Giant white snowflakes have been hung over Columbus Ave. Along Central Park West, they\u2019ve set up the aluminum grandstand 7 tiers high for the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Inside the park, the crowds are thin, despite the 65 degree weather. The hydrangea behind the benches has turned wine red. On the almost leafless rose bushes, a few pink petals have opened wide, as if asking the sun for a handout; orange hips swell on the lower branches.<\/p>\n
At the Imagine Mosaic, the homeless guitarist led the crowd in \u201cImagine,\u201d encouraging the multi-part harmony with shouts of \u201clovely, beautiful\u201d between line breaks. Fuzzy buds have lengthened on the tips of magnolia branches. Through the bare trees, I could see the tops of the tall buildings of Mount Sinai Hospital on upper Fifth Ave. In the arcade, the Boyd Family Singers have expanded their repertoire of sacred music to include a few secular Christmas carols.<\/p>\n
Andrew, the young guitarist, was packing up when I got to center stage. \u201cI like these European crowds,\u201d he told me. \u201cThey drop a five where New Yorkers drop singles.\u201d<\/p>\n
A 40-something man gave me a dollar and asked if he could take a picture. \u201cDo you play \u2018Ukulele Lady\u2019?\u201d he asked. I told him I\u2019d be getting to it soon. Not soon enough, I suppose, because he wandered away.<\/p>\n
A guy and his gal from Brooklyn gave me a fiver and said, \u201cOk, entertain us.\u201d I had just finished \u201cFit as a Fiddle,\u201d and launched into \u201cI Saw Stars.\u201d The girlfriend bopped along to the beat, but refused to put on a lei. \u201cHow much to come out in a rowboat and serenade us?\u201d<\/p>\n
I hesitated. \u201c150 bucks,\u201d I told him, certain that at that rate I would keep my feet dry.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, don\u2019t you get it?\u201d he insisted. \u201cYou\u2019re missing a great opportunity. People will row up to you from every direction to give you money.\u201d<\/p>\n
After haranguing me for a while longer, off they wandered to the boathouse. A man wanted to know if I would stand for a picture with his girlfriend. I put a lei around her neck for the shot. She would not hula.<\/p>\n
A little girl came by and wanted to dance. \u201cIf it\u2019s ok with your mom,\u201d I said. It was. The girl was at a loss as to what to do, so I put a lei around her mom\u2019s neck and told the girl to follow. It was a charming scene, recorded by several passers-by. Two women, who had been sitting on the bench for a while came by with a dollar.<\/p>\n
The first photographer came back. \u201cThanks for playing \u2018Ukulele Lady\u2019,\u201d he said. Marcel walked by with Maggie the dog to say hello, marvel at the weather and wish me a pleasant winter. The couple from Brooklyn pulled their rowboat up to the steps leading from the lake to the fountain area. They hailed me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYo, Brooklyn,\u201d I shouted to them.<\/p>\n
At the end of my set, a thirty-something man got up from the bench and tossed a fiver in my case. \u201cI gotta tell you,\u201d he told me, \u201cyou\u2019re the most talented man in Central Park.\u201d<\/p>\n
With his $5, my total came to $15, as good as any day in the summer, let alone a week before Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"