‘Uncategorized’ Category
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In the Shade of the Maple
0August 25, 2017 by admin
The gomphrena has grown tall, the button-like flowers towering over the celosia, the pink conic flowers of which have turned into gray cones, like bottle brushes. The wood anemones along the path have grown up in 2 locations, both as tall as me and bursting with buds.
At Bethesda Fountain, Lady Liberty, in shades, has wrapped a flag around a tourist for a photo op. Snake man is there, as is the big bubble man. Looking good for me, I thought, until I spotted the cowboy. “Are you coming back?” he asked as I walked by.
“Probably not. Once I set up, I don’t like to move.”
Under the maple, I laid out my paraphernalia and started my set. A woman with her daughter walked by. “Have you got time for a hula today?” She laughed, then stopped a few steps past me. “Change your mind?”
“No,” she said. “Just listening.”
I was playing “Fit as a Fiddle.” When I finished, she dropped 65 cents in my case.
A Muslim couple walked by with their young daughter. Mom wore a hijab, dad pushed an empty stroller, and the little girl toddled up to me and started dancing. Her dance consisted of bending her knees and bobbing her head. Since I was already playing a song in G, “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love,” it was an easy transition into “The Hukilau Song,” also in G.
A man of 35 or so was enchanted with the scene. During the dance, he dug a dollar out of his wallet and placed it in my case. “You’re terrific,” he said. At the end, mom gave me a dollar too.
Two moms and 3 daughters walked by. “Have you got time for a hula today?”
One mom answered, “We might.” She polled the girls, 2 of whom were up for it, 1 was too shy. Once more, we went to the hukilau. “I’ve got it,” one mom told the other. At the end of the dance, she gave each girl a single to put in my case.
“You guys from New York?”
“Chicago, the other big city.”
My set complete, I pocketed $4.65. In the cool shade of the maple, I’d hardly broken a sweat.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Fit as a Fiddle, I Can't Give You Anything But Love, The Hukilau Song
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A Hot, Humid Thursday
0August 20, 2017 by admin
It sat down at the fountain, under a blazing summer sun. While I set up, a young man asked me if I’d seen the other guy who plays at Bethesda Fountain. I described the cowboy, without calling him that; the young man said that was him. “He’s usually done by 12:30, then I take over.”
The young man sat down next to me. I tuned up while we chatted. He was a singer and was thinking of busking. “Do you use an amp and recorded accompaniment?” He said no. I suggested he check out the underpass between the boathouse and the conservatory pond, where people sailed model boats. “The acoustics are really good.” That seemed to have sold him. He ambled eastward; I stood and played “Making Love Ukulele Style.”
And I played for 30 minutes before a family of 6 walked by. A pudgy little boy of 8 or 9 slowed, stopped, dug a quarter out of his pocket and gave it to me.
A bride and groom came by. I immediately stopped playing “Did You Ever See a Dream Walking,” and started “The Hawaiian Wedding Song.” This is my practice for every wedding party. They took pictures at the fountain near me, after which I asked if they had time for a hula. Unlike all brides and grooms before them, they said yes.
A crowd gathered to watch the happy couple dance to “The Hukilau Song.” Some of them put money in my case, as I later saw; my attention was on the dance, which evolved from a stiff, unconvincing hula to an unrestrained series of spins and dips, ending with a long smooch on the lips. The bride, who carried no money, asked if I’d be there for a while. I told her another 30-40 minutes. They returned the leis and headed toward the boathouse. They didn’t come back.
A man, passing by, dropped a buck.
On the lawn that rises to the east, a large group of kids in white tees had been picnicking. Lunch over, they walked down to the fountain 4 or 5 at a time. A kid came forward and threw a coin into my case, then ran back to where his travel mates were assembling. I expected to find another quarter, but it was a 2 Euro piece, which I replace with 2 singles from my wallet.
A photographer captured the second verse of “Honolulu Baby,” lyrics by Mr. Ukulele:
While down at Bethesda Fountain, underneath a hot summer sky,
I play my ukulele for all the people walking by.
The lovers feel the rhythm, the little babies clap their hands.
The vendors do the hula beside their hot dog stands.
For which I got a thumbs-up and a dollar.
I’d played for 90 minutes. With 7 singles and a quarter in my pocket, I quickly got out of the sun.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Did You Ever See a Dream Walking, Making Love Ukulele Style, The Hawaiian Wedding Song, The Hukilau Song
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Four in a Row
0August 13, 2017 by admin
A knowledgeable reader has informed me that the plants I cannot identify are the annuals gomphrena and celosia. Except for a single golden stella and 2 pink dog roses, gomphrena and celosia provided the only color behind the benches on Friday, the fourth day in a row of beautiful busking weather in Central Park.
The Imagine Mosaic guitarist was singing “Eight Days a Week.” A yellow-vested workman on break shouted to his buddy, “One of me favorites.”
Leaving Strawberry Fields, I noticed the wood anemone had emerged from the scrub along the path. It was already 5 feet high, with large buds visible in a nest of leaves at the end of the long stems.
At Bethesda Fountain, the cowboy was finishing up “Song Sung Blue” (Neil Diamond, 1972). He motioned to me to sit down for his last number, “Quando, Quando, Quando” (Engelbert Humperdinck, 1968), accompanied by prerecorded strings.
My first hula dancer was a teen-aged Australian boy. At the end of “The Hukilau Song,” he rejoined his parents and walked away.
Obnoxiously loud music started blaring to my right. Something was going on near the big bubble man. A young man had spread roses on the ground in front of a young woman. He dropped to one knee. It was a marriage proposal, complete with an amplified soundtrack. There was nothing to be done but stand quietly and wait for the scene to play itself out. She said yes, they kissed, the crowd applauded. A friend, who had been taking pictures, finally bent down and turned the music off.
A group of young men wanted a picture. One of them gave me a dollar. When I asked where he was from, he answered, “Verona,” as if answering “Italy” would have done an injustice to his heritage.
A cheerful mom from Hagerstown, MD, offered up her son and daughter to the hula. The kids did a credible dance; mom gave me a fiver.
An Asian mom unbuckled her baby from the stroller and gave her a little push toward me. She swayed to the music of “Get Out and Get Under the Moon.” Mom was delighted and handed the baby a dollar to give to me. The child ran off, the mother gave chase and came back with my gratuity.
Another baby girl, named Tenzing, from Tibet, was unleashed by her mother. She walked to within a few feet of me and looked up, locking eyes. When I finished my song, she started to cry. Mom picked her up with one arm, as she dropped a dollar in my case with the other.
A prosperous-looking man in a straw hat and Bermuda shorts put a fiver in my case. As he walked by he said, “Good luck to you in your life.”
A group of Dutchmen walked by. A teenaged boy fell behind to do a hula. I threw a lei over his head and he danced to a quick rendering of the first verse of “The Hukilau Song,” sans intro. Handing back the lei, he said, “You make people happy,” before running off to rejoin his group.
A boy and girl, both under 20, straggled by. “Have you got time for a hula today?” They were hesitant, embarrassed. “We’re homeless,” the boy said.
“All right, then, this hula’s for the homeless.” I asked them to imagine they were in Hawaii, blue sky, warm sand, the ocean waves lapping at the shore. They smiled, swaying as I sang to them like palm trees in the breeze.”
“You know, I feel pretty good,” the boy said, returning his lei. We shook hands.
“Yeah, that was fun,” said the girl. Together, they turned and blended back into the crowd.
A mom, dad and 2 kids sat at the edge of the fountain. The kids had watched the homeless hula. I motioned for them to step up and dance next, but they quickly turned away. When they got up to leave, however, each kid had been provided a dollar for me.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: 'Quando, Eight Days a Week, Get Out and Get Under the Moon, Quando Quando Quando, Song Sung Blue, The Hukilau Song
