I played at the acoustically superior spot, starting out pretty sober.
Howard had lent me one dollar when I went to see him at the railroad track spot. He was already aleep, though it was only about 7 p.m. No wonder he is up with the birds and off to get his newspaper and coffee every morning.
On my way to see Howard, I went by the fancy hotel on Royal Street, to pick butts out of the ashtray. There were two guys standing there, each one holding a styrofoam "to go" container.
Upon seeing me there, with my backpack and guitar and picking a butt out of the ashtray, inspecting it and determining that it was not only menthol, but too short, then returning it to the ashtray; they made the correct assessment that I would love their styrofoam "to go" containers; one for me; one for Howard.
They assured me that they were just "a bonus that they threw in," and that they didn't really want them.
It was tuna salad on a bed of spinach and tomatoes, maybe a black olive or two and a pile of cheddar cheese.
I woke Howard up, who wasn't hungry until he saw the nice "fancy hotel" style styrofoam containers which perked up his appetite. "Mmm, this is good," he said, as he ate the tuna salad with his fingers. Then, he lent me the dollar, so I could have one beer to loosen up before playing at the acoustically superior "New York Hi Style" spot, for all of about two dozen people that walked by in the two hours that I played.
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| "Ivan, what is funny American street musician up to now?" "Well, let me tell you, comrade Uri! He made $5.85 last night, about 2,000 rubles, then he slept by the railroad tracks. Remember, before the collapse, when we slept by the railroad tracks, and ate tuna salad with our fingers?" "Oh, I remember, Ivan; but that wasn't tuna LOL!!" |
I played at the acoustically superior spot for about 2 hours.
A guy threw a 5 dollar bill in my case, as I was soloing over "I Know You Rider" the Grateful Dead song, which looked really pretty in there, nestled amongst the 85 cents that someone had thrown earlier. I wondered if I shouldn't have said to Howard, "I'll be happy to make 100 dollars, tonight," when I left him.
It will be Friday night, tonight. I will give it the ol' college try, and perhaps dust off The Grinch Song, which I had forgotten that I once knew, until being reminded today when I noticed that someone had read my post from December 3rd, of last year, which mentioned the song. Someone in Latvia.
I made $10 today but it was hard work & luck as usual.
ReplyDeleteI can still tell you, I'm convinced you'll do better out here in California. The places I talk about your busking at, I'd play at, except it takes me 3 hours each way to get there. At least on the bus here, you can pay $6 for a daypass and ride all day.
oh, 6 bucks; sounds like double what one is in New ORleans. I wonder if everything is twice as expensive.
ReplyDeleteWhen I live in the woods in WA state, I was in an area where the apartment rents were outrageous, but, they had Microsoft and Boeing there and there were people getting outrageous checks and then paying exhorbitantly for someone to clean their windows, and it all worked out in that economy.
In my economy, I had a dwelling which I carved out of the side of a granite cliff with a pick ax, (it was sourounded from like 8 o'clock to 12 o'clock by a swamp, behind it was the cliff, and to the 3 o'clock was thorny, spidery very dense bushes. So, I was pulling in the big check of $249 per week, and spending about 17 to 21 bucks a day, depending upon which red wine I was sampling that day)
So, I look for places that ARE expensive, because of the crumbs that fall off the table, so to speak!