Underneath a warm, wet sky, I set up on center stage. As I put a lei around my own neck, a dozen or more kids on a scavenger hunt, attracted by the bright colors, hurried over to check me out. \u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d<\/p>\n
They did, and afterward my case took in a few singles and change. It\u2019s always a boon to get dancers early in the set; it gives everybody else an idea of what I\u2019m doing, like the family with kids who next happened by. \u201cWhere are you from?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBrazil,\u201d said one of the dark-haired moms. \u201cWhat about you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m from New York.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are the first New Yorker I\u2019ve met since I arrived on Monday,\u201d she said, shaking my hand.<\/p>\n
Two well-dressed men in their mid-30s walked by and one of them took my picture. \u201cDid you get it? Good, now how about a hula?\u201d<\/p>\n
He hemmed, he hawed, he hula-ed. \u201cNow I\u2019ll have to give you a tip,\u201d he said, pulling a $20 bill from his wallet. It turned out he and his friend were in from Reno to get married.<\/p>\n
A young Hispanic man wearing a \u201cBronx\u201d baseball cap asked me if we could take a picture together. \u201cOf course,\u201d I said, \u201cbut you\u2019ve got to wear a lei.\u201d<\/p>\n
He put his arms over my shoulder and took a selfie. \u201cMy girlfriend loves the ukulele,\u201d he said, dropping a dollar in my case.<\/p>\n
An elderly couple, who had been sitting at some distance, packed up their lunch and started out of the park. As they made their way toward the trash cans, the woman veered toward me and gave me a dollar. \u201cThank you,\u201d she said, \u201cyou\u2019re very entertaining.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another school group came by from the High School for Construction Trades, Engineering and Architecture (HSCTEA) in Ozone Park, Queens. Among the 20 or more kids I spied some credible hulas, but nothing compared to the woman from Hawaii, who, after reviewing the movements she\u2019d learned in grade school, danced a lovely hula to \u201cThe Hukilau Song.\u201d<\/p>\n
A short while later, I sang \u201cThe Hawaiian Wedding Song\u201d to a pair of newly wed women in buzz cuts and blue blazers with wide lapels and gold trim. Their photographer grew impatient while I crooned of \u201csweet aloha\u201d and of how \u201cblue skies of Hawaii shine on this our wedding day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toward the end of my set, a woman of 60 or so laid a fiver in my case and piled some coins on it to keep it from blowing away. \u201cDelightful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As I packed up, noting that today\u2019s take again far exceeded normal levels, I wondered if perhaps my busking revenues were a leading indicator of the economic recovery. If so, it would be most delightful indeed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"