Posts Tagged ‘I Saw Stars’
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Better than Average
0July 19, 2015 by admin
Thursday dawned to reveal clear blue skies, low humidity, cool breezes; it was a beautiful day for a hula. Other people thought so too. The park was mobbed. I rushed past the red and pink begonias, past the cone flowers and cosmos. Behind the mass of color were fire red fuschia, in front deep purple heliotrope. On the sides, lantana in yellow, red and orange.
A new guy sang out “Let It Be” at the Imagine Mosaic; at the end of the bench an older man sold cold water, “a dollar less than the hot dog man.” The pods on the catalpa are almost 2 feet long.
I set up on center stage, i.e. the east end of the fountain, and opened with “Making Love Ukulele Style,” followed by “Sunday,” “Fit as a Fiddle,” and “I Saw Stars,” then returning to the Hawaiian theme with “Ukulele Lady.” I noted attention, amusement, acceptance building up around me. I convinced a young man taking a picture to hula. A couple of teens talked each other into a dance. I didn’t mind the walk-aways; they gave others the idea.
My first contribution came from a man just walking by. Then a German-speaking 6-year-old stopped, transfixed. “Wollen Sie der Hula tanzen?” Tanz she did, swaying from side to side while she flapped her hands uncertainly.
Another little girl planted her feet near me and laid her dollar in my case. “Would you like to hula?” “Oh, yes.” A man in a matching tie-dyed shirt was standing by the lake. “Is that your Dad over there? Make sure its ok with him.” It was.
A blonde mom parked her stroller a few feet in front of me. A toddler stood tethered to one side while his 4-year-old sister stared at me, absorbed, on the other. I ran through a few songs, got the kids bopping a bit. Mom dug around in a bag on the stroller. It was either money for me, or a cellphone. The odds were 10-1 against me. It was sunblock. Through another few songs, mom goopped up the kids, then away went the sunblock, out came the wallet with $2 for me.
A dozen or so teenage girls from Argentina were up next, followed by another group from Spain. When both sets of dancers walked away, a 20-something man stepped up with a couple bucks. The cold water man from Strawberry Fields set up shop in the shade in front of me, calling out “agua frio, agua frio.” A single here, a single there floated into my case. It was shaping up to be a wonderful day on all counts. Now 3 women each gave me a dollar. “How much for the lei?” one asked. “Can’t sell them,” I said. “These are my means of production.”
At the end of the set, I counted $16 in my case, a better than average sum on a better than average day.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Fit as a Fiddle, I Saw Stars, Let It Be, Making Love Ukulele Style, Sunday, Ukulele Lady
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Winding Down
0October 3, 2014 by admin
In October the park slows down. The crowds, along with the trees, thin out. There are still some flowers, michaelmas daisies, nicotiana, twining vines of moon flowers. The hydrangea leaves are turning from green to burgundy, and along the paths, under the shrubs, boneset masquerades as michaelmas daisies. Roses and cleome are holding on to their last pink petals before the inevitable frost. The sky is dark with threatening clouds, but through the infrequent breaks, the sun briefly warms the heavily coated tourists.
Near the statue of Daniel Webster I heard a pedicab driver tell his fares about the first American dictionary. “No dictionary,” I loudly corrected him, “Senator.” A film crew was at work on Cherry Hill, with signs alerting passersby that they’d be filmed if they entered the area for “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” and that their images would be owned by Universal in perpetuity, in all existing formats, and in all those yet to come.
Center stage was mine. Before my first song was sung, a woman, dressed in a neon green cocktail dress, danced the hula. Her partner got the picture, then off they went. A young Latina did a free style hula for her friends, then she too walked away. Finally, another young woman dropped a dollar and consented to dance the hula, but quit before we ever got to the hukilau.
On the bench in front of me, an east side mom with two little kids tried to interest her daughter in a dance. I sang my most kid-friendly tunes, “Get Out and Get Under the Moon,” “I Saw Stars,” “I Wonder Where My Little Hula Girl Has Gone.” Clinging to her mom, the two approached, and after much coaxing from mom, the little girl dropped a fiver. The little boy struggled out of his stroller and ran to join us. Neither child danced, but they seemed to enjoy themselves just standing there. Later, on the path leading back to the east side, I watched them chase pigeons through the grass.
And that was it. For the next hour, I sang for myself. There will not be many more days warm enough to go out, so I’m happy just to croon my tunes and tip my hat to the smiles and thumbs-up that come my way.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Get Out and Get Under the Moon, I Saw Stars, I Wonder Where My Little Hula Girl Has Gone
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Underneath September Skies
0September 18, 2014 by admin
These are the best days of the year, with cloudless skies, seasonable temperatures and cool breezes off the water. White Michaelmas daisies bloom in crowds under the trees, while behind the benches, where the cosmos have been torn out for the winter, white morning glories and pink roses on new red wood reach unobstructed for the sun.
Center stage was occupied by yet another saxophone, so once again I took up my spot on the path. A young couple rewarded me with a quarter, and shortly afterward an Italian man tossed in another quarter. “Have you got time for a hula today?” While she danced, the Italian woman burst out laughing several times, and, each time she did, her Italian man tossed in another quarter.
A diminutive 30-something man stopped to listen while I sang “I Saw Stars.” At the end of the song, he thanked me with a dollar.
A police cruiser inched its way along the path. As it passed I greeted the cops inside with “Aloha, officers.” They seemed amused.
I had just concluded “Little Coquette” when twang, string #3, the C string, snapped. My tenor uke has 2 nylon strings and 2 wire wound stings. Nylon is indestructible, but wire wound breaks regularly. If I replace them in winter, they will last me all season, but this winter I didn’t do it; so I dug out a replacement from my case and quickly attached it. The trouble with new strings, of course, is that they go flat until they settle down. As a result, I had to re-tune after every song, sometimes even during a song – a quick turn of the screw between strums will do it.
Maggie the Scottish terrier stopped by. As usual, she got way more attention than I did. When she refused to move on, I suggested we put a lei around her neck. She didn’t like it; after her owner took it off he had no trouble leading her away.
A woman stopped to listen while I sang “Give Me a Ukulele and a Ukulele Baby.” After a moment she made a phone call, then held the phone up so the person on the other end of the line could hear. When I finished, she gave me a dollar before heading up the path.
A young couple walked by. “Have you got time for a hula today?”
The young man looked at his girlfriend. “It’s up to you.”
She wore a gold letter-T around her neck. “Let me guess,” I said, “Theresa.”
“That’s close,” she said, delighted. “It does begin with T.”
She did a fine hula, after which her boyfriend tossed a dollar in my case. As it turned out, her name was Talia, a name that would have taken me all afternoon to guess.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Give Me a Ukulele and a Ukulele Baby, I Saw Stars
