The busker scene is expanding. Another homeless guitar man has joined the rotation at Strawberry Fields. He was singing \u201cWe Can Work It Out\u201d as I walked by. I prepared for today’s high heat and low humidity with lots of suntan lotion, a bottle of water, and a hat. I took center stage. No sooner had I started when a slender black woman and her teenage son walked over. I learned in conversation that she too was a street performer, had been rousted out of the subway and wanted to know the deal in the park.<\/p>\n
Her goal was to sing in a tunnel at the south end near the zoo. That didn\u2019t interfere with my routine, so I gave her the lowdown about amplification, busker courtesy, the Central Park Conservancy, NYPD, and other relevant info. She showed her gratitude by dancing a beautiful hula, not her first I should think, and dropping a dollar in my case.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey call me Mr. Ukulele.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the next hour the magic happened. A young mother and her toddler did a fine hula. A Norwegian girl quit her hula after 8 bars. \u201cLike this,\u201d I showed her. \u201cMove your arms like the sea. There’s lots of sea in Norway.\u201d A forty-something man strode purposely past me, slowed, returned. \u201cWhat got you?\u201d I asked. He pointed to my CD, \u201cAloha, New York,\u201d saying, \u201cI got the spirit from you; I\u2019m good to go all day now.\u201d An Arab boy, who had been sitting with his family in the shade, walked up to me during one of my water breaks. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a good voice,\u201d he said with a dollar. For another 15-20 minutes, while the family finished their lunch, the boy tried to get his little sister to put change in my case. A dark eyed 4-5 year old, she approached, ran away, came back later, ran again, all the time hearing her brother encourage and mock her. In the end I never saw that money. But I did coax a buck from a man by tipping my hat to him as he walked by. <\/p>\n
The sun moved higher; the benches cleared of people seeking shade. I should have done the same, but with my set almost over, I sang one last chorus of \u201cMy Little Grass Shack\u201d and packed up with $14.37 in my pocket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"