Posts Tagged ‘Little Grass Shack’
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Under a Warm May Sky
0May 9, 2019 by admin
A bagpiper greeted me at the entrance to the park. He marched in and out among the pedicabs, probably because a moving target is harder to hit.
A very blond Norwegian woman stopped to dance the first hula of the day. Some time later, 2 women collected their lunch trash, and, on their way to the bins, placed 2 neatly folded singles in my case.
Three college girls stopped to listen. One of them, Amelia from Australia, was eager to hula and convinced her friends, from Canada and Pennsylvania, to join her. As soon as I started singing “The Hukilau Song,” however, she said, “I’m shy,” and reached out to hold her friends’ hands. It was the first circular hula of the season. One of the girls gave me a dollar, then the other 2 did also.
A young man with a pack back dropped a handful of change.
A Polish boy of 9 or 10 wanted to dance. I gave instructions in English while his mother translated. When we started to dance, she stood behind him, sometimes taking his arms to wave them. “If you’re going to dance with him, you need this,” I said, putting a lei around her neck. When they had finished and given me a dollar, a girl of about the same age as the Polish boy ran up to me and told me she wanted to dance too.
Bethesda Fountain, on occasion, can be a freak show. In addition to the regulars, like the big bubble man, the caricaturist, and the Boyd Family Singers, who colonize the arcade daily, today saw the snake charmers on segways, the Italian accordionist, and a Chinese man in a clown mask and red wig. The clown had a selfie-stick and was on video chat with friends halfway around the world for my entire 90-minute set.
Two well-dressed women listened intently to “Fit as a Fiddle.” “I love this song,” said one to the other, then dug out a dollar for me.
At the end of my session, I struck up a conversation with Mandy from California. She regaled me with stories about her wife and children. I sang my finale, “Little Grass Shack,” then sat down to pack up my gear and count out $13.72, to which Mandy, still talking, added another buck.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Fit as a Fiddle, Little Grass Shack, The Hukilau Song
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Aloha
0May 3, 2019 by admin
What were vivid pink tulips have faded to mauve and the once-spectacular fritillaria, now a scraggly stalk and crown, stands high above the ground cover with nothing to show. Bleeding heart and something like a bottle brush shrub fill out behind the benches. Wisteria blooms behind the north pergola; it’s thrown itself over the wall toward the bridal path below. Just past the Information Booth, a patch of white trillium has appeared, and, following the path to Cherry Hill, another trillium, this one wine red, has bloomed in the deep shade.
The chestnuts trees in Strawberry Fields are covered with flowers, pointing heavenward like candles on a Christmas tree. I spotted a bearded oak for the first time (who knew?). Sakura cherry trees carpet the lawns beneath them with pink petals, each, according to Japanese lore, the soul of a samurai.
The Italian accordion player sat on the southern rim of the fountain; I set up at the east-northeast, where I could still hear when I wasn’t playing. So I played.
Bethesda Fountain was not very busy. After 15 minutes, a couple off the bench gave me a dollar. A family from Vienna stopped to listen; Vater sent his 5-year-old daughter, Lillianne, to me with 3 quarters. I directed her to my case, and picked up a lei for her. “Wilst du tanzen?”
Lillianne would not tanz, but the next little girl, she from France, gave it a try, for which I got a dollar. Passersby helped fill the case, especially a number of teenagers who tossed in coins. A couple who had been sitting near me at the fountain, gave me $2 when they got up to leave. A Chinese woman took my picture and placed a dollar and change in my case.
As it got later, lunch over, the crowd thinned. I took the opportunity to try out a new song, “North Dakota, South Dakota,” which I’d worked out over the winter after hearing Jerry Lewis sing it. As I finished, a man of 50 or so walked briskly past me. “Bet you never heard that one before.”
He kept walking, then turned and came back. “Gotta tip the busker,” he said, reaching for his wallet. He was from Atlanta and played the trumpet, but couldn’t make a living at it.
About this time a scraggly old man with a radio playing loud latin music walked into the plaza and sat down near the lake. I wanted to ask him to turn it down, but decided that if he hadn’t thought of that himself, there was a chance he was as crazy as he looked. The accordion was gone, so I moved away from him for the last 30 minutes of my session.
Five teenagers were sitting on the bench, chatting, playing with their phones, and occasionally standing up to dance to my music. They eventually made their way to me. The leaders were a slight, tattooed girl from Romania, and a heavier girl from Indiana. I turned to greet a short, clean-cut boy from Montenegro and a tall blonde boy from Latvia. The last kid was from Indiana too. At the end of the dance, everyone put something in my case.
While singing my final number, “Little Grass Shack,” a 30-something threw money in my case and said, “Too bad you were drowned out by the radio. I much prefer live music.”
“How about you and me take care of that guy?” I said.
“No, I’m a peaceful man.”
“Me too,” I said. “It’s all about aloha.”
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Little Grass Shack, North Dakota South Dakota
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A Good Friday
0April 20, 2019 by admin
It was warm and overcast on Good Friday. In the weeks since my last outing in the park, the yellow daffodils were replaced by a white variety, swaths of pink and white tulips opened as wide as saucers, while tall stems of yellow fritillaria wowed the tourists. Other spring starters, like bleeding heart, grape hyacinth and Virginia bluebell, bloomed behind the benches. Across the road, at the Imagine Mosaic, the beds were thick with pheasant’s eye narcissus. Magnolia bloomed in several locations. Foot-high Solomon’s Seal and hellebore lined the path toward the statue of Daniel Webster, around which dandelions poked above the grass.
As I neared Bethesda Fountain, I noted flowering forsythia and the trees, so many trees, showing red and green leaf tips and pollen-rich florets. There were mobs of people around the fountain, which was filled with water, and operating.
I set up, got to my feet and opened with “Making Love Ukulele Style.” Before long, a man gave me a dollar. A little later, a dad with 2 young sons stopped to listen and gave each boy a buck to give to me. For the next 30 minutes, a steady stream of singles filled my case, but no one would hula.
“Have you got time for a hula today?” This time I asked a group of teenage girls from Montreal.
“I do,” said one, who was immediately joined by 2 of her friends. Another 10 or more girls gathered to watch, as well as a ragtag bunch of curiosity seekers. The girls hula-ed through 2 verses of “The Hukilau Song,” then stood with me for a picture, while members of their group started tossing money into my case; the dancers put money in too, probably doubling my take up till then.
I sang “Little Grass Shack” for a grandma from W. 84th St., who was enjoying the sun with her granddaughter. She gave me a dollar coin.
A family of 4, mom, dad and 2 daughters, stood nearby, waiting for me to finish a song. They were from Waterloo, Belgium. They wanted to know if I could sing “Happy Birthday” to Pierro. We all sang together into the camera.
“Do you want to sing it in French?” I asked
“Of course not,” said dad with gallic disdain. “It is an English song.”
While dad and I talked about Bruges, one of the daughters put a few bills in my case. Later I was pleased to spot a fiver. After another song, and another single, I looked down and saw what I thought was another fiver. No, wait, it was a 50!
The last time I got a 50-dollar bill, it was from a tv production company who paid me not to play. I’ve gotten a few 20’s over the years, and once was handed a $100-dollar bill by a man who was part of a foursome from Nantucket who very much enjoyed my music.
I ended the day with a few more singles, and one more hula, by a 20-something woman from Maryland. On my way out of the park, I said hello to Dominick, the big bubble man. He said, “I can’t believe what a good day this is.” With $78.22 in my pocket, I enthusiastically agreed.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Happy Birthday, Little Grass Shack, Making Love Ukulele Style, The Hukilau Song
