Posts Tagged ‘Tiptoe through the Tulips’
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The Best Dollar of the Season
1September 19, 2014 by admin
It was another gorgeous day, and not a saxophone in sight. I set up at center stage, turned my face to the sun and sang my heart out. A girl from England stopped to hula. Her boyfriend got it all on film, then, with a simple “Thanks, love,” they walked off. At least, I thought, her dance might give others the idea.
A misbehaving toddler, not yet 2 years old, cried from one end of the plaza to the other, with her exasperated mother chasing behind. When the little girl saw me, we locked eyes, the crying stopped, and soon she was dancing joyfully to “Tiptoe through the Tulips.” We kept this up through 2 verses and 3 choruses. Observers seemed amused to watch the dynamic between us, and the little girl’s mother seemed relieved. At the song’s conclusion, the mother whisked the girl back into her stroller and rolled away.
A young man in jeans and tee shirt finally got me started with a dollar.
A 20-something bike rider dismounted right in front of me to listen. After 2 songs, I asked, “Do you like ukulele music?”
“I like listening to you play it,” he said. Just then, a woman of a certain age brushed by him and put a dollar in my case. The bike rider, perhaps realizing the rules of the game, walked his bike to the east-bound path and listened from there.
After taking a few pictures of me, a man dug deep into his pocket and came up with 56 cents to give me. Most people give me a thumbs-up for a photo, if they give me anything.
Almost every day in the park, for the last six or seven years, an elderly black woman has walked by, east to west, and never even looked at me. A few years ago I started greeting her with an aloha, and today, for the first time, she pulled a crumpled single from her pocketbook and dropped it in my case. “Do you write your own songs?” she asked in a West Indian lilt.
I explained that my songs were largely from the 20s and 30s. “Even older than me,” she said. “They’re lovely.” If that were the only dollar I earned all season, I would be satisfied.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Tiptoe through the Tulips
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A New Season
0September 11, 2014 by admin
I’d call it a perfect September morning. The humidity was low and the air felt cool despite temperatures in the 70’s. There were many fewer pedicabs lined up at the Women’s Gate, and many fewer rowboats available for rent. I looked forward to a day in the sun.
Things looked good as I turned toward the fountain. I heard John Boyd’s group, as usual, but no one else seemed to be busking. The closer I approached, however, the more clearly I heard classical guitar music coming from a tape recorder. On the stone bench, on my stage, so to speak, sat a dark-haired man, leaning closely over a puppet about 18” high. The puppet was dressed like a toreador, and the man manipulated its arms to the music. This was a new one. Doesn’t he know amplification is forbidden in the park? Where are the park police when you need them?
I set up on the path, turned my face to the clear blue sky, and sang my songs. After an overlong while, a Hispanic man and his wife put a dollar in my case. I invited them to hula, but they had no idea what I said, so I acted it out. We all had a good laugh as they walked on.
Maggie and her master stopped to chat. Maggie is the scottie who likes to sit at my feet and listen, often at great length. Her master and I praised the day, remembered days past, and contemplated days to come. “In honor of the start of football season,” I said as introduction, and started to play “You’ve Got to Be a Football Hero.” A new tune for me, it was a little ragged, but I got through it. Maggie’s master pulled out a crumpled dollar and tossed it in my case. Altogether, over the years, he’s probably given me 5-6 bucks.
A lady in overalls and a straw hat, hauling a backpack, dropped a dollar as she quickly walked by; she was gone before I could ask her to hula. In fact, there were no hulas at all today.
An old man with a scraggly gray beard laboriously walked by, then came back and leaned against the wire fence nearby. In a baseball cap and dungarees, he seemed to enjoy the music. I saw him smiling at my strategies to get people to hula. He sang along to “Tiptoe through the Tulips.” When a family of Orthodox Jews strolled by, and the father tossed a coin in my case, the old man looked over to see the shiny quarter on top of the singles.
A parks department worker came by pushing a spewing and coughing double-wide power mower. He stopped right in front of me and opened the fence. “I’m just going to do this little piece here,” he told me. I looked at my watch; it was time to go anyway.
As I picked up my $3.25 and stuffed it into my breast pocket, the old man came forward with a dollar. Without a word, he put it in my case and walked away.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Tiptoe through the Tulips, You've Got to be a Football Hero
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Mr. Ukulele Takes a Break
0August 22, 2014 by admin
On my last day in the park before a 10 day vacation, I planned to venture onto center stage again, but the big bubble man had beat me to it, so once again I set up on the path. And once again my first customer was a walkaway, of more or less spectacular dimensions. It was a 50-year-old stewardess who lived in Hawaii and her friend, who had neglected to buy her a lei when he picked her up at JFK.
“I can take care of that,” I said, draping a pink lei around her neck. She would not hula, but she did stand for a picture. She loved it that my uke was from Hawaii, and we discussed the awesome beauty of the islands, from Hilo to Hanapepe. I did a quick rendition of “Tiptoe through the Tulips” at his request, then entered into a long discussion of ukulele tunes from the 20’s and 30’s.
“We gotta go,” said the man. And go they did.
A mother-daughter team walked by. “You know how to hula,” said mom.
“Oh, all right,” said the girl of about 9.
While she danced, 2 babysitters encouraged the 3 toddlers in their charge to join in. This hula-paluzza spread out over the path, halting traffic. No one seemed to mind; out came cameras and wallets.
A Scandanavian-looking man of 25 or so walked by. Our eyes met and that ineffable aloha spirit passed between us. He stopped and plunked down a Sacagawea dollar.
“Have you got time for a hula today?” I asked two 30-somethings.
“No hula,” said one, “but could you play ‘Happy Birthday’ to Alyson?”
I could and did, for which I received a fiver.
A pre-teen Hispanic kid in a #5 Flacco football jersey, trotted down the path behind me and gave me a dollar. He had been seated on the rock opposite the bench on the hill behind me.
At the end of my set, a pear-shaped old man with a bald pate and in a tie-dyed teeshirt parked his cart directly in front of me and started taking out his easel and canvases.
“I’m leaving now,” I said, “so I won’t give you a hard time, but really?”
“No, no,” he explained, “I’m just rearranging my stuff. I’m done for the day too.”
“Okay, then I apologize,” I said. “But an awful lot of caricaturists have moved up this way. I thought they set up closer to Central Park South, by the zoo.”
“They do,” he told me, “but the city is trying to get us out of there,” he said.
I counted out $10.50, a decent enough haul in regular times, if a little light for this spectacular week. So “Aloha” for now; see you after Labor Day.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Tiptoe through the Tulips
