Tuesday, September 3, 2013

This Danged Old Government

Keep Your Posts Short
I haven't posted since last Thursday's1,900 word entry; and have broken two of the rules of the bloggers bible:
Had never seen so many Mrs. Ropers...
  • Keep your posts short.
  • Post every day.
(or your readership may shrink).
For a lot of the 3 Day Southern Decadence event; there was a sound system blasting out of the Lafitts Blacksmith Shop Tavern; and the only time I played through it was to tune to the thing and learn songs like "Material Girl," by Madonna.
After making about 50 bucks Friday; I had made only a handful by mid afternoon; and so; took a break, hoping that they would shut the sound system down at a certain hour, then I would return.
Tanya And Dorise
Tanya and Dorise were back in my life a good amount while I was waiting (all day) for my spot to become playable.
I told them about how I had learned some new songs off of the sound system at Lafitts.
At one point; after Dorise had run off to the restroom, Tanya asked: "You learned Material Girl?"
I began to hum the melody and she picked it up an played pretty much the whole song; on her break.
Then, the Decadence Parade came through; and out came everyone's cameras and video recorders...even Tanya's...(above).
They had to move their stuff out of the way in a hurry; as the parade rounded the corner and started to bear down upon them.


It was mostly a lot of stuff like to the left.
One highlight for myself was the "100 Mrs. Roper March," (100 men all dressed like Mrs. Roper of the "Three's Company" TV show.
I suppose that that particular 70's show was kind of a breakthrough for the homosexuals; as it depicted a guy whom we were all "pretty sure" was gay; which paved the way for the undoubtedly gay guys to come...
Money
Diminishing Returns Return
After the 50 dollar Friday, I had an almost break even Saturday; the same on Sunday; and Monday was a loss.
It seemed that all the people here for the festival; were using Monday as a day to travel upon; and by noon, we could tell that most of them had left...
I've got new strings and enough money to take a couple days off from heavy busking; and to focus my energies elsewhere.
The food card will become boosted with 200 dollars in about 48 hours from now... 
New Style
I am making progress in my studies of the guitar style of the Hokum Highrollers guitarist; who has given me the advice that "anything by Mississippi John Hurt" would be an excellent starting point in learning how to play that particular style.
Practice

I am very psyched to practice and will hopefully do so over the next couple of days, on the other side of the river.
Retreat
I am thinking of going to the spot where Howard and Ron the surfer have their tents pitched; and bringing with me a fish hook and some line and some chicken and seeing if I can catch and fry catfish and live on them for the next 40 hours or so, until I get money on my food card.
I guess all I will need is my knife to gut and clean and scale them...
I'll grab a few of the many heavy aluminum foil basting or roasting bins which Rouses throws out nightly
Xanna Sightings
I have seen Xanna a few times; forging her way up Canal Street with a scowl on her face
Lady Anger
which stands out in a crowd even here.
She came here, ostensibly, to perform music and most likely learned the harsh reality that; since she has not been playing 8 hours a day regularly the past 25+ years; she might not be up to speed with what is expected of a pianist here.
I am not sure beyond that because she will not speak to me.
The story that I wrote and predated 2001 on this blog; about the year that I lived with her; has been read by at least a couple people here and I think she may have found out about it and read it herself.
I might go back and cut "Xanna" and replace it with "Savannah" or something and include an asterisk denoting that "names have been changed to protect identities."
And Now For Something Completely Different...
Brian Hudson has been good about playing one of my favorite songs of his almost every time I stop to listen; after I requested it once...
I hope the plug in or whatever it is above will work and you will be able to hear "This Danged Old Government," which proves that the protest song has lived on and thrived; well past 1967 .

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