25 Visitors
I have been telling people about this blog, but never expected to have 25 visitors in one day, but, according to my trusty "hit counter," by golly, I am slowly catching up to The New York Times in readership! I wish people would leave comments, though; if only so I will know who you are. Karrie, where are you?
63 Cents



Yesterday, I woke up with 4 dollars. It was the remainder of the 5 bucks that I got at The Garage, minus one beer before bedtime. I went to the store and bought a pack of cigarettes, which left me 13 cents. I traded five cigarettes for a beer, and then sold one cigarette for 50 cents.


Starting my case out with the 63 cents, plus two laundry tokens, which I had bought with a cigarette on another occasion, I set up on the opposite side of the median, like a fisherman trying a different cove. The bait was the same, though: Bob Dylan.
Emily, The Violinist

I had a bit of luck and was up to about 5 bucks and change when, up walked a young girl. She was wearing turquoise shorts and a white blouse. She said "Go for it!" and sat down to listen to a version of "Me And My Uncle," the Grateful Dead song.

I couldn't read her reaction as I played, partly because I was keeping one eye upon the traffic, watching for an outstretched hand holding money. Two people stopped and threw 2 bucks each. A vehicle stopped on the opposite side of the median, and a young guy ran over and handed the girl a few bills. She dropped it in my case.


I finished the song and said "That was a cowboy song." I don't know if you like cowboy songs...


She said that she had liked it.

She told me that she played the violin (with a symphony) and asked me if she could run and get hers from her car.

Of course, she could. ..are you kidding me?

She returned with said instrument and we proceeded to jam away on a few songs. We struggled a bit with tuning together, the first song was shaky, the second, better. I started to wonder which symphony, and was I going to have to eventually tell her that it wasn't "working out."
Windows began rolling down and money flying out of vehicles and into the case. Another vehicle stopped on the opposite side, and sat with its hazard lights flashing as a young guy ran over and handed the girl 4 bucks. She threw it in my case. She told me that she was going to try to make as much money "for you" as she could.

I had gone from 63 cents to almost 20 bucks, by the time I suggested we go to the better acoustics of my spot on Dauphin Street. "Let's do it!!" she said. We rode in her car and parked across the street from my spot.
The Finest Violinist In All Of Europe

There, people came from "out of the woodwork" to throw money at us. By then, the lack of traffic noise and the acoustics of the glassed in cavity behind us made it easier for us to sound better. Her intonation got better with each song, and I began to believe that she actually played with a symphony. She is 16 years old, and named Emily.

Her violin was missing the "g" string, which could have been a factor, but she played around that.

Soon, we were both playing around a missing "g" string, as mine broke.

We did some interesting music, based loosely around stuff I had written on occasions when my "g" string had broken in St Augustine.

The guitar case was half full of singles, when we knocked off, because she had to go to see her father about something.

She said that she would be back later, and that she wanted to play "all day tomorrow" together.

She didn't come back later, but I think this is typical of a capricious 16 year old. She will have to find me today. Like an idiot, I didn't get her phone number.


An ambulance driver named Ben, who is a musician, stopped by with his partner in time to catch the last of Emily and I's set of music. We were singing about "It's a bad day to be a sea turtle" and improvising Music for Violin and Guitar Sans G Strings, by that time. And Emily was in her "zone" and sounding like the finest violinist in all of Europe, to quote Mozart.

Ben said he would go and get me a g string.

Emily went off to see her father.


Ben came back with a whole set of strings, which I strung up, then let him play. He is a good guitarist, and has purportedly played with Willie Nelson and Hank Williams, Jr., I think it was...


I knocked off in time to catch the last quarter of the Celtics Massacre. I had close to 30 bucks. Emily had said that she didn't want any of the money, even though she had just quit her job.

Just A Flight Of Fancy?
I'm hoping that her desire to play all day today wasn't just a flight of fancy, or a caprice, if you will.