1. Taking One for the Cowboy

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    October 27, 2019 by admin

    This time of year, every day above 60 degrees is a gift.  Judging by the size of the crowds in Central Park on Thursday, I was not the only one who felt that way.

    Someone at Bethesda Fountain has an amp turned way up.  At the top of the stairs I see a dense throng across the plaza where Colin, the cowboy, likes to play.  I haven’t seen Colin for a month and assumed he’d headed south, as he does, for the winter.  But as I got closer, past the audience that had formed a neat semicircle around him, I saw it was Colin himself, his basket brimming with bills, belting out his repertoire from the 80’s.  He acknowledged my thumbs-up as I walked past.  Even under the maple, he was audible.

    After 30 minutes, with no activity beyond the birds feasting on the bright red mulberries, I stopped playing and cocked an ear.  Colin was still at it.

    After another 30 minutes, thinking today might be the day I get schneidered (shut out), I turned to find a dollar in my case from an unseen passerby.

    During the last 30 minutes, an Orthodox Jewish couple pushing a carriage stopped when they noticed, as I did, that their son couldn’t keep his eyes off me.  I was singing “Tiptoe through the Tulips,” and finished the song, our eyes locked.  The parents clapped, so the boy did too, then dad gave me a dollar.

    Not long before I finished my set, a 40-something woman, smartly dressed, walked by and smiled while I sang “My Baby Just Cares for Me.”  She stopped to listen about 10 yards past me, while I crooned my own second verse:

    …My baby don’t care for Frank Sinatra.

    She shows the exit to Jean Paul Sartre…

    She came back with a dollar, taking me from schneidered to a break-even day.

    At the fountain, Colin, still amped to the max, raked it in well past his usual quitting time.  The old accordion player, set up much closer to Colin than he needed to be, could barely be heard.

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  2. Its Own Reward

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    October 24, 2019 by admin

    Another beautiful fall day brought large crowds to the park.  At Bethesda Fountain, the Chinese erhu player had beat me to center stage again.  Looking more closely, I saw a second string on his instrument, demonstrating that 2 strings are no better than 1.

    As I set up under the Norway Maple, a group of middle-schoolers walked by.  One boy, seeing my solar-powered hula girls still in their cases, asked, “Why aren’t the ladies dancing?”

    A young man in his 20’s put a dollar in my case.  A little later, another school group came by; one of the kids at the end of the line dropped a dollar.

    It was the birthday of the high school girl from Armonk.  Her 2 friends encouraged her to dance, then each dug out a dollar for me.  “Do you do this for fun?” one of the girls asked.

    “Wouldn’t you?”

    Yet another school group walked by, this one producing 2 hula dancers and 1 dollar.

    A dad pushed a stroller next to his wife, who held a young boy’s hand.  They stopped to listen, then sent the boy to me with a buck.  Moments later, a young man in a hurry slowed enough to toss a crumbled bill into my case.  It bounced out, but I said, “Thanks, I’ve got it,” so he could continue his dash eastward.

    I ended my set singing to myself and enjoying this gorgeous day.  Green, yellow and orange leaves from the far side of the lake were reflected in the water, where boaters rippled the surface into prismatic colors.  Above it all, the 2 towers of the San Remo on Central Park West, arguably the most beautiful building on that posh avenue, reached into the crisp blue sky.  Seven dollars was a fine take, yet a day like today was its own reward.

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  3. Farewell Tour, Continued

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    October 22, 2019 by admin

    On Monday, after my rain-foreshortened Farewell Tour, I sallied forth again.  It was a beautiful fall day, bright and sunny, with temps in the mid-60s.  The amplified acrobats were audible from 100 yards away, but Bethesda Fountain was quiet.  As I got closer to center stage, however, I heard the unpleasant screech of an erhu, a 1-stringed Chinese violin, so I continued toward the boathouse and my Norway Maple, where I could set up and play uncontested.

    A young man with a neatly trimmed beard started me off with a dollar.  A little while later, a 30-something woman held her change purse upside down over my case.  Many dollars’ worth of coins spilled out.

    An elderly man in a bowler hat came by and surprised me with a fiver.  Another fiver came my way when 2 couples stopped to listened to “Fit as a Fiddle.”

    A third fiver came from 1 of 3 adults who adoringly led a toddler on a walk in the park.  Another adult gave a dollar to the little girl and directed her to give it to me.  She advanced a few steps, then retreated. The adult turned her around and gave her a shove toward me.  “Nothing doing,” muttered the third adult, who tossed a substitute dollar in my case.  “Gotta go.”

    This is when the toddler decided to give me the dollar.  The adults applauded, then turned to go. I offered to return the substitute dollar, but my gesture was politely refused.

    I began to sing “North Dakota, South Dakota,” which captured the attention of a dad who happened to be walking by with his wife and 2 kids.  He stopped to listened, then handed each child a dollar for me.

    Counting my take after 90 minutes, I had $20 in bills and $6.07 in coin, the 3rd highest total of the season, and the highest since June 11.

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