So last week it rained and rained. I planned a big Valentine's Day production, but alas could not work due to precipitation. I did take advantage of the weather by learning a new Yann Tiersen song from "Amelie," "La Noyée" and properly arranging "La Vie En Rose."
Finally the heavens closed up on Sunday, so I headed out. I set up near the Ferry Building and played for about an hour and a half. Nothing eventful really happened. I smiled when a little girl dressed all in pink walked by with her new toys: a beautiful, sparkly, flower-covered pink pink pink garland tiara thing, and, in line with the color scheme, a pink whoopie cushion. Good choices, sweetie. Unfortunately my arms hurt a lot. It turns out it's not the playing every day that bothers them, it's NOT playing for a few days then playing song after song that bothers them. Ow. I quit early both because of that and because I had decided to play a second set that evening since the following day was a holiday so folks wouldn't be going to work.
My box got some attention on the bus when a little dog smelled the dog biscuits that Tiger put in my box in Northampton (they're long gone, but I assume they're why dogs always smell it). The dog's owner inquired about the contents, taking the playful nature of the painting to mean the box contained toys or children's books. He offered me condolences for Ruby's death (oh, how did that come up?).
After a burrito break, I headed to the Castro to play for the evening. Unfortunately someone (my rival, nonetheless) had the good spot, so I set up elsewhere. It wasn't going well. This guy did invite me to play at his party, saying that no one would pay any attention to me, that I would be completely ignored. Hey, I'm used to that. After a woman spent a while taking pictures/video and went on her way without a donation, I packed up and decided to try my new spot, 16th and Valencia.
Before I finished setting up, it was clear that this move was a good choice. Two guys came over and asked what I was going to do. I showed them my accordion, and one guy said something like "That deserves $5!" and gave me a bill before I even produced a note. They asked if they could request a song. Before they could think of one they saw my set list and chose songs from there. They settled for Brown Eyed Girl, Fly Me To The Moon and something Irish. Good picks. One of them spotted one of the two $2 I leave in my box as "feed money" (the pre-planted bills to lure in money). He wanted to buy it off me, which I permitted. Having one in there is cool but two was unnecessary. I got them both as donations, and I hope that another received this one in a similar fashion (these guys were doing a night of drinking, so I'm hoping a bartender went home with this bill).
While I was playing "Don't Stop Me Now," a guy stopped walking and started loosely conducting. He said, "Beatles!" I said, "Queen!" He said, "No it's the Beatles, 'Let it Be.'" It wasn't. So I started playing Let It Be and he sang along then said, "See? Beatles." Fine, you win.
It was cold, and I called it an early night. I'll ease back into this, there's more rain coming anyway.
Check my youtube channel for a video taken last night of "Morir Soñando:"
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