A Gift Of A Guitar (final draft)

Come see me tomorrow;

I've got something for you..

. The overwhelming support which I have received from the New Orleans street musicians after having my guitar stolen was, quite frankly, overwhelming...
I had originally wondered if this were not a test of my character and would I would have to experience what it is like to start "all over" with absolutely nothing and have to pull myself up by my bootstraps by the sweat of my brow and to learn to appreciate everything I acquire because of how hard I worked for it...
I thought about what the appropriate strategy would be if I were a stranger in a strange city -like if I fell from space (without a guitar) and landed somewhere near Cleveland- and had to do everything through my own volition. 
What would I do?
Then, I realized that I had already done all of that; a few times over, even. How soon I forget..
I was NOT all alone in a strange city (well, I should specify: "unfamiliar" city...NOLA is strange as f*** no matter how long you've been here)
I decided that I would tell everyone I met about my ax being stolen.

"You'll Get Another Guitar."

I'll keep and eye out...

They, in turn, were all very supportive; whether with an encouraging word "You'll get another guitar" (OK, 4 encouraging words) -The Hokum High Rollers 

Or with additional encouraging words: "I'll keep an eye out for someone who might let you pay in installments for one" -Paul , of Doreens's Jazz Band, 

Or with no noticeable outward reaction at all, but with an internal tacit prayer to The Great Music Spirit -Tanya and Dorise ...let us just let that sink in and we'll see what transpires....
Or with a 5 dollar bill here and there because they knew I was out of work -Brian Hudson; or with an offer to let me borrow a guitar -Christina Friis, and ultimately with the gift of a guitar from a guy -Bilal- who, a year ago told me not to worry about anything in New Orleans because I had "some good friends," even though I had only run into that particular friend a few times hence.
I was standing at the doorway of the very angel who was in the process of lending me her guitar when Bilal was 45 minutes tardy of the time that he said that he would meet me; when up walked the latter, who handed me the one that I now have (see below) which plays better than the one which was stolen.

It is humbling to think that somehow through accident or otherwise, these fellow musicians have come to appreciate me enough to be willing to help me out.
These really are some of the best musicians on the planet...(freaks that can play 4 guitars at the same time if they take off their shoes notwithstanding).

"Hmm..."

Fear Of Flying
I really had misgivings about sitting on Bourbon Street "flying" the cardboard sign: "They stole my guitar, help me!" 
But, don't think I wouldn't have...after enough whiskey...
It might be that these other musicians are thinking: "We need variety here; diversity; we need a balance; musicians that totally suck are part of that balance; let's keep this guy going..."

"Can you use 5 bucks?"

"Do You Want To Borrow My Guitar?"

The Indiana Scout; in the same color as my sleeping bag...

More Cosmic Stuff
Signed By Sal
After Bilal had handed me the blue guitar, halfway between where Brian Hudson was playing on the corner, and where Christina Friis resides down a street, he apologized about the flat top being "marred " by two autographs.
One of them was from Salvatore Geloso, who is one of my favorite street performers who come through here once in a while.
It had always slipped my mind to ask Sal his last name, when I hung out listening to him on a resonator type guitar; playing along with an excellent upright bassist named Josh (I think), so I could never Youtube him or post pictures of him etc.
Well, his last name came to me with the guitar.
"Sal is one of my favorite musicians, I don't mind his autograph (adorned with a drawing of a woman) on my guitar," I told Bilal.
So, the cosmic thing...
I'll get to it.
First; Christina seemed to heave a sigh of relief as I returned to her doorway with the guitar and said "I guess I won't need to borrow yours."
She was almost being too nice, I thought.
I wondered about at which point I would return the guitar to her; and it seemed that it would have to be a daily struggle to ensure that the guitar was in the right place at the right time.
What if I only made 2 bucks the first night with it?
13 Dollar Monday
I probably would have made 13 bucks with it that first night.
31 Dollar Tuesday
And then 31 the second night, because that is what I made with the Indiana Scout (as that is the brand name of the blue guitar).
I would have ostensibly been playing my ass off on her guitar while saving up as fast as I could* for one of my own.
*cheap beer
So, I heaved a sigh of relief too, even as I was wondering just what kind of guitar was in her case, and if it would sound even better than the Indiana...
I Save Christinas Amp
It seems that I had inadvertently saved Christinas amplifier from possible theft the other night; when she must have just gone into her apartment and gotten involved in watching a movie or something and forgotten that her amp was still sitting on the sidewalk.
As I had walked up that night, I inspected that amplifier.
It was a nice rechargeable Crate Street Cube.
I didn't know that she lived there.
I said something about it to a semi well dressed man who was milling about; I think he was from one of the nearby businesses.
"I don't know, It's been there for about an hour..." he said...
The thieves probably thought that it was surely being watched, or that it was bait left there by the police to entrap them.
I left a note with my phone number and walked off with the amp; but not very far.
Brian, who was at the next corner, recognized it as her amp and took it off my hands.
Christina may have felt indebted to me to some degree because of that; but the point became mute after Bilal gave me the Indiana Scout. 

Autograph On My Guitar

The Cosmic Thing
Along with apologizing for the autographs on the guitar, Bilal also lamented that it was missing its top two strings, as it was.
When I walked to the corner with the guitar; Brian Hudson was there. He informed me that he had those very two strings in his case and that I could have them.
He had changed strings -except for those two. "I just didn't think that I would break either of them..."

Loss And Grief

How could I have been so stupid?

I have lost my little USB micro sd chip and adapter.
I'm pretty sure that I left it in one of the computers here at the library after working on yesterdays cartoon profile picture and just barely getting that posted as time expired on my session and then logging out of my Google account (so the next person on the machine can't delete my blog or send all my e-mail contacts death threats) with one second left.
The thing is small and the same black plastic (no red as shown) as the front of the computers and camouflages well. 
This has happened before, and I should have wrapped some florescent orange tape around the thing; which would catch my eye before I could walk off.

This sucks because the combination of the chip and the "reader," cost me about 30 bucks; and was my only means of getting pictures that I take with my phone onto this blog. This will cause me grief.
French Connection
Someone in France (it must be one person) was pretty busy last night; reading this blog, but mostly pages that mention Tanya and Dorise. This is the first time in 7 years that I got more page views from a foreign country than from the U.S.

France	40
United States	29
China	4
Ukraine	2
Australia	1
Canada	1
Germany	1
United Kingdom	1
Mexico	1

France

40

United States

29

China

4

Ukraine

2

Australia

1

Canada

1

Germany

1

United Kingdom

1

Mexico

1

IN Skeezers I Must Trust
I can hope that one of the patrons of the library turned my USB thing in to "lost and found"...but the library is Skeezer Central, with its free A/C, its free restrooms, and its free cellphone charging...and its free stuff that people leave behind.
The Beatles
So, while I waited for this computer (and I still wait for the tech guy to come in so I can ask him if anyone turned in a USB card) I read an article about The Beatles making of Magical Mystery Tour.
The section about their encounter with the Maharishi and the 20 minutes of meditation in the morning and evening every day, kind of caught my eye.
I think I will try to get back into morning meditation, to order my thoughts, set my priorities, and maybe help me to stop losing things (...the capo; and now my SD chip...).
It occurred to me that I seem to be losing all the things which I bought with the last tip of 175 bucks; as if maybe the guy regretted giving it to me and the money took on bad karma...
Leslie
I had run into Leslie yesterday afternoon, who had come into a fortune of 40 dollars, and who bought me a couple Hurricane Lagers, to go with the one already in my hand; and was soon drunk enough to prove the axiom, which some of the brass bands expound that "the more you drink, the better you think we sound."  
Brian Hudson

At one point, I stopped to listen to Brian at the corner of St. Louis and Royal.
His guitar, voice and amp all sounded great ("professional," if you will) and he has his songs down to a science, with compelling lyrics and finely worked out accompaniment and he plays songs completely through from intro to the last note; and rarely screws up.

In my stupor, Brian sounded (even) more polished, more professional, more well rehearsed, more sober and on-the-ball, and more worthy of the 20 dollars which people were paying for a couple of his CDs.

I'm hoping that my morning meditation and rearrangement of my schedule to put music first and blogging second (sorry, readers) will produce a song or two of that caliber.
I'm sure that his musical opinion of me is that I get "a little too drunk and sloppy" and that I hardly ever finish a song before jumping to another one.
Morning Practice
The morning practicing has been paying off.
The sign spot has been a blessing in this regard because, at some time around 6:30 a.m., while I am still asleep, the workers from the Saenger Theater across the street start to park their vehicles around me, thus walling me in, so that when the sun comes up, I am still invisible, and can get my full 8 hours of sleep.
Then, I put in at least an hour of playing scales and chord exercises.

I basically am doing chord exercises on the types of chords that Paul (Doreens Jazz Band) has mastered.
I had a booklet given to me in Mobile about how to play "swing style" rhythm guitar (four chords per measure; on on each beat) but had never used it as much as I am now.
These are the chords that are fit for the likes of Doreens Jazz Band...

Hello World

Just thinking about making a CD has been getting me to work on arrangements and memorizing lyrics and practicing my own stuff...
Last night, I made enough money to pay for my day and then put 5 bucks in my pocket; and I got a good nights sleep.

I spent an awful lot of time trying to make a cartoon profile face for Facebook; and so I am including it (right).

I have been working on new songs at my playing spot and have been able to get tipped; as nobody passing by realizes that I am playing the same section repeatedly.

After I knocked off last night, I found some good food, and was considering going back out to play some more; but ran into some of my few friends on Bourbon Street; who shared enough liquor with me that I cancelled those plans.

I saw Brian Hudson at one point and we wound up walking and talking and were soon nearby my playing spot.

I "showed" him the spot; but there were very few people around; and my attempt to play a song (to demonstrate the acoustics) failed when I was too drunk to remember the words to "Like a Rolling Stone," by Bob Dylan.

I had tuned the whole guitar down a whole step, so that my harmonica would fit songs such as that; but the trade-off is that it creates tuning nightmares when it is dropped down in pitch that much...

Tonight, I hope to put the finishing touches on "Something," by The Beatles and to continue my life-long study of "Kid Charlemagne," by Steely Dan...

You've Read Some Already...

I woke up this morning with some extra cash which I had gotten on Bourbon Street late the previous night.
I can't remember anything about it except the satisfaction that I had gotten after nailing a few songs to my satisfaction and the almost instant tips going into my case.
I was all around the Quarter and on foot, as the bike still has the flat tire and the shop isn't going to be open until tomorrow.
I plan upon putting the bike, flat tire and all, on the front of one of the city busses and getting it there, rather than pushing the thing with a flat tire; wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have the guitar and backpack fighting for my attention with the bike with the flat tire.
Avoidance
Saturday night, I continued to avoid Tanya and Dorise.
There was no reason to do this, as, it might indicate that I felt that they had wronged me in some way.
But, I needed to let some time pass between being told things like "Tanya invited you there; so it would look like they had a following; even if they had to kick you out it would show that there were people clammouring to hear them play."
I don't believe that.

I think that Tanya invited me because she just wanted one more friend there.
I Accept Responsibility For Everything

"You wouldn't worry so much about what people thought about you if you knew how little they think about you" -Jesse

I have pretty much come to the conclusion that the music that I played there at Caseys just wasn't good enough.

For one thing, I got totally shit faced before going there, out of fear that I wouldn't be in the mood to play should the occasion arise; and out of plain nervousness and due to the fact that 8 p.m. is well after the "sundown" time when I usually have my first drink .
If I would have played something more entertaining; that might have made a difference.
I should have gone with the attitude like it was an open mic night and the people in the place were the ones to try to entertain; instead; I think I just wanted it to be fun for Tanya and Dorise; which in turn would have been fun for everyone; but I didn't get into my zone...
Alex In California Weighs In
The other thing is: I might have stashed my backpack somewhere and just showed up carrying a guitar and wearing clean clothes and not smelling except of patchoulli.

Alex

Alex In California, has the opinion that business is hindered by the presence of bums, who clutter places with their bags and offend people with their odors; and that Casey might be on high guard against the presence of anything similar in his bar.
Yeah, I thought about that; but I thought also about the fact that T&D are really doing the bar a favor by playing there; maybe in return for a favor done earlier when the girls were in Orlando and they were somehow hosted at Caseys then bar there. I thought that if having other musicians show up and hang around was part of their "persona" then, so be it. Their success speaks for itself...
And, about spending money in the place; I will have to just let that go. In my opinion, if people buy drinks for someone and/or food, then it is just as if the person came in and spent his own money, in my opinion.
Brian Hudson Weighs In
Brian Hudson, in a conversation which we had almost a month ago, told me something which I will paraphrase as::

"Just the fact that you are thinking about her (Tanya) so much; means that you are thinking of her for the wrong reasons..." -Brian Hudson

Paul (of Doreens Jazz Band) Weighs In (Out?)

Paul just smiled as I recounted the story of last Thurdsay with his lips pressed togeher in an expression which might have said "I could say something, but I'm not going to..."
He has been playing professionally on the street for 20+ years; Tanya and Dorise for 10+ years, and I'm sure that they each could say something but aren't going to...Adding Class To The Place

The other thing is that; my take on Casey is that:
He is from Detroit, which is in the North, which is a place that I understand.
He is following a proven formula for success in business.
It is one that I recognize and understand.
I just thought that, if he was a friend of Tanya and Dorise, then maybe he was on the same wavelength on certain issues, like them bringing in guest performers, hoping to add variety and maybe even help the guest artist along with their careers.
He has hired an excellent couple of musicians, who instantly set a standard in music as soon as they play, and that standard should carry over in that, a more "highbrow" crowd might be attracted there.
I told Casey that if Tanya and Dorise make it a habit to play there, then, within 8 months, the place will be packed and people will make reservations in advance to be there; and they will be turning some away. Then, I would understand myself not being allowed to hang around and maybe do a song or two...

I think Caseys intention is to "add class to the place," by bringing T&D there, and that is the well-spring of my problems; and supercedes the musical aspect of things.
He has basically given me the impression that he is looking for a reason to throw me out.
His assertions that I was taking space from paying customers (in a half full bar) and that I was bumming cigarettes (after I offered to buy one for a quarter) and that I was not spending money (though others were buying me things) all seem to be "politically correct" ways around saying "We don't allow homeless people here..." 
But, will the girls keep playing there; at a place that "big times" a friend of theirs because he happened to be broke on consecutive Thursday nights?
I happen to know that Tanya and Dorise are trying to be "greater than the music," and the fact that they have helped out a homeless street musician like myself is a testament to that.
I think they are set financially, and don't need to play at a bar on Thursday nights; unless they can make it something special in some way which will feed them artistically rather than drain them.

Saturday Night
An Asian Girls Face

"If you want to marry a Chinese woman, you need to accept the fact that she is going to be a little girl for the rest of her life; if you're OK with that, then go ahead..." -Howard

Out of the corner of my eye, as I crossed Royal Street, I saw the most incredibly beautiful face hovering in the semi darkness and seeming to be almost Photoshopped onto the black background behind her. An Asian girls face.
She seemed to be about 16 and the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen; including in my imagination.
I figured that it was a hallucination.

The Bum Suite?

Here it is Wednesday once again, and Tanya and Dorise may be playing again at Caseys In The Quarter tonight.

Or it might be tomorrow night.
There is some confusion there; because they started out playing Thursday nights but switched to Wednesday; or vice-versa.
I am staying sober; didn't smoke out this morning and haven't had a drink yet; it is 2 p.m.
I will walk by Caseys and ask them if the duo is playing tonight.
Amongst Brians Advice
If indeed they are; and if they invite me to jam; I will probably take Brian Hudsons advice and play a simple song; all the way from start to finish; with a minimum of ad-libbing and stick to the structure; so that Tanya can recongize a pattern and join in.
I Want 2 B On TV
I am hoping that someone will be shooting a video and that I can ask them (force them at gunpoint?) to upload it to Youtube.
People are always telling me that they will.
A guy last week showed me the pictures that he took of me while I was playing and promised to e-mail them; that was last week; no pictures have arrived.
I think the only way to get something done is to stand there and get the person to mail it to you right then and there; while you give them your address verbally and they type it in and hit "send" right in front of you...
What Song?
That being said; I am leaning towards either doing my "Carcass Song," which was a favorite of some people in Mobile, Alabama and which is simple (doesn't even have a "bridge" [yet]) and which has funny lyrics about dogs.
My friend from Mobile (Becca Griffin) is coming here in less than a month and will probably request the song, also, making it a good one to "bone up" on.
Excuse the Pun....
Or, I might consider doing part or all of my Bum Suite; the lyrics to which I have reclaimed from my e-mail inbox from the time I was mailing my lyrics to myself; to preserve them...
The Bum Suite
The Bum Suite in G


intro: G, B7, C, A7


No, I aint got nothing for bums

who sit in the park all day, on their thumbs
They've got life all planned out, they're just gonna stand out, with their hand out
Ain't it grand out here..in the grand outdoors