{"id":1192,"date":"2019-08-09T11:42:43","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T15:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mrukulele.com\/?p=1192"},"modified":"2019-08-09T11:42:45","modified_gmt":"2019-08-09T15:42:45","slug":"why-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mrukulele.com\/?p=1192","title":{"rendered":"Why Not"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was making notes about the 2 stella d\u2019oro lilies in full bloom behind the benches at 72nd<\/sup> St.\u00a0 Were they the harbingers of a second blooming, or 2 stragglers who had been waiting in the weeds for this opportunity?\u00a0 Entering the park with me were a dozen or so red T-shirted teen-aged girls.\u00a0 I let them pass.\u00a0 At the back of the line was a red T-shirted overweight man, their guide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s your group from?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMostly from Germany and Japan.\u201d  The axis tour, I thought, but did not say.  \u201cI had a group that danced with you last\nweek, from Spain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBring them by again,\u201d I said, remembering that particular\nhukilau, for which I received nada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colin told me to set up, he was about to sing his last song,\n\u201cAfrica,\u201d by Toto, 1982.  The crowd around\nme at the fountain sang along, so did passersby, who took pictures and mouthed words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started my set, as usual, with \u201cMaking Love Ukulele Style.\u201d  Somewhere during my medley of \u201cSunday,\u201d \u201cFit\nas a Fiddle,\u201d and \u201cI Saw Stars,\u201d a little kid gave me 36 cents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A willowy 20-something blonde said, \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy favorite answer,\u201d I said, reaching for a lei to put\naround her neck.  \u201cNo reason at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her name was Hannah, from Norway.  She danced a beautiful hula that would warm\nthe fjords of your heart.  Then she\nwalked away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A young girl of 9 or 10 wandered free around the\nfountain.  I saw her checking me out\nseveral times.  Finally, she approached\nwith a dollar in her hand, but instead of putting it in my case, she clutched\nit to her chest and shyly peeked at me. \nWithout a word from me, she inched closer, threw the dollar in my case\nand burst into a bright grin.  Her name\nwas Alia, and it didn\u2019t take long for her to hula.  By this time her family had gathered, taking\npictures.  When Alia faltered, her grin\nturning to panic, she would focus on her grandfather, who danced a silly hula in\nencouragement, and all was right again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 30-something woman and her mother gave me a dollar.\u00a0 When I asked if she\u2019d like to hula, she said, \u201cWhy not?\u201d\u00a0 She was born in Arizona, but had been living in Amsterdam for 20 years, and had earned her BS, “in Dutch,” her mother bragged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My 90 minutes was almost up, and here I was, once again, below my break-even by 34 cents.\u00a0 The fountain area was thinning out.\u00a0 Something in me said, pack it up and go home.\u00a0 Yet how could I ignore the evidence that showed that 99% of the time I made my nut.\u00a0 So I kept on singing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 20-something floated into my vision.\u00a0 She was short with a pixie cut and the ubiquitous white ear buds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy not?\u201d  Why not\nindeed.  She was from California, now\nliving in Cobble Hill.  With her dollar,\nI\u2019d had another successful day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My time up, I sat down, stuffed $3.36 in my pocket and was\ncarefully folding my leis so they wouldn\u2019t get tangled when I sensed somebody\nstanding over me.  A woman and her\ndaughter wanted to buy a solar-powered hula girl for dad\u2019s dashboard.  They chose turquoise and handed me a\nfiver.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was making notes about the 2 stella d\u2019oro lilies in full bloom behind the benches at 72nd St.\u00a0 Were …
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