Posts Tagged ‘The Hukilau Song’
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Under a Warm May Sky
0May 9, 2019 by admin
A bagpiper greeted me at the entrance to the park. He marched in and out among the pedicabs, probably because a moving target is harder to hit.
A very blond Norwegian woman stopped to dance the first hula of the day. Some time later, 2 women collected their lunch trash, and, on their way to the bins, placed 2 neatly folded singles in my case.
Three college girls stopped to listen. One of them, Amelia from Australia, was eager to hula and convinced her friends, from Canada and Pennsylvania, to join her. As soon as I started singing “The Hukilau Song,” however, she said, “I’m shy,” and reached out to hold her friends’ hands. It was the first circular hula of the season. One of the girls gave me a dollar, then the other 2 did also.
A young man with a pack back dropped a handful of change.
A Polish boy of 9 or 10 wanted to dance. I gave instructions in English while his mother translated. When we started to dance, she stood behind him, sometimes taking his arms to wave them. “If you’re going to dance with him, you need this,” I said, putting a lei around her neck. When they had finished and given me a dollar, a girl of about the same age as the Polish boy ran up to me and told me she wanted to dance too.
Bethesda Fountain, on occasion, can be a freak show. In addition to the regulars, like the big bubble man, the caricaturist, and the Boyd Family Singers, who colonize the arcade daily, today saw the snake charmers on segways, the Italian accordionist, and a Chinese man in a clown mask and red wig. The clown had a selfie-stick and was on video chat with friends halfway around the world for my entire 90-minute set.
Two well-dressed women listened intently to “Fit as a Fiddle.” “I love this song,” said one to the other, then dug out a dollar for me.
At the end of my session, I struck up a conversation with Mandy from California. She regaled me with stories about her wife and children. I sang my finale, “Little Grass Shack,” then sat down to pack up my gear and count out $13.72, to which Mandy, still talking, added another buck.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Fit as a Fiddle, Little Grass Shack, The Hukilau Song
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Regression to the Mean
0May 8, 2019 by admin
A hillside of once white tulips molder brown and gray on their stems. An occasional exotic bulb, survivor of years past, blooms scarlet or yellow among the wreckage. The Women’s Gate entrance to the park is in colorless transition, after spring bulbs and before the roses. Elsewhere, wild pink geranium dominates, poking through the ferns at the Imagine Mosaic, and surrounding the tree at the crosswalk, where bicyclists, with increased frequency, stop for red lights.
On the other side of Daniel Webster, azalea have taken over, denser and more colorful the closer I get to Bethesda Fountain. People have lined up to take pictures in front of an 8-foot-tall blood red azelea; the approach to the stairs down to the fountain is more muted, with smaller bushes in salmon and white.
My busking started slowly, with my first dollar recorded after 14 minutes, from a young man off the bench. A slender mom, and her pre-teen son on a skateboard, stopped to listen. “Have you got time for a hula today?”
“It would have to be a short one,” said mom. “We’re on our way to ballet class. How about it?” she said to the boy, who shook his head emphatically no. “We do like your ukulele,” she said, and tossed 3 quarters in my case.
A little girl of 6 or 7 was reluctant to hula, but her mom settled it by pushing her toward me. After putting a lei around her neck, I gave her a very short hula lesson, which consisted of raising her arms to form the horizon, then moving her arms to make the ocean waves. Keeping arms up is the hardest part for little kids, and this kid was no exception. Every 4 bars of the “The Hukilau Song,” her arms sank. Mom immediately put her own arms up and we were good again for another 4 bars. After the dance they walked away.
A photographer gave me $2 for a picture. Then Carole, my park photographer friend of many years’ standing, stopped to chat. She put a dollar in my case, as has become her custom the first time we meet each season.
A small boy of 3 or 4 bipped and bopped to my music. “Have you got time for a hula today?” There was no response; perhaps they didn’t understand English. At the conclusion of my song, “Honolulu Eyes,” the dad gave the boy a dollar to put in my case, for a total of $9.15, including a 5-cent Euro coin.
The early totals this year, with earnings north of $20, were bound to plummet. Nine dollars is a fine day’s pay; no doubt I’ll have something to say about break-even ($2.70, round trip senior subway fare) before the season is over.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Honolulu Eyes, The Hukilau Song
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A Good Friday
0April 20, 2019 by admin
It was warm and overcast on Good Friday. In the weeks since my last outing in the park, the yellow daffodils were replaced by a white variety, swaths of pink and white tulips opened as wide as saucers, while tall stems of yellow fritillaria wowed the tourists. Other spring starters, like bleeding heart, grape hyacinth and Virginia bluebell, bloomed behind the benches. Across the road, at the Imagine Mosaic, the beds were thick with pheasant’s eye narcissus. Magnolia bloomed in several locations. Foot-high Solomon’s Seal and hellebore lined the path toward the statue of Daniel Webster, around which dandelions poked above the grass.
As I neared Bethesda Fountain, I noted flowering forsythia and the trees, so many trees, showing red and green leaf tips and pollen-rich florets. There were mobs of people around the fountain, which was filled with water, and operating.
I set up, got to my feet and opened with “Making Love Ukulele Style.” Before long, a man gave me a dollar. A little later, a dad with 2 young sons stopped to listen and gave each boy a buck to give to me. For the next 30 minutes, a steady stream of singles filled my case, but no one would hula.
“Have you got time for a hula today?” This time I asked a group of teenage girls from Montreal.
“I do,” said one, who was immediately joined by 2 of her friends. Another 10 or more girls gathered to watch, as well as a ragtag bunch of curiosity seekers. The girls hula-ed through 2 verses of “The Hukilau Song,” then stood with me for a picture, while members of their group started tossing money into my case; the dancers put money in too, probably doubling my take up till then.
I sang “Little Grass Shack” for a grandma from W. 84th St., who was enjoying the sun with her granddaughter. She gave me a dollar coin.
A family of 4, mom, dad and 2 daughters, stood nearby, waiting for me to finish a song. They were from Waterloo, Belgium. They wanted to know if I could sing “Happy Birthday” to Pierro. We all sang together into the camera.
“Do you want to sing it in French?” I asked
“Of course not,” said dad with gallic disdain. “It is an English song.”
While dad and I talked about Bruges, one of the daughters put a few bills in my case. Later I was pleased to spot a fiver. After another song, and another single, I looked down and saw what I thought was another fiver. No, wait, it was a 50!
The last time I got a 50-dollar bill, it was from a tv production company who paid me not to play. I’ve gotten a few 20’s over the years, and once was handed a $100-dollar bill by a man who was part of a foursome from Nantucket who very much enjoyed my music.
I ended the day with a few more singles, and one more hula, by a 20-something woman from Maryland. On my way out of the park, I said hello to Dominick, the big bubble man. He said, “I can’t believe what a good day this is.” With $78.22 in my pocket, I enthusiastically agreed.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Happy Birthday, Little Grass Shack, Making Love Ukulele Style, The Hukilau Song
