Leslie
Paul Weighs In
Saturday, Leslie told me that I could crash at his place.
I had talked to Paul, of Doreens Jazz Band, earlier that afternoon, who asked me if I had been busking, and how I had been doing.
I told him of my 2 jams with Leslie, on Thursday and Friday nights, and the decent amounts of tips which we made.
"Leslie must be a real crowd pleaser," said Paul.
I told him about the mixed reactions which he seems to garner around the Quarter; and then added that I thought that Leslies "disability" is that he is actually super intelligent; and super misunderstood by those who treat him as if he is crazy; just because of the knee-jerk reactions they have to the things which come out of his mouth when he is talking a mile a minute.
I understand them; often after having to dissect them for a second.
"I can't imagine Leslie doing anything which would offend anybody," answered Paul.
Then he started to say: "I remember a couple years ago, when he used to wear that..." but was cut off in mid-sentence, because Doreen was holding out his share of their tip basket; and I guess you don't keep her waiting.
So, Sunday morning, I mentioned the conversation to Leslie in his kitchen.
For my part, I had been filling his refrigerator with sushi, sandwiches, chicken dinners, salads and the like, and we were nourishing ourselves before hitting the streets at about 1 in the afternoon.
"What did you used to wear two years ago, which Paul was referring to?" I asked him.
He produced a photo album; pictures from which are shown here.
I Play Day Shift
I left Leslie's place around 1 p.m. that Sunday morning; after Leslie and I had smoked a pipe and had a few shots of the whiskey which I had bought the previous night, after I had loaded my pack with copious amounts of fresh food, which made me feel as though I had been blessed; and which I hadn't minded carrying the weight of all the way to Uniques for the whiskey; to add to the blessing which I was to bestow upon Leslie, then back to his apartment, 9 blocks away.
He was going to leave shortly and be "right behind" me, but I wound up ducking into The Quartermaster store (the "gay" store) a block down the street, (where Leslie is barred from, after making disparaging remarks about gays) and where I talked to the cashier for about a half hour about Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where she hails from.
Leslie slunk by at some point, I was pretty sure, and so, when I got to my playing spot (which looked quite alien in the broad daylight) I rested my can of Twisted Tea on Lillys step and began to play; at that unGodly, "Tanya and Dorise" hour of 1:30 p.m., squinting into the sun, but fully rested and playing well.
I was surprised to see an almost "Royal Street" amount of tourists walking around (had I been missing something all along, while sitting an listening to T&D?)
One of the mule carts had stopped in front of me and its passengers were being regaled with the story of the Blacksmith Tavern, when a local guy wearing a round hat, who had just been walking past; stopped in front of me, and held up a 10 dollar bill for their inspection.
"Here's 10 dollars," he said to nobody in particular.
Placing it in my empty case, he announced: "Support local musicians!" and walked off.
Other dollars soon went into the case, and it was up to about 20 dollars by 2:30, when Lilly came through her gate and looked at me as if seeing a ghost.
She told me that she had made home made soup and would give me some if I was still there at 5 p.m.
"I'll keep '5 p.m.' in mind"
"OK."
I didn't get back to the spot until 6 p.m., and missed out on the soup, but played a little longer, and was able to wake up Monday morning with 29 dollars and change on me, after spending my second night at Leslies and filling his refrigerator to the brim with so much more food, that we had to go through it and throw out the oldest stuff which we hadn't consumed.
"You Can Crash Again Tonight."
I crashed again Monday night, after Leslie and I had painted the town red.
He left at 7 in the morning to go to work with his employers; leaving me to "sleep all day, if you want," and asking me not to escape by climbing over his front gate, because the new owners might not appreciate it.
"Can You Leave?"
This (Wednesday) morning, as he was leaving for work, there was a note on the door stating that a contractor was coming to look at the pipes or something.
I had to leave with him and finish sleeping under the dock.
Paul Weighs In
 |
| Paul's Shoe |
I had talked to Paul, of Doreens Jazz Band, earlier that afternoon, who asked me if I had been busking, and how I had been doing.
I told him of my 2 jams with Leslie, on Thursday and Friday nights, and the decent amounts of tips which we made.
"Leslie must be a real crowd pleaser," said Paul.
 |
| Leslie, a couple years ago... |
I understand them; often after having to dissect them for a second.
"I can't imagine Leslie doing anything which would offend anybody," answered Paul.
Then he started to say: "I remember a couple years ago, when he used to wear that..." but was cut off in mid-sentence, because Doreen was holding out his share of their tip basket; and I guess you don't keep her waiting.
 |
| He used to wear a "Happy Birthday" hat all the time... |
For my part, I had been filling his refrigerator with sushi, sandwiches, chicken dinners, salads and the like, and we were nourishing ourselves before hitting the streets at about 1 in the afternoon.
"What did you used to wear two years ago, which Paul was referring to?" I asked him.
He produced a photo album; pictures from which are shown here.
I Play Day Shift
He was going to leave shortly and be "right behind" me, but I wound up ducking into The Quartermaster store (the "gay" store) a block down the street, (where Leslie is barred from, after making disparaging remarks about gays) and where I talked to the cashier for about a half hour about Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where she hails from.
Leslie slunk by at some point, I was pretty sure, and so, when I got to my playing spot (which looked quite alien in the broad daylight) I rested my can of Twisted Tea on Lillys step and began to play; at that unGodly, "Tanya and Dorise" hour of 1:30 p.m., squinting into the sun, but fully rested and playing well.
I was surprised to see an almost "Royal Street" amount of tourists walking around (had I been missing something all along, while sitting an listening to T&D?)
One of the mule carts had stopped in front of me and its passengers were being regaled with the story of the Blacksmith Tavern, when a local guy wearing a round hat, who had just been walking past; stopped in front of me, and held up a 10 dollar bill for their inspection.
"Here's 10 dollars," he said to nobody in particular.
Placing it in my empty case, he announced: "Support local musicians!" and walked off.
Other dollars soon went into the case, and it was up to about 20 dollars by 2:30, when Lilly came through her gate and looked at me as if seeing a ghost.
She told me that she had made home made soup and would give me some if I was still there at 5 p.m.
"I'll keep '5 p.m.' in mind"
"OK."
 |
| Leslie's former landlord who was instrumental in getting him housing... |
I didn't get back to the spot until 6 p.m., and missed out on the soup, but played a little longer, and was able to wake up Monday morning with 29 dollars and change on me, after spending my second night at Leslies and filling his refrigerator to the brim with so much more food, that we had to go through it and throw out the oldest stuff which we hadn't consumed.
"You Can Crash Again Tonight."
I crashed again Monday night, after Leslie and I had painted the town red.
He left at 7 in the morning to go to work with his employers; leaving me to "sleep all day, if you want," and asking me not to escape by climbing over his front gate, because the new owners might not appreciate it.
"Can You Leave?"
This (Wednesday) morning, as he was leaving for work, there was a note on the door stating that a contractor was coming to look at the pipes or something.
I had to leave with him and finish sleeping under the dock.
Aha looks like the plan is working. You need to work out some way to "escape" Leslie's place when he's out, so you don't disturb the neighbors by climbing over the fence, is all. You'll have a place to live and hopefully set up a music studio, and you'll be ... Numbah One Skeezer!
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