65 Dollar Night

Woofstock

Jam On Franklins Tower/Sea Breeze 
Worth checking out, as it is an instrumental of a forgotten song that was once good to me
As I was saying Friday night, before a cop on a two wheeled thing came by and told me to unplug my laptop and that using the cities electricity in the park is a $125 fine, and that he was trying to "keep me out of jail," which I think is a phrase the cops use just so they can invoke the word "jail" and strike fear into people.

I then began to type "to be continued" and was just able to hit the Publish button before he pulled the power cord out himself, thinking that I was defying him and disrespecting him by continuing to type anything at all or hit any button at all.

I told him what I was doing and then bull****ed that " my audience surely saw you approaching through my web cam and would wonder what happened if they were so suddenly disconnected." I guess I said that so I could invoke the word "web-cam" and strike fear into him. (Youtube: Cop caught on video harassing homeless man in a park and unplugging his laptop...).

But, of coarse if that law is indeed on the books then he might wiggle out of it...

People Walking Dogs

Now I sit in the same park on Sunday in the early afternoon, plugged in and blogging away. I am hearing the strains of Lilly The Banjo Player, who is in the same park about 100 feet from me. There is a big dog related even happening in the other park, called Woofstock with a couple hundred people with a couple hundred dogs on a couple hundred leashes and booths set up everywhere.

Not to burst Lillys bubble if she has one, but, I have found in 6 years of busking that people walking pets are some of the worst tippers.

This is probably because most of them are locals, out walking their dogs and are so close to their home that they didn't bother to bring any money. And my second theory is that their drive to be generous and to support someone or thing has been diverted to their pet and they have satisfied their need to "nurture" already by getting little Poopie a sweater and a new collar and are satisfied with that. Much like a family that has a baby and then circles their wagons around it and stops donating to ambiguous charities to help other peoples children has way around the world...just a theory from someone who DID take one semester of Psychology at Fitchburg State College in Massachusetts.

The 65 Bucks

You're Imagining Things, Daniel...

After I decided to stay in Mobile, rather than go to Jacksonville, I was almost immediately "rewarded" it seemed by a 20 dollar tip; then another one (the one contested by Terry, the 55 year old black man, who insisted that it had been for both of us -even though the man handed the bill to me rather than put it in my case, which was between Terry and I; an important detail, I think).

Then, I made a few more singles before packing up and leaving the acoustically superior spot and Terry, who was still sitting there, mumbling. I gave him 2 dollars.

After buying a beer, I went to a place by the Saenger Theater where Bonnie Raitt was inside playing. I listened to a couple songs through a crack in the old brick wall, (which is my beer drinking spot partly for that reason) then I sat in front and played, making a few more singles and most notably a 10 dollar bill from a young lady who had stepped outside to smoke a cigarette and asked me "What have you got?"  to which my response was to play "Your Song," by Elton John, which produced another 5 dollar bill from her as well as one from another person, bringing the total up to around 65 bucks, on the night that I decided to stay in Mobile.

If I was the type of person that imagines things, I would think that Mobile wants me to stay here, as if the place has a collective subconscious. There are certainly enough people that walk around handing out "tracks" for me to read and to pray upon. They seem to prey upon me.

Saturday night, I came out and asked one of them "Can you tell just by looking at me that I need to be saved?"

"No, not at all, we're ALL sinners," they said. The hat, the ponytail, the cigarette in your mouth and the can of beer in your hand weren't dead give-aways at all...

A 2 Dollar Night

Then, cold winds blew in Saturday morning. The temperatures dropped to 53 degrees and there were people out, but they were mostly wearing flimsy Halloween costumes that offer no thermal protection at all (especially for those "masquerading" as swimsuit models and such...) and they scurried from the warmth of one bar to the warmth of the next, not pausing at all to hear any little ditties.

Soon, I decided to take the 2 dollars and go wrap up in my fleece blanket and sleeping bag; and so I walked through the deserted streets to my spot and did just that.

I was happy to have gotten all of my laundry done earlier that day; which ate my 65 dollars (along with a few beers and a pack of smokes) down to 46 dollars.

The cynic would say that Mobile wasn't trying to keep you here Friday night, they were giving you money to get the hell out of town with....