Posts Tagged ‘Theme from the Godfather’
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Mr. Ukulele Loses His Aloha Again
0September 11, 2019 by admin
On an overcast Tuesday, I set up in Bethesda Fountain and immediately snagged a man and 2 women from Lebanon and Dubai. The man informed me he’d been to Hawaii but had never hula-ed. One of the women said, “It’s easy, just pretend you are the ocean waves.”
“Exactly.” I took them through 2 verses of “The Hukilau Song.” During the second verse, one of the women broke through the constraints of the traditional hula, and, arms flailing, pranced around the others with abandon. When they’d returned the leis, I looked down to find a fiver in my case.
A man off the bench gave me a dollar.
Then I heard the accordion, and my aloha spirit was replaced with a low-level rage. It was the Italian man who’d cursed me out last time I’d asked him not to set up so close to me. ( http://www.mrukulele.com/?p=1092(opens in a new tab)). Before I had a chance to consider what, if anything, to do about him, I was in his face. “We’ve talked about this before,” I began. “When you see me playing, you move somewhere else. You don’t set up on top of me.”
He sputtered something in Italian. “I don’t understand a word you’re saying.” More Italian. I turned my back and returned to my spot. I strummed out some chord patterns until I regained my composure, then began singing “Making Love Ukulele Style.” By the time I finished, the accordionist was gone.
Two little kids came off the bench, each holding a handful of coins to toss in my case. Neither wanted to hula.
The rain clouds churned overhead. A few drops hit the ground, but the sun soon burned through; all those who had stood up to leave sat down again.
A 50-something woman came forward with a dollar. “Why don’t you play something Hawaiian?”
“Are you from Hawaii?”
“Yes.”
I reached for a lei. “How about you hula to ‘The Hukilau Song?’”
“No, no, no,” she said, taking a few steps backward. “I don’t dance.”
At the end of my set, I stuffed $8.06 in my pocket. On my way out of the park I saw the Italian accordionist, sitting on his stool, wheezing out the “Theme from the Godfather.”
Category Uncategorized | Tags: The Hukilau Song, Theme from the Godfather
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Mr. Ukulele Loses His Aloha
0September 21, 2018 by admin
A gray Thursday in the park, the platoon guitarist pleads “Let It Be” at the Imagine Mosaic. By the lake, the jazz combo’s drummer pounds out a samba, joined by bass, guitar and horn. Colin is still playing at the fountain, for another half hour, he tells me. Along the path to my second venue, it is strangely quiet: no caricaturists, hand-writing analysts, artists. I set up under the maple, where, unlike at the fountain, I don’t need to project, so even my busking is subdued.
Then I spotted Eugene and his parents, fresh off the red-eye from California. Eugene was a stocky early teen, with bright pink hair, shaved at the temples. “Have you got time for a hula today?”
The parents kept walking, but Eugene had time. I set him up with a lei and simple instructions, then off we went to the hukilau. Mom and dad came back to take pictures, while Eugene grinned broadly through his orthodontics. He told me he too played the uke. I handed him mine, and his parents and I chatted until Eugene was ready to sing his song.
“I haven’t played in almost 3 weeks,” he said, by way of apology. His first chord was D major 7th, a teenage angst-filled chord if ever there was one. When he was done, he handed the uke back to me and reached for his wallet.
“No, mom,” he said, when she offered to pay. “This was my thing.” He had a dollar out and ready.
“I’ve got it,” she said, and handed me a fiver.
“Thanks, Mom.”
I packed up my gear and headed for Bethesda Fountain, where Colin was finishing up.
A young couple walked by. “Have you got time for a hula today?”
They were from Tennessee, he visiting her, who now lived in Flatbush. They danced beautifully together, with beatific smiles, very much in love. When I took back the leis, he handed me another fiver. The warm aloha of Eugene and Tennessee had already made the day a great success.
All of a sudden, as loud as can be, “The Theme from the Godfather” crashed into my conscientiousness, played on the accordion. I looked in the corners under the balcony formed by the stairs, both north and south, where accordionists, like cockroaches, can be found. I looked along the edge of the fountain. I couldn’t locate the source at first, but there he was, his back to me, not even 90 degrees from where I played.
There is an etiquette to busking, the first rule of which is you don’t set up against another busker. Here was a gross violation. I tried to ignore him. When I moved farther from him, he moved closer. It was maddening, hostile, intolerable. What was I to do?
What I did do was finish out my set, put away my 2 fivers, pack up and head out, but just walking past the accordionist was not possible. I strode up to him and said, “Next time you come out, how about looking around to see who else is here. You didn’t even try to keep some space between us.”
“Vaffanculo.”
“What did you say? Do you even know what I’m talking about? Do you speak English?” All the while he muttered unintelligibles, still playing his damned instrument.
Now that I’d lost my aloha, what? Push him in the fountain?
It was time to leave.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Let It Be, Theme from the Godfather
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The Beautiful Days Roll On
0April 21, 2016 by admin
I took a detour to the chestnut tree to get a closer look. Tiny spikes of blossom had appeared, rising an inch or two above the leaves on the lower limbs as well as higher up. Among the blossoming trees, colorful wildflowers and greening canopy, however, the happiest sign of spring was the return of water to Bethesda Fountain.
A group of boys from the Emolior Academy in the Bronx came by. “You guys got time for a hula today?”
“Ain’t got no money.”
“No problem,” I said. “Hulas are free.” Well, the boys were having none of it; they sat down with their classmates on the south side benches. As I continued to play, a boy got up and walked over. Soon he was dancing. Before long, 5 kids were rocking out to “The Hukilau Song,” free of charge, of course.
A woman from the UK came by to take my picture. “Did you get it?” I said. “Good. Now how about a hula?” And hula she did. When we were done, she gave me a kiss on the cheek, and put a ten-spot into my case.
Two girls, having finished their lunch, policed the area and tipped Mr. Ukulele a dollar each for their mealtime entertainment. The accordion lady, pushed out of the arcade by the Boyd family, could be heard pumping out the “Theme from the Godfather” way too close to me. I ignored her as well as I could, focusing on the few people in my quadrant. A man gave me a buck, as if to validate my restraint.
Three young women sat down near me. One of them, Hanna from Westchester PA, told me she also played the uke. Naturally, I handed her mine to see what she could do. She sang a 3-chord song I didn’t know. Her friends named the artist, a name I’d never heard. “That’s it,” she said, handing me back my uke, then digging 2 singles out of her purse. “Thanks a lot.”
A mom pushing a baby carriage stopped to sit and listen. She took her son out and bounced him around to the music. After a while, she gave him a dollar to give to me. He waddled over, laid down the bill and waddled back.
Two young men walked purposefully toward me. One of them dropped a dollar. I said, “Thanks, man.”
“Sure thing.”
The day had started off cool, but by the time I packed up, with $17 in my pocket, it had warmed into another beautiful spring day.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Emolior Academy, The Hukilau Song, Theme from the Godfather
