"Giving Humans a Good Name"

Today’s busking was really close to home.  Literally.  Setting up in Amherst broke a precedent of keeping some distance between my upbringing and my current career, and boy am I glad it did.  This was one of my favorite days busking.  New places are so refreshing, even if they're just across the river from regular places.  Some people had seen me in Northampton or at the Winter Market, but otherwise I saw new faces, new reactions, and a new landscape.  I had the pretty brick town hall behind me, the sadly-abandoned-but-still-cherished Jeffrey Amherst Books in front of me, and They Might Be Giants' esteemed mass of incandescent gas/gigantic nuclear furnace (the sun, yeah) above me.  Forgetting that faces and shoulders aren't the only things that burn, I'm quite pink.

I managed to get a few of the technical difficulties under control before heading out, and Flaca mostly worked.  But then she didn’t.  The thread winding the thin cord to the thick came unraveled, so I had an extra ten or so inches of string that really confused me.  Once I noticed and fixed that, the upper pulley fell out so I had to empty the box, turn it upside-down, and hammer it back into place using a screwdriver.

Despite this setback, it was a lovely day which even made me question my plan to leave the Valley.  Next door to the Farmer's Market there was a Sustainability Fair, from which people were leaving with reusable canvas bags full of energy saving lightbulbs, anti-Vermont Yankee pins, and "Eat More Kale" stickers.  (Note: I tried desperately to find an "Eat More Kale" sticker at the fair, but struck out).  Children walked by eating the market popsicles I used to eat (although I can no longer have bananas, which was my favorite), and a high school classmate I ran into helped me remember the good ol' days when those popsicles cost fifty cents.

As I ran into even more people that I have known in my life than I do in Northampton, from neighbors to teachers to camp counselors, I found myself reminiscing not about the Valley as a whole, but about Amherst.  Where only the "H" is silent.  (Damn, that would be a good name for this post, too!)

Saturday, April 27, 2013

1. “Twin Peaks” and “Don’t Stop Me Now” are both songs that have gotten way more attention in Europe than in the U.S. “Twin Peaks” got its glory last weekend, and the latter did today.  One young man called “Don’t Stop Me Now” his “favorite song ever,” and another guy said, “Thanks for the Queen!”  I guess Amherst is cooler than I thought!  No one recognized TP, though.  Folk did sing along with “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and “Ruby Tuesday.”

2. A man told me about a band that plays every Tuesday night at a bar in Brooklyn, on 9^th and 6^th Avenue, called “Barbes.”  The band is called “Slavic Soul Party” and combines traditional Slavic music with like funk.  New York friends, you should go and report back!

3. That same guy recognized “Werewolves of London” and had me play it on someone’s answering machine.  Cooool.

4. Some people informed me of their friend/daughter’s very popular Youtube video: a cello quartet known as “Break of Reality” (I think) playing the Game of Thrones theme song.  I’ll have to check it out, and definitely learn that song!

5. One lady saw my student loans sign, and added “One Squeeze at a Time.”  I love that.  It would have been the title of today’s post if something else wasn’t, so I’ll have to remember it for another.

6. I had an annoying interaction with a man.  He came by as I was repairing the setup, and offered to help.  That’s nice, but he couldn’t have helped.  So after I refused his offer he hovered anyway, blocking my light, and made outdated suggestions on how to improve the setup.  I say “outdated” because he suggested things that I used to do but have since improved, like using fishing line for string and eyelets instead of pulleys.  Ahhhh!

7. A lady said, “You’re giving humans a good name!”  I could have dropped everything in hugged her.  Of all the compliments I’ve gotten, this is the one that made me feel the most appreciated and proud.  I mean, you don’t do much better than that.  In the low moments, I will remember her and remind myself of that.  This was especially good because I was once told, “You’re giving Scotland a bad name” or words to that effect.  Glad they’ve canceled out.  Thank you, mystery lady!!

Also, she asked if I’ve read Julius Caesar.  I haven’t, but she said that my Flaca reminds me of her doll of Sinna (?) the jester (?) from JC.  Cool!

8. I had my first celebrity run-in while busking, if you can call it that!  Not quite as good as Stevie Wonder walking by while I play one of his songs or the like, but I met….Dean!  You know, Dean’s Beans Dean!  He’s super friendly, and a patron of the arts.  Especially because one of his daughters is in music school.  Supposedly he saw me and said, “I’m going to give her a dollar” and his wife said, “She’s a musician, give her five dollars!”  So he did.  It turns out Dean’s Queen (heh) is a Clarkie as well!  And a psych major, if you can believe that.  Really nice people.

9. My new favorite moment ever: I was playing the Tetris theme song and I realized a lady was singing along.  In Russian.  You see, the Tetris theme song is really a Russian folk song.  And so I kept playing and this lady with a beautiful voice kept singing along, with her husband correcting the occasional word.  Wow!  They asked if I know any other Russian songs, and I said I didn’t.  They asked how I knew that one, and I didn’t have the heart to tell them it’s the Tetris song.  So I said I had learned it and liked it and learned it by ear.  The woman says she likes to learn songs by ear, too.  So awesome.  The husband maintains a web database of Russian songs at www.Russian-rekords.com

10. Someone told me about another popular Youtube video, featuring a female ventriloquist/puppeteer/comedian who manipulates people’s faces somehow.  Like random audience participants.  I’ll have to look it up!

11. Ran into an old elementary school music teacher, which is always fun!  I was pleased that she recognized me.  It turns out she had come across my Downton Abbey Youtube video, and requested I play it.  This prompted a conversation about Matthew with a couple of passersby.  Boo-hoo. 

12. Someone promised to bring me a piano key belt next weekend!

13. I played “Ring of Fire” and someone thought it was in a weird time signature, like seven.  Uh-oh, guess I should work on my timing.

14. A super cute vendor who I know from the Winter Market gave me a red tulip. <3

15. Lastly, as I was packing up, a lady gave me a tenner.  Then another person did.  Sorry Northampton; I LOVE AMHERST!

I was going to head into Northampton for the afternoon, as I usually do, but I decided not to.  I was done for the day.  And it was such a lovely day, I wanted to end on that note, rather than a turf war if that's what awaited me across the Calvin Coolidge Bridge.  I only have one more Saturday in town, and I'm definitely going to spend the morning in Amherst.  I'm really going to miss this place.

For Boston, For Boston

Today was just what I needed.  During such a week of extremes, I needed a neutral day.  The weather wasn't extreme.  I didn't use Flaca so my body didn't feel extreme.  I wasn't hungry, nor did I need to pee.  As far as busking goes, it's hard to get any less extreme than today.

The overarching theme of the day was approval.  Often buskers get comments insinuating that they are homeless, suggesting that they get a job, or otherwise implying disapproval/a lack of understanding.  But today, people got it.  They got it and they approved.  Countless people told me to keep it up, several strengthening it by saying such things as "I mean it" and "Do this for as long as you can."  One young man contradicted my judgement of him based on his preppy attire and said, "Don't ever stop."  (When I passed him later, on my way to the car, he reprimanded me for packing up.)

I must introduce today's post, of course, with my reflections on the Boston bombings and its relevance to a busker.  I was in a weird mood Saturday morning.  The last five days were chock-full with emotion-inducing events.  A relative died, the bombings occurred, I got the job I wanted for the summer, I met my new baby cousin, I radically changed one of my plans for the summer, the lockdown occurred, and then I found out that two of my friends are conspiracy theorists who considered the incidents in Boston to be not a tragedy, but a ploy.  That was the most shocking news of all, but the cocktail of all these emotions made me want to go busk.  Although I'm not and never have been a Bostonian, I spent a couple of weeks in Boston busking as an elf, and I have fond memories of beginning that chapter a mere few feet away from where the bombings would occur.  My way of coping with all of this was to go play.

I decided not to use Flaca for a variety of reasons.  Mainly, I just didn't feel like it.  My act featuring Flaca is entertaining, but not passionate.  I didn't feel very entertaining.  Also, when I use Flaca my main emotion is boredom, and I didn't want to be stuck with my thoughts while I rotated the small repertoire that I use with her.  With the accordion, I can channel emotions through the music, playing my most passionately.  Also, my just-accordion repertoire is long, so I don't repeat a song for a long time and it goes much faster.  Today, if you factor in talking, it took an hour and a half to play through everything once.  I make less money when I don't use Flaca, but it was worth it.  Additionally, she wasn't working very well last week.  I changed one offending cable this morning, but she required other tweaks to be her full self.

The bombings and the aftermath have put me into a pro-human-unity mindset.  Not to say I wasn't in one before, but after a tragedy I feel the desire to hold both my loved ones and strangers a little closer.  I think this is the reason for the sudden approval from everyone, and general air of kindness from more people than usual.  Additionally, I've never seen so much Boston sports gear!  Everywhere I looked it was Red Sox and Celtics, mostly, and I wished I had worn my Red Sox earrings.

I know atrocities happen worldwide on a daily basis, and I do think Americans could improve their knowledge of current events/take more action to show support/oppose US involvement overseas.  I am guilty of taking local news a lot harder, and posting about it on social media sites, than I do news from abroad.  It's a lot more real in our backyard.

Anyway, my heart has been in Boston, so I tried to figure out "Sweet Caroline" to play on the streets this afternoon.  I sort of forgot how the verse went, but managed to wing it okay.  No one said anything, but it made me feel good.  In the immortal words of Big Papi, "This is our &%$#!@* city!"

Saturday, April 20, 2013

1.  The day began very interestingly, when a big question was answered.  As I was setting up, a young woman asked, "Can I talk to you about your puppet?"  When I said yes, she calmly said "I'm uncomfortable because your puppet is black and you're controlling her."  Aha!  I have been wondering if people feel this way.  JP warned me that the act would come across this way, but I hadn't received negative feedback yet.  I mean, I know she's Mexican but others don't (not that that's any better).  The whole thing was a really nice interaction, because she wasn't angry about it and I wasn't defensive about it.  (Here's another example of the post-tragedy unity thing.  Maybe a week before I would have gotten defensive.)  I thanked her for bringing it to my attention, and she thanked me for being receptive to it.

I have therefore decided that my next puppet is not going to be dark skinned.  I do need to custom design a new puppet that moves exactly how I want her to move, so the question arose of whether or not I'd try to recreate Flaca.  I felt like making her light-skinned would be offensive since the idea of the new puppet was to "improve" the old one.  On the other hand, I was worried about our discrepancy in race, and didn't want to do all the work of making a new one just to continue offending people.

I talked about this to a friend, and he suggested giving her skin that isn't associated with standard humans.  Make her green, she can be a Martian.  (I said that then I'd imply Earthlings are the superior species of humans, so he suggested making her an Earthling and I could be the Martian.)

Anyway, I'm curious on other opinions.  Are other people concerned about the race issue with Flaca?

2. "You're the first person under fifty I've ever seen playing one of those!" Cool, but where have you been??

3. I had a really nice interaction with a middle-aged couple, including a Clark Alum!  He used to play the accordion, and his [wife] had heard me play "Paint it Black" before.  Today, she asked me to play "PIB" for her husband, and he seemed to like it.  He had only ever played traditional accordion songs on his, but one day a friend gave him a Beatles songbook for the accordion and all that changed.  I asked if he still has his accordion, and he says he does, although is first accordion was stolen in college (that's how Clark U came up).  Someone came in the window of his first floor room in Sanford, on Spree Day, and took it right from its case (which didn't fit out the window).  Boooo!  Hopefully he'll start playing accordion again, something his wife would like, and take me up on my offer to send over my arrangement of PIB!  These were such nice people.

4. A man asked if I could play "Roll Out the Barrels," and said it was his favorite drinking song, even though he doesn't drink anymore.  So I played it, and he suggested I check out the new music store above Jake's and see the electric harpsichord.  Cooool!  It was a big day for Barrels, since another man requested it too, then didn't stop to listen.  Ah, well.

5. A young woman asked, "Do you know anything Slavic?"  Nope!

6. It was a very big day for Twin Peaks.  All three times I played it someone recognized it!  One such man and his girlfriend (?) stopped to listen, and I told them I've been playing it more often since I'm in the middle of watching the series for the second time.  The man said, "Me too!"  I asked him where he is in it, and he said, "In the dullest part of season two."  Yep, me too.  But both of us are trucking through it so our girlfriend/dad sees the end.  I love playing "Laura's Theme" for people who know the show, like these ones.  Good job, America!

7. This one family walked by smiling.  It really stuck in my memory, because all six of them gave me these amazing, huge smiles, and they all looked alike.  Mom, Dad, three sons, and a daughter.  Wow!  I felt like on the Sims when the green happiness cone fills up.

8.  A guy stopped by and asked if I wanted to play at at party.  A joint birthday party, "no pun intended" (Because it was 4/20 and Extravaganja was happening in Amherst).  Apparently it was happening in a field, and there would be kickball.  I thought about going, but didn't in the end.  "I appreciate your squeezebox," he said before walking away.  Pun intended?

9.  A woman walked by with her corgi puppy who I had seen a few times.  Today, she used treats to try to get the dog to sit in front of me and listen.  "She needs culture!" the woman insisted.  :)

10. I saw one dollar in the box that appeared to be accordion folded....heh heh.

11. Speaking of dollars, remember a few weeks ago when this guy came by and stamped all my bills with "Not to be used to bribe politicians?"  Well, I got one of those back in the box.  Which means that the Valley is truly circulating money and people are supporting local businesses.  I love that!

12. Today, for the first time, I started listening to the bass of my songs.  I noticed it first on "I Believe (When I Fall in Love...)."  I love the bass!  From now on, when I'm bored playing songs, I'm just going to listen to the bass.  I love bass!

13. I played "Chariots of Fire," then realized it might be inappropriate so soon after the Boston marathon bombings due to the theme of competitive running.  Hmmm, what do you think?

14. The host of the Really Big Show came by, and I was happy that I was playing something he hadn't heard.  The past few times he's walked by I was coincidentally playing the songs I played in the show, and I wanted him to know my repertoire is bigger than that!  I'm sure he didn't notice, but I felt good about it.

15.  A man walked by pushing a stroller with someone very talkative in it.  I guess the kid had complimented the backward-facing design of the stroller, since I tuned in when the dad was confirming, "We can walk and talk and have a proper conversation!"  They saw me, and had this conversation:
Kid: What's that?
Dad: That's called "Sophie's Smokin' Squeezebox."
Kid: I don't know what is that.

16. While I was figuring out Sweet Caroline, a local man who I see every week came by, and I told him of my intentions to play Boston songs.  He asked me if I knew the Boston College fight song, which he said is easily improvised on.  I didn't, so he sang it, helping me to find the notes.  That would have been good to learn!  "For Boston, for Boston, We sing our proud refrain!"

17. As I was packing up, and had Flaca lying around next to the accordion, I heard a woman say, "Sorry I missed THAT!"  :)

Lastly, some good news about today is that my dress is somewhat repaired!  My piano dress is in rough shape, mainly because of a giant hole in the back that wore through from wearing my big backpack in Europe, as well as sitting.  I tried to patch it, but it failed.  I wanted to just make a new dress, with such improvements as lining it to prevent more holes, and making it more modest both at the hemline and in the shoulder region for sun purposes.  However, the fabric was discontinued and I struck out with another company online that advertised similar fabric but didn't have it.

And so I raided my stash, and saw that I had enough of the original piano fabric left to apply a massive patch to the whole lower back region.  It felt great to play without that breeze coming through the dress!  I daresay the dress is going to last a little longer.

Now, my next project is to make a little sign bidding farewell to Northampton.  Only two more Saturdays!  Till next time.

My Secret to Stovetop Chai

Sophie's Smokin' Squeezebox presents a new series: Things That Get Me Through a Day Busking

Today's topic: CHAI

Is there anything that hits the spot more than a hot mug of sweet, spicy chai?  No, there isn't.  And that is why it singlehandedly causes me to violate my "no caffeine" lifestyle.  Two years into this life change, I found myself craving chai this winter, and I've succumbed to the habit.  However, in an attempt to save money, I decided to master home-brewing, since a 12-oz cup of chai from a café leaves you upwards of $4.00 poorer.

(Chai fans who come across this are going to be VERY confused when they see the nature of this blog.  No, it's not a cooking or home-keeping or chemistry blog, but solely a street performing blog.  Sorry to disappoint you!)

So here is my recipe that I've come up with for stovetop chai that does the trick.
Time: 5-6 minutes.  Yield: 2 mugsful

My recipe makes two mugsful (because you're only using "half" a tea bag), so I simply put the second half of the pot in a mug in the fridge for the next day.

Ingredients:
-1 mugful vanilla soymilk (or use another milk with a splash of vanilla)
-1 mugful boiling water
-1 black tea bag
-Cardamom
-Cloves
-Cinnamon
-Ground ginger
-Ground black pepper
-Honey

(The order you add things doesn't matter to me.)

1. Put the kettle on to boil
2. Measure a mug of vanilla soymilk, transfer to small pot, turn on low to medium heat
3. When the kettle boils, brew a mug of black tea, to your desired strength (I keep mine weak to avoid getting hooked on caffeine again) (I use the same mug I used for milk, just rinsed out)
4. When your tea is ready, remove the bag and pour it into the milk
5. Add spices, stirring with a whisk:
     -A tiny bit of cardamom (like, tap the jar once)
     -A tiny bit of cloves
     -A little bit of cinnamon (tap twice)
     -A generous amount of ginger
     -2-3 grinds of black pepper
6. Add a generous teaspoon of honey

7. Taste!  Perfect chai, in my opinion, is sweet at first, but then spicy at the back of your throat.  If it's not sweet enough, add more honey.  If it's not spicy enough, add more ginger and black pepper.  If it's STILL not spicy enough, then maybe you should have put more spices in.

And you're done!  Drink half now and let your mom drink the other half, or put the other half in the fridge for the next day to microwave, saving yourself some work.  Since you're only consuming half a cup of tea, it won't wreak total havoc if you're sensitive to caffeine like I am.  I still avoid it late in the day, though.

Voilá!

She Looks Lethargic Today

Yesterday was not the greatest day in busking history.  In addition to being so sick of my songs to the point that I was incredibly bored, the "repairs" I did during the week backfired and the setup did not work.  I'm also sick of the turf "wars" (not wars at all) and limited pitches, so the take-home lesson of the day was that I'm ready to start busking somewhere other than Northampton.

1. The week before I installed pulleys and attached thicker cable to the segments that went through the pulleys.  But last Saturday the upper pulley chewed through that cable, and it would get stuck.  I replaced it again with this even thicker cable which seemed to work smoothly, but in reality it was too thick so the rubber band had trouble pulling the mechanism back into place  Also, it's a little bit stretchy which threw things off. 

2. This one worked!  I wanted a system for strapping the signs onto the trolley other than duct tape which was too harsh on the contact paper of the signs.  So I installed velcro strips, and when they were too slippery to hold the signs in place, I glued on rubber bands to hold it in place.  Voilá!  They slid a little, but this will work.

3.  I was worried about the bell which is mounted on a Popsicle stick.  I had been using a screwdriver to remove the device (held in place by a thumb tack hammered in), but the stick was cracking more each time and I feared that it would soon snap.  And so my dad found this little two-in metal thing which I attached under the stick to reinforce it.  Unfortunately, moving the bell out an eighth of an inch meant that Flaca didn't hit it, rendering the day frustrating.  I will have to just find a metal object to mount the bell on, or invest in a big bag of Popsicle sticks and have extras painted black and ready to go.

4. (Not photographed).  I also replaced the elastic on my left foot's string.  The right has thicker black elastic so it matches my shoe and doesn't stretch as much (due to the width).  The left had thin white elastic (all I could find in the hardware store in Vienna) which stretched often and stood out against my shoe.  It looked nice having them match, but the whole thing was too tight so Flaca's arm was far out to start with and didn't have smooth movement.  It was really hard to get her to hit the bell.  I think the thinner elastic works better in that case.

Luckily the linoleum I glued down stayed down!

These tweaks' failure to function was so annoying, and I really ought to have bailed for my own sanity and just played accordion.  But people didn't know it usually works better, and they still liked it, so I kept going.  It was a short day, though, and I have my work cut out for me this week.  I'll have to undo/change those adjustments and learn some new songs!

The other variable is pitches.  I'm really only interested in my favorite pitch, since we proved I can't play on the other side of the street due to the incline, and around the corner is less lucrative and I have to deal with Synergy.  I'm glad it's Steve that gets my spot instead of the new girls, but I'd still like to just have it myself.  I arrived around 11:10 and he said he'd pack up at either 12:00 or 1:45.  I decided it wasn't worth setting up somewhere else for less than an hour, so I hoped the Red Sox game would lure him into taking the earlier departure, and I sat in the sun, guarding the Synergy spot in case he didn't, until he made his decision.

Luckily he did decide to go early, so I got to take over there.  He was planning on coming in Sunday as well and I decided not to do the same.  I had been planning to come in early and beat the Smith girls to my spot, but it would just be aggressive and rude to come in earlier than Steve.  Time to leave Northampton.

And so I played, in my favorite spot, for about two and a half hours until I couldn't take it anymore.  And here's what happened:

Saturday, April 6, 2013
1. Once I knew I'd be waiting for a spot, I went over to Bruegger's for a bagel.  The man working, who isn't hugely chatty or warm, acknowledged me and said, "You're off to do your monkey thing?"  Cool!  Close enough.

2.  Then, when I was sitting in the back-up pitch eating my bagel, a man stopped to comment on my box: "There seem to be dancing pigs on your box."  And so I helped him see that they are a dog and cat, and he said, "Pigs would have been cool."  True.

3. A man walked by between songs and sang, "Roll out the barrels..."  I told him, "I've retired that song!" and he yelled back, "I don't blame you!"

4. A guy walked by and said, "She looks lethargic today."  I thought it was a serious comment, and I was happy to have someone know that she wasn't her usual self, instead of having to satisfy myself by telling people "She's not really working today!" But I think it was a joke, because he continued..."All that dancing wears you out!"  I chose this as the title of today's post, because it applies to me as well.  Jokes aside, Flaca was just nonfunctional, not lethargic, but I was unquestionably the latter.  Even though that statement wasn't directed at me, I have to remember to always look like I'm having fun even when I'm not, as was the case today.

5.  A fellow local musician stopped to talk.  I had seen the middle-aged, liberal button-adorned man walk by holding his guitar before, but we had never spoken.  He said he wanted to show me something, and presented a laminated paper, declaring that he had permission to play outside of one particular business whenever he wanted.  He said the mayor had approved it, and it overrode the normal permit in terms of hours and rules.  He could start playing at 6:00 am if he wanted!  This didn't seem like good news to me.  I could only see it promoting competition and tension between buskers, because that particular business is quite close to my pitch, and would wipe it out.  But it turns out he was telling me about it with positive intentions, because he could get me one.  He cited his background in human rights, and uses this knowledge to do such things as get his ideal busking permit.  He said it's a travesty that the town charges us for permits; that they should pay US to play.  I have mixed feelings about this, but I generally prefer when a city does have rules and restrictions, since I find that they're more of a boon than a bane (it's too bad my dad doesn't read my blog, since I learned the word "boon" when he played it in Scrabble yesterday).  Anyway, it's nice of this man to fight for busker rights and for offering his assistance in beating the system, but this was another episode that contributed to the "time to move on" theme of the day.

6. A man said, "That was an interesting vehsion of 'Dynamite!'" in an English accent.  I liked this because I already rock the irony/juxtaposition of unsophisticated Top 40 and sophisticated accordion, and the accent just added to the sophisticated side of it.

7. "Didn't the Young Rascals use one of those?"  (Accordion)  I don't know, did they?

8.  "I love you and I love your skirt."  Well, phwa, aw shucks!

9. A man stopped by and began what he was going to say to me with "I just got back from Iceland."  I told him, "I could tell by your sweater" because he was totally wearing an Icelandic sweater, on which I'm an expert after agonizing over which ones to bring home for my family!  Anyway, what he was saying about Iceland was that "nobody cares."  I forget the relevance of this, but it must have been a busking thing.  Cool story, bro.

10. I met the roommate of someone I've been hanging out with for the first time, so we agreed that we've been ships in the night since I've been over a few times when he wasn't home.  He said something like "I'm always a ship in the night" except way more deep, and it struck me as the most poetic thing I'd ever heard.  Too bad I didn't write it down verbatim.

As I said, I quit because I couldn't take it anymore.  I decided to pack up and go right into the bank I play outside of, for the last time.  I'm switching banks because my current one is a big one that supports/funds the Keystone pipeline, and local banking is good anyway.  Buttttt the old one has the coin machine.  I dumped my coins in for one last hurrah, and won one final prize.  You see, this obnoxiously animated machine gives you the option to guess how much money you've dropped in, and if you guess within $1.99 you get a prize.  I've gotten in a few times, since I'm now really good at guessing coin value based on weight, and I've won such things as chap stick, hand sanitizer, mints, etc.  Today, I got a squishy baseball.  Awesome.

Going to the bank also yielded a nice busker moment, since a fellow busker was waiting to use the machine after me.  He's a saxophone player (the one who recently had a photo in the paper), and we haven't actually met or spoken.  Ships in the night.  But he looked so cool, dressed for a Saturday afternoon/evening of work, and he dumped a familiarly large pile of coins in the machine, and began to prepare his bundles of singles.  Even though I was grumpy and sick of busking and in a bad bank, it was a moment of peace watching him calmly using the annoying machine to do what I had just done.  We really are a big global busking family, you know? 

That inspired me to exert less energy on the "time to move on" theme but rather prepare for the "summer camp" theme.  By this I mean I must hone my ability to not only be fair and civil towards other buskers, but love the shit out of them.  The Edinburgh Fringe was a game-changer in that regards, and I equated it with themed summer camps of my youth, and I'm going to try to bring that sentiment back even if it doesn't present itself.  Buskers are so often alone, so we've got to stick together when we can.

For now, all I can do is get the act working and arrange new songs to keep my sanity the next few Saturdays.  And luckily I've just gotten the wonderful news that my brother is coming up this weekend, so I have an excuse to take a weekend off!  Hooray! 

So, Northampton, I'll see you soon, but not for much longer.  Det var det.

Easter Busket

Get it?  Like Easter Basket?

Happy Easter/Passover/spring!  This was my first Easter weekend busking, and what a day it was.  I've decided to get out earlier on Saturdays so I can hit the farmers market/hair appointment crowd, and that sort of happened.  By 11:30 I was set up, decked out in fluffy pink bunny ears that my friend Joslyn had given me, a little pink nose, and whiskers.  Here's a photo:

I was glad to see that Steve was set up in my favorite spot.  This is good news, of course, because it's not these two new Taylor Swift singers.  Steve said he'd pack up around 1:45, and reminded me how important it is to be friendly and supportive to other buskers, like he is.  That's really something I have to work on, especially as I prepare for the summer.

First I set up in front of the Michelson gallery, where I did once before, but the hill was just not working.  My foot action simply tugged Flaca's box off it's supports.  So I moved across the street to where I had been the previous Sunday, outside the Main St. Cleaners.

I stayed here for the first half of the day, in the blaring sun.  I didn't dare take my sweater off and get a sunburn like I had the previous weekend, so I experienced the phenomenon of being too hot for the first time in a long time!  Finally, as Steve promised, he packed up and I took over there, just the way I like it.

Saturday, March 30, 2013
The first order of business is a negative one: Synergy.  I have been boycotting Synergy, the shoe/overpriced accessory store, for a couple of years since they first voiced their opposition to me.  And I will certainly not stop that anytime soon.  I was set up across from Synergy, but one storefront down.  They were blaring pop music out the door which I was able to ignore/drown out.

A lady came out and asked if I could move down a bit.  I told her I could not, since there were other buskers.  She explained that my music was drowning out the music they were blasting out the door, and therefore interrupting their flow of shoppers.  "You're disrupting our customers!"  She heightened her threat, saying, "My boss is going to call the police.  I don't want her to, but I'm afraid we'll have to if you don't move."  Oh what a saint, she doesn't want her to!

The people around me were outraged, but it didn't really bother me because I do indeed have a leg to stand on if the police showed up.  I wasn't violating any of the busking rules.  One man who overheard it said I should challenge their license for playing music.  What would make me really happy is to have others join the boycott/voice their opposition for their negative treatment of buskers.  I think I will organize people to email them, saying "I support street art in Northampton, and I will bring my business to stores who do so as well."  Send an email if you want! :)

I have no idea if they actually called the police, but the woman who had come out before poked her head out and looked up the street as if to assess whether the police were coming or not.  I moved, as planned, when the other pitch opened up, but I'd hate to think they thought they were scaring me away.  Get with the times, Synergy, this is Northampton.

1. I'm pleased to announce that the Bee Gees' "More Than a Woman" has been pulled out of retirement.  It was a big hit in 2010, but for some reason I stopped playing it.  Welcome back.

2. A college-aged man and his friends stopped by, and he said, "Sorry, I don't have any money."  For the first time (unless it's happened before), it came to mind to ask him, "Well do you have any jokes?"  He contemplated this and his friends encouraged him to tell me a science joke.  He finally asked if I know my neuroscience at all, which I do, a little (Psych major, woo-hoo!) but he couldn't remember the setup of his neuroscience joke.  The punchline, however, is something like "Keep on [s]myelin!"  Nice.

3. A guy who had walked by several times, and who would walk by several more, stopped and talked sort of incoherently.  I could make out, "Wanna bet?" and asked what he wanted to bet on.  Something about a Jay-Z song.  So I said I didn't know any.  Is there a Jay-Z song called "Wanna Bet?"  Does it have a distinct melody that one could play on the accordion?

4. "All right, you win my dollar."

5.  A group of three of four Latina teenagers stopped by and asked if I live here.  When I said yes, one asked, totally earnestly, "Do you know where is the sex store?" "Sex store?" "Yes."  So I pointed out "Oh My" across the street (or is it "Oh Myyyyyyy?").  They confirmed the name and location, thanked me, and headed across the street, giggling only slightly.  I really think it was serious, that they chose me as the person to ask as a young female (or I like to think that).  If it had been boys I would have assumed someone had put them up to it.  And there would have been more giggling.  Good for them!!

6. For the first time ever, a sort of corny middle-aged guy said, "She's better than you," indicating Flaca.  I tried to come up with a clever response, but failed and just acted awkwardly.  I'll have to come up with something for that situation.  But then as he departed he said something about her making all the money (since the tips go in front of her) and I retorted, "She gives me a pretty good cut" and he was satisfied.

7. Some people were genuinely interested in me, which was nice.  Asking about what I do and other work and such.  The Cape came up twice, since I include waitressing in my description of other work that I do, so I had some nice Cape chatting.

8. A nice man who I've seen around a lot complimented my repertoire, citing Taio Cruz and Downton Abbey as specific polar opposites, and the other people around murmured in agreement.  That felt nice, because I think my #1 actual skill is choosing songs.

9. "I really liked your rendition of the 'Downton Abbey' theme at the Really Big Show!"  Yeahhhhhh megafamous!

10. A man took a photo and didn't tip, which I hardly notice anymore because it happens so rarely in Northampton.  But then he came back and said, "Steal your image and give ya nothing?  That's not right!" and dropped a tip.  Hear hear!  Then his friend walked up again and said, "I can't just give you a quarter!" and dropped a dollar bill.  I guess the sun makes people do good.

11. A girl I recognized opened a canvas bag to me and asked if I wanted fruit.  She explained that her meal plan [at college] is such that she gets a lot of fruit, so she likes to share.  I took an apple and a banana, which hit the spot.  Thank you!!

12. Three little girls with matching t-shirts stopped by, and when I saw their parents I realized who they were.  Their mother works at ARHS, and I was aware of the oldest being born while I was a student, then the twins being born later.  All I knew about them was that they all had beautiful names that start with S.  They were super cute, with pretty braided hair!  One of the twins was the most talkative, and asked me questions about every part of my setup: the lights, the bell, Flaca's shoes.  "And why do you have all these?" she asked, fingering some quarters.  They took turns pushing keys on the accordion, especially during my demonstration of what the bellows is for (one of the easier questions to answer).  I love little girls!

13. A little boy came by perched on his father's shoulders.  He saw me and covered his ears.  Classic.

14. The girls from Springfield were out, as always, collecting donations for their anti-violence campaign.  I've talked about getting to know them, and I'd like to ask their names but they always seem to disappear before I get a chance.  The oldest, whom I see the most, sang along with my pop songs today ("Dynamite" and "We Are Young"), which I liked.  Their dad/chaperone came by to check in with them, and commented on my setup.  The littlest girl told him all about it, since she knows the deal.  They're a great added essence to the street scene for me.

15.  Every once in a while I'll play the Indiana Jones theme, even though I haven't quite learned it yet.  Yesterday was one of those days, and a little boy came up to me right after.  "I know what song you just played!  That was Indiana Jones!"  Right-o!  Glad little boys know that.

16. A was aware of a phone next to my accordion, and realized someone was letting the folks at home tune in (really, the phone clearly showed "Home" was being called).  The man picked up the phone and said, "It's the Easter Bunny!"

17. A little kid with a big personality (and badass leather athletic jacket) said "You play really well, ........" in a way that sounded like an adult would (ellipsis because I can't read my notes to finish his quote).  He also noticed my lights, currently being used as weights to protect money from the wind, and said, "Oh no!  Your lights fell down!" and put them back in the corners where they belonged, although he'd never seen them there.  He totally just got it!  Awesome.

17.5. I took a food/chai break which ended up being long.  I didn't want to give up my spot so I sat right at it and it felt really good to stretch out.  Eric, a character who hangs out on the streets, joined me, and worked on one of his drawings.  He does political cartoonish drawings, and gave me the one he was finishing, featuring the Wizard of Oz duo.  I forget the point it was making, but it was nice.  He has a lot to say, so it made for interesting conversation.  This other guy with painted pants stopped by and talked to us, saying that he had come in for the day to walk around the obnoxious town.  When he said that I felt defensive towards Northampton at first, then remembered my sentiments a couple of posts ago, when I felt that way as well.  I certainly feel that way about Synergy.  But that's exactly why we need street artists and cool bands and fun events, to "keep Northampton weird."  ("Keep Clark Weird" was an initiative my college friends started to counteract the higher admission rate of boring white athletes non-alternative/artsy people to our institution.)  When I'm living here forever, I'm going to keep Northampton SO weird.

18. "There's so much going on there that you deserve a tip."  Nice.  He's the less decisive version of the people who tip specifically for the dress, for the novelty of the dancing puppet, for the fact that it's an accordion, for whatever song I was playing, or for the bunny ears, this time.

19. I absolutely can't read the next note.  Looks like "Yl. un lurd."  Hmm.  I need a personal assistant to write notes for me.

20. A man walked by with two boxes of pizza.  He stopped and put them down near me....(oh my god, two whole pizzas???)...and took out his wallet to give me a dollar.  That's nice too, but PIZZA!!!

21. All day, people were walking by in weird costumes.  Some had name tags, some didn't.  I didn't recognize any specific costumes, but a friend of mine recognized an Anime character.  Finally, after a few hours of this, I asked one group, "Okay, WHAT is going on?"  They told me there's a SciFi/"dorkiness" convention at Smith this weekend.  I learned that it is called Conbust, and this is the website. It seems cool, since it's for all sorts of dorks, but particularly female ones.  A girl with a dark cape and fangs gave me the pricing information for non-students, and a man in a blonde wig and poofy blue dress informed me that there's a burlesque show that night.  It was really quite fun having all sorts of strange characters walking by me all day!

22.  After one of the hoards of nerds, two guys came by and commented on them.  One of them was singing and asked me to assess his singing.  (I think they were drunk.)  I explained the Conbust people, and they were excited to go until I said it was $12 to get in.  They were outraged, and one of them said, "If there's no money in the future, why do we have to pay to get into a SciFi convention?" or something, and he cracked up.  These other innocent passersby went by, and the guy stopped them and said, "Tell me if this is funny: If there's no money in the future...."  They politely nodded.

23.  Two people gave me pansies!  So nice, except for the fact that they were clearly picked from the flower thing outside Faces.  

24. Some people saw my whiskers and thought I was a cat, especially when I walked around because I had to carry my ears so they wouldn't blow off.  These were some things said:
          -"You're a cat today!"
          -I discussed a muffin with a Rao's employee, and she thought for a while then said, "A
           meowffin?"
          -I talked to a guy, and one of the many things we talked about was how he wasn't allowed to
           have cats at his college.  "You wouldn't be allowed," he said.  I had no idea what he meant.
           Women aren't allowed, either?  Oh, I'm a cat. 

I finally quit, after 5.5 hours, because I was super exhausted and also for a new reason: my left fingertips hurt!  Usually I only do the marathon days when it's gloves weather, so there isn't that much skin-on-accordion contact.  But today they were puckered and tendered, and it hurt a lot when I tried to play a guitar later.  Hmm.

I really love the feeling of exhaustion after such a day.  I can't think straight, I can't string words together properly, and I certainly can't move very swiftly or gracefully.  I certainly can't use my smiling muscles.  Busking, as it currently is for me, is a full workout for body and mind.

I had a very lovely dinner with David, my parking attendant friend from holiday season blog posts, and a friend of his who is a local writer, then mustered up all of my strength to drive home and wait for the real Easter Bunny.  The ears are going in the dress-up box for next year!