A 4-piece jazz combo found a spot across the road from Daniel Webster.\u00a0 The Russian accordionist pumped out his dirges near my spot at the fountain. \u00a0Given the high heat today, I was just as happy to play in the shade. \u00a0As I walked toward the maple, I saw a girl in a school uniform stretched across the stern of a rowboat, dangling her feet in the water.\u00a0 An attendant shouted at her to get back in the boat, but she didn\u2019t hear him.\u00a0 \u201cYou need a whistle,\u201d I said.\u00a0 He shrugged and gave up.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Before I had even tuned up, a woman of a certain age stopped to ask how much for a solar-powered hula girl.\u00a0 She explained that she had accidentally broken her husband\u2019s toy and wanted to replace it. \u00a0She wanted the green one, but the toy had developed a slight hitch in her hula, so she took the yellow one instead.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope you don\u2019t need change,\u201d I said, as I snapped the toy into its plastic case. \u00a0She handed me a fiver which I tucked under the capo.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Two girls in that same school uniform sat down on the lawn behind me.\u00a0 They had never seen a ukulele.\u00a0 Then more girls in uniform showed up and sat down.\u00a0 \u201cHow many are there?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Soon 50-60 girls identically dressed in plaid skirts, blue sweaters and black flats had formed 3 circles on the grass. \u00a0They noisily ate their lunches. \u00a0Some of the more curious girls came over to ask me questions about the uke, but none would hula.\u00a0 Two stern teachers showed up and ordered quiet for attendance.\u00a0 They were from a Jewish high school in Brooklyn.\u00a0 While the teachers shouted names — Rivka, Chaiya \u2013 I asked a younger woman, perhaps a parent or teachers’ aid, if they intended to stay long.\u00a0 \u201cNo,\u201d she said, \u201cwe\u2019re leaving now.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Once peace was restored under the maple, Joan, the park volunteer, came by.\u00a0 She told me about a gig she\u2019d landed at a Harlem night spot where she\u2019d be singing Sondheim, accompanied by 2 ukuleles.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m a little nervous,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re the only uke I ever sang with.\u201d\u00a0 Before she walked on, she bought my last CD.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A teenager dropped a dollar in my case.\u00a0 Shortly after, an older man, in shorts and a skimmer, laughed as he pulled out his wallet.\u00a0 \u201cYou made me smile,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An Australian family with 2 young girls stopped to hula.\u00a0 When they left, a young woman who had been playing with her dog off the leash behind me, leaned over the fence to drop 2 tightly wadded singles.\u00a0 A 20-something walking with his girlfriend tossed in 3 quarters.\u00a0 A tall, fashionably dressed blonde of indeterminate age, walking with a tall, fashionably dressed man of about 60, gently laid a dollar atop the many bills that had accumulated over my set.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When I packed up for the day, I counted $22.75.\u00a0 Time to pull out another solar-powered hula girl from my stash of hula girls, and make more CD\u2019s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"