Posts Tagged ‘The Hukilau Song’
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The First Busk of October
0October 4, 2018 by admin
October has become my favorite month. A day like Wednesday holds the record for perfection, the temp, the sky, the crowds, the works. Center stage was all mine. As soon as I started, a small band of Argentinians stopped to hula. It was a ragged dance by a fun-loving group. In addition to “The Hukilau Song,” they danced to “My Little Grass Shack,” at the end of which I retrieved the leis before they asked for another song. The leader, a polite 50-something man who spoke English, thanked me profusely and put a fiver in my case.
A family from Tennessee, mom, dad, junior and sis, slowed as they got close to me. “Have you got time for a hula today?” No, they did not, yet they didn’t move on. I cajoled junior, “Do you know anybody here? No? Then what are you afraid of?”
Dad said, “Let ‘er rip.” He took a lei and put it on. “Come join me,” he said to his family, but instead they moved away, so he danced his hula alone, and did a fine job of it, returned the lei and pulled a single from his wallet.
A young man walked up to me and said, “You are really cool. Keep it up.” He was from Germany, a Jehovah’s Witness, although why he felt the need to mention that I don’t know. He put a bright new quarter in my case.
A half-dozen or so Chinese tourists walked by. One of them, an old lady, stopped in front of me and gave me the once-over. Scowling, she gave me a dollar. I asked her if she’d like to hula, but she didn’t seem to understand.
A young woman had been listening from the benches; I watched her toes tapping. When I smiled at her, she smiled back. Later, she walked up with $2 in her hand, and told me she was from Colombia.
A woman poured a purseful of coins into my case. She was from Manchester (“right in the middle of the UK”). A late teen with his parents gave me dollar, followed by a 20-something who’d been listening from the bench.
“Do you like ukulele music?” I asked him.
“Not really, but I like to support local musicians.”
More listeners, more dollars.
A woman approached and identified herself as a pediatric nurse at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She wondered if I’d sing a song to her friend, Phyllis, who was celebrating her 30th year of employment there. I readily agreed, singing “Happy Anniversary to You,” for which I received a 10-spot.
A woman stepped forward from a family of Koreans. I put a lei around her neck. She danced while her family took pictures. She may have put money in my case. Money was coming my way so fast, I lost track of who gave what.
A man asked if I’d sing a song for his girlfriend with the lyrics, “Tony misses you.” Adapting a simple chord pattern to simple lyrics, “Tony misses you, Tony misses you, you must believe it’s true that Tony misses you,” Tony was delighted. He tossed a fiver in my case, then sat down on the bench and sent off the video.
My set ended after 90 minutes, with a pile of bills in my case, $29, plus another $2.54 in change. I love October; it’s become my favorite month.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Happy Anniversary to You, My Little Grass Shack, The Hukilau Song
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Hot and Humid
0September 27, 2018 by admin
The begonias and Michaelmas daisies along Central Park West just won’t quit. Behind the benches at the Women’s Gate, a few roses bloom above a bushful of hips. Two yellow foxglove, with thimble-like flowers, have emerged in the middle ground, where the dinner plate hibiscus has melted away in the heat. The reddening dogwood fruit resembles spherical strawberries.
At the Imagine Mosaic a new guitarist has shown up with an amplifier. The button seller told me that he’s been told several times to lose the amp, to no avail.
The crowds were sparse at Bethesda Fountain. A kid of 12 or 13 dropped a handful of quarters into my case. A few songs later, an elderly man, walking by, covered the change with a single. A baby sitter, with two charges, gave me $2. The kids were too young to dance, but they came back later for a picture. The boy of 3 or 4 put on a lei, but the girl, not yet 2, ran crying back to the sitter.
“Real nice,” said Carole, with camera around her neck. “Making the little girls cry.” It was too hot and humid for her to stand with me in the sun for long.
An Asian teenager spotted me as she walked down the path from the Boathouse. Sporting an ear-to-ear grin, she danced a lovely hula to “The Hukilau Song.”
A young woman, Kate, from the Parks Department, roamed the fountain on her lunch break. We chatted for a while and she danced a lazy hula (“Why not?”) before moving on. A Chinese photographer captured a dollar’s worth of “Honolulu Eyes” on video. A trio of young women, 1 from Westchester and 2 from East 86th St., lined up for a hula. They snapped photos while they danced, laughing all the way to the hukilau.
After an hour, the crowd thinned further, until several songs went out only to the trees and sky. At such times, I often close my eyes and play for myself alone. When I opened them again, a tall blonde woman and her tall blond daughter had just dropped $2 into my case.
I closed my set, as always, with “My Little Grass Shack.” A 30-something bicyclist, in spandex and a racing cap, walked with a handful of change from the bench where he’d been listening. When he returned to his bench, I thought for a moment I should play him another tune, but at that moment the sun came out from behind a cloud, and the tropical humidity dissuaded me, so I stuffed $10.55 into my pocket and went home.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: Honolulu Eyes, My Little Grass Shack, The Hukilau Song
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Not Exactly Generous
0September 17, 2018 by admin
Friday was another warm day, with hurricane-influenced winds blowing wet and cool from the northeast. When I met Dominick, the big bubble man, he said, “They’re really generous today.”
I set up at Bethesda Fountain to test his hypothesis. He was not wrong. Three ukulele lovers, in succession, dropped a dollar into my case. Four kids from Hunter High School stopped for a hula. After 2 verses of “The Hukilau Song,” they handed back the leis and walked off.
A young man dropped a dollar, followed shortly by an old man.
An Irishman from Belfast walked into the plaza with his family and took a seat on a bench. Resting for a spell, I saw him watching me and enjoying the music. When it was time for him to move on, he approached me with 3 singles in his hand. We chatted about the buskers in Grafton Street, Dublin, and how the troubles were still troubling when I was there in 1980.
A woman from the benches gave me a dollar, and then, after a long lull, 2 Lubavitcher teenagers approached, asking if I’d put on tefillin this morning. I engaged them in chitchat, but their English was terrible, and my Yiddish was worse. We agreed they would not hula, and I would not daven.
At the end of my set I counted out 11 singles, not exactly generous, but open-handed all the same.
Category Uncategorized | Tags: The Hukilau Song
