Travis, my guest, will reach the halfway point of the 10 days allotted for guests, at some point this evening.
He had given me 100 bucks last Friday, and then I had gone out and busked that night, only adding 12 more dollars to my wealth.
It is still very liberating to be busking for the fun of it and not sweating money.
Saturday night was slow also, though I hadn't gotten there until almost midnight.
I have noticed in the past, some buskers who will take a break for a few minutes to eat or smoke, apparently oblivious to potential tippers walking past. It really is a matter of pacing oneself, where a few minutes shouldn't matter over the course of a few hours. It's not wise to let the sight of a huge school of fish precipitate your casting bait out, when it isn't tied on right and you haven't got your rig adjusted, your net ready, and haven't eaten etc.; to use a fishing analogy.
Travis wants to give me another 100 bucks tonight, in order to stay until next Monday (Nov. 14th).
I see no reason not to, as his presence has not been an inconvenience in any way.
I had to tell him that he could avail himself to my spring water, for example, when he was ready to use tap water. He then bought another gallon of spring water for the next day.
He is 34 and moved here from New York.
He works for Amazon, but, works online so he can do it anywhere. He decided not to continue living in New York where the cheapest, roach infested broom closet of an apartment is $1,000 a month, when he could live and work in New Orleans, where he had been a few times before and likes, and make the same amount of money. He has already found a place to crash for 20 bucks a night.
I told him that, if I were him, I would be up in the Yukon, working for Amazon on my laptop in between panning the creeks for gold, provided that he could get an Internet connection...
When he lands a more permanent place, he will send for a storage "pod" full of his possessions to be shipped down here.
He has a few bags of things, and an electric guitar and tiny amp.
I plan to go out and busk tonight, after throwing most of the 100 dollars on my American Express Serve© card.
A new harmonica might soon be on the way and/or a capo, so I can move the keys of songs around a little to fit my collection of harps, which will have grown to 3. None of them are unplayable yet. I've learned how to play them softer, along with not bashing my strings as hard; people just have to come within a few feet closer to hear the same volume, but the music is better.
 |
| 7 Years ago, Jacksonville, Florida |
It is still very liberating to be busking for the fun of it and not sweating money.
Saturday night was slow also, though I hadn't gotten there until almost midnight.
I have noticed in the past, some buskers who will take a break for a few minutes to eat or smoke, apparently oblivious to potential tippers walking past. It really is a matter of pacing oneself, where a few minutes shouldn't matter over the course of a few hours. It's not wise to let the sight of a huge school of fish precipitate your casting bait out, when it isn't tied on right and you haven't got your rig adjusted, your net ready, and haven't eaten etc.; to use a fishing analogy.
Travis wants to give me another 100 bucks tonight, in order to stay until next Monday (Nov. 14th).
I see no reason not to, as his presence has not been an inconvenience in any way.
I had to tell him that he could avail himself to my spring water, for example, when he was ready to use tap water. He then bought another gallon of spring water for the next day.
He is 34 and moved here from New York.
He works for Amazon, but, works online so he can do it anywhere. He decided not to continue living in New York where the cheapest, roach infested broom closet of an apartment is $1,000 a month, when he could live and work in New Orleans, where he had been a few times before and likes, and make the same amount of money. He has already found a place to crash for 20 bucks a night.
I told him that, if I were him, I would be up in the Yukon, working for Amazon on my laptop in between panning the creeks for gold, provided that he could get an Internet connection...
When he lands a more permanent place, he will send for a storage "pod" full of his possessions to be shipped down here.
He has a few bags of things, and an electric guitar and tiny amp.
I plan to go out and busk tonight, after throwing most of the 100 dollars on my American Express Serve© card.
A new harmonica might soon be on the way and/or a capo, so I can move the keys of songs around a little to fit my collection of harps, which will have grown to 3. None of them are unplayable yet. I've learned how to play them softer, along with not bashing my strings as hard; people just have to come within a few feet closer to hear the same volume, but the music is better.
He is correct about New York prices, which are cheaper than California prices. A friend's daughter has an apartment for $1400 a month that would be 2X that here in California.
ReplyDeleteI swear, I'm starting to make serious plans to get out of here myself.
Since I no longer drink it's a different world, and busking does *not* hold the allure it did. This is OK, actually, because if nothing else I can make $100+ a day hustling "awareness" ribbons, and am looking at getting back to caricature drawing, since it takes the least amount of materials, uses the most "talent", and I can obtain a sketch pad and china marker anywhere.
New Orleans sounds like a dandy place to live, really, except for the periodic flooding, and the crime rate, and that they voted for David Duke, and for the Dump, and the heat, and the dampness, and all the *other* street artists I'd be in competition with, and East Coast bro's with obnoxious accents, and Catholicism, and most of the food not being Kosher, and ... did I forget anything? The bugs. Yeah. The bugs.
You're making out well making $20 a day letting people stay there by the way. $20 a day is a LOT of money. I make $35 a day and I'm very lucky not to be street-homeless. A lot of people here in "Silicon Valley" make less than I do, and I've stopped talking about having a job because it only results in people getting this desperate look in their eyes and asking me if there's work for them.
ReplyDeleteIf I can double the $35 a day I make, I can save at least $40 a day, toward leaving here.
So, if you can save up that $20 a day you're making, bury it in a coffee can somewhere, and just live off of your busking, you can have an emergency fund.
Saving towards leaving is a faithless way to do it, if your destiny is to be somewhere, you will run into someone who is just pulling off for New Orleans, and would love to have company along the drive; then, you can make 7 to 8 dollars with an instrument on Decatur Street, almost guaranteed, if you put in, say, 3 hours; that's like the rate for just being there with an instrument, kind of like the special teams player who they only use to cover punts
ReplyDeleteYeah, when I was writing that, I thought, "Wait a minute, what would Daniel need to save *for*? He's in New Orleans already".
ReplyDeleteHaving a "nest egg" saved up is nice, but it's funny how, although money solves problems, they tend to get solved even when you don't have money.
In its own way, New Orleans has welcomed you with open arms. Sure, you had to prove you were serious about the relationship by putting in some time, but now you have a free apartment, food stamps, and people coming through and keeping you in guitars and clothes and things.
It's kind of sad to see you making so little, but you're making as much as you need.
@alex
ReplyDeleteAs long as I keep looking at money as "icing on the cake," I guess I will continue to make it in mere knife-fulls...
Yeah, but any you save you'll have to save sensibly and by that I mean, not in a bank. You've got everything taken care of from food, medical, housing, etc all taken care of with no real work needed on your part.
ReplyDeleteMakes me think I should move out there and slum it, too. If you can get all that stuff given to you for playing your guitar 1-2 hours a day, I should be able to arrange the same for playing my trumpet 1-2 hours a day.