Posts Tagged ‘That’s My Weakness Now’
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Scotland and Kosovo Dance the Hula
0September 12, 2017 by admin
I checked out both chestnut trees this morning. The one south of the path has brown leaves, with only a few shiny nuts on the ground. To the north, the chestnut still has some green in its leaves, but no nuts that I could see. Either it did not bear any, or the squirrels did a good job gathering them up.
The wood anemone near the path is covered with buds, but has no flowers. The other wood anemone, off the path, is also covered in buds, with 3-4 flowers to show for it. While never heavy with flowers, the plant near the path, given its sunny location, ought to be showing something; perhaps the ease of access has encouraged people to pick the delicate blooms.
A family of Canadians were the first to stop to hula. The younger daughter swayed easily to “The Hukilau Song;” the elder was too embarrassed, and clung to her mother. Dad gave me a dollar.
A contingent of Scots came next. Ainslee was herself a uke player; after her hula, she strummed out a little tune. Her friend decided that she wanted to hula too. When they all got up to leave, Ainslee gave me a fiver.
A young woman, with Goth makeup and piercings, tossed me a dollar as she walked by. A Seattle couple stopped to record “That’s My Weakness Now.”
“Thank you,” I said, as the man peeled a dollar from his wad. “Your generous contribution entitles you to a hula dance.” So hula they did.
A young woman from Chicago, with short brown hair with blonde streaks, photographed me from several angles. When she came up to give me a dollar, I invited her to hula.
“Why not,” she said. Why not, indeed.
A steady stream of dollars flowed. I lost track. Blue sky, puffy white clouds and a cool breeze put me into some kind of ukulele trance, until a foursome of Kosovars entered the fountain area. “Have you got time for a hula today?”
One of the men encouraged his girlfriend to hula, but there was no hukilau until he joined her. They soon fell into a synchronized rhythm, leading to the big finish: “huki huki huki, huki huki huki, huki huki hukilau.” The man shook my hand, thanked me for helping out his country in the 90’s, then gave me a fiver.
At the end of my set, I had $16 in my case, thanks largely to Scotland and Kosovo.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: That's My Weakness Now, The Hukilau Song
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After the Rain
0July 25, 2017 by admin
I watched the rain stop around noon, strapped on my ukulele and headed out into a light drizzle. I’ve been away so much this summer that even a bad day in the park was still pretty good. The dog roses were a glorious red, sparkling with rain water, but otherwise I noticed no new plantings. One lonely pedicab driver was bent over his cell phone. The button sellers did not come out today, nor did the guitarists at the Imagine Mosaic. A few intrepid tourists in clear plastic ponchos wandered the paths.
The blight has browned most of the chestnut tree near the path. The second chestnut tree deep within Strawberry Fields is also showing signs of blight.
Except for a production company filming an ad, Bethesda Fountain was quiet. The crew was waiting for the director to return; he’d gone for coffee somewhere to wait out the rain. Shortly after I started my set, 3 girls from Manchester stopped to examine my solar-powered hula girls, which, despite the overcast sky, still managed to operate. I soon had a lei around one of their necks, and off we went to “The Hukilau Song.”
After the dance, they walked away. A little girl stopped to hula. Her mom gave me a dollar, then the Manchester girl came back with a dollar and change. A well-coiffed woman of a certain age, in a stylish tomato-red pants suit, walked by and emptied a purseful of change into my case.
A trio of wise-ass teenagers bopped around as they walked by. I was singing “That’s My Weakness Now,” and had come to the lyric about baby talk: “I never cared for baby talk, but b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b, that’s my weakness now.” One of the kids burst out laughing, turned back and rewarded me with a buck.
A woman walked by and dropped a couple of quarters; she would not hula.
A dozen or so Canadian high schoolers lined up for a hula. I saw a few bills go into my case, but mostly coin. I got more coins, from a little girl, a teenaged boy and an old woman. People were flocking back to the park. Although still cool and overcast, the rain was over. The director had returned and was barking orders. I had about 10 minutes left in my set, but the crew didn’t know that. It occurred to me that someone might pay me to shut up and go away, as has often happened in the past.
A toddler wanted to dance. I found my half-lei, especially for small heads, and dad put it on. The kid, however, would not dance. She cried. Dad hoisted her up, fished a dollar out of his wallet for me, and carried her off, with my lei.
All around me, the film crew was pushing wagons piled with lights, electronics, wires and whatnot. It would probably be an hour or more before they’d need silence. I counted out $12.05, far more than I’d expected in this weather. I packed up and went away for free.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: That's My Weakness Now, The Hukilau Song
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A Whimsically Happy Payday
0October 20, 2016 by admin
It was another record hot day in October, so once again I sallied forth. A young woman with a video camera gave me a fiver to record me. “You’re so happy, in this beautiful setting, on this beautiful day.” She said she’d send me the link, but so far I haven’t got it.
A small boy dumped some change in my case.
A group of high-schoolers from the Grace Church School came by. They had been assigned to film something whimsical. “You think I’m whimsical enough?”
“You’re the whimsicalest,” said the girl with the camera. The kids donned leis, lined up, and danced to “The Hukilau Song” while the camera rolled.
“Your church is famous,” I told a boy as I took back his lei. “Edith Wharton was married there.”
He turned a blank face to me. It’s possible that I too had never heard of Edith Wharton until college – who remembers? “Look it up.”
Glancing into my case, I spotted 2 more fivers and then some. I’d been playing for barely 30 minutes and it was already a very good day.
People walked up to me with money in their hands at a regular clip. A Brazilian woman did a credible hula for $2. A Chinese woman dropped a fiver for a photo. It turned out she was an ABC, Australian-born Chinese. “What do you call Argentine-born Chinese, or Armenian or Austrian? You need to start using subscripts.”
A pear-shaped man walked up from the bench near the water and gave me 3 tightly folded singles. “I do believe you are the happiest man in New York today,” he told me. I had to agree. Later I saw him sitting with his pear-shaped wife. At the end of “That’s My Weakness Now,” they applauded enthusiastically.
With $27.83 cents to show for it, it had been a superlatively whimsical, and happy day.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Grace Church School, That's My Weakness Now, The Hukilau Song
