Three weeks since my last outing, and spring is over.\u00a0 The bulbs have been cut back, or dug up, by park volunteers.\u00a0 The first few stella d\u2019oro lilies provide the only color along Central Park West.\u00a0 The garden behind the benches at the Women\u2019s Gate has gone to the dogs, i.e., bright red dog roses, thick on the bush, and a flowering dogwood, gowned in pretty 4-petaled white flowers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The park is preparing for an event.\u00a0 Some roads are closed.\u00a0 At first, the lawns appear to be strewn with white cots, each with a sign I can\u2019t read.\u00a0 It looks like a massive blood drive, a scene from a medical disaster movie, an NYPD chemical attack drill.\u00a0 As I get closer, however, the cots resolve into long tables, the signs read Fortress Investment Group.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
At Bethesda Fountain I heard the amped guitar of Colin, the cowboy.\u00a0 We\u2019d struck a deal last year to share center stage.\u00a0 \u201cTwo more songs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I sat by the fountain and slowly set up.\u00a0 Colin had attracted a 40-something woman who danced around and took photos of him.\u00a0 When he\u2019d played his 2 songs, she pleaded for another:\u00a0 \u201cShake Your Booty\u201d (KC and the Sunshine Band, 1976).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An Ecuadorean woman was taken with my solar-powered hula girls.\u00a0 \u201cHow much?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ordinarily I would not sell; like leis, they are my means of production.\u00a0 Nevertheless, I answered, \u201cFive dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It was too much, she told me.\u00a0 She was going home tomorrow, and New York was so expensive.\u00a0 She reached for the pink doll.\u00a0 \u201cThat one\u2019s broken,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cThree dollars.\u201d\u00a0 Still too much.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cOk,\u201d I said, picking up a lei.\u00a0 \u201cYou dance the hula, the pink doll is free.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Her face lit up.\u00a0 She gamely danced to \u201cThe Hukilau Song,\u201d took her prize and walked off with it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Asian man with a shaved head who sells colorful $5 caricatures ran up to me and shook my hand.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A mother and daughter paused to listen.\u00a0 Mom dug into her purse and came up with 55 cents, which daughter shyly dropped into my case.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Two families, with 4 kids, had stopped to take a picture by the fountain.\u00a0 \u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d\u00a0 They were from Mississippi and Tennessee.\u00a0 For the first verse of \u201cThe Hukilau Song,\u201d the kids were awkward and stiff, but for the second verse I told them to dance however they wanted, so they pranced and swirled to the end.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An Australian man, now living in Toronto, walked by with wife and son.\u00a0 The boy, he told me, was learning the uke in school.\u00a0 \u201cMy daughter\u2019s early music training was on a recorder,” I said.\u00a0 “The uke is so much better.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe learned the recorder in Australia too.\u00a0 You can\u2019t sing along with a recorder, can you?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The boy danced a hula, and showed us what he\u2019d learned on the uke.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A young Chinese couple stood at a distance, watching me.\u00a0 The man started up the path, but the woman ran to me, placed a 5 yuan note in my case, and ran off.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A young girl walked up with a dollar in her hand.\u00a0 She wanted to dance.\u00a0 While her mom watched, she danced a poised and expressive hula.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If I make $2.70, it covers my subway fare.\u00a0 More than that is profit.\u00a0 With the yuan at 16 cents, today\u2019s take was $4.35, better than break even.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"