Last Friday, my squeezebox and I jumped in the car and headed to Ptown for our long-awaited (by us, at least) return.
We went first to the Police station to get our new permit. I remembered it taking longer last year, but I just had to show them my driver's license. We found a parking space way down the East End on Bradford St. and spent a long time parallel parking.
We walked down Commercial St. grinning (well I did, at least), and heard someone yell, "Back from San Francisco?" It was Dana, referenced in a SF post, a guy who a busker in the Castro sent out to scout a spot. This scenario annoyed me, and we got in each other's hair. I had forgotten that we made the Cape connection later in the winter (he lives in Truro), and he happened to be out and about when I was. It was nice to see a familiar face!
Speaking of familiar faces, I'll talk about that first. I obviously saw a bunch of people I knew. Not May or Butch, who you don't know about since I didn't blog last summer, but some other folks:
1. Topher, my accordion student and friend. He biked by on his shiny gold and purple bike and recorded my playing my newest Amelie song on his iphone for Francois, his Parisian bf. It was so lovely to see him. We'll resume lessons soon, and also work together to learn French. And bike and swim and be best friends and have adventures under the name "Soph and Toph."
2. Kyle. Kyle runs a variety show on Thursday nights at a local bar. I wasn't a regular due to my past transportational issues, but I performed once and it seemed like a really cool scene. He was wearing a royal blue button down shirt with red suspenders and driving a cab. He said that this year he'll be organizing a circus with themed acts. Hope to hear from him soon!
3. Will. Will is the sweet now-15-year-old boy who took up busking last summer. I saw him his first time, and we started talking. He plays guitar and sings and plays keyboard sometimes, too. We rode the same bus sometimes. I took him under my wing, and he gave me a beautiful little toy accordion last summer which I displayed in my case. He was out playing a little but mostly gallivanting, with local teens, and he gave me a nice big hug.
4. The guy on the bike with the funny hair. I know this doesn't narrow it down very much in Ptown, but there's this one guy I would see all the time. He never acknowledged me last year, but on Friday he biked by and yelled "Hi Soph!" Score.
5. Aimee, aka the Bearded Lady. She runs a piercing parlor in Ptown and used to run one in Northampton as well. She strolled by with her bull terrier, Joy, and casually said "Hi Soph." There was no "welcome back!" or "how was your winter?" which I kind of liked. It's as if November-May don't exist in Ptown. "Hi Soph." I said "Hi Aimee." She corrected me: "Ah-mee." Guess that's new this year.
6. It's fun seeing who's back! I recognized some of the Pedi-Cab drivers, but they were definitely using their B-string pedalers (like this out of shape middle-aged woman huffing and puffing her passengers around, in stark contrast to the tan, buff Bulgarian men who usually do that job).
I was the only busker out at first. Later on Will came out, then this lady with a guitar and too much amplification, but at first it was just me. I set up across from the Squealing Pig, my fave spot. It wasn't until Boston and the Elf life that I realized my setup can be independent of a sturdy object. Last summer I leaned my open box against a bench, or fire hydrant, or something, and tossed the wheels aside. Now, I just lean it against the wheels, which are actually necessary to hold my student loan sign. This gives me more flexibility, and I can trip people less (or more, if I choose).
Here's what happened!
1. A woman biked by and just said, "You're tall!"
2. There was some kind of conference or something happened, with a lot of people walking around with nametags. I overheard a snippet of a conversation between two women: "Network and socialize. If someone says hi to you, you say hi back." It's really the only way to get anywhere in Ptown.
3. I had my first attentive child, who requested the Itsy Bitsy Spider. An older guy (I think it was funny-hair-bike-guy, actually) suggested I play "Alouette" next. I was about to, when he pointed out that it's the same tune. Huh, I hadn't noticed that one. I told him about kids requesting multiple of "ABC," "Twinkle twinkle" and "Baa baa black sheep" despite them having the same tune. The kid asked for Baa Baa Black Sheep to prove my case.
4. "Dynamite" went over very well! Pop songs really do well in Ptown, and I simply must add more to my repertoire. People were singing and dancing along, and looking puzzled then celebrating when they figured out what song it was. Gaga too, but that's old news. (Old gnus)
5. Perhaps the best Ptown story yet: a man, who I later identified as gay and drunk, commented that he couldn't tell where the piano ended and my skirt began (I wore a black and white striped skirt). He asked for a song, and I asked if he wanted Johnny Cash. He said "I love her!" with an unmistakably gay inflection. Maybe Johnny Cash would get a kick out that. After I played, he made a comment about his own "ring of fire." Shoulda seen that coming. It was a great reminder of playing in Ptown! The Castro really doesn't compare.
6. A woman asked me for a tango. I asked if she new "El Dia Que Me Quiras," a tango I just discovered through the cover by the Baguette Quartette. She said she might know it if I played it. I told her I couldn't yet (I've been meaning to learn it!) I said the closest I had in my repertoire to a tango was "Hernando's Hideaway," which she accepted. What tangos can I learn easily, do you think, dear readers? (Plural's ambitious)
7. A man with purple pants asked me if I could play "Lady [of] Spain." I told him of course I could. He said that was surprising, given my age. "It used to be that all accordion players had to learn that song!" "And it is still that way," I told him, "because if you're seen with an accordion, people will ask for that song so many times that you finally give in and learn it." I need to practice, though; I took it out of the starting rotation due to the cliche and now it's rusty.
8. Some foreigners gave me a ten dollar bill and couldn't help but wonder if they hadn't mastered US dollar conversion yet. They didn't even smile or anything. I'll take it! Similarly, I've become a tip snob. My dad loves telling the story of how when we were in Italy in ought one and an accordion player came up to our table at a restaurant. My dad put 100 lire in his hat. A hundred! It seemed so generous! We were similarly slow on the conversion, evidenced by the fact that we had given this man the equivalent of a nickel. Offended, he returned it to the table. We laugh about that story, but ten years later I can now side with him! I'm used to dollar bills. Handfuls of coins are great. Single coins are not so great. I have to really force myself to say thank you in those cases, and just hope that it's a cool foreign currency or an outdated metro token from a cool city or something worthwhile.
9. Hooligans. I guess this goes in the "people I saw" section. I moved to the town hall to play later on, which is the local hangout for hooligans, mostly teenagers (but some not). My interactions with them are usually just stepping aside mid-song so they can pass me to get back to the statue, or dramatically coughing when they light up cigarettes to teach them a lesson. A year later, and these hooligans have matured a bit. Two teenage boys independently came up to me with compliments. The second said, "Keep it up. I mean it, okay?" in the encouraging voice I expect from middle-aged folks who wish they had done more with their twenties. It was a strange sentiment to get from a 15-year-old, but I loved it. He can already tell that I'm doing something worth doing, and he won't let me quit even if he has to drag me there himself. I look forward to getting to know these kids more and keeping them off drugs and into music lessons and stuff.
10. And now....possibly the best comment I've ever gotten, from a primly dressed middle-aged-woman: "I feel obligated to chip in!"...[wait for it]..."Because I COLLECT student loans!" Hell yes. You'll be getting that dollar bill back before too long, lady. Good to know you're on my side!
Anyway, it was so so great to be back on my home turf! If Friday was that great, I can't even imagine how great it's going to be once folks are actually in town.
But I should mention, Cady, the statue lady, has retired from statuehood. I was sad to hear this news because she really was my inspiration and mentor, despite not knowing it, both last summer and as I followed her travels and planned my own during the winter. It will be nice to be able to use her spot sometimes, but Provincetown will really miss her.
Till next time! Friday again, most likely!
-S^3
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