    0

    October 16, 2014 by admin

    Underneath a warm, wet sky, I set up on center stage. As I put a lei around my own neck, a dozen or more kids on a scavenger hunt, attracted by the bright colors, hurried over to check me out. “Have you got time for a hula today?”

    They did, and afterward my case took in a few singles and change. It’s always a boon to get dancers early in the set; it gives everybody else an idea of what I’m doing, like the family with kids who next happened by. “Where are you from?”

    “Brazil,” said one of the dark-haired moms. “What about you?”

    “I’m from New York.”

    “You are the first New Yorker I’ve met since I arrived on Monday,” she said, shaking my hand.

    Two well-dressed men in their mid-30s walked by and one of them took my picture. “Did you get it? Good, now how about a hula?”

    He hemmed, he hawed, he hula-ed. “Now I’ll have to give you a tip,” he said, pulling a $20 bill from his wallet. It turned out he and his friend were in from Reno to get married.

    A young Hispanic man wearing a “Bronx” baseball cap asked me if we could take a picture together. “Of course,” I said, “but you’ve got to wear a lei.”

    He put his arms over my shoulder and took a selfie. “My girlfriend loves the ukulele,” he said, dropping a dollar in my case.

    An elderly couple, who had been sitting at some distance, packed up their lunch and started out of the park. As they made their way toward the trash cans, the woman veered toward me and gave me a dollar. “Thank you,” she said, “you’re very entertaining.”

    Another school group came by from the High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture (HSCTEA) in Ozone Park, Queens. Among the 20 or more kids I spied some credible hulas, but nothing compared to the woman from Hawaii, who, after reviewing the movements she’d learned in grade school, danced a lovely hula to “The Hukilau Song.”

    A short while later, I sang “The Hawaiian Wedding Song” to a pair of newly wed women in buzz cuts and blue blazers with wide lapels and gold trim. Their photographer grew impatient while I crooned of “sweet aloha” and of how “blue skies of Hawaii shine on this our wedding day.”

    Toward the end of my set, a woman of 60 or so laid a fiver in my case and piled some coins on it to keep it from blowing away. “Delightful,” she said.

    As I packed up, noting that today’s take again far exceeded normal levels, I wondered if perhaps my busking revenues were a leading indicator of the economic recovery. If so, it would be most delightful indeed.

    Category Uncategorized | Tags: ,

  3. Happy Birthday, John and Tura

    0

    October 10, 2014 by admin

    Near the entrance to Strawberry Fields is a water-fountain. On one side a man my age sells photographs, and on the other side a different man my age sells buttons. Today, I noticed that the tree behind the button-man was loaded with pink spikey fruit. “It’s dogwood,” he told me. “Sometimes conks me on the head; the birds and rats fight over it. Some guy came around the other day on an edible plant tour of Central Park and told me I could eat it.”

    A large crowd had formed around the mosaic in Strawberry Fields. October 9th is John Lennon’s birthday. Two electric guitars led the crowd through the repertoire; it was tough luck for the acoustic homeless platoon. An officer of the NYPD, looking bored, stared straight ahead and chose not to hear me when I wised off, “Are we now allowing amplification in a Quiet Zone, officer?”

    It looked like center stage was mine, until I spotted a young man picking a classical guitar piece on a 12-string upright fingerboard with an amp hook-up.

    The large elm halfway up the path had lost most of its leaves. The small English mulberries near my spot were covered with shiny red fruit; the large mulberry didn’t seem to have any. Maple seedlings from above coptered into my case.

    A well-dressed international couple were the first to show their enjoyment of my music, followed by a young Swedish woman, who asked if I would sing “Happy Birthday” to her friend Tura. “Is $10 okay?” She seemed quite relieved when I assured her it was.

    A few years ago, someone passing by said, “You suck.” More often, someone who wants to dis me will drop a penny or two, for which I always say, “Thank you.” Today, 3 teenagers formed a dis train: the first dropped 2 nickels, moments later the second another 2 nickels, and finally the third, 5 pennies. They strode off laughing in single file, patting each other on the back.

    A Chinese toddler was released from his stroller to dance. He stood about 10 feet away, flexing his knees, up and down. He would come no closer, was not interested in a lei, was totally unresponsive to me or his mother.

    I turned my attention to a family walking up the path. “Have you got time for a hula today?”

    “Of course we do.” A Swiss mom with her son and 2 daughters put on leis, took a little hula instruction from me (which mom translated for the children), and danced to the hukilau. In the meantime, the Chinese toddler sidled up to the Swiss boy, who was about 9. The boy put his lei on the toddler and they danced the second verse together.

    After 90 minutes, I put $14.26 in my pocket. The sing-along to John Lennon was still going on. The policeman seemed not to have moved.

    Category Uncategorized | Tags:

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Archives