I had to play in front of the Chevron in Scotlandville, just for 75 cents, so I didn't have to walk 8 miles carrying all my stuff to get downtown.
I didn't ask anyone for money but casually mentioned that I needed 75 cents more to get downtown, so I could try to make money.
Nobody in Scotlandville had any change, including Howard, who had saved 3 bucks on his 11:30 a.m. chicken because the guy who steals our cans came and gave him a piece. He gets it for free from the Chevron and seems to feel that giving Howard a piece after he is already full and doesn't want it; entitles him to our cans and to try to bum a cigarette from me every time he sees me.
I told the guys in front of the Chevron. "I can't wait to get out of Scotlandville,' and then added that "What I've learned from living here is that the races shouldn't try to mix with each other; there should be a black section of town and a white section; with no mixing"
"Why do you say that?" they asked.
"Because I see the way people look at me here; I'm not comfortable and they aren't comfortable" ...and as much as you talk about us all getting along together; you wouldn't even spare 75 cents so I could go downtown and make some money -especially you, the guy who is selling bootlegged CDs and DVD movies and has a stack of money as thick as a brick...
It has been an uphill battle being one of only two white guys in Scotlandville and much of the time I feel like I have a knot in the center of my back, due to stress.
I went to the other store and sat down and played the intro to "Didn't We Almost Have It All," by the late Whitney Houston.
The first guy I saw came and handed me 75 cents.
I packed up and went straight to the bus stop.
I wound up making 53 bucks; a good chunk of it came when I had first sat down and took out the fake book and was noodling around with "Ain't No Woman Like The One I Got."
One guy actually leaned over and looked at the sheet to see what song it was and then threw me 5 bucks. I wished that I had learned it already and was playing a good version of it, instead of sightreading and doing on the job training.
Sherman came by and invited me to crash at his place.
I told him that it would be around 3 a.m. before I planned upon getting there.
"That's fine, I'll be awake," he said.
I got there at 3:30 or so and slept until noon.
Now I have enough money to go to New Orleans to return the fake book, so Sue doesn't get fined by the library.
Wow I'm kind of surprised you could say that and not get smacked upside the head. People, and by which I mean black *and* white people, do have at least a slight preference for their own "type", and numerous social studies have shown that only a very slight preference is necessary to end up with segregated towns. A place like Scotlandville though, I'd kind of consider myself a visitor to *their* town and thus not qualified to comment on it. Just leave or stay.
ReplyDeleteLiving in Scotlandville sounds like living as a "Haole" in Hawaii, really.
Good old Motown, you can't go wrong with Motown. If you're like me you grew up listening to it, and man it's great stuff. You might try some Chicago songs, they're great. I was absolutely astounded to see an ad on TV for some "greatest of" album set of them and I got to see what they looked like - they're white?!?!!?!?
OK the mic I got is called a Snowball, I was going to get a Snowflake, but they had one left, the demo, with no box, and I got the larger Snowball for like $20 more. So now I basically have a USB mic that's worth most of what this elderly laptop is.