Coo coo, ça va? Today, we busked in Strasbourg, France, twice! As you know, we were sad to not busk in Paris. But we still got to busk in France because of a quick change of plans. I decided to zip off to Israel for a week. My dear friend Sarah Y. lives there and I wanted to visit her while I was inEurope; and lo an behold EasyJet flies to Tel Aviv from London and Switzerland, where I was (back on a french AZERTY keyboqrd; hence typos:) My flight is on Thursday. Switzerland is so expensive; so I didn't want to traverse it too many times nor linger. I looked at a map; and Strasbourg seemed like a good place to explore for a few days! And here I am; voila.
Strasbourg is nice;but it'd annoyingly filled with tourists: Like; its hard to see what the cty looks like without them. But that's good for me. Yesterday when I arrived I spotted a trio of ,iddle aged men on accordion; trumpet; and double bass. This morning they were out again, as was a golden statue. they were both set up by the cathedral, the main tourist center, so I sought a pitch there too and sure enough the trio packed up so I took theirs.
I thought that maybe I could pass for French; as far as dumb Americans know. I planned to not use any signs; to hide all english; but kept the main SSS because i could have just chosen to use english for it; right?
Monday, April 30, 2012, Part Un
1. Right away, while I was still setting up, some kids flocked over. Three siblings; two boys and a girl. They were so chatty but of course we couldn't communicate! Over and over I told them "Je ne parle pas Frances" and "je ne comprende," but they didn't give up. The only word I recognized was "Botones."Would have loved to converse! I need to learn French! I passed them Flaca anyway, but none was super into her.
2. As you know, I profile people to choose songs they like. One song that never gets used in profiling is Tico Tico; the Brazilian folk song. It's hard to identify Brazilians! But today, there was a large tour group amassing in front of me, with a guide holding a Brazilian flag. They were standing around for awhile, but I didn't think of the possibility of finally utilizing this song until it was too late! I did play it as the tour retreated, and I like to think a couple reacted; but the moment was lost.
3. A woman cae up and asked, "What country?" I guess I wasn't fooling her. I asked her it it was really obvious that I am not French, and she said yes. Merde!
4. Someone called me "Tres jolie!" Thatés a good thing, right?
5. It was super sindy! Luckily my earnings are still all metal, but Flaca and her box kept being blown slightly away. Ii had to surrender her act and stick her in the box. Also, my bangs were blowing everyzhere and I couldn't see anybody! Borrowed a bobby pin from another part of my head to pin them up and finally see my audience.
6. I've kept my audience waiting before, for a variety of things. To drink water; to jot down notes for the blog; to eat a carrot; to text somebody. Today; I kept a lot of people waiting while I put on sunscreen. And for some reason this amused me. I actually had nice sized crowds today, which added to the rush to get playing again. I got hot and took off my sweater; thus exposing my already burnt shoulders. This wouldn't do! Pulled out the bottle and thoroughly applied the gooey white contents, hoping a mother would run over and offer to do my back; to no avail. I like what this did to my image; (that was the first intentional semi colon in this post) the worst-case assumption is that i'm homeless and struggling to make ends meet and have way more important things to think about than sunscreen. Or that I'm a ragamuffin enjoying my independance for the fist tim, or something. That said; I felt like I broke out of both of those images by caring about the thorough application of sunscreen. but thn my fingers kept sliding around!
7. Some good news: I kept having to rearrange the tambourine to make it stay, but at one point I did something right and it stayed perfectly in place for the rest of the set! Excellent! Can't recreate it though.
8; A lady blew me a kiss! Yeah!
9. Something that's difficult: playing different instruments at different volumes. I'm getting better at focusin on multiple instrments; but of course it's good to play the accordion quietly while i'm trying to take a kazoo solo. But that's really difficult neurologically!
10/ More good news: you know how i want to get a neck harmonica holder for my kazoo? Well this amazing French girl I'm staying with via couch surfing happened to have an extra. So now I have one!!!
11. I think today was the worst day for the ratio of photos posed for to tips received. How do people think it's acceptable?? My "folow the culprit with my eyes" technique worked once today. But vieos too, come on!
12. My French held up exactly as I thought it would: not at all. I rattled off beautiful "merci beaucoup"s, but that was where it stopped. People would say things and I would either just smile or, if it seemed important, confess, "je suis desolee, je ne parle pas frances." Cover is blown! One man got as far as this and asked my nationality. I faithfully said "Scotland." We talked about how great the highlandds are. Oh yeah... love them; from all the times I've seen them! I gave this guy a business card: Ocurred to me later that if he goes on my website he will immdiately learn that I lied to him. Oobs, as they say in Sweden. One lady said "Bon chance," which i took to mean "good luck," right? This comes up again; so remembr it.
I was playing across from the cathedral in front of a souvenir shop. Ordinarily I would have deemed that pitch too close to a business; but the other guys had been there so i figured it was okay. I didn't get complaints from the employees; whom i sometimes saw outside. I quit after about two hours for their sanity, and to take a break.
Part Deux
Around 6:00 I decided to set up again; since folks were in slow dinner mode. I decided to just take the same spot.
1. Right as I was setting up, the trio from before walked by. I successfully asked them, through sign language and facial expression, if they wanted the spot. I was wary of being the new kid in town taking their turf. They generously dismised this idea. We determined that they speak Italian and that I am Spanish. I think I may hav said "oui" to "Barcelona?" Anyway; that was nice of them.
2. Long interaction with two men, one standard young vague European with a camera; and the other a mad-scientist type with curly gray hair and round glasses. The latter was posing with me for photos, but was not satisfied with the other man's product. After giving them my Edinburgh lie, the older man asked if I knew any Irish songs. Then he started singing "Wild Rover." Yes! I played it, (excellent with tambourine) and he was surprised I knew it! Learned it on my first day with the accordion, my friend! He speaks English, btw. Later on he asked my star sign, and was very srprised to hear that i'm a cancer. He said usually the musicians and composrs are aquarius or something else. Mad astrologist? Anyway; they said they'd email photos.
3. An interesting looking old man came up. He was a professor type, with a white beard, green corduroy trousers, and maybe even suspenders. He started talking; and I had to tell him about my language restrictions. He opened a bag to demonstrate the business he had with me: he was trying to get me to pay him two Euros for this dirty, ratty old red stuffed crab (as in plush toy, not the delicious kind of stuffed crab). No thanks! I did undertand the word "Mange." Since he was obviously in need of it, I gave him my newest phrase: "Bon chance." (Let's just hope it doesn't actually mean "Nice piano dress and puppet with matching piano dress!")
4. Two police officers walked by. Said and did nothingto me! Hurrah! I hadn't looked up busking laws here; so that was great news.
5. A middle-aged man lingered for a bit. He, too; right away asked my nationality. Come on, people, at least let me think i can pass for French! I told the truth this time and said I was American...bt I live in Scotland. I added "It's less embarrassing to say Scotland." Turns out his English wasn't as good as I thought; and he didn't catch this bit. "Laserbara what?" "Um its less embarrassing;$." "Lass is a Scottish word, no?" "Well yes but...forget it." He had a bunch of questions, like if I play alone and if I sing while I play. Sir, you're watching my act right now. Can't you deduce these things from seeing it live? I changed the subject and announced that i would play a scottish song, from my homeland; and he said i have to sing for that! I compromised and picked up the kazoo for a rousing rendition of "Skye Boat Song." Actually sounded nice! Thanks for the encouragement.
6. The fucking bells wouldn't shut the fuck up!!! Seriously,they would just go off at random times. The first wasn't random; it was 12:00 (this is out of order, sorry). I counted along, already feeling impatiet after four dongs. What's the right word for a unit of bell? Nine...ten...eleven...twelve. Thirteen. Fourteen. Come on!! Sure enough, it went on and on and on. I did my routine of alternating giving the entire cathedral exasperated looks and giving it a good "shhhh," all while looking at my watch so everyone knew why i wasn't playing. Long time to wait; but it was so loud and out of key that there was no point in trying to play over it. I was playing again when the clock struck 7:00, but this time I entertained myself for 0.025 seconds by figuring what note the bells wee. Eb. So I played my bit to a Kaiho song which is in Eb to pass the time. I amused myself by saying to it, under my breath, "That's enough ringing." This is an allusion to a babysittng anecdote. Once; I was babysitting a family who had a little boy that was difficult with bedtime. Finally he was in bed, zith the lights out, and i was gently rubbing his back and softly humming. I was sure he was asleep, or very close to it, when he loudly an totally non-sleepily declared, "That's enough singing." This line comes to mind often; and now I will say it to church bells whenever necessary.
That's all I have written down, but I'm sure I've forgotten things! I quit after less than two hors since things had seriously quieted down. Mqybe I'll put it one more morning of busking; now that I knoz it's legal here! A bientot.
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