Posts Tagged ‘I Saw Stars’
-
A Definition of Aloha
0August 21, 2014 by admin
Despite another gorgeous day, I skipped center stage for the shaded comfort of my spot on the path. Two days in a row in the sun was enough. On my way I stopped to chat with Meta, whom I haven’t seen in weeks. She’d been away, visiting her kids, of whom there are at least six. While we gloried in how beautiful a summer it’s been so far, Meta confessed to exhaustion. “To be honest,” she said, “I wish it would rain already.”
A park worker was hooking up the sprinklers by my spot. Together, we adjusted the arc of water so I, or my dancers, wouldn’t get wet. Unfortunately, the sprinkler ended up in a patch of myrtle on a hillside, and, with each sweep, inched downward, ever closer. I moved to the other side of the path and was able to play my complete set, dry as toast, before the water reached my feet.
Two couples made their way past me toward the boathouse. “Have you got time for a hula today?”
One of the women stopped while the others walked on. “Can you play the Hukilau?” she asked. Can I! “Let’s make it quick,” she added. “My husband’s in a hurry.”
After a single verse, she handed back the lei and hurried toward her husband and friends. Hula walk-aways do have their uses, however, because a group of picnickers, seeing the dance, got the right idea. A young blond man in a yarmulke, came running, with 3 of his buddies behind. “I love the ukulele,” he said, reaching for a lei. Soon the four of them were dancing up a storm. “Brilliant,” they repeated to each other. “Brilliant.” When they thanked me and returned to their group, my case was still empty. It looked like another walkaway, but the young man soon returned with a fiver. He was with a Jewish youth group from London and had totally fallen in love with New York.
A young woman walked by and dropped a dollar, followed by a little boy who dug into his pocket and pulled out 8 pennies. A little later, a Chinese woman pointed her camera at me for the length of “I Saw Stars.” At the end of the song I invited her to hula, but she couldn’t, she told me, as this was a live broadcast to China. “Would you like to say something to the Chinese people?”
“I wish you all health, happiness, and a lifetime of aloha. Now everyone get up and hula.”
“Hula? What is hula?”
“The native dance of Hawaii.”
“And aloe?”
“Aloha, a word for hello, good-bye, and universal good-feeling among all people.” The woman started to translate, then moved on, as if we’d gone to commercial break.
A little boy of 3 or 4 eagerly put on a lei. I launched into “The Hukilau Song,” but he stood, feet planted on the ground, stiff and straight. Only his hands moved. This hula consisted of flapping wrists and nothing else. His parents were delighted and gave me $3.
With the sprinkler almost on me, I closed up shop with $15.08 in my pocket. The last 3 days have been off the charts. To be honest, I wish it would never rain.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: I Saw Stars, The Hukilau Song
-
Aloha Conquers All
0May 20, 2014 by admin
This week is so heavily scheduled I thought I’d never get to the park, but I saw my chance late this morning and set out into a warm May day. The spring bulbs are over, and the summer flowers are not yet here. The park is in a state of suspense. In the deep shade, solomon’s seal is showing rows of thin white tubes, while farther out in the sun, bleeding hearts hang pink and bulbous, also in neat rows. Except for a few varieties of dogwood, and, of course, the chestnut, the trees too are done.
Today’s heat may have kept Arlen and Meta away, leaving the fountain to me. Things got swinging right from the start. A couple of little girls did the hula, and a few others dropped change as they walked by, giving me the thumbs-up, since Facebook the universal sign of approval. One of the little girls’ father pulled out a twenty and asked if I had change, which I did not. “Don’t worry about it,” I told him. Something about the glorious day, this glorious space and the distance I’d traveled from the cares of my non-park life put sparkle and joy into my voice, extended my range and filled my available universe with the aloha spirit.
Wait a minute? Huh, what’s that? I finished the first chorus of “Tiptoe through the Tulips” and answered my phone. Chaos calling, time to go home. I took off my lei and started to pack up when a young man approached and asked me what songs I knew.
“Mostly stuff from the 20’s and 30’s. Why, what do you have in mind?”
“Do you know Teen Angel?”
“No.”
“Can you sing a nice love song to my girlfriend for me?” He opened his wallet and pulled out a twenty.
The young woman was shy, probably had little English, but she giggled as her boyfriend translated softly. “I saw stars, I heard the birdies sing so sweet, so sweet, the moment I fell for you.”
Though truncated, my outing today still yielded a season best $23.18, and proved, once again, that aloha conquers all.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: I Saw Stars
-
Two in a Row
0April 12, 2014 by admin
Friday started chilly and overcast, but by the time I reached Bethesda Fountain the day had warmed and brightened. The water in the park has been turned on since yesterday; the gentle splash of the fountain mingled with the sweet sounds of the harp and dulcimer. Arlen and Meta had drawn a good-sized crowd, a promising sign of throngs to come.
I donned my lei at my second favorite location, on the path to the Boathouse. With an enormous maple to my back, which gives great shade in summertime although nothing now, and an outcropping of Manhattan schist to my left, I stood to sing. In front of me was an old mulberry tree displaying several fresh cuts; the Parks Department has been busy lopping off dead limbs. At the lakeside people got in and out of rowboats, while at the easternmost end of the lake other people ate on white tablecloths, taking in the view, like me. Across the lake, I could see through the bare bushes a timber-lined path. Is that new? And to the northwest, the taupe towers of the San Remo, made famous in Ghostbusters, stretch skyward.
I start with “Making Love Ukulele Style,” in G, simple chords requiring no great range, followed by a medley in C, “Sunday,” “Fit as a Fiddle” and “I Saw Stars.” Lots of people walked by, ignoring me. After 15 minutes, a young woman dropped a dollar in my case. They were all dollars after that, 11 of them, and most from women too, none of whom danced the hula.
I got my first hula dancer about an hour in. A girl of 6 or 7 was very enthusiastic, as were 2 adults, but the 5-year-old boy preferred not to. He wandered off to sit on the rocks and watch the show, which turned out not to star his sister, but rather the adults. Under the pretense of showing the girl how to hula, they shook and shimmied up a storm.
After 90 minutes, I took off my lei and packed up. I’d played and sang more confidently today than I had yesterday. Callouses are starting to form on my fingertips. I got a little sunburn on my balding pate. Thus the Aloha Spirit transforms us.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Fit as a Fiddle, I Saw Stars, Making Love Ukulele Style, Sunday
