![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.mrukulele.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/20170610drawing-193x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe guitarist sang, \u201cImagine all the people,\u201d but no imagination was required.\u00a0 The crowd was as impenetrable as those at the Sistine Chapel.\u00a0 Finally, I broke from the pack and hurried to Bethesda Fountain.\u00a0 The park workers who had guided the delivery trucks to the site of the fund-raiser on Wednesday and Thursday had assured me that all would be back to normal today, and they did not lie.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cHave you got time for a hula today?\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The woman smiled, hesitated, then the large man she was with said, \u201cYes, of course.\u201d\u00a0 At the end of the dance, he handed me a twenty.\u00a0 I asked him if he wanted change, but he waved me off.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I got my first 20-dollar tip one fall day in 2007.\u00a0 An old man had been sitting on the bench with his attendant through several songs.\u00a0 The attendant walked up with the twenty while I was singing; at the end of the song, I walked to the old man to thank him.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you know \u2018Honolulu Baby\u2019?\u201d he asked.\u00a0 I had to admit I did not.\u00a0 \u201cIf you\u2019re going to sing the ukulele canon, you really should learn it.\u201d\u00a0 I took his advice.\u00a0 Over the next few years I hoped to run into him again to thank him, because \u201cHonolulu Baby\u201d has become a mainstay of my repertoire.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A woman accompanying 2 developmentally challenged teenagers, a boy and a girl, came by.\u00a0 The girl wanted to hula, but mostly just stood still and smiled.\u00a0 The woman, camera in hand, showed her the moves, but we got to the end of \u201cThe Hukilau Song\u201d without hula-liftoff.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A woman took pictures from the edge of the plaza.\u00a0 Most photographers get their shot and walk away.\u00a0 The woman, seeing me see her, approached with a handful of quarters.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A 40-something man with his 2 daughters stopped to dance.\u00a0 They were from London, although the man was originally from Belgium.\u00a0 He gave each of the girls a dollar for me, then stuck around to chat about the political situations in both the US and UK.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A young woman sat on the bench in front of me.\u00a0 She appeared to be writing in a notebook; from time to time she looked up to listen.\u00a0 After 30 minutes or so, she gathered her things and walked up to me.\u00a0 She put a dollar in my case, then asked me questions about my music.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve heard \u2018Tiptoe through the Tulips,\u2019 but all those other songs are new to me.\u00a0 Did you write them?\u201d\u00a0 Her name was Sophie.\u00a0 She used to play classical guitar, but now she thought a ukulele was the way to go.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Two guys walked past.\u00a0 \u201cAloha,\u201d I said.\u00a0 They stopped and consulted, then walked back to toss a handful of change into my case.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As usual, at the end of my set, I counted my take: \u00a0$26.53.\u00a0 A good day, however, got better, when I unfolded the dollar I got from Sophie and found this drawing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"