Posts Tagged ‘The Hukilau Song’
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Awesome Autumn Friday
0October 2, 2017 by admin
Friday was a gorgeous autumn day. The platoon guitarist at the Imagine Mosaic played “My Sweet Lord.” It appeared that the honey bees, like me, were counting the wood anemone flowers (26-40). I checked in on the junior league of plants under the tree by the road, to count a total of 7 flowers among 3 groupings. Near Daniel Webster, the helicopter seeds from a maple tree hit me in the hat.
A young Swiss couple relaxed by the fountain as I set up. We chatted briefly, then I stood to play. When they stood to leave, they gave me a fiver.
Three Israelis enjoyed watching a fourth roll up his pant legs and wade into the fountain. He had thrown his cell phone into the water to prove it was waterproof. When he got out I invited him to hula. “You seem to be up for anything,” I said. He was; and so were his jeering friends when I challenged them to dance a better hula, if they could. When we finished with “The Hukilau Song,” the first Israeli gave me $2.
A man with his wife and dog listened on the bench for a while. Finally, he walked up to me and gave me $3. His name was Jim and he lived on the upper east side. “You’re really good,” he told me. “No, really, I’m going to have my friends meet me here from now on.”
A young girl pushed a stroller past me and threw a penny in my case. “Thanks,” I said. There’s a mean streak in all of us. She joined up with her family, who were taking pictures by the fountain. When they moved on, the girl, for reasons of her own, gave me 2 singles.
Two 20-something women from Taiwan danced the hula, then walked away.
A foursome of women gathered nearby. One of them broke from the pack and floated a dollar into my case, without interrupting the flow of her lively conversation.
A surfer dude sat on the bench with his girlfriend. He seemed to enjoy the show; when I sat down at the end of my set, he approached with 2 bucks in his hand. “Thanks a lot,” I said, stuffing the bills into my pocket with the $14.01 I already had there.
“No, man, thank you. You’re awesome.”
Category Uncategorized | Tags: My Sweet Lord, The Hukilau Song
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Underneath a Hot September Sky
0September 28, 2017 by admin
When I stopped to count the wood anemone (24-32), sweat had already started forming on my arms, and dripping into my eyes. At Bethesda Fountain, standing out in the sun and playing for the people on the benches in the shade, I wondered if I might be a little nuts.
A Swedish couple came forward and gave me a fiver. “Thank you,” said the man, “that was a lot of fun.”
“We really enjoyed it,” said the woman. Me too.
A woman from El Salvador wanted to take a picture with me. I put a lei around her neck; she gave me a dollar. Another woman gestured at the leis draped over my case. I thought she wanted to dance. “No, she doesn’t want to hula,” said the man she was with. “How much?”
I hesitated, since I usually don’t sell my leis. “Three dollars.”
He hesitated, then gave me the money.
I was so happy to see Marcel and his scotch terrier, Maggie, stroll down the path and head toward me. Marcel’s wife, Sue, was with him. For many years, Marcel walked Maggie in the park and, if I was busking, Maggie would plop down in front of me and listen. When that happened, more people stopped to admire Maggie than they did to hear me perform.
I grabbed Marcel’s hand and shook it. “I haven’t seen you all summer,” I said.
“He had a stroke,” said Sue.
“You look great, you walk and talk just fine.”
“My eyes were effected,” he said, shrugging. “I go to PT. I’m feeling much better.”
He asked about Agnes, my granddaughter; I’d shown him pictures of her when she was born last year.
“We better keep going,” said Sue. “The heat is bothering the dog.”
A girl on a bicycle rode up with her friend, and, without dismounting, threw a dollar in my case.
“Have you got time for a hula today?”
“Where’s the nearest bathroom?” I pointed toward the arcade. “We’ll come back for a hula,” she said, and she did. They were from California. “We’re having a great time in New York,” she said.
A 50-ish couple from Vancouver stopped to donate $2 and chat. They had a place in Hawaii; he had just bought himself a tenor uke. I handed him mine, and he strummed out a few chords. “You know what I think?” he said, handing the uke back to me. “I think you’re the most relaxed man in New York.”
The heat and humidity were getting to me. All the water in my thermos was gone, leaving a few ice cubes rattling around. I’d decided to pack it in when a little girl of 12-14 months, holding her dad’s hand, toddled up to me. “You want to dance?”
She moved her head in a way her dad interpreted as affirmative. I put the infant lei over her head, played the chorus and one verse of “The Hukilau Song,” took a buck from her dad and sat down. My shirt was soaked through, and my leg burned from a spot I missed with sun screen. I’d let the little girl toddle off with my lei.
I put $13 in my pocket. Macadamia nuts?
Category Uncategorized | Tags: The Hukilau Song
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Off the Schneid
0September 27, 2017 by admin
The cylindrical celosia behind the benches has turned gray. Only the gomphrena contributes color, its magenta buttons rising 6 feet on skinny stems. The invasive wild asters have begun to wilt. Farther down the path, boneset has overgrown half the wood anemone; the other half sports 18 flowers, most of them from the lower reaches of the plant. The smaller plant, without any weedy interference, has at least 30 flowers.
I set up in the unseasonable heat and played for a full 30 minutes without a single contribution. It looked as if, for the first time, I might be shut out. I stopped for a rest and a long drink of water. As I started again, a family of 3 walked by, and dad pulled out a dollar for me.
Two women stopped some distance away and turned their backs. They were going through their change purses, which together yielded 80 cents.
A 12-year-old came off the benches with another dollar, then joined his family as they left the area. The benches were empty now. Anyone with any sense had moved into the shade of the arcade, where a doo-wop group was performing.
With 5 minutes left to go in my set, a well-dressed 40-something woman walked through the plaza. “Have you got time for a hula today?”
“I could use a hula,” she said. She danced to “The Hukilau Song,” with effortless motions and a beatific smile. She was from Napa, California. “Sorry I don’t have more,” she said, putting a dollar in my case.
“Not a problem. Thanks for stopping.”
“Aloha.”
Category Uncategorized | Tags: The Hukilau Song
